Brothers

[Trillian]

Reserved for pinkroses


Kerr was working.  Again.  It seemed to Ben that Kerr was either working or out with Jenna a lot lately.  He had to admit, the two of them had a lot in common.  The first year Kerr had invested a lot of time and energy into Ichabod, which was fair considering he was a fledge, and slowly Ben began to take over.  It hadn\'t been planned that way, it had just happened.  The shit had hit the fan in the Oligarchy a few times and Kerr had needed to lean on Ben.  Since Ben owed Kerr a great deal for pulling him out of the numb rut he\'d been in, he\'d been eager to prove himself responsible.

It had been difficult at first, because of the bullying earlier on, but soon it had worked itself out into something civil.  Ichabod had expected Ben to be a bully, Kerr had expected Ben to be supportive.  Kerr\'s ideal won in the end, but not without a bumpy beginning.  Now, even though Ben was classifying their relationship as \'blood brothers\', he still didn\'t have a lot of brotherly love towards Ichabod, and knew that Ichabod had the same conflict within him, though to give the new fledge credit, he tried his best to hide it.

His best wasn\'t terribly good, though.

Risk had become a place Ben felt good about visiting, at least.  The doors had opened after a very long three months of renovation, and now was a place he enjoyed hanging out at.  Even with he only had Ichabod with him and not Kerr.  Word had spread about the pair of them; they were the Luminary\'s fledglings.  It was easy getting groupies, and they were allowed in the VIP room which guaranteed clean mortal donors.

All in all, life (or unlife, as some called it, though Ben personally believed he\'d become another species rather than being animated dead - he certainly didn\'t feel dead), was good.  It was better now than it had ever been.  He knew his place, he had a kind of family (and hey, what family didn\'t have a few flies in the ointment at times?), and he could see a brighter future down the road for himself with Kerr.

He\'d grabbed Ichabod\'s hand in the entryway in order to pull him through, but as soon as they were into the club proper, he let it go.  Ichabod would always know where he was, because of their blood bond, so it wasn\'t like he had to babysit him, but that wasn\'t the reason why he\'d dropped Ichabod\'s hand.  He\'d done it because it had been like a guilty reaction (or was it a protective one?).  Someone was here who Ben hadn\'t seen in years.  He hadn\'t even heard others mention him, which was unusual in itself.  His reputation carried, after all.

Lazarus.

The Ancient had always gravitated around Ben, (or had it been the other way around?) and letting go of Ichabod\'s hand was a way of removing himself from the other fledge.  The fact Lazarus and Ichabod had been together escaped Ben\'s memory right at this instant, because it was what he referred to as \'tale knowledge\'.  For three years, he\'d been told the tale of his existence.  Lazarus and Ichabod had been part of that, and therefore a semi-removed part of the tale.

Whatever relationship one had with Lazarus was always a negative one.  Lazarus saw fit to ensure things went that way.  The blonde Ancient was at the bar and hadn\'t seen them yet.  Ben wondered if Ichabod had seen him or was focussing on something else.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod liked coming to Risk as much as Ben - he had often felt awkward coming here as a human, but now when he and Ben came here it was a completely different experience. It was unlike anything Ichabod had ever experienced. Maybe it was fake, humans wanting to find the best way to get noticed, the best people to be seen with, but Ichabod didn’t mind that too much. Their attention gave him and Ben a chance to escape each other for a short while at least. It had taken a long time before Ichabod had felt confident feeding alone and it was still hard, but that was why Risk was good. There were so many groupies willing to be fed from that Ichabod could just take a tiny amount from each and not let himself get carried away with one. With Kerr and Ben\'s help he hadn\'t done anything he really regretted yet when it came it feeding, but there had been one or two close scrapes.

Even when Ben wasn\'t right there, just knowing Ben was nearby, being able to feel him always, helped Ichabod feel more confident about feeding. Ichabod would have preferred Kerr, he always would, but Ben and Kerr were all he had and although he sometimes felt uneasy around Ben he had to try to trust him. All of that stuff be had done to him, that was in the past.

Ichabod had been dawdling in the entranceway, as usual. He enjoyed savouring the last few moments before they were immersed  in the thumping music and sights and smells of the club proper. He didn’t resist Ben’s urging though and let himself be led by the hand into the club, although the grip was suddenly gone and was replaced by a feeling of unease. Ichabod wasn’t able to distinguish the ancient as being Lazarus and when there were so many vampires in the club he didn’t pick anything out as out of the ordinary, apart from Ben’s mood.

He turned to his blood brother, almost making a move to touch him on the arm, but stopping after a jerky movement. If Ben had let go of him like that then Ichabod didn’t really want to initiate contact again without knowing the reason behind it in case Ben took it badly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a low voice, his brown eyes fixed on Ben, trying to focus despite all the distractions around the club.

[Trillian]

Of course Ichabod would feel the tension through the bond.  Maybe as a human he\'d been really canny about body language too.  The latter didn\'t matter anymore, not when you had a little echo of another person\'s feelings thrumming in your blood.

He debated whether to tell Ichabod about the Ancient.  After all, Lazarus was directly in front of them, though surrounded by others (over which he towered) and about eight to ten steps away.  Most people when entering looked left towards the dance floor and booths when walking into Risk.  Some groupies had just done it now, around himself and Ichabod - because they were standing in front of the glass door inside.

Lazarus is here  , he projected mentally.  Ichabod still ran the habit of speaking out loud, and honestly it was a habit Ben fell into as well.  The main reason why he remembered speaking to him silently was because he didn\'t want Lazarus to hear his name and glance their way.  Hell, if they didn\'t move now, that might happen anyway.  Let\'s go to the VIP room.

He suspected Lazarus didn\'t have membership into that room, though to get there they\'d have to walk past the bar and Lazarus.  Ben projected an image of them circling the whole club, going to the VIP room that way, and didn\'t know how much of the picture Ichabod was going to get, because Ben hadn\'t bothered to construct it properly.

He faced Ichabod and did a little sideways movement with his head instead; and you didn\'t have to be a mind reader to know it meant \'this way\'.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod froze as Ben’s voice touched his mind, telling him about Lazarus. His dark eyes stared at the blonde for a moment before he glanced around, looking like a terrified rabbit, trying to locate the danger. He hadn’t seen Lazarus for so long and really didn’t want to so as soon as Ben suggested the VIP rooms Ichabod gave a small nod, using the flicker of a mental image pressed into his mind to guess where Lazarus was. It didn’t take long to spot the ancient once he was looking for him and Ichabod stepped closer to Ben. Ben made him nervous sometimes, but whilst Kerr was around Ichabod knew Ben wouldn’t do anything to really hurt him.

Lazarus on the other hand, was full of bad intentions and didn’t care who he hurt in the name of fun for himself.

Why is he here? Is he allowed here? Didn’t he go?

Ichabod reached out to lightly grip Ben’s sleeve, not wanting to risk losing him in the crowd of Risk whilst they walked, happy to let Ben lead the way. It was always tricky to keep together through the crowd, especially when there were so many warm bodies, now noticing and recognising them and wanting to get their attention. Ichabod tried to block them out as much as he could, to focus on getting to the seeming safety of the VIP rooms.

[Trillian]

I don\'t think men like Lazarus ever really go, Ben shot back, already leading Ichabod around the club like he\'d designed.  They just kind of... circulate, he finished, feeling like the word he used was apt but not the perfect one.  He was more afraid of Lazarus spying him and making trouble for Kerr\'s sake, rather than his own.  Unlike Ichabod, Ben didn\'t have any negative feelings towards the blonde Ancient.  He quite liked him, in fact, even though Kerr had told him that Ben had been influenced badly by him during his \'tale time\' and to have sex with him again when returning to the city after escaping the clutches of another Ancient in New York... well, there was something in Ben that now automatically deferred to Ancients.  Kerr would recognise that feeling, though Ben\'s and Ichabod\'s sire had grown beyond that now.

Ben still had to reach that realisation for himself, but he was making advances in leaps and bounds, thanks to Kerr\'s patience, love and understanding, and Ichabod\'s strangely independant dependance, if such a thing was possible.  It was like the fledgling didn\'t really need them to survive, but did need them to survive well.

No doubt Ichabod was feeling his name surfacing in Ben\'s thoughts here and there, enough to know that Ben was thinking about him but not enough to know how and why.  It didn\'t matter how well shielded Ben was, Ichabod got resonance of all his thoughts.  It was a blessing and a curse, and Ben was only relieved to discover through their living together, that Ichabod didn\'t know details if Ben\'s mental shield was up.

Right now it was up, only because he wanted to hide from Lazarus.

Ichabod was right, though.  What was the blonde Ancient doing here?  He\'d disappeared for so long that Ben thought he\'d found himself another long term project in another city somewhere.  His hold on this city had been lost long ago, so why hang around?

Because people here adore him  , Ben said mentally to himself and to Ichabod secondarily. Look at how they look at him.  They worship him far above and beyond any other vampire in the place.  The shine might be tarnished if Kerr were here with us, because he rules the council, but Lazarus has ruled the city twice and maybe he thinks he\'ll rule it again.

And that answered Ben\'s other question to himself, about why Lazarus was still around.  Because he hadn\'t given up.

They were on the opposite side of the club now.  The doors to the VIP room were the same distance away as Lazarus, but at least now they didn\'t have to walk past him to get there.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod chewed gently on his lower lip as they moved, aware vaguely of what Ben was thinking about but there were no surprises there and Ichabod was too distracted to ask for more details - he knew some of what Lazarus and Ben had done together too, and didn’t want to ask in case Ben was thinking about the time he couldn’t remember, from what he had been told. But even though he couldn’t remember it, Ichabod knew how much Lazarus had influenced Ben negatively - those cold stares, the bullying, little habits which had contributed to everything that had happened between them. Ben still made Ichabod nervous at times (although the brunette knew it was probably all just in his head) but as his dark eyes cast out towards Lazarus again Ichabod realised that if Ben and Lazarus spent time together it would just make him worry about Ben all the more. Ben was usually the one in control, looking out for him, but right now Ichabod felt a tiny flare or protectiveness towards the blonde and a desire to keep him away from Lazarus.

I was like that with him, Ichabod mentally replied to Ben’s comment about people adoring the ancient, without really meaning to. It was embarrassing now to think back on it. He’d been so willing to do just about anything Lazarus asked of him, but Ichabod hadn’t been able to handle getting nothing in return for so long. He tore his eyes away from Lazarus to look at Ben when the blonde considered Lazarus might want to rule the city again. That would be… well, any plan which had that as the end result couldn’t have a good result for Kerr tucked away in there.

We should find out what he’s planning. Even before the thought was formed Ichabod knew it was a bad idea. Lazarus wasn’t stupid, and that idea was a direct contradiction of his intention to try to keep Ben away from Lazarus. But hovering here staring at Lazarus like a fan who was too afraid to go closer wasn’t helping. Any moment the ancient could glance around the room and spot them

This is stupid. Come on, let’s just feed and get out of here, please Ichabod said mentally to Ben, finally managing to get a message across that he really wanted to. Ichabod had spent so long just blurting out in speech what he was thinking as a human, now he often found himself projecting thoughts he didn’t mean to. Fortunately it hadn’t caused many issues and he was working on it, but just being in the same room as Lazarus was making him nervous.

[Trillian]

Ben glanced at Ichabod when he\'d made his confession about adoring Lazarus.  It was something Ben had heard before, though not recently.

The suggestion that came next sent a little thrill up Ben\'s spine, though it was one he considered warily.  Kerr wouldn\'t be happy, and was it wise to fuck up a good thing?  Apparently, in his three gap years, he\'d fucked up over and over again.  Did he really want to repeat that?

No.

Almost as though Ichabod had received the decision Ben had arrived at, he changed his mind and pleaded for Ben to hurry them through the process.

Yeh, yeh, he shot back, not meaning to be dismissive but that was how it felt, and damned if Ichabod wouldn\'t feel that too.  Sometimes, he felt like he was already a hundred years older than Kerr\'s new fledgling, and sometimes, when he treated Ichabod like a kid, he felt like a heel.

Like now.

C\'mon, he issued mentally, but couldn\'t stop himself from making that little \'follow me\' head gesture again, and clung to Ichabod\'s hand with his own, pulling him towards the VIP room.  They weren\'t exactly running, but their walk was brisk.  Ben had only just started tapping into his supernatural celerity, but Ichabod hadn\'t reached that point yet, and it was unfair to drag him around at superspeed.

They made it, or at least Ben thought they did.  As they entered through the glass doors thanks to the bouncer that guarded the VIP area entrance, he shot a look back over his shoulder to see Lazarus staring at him and smirking.  He had a glass of whiskey or something alcoholic

but vampires can\'t ingest so why-?

and winked before tipping his head back and downing it.  Ben didn\'t see any more because he faced forward.

"See anyone you like?" he asked, letting go of Ichabod\'s hand and nudging him with his elbow.  It was meant to sound lighthearted and funny, but to his own ears the joke fell flat.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod frowned slightly as Ben gave his answer, but quickly tried to smooth it away. Ben was agreeing and they were moving on, although he had a bad feeling about all of this. Ben’s response felt like he was just trying to placate the younger fledgling and Ichabod wasn’t sure whether or not to believe that Ben was going to stick with it.

He noticed Ben glance back, but didn’t follow his gaze. Giving Lazarus backwards glances was not something Ichabod wanted to get into. And he wished Ben wouldn’t either. As they entered the VIP room Ichabod glanced around, looking across at Ben now that they were safely behind a shut door.

He had been looking forward to coming out, having a moment or two away from Ben to maybe chat with someone else, feed, not do any more because, well, he hadn’t really been that intimate with anyone for a while now. It would feel kind of awkward, knowing other people could peek in sometime, or if he let his guard down, they might get a rush of his feelings and emotions.

But right now even chatting with a stranger seemed like a bad idea. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of Ben for a moment. He wanted to trust the blonde, but if Ben disappeared for even a few seconds Ichabod knew he was going to worry about where he was, who he was with.

No, Ichabod replied, glancing around the room briefly, but not really seeing anything or anyone and glancing at him, confused for a moment by the nudge, but then getting that it had been supposed to be a joke. He felt a bit better now they were in the security of the VIP lounge, but he was going to feel even better when they were out of here. At home. Safe.

Don’t… you’re not going to go out there again, are you? Don’t go alone, please, Ichabod said mentally, his dark eyes fixed on Ben, the worry clear in his thought and face. If Ben slipped away, went out there, did fuck knows what with Lazarus, Ichabod would feel guilty about letting it happen, even if there was no way to stop it. Ben was faster, mentally stronger, and Ichabod had always felt like he had the upper hand. If he decided to do it, there wasn’t going to be much Ichabod could do.

He was hungry, and there were humans in here ready to throw themselves at them, but he couldn’t focus on that right now, not when he was going to have to keep his eyes on Ben all night.

[Trillian]

"I\'m not going anywhere," Ben replied aloud, unable to focus on speaking mentally to Ichabod.  The more mental conversation they had, the more attuned to Ichabod\'s emotions he would get, strengthening their bond.  It was like a switch that got reset every time they woke up to face the new night.  He had the idea as he and Ichabod aged, that bond wouldnt be reset quite so distinctly and they would learn how to share or secret away their emotions from one another.  Right now though, Ben understood that they would be more in tune at the end of the night before going to sleep, and he valued his privacy enough to want to hold it off a couple of hours longer.  After a year of being very intimate with Kerr (as they\'d had problems to work through initially) Ben figured Ichabod had got used to feeling their sex through the bond.  Ben certainly had to get used to the idea of Ichabod feeling it, or else he and Kerr would never manage to be sexually active again.

"Do you want to get a glass from the bar, then?" Ben asked, trying to hold back his exasperation and managing.  He hoped Ichabod wasn\'t getting every emotion yet, and Ben was trying to block him.  Maybe they could get on well with each other tonight.  They both tried so hard.

[Existentially Odd]

As his fledglings were surveying the VIP area, Kerr was entering Risk behind them.  What had been a routine night at work consulting on some fledgling applications changed suddenly when one of the Oligarchy spies had entered the boardroom and whispered in his ear of Lazarus\' return.

Of all the citizens in this great city, the one he was most concerned about seeing again was this ancient.  The second he\'d heard the news, he\'d left work and raced to the club, wanting to personally ascertain the blonde\'s motives for being back.  It was also no coincidence that his speed was directly related to the vicinity of his fledglings to Lazarus - in fact, he\'d considered not bothering with a car, knowing he\'d be able to beat all traffic on his own feet, but common sense had won out and he\'d collected a demonic assistant to travel in his vehicle with him.

Just inside the doorway of the venue he paused, identifying the pull of his blood bonds beyond the VIP area door.  It did nothing to relieve his tension, though; even in another room was too close for Ben to be to Lazarus, in his opinion.

Guilt followed the thought, because he knew he should be equally worried (if not more so) about Cub being around Lazarus... but instinctively he wasn\'t.  Ichabod had left Lazarus\' sphere of influence willingly, Ben was always inexplicably drawn back to it and despite the very even and loving keel their relationship was now on, he would always experience a knee-jerk jealousy reaction when it came to the two blondes.

Still, he needed to focus on the greater cause here and put his partner beyond his thoughts.  This was about finding out why Lazarus was back in the nameless city; frankly, the threat to his position as Luminary was the more likely.  He should be worried that the devious ancient had some sort of overthrow plan in mind, rather than thinking his personal relationships were the most likely ones in jeopardy.  He also couldn\'t afford a mental conversation with his fledgling, in order that he maintain his focus.

He spotted the towering hulk of asshole easily, surrounded by fawning masses that knew no better.  Straightening his black suit jacket and pinching his blue silk tie needlessly, Kerr smoothed his expression (allowing a small smile to lift the corner of his mouth, like he was amused by the ancient\'s reappearance, rather than worried), tucked his hands nonchalantly in his pockets and sauntered as best he could through the throng of club-goers filling the space between he and Lazarus.  His mimic bodyguard melted seamlessly into the crowd at his back.  He stopped a metre or so away from where the striking figure was posed and addressed him with volume that would alert the humans draped upon him to an intruder\'s presence.

"Well," he announced, settling his weight confidently on his right leg and thrusting his left foot forwards, owning the space he now occupied with his conviction, posture and title.  He was used to people scurrying when he did such a thing, but it was instinctive now.  "To what do we owe the... pleasure of your return, Lazarus?" he asked in his usual dulcet accent, tasting the man\'s name like a newly-discovered (and possibly poisonous) fruit.  The smile flitting about his mouth was not reflected in his brown eyes and when he met the cold blue stare across and slightly above his own, he believed that the feeling was mutual.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod gave a tiny nod at Ben’s spoken words, relieved by them and trying to make himself believe it. He had to try to trust Ben and it felt like a constant struggle but he had to do it for Kerr’s sake.

He glanced towards the bar at Ben’s suggestion and gave another nod.

“Sure, yeah. But… you know, if you want to… not go to the bar, that’s fine,” Ichabod said somewhat hesitantly. As much as he didn’t want to let Ben out of his sight for a moment right now, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that. And he wouldn’t be able to know where he was all the time - Kerr trusted him and Ben didn’t need a babysitter, even though Lazarus was in the city. It was for Kerr’s good that Ichabod wanted to keep them apart. Well, kind of. If Ben and Lazarus got anywhere near each other again then Ichabod couldn’t see it being good for anyone.

Whether or not Ben agreed to go find someone to drink from, or to go to the bar with the younger vampire, Ichabod began to move towards the bar, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets, but he paused as he suddenly felt Kerr nearby. His dark eyes flickered to the door of the VIP area - he wanted to go out there, to see what was going to happen when Kerr and Lazarus met again (because why else would Kerr be here? He was supposed to be working tonight) but he knew Lazarus could be dangerous and didn’t want his sire to be worried about his fledglings on top of Lazarus.

He glanced towards Ben, then after a second almost indecision he carried on towards the bar, frowning slightly. He got to the bar quickly and ordered, leaning his elbows on the bar and remaining standing, trying to resist the temptation to mentally reach out to Kerr as he waited for the drink. As soon as it arrived Ichabod picked it up and drained half of it before setting it down once again, playing gently with the rim, finding himself wishing they had gone somewhere else tonight.

[Trillian]

Ben was irritated with Ichabod\'s indecisive nature.  It wasn\'t just that, though.  After a couple of years learning from Kerr and Ben, (the former who coddled and supported him, the latter who tried hard to be civil), he\'d thought that Ichabod would just harden the fuck up.  He was a vampire now, sired by someone who loved him, who wouldn\'t leave him, with a stable and impressive occupation, whose fledges were acknowledged and recognised - hell, even worshipped - by humans who knew the supernatural secret.  They couldn\'t have it any better.  Ben\'s confidence had grown ten-fold since Kerr had helped him out of his funk a year ago.  Sure, he had a little bit of self-doubt in him, everyone did (who wasn\'t a raving egomaniac), but it was controlled.  It seemed to him that Ichabod liked being the whimpering, simpering little boy lost.  He certainly acted the part well.

Ben swallowed his distaste down, focussed on simply smiling tightly and nodding at Ichabod before he went to the bar himself and found a comfortable lounge to settle himself down onto.  No doubt a donor would see him on his own and approach soon enough, and as Ichabod nursed his glass of warmed blood, Ben had a warm body sitting beside him.

Outside of the VIP room, Lazarus considered his many options as to how he would approach his two past lovers.  He\'d toyed with the idea of cutting them off before they reached the VIP section, but let that go mostly because of the bouncers giving him the old hairy eyeball.  It was like they were on alert, waiting for him to give someone trouble so they could have an excuse to turf him out.  Right now he was behaving himself, drinking whiskey and nuzzling some friendly groupies.  He intended on catching Ichabod and Ben once they left the club.

The voice that carried to his ears dampened that plan.

He turned to face Kerr, past-worshipper, current nemesis, and grinned broadly, as though they were old friends.

"Kerr, love, you know I couldn\'t keep away from you too long," he said slyly, as though they\'d had quite the romance.  Their relationship had certainly been intense.

He noticed, with a large degree of annoyance, that most of his avid follwers had turned their lusty gazes on Kerr.

Bah.

[Existentially Odd]

"Flattery," Kerr announced, as if the choice amused him. His smile grew a little and it was no accident that the expression flashed the bottoms of his fangs at the blonde across from him. "How quaint."
 
Purposefully, Kerr looked at a couple of the mortals who\'d very naturally fallen away from the space between he and his enemy, creating a rather keen, electrifying semi circle from which to observe their... discussion. He expected Lazarus to completely ignore the insinuation that flattery was a cheap commodity, offered to him frequently by those with a heartbeat, but he was pleased with his dig all the same. It was quaint that an ancient whose very presence made him want to sink to his knees (and it wasn\'t it so hard to fight and to stomach the knowledge of it, at the same time?) would flatter him much as a \'worthless\' blood donor might.
 
Looking briefly back at the ancient to see how his insult had landed, Kerr\'s gaze then systematically met those of everyone who was looking at him. He gauged their excitement, the thrill in the air, their heightened awareness and knew - even as he was smiling benevolently upon them - that they were a mob being incited to frenzy merely by the power play they were suddenly caught in the middle of. That simply wouldn\'t do.
 
He looked back at Lazarus. "I think we should talk somewhere a little more private," he suggested mildly, knowing that he stood more to lose in front of an audience than the blonde did; he had a balanced reputation to uphold, it really wouldn\'t do his image any favours when Lazarus inevitably pushed one of his buttons and he started frothing profanities at the cockhead. Whenever he came into contact with Lazarus, they were always there, bubbling just below the surface.
 
The Luminary didn\'t have the luxury of feelings. One of the feeding rooms upstairs would be preferable for them to be unleashed (assuming Lazarus would refuse to accompany him back to the Oligarchy headquarters).
 
He quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly towards the stairs, silently begging his opponent\'s agreement. Lazarus might not know what was upstairs now (Kerr had made the mistake of trying a room out once, been propositioned due to the enormous bed they\'d been laying on and had to exit as hastily as he could. He\'d not gone back for a second round of temptation) and although Kerr was loathe to be in such a space with the blonde, it was the only private alternative away from his fledgling and boyfriend. He\'d have to brave it.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod only raised his eyes from the glass he was toying with when a donor approached him with a few words and  a warm smile. Within a few moments the two were headed to one of the more comfortable sofas, Ichabod steering them away from Ben. He was still indecisive a lot, shy, nervous when he had no need to be and it was something Ichabod had been trying to work on - but it was because he wanted to please everyone, the people he cared for, Kerr. And he wanted to be sure he wasn’t making the wrong decision, but it didn’t work out that way a lot of the time.

As they settled down on the sofa Ichabod tried to focus on the young man beside him rather than letting his mind wander to what else was happening in the club tonight. He hadn\'t wanted to try to find someone to feed from, but it was so easy here and he knew it was because of Kerr and his position. But right now he would make use of that when it came to him.

[Trillian]

Ben was very aware of each movement in his bloodline, even as he fed slowly from the neck of his donor.

Ichabod had changed positions, leaving the bar after being propositioned.  Ben could feel him settled somewhere behind him, likely on the long modular sofa against the wall.

Kerr was agitated, and because of the bond Ben shared with him as well as being somewhat irked himself (despite his desire to be friendly), he could feel his own impatience and intolerance growing.  He wondered if Ichabod shared the emotional connection as well, or if he simply got a much clearer feeling of how Kerr was feeling, rather than experiencing it down the bloodline.  It was different for different vampires, he\'d read, and he was always trying to get Ichabod to explain what it was like for him - not that getting a succinct explanation out of his fledge brother was easy, but it was very possible Ben was the one helping to make it difficult.

Lazarus, who Ben shared a more trivial connection with, was smiling grandly at Kerr.  The innuendo had been accepted strategically as a compliment instead of an insult.  The smile broadened into something a great deal more predatory when Kerr motioned for them to go upstairs, but Lazarus thought it better to be obstinate and pretended not to see the gesture.

"Oho!  What I could do to you in private," he declared suggestively, but then reached out with both arms to lock them at the elbow around the necks of two of his closer mortal followers.  "How about we take a couple of these with us to play with?"

Both mortals were filled with glee.