Chapter 33: Honey, we’re home!

Nikola looked at the baby Dimitri was bathing, then at Jack, who was shifting from foot to foot.

"How exactly did you two get the baby?" Nikola asked. It was a cute baby, even if it was a little quiet.

The two were covered in dust. The baby was so small that it could only be a newborn.

"We got it out of a coffin," Jack finally said.

"Jack, we talked about this!" Dimitri said, but he didn't raise his voice. He didn't want his new son to cry.

For someone this small, the boy, as he had figured out what he was in the car, had quite a pair of lungs.

"No! I won't lie to him! He doesn't deserve to be lied to!" Jack protested.

Dimitri sighed.

"Niki, have you heard about coffin births?" Dimitri finally said. He needed to get some brownie points now, that he had outed himself as someone willing to lie to his soulmate.

"Yes, I have," Nikola told him. "What were you guys searching for in a graveyard?"

Dimitri bowed his head. He didn't want to throw Jack under the truck, but he didn't want to spin a lie, either.

"We were searching for food for me," Jack said, as he took in a deep breath. "Now feel free to call me a monster."

Nikola sat down in a chair. He felt faint.

"If we hadn't gone, Timmy would have died," Dimitri cut in, trying to show Nikola the silver lining. "Besides, you knew that Jack was a ghoul."

"I thought that he could eat only raw meat," Nikola said, as he looked at Jack with a mix of fear and apology. "Not that he needed human flesh."

"I need it just once per year," Jack told him, as he took a step towards him. "I am no danger to you."

Nikola jerked in his seat when Jack made a stop before him.

"Jack, can you please finish the baby's bath? I need to speak with Niki," Dimitri was not willing to let something like this fester. He was unwilling to let their friendship end like this.

"Sure. I'll pack afterward," Jack said, his head bowed.

Dimitri dried his hands on a cloth and then offered his hand to Nikola. The man took it as if in a trance.

The vampire led his soulmate to the bedroom. Thinking about all that he could ask him to calm him down.

But Nikola was still technically human. How was he supposed to calm him down? How was he supposed to ask him not to abandon Jack?

To cut him out of their family?

The bedroom door closed with a click behind them. Nikola swayed on his feet.

Dimitri picked him up bridal style and carried him to the bed. Setting him on the covers, Dimitri took a chair and sat by the bed.

"You don't seem to have a problem with me," Dimitri said, as he petted Nikola's hair.

Both he and Jack deserved a happy ending.

"You never gave me a choice," Nikola began, as he looked at the ceiling. "But you swept me off my feet. Is Jack… would Jack eat Jean one of those days? He is stronger than the boy!"

Dimitri smiled. Even now, Nikola was more concerned with others than his survival.

"Jean is in no danger. Jack told you, as well, he needs human or humanoid flesh just once per year. If you have no problem with me, a being who drains you of blood every third day, then why do you have a problem with Jack?"

"Did he eat her? The mother? Did you even find the baby in a coffin? If Jack had not decided to come clean, would you have lied to me?" Nikola whispered.

Dimitri held his silence.

"Would you have lied to me, Dimitri?" Nikola repeated, this time looking at the vampire in the eyes.

Dimitri took a deep breath.

"You are human. I didn't expect you to understand. But the baby is really a case of coffin birth, I swear!"

"Then what did Jack eat to calm down?" Nikola persisted. "Did you murder someone? Did you?"

Dimitri sighed.

Oh, how was he going to explain this to Nikola?

"He ate a thin-blooded vampire. Another coffin birth. The mother ate her child because she could not get out of the coffin."

Nikola began to breathe faster.

"Niki… we are monsters, all of us."

Nikola didn't appear to be listening. He placed a hand over his chest. Trying to catch his breath.

"Calm down," Dimitri whispered. "Calm down, it is not as bad as it sounds!"

Nikola took a deep breath after the other.

Dimitri knew that there was only one thing to do.

He bit him on the neck. Letting his saliva put him in a better state of mind.

Nikola wrapped his arms around Dimitri's back, something he had done more than once in the past days.

A slight moan escaped him.

When Dimitri finally drank his fill, he looked at his lover. The green eyes were still wide, but he could see that Nikola could at least breathe again.

"I know that you find it monstrous," Dimitri said, as he kissed Nikola on the forehead. "But we didn't lie to you. You knew what we were. The question is: will you do something to keep this family together, or will you try to forget us."

"And if I wish to leave?" Nikola knew that he was way over his head. He knew that his new family was not something that he could come to terms with easily.

But that was neither here nor there. He knew for certain that he could and should leave.

But he wanted to see first what Dimitri was going to tell him.

"I will miss you until the sun explodes. Where will I find you again, if you leave?" Dimitri whispered.

Nikola blinked. He hadn't expected that.

"Will you keep me here by force?" He finally looked into his lover's red eyes.

"I would never lay a finger on you. You are my treasure," Dimitri kissed him on the forehead once more, standing up, resigned to his fate.

Only for Nikola to grip him by the arm and pull him into bed.

Burying his nose in Dimitri's nape and falling asleep.

He refused to make such a decision in this state.

He loved Dimitri too much to let his fear speak. He cherished Jack too much.

They could have hidden this grim truth from him. They had not.

Honesty should never be punished.