~A week later~

—Mason —

I rubbed my eyes, feeling exhausted. I'd started feeling that on the fifth day, and now, a full week had passed. Me and Alex shared an apartment, but that part of it wasn't unbearable. The part of me that ached and was tired, it longed for Geoffrey. I wanted him, and I didn't know what to do. 

The feelings of my... now living body, were far more complex and powerful than I'd assumed them to be. I'd forgotten how hard it was to control yourself when you had needs. And I had needs. I needed /some/ water- as I was able to sweat now- and I was starting to feel a faint need for sleep. Actual sleep.

Sure I'd never needed it before, but my soul was changing on it's own to adapt to the bond. I only stepped in now and then, to stop my soul from touching a part of the others none of us was ready for. I refused to love anyone but my Omega, and I would wait to hear him say it. For now, constant supervision was required, but I couldn't help myself. I had an hour before Alex woke up, two before Geoffrey did. 

So I snuck out, and left a note. He hadn't been kidding, money was running out. However, I'd made progress. I'd figured out I could memorize the mathematical equations at a glance, and they came easily to me on the tests. Same with the english and history studies. I could memorize the entire course, all in a day, for all of my classes. Then I could just take the tests.

That had been my plan, and it had worked for the most part. I was getting close to done with the final exams of the first year. If not for those two gifts, I'd have been hopelessly unprepared. As I walked down the street, I felt my aching tiredness sooth, slowly fading until I stood next to Geoffrey's home.

I longed to go inside, but I didn't need to, so I didn't. I sat next to the vent that lead down to their room, catching Geoffrey's scent mixing with that of his brothers as it escaped the house. I sighed, leaning my head back as I longed to hug him again. That time in the Coven while I tortured him... I regretted it, but I also longed for those days to come back. I wanted to hold him, hear his heartbeat, taste his lips... 

I stood and started walking back to my apartment, feeling drained. The ache always left, though the tiredness needed something more than a smell and a bit of blood from a sparrow. Animal blood worked better for me now, though reptiles and birds were the ones that helped most. I needed human blood, though, and soon. I could feel myself growing weaker, maybe I was entering that comatose state where I'd be useless. Alex had made me promise to tell him if it was getting too much to handle, and when he woke up, I'd be keeping that promise. 

When I stepped inside, I locked the door and windows, then climbed into bed. My eyes ached, and I felt so exhausted... Maybe I could rest my eyes, just for a few minutes... I tried closing my eyes- more than relaxing, this actually gave me a bit of a problem; I was asleep in seconds.

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—Alex—

I woke up and groaned, staring tiredly at the ceiling. I was in a building again tonight I was starting to get annoyed with myself. I had only had to stay for three nights, to make sure he didn't cause trouble. It was like I couldn't make myself sleep away from the vampire. Speaking of the bloodsucker... I glanced at him and paused. He was asleep, something I'd never seen him do.

He looked beautiful when he slept, and that annoyed me for some reason. I shook my head, standing and starting to clean up after him- undressing him, tucking him in, and picking up after him; his clothes, laptop, food, and water. Some of the items were mine, but at least he was sleeping. I moved to leave, pausing on the threshold. I didn't know why I wanted to stay so badly, but it was grating on my senses to leave. I had to accomplish my other duties though, so...

I made myself step out, walking stiffly towards the door, but hesitating when I heard him whimper. He was still asleep, his heart was slower in sleep- not even beating- but I hurt inside. I couldn't leave, it hurt me too much. I wanted to go, I wanted to stay. I had to do one of them, so I stayed. 

I was bored out of my mind, but I didn't care. My chest didn't ache, and I wasn't feeling that weird pain. Which let me focus on another problem- I could feel Masons hunger through the bond, and I knew that he would need to feed soon. I couldn't let him just run around eating people, but I was sure my blood would be enough. Animals certainly weren't enough. 

I'd need a willing human, but humans couldn't know about our world, which meant I needed a disposable one. With few homeless people in this city, I didn't know what we could do. Feeding once every few months wouldn't help much either- though I knew our blood worked like an extender, lengthening the amount of time their human blood lasted even if it did nothing to aid them with the blood problem itself. 

I'd once met a small group of vampires that had lived for two decades by eating some of a human and nearly draining a nearby pack dry before taking more blood. That wasn't a good option either. Maybe if I could get him a job at the hospital he could live off of blood packs and the like, but that was a less than ideal situation...

I sighed, shaking my head. I'd figure it out somehow. For now, I had nothing I could do but wait. This had better not be a permanent sensation- if I had to stay next to him longer than his nap, I was going to start hurting. 

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—Geofrey—

I ran for my life, dark creatures getting closer with every step. Maybe I could make it home, to my friends- it would be safe there- but that was only if they didn't catch me- and I wasn't fast enough yet to escape them. No, I'd used tricks so far, but... One stepped out of the alleyway in front of me and I gasped as...

I gasped as the cinematic of my character being eviscerated on screen reminded me of all the blood that Mason must have drunken in his life. I shuddered, paling as I let myself stop being part of the game, shivering as I sat back on the couch, watching as George beat them to the base. He'd focused on upping his speed, while I'd tried to up my guys strength at the same time. Problem was, Strength directly decreased speed, a fact I hadn't known until just now. 

George whooped, the level completed and his character getting another week of living in the shelter before needing to go out again to gather supplies again. It was a fun game, one our cousin had programmed and asked us to play test before he actually sold it, which I used to be okay with doing. It hadn't been all that scary, and it had been fun... 

Now it just reminded me of Mason and that place. I shivered, closing my eyes and hiding my face against my knees in an attempt to block it all out. The suddenly dropped, cold water on my head was distraction enough as I yelped, scrambling to escape it. I didn't look where I was going, accidentally knocking over George and getting us rolled over. We wound up in a position that would've had anyone else blushing right alongside me- one of his legs between mine as he knelt over me, his face inches from my own and my arms firmly wrapped around his body, my free leg also wrapped around his waist. My eyes were wide and obviously startled, and his were confused.

There was giggling from behind the couch, and I clung all the more tightly to him, hiding my trembling face against his chest while he glared up at our sisters. "Hey! You know cold water is off-limits! Even warm water is only outside! Once he calms down enough to let go, I'm gonna tickle you both to your graves!" They squeaked, running up the stairs, laughing as they went. I shivered from the cold now, Mason and that time firmly and effectively pushed out of my mind. I could almost thank them for that...

Almost.

We'd ended up in this position before, back when we were younger especially. In these moments of raw panic, I didn't feel the pain from our contact at all, more focused on the need for protection. I suppose the fact that he was my brother and incest is beyond disgustingly repulsive had a bit to do with it, but I never really looked very deeply into it. It was just kind of... life. He smiled down at me.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you want to take a bath of warm water?" George always cared, and I nodded into his chest, not quite able to let go and face the cold yet. He chuckled, sighing as we waited. I did eventually let go, after almost ten minutes, but he just picked me up and carried me over to the bathroom. After removing the hair dyes from the shampoo bottles, and replacing the bottles entirely, I finally got to enjoy my bath. It was a nice change from a shower, I guess, and relaxing- which I needed- but I still wished I could just... forget those weeks and live. 

Of course, all good things must come to an end, so I should've expected that I'd have some bad stuff happen in my life, but really? I was fine, I could push through. I always had before. I sighed, draining the bathtub before getting out, grabbing a towel and looking at the floor as it wrapped around me. For one instant, before the towel finished wrapping around me, I saw the hair on my chest and... the rest of me. It was, somehow and for some reason, a bright orange. 

I panicked, moving to the mirror and wiping it with the towel. It didn't help much, but it was enough to see. My actual hair was a slightly more reddish orange than the rest of me, the darker color fading to a lighter one as it moved back to where I'd let my head float in the water, allowing the shampoo to rinse itself off. I stared, wanting to say something but not quite able to as I stared. I could hear the twins erupting in laughter in their room- they'd heard my sudden lack of movement in here, and knew what I'd discovered. I just... I couldn't even.

How had they done it? We'd taken so many precautions, changed the bottles, even double-checked the faucet... there was no way they could've pulled this off. I didn't know or care why at the moment, I was more interested in simply trying to wrap my head around my new... appearance. I shook my head, looking again and whimpering. Now that it was drying, it was actually becoming a deeper shade of red, reminding me of the Ariel character from that Disney film. I shivered, eyes beginning to water with tears as I stared. I hated being noticeable, and this? 

How could you not notice someone with hair the color of blood?

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  —George—  

I'm not the best at keeping secrets from family, I'll be the first to admit. But when they're important, I can keep anything secret from anyone. Nothing escapes me... which is why I hadn't told my parents and sisters about Geff being a Were. But... it was also why I hadn't told him about them, either.

I stepped into my sister's room and glared at them. They were still chuckling from their earlier prank, and my glare did nothing to quell that. My words were a different story, and they were quite sullen by the end of my little tirade. 

"What was that? You know he doesn't know about whatever it is you two can do. Mom said she stopped being a witch because of dad; and Geff? He's why she still doesn't do magic. We've spent a long time trying to let him live a normal life- heck, I haven't gone flying in three years- and you two have moms gift." They seemed to want to say something, but I wasn't done, so I continued. 

"So why do you two try to throw it all away? We can't let him know about us, our world would destroy him! He can barely handle the normal, human one he's in, neither he, nor dad, could handle knowing about any of this. The more stunts like this you pull, the closer he will get to figuring it all out. He's not stupid, after all." They glanced at eachother, then sighed.  

"If we take back the red hair, he'll figure it out, but we... we didn't change the shampoo into dye.  We'd have to change his hair color back all at once. Maybe we could get him to 'dye' it back?" We all knew there was no chance of that. We'd have to trick him again... I hated doing that, but I was used to it. I'd been doing it his entire life, after all. I dreaded the day he found out, but I knew it was inevitable. 

He had draconian blood- in all likelihood, his own children would get some magic in them. Maybe he wouldn't get married, but I doubted it. He was too nice, and I was certain someone would fall for him soon. I only worried about who it would be...

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—Orlando—

I watched the runaways through the window, considering. They were close, closer than they had any right to be. I grinned in a way that would seem like a grimace to any human- knowing most, the fleshbags would start panicking right then and there. Mason probably didn't see it yet, and that was the truly, painfully ridiculous thing. It almost made me want to laugh- but I didn't. Instead, I planned. 

They both had affection for the Omega, something I couldn't quite blame either I them for. I'd seen his soul when he was at his most vulnerable. It was endearing, and it shocked me how innocent someone his age was. I grinned cruelly, almost chuckling at my idea. 

How much would they suffer if their innocent little Omega was left completely forgetting everything he had ever been. If you messed with the soul in certain ways over a long enough period of time... an amnesia of sorts. Oh how he'd enjoy this revenge. 

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(A/N) Hey guys! I'm sorry for being so dead recently- I didn't have this all planned out before hand, so I struggle, sometimes, to finish a chapter or write out an idea. If the story starts to get confusing or I forget something, please let me know. 

Till next time,  Sept-Mates!

Your poet and Scribe, 

~ShadeFinder<(0^0)>