It was somewhat odd to realise he had made a decision as he voiced it, because John had not actually thought that far yet.

"Don't be ridiculous," Preston said, "now stop being melodramatic and pick up your things."

"I'm not going with you," he repeated.

Each time he said it he believed it more and it felt right. Suddenly he was looking down the barrel of a gun. Before he could follow what was happening there was a growl from Michael and a blur passed in front of him as the vampire plucked the gun out of Preston's hand.

"Don't even think it," Michael snarled, standing between John and the woman.

"You have corrupted him," Preston accused, glaring at Michael even as she backed away.

"No," Michael replied, "you did that when you turned him into an assassin. What you don't seem to get is John is a Soul Reader, not a vampire killer, and because you sent him here he's just figured that out."

"You're a tool of destiny," Preston appealed to John past Michael's shoulder.

"Then destiny should make sure I'm in the right place when necessary, shouldn't it," he replied.

Michael's existence opened up a huge number of possibilities. John had been taught vampires were inherently evil and until Michael he had seen no evidence to the contrary, but Michael changed everything.

"Leave," Michael said, emptying the clip from the gun and then handing it back to Preston.

The woman really didn't have much choice and with a last look at John she walked out of the room. Michael stood by the door and watched the clean up team leave while John stood there and let his mind reel at what he was thinking.

"You look like you need to sit down," Michael said after the front door banged shut.

John shook his head, the last thing he needed to do was get comfortable. Michael might have been extraordinary and have shattered some of his long held beliefs, but that didn't change the fact that he was still in the house of a vampire.

"Once I'm sure they're gone I'll get out of your hair," he said.

"Where will you go? What are you going to do?" Michael asked.

All John could do was shrug.

"I don't know," he admitted, "I don't even have an identity. I've been living in safe houses. All I have is what's in my bag."

"What would you have done if this had been a normal assignment?" Michael asked in a ridiculously understanding tone.

"Gone back to the safe house, eaten a huge meal, slept the day away," he replied, pretty sure it was a bad idea to share the information with a vampire, but not really being able to stop himself, "then on to another safe house, another city until they pointed me at another target."

"Come on then," Michael said, taking him gently by the arm.

John was confused.

"What?" he asked.

"There is a kitchen full of food downstairs," Michael told him and guided him out of the room; "I've been experimenting with omelettes recently, but there's bacon and toast and sausages as well if you'd prefer."

He came to a stop in surprise and glanced back into the bedroom.

"But I killed the other two members of your triad," he said, totally not getting why Michael wasn't just throwing him out the door.

Michael gently encouraged him to start walking again.

"We weren't a triad," Michael told him. "Lisa and Nikolai were the couple, they just kept me around as the occasional fuck toy and some alternative entertainment. I've just kind of been going with the flow for forty years. Lisa was only letting me put on the play because it amused her to see me so excited about something. You did me a favour."

There wasn't a lot John could say to that, so he let himself be led to the kitchen without complaint. There Michael sat him down at the breakfast bar and then started pottering about making things. Given the fact that John's metabolism was in overdrive trying to replace all the blood he had donated, when food was put in front of him he just ate.

Michael made small talk as they consumed breakfast and it was so normal that John had trouble remembering that the other man was a vampire. Of course he knew vampire's ate, blood maintained them, but looking like a walking corpse because they were starved was a possibility for a vampire as well as a human. John had just never expected one to cook him breakfast.

"Stay here," Michael said as John was finishing up and made him almost choke on his last bite of toast.

"What?" he asked.

"Stay here, with me," Michael said and appeared so intensely hopeful that John didn't know what to say.

A vampire and a Soul Reader living together; it would be beautifully ironic, but it would also be totally insane. Much like most of the morning so far.

"You need a place to stay and I hate being alone," Michael continued when he didn't respond immediately, "and I don't think I'm on my own in thinking there is a certain chemistry between us."

There was no denying that.

"You need blood, I need to be bitten," John pointed out the other obvious advantage.

"Win/win?" Michael asked with a tentative smile. "I promise I'm trying not to be too nocturnal because of the play and I only get really cranky if I'm exposed to sunlight for over an hour."

John would have liked to agree, even if half his brain was asking him if he was mad, but there were other things to consider.

"What about your vampire friends," he asked, "if they find out what I am they will kill me and probably you as well."

"None of them would dare try," was the surprising response. "The only advantage of having Lisa as my sire is her bloodline; it's incredibly powerful. I may not be a very good vampire, but most of the underworld here would be idiots to look at me funny let alone challenge me."

John tried not to be impressed, but he couldn't help himself. He had been educated in vampire politics for his role, but Michael was just so different.

"Think about it," Michael said, smiling at him, "I'll get you some more tea."

John had no doubt that he had two choices, take up Michael on his offer or run very far from London, possibly the whole of Europe. Soul Readers were rare, there was no way the organisation would just let him go, so he had to hide or remain in full view, but be protected. His power definitely liked Michael and he seemed to have more control of it because of the vampire, but the whole idea still seemed completely mental.

Ever since he had been kidnapped from his home his world had felt slightly unreal, but this was taking it that one step further. Vampires were evil incarnate, he had been taught it and shown it, only not if there were any more like Michael. As he thought about it he realised logic was not going to help him; this was not about logic, this was about what he felt in his heart.

"Okay," he said as Michael handed him a fresh mug of tea, "thank you,"

Michael beamed at him.

"But what could I do here?" At least he had a purpose with the organisation. They had taken away his life, but they had given him a new one and he was the type of person who needed that.

"Would you like a part in my play?" Michael asked with a grin. "I can honestly say your audition was spectacular."

"Sleeping with the producer," John joked back, "such an old fashioned way to get a part."

He laughed, because it was funny, but the whole suggestion made his chest twinge in a way he had thought he had forgotten.

"You would be perfect for the male lead," Michael said and seemed to be quite serious.

John had to put his hand on Michael's arm to stop him.

"I can't," he said, very regretfully, "people might recognise me."

"So what?" Michael replied. "It's not as if you need to hide. I will keep you safe."

John shook his head.

"I mean from before," he explained. "When I said 'up and coming' I meant it. I did a couple of feature films, some TV work. If I show up in a play someone will figure out who I was before."

That earned him a confused frown.

"Why not let them?"

"Because it'll be a media circus," he replied. "I might not be famous anymore, but missing, presumed dead ex-celebrities suddenly showing up, even b-list ones, tends to get the tabloids going."

"Presumed dead?"

He nodded.

"I think only my family hold out any hope I'm still alive. They put an appeal in the newspapers every year on the anniversary of my disappearance."

Michael took hold of his hand and gently squeezed. The pain of knowing he wouldn't see them again had dulled over time, but it still hurt.

"Then why don't you take your life back?" Michael suggested.

"How?" he asked, trying not to sound too bitter. "How can I explain the last five and a half years? How can I face my family after letting them worry and search for me?"

Standing up, Michael walked round the breakfast bar and made John turn so they were facing each other.

"Stick to something near the truth," Michael told him quietly. "You were kidnapped, you were used and forced into addiction. You couldn't go home. Vampires are experts at coming up with fake lives, I can have one set up for you that even MI6 would believe."

Michael made it sound so easy, so possible, but it was all a bit much. John didn't know what to say.

"John, you have given me my life back when I hadn't even realised I'd lost it," the vampire said, taking John's face between those long expressive fingers, "let me give you back yours, please."

There should have been no link between them; they were opposites in a war, but it was there anyway. John had spent the last five years disconnected from everything with only dogma and his power to keep him going. He didn't remember what it was like to be free, but Michael made him want to. Michael made him want a lot of things.

"Okay," he said, voice cracking with the emotion he was feeling.

It was terrifying, but it also filled him with so much hope.

AsMichael leant down and kissed him, he kissed back and he finally let himselfforget about vampires and Soul Readers. At that moment Michael was just a man,a man who had somehow smashed straight through John's defences, and Johnreacted accordingly. In that kiss he could taste the future.  

The End