Breaking News - Part II

[pinkroses]

(For Billy)

Murphy had taken a taxi from the Luminary to the White Rabbit, his nervousness growing with each block. Ben had wished him luck, reassured him that he didn't immediately smell Lazarus on him, although there was something ancient about him - so maybe Lazarus' plan would back-fire. Maybe Jake wouldn't hate him just because of who had turned him.

And if he did this would be a very short visit.

Murphy slid from the taxi smoothly with a word of thanks to the driver. He had texted Jake to let him know he was on his way, but had kept it brief, giving no other information and then putting his phone on silent in his pocket so he wouldn't be tempted to write again if Jake replied with questions.

It was crowded inside, but Murphy had no trouble making his way through the mass of bodies. He got a couple of double takes, from people who spotted his golden eyes, from vampires who felt the age of his blood, but Murphy ignored them.

He wound his way towards the entrance of the warren, and spotted Lisa-Joe lingering near the entrance, surveying her kingdom. Murphy hadn't intended on speaking to anyone before Jake, but it looked he would have to in order to get past to Jake.

"Lisa-Joe, it's good to see you, is Jake in?" Murphy asked, approaching the beautiful red-head with trepidation, now needing to wonder what her reaction would be in addition to Jake's.

[Black Philip]

Standing near the elevator down to the warrens stood Harpy and owner Lisa-Joe Hampton. The bar was full, and the new programming list was a real hit with the downtown crowd. She was pleased, and the better the bar did the less she had to focus on it. Her real work was for the district now, and between drunk assholes wrecking their cars outside, or twinks doing heroin in the bathroom, she always had some crisis to manage. She didn't think tonight would be such an affair, until she looked at Jake's boyfriend, Murphy, and realized he no longer had a heartbeat.

She wore a poodle skirt, the 1950's getup not matching any theme in the bar tonight. It looked more like it was something she'd pulled out of her closet. Her hair was wavy and down tonight, and she'd been fixing it as she watched the club. She heard Murphy speak, but almost missed the words entirely. He was cold. He had no heartbeat. He smelt... like one of them. Her eyes widened, but her tiny mouth stayed closed. Jake had been bitching about Murphy all week, something about an assignment for Boris Karloff and the Munsters. She'd been half listening of course. In general she'd liked Murphy, up to this point. She hadn't been thrilled Jake already had a new guy so soon after Lazarus, but Murphy was kind and smart, and Jake had really seemed to improve since the trial. She'd bordered on telling him she liked him, but now that was on hold. She knew Jake was going to be devastated the Sacrament sired Murphy and didn't tell him.

It explained why he felt old, and while she didn't know which of them had given the blood it was clearly on Charon's orders. She almost didn't know what to say.

"Welcome to the fang club Sugah. When did you take the plunge?"

She made no move to get Jake or tell Murphy where he was. They needed to chat about this first.

[pinkroses]

There were so many people in the club, drinking, talking, shouting, singing, listening to the loud music. When he'd been focused on making his way to the elevators Murphy had only had that on his mind, but now he'd stopped the mass of writhing people seemed very close and slightly overwhelming to his newly enhanced senses. The darkness was easier to see through than previously, but the flashing lights were so bright and there were so many smells... so many people and all their feelings. Murphy wasn't picking up on specific thoughts, but all that highly-strung excitement, a couple of low moods, one on the edge of tears, but mainly pleasure. It was everywhere.

 A frown flickered over Murphy's face as Lisa-Joe ignored his question and he wanted to lower his head in shame, but he reminded himself that this situation was not his fault. Murphy settled his golden gaze on Lisa-Joe steadily, trying to focus only on her, now the surrounding rush of emotions, until he flinched slightly as a nearby group let out a loud shout of excitement as one song melted into another, clearly a favourite.

"I didn't..." Murphy began, wanting to protest that this hadn't been his decision, to “take the plunge”, but then he stopped himself. This was a conversation to have with Jake, not Lisa-Joe. "A week, I need to talk to Jake about it first though. Then I can tell you later, or he can," he said, slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out his phone to glance at the response Jake had sent. "Looks like he's here," he said, returning his gaze to Lisa-Joe after a quick glance at the message on the screen and taking a step towards the elevators.

[Black Philip]

"Going down," she asked with mock interest, making sure to get in the elevator a moment after Murphy. "Me too. Guess we're buddies."

A dancer was clearly running towards the elevator, wagging his finger and asking the door to be held. Lisa-Joe blocked access to the buttons with her body and made sure the doors closed, leaving the two of them alone. She turned, their bodies inches from one another. Now that he was this close he smelt familiar somehow. Perhaps it was that Ari person who'd sired him. Lisa-Joe had only met him once but it would explain why she somewhat recognized the scent. She locked eyes with the former human.

"He wanted to sire you," she said, her eyes narrowing a bit. "It's all he would talk about the last few times we've hung out; well, not just siring you. He won't stop talking about you in general. I think he really cares about you, Sugah."

Had she known who'd done the deed and how it happened, Lisa-Joe would've been a totally different person, but for right now she looked at Murphy as a person who was going to hurt Jake. Jake had been hurt enough recently.

[pinkroses]

Murphy tensed up slightly as Lisa-Joe followed him into the lift. If he'd just ignored her she still would have seen him and seen what he was now. He instinctively moved into the corner of the lift and then turned to face the front, watching with a blank expression as Lisa-Joe shut out another passenger.

Not her business, not her business, I have to tell Jake first.

After Ben, of course, but hopefully that wouldn't come up.

Despite her scowl, Murphy couldn't help but let a flicker of a smile escape onto his face as she emphasised how much Jake had been speaking about him, how much he cared about him. Maybe this would be ok, if Jake felt like that then they might get past this.

He stood up straighter, needing to look down at her since she was so close. Her whole demeanor could be intimidating, but it wasn't her he was concerned about.

"Good. I care about him too and I'm not going to explain myself to you before him, that wouldn't be fair on him," he said, wanting to shut down her baiting before either of them got carried away with the situation.

[Black Philip]

At the conclusion of Murphy's words the elevator dinged and the doors open. Lisa-Joe stood in front, and for a moment it looked like she wouldn't let Murphy pass. She eyed him for a long time, and then narrowly stepped aside.

"He's not in the apartment," she advised. "He's training right now so head to the armory."

She started walking away but turned back while Murphy was still in ear shot.

"If you hurt him I'll break you in half," she warned, all smiles and as she did. She figured Jake might already be hurt and not know it, or perhaps there really was a good explanation. "That said, good luck. I'm just tired of him dating people who hurt him." With that the Harpy strut away, leaving Murphy to find the armory on his own. Perhaps she didn't need to threaten his life, but at her age it never hurt to give someone a little more motivation to do the right thing.

Jake meanwhile, was trying to focus on training. He'd sent Murphy a slew of texts once he knew he was coming.

Where have you been?
Did I do something wrong?
I'm in the armory.
Are you on your way?

He felt pathetic and needy, and decided to put his phone away while he waited for Murphy to arrive. He had two short swords and was practicing his parrying and footwork. The armory was really a group of rooms. One was straight artillery and held the flamethrowers and chains they'd used to capture Lazarus. Jake was in a room to the side that looked like a gym. It had a hard wood floor with far too much polish, balance bars, training dummies and even a track. The room smelled faintly of sewage and flowers. It was close to the main sewage line that left buildings like Haven Crest, and while a million plug in's tried to make it smell like roses, it ended up somewhere in between. Jake was used to it. He waited for Murphy and his two sparing opponents tried to disarm him. He was happy for the distraction for what he figured was Murphy coming to dump him. He assumed Ben had gotten to him in the end.

[pinkroses]

Murphy didn't try to shove past Lisa-Joe, but stood watching her with his golden eyes boring into her until she chose to move.

"Thanks," he said, without making any attempt to sound sincere. She had no fucking idea and was instantly assuming the worst. Maybe it did look bad, but it was none of her business, it was between Jake and him, not her. He raised an eyebrow at her empty threat. If Jake was the man Murphy hoped he was, he wouldn't let her hurt him, even if Murphy had upset him.

And if Jake did let her carry out her petty threats, maybe Ben was right.

He couldn't be bothered trying to answer back, she clearly wanted the last word so he let her have it and headed down the corridor. Murphy had been to the armory once on a quick tour from Jake, but it had been on the way elsewhere and from somewhere else, so he walked gingerly to make sure he went the right way.

Murphy entered the artillery room first, breathing in the unfamiliar scents of metal and oil. The fledgling followed his ears, moving into the next room, his nose wrinkling up slightly at the scent of sewage, mingled with a flowery scent which became too overpowering and artificial. He could smell the polish on the floors as well, which was more pleasant, but not strong enough to over-take the stench.

The unhappy look on his face disappeared into a smile as he spotted Jake, although he looked busy and Murphy glanced down at his shoes, not wanting to disturb Jake, but knowing he had to.

"Hey," he said after a moment as he sensed a small break in the sparring, stepping further into the room, but not moving close to the battling trio. "Sorry I couldn't come over before," he added quickly, knowing it was only the start of the conversation, but wanting to get that apology in first. He shouldn't have stayed away for a week, Jeanne was right. He'd seen the desperate messages from Jake and wished he hadn't caused that. Jake would hopefully dismiss his sparring partners before he started asking questions, but if not Murphy would ask him to.

[Black Philip]

Jake ended with a riposte and knocked his opponent to the ground! He'd made sure to deliver the finishing blow right as Murphy entered, and turned with a smile as he heard the other speak. The sewage and plug in smell masked others that might be present, and with everyone in the room being a vampire, Jake didn't immediately sense the change. For one final moment, this was just Murphy Hilton. He was a cute human to whom Jake was becoming quickly attached. He was a journalist, and he was tough, and kind and all at once. He was friends with Jake's biggest rival, and yet they were making it work. He reflected on all this as he crossed the room. The first thing he noticed that was out of place was that he didn't hear Murphy's heart beat. He'd come to love the sound.

"Hey," he replied in much the same tone that Murphy had used. "It's okay. Sorry if I annoyed you with my texts." He smiled innocently. He turned to his sparing opponents. "We're done for today," he told them, handing off his swords. He moved to embrace Murphy, but then the smell of a vampire filled his nostrils and his flesh was cold to the touch. He'd been turned.

"Oh," Jake said quietly, pulling away a bit and looking confused. "When did this happen?" He smelt familiar. Was it Ben? No, there was something old about his aura now that Jake was up close. Like Lisa-Joe, he assumed it had been the Sacrament. He didn't look angry, but he didn't look happy either.

[pinkroses]

Murphy was sure he was supposed to be impressed by Jake's final blows, but he had too much else on his mind to be able to admire the move properly. He felt a wave of relieve as Jake looked at him and didn't immediately start asking questions - his eyes were pretty noticable and he knew there were any number of other clues to a vampire - his heart beat, his scent, just an overall... feel.

But Jake wasn't reacting to any of that, so maybe he was taking it ok? Murphy gave a small smile to the others as they left them alone and he stepped in to Jake's embrace. But he didn't have time to relax into that comforting hold before Jake pulled away. Murphy assumed Jake had already realised what he was, so he must have smelt Lazarus on him.

Fuck.

"A week ago, when I was supposed to come here and Charon texted you," Murphy said quietly. "He attacked me, Jeanne came to help," he added, not realising Jake wouldn't immediately know who had attacked him. The fledgling half reached out, wanting to touch Jake for reassurance, but his lover had just pulled away from him with that... that blankish sort of look on his face.

"Do you hate me?" he said, feeling a painful throb in his throat. Lazarus was right, he'd managed to ruin them.

[Black Philip]

All of the words came so fast, and Jake was left confused. Charon had attacked Murphy? No. That wasn't right. It went in the face of everything he knew about the elder. He valued Ben, and Murphy was so connected to Ben it would be a fool's decision to go after him. Also, Charon knew Jake was seeing Murphy. It would be political suicide for him to sire Murphy without at least informing Jake it was happening. No. He took another smell and it was then he figured out who'd done this. It was a smell that filled his bed for many nights. It once brought him good feelings, horny feelings, but now it just reminded him of pain. It was Lazarus.

"I could never hate you," Jake said, taking Murphy's hand. It wasn't the same though. Jake's hand felt tense, and while he meant what he said, he was having difficulty sorting through how he felt. He decided to lean into the numbness for now, for Murphy's sake. A deep anger would come later.

"Ummmm, I-." He didn't know what to say. "It smells like shit in here. Let's go to my room and just talk, maybe share a meal."

It was a distraction to buy time. He needed to think. He tried to relax into Murphy's body but the image of blonde hair entered his field of vision. A familiar laugh echoed in his mind. Why had Lazarus done this? Did he hate Jake that much? Of course he did. He led Murphy by the hand back through the armory and towards his apartment. Internally, a dark expression crept over his face and an even darker thought entered his mind. He was so undisciplined currently that Murphy might hear the private thought if he was focusing on Jake's mind.

I should've killed the mother fucker.

[pinkroses]

"Ok," Murphy agreed to leaving the armory (it did stink in here) and he stepped up beside Jake as they walked. He could feel the tension in Jake's body and it did nothing to convince him that what Jake was saying was true. He'd already fed before leaving him, then at Ben's, so he wasn't really craving it currently (which Murphy knew was unusual for someone so young) but he wasn't about to turn blood down.

They were making their way along the corridor when Murphy caught Jake's stray thought - after spending a week at Penbrook he was used to communicating mentally with older vampires who were open to his thoughts, but he knew that wasn't going to be the norm. That was a strong thought though, with a lot of emotion behind it.

"No, don't say that, he would want you to be blaming yourself. You did what was right," Murphy responded outloud as though Jake had spoken the thought, squeezing his hand.

[Black Philip]

Jake winced and stopped walking, looking at Murphy with shock. He'd gotten used to letting his mental guards down when Murphy was near. Humans couldn't read mind normally, and so Jake had never felt the need to keep things private. Now, it was obviously different. Jake was afraid what Murphy might find if he was in his head and so mental walls came up, and it was like static now coming from his head. He sighed and pulled Murphy closer. It still felt odd, but underneath the skin it was still Murphy he was next to. Jake kept reminding himself that Lazarus could take away Murphy's humanness, but not his humanity.

"You're right," he lied. "I just-. Well, I'm angry at him."

With that Jake resumed their walk, slipping his arm under Murphy and trying to ignore that fresh Lazarus smell. Murphy's eyes looked beautiful though, and Jake couldn't help but give a tiny smile as he looked into them.

"So, the Sacrament has been helping you," he asked, already sure they had been based on Murphy's words regarding Jeanne, and Charon's deceptive texts. He was trying to not be mad at the ancient. He was obviously trying to do what was best for Murphy, but he felt lied too.

[pinkroses]

Murphy's eyes widened at the look Jake gave him as he'd responded to his mental comment. He was used to being with the Sacramentum, where the mental communication was intended, he'd not really overheard mental thoughts before. Because he'd heard one snippet, Murphy was mentally reaching out, so when his mind filled with static the youngster flinched visibly before mentally pulling into himself.

He let Jake pull him closer, taking a bit of comfort from being taken into his space, expecting a hug, or kiss, but none of that came and Jake was suddenly moving again which was disappointing.

"Uh, yeah," Murphy replied, feeling like it was quite a pointed question. Yes, he felt guilty about not contacting Jake or Ben for a week after it had happened, but he'd needed more calmness than this night was giving him and although there was that guilt, Murphy knew he'd made the right choice.

"Can we just... get inside first?"  he added, feeling awkward talking about this in a corridor where there was no privacy. He needed to explain everything, not just jump straight to why he'd asked the Sacramentum for help.

Once they entered Jake's chambers Murphy moved towards the couch, but didn't sit.

"He left me. He beat me up until I was going to die, then he turned me, then he just left me there," Murphy said, pacing as he spoke, a tremor audible in his words. Murphy had managed to mostly stop himself from even thinking about the actual attack, but then when it came up, everything just came flooding back. His movement stilled as his voice did and he turned to look at Jake properly. "I called Jeanne. I knew she'd be able to get there quickly and wouldn't be focused on the fact it was Lazarus." He hadn't intended on telling Jake that, but after the mental thought he'd picked up on, Jake couldn't protest that it wasn't true.

[Black Philip]

Jake was at an utter loss at what to do or say, and ended up speechless at the end of Murphy's explanation. Instead of saying anything he crossed the room and hugged him deeply, letting his concern, shock and empathy pour into Murphy at his touch. He wrapped up the other with his arms. He still could smell the monster who did this, and realized he probably always would, but he wanted Murphy close. No. He needed him close. Finally, after probably thirty full seconds, Jake made his eyes meet Murphy's. They looked so beautiful.

"I-. I can't imagine what you've been through," he said. "Murphy, I'm so sorry your choice was taken from you."

While it wasn't a sexual violation, it may have well have been, and strangely that thought made it easier to relate. He felt his concern for Murphy push away some of his nerves, and the change in his energy was clear. It now read, I am here for you. Jake didn't know what Murphy needed, and he still had millions of questions and feelings, but Jake reasoned the most important thing was tended to Murphy first. Everything else could wait for that.

[pinkroses]

Murphy was surprised when Jake approached him and enveloped him in a hug, especially since he'd ended by explaining why he'd contacted the Sacramentum. Murphy had assumed Jake would be more upset about not being the one picked to come and be 'rescuer'. Maybe he would have been okay in that role. Murphy didn't resist the hug, and returned it, finding comfort in that solid grasp, noticing a few new things which he hadn't spotted as a human. His scent, the feel of his muscular back under his shirt, the tickle of his hair against Murphy's check. It was all good distraction from thinking about that pain and bringing Murphy back to the present.

"At least he didn't kill me outright," Murphy murmured against Jake's shoulder, grasping for the good. Thinking about it happening was scary, but at least he could think about it. He could block it away in the back of his memory now he'd told the most important people, and not think about it again. That would be easy, right?

Well, not with all that emotional sympathy Jake was mentally sending his way. He couldn't block it out and it was getting overwhelming. Dealing with multiple sets of emotions was exhausting - he'd need to speak to Jeanne or Hugh about that, get some training in blocking out most of it where he could.

Murphy pulled back so that he could see Jake properly.

"Please, can you... I can feel all this and it's too much," Murphy said, gesturing his hand between their two heads - if he couldn't stop it, Jake could keep his emotions to himself maybe. Murphy knew it was an unfair request, and he did want to know what Jake was feeling and thinking, but right now it was just... a lot. "I can't block it yet," he added, to explain a little better, but wanting all that confusion gone before he went on to his next planned question.

"The others said I felt old, Ben assumed it was one of the Sacramentum at first, but since it was him... can you feel him? Do I smell like him?" Murphy asked, an ashamed look crossing his face at the suggestion, forgetting he hadn't intended to bring up to Jake that he'd gone to see Ben first. Murphy didn't want to be a constant reminder to Jake of Lazarus, but there was a selfish spark which was suggesting that even if he did, maybe they could work past it? That nasty little habit of mentally reaching out for his sire snuck in again, but there was nothing and Murphy tried to ignore that flicker of disappointment which came every time it was a blank search.