Rules Are Meant to Be Broken Read online

  of a fuss. And he did hold onto your hand after I knocked

  you on your arse,” Kerr chuckled into his can of beer. He

  seemed to be enjoying the discomfort Michael now felt. “I

  suppose Chris is good looking in a strange sort of way… if

  you are that way inclined.”

  Michael frowned at him and shook his head. “The

  dreams are wrong. They have to be,” he said forceful y. “I’m

  not that way inclined. There’s just no way possible they are

  right, though I’m starting to believe you might have a thing

  for him. Besides, if you recal , we had Doyle with us last

  night as wel . So it wasn’t just me protecting Chris.”

  Shuddering, Michael couldn’t help blushing just a tad

  when the little voice who nagged inside his head spoke.

  Then why didn’t you mind waking up naked beside him?

  Why did you kiss his mouth? And why the hell did you

  wake up wrapped in his arms again? “And as for protecting

  you al , wel I haven’t got a clue what I’m meant to be

  protecting you al from. I don’t suppose the dreams told you

  who it is?”

  With a shake of his head, Kerr spoke. “Yes, but it isn’t

  Doyle who Chris can’t shut up about. That is al you — you

  are his main topic of conversation lately.” Changing the

  subject, Kerr asked, “What did Charm say to you on the

  steps?”

  Stal ing by taking another sip of his beer, Michael

  thought about how much to reveal before he answered.

  “She said he was watching me. He knows I’m here, he told

  me he hates me for taking what was his, and he fears me

  as I wil be his undoing. Does it make any sense to you? I’m

  assuming she’s talking about the one who sired us al . I’m

  not exactly sure I believe in al this dream bul shit.” Michael

  sighed, “She said I should tel him how I feel. When I asked

  her who, she told me I already know who.”

  Michael watched as Kerr ran his hands across his eyes.

  Maybe she had been talking about you, Michael thought.

  Maybe she was talking about you not trusting me. “I mean,

  if it’s the sire she is talking about then why would he have

  created me in the first place if he thinks I’m going to finish

  him off? It seems stupid to create me if he fears me. Why

  not just kil me? It’s what I would have done.”

  “Maybe he wants to die. Who knows? Until we know who

  it is we’l just have to wait and wonder.” Kerr rose out of the

  chair. “Anyway I’m off to bed. Should we tel the others? You

  know Charm wil tel them al about her dream. She seems

  to think the dreams are important.”

  Michael shook his head. “We’l talk more tonight. Let’s

  just sort it out in our own heads before we bring the others

  into it. I am stil not sure this is real. What if it is just some

  crazy arsed coincidences?”

  Kerr snorted before saying, “You know they wil be

  pissed when they realise we are keeping things from

  them?”

  “Yup, but they’l get over it.”

  “Whatever.” Kerr said with a wave of his hand as he left

  the room grumbling to himself about friendship and trust.

  Sitting for a while longer, Michael ran everything over in

  his mind. Somewhere in this whole jumbled affair there had

  to be some sort of clue, but what was it? Weary, he got to

  his feet and headed back toward his room. How could they

  think anything romantic, or sexual for that matter, could ever

  happen between Christian and himself? It just wasn’t

  possible, was it? He felt ridiculous just thinking about it, but

  stil the little nagging voice in the back of his head

  persisted. He wondered momentarily what Christian

  thought of it al .

  A smile tugged at his lips when he saw that Christian

  was stil sprawled out across the bed when he re-entered

  their room, so he sat in the chair, propped his feet up onto

  the edge of the bed and watched his sleeping friend.

  Truthful y, he real y was kind of spunky.

  What am I thinking? He did not find Christian attractive,

  but Gypsy would have classed Christian as to die for. She

  would have gone on and on about his kissable lips. His

  sister thought anyone with ful lips had kissable lips. His jaw

  didn’t have a chisel ed look, square or angular. When his

  eyes were open they were the deepest blue. She would

  have especial y loved his dimples. His whole face had a

  slightly feminine cast to it and his hair when not slicked

  back fel in golden waves to just below his ears, which kind

  of made Michael want to run his fingers through it.

  It struck Michael as funny so he laughed softly to himself

  over the absurdity of it al . Yes, they were definitely wrong

  about him and Christian. Wel , probably wrong about this.

  Closing his eyes, he listened to Christian’s deep and even

  breathing as crazy shit ran through his mind. For instance,

  he wondered why vampires didn’t need to breathe while

  awake, but the moment they fel asleep their respiratory

  system kicked in. It just didn’t make any sense to him, none

  of it did. And another thing which had him stumped was, if

  they were dead, then why did they stil need to consume

  food? Why couldn’t they survive on blood alone? He was

  stil contemplating this when he fel into a dreamless sleep.

  § § § §

  “Michael… Michael?” Doyle shook him awake, and then

  smiled as he ran a hand through his unkempt hair, groaning

  at how stiff he felt from sleeping in the chair al afternoon. “I

  need to talk to you. Wel , I want to talk to everyone, so get

  up,” Doyle said as he squeezed Michael on the shoulder.

  Michael thought that Doyle seemed a little upset and

  wondered why.

  Michael glanced out the window, trying to get his brain to

  wake up. The sun was getting low. Standing up he

  stretched, his body cracking in protest as Doyle waited for

  him beside the door. He felt as though he hadn’t slept at al .

  The bed was empty, which meant Christian was up and

  about. Why hadn’t Christian woken him before leaving the

  room?

  “What’s the matter?” He said as he fol owed Doyle into

  the hal . Michael suddenly got the urge to reach out and

  take his hand to try and comfort Doyle as he seemed a little

  upset but thought better of it. It was bad enough they

  thought Christian was his first great love. Now he wanted to

  hold Doyle’s hand? What the hel was wrong with him? He

  wasn’t even gay for crying out loud! He wasn’t. Gypsy had

  always teased him about it, but he had never been with a

  guy and kissing his cousin Jeffery didn’t count. It never

  counted if it was forced on you. His thoughts came back to

  the present as Doyle spoke.

  “It’s best if I tel everyone together. I don’t think I could

  stand to tel it more than once.” Michael thought Doyle’s

  voice sounded fearful, and he remained silent until they

  were in the lounge room.

  “What’s going on?” Charm
asked with a yawn. “I could

  stil be in bed.” Michael saw Charm watching them as they

  entered the room and stood together at the end of the

  couch.

  “This is important! I need to tel you al something.” Doyle

  chewed on his lower lip for a moment as if considering how

  to begin. Taking a deep breath he said, “There was

  somebody — no, there was something in the house today.

  It was the same as the dreams, but somehow more

  intense.”

  Al eyes turned to Christian as the bowl he had been

  eating from dropped from his hands, smashing on the tiled

  floor, and shattering the silence Doyle’s statement had

  caused. He seemed to be even paler, if possible. His eyes

  darted toward Michael. Since he was trembling, Michael

  walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort

  and felt him relax. Warmth hit him as Christian leaned back

  against his chest and Michael’s hand slid from his shoulder

  around his waist holding him close. He ignored the looks

  they both got. It didn’t matter; Christian needed comfort and

  he was going to give it to him. No big deal.

  Doyle’s gaze lingered on Michael as he continued. “I

  couldn’t see who it was, but I knew someone was here. I

  tried to cry out and warn everybody, but I couldn’t move.” He

  searched their faces frantical y. “I felt paralysed. Strange

  images played inside my mind. There was lots of fog and a

  building made from stone. Wherever it was, it was

  surrounded by lots of trees. We were fighting — I think they

  were other vampires — and then I saw Charm and Michael

  and they were surrounded by snow. They were standing on

  steps in front of an old church or something.”

  Fear flashed behind his eyes and Doyle’s voice faltered

  with what he was tel ing them. “You were there,” he said as

  he walked over and touched Michael’s arm. “There were

  two others who I didn’t know. One of them was the very

  image of you. Exactly like you, but maybe a little older, and

  a girl I had never seen before. When she spoke, she had an

  accent, maybe Scottish.”

  Michael felt everyone staring at him. His thoughts were

  interrupted as Charm shakily said that she also had felt a

  presence of something, but had just brushed it off as a bad

  dream. Kerr laid his hand on her in comfort, and she

  shrugged it off in annoyance. Yep, thought Michael. She

  was definitely not gonna want to be any of his loves. He

  was not going there, no way in hel .

  Every person had had a visitation. He turned expectantly

  to Kerr, who final y admitted that yes he too had been

  woken by a strange feeling of being watched. Michael

  wondered what it could al mean. It was then he noticed

  Kerr giving him the “we need to talk” look . Michael nodded

  in response. Something was definitely going on. Sighing,

  Michael realised Doyle had seen the interaction between

  Kerr and himself and now wore a frown. Michael glanced at

  him and shrugged.

  As they prepared and ate dinner they avoided the

  subject completely. It seemed it was a topic no one wanted

  to face. After the meal ended Kerr asked Doyle to take

  Charm and Christian with him, and to stick together at al

  costs. His tone of voice told them not to ask questions.

  None of them did, though they al gave them looks of

  distrust at being excluded from whatever was going to take

  place in their absence. Al Kerr would say is he needed

  them to do this for him and he needed to talk to Michael

  alone.

  “Wel ?” Michael asked after everyone had final y left.

  “What do you want? You know you have total y just pissed

  Doyle and Charm off? You just treated them as if they didn’t

  matter,” he said with just a touch of anger. “It wil piss Chris

  off too once he realises what is happening.”

  Kerr shrugged, “I needed them to take Chris out while

  we took care of things here.”

  “Take care of what? Doyle and Charm don’t trust me as

  it is, and now you pick me over them. And Chris isn’t a child

  who needs taking care of.”

  “I chose you to stay because I trust them to take care of

  Chris,” Kerr pointed back into the house. “You’re here

  because I want to start by doing a thorough search of the

  house. I want you to tel me everything you know.”

  “Great, so in other words I’m here because you don’t

  trust me and you stil haven’t told me why you think Chris

  needs looking after.”

  Kerr rol ed his eyes. “Michael, shut up.” He pushed

  Michael toward the top floor of the house.

  They began in the attic and worked their way through the

  house, doing a room by room search. At the same time,

  Michael fil ed him in on how he happened to come across

  Charm earlier on. Tel ing Kerr about how Christian had also

  thought there was someone in the house and how Christian

  seemed real y freaked out about it, though he left out the

  whole waking up naked part. Kerr just didn’t need to know,

  no one needed to know about that. By the end of the

  search, they stil hadn’t found anything to prove someone

  had been in the house.

  Michael knew he was probably grasping at straws, but

  hadn’t he had some strange dreams since being in this

  house? It was the best he could come up with on the spur of

  the moment. He scratched his head before saying what

  was on his mind.

  “Maybe there real y was no one here, I mean physical y.

  Maybe he slipped himself into our dreams? I just can’t

  understand why someone would be here and not do

  anything.”

  “How? Why?” Kerr frowned as they made their way back

  to the kitchen. “And why did Charm and Doyle have more

  vivid dreams than the rest of us?”

  “You’re asking me? I don’t know, maybe your dreams wil

  tel you?” When Kerr mentioned the others he seemed to

  retreat into himself in thought. Michael just wished they

  worked it al out soon.

  § § § §

  “Are you al right?” Christian asked quietly. Charm

  looked as miserable as he felt. They both knew this wasn’t

  where they wanted to be. Christian glanced over at Doyle

  and even he seemed to want to be elsewhere. Doyle had

  been acting weird since Michael had joined the household.

  But every time Christian tried to ask why, Doyle found a

  way to blow him off.

  His attention came back to Charm as she shook her

  head, “I want to go home. We shouldn’t have come out

  tonight. We should have stayed home, stayed together. It’s

  safer.”

  “Come on, let’s dance.” He led her out on to the dance

  floor. They swayed slowly to the rhythm of the music.

  Inhaling deeply, Christian buried his face in her hair as she

  rested her cheek against his shoulder. She didn’t speak,

  but words weren’t necessary as they comforted each other.

  As the swayed to the music he knew he ful y agreed with />
  her; he wanted to go home too. Being here with the Charm

  and Doyle just felt wrong when he wanted to be near

  Michael.

  Why was everything such a big secret anyway? Christian

  hated it when the others acted as if he was some child they

  had to take care of. Although Michael didn’t make him feel

  that way. He got the impression Michael wanted him

  around. Okay, so maybe Michael’s part in this was al in his

  head because most of the time Michael didn’t even know

  he was there and their conversations were usual y one

  sided. But if he had of known, Michael would have liked

  having him around. Since Michael had joined the family

  they had become friends. The music changed tempo as

  Christian and Charm danced to a few more songs before

  they decided to leave.

  “We’re going home,” Christian said to Doyle after they

  had walked off the dance floor. Not bothering to wait for an

  answer as he led Charm out after him. Taking off his coat

  he draped it around her slender shoulders. From the corner

  of his eye he noticed the drunk from the other week

  watching him. Before he could stop himself, Christian

  grinned as he laid his arm lightly across Charm’s

  shoulders. The drunk stared at him and frowned as if trying

  to recal exactly where he had seen him before. Christian

  wondered what the man thought as his “filthy faggot” was

  now leaving with a beautiful woman. If he remembered him

  at al , he would probably think he was a hooker heading off

  with another trick.

  He didn’t need to look; he just knew Doyle had fol owed

  them outside. “I stil need to feed. I wil meet you guys at

  home.” He walked away as Charm and Christian agreed.

  They watched Doyle walk way until he was completely

  out of sight. Lost in their own thoughts, Charm and Christian

  walked in silence for such a long time that Christian was

  startled when Charm spoke. It felt so eerie. It always did

  when they started talking about the dreams. “Wil you al ow

  yourself to love him openly?”

  “What the fuck?” Christian stumbled. Had he heard her

  wrong? What the hel was it she had said? Who was she

  talking about? Please don’t let it be Michael and those

  damn dreams again. He didn’t think he was being obvious

  with his lust for his roommate. The dreams had let them al

  believe maybe it was the case, but Michael wasn’t gay.