KERR HAD GONE FOR A swim early in the evening, with Jack trailing along behind him, though he\'d excused himself quickly, leaving Kerr to paddle around in the waves, knowing that the vampire was feeling somewhat melancholy and thoughtful and would likely spend at least another half hour in the water.
Jack took the opportunity to seek out Ben, who hadn\'t sought him out like he\'d expected. It was strange how the fledgling merely accepted his fate of having a \'twin\' and hadn\'t bothered to meet or get to know Jack beyond a passing hello. They were living in the same house and Jack had barely caught a few glimpses of him. It was strange, and initially Jack had thought that it was a matter of timing, but now he was beginning to believe Ben was purposefully avoiding him.
The fledgling was in his room, he found soon enough, loading software onto his new computer if the CDs scattered around him on the desk and floor by his chair was anything to go by. Ben\'s journals were in a neat pile off the bookshelf, telling Jack that the fledgling was likely to begin typing them up. The process would be slow, judging by the two-fingered tapping on the keyboard. Ben would pick out letters and look up at the screen to check what he\'d written in, and as Jack watched, he backspaced twice before searching for keys and typing a couple of different letters in.
"Enjoying your gift?" Jack said, thinking he might surprise Ben by speaking, for the fledgling hadn\'t acknowledged him as he\'d stood in the doorway watching. To his dismay, Ben continued doing as he was, and spoke to Jack while looking at the screen still.
"Yeh," he said, a simple answer that was given out of courtesy more than a desire to speak to Jack, he thought. Jack moved forward into the room, dressed only in red swimming briefs, looking Ben over, who was wearing a white polo and bluejeans.
"Have you written anything about me?" he asked, going straight to the real question he\'d wanted to ask. He knew Ben wrote in journals because he remembered writing in them himself. Strictly speaking, Kerr hadn\'t had to tell Ben anything, because Ben would\'ve written his own history down in first person. He wouldn\'t remember writing it, but his handwriting would be evidence of the fact he\'d done all those things.
Ben glanced his way finally, though the look was far from friendly. It was more accusing, Jack thought, and he wondered what he\'d done to deserve such hostility from Ben. He hadn\'t exactly etched his own mark into the fledgling now, had he?
"Not really," Ben said, and Jack was disappointed.
"Why not?"
Ben was fully distracted from his typing now, and because Jack was closer, he could see Ben had been filling out an online registration form for his software, with serial numbers and his name filled in. The cursor was blinking on his address line, where Ben had paused.
"You don\'t have much to do with me," he explained frankly, obviously wanting Jack to go away because he looked at the screen again, though didn\'t try to type anything. He was waiting for Jack to speak again.
"I look like you, I live where you live, and Kerr is going to sire me," he said, the last of which caused Ben to blink a few times and stare at him. The expression on his face was wary, like he didn\'t know what to believe, or that he didn\'t want his expression to give away his true thoughts. "We\'re connected, whether you like it or not, and we\'ll be blood bonded soon enough."
"What do you want from me?" Ben asked eventually, after the two identical youths stared at each other for a good half minute. Jack thought about it for a little bit, long enough for Ben to glance back at the screen.
"Acceptance," he said finally, "friendship," he tagged on, almost as an afterthought, but the two words had been carefully considered. Ben looked back at him and shrugged, implying no promises. It angered Jack enough for him to press his lips together in a tight line. Outside the wind began to pick up, causing the waves Kerr was swimming about in to grow in size. "It\'s not too much to ask."
Ben continued to stare at Jack, and the earthling saw that there was little Ben could say to that. Questions were easily answered, statements were not. Jack moved further into the room and sat on the foot of the bed. Ben swivelled his chair around to watch his progress, frowning as he did so.
"You\'ve got what you wanted," Jack said, receiving a quizzical look from Ben. "You\'ve been sired. I have your memories, though they feel like mine," he said possessively, "and I remember everything you did in order to be sired. You were so desperate for it that you used whoever you could in order to get what you want."
"Or it was you," Ben challenged, "using my body to go after what you wanted."
Jack had believed this of himself also, that he\'d been the one to control Ben, that it had been him all along, because of the ritual, but Samuel had explained everything to him. The love he felt for Kerr, was Ben\'s. Jack had no control over anything until the necklace had been around Ben\'s neck, and that was when everything to do with the ritual had gone haywire. Ben and Kerr had interfered by bringing Jack to the surface first, and then Kerr had interfered by pulling Ben out of the ground before the ritual had transferred all the memories Jack had needed.
"No," Jack denied. He was walking a fine line here, because he was attempting to have Kerr believe that he was the one Kerr loved, under the power of the ritual\'s mark on Ben - that it had been Jack all along. Now he was telling Ben the new truth he\'d learned, instead of what he\'d believed true to Kerr. Even though he\'d figured out what was untrue, he wasn\'t in a hurry to let Kerr know. "Read your journals. You\'ll know it\'s been you that lied, hurt and cheated on Kerr."
Ben frowned some more. That was the strangest part about his memory loss - that he\'d become involved with Kerr. Last he remembered, he\'d been excited about visiting Kerr but had been busily pushing any lustful thoughts out of his head because he knew they wouldn\'t reach fruition, that Mandy had herself a head start on him. Now everything was advanced to the point of being lovers, and Ben was struggling to come to terms with a relationship that he didn\'t remember nurturing. It all seemed so fast.
"I suppose you think you\'re better for him?" he asked, wondering if this was Jack\'s point for being here - for warning him off Kerr, for marking his territory. After all, if Jack possessed all those memories, he would remember the relationship too.
"We\'ve already been intimate," Jack shared, causing Ben to look at him with suspicion. "He knew it was me and not you, too," he clarified.
"Good for you," Ben said, and swivelled his chair around in order to continue pecking at the keys, typing in the address of a house he didn\'t really feel was home.
Jack smiled at Ben\'s back, and just as he stood up to leave, he could hear Kerr\'s footsteps approaching. Perfect timing, he thought, and left Ben\'s room in order to meet Kerr before he arrived.
