Tuesday May 20th, 2008

Laval Domestic Terminal

9 AM

“You guys are so lazy...you can’t even be bothered driving to Montreal City.” Lachelle hung around Pierre’s neck, nuzzling into his left ear. He rumbled low in his throat and wrapped a hand around the nape of her neck, squeezing tenderly. The rest of the band members rolled their eyes at the couple.

“We meet the bus there. And there’s nowhere to leave our cars.” Chuck explained with a smirk.

Lachelle raised her eyebrows. “You’re still lazy.”

Pierre growled and swung her off from around his neck. “You calling me lazy after what we did the other night?” He smirked and pecked her on the lips.

“Fuck, go get a room, you two.” Jeff pushed at the back of Pierre’s head. The larger male stiffened.

His fiancée sensed the sudden tension in his body and leaned into him. “Pierre...” she lowered her voice so only he could hear her.

He looked down into her worried eyes. “Hmm?”

“Don’t get upset...”

“I’m not...” Pierre whispered reassuringly. “I’m fine, baby...” He kissed her lightly on the lips again.

“Could you quit with the sucking of face?” Pat leaned over Pierre’s shoulder; his tone was light and mocking, yet the look in his eyes was serious. Be careful, Pierre...

Don’t worry...I fed before I left home.

Oh...good... “Come on, Pierre. The others are checking in.”

“Well,” Pierre smirked, “I’m checkin’ out.”

Pat rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

Lachelle leaned forward. “He is.”

“I’m glad you think so, sweetheart...” Pierre grinned at her, then walked over to the check-in counter.

Pat snorted and glanced at Lachelle. “Are you sure you won’t be sick of him after a month on the road?”

Brushing hair from her eyes, she smiled, lifting her shoulders slightly. “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, eh?”

Pat sighed and held his arm out to her. “Shall we?”

Lachelle laughed lightly and took his proffered arm allowing him to lead her to join the band.

David bounced up to her and grinned, giving her puppy-dog eyes. “Are you sure you’ll be okay driving to the City?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course. I can’t bring Delilah on the plane, y’know.”

Pierre glanced back at her over his shoulder. “Well, you could...but it’s such a hassle...all the paper work.”

“Tell me about it...” Lachelle shook her head then looked back at David. “Anyway, you’ll be seeing a lot of me on the bus. So, I’ll give you guys some time without female influence.”

The bassist pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. “Awww...but I’ll miss you, Chelle...”

Pierre finished checking-in and walked over to them. Slapping David on the shoulder, he chortled. “Yeah, but she won’t miss you.”

David pretended to cry. “You meaner...”

Lachelle pretended to glare at Pierre. “I agree, you are mean. Of course I’ll miss him.” She hugged David around the waist. He smiled and hugged her back, giggling. Pierre growled softly, eyes narrowing.

Pat who was coming up behind Lachelle frowned at his friend. Pierre...

Pierre relaxed and shot a look at him. I don’t know what’s up with me...

Pat blinked at him, shrugging slightly. Male vamps are very...territorial over their females...

Pierre nodded to him then went to Lachelle hugging her around the shoulders; she leaned away from David into the larger man’s side and smiled at him.

“I’ll miss you more, P...”

“Of course, but you’ll enjoy the drive.” He kissed the top of her head then nudged her away. “Go on, the sooner you leave the sooner we’ll meet in the City.”

Lachelle smiled blowing him one last kiss then she turned and headed for the exit. Pierre watched her go then turned to follow the others to the boarding lounge.

* * * * *

“Good morning, this is John Saunders, your captain, speaking. On behalf of all the flight crew, and myself, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all. Weather conditions are fair and we are expected to get a relatively quick run to Montreal City. We are expected to...”

Pierre tuned out the rest of the Captain’s announcement as he leaned back against his chair and stared out the round window at the passing clouds. Pat sat next to him, laptop open on the small pull out table. The two men sat in relative silence, only the usual aircraft noises and the tapping of Pat’s fingers on the keyboard interrupting the quiet.

After a while, Pat glanced sideways at his friend, before returning his gaze to the document open in front of him. “So, your parents knew?”

Pierre folded his arms still watching the wispy white clouds as they passed by. “Yeah.”

“That’s a little crazy, eh?”

“Yep.” Pierre was not feeling talkative.

However, Pat was in the mood to have a conversation and he knew he had to find out whether Lachelle had managed to talk to Pierre about the whole vampire thing. “And you know your mother’s name, now.”

“Mhm. She left a letter. Mom and Dad both read it.”

“Do you have it?”

“Dad gave it to me just before we left.” Pierre shifted on his seat. “It’s in my bag.”

Pat nodded still without looking away from the laptop monitor. “Good.” He licked his lips. “Spoken with Lachelle?”

Pierre’s jaw tightened and he shot a hard look at his friend’s shaggy brown hair; that was all he could see, because Pat had ducked his head down so he could read whatever was on the screen. “She was upset.”

Pat finally looked at his friend. “What happened?”

Pierre looked away, eyes glazing over as he remembered the conversation with his fiancée. She had come over on the Wednesday, two days after the incident, and she had been extremely wary of him. He sucked on his bottom lip slowly, still picturing the pained expression on Lachelle’s face when she had entered his room.

Sighing he looked over at Pat again. “We talked. I explained best I could. I mean...it’s a bit difficult when I don’t really understand what’s going on.” Pierre fiddled with the latch on the tray. “Chelle...cried a bit. I promised to try and control my urges. I don’t want to lose control like that, again.”

Pat closed his laptop lid slightly and tilted his head. “Go on?”

Pierre sighed heavily. “She...wouldn’t let me touch her. Hah.” He barked a bitter laugh. “I can’t blame her...would you want to touch me if you knew I was a vampire?”

Pat smirked faintly. “I’ve always known. But, that’s not why I don’t want to touch you.”

The singer snorted. “Funny...”

“I try. So, what else?”

Pierre leaned his head back against the seat, rubbing at his eyes. “We...just talked. Nothing interesting really.”

“No? No hot, make up sex?”

“No. I didn’t think that would be a good idea...” Pierre trailed off gazing into space.

Pat snorted. “Then what was that comment you made earlier?”

“Huh?”

“That thing you said to Chelle when she called you lazy?”

Pierre went slightly pink. “Well, okay...we did a little something...but, let’s just say I didn’t get any satisfaction.”

Pat frowned, “Worried it might trigger your hunger?”

“Yeah...and like I said...I didn’t want to lose control.”

“That’s fair enough, man.”

Pierre nodded then closed his eyes shifting in his seat to get in a more comfortable position. Pat observed him silently for a moment, watching as his friend apparently drifted off to sleep, then he went back to his work.

Montreal City

Bus Terminal

11 AM

“Ah...dah-yum! So good to stretch them leg bones!” The Rev jumped out of the bus almost colliding with Zacky who was already outside.

“Christ, Rev! Watch where you’re throwing your body!” Zacky rubbed at the side of his head. The Rev just snorted and wandered away.

Shadows followed the lanky male off the bus and smirked faintly. “Quit whining, V. He didn’t break you.”

The younger male glanced sharply at Shadows. “I am not whining, Shads.”

“Yeah, he’s not a fucking dog...” Synyster stepped off the bus next, lugging a couple of bags.

“You’d better stop that, Haner. Johnny’ll be here in any minute.” Shadows glared at the brown-eyed vampire. Syn just stared back at him, gave a little shrug, and then wandered off in the same direction The Rev had gone.

Zacky watched him go then looked at the master vampire. “After all these years...he’s still angry about you keeping Christ around.”

Shadows sighed. “That’s his problem. Not mine.”

“Yeah, but-” He was cut off as Johnny suddenly materialised, right next to them.

“Hey, I’m back.”

Shadows rolled his eyes. “We can see that.” He glanced around making sure no one had just seen what had happened.

“Relax, master,” the smaller man mumbled. “There’s no one about.”

“Right. So, any news this time, Christ?”

The Werewolf licked at his lips, casting a quick glance at Zacky before answering. “I’ve met your son.” He paused, licking at his lips again.

Shadows’ eyes narrowed and he took a step closer to the shorter male. “Tell me.” His voice was low and strained.

Johnny swallowed passed a lump that had formed in the back of his throat. “You are not gonna believe this...”

Shadows gritted out, “Just tell me, pup.”

Johnny nodded vigorously sensing the tension ratchet up a notch or two. “It’s...” He hesitated then looked at Zacky again. “Do you remember when we did Warped back in 2003?”

“Seward,” the snarl in Shadows’ voice was a distinct warning for him to get a move on.

Johnny held both his hands out in a placating gesture. “There’s a point to this, sir...”

“Then hurry it up, you don’t want me losing my temper.”

The vampire and the Werewolf locked eyes for a long moment.

Then Johnny took a deep breath, rubbing his palms on his jeans. “Well, we met the guys from Simple Plan, remember?”

Zacky smirked. “Yeah, Shadows swiped Chuck’s favourite Role Model hoodie.”

Shadows’ rolled his eyes. “It was way too big for him. Go on.”

Johnny sighed leaning his head back. “Pierre Bouvier...” He halted biting his bottom lip.

“What about him?” Shadows tilted his head to the side, confusion darkening his eyes.

The Were looked at him. Just say it... “Pierre...is your son.”

“Holy Hell...” Zacky gulped green eyes widening. Johnny ignored his exclamation waiting for his master’s response.

Shadows took a slow breath and turned his head away, smoothing a hand over his short brown hair. “Pierre Bouvier...damn...that’s...” He shook his head slowly. “He doesn’t seem the type...”

Johnny shrugged. “Well, whether he’s the type or not...he’s Serena’s son.”

“Is she still-?”

“No. I haven’t sensed her. He lives with...the Bouvier family...obviously.”

“Uhuh...Pierre Bouvier.” Shadows chewed on his cheek. “Where’d you meet him?”

“I encountered him just as he was having his first feed.”

The vampire tensed and shot a cold look at the Werewolf. “What did he feed on?”

Johnny froze, shivers racing through his body. The master vampire knew nothing of the Cunningham and Langlois Were-bloodline. He also felt that Alpha and Pat would both rather that the vampires did not find out about them. At any rate, Alpha was his rock, his safety, the one person he could go to when he couldn’t handle being around Shadows anymore.

“Well?” Shadows lifted an eyebrow folding his massive forearms across his chest.

Johnny bit his tongue as he replied quietly. “He was feeding from a squirrel.”

Zacky silently huffed; the one trait the youngest vampire had, a trait that he hated, was to know instantly when someone was lying and he could tell the Werewolf was not telling the truth. He decided though not to disclose this because he knew that Shadows had his own way of discerning the truth from lies. He didn’t need any nudging from a young vampire.

He grabbed his bags and hurried off leaving Shadows and Johnny facing each other. The Werewolf was holding his breath waiting on tenterhooks to see if the master vampire would by his story. Shadows was sifting through his thoughts wondering whether he should alert Johnny to the fact that he knew he was lying.

Finally, he said, “You know, I don’t like liars, Johnny.”

Johnny sighed and nodded, mumbling, “Sorry, Shads.” He rubbed at his arms. “It was another Were. It just came from as if nowhere and it insisted to let Pierre feed from him.”

Shadows rubbed his chin. “Is that the best you could come up with? You’re not telling me everything.”

The Werewolf shifted on his feet, biting at his lip. “It’s not really important...just some Were I knew in the City.”

“Ahh...” Shadows stared hard at him. “One of your contacts?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you know, that’s all you needed to tell me. But, now you’ve got me intrigued.”

Johnny swallowed hard. “I don’t really know-”

The vampire cut him off. “Don’t, Christ. Lying won’t help you. I’ll find out anyway.” He rubbed at the tip of his nose. “Anyway, we’ll talk about it later. We’re gonna hit the town and cruise for today.”

“No commitments, right?”

“Right.” Shadows managed a tight smile. “Just see what we see.”

Johnny nodded shoving his hands into his pockets. “Okay then...” He looked in the direction the others had gone. “Um...is Syn...”

Shadows growled. “Don’t you worry about him. You just stick by me.”

The Were nodded and stamped his feet slightly. The vampire slid his shades onto his face and swung around, walking away from the front of the bus where they had been standing and jumping up onto the pavement. Johnny followed him glancing up at the sky.

Shadows glanced back. “What is it?”

The Werewolf bit his bottom lip. “The clouds... they’re really dark...”

Shadows followed his gaze and then pulled the leather jacket he was wearing close around his body. Even though it was warm, he still wore the jacket. Being a vampire meant that the outside environment didn’t affect him as it did humans.

“That’s not good...” He growled as his fangs suddenly began to ache. “We’d better catch up with the others...”

Johnny nodded still casting quick glances up at the clouds as Shadows began to stride away. He hurried to catch up to the larger male wanting to stay as close as possible. He had a weird feeling that this day was going to be a very interesting one, and he was not so sure he was looking forward to it.

Giving the clouds one last anxious look he gritted his teeth and set his mind, steeling himself for whatever the day would bring.

Notes