Chapter 28

His eyes opened slowly, his body stretching to remove the kinks he felt in his back. Groaning softly his head turned as he wondered exactly where he was and what weird sex he'd gotten up to the night before. As his head turned his eyes widened, Mic, it was Mic next to him, and he was fully clothed.

It was then the happenings of the night before flooded his brain, a nearly frantic Richie, a crazily happy Mic, and a glow that he saw through his fucking eyelids. They had glowed like a freaking lamp. Shaking his head as he processed the info he wondered why she of all people could cause that.

Sitting up he reached over, a calloused finger tracing her cheek lightly, the now familiar flash and sizzle rising to make his hair stand on end. He almost moaned at how exquisite it felt like. Touching her was unlike any other person he had tried to touch in months.

"Mic baby, wake up."

Mic stretched and yawned as the much eluded sleep finally left her body. Opening her eyes she felt a huge warm sensation across her cheek and wondered where she was for a minute, as her dreams had been filled with light brighter than the sun. She looked up and her eyes connected with another set of bright blue sedated eyes. She felt so complete again and balanced, not like she'd just drunk twenty cups of coffee. "Mmmm, what is it?" she asked sleepily.

"It's time to wake up baby. Sleeping on a couch is definitely not in my ideas of comfort." He chuckled before glancing at the bedroom door. "And admittedly I'd like to know who survived the night."

She sat up and stretched looking towards the door "Shit, what if he was too late?" she started to worry as the state Gia had been in when Richie had arrived was bad.

Jon's gaze flicked back to the door before focusing on Mic again. "If something happened to Gia, what would happen to Richie?"

Mic looked down "He'd eventually die, ...starved of what he couldn't find without her" she said sadly hoping that this wasn’t the case.

"Jesus," his breath whistled from him, "Would that happen to me too?"

Mic looked at him, wanting to be able to tell him no it wouldn’t, and he'd be ok, but he deserved to know the truth.
She nodded "I'm sorry, you'd just eventually tire and the energy that your life mate provided you is a unique one that cant be sourced anywhere else. You'd tire and try and feed and feed, till you couldn’t even pull energy from people anymore... and your life mate would, explode without you, well in a sense that too much positive energy would overload her," she gulped suddenly realizing the reality.

"Christ!" He stood and moved to the bedroom door, his hand shaking as he reached for the knob. "god do not let me find a dead anything in there. He closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath. It was too much, Richie could die without Gia, that was bad enough but he could die without a life mate, and he hadn't found her yet. Thank God Mic had been able to help him, Thank god she'd been able to.. SHE'D been able too. He turned a moment and looked her way as memories of a glow brighter than the sun wrapped around them. Could she be? Shaking his head he turned back to the door.

He chanted softly to himself, "Please don’t let her be dead, don’t let him be dead, please oh please don’t let them be dead.."

Mic watched him, she needed to tell him but how, it was like telling someone they had an arranged marriage planned for them almost. "Jon, just open it, I need to know" she said closing her eyes

Jon slowly cracked the door open while holding his breath. With eyes closed he whispered back to Mic. "Are they dead?"

Richie's mind filled with a raspy whisper from the door as he turned his gaze to the door, hearing a Are they Dead? "No we're fuckin not, and we'd like some privacy if that’s too much to ask," he chuckled as he saw Jon standing there with his eyes firmly shut.

One blue eye cracked open and got a sight more than he bargained for. "Fuck you too King. See if I care if you're dead next time." The door was slammed as Jon huffed his way back to the couch. "They definitely ain't dead."

Mic giggled as he came back to the couch "They're doing it aren’t they?"

"Well he wasn't dancing the fandango that’s for fucking sure. "

"Awww, well that's sweet ain’t it?" she teased watching him push his long sandy hair back from his face. "Jon, I think there's something I need to tell you honey" she said nervously.

He flopped back onto the couch and groaned, "As long as it don't involve King Ass, or long legs wrapped around.. I can handle it."

Mic sighed "Well maybe you are gonna wish that it was after this" she said nervously eyeing him.

He turned his head to watch her, a gentle finger reaching up to trace her jaw line. "Well why dontcha try me baby."

"Well what we were talking about with Gia and Richie, is you and me essentially" she swallowed "I'm your life mate, I'm so sorry if I had known I wouldn’t have slept with you that night" she shook her head.

He sat back and processed what she told him. Well ok that made sense didn't it? She was different from all the other women he'd been with. She calmed him like nothing else. She was pretty, she was bright, and HEY she'd keep him alive. Most men didn’t get a fraction of that. "Okkk and this is supposed to be bad right? Cuz to look at you baby you'd think you got saddled with a true beast."

Mic laughed "Well, now that you mention it, all that hair and all.." she teased before continuing "That's not how I feel at all, I think despite how we hit it off, you're sweet and kind, a little rough around the edges, but you don't need this with all you have in life to look forward to"

She watched him take it all in, truth be known he wasn’t all that bad at all, his rugged good looks and his cocky attitude kinda was sexy.

Jon shook his head, "Yeah I gotta admit, I didn’t exactly plan my life around being a energy loving vampire, but Richie didn’t either. Life throws ya a ball you either play with it or your outta the game. I kinda like being in the game baby."

Mic smiled "Well, I do too, I fancy on living, but I dunno, just then when we were sleeping was kinda odd wasn’t it? Every time you touch me, I just about..." she blushed, muffled echoes from the next room floated into the room at the same time.

His glance flickered to the door, "Ya know if he couldn’t kill me I’d pound on the wall."

Mic laughed "Yeah not such a good idea" her thoughts started to run away with her.

He turned back to her and grinned, his smile silky and devious. Reaching out he trailed an index finger along her arm. "So this is something ya like then."

She shivered as his electricity shot through her heart. "I am thinking I should of never told you that" she stood up and moved nonchalantly to closer to her bedroom pretending to admire the magazine on the table.

He stood and walked over to her, his grin widening as he reached out with both hands and slid them along her arms. "Don't think you're gonna escape that easy."

Chapter 27

Richie chuckled "Because darlin, you're it. Your blood tastes the sweetest, your loving feels the best, and your touch drives me insane" he kissed her forehead.

A gentle smile escaped her as a shiver raced over her skin before a small wince flared in her eyes. "You're so young and vital, and have so many women to taste and be with, and I KNOW you'll need that, but I won't let you go again without knowing your coming back. I don't think Id survive it."

"I promise I will, I always will" he whispered as he closed his eyes and concentrated on her. She still wasn’t relaxed and her heart was beat was too labored, something still wasn’t right. It was almost as if her blood was having trouble flowing in her veins, it was thick or congested somehow. Instinct rose as his head dipped to her neck, his lips caressing that spot that he’d bitten no other woman on. Only Gia rated the pleasure of that one pulse point. His hands caressed her body gently as he kissed along her shoulder, sending shockwaves down his own body at the anticipation on what was about to come, what he had craved for so long.

By demand his fangs inched slowly from his mouth as they brushed against her silky surface teasing her before biting down and pinching the skin, her warm blood flowing into his mouth, and the taste of sweet honey once again tantalizing his taste buds. Her blood didn’t come as free this time, and was remarkably thicker than the last time he'd drank from her.

She gasped as she felt the pinch that spun her into pleasure, her hands tightening around him as her body arched against him. She felt him enter her in a way only he could as she felt the familiar give and take of his lips suckling at her neck. Pleasure began to roll through her system as her eyes fluttered closed.

He'd learned to give pleasure in amounts she'd never felt before, she'd not even felt the fangs enter. Groaning softly she moved in closer, her body unable to be still as he continued to sip.

He continued to drink from her fountain of desire quenching a formidable thirst of longing from the past months. A soft groan escaped his lips as he felt her body close around him offering herself freely.


Quiet moans slipped from her lips as the tightness in her chest lessened and her ability to breath unencumbered returned. Relief screamed through her system all courtesy of his lips and fangs. A slender leg moved up to wrap around his waist as silvery tears began to trace her cheeks. "Oh god, sweet Jesus, Richie..."

He let himself go as he felt his passion and desire flow into her through his gentle act of feeding. Feeling the tightness of her chest seep from her and her soul finally ease he pulled away both contented and relieved. Kissing her gently on the lips he lost himself in her feel as he started the slow descent down her body, shedding her clothes as they became useless to his purpose. His hands slipped under her back and lifted her up towards him as he captured one of her nipples in his mouth, teasing and licking the bud as it grew hard. His hands slid down her naked back drawing every ounce of desire from her.

Her hands twisted into his hair as her lips pressed into his chest softly, her body beginning to feel more alive than it had in weeks. A quick shiver raced over skin that was no longer cold, but blazingly hot. "I have missed you."


His head reached up to meet hers, the blaze evident in his eyes. "I've missed you too darlin, more than you know" his lips searched her flesh again trailing white hot kisses down the nape of her slender neck, his power over her had her arching into him, he could feel her body begin to beg. Warm sultry lips once again found the silky soft flesh of her breasts as he lost himself sucking on her petite nipples, hungrily.

Gentle fingers slid along rock hard muscles as she relearned each inch of his skin on her way to his hips. Kneading them slowly she angled her arm until she was feathering gentle swipes along his rock hard shaft until she grasped him in her hand, and began to move. The tip of her finger brushed over the tip before slowly moving along the length again as her lips sought the rock hardness of his nipple.

Her touch, lighter than a feather but deadlier than a viper rose over him, he let out a hiss as her hand found his shaft and felt her slowly pumping her. "God, Gia baby, feels... so.. good" he managed as his own awareness in her started to drown in a sea of rising pleasure. His own hands slid further across the dip in her belly and down to her awaiting womanhood that was ready to be brandished with his touch, his fingers slid easily into her, slick and warm her walls wrapped around his fingers as he began to pump her.

Her hips moved against his fingers the softest whimper escaping her lips as they moved over his chest. Her head tilted slightly as dazed eyes took in his face, the need and heat burning brightly in his eyes. "Please Baby, its been soooo long."

He let out a low growl as he withdrew his fingers and lay her down against the pillows slightly raised. Rising above her he slid easily into her. "Fuck... so longgg" he confirmed as his cock slipped past her walls screaming for his release.
His lips settled again on hers teasing her bottom one in between his teeth gently as he began to roll deep within her.

Nails slipped up his back, dipping into each dip in his spine as she flexed and writhed beneath him. As her blood heated into liquid fire her hips arched, and she tilted her head teasing him with the racing of her pulse. Roaming hands slid into his hair as her lips parted, her tongue flickering out to wet her lips. Soft screams heated into unrestrained cries as each plunge took him deeper and deeper.

His hand leered down and his thumb searched out her clit as he began to tease it in time with his thrusts, his own pleasure rocketing him closer to the abyss as her nails raked his back. His mouth dropped to her neck where the sound of her pulse called to him like a ship in the night, his tongue licked down the prominent vain she had flexed.

She twisted her head lightly, her hands pulling his head down as hips met in a dance as old as time. "God please..."

"Giaaa" husky vocals called as he felt his own release come into her, her walls milking him, begging his release. His mind started to flutter with his imminent release, his fangs drew from the comfort of his mouth and sank into the satin folds of skin on her neck.

She screamed her release into the room, her body stiffening as she felt fang and shaft combine into a white hot moment that blinded her to anything outside of his arms. "Richie!"

A guttural moan slipped from his lips as his body exploded with the pleasure of his orgasm and the taste of her sweet honied blood once again, drawing what he needed from her, he pulled away and slowly drove her through her own moment.
"Gia," his breathing ragged as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

She held tight to him as their sweat mingled, their breath mixed and their souls collided. Closing her eyes she could see the ribbons that were dull glowing brightly as they wrapped tighter around them. Her arms wrapped tightly around him as a soft whimper raced over her lips and a smile began to glow in her eyes. "Welcome back.."

A soft chuckle vibrated on her neck."Its so good to be back and the best thing about all this is, we're here for a couple of weeks, if Jon wants to leave, I ain’t fuckin going with him."

Her arms tightened around him as she grew still and quiet. "You don't have to stay ya know. You can leave if you want. Things will be ok for a month or two. I don't want..." Her voice trailed off, she did want, wanted badly for him to be there, but she also knew he had more to learn, and a very public life to lead. "I want you to feel you can leave and not worry.. "

"Darlin, I ain’t going anywhere, I need a rest, I need to be in one place and I wanna be here if you'll have me" he softly said as he pulled her in close.

Her arms dropped as she slipped up to recline on the pillows, her deep emerald eyes studying him. "You still need what you need Richie."

"And right now that’s you, for two weeks, so no buts, end of story" he chuckled placing a kiss on her forehead.

She huffed lightly and reached up to brush his hair from his face. "That doesn't answer what I said. You have needs."

"I know I do, and I will deal with those, and right now you give me what I need, unless you don’t want to" he suddenly unaware he may of just assumed that.

Her palm brushed his cheek before flicking against his nose. "I'd be a fool to turn down your special brand of passion lover, but we both know you can't do that daily., well part of it you could.." she blushed from toes to nose. "But there are things you need you can't .." She sighed softly, even now she hated thinking of how he had to be with others.

Richie sighed "I know what you are saying, but don’t worry about it, I will deal with it, and in the meantime I am staying here with you, I wanna just be normal for a few days and you are what makes me that"

A bright smile flooded her eyes as she scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "You're more than welcome to stay. I have to work, but you're welcome to hang here. I don't think you wanna hang out where I work, you could, but trust me you WOULDN"T wanna."

Richie chuckled "We'll see, I wanna just hang, I don’t care where, no more traveling just time to be lazy," he smiled.

She started to laugh for the first time in weeks. "Lover I work in a Record Store."

Richie snorted "Yeah ok, you win, I don’t wanna come to work with you."

She punched his arm lightly, "I coulda gotten a bonus, Jovi to sign albums? I'd sell more in a day than they have all month. See how mean you are?" She winked and rolled on top of him, determined to see if he was a ticklish man.

Chapter 26

Richie sat nervously in the car as Jon drove, he could smell her, he could sense her and it was driving him mad. His hands gripped firmly to the seat as he barked directions at Jon. He had to get there, and see her, and hold her and nurse her back to life, before it was too late.

Jon kept one hand on the wheel and one hand on his friend's shoulder. He wasn't sure, but somehow he just knew that in pulling small amounts of energy off of Richie was keeping him from flying totally out of control. As he drove he remembered Mic's words of how a Upier always seemed to travel with one of his kind. Maybe this was why. Not that he had wanted this to happen to figure that out.

At the tersely barked order to turn left Jon turned and within minutes was pulling into a driveway.

Richie bolted out of the car even before it stopped moving and ran for the door pounding on it hard with all his might.

Mic looked up as the deafly beats on the door startled her. She looked at Gia and then the door, her head became clear and pain free all of a sudden. Nooooo. She raced towards the door and ripped it open to see who it was and almost couldn’t believe her eyes at who stood there.

"Richie!" she exclaimed happily as she threw her hands around his neck.

"Hey darlin, where is she?" Richie’s panic was evident, from the shaking of his hands to the wildness of his eyes.

"In her bedroom, Richie you're going to have to feed her and fast," Mic instructed as a surge shot through her. Looking behind Richie, who had now vanished into the bedroom at the speed of light, she saw Jon walking up to the door. He looked so different, so in command or something. "Hello stranger," she smiled.

He flashed a grin her way before yanking her into a hug. "Hello there yourself."

Mic closed her eyes savoring the small spark that left her body and into his. "You need to come inside. Thank you for coming," she whispered as she felt the transformation.

He slipped into the house, his arm still firmly around her. "Well it was find you or watch him go totally out of control."

"I know, he's right on time, damn, I am so glad you are here too, I've missed you" she said as she led him inside.

He brushed a feather soft kiss across her cheek. "Gia's that bad?"

She nodded "She's very weak, on the verge of losing consciousness," she pulled him down on the couch just content to lie with him while they waited. "Just stay here a sec I need you," as she honed on the small sparks of energy she so desperately needed to release to him.

He lay his head back on the couch and groaned as he felt himself leveling out suddenly. "God damn, what the hell?"

Mic chuckled "Its ok, you're supposed to feel as good as I do right now, I can explain later, I just need this first," she mumbled as she slipped her hand up his shirt to get closer to the warmth. She knew it would take awhile to release two months worth of energy but this was a good start.

He groaned as he felt the excess energy leave only to be replaced with a calming flow of newer energy. "Damn babe, that feels great." His eyes closed as he soaked in all she had to offer, his hand moving up lazily to brush over her cheek, giving to her in turn.

Richie found Gia in the bed, he knelt down beside her and gently placed a kiss on her forehead, all that spark and passion he remembered was missing from her face, she radiated nothing but fear and pain to him and that hit him hard in the chest. "Giaaa darlin, I'm here," he whispered over her pale lips.


A slight frown marred her face as a whisper called to her from the darkness. It wasn’t possible, he wouldn't be calling her. She shivered slightly as a soft mumble escaped her.

Richie inched closer to her earlobe. "Gia my love you got to wake, please wake for me baby" he whispered.

Eyelids fluttered and opened slowly at the request, while dazed emerald eyes looked up without seeing. "Too tired. hurts, lemme sleep ok?"

Richie shook his head, he knew he couldn’t let her sleep and he knew what had to be done. "Darlin, I know what I need to do and there will be no arguments," he turned his head and this time bit slowly down on his tongue once again, wincing at the small prick he felt, he leant into her and lavishly kissed her hard on the lips letting his tongue thrust through to tease her tongue.

This dream was better than the rest, maybe shed finally died and found some heaven that held her memories. A whispering gasp escaped her as heat began to work its way into her body, gentle hands rubbing her throat, that raspy tongue dancing with hers, precious strength seeming to build. She lifted her arms to slide around a neck that felt all to real as the kiss continued.

He continued to let the life she so desperately needed flow into her body as he slowly felt life return to her body. His hands ran down her body as he lay beside her now and pulled her in tightly never lifting his mouth from hers.

Her eyes opened slowly and began to focus. There were lips on hers, there was a man holding her, and not just any man. Richie. She inched closer to his body as a soft murmur left her. Pulling away from the kiss she smiled. "You came."
He smiled "Of course I did, I’ll always come when you need me, always" he promised. As he gently stroked her forehead relief began to shine in his eyes as the color slowly etching into her face again.

Her hand slipped to her chest, "Wanted you to have the freedom you needed. How'd you know? Did Mic call you?" she curled into his body, his heat sliding through her like a summer’s day. ""You're sooo warm."

"I can have freedom too, we can balance this, I can make it work, and no she didn’t call, when you fell, I saw it, I felt it Gia, I had never seen you like that before," he admitted. His body savored her touch against his skin, it was like coming home. Damn she felt so soft, so right against him.

She looked into his eyes and read the concern so deeply set within his brown gaze. "You did it twice, you fed me twice. The bond.. its.. Permanent now, I'm sorry." She winced as her heart thundered in her chest. "I'll try to not bother you that much." Even as she said the words her body curled tighter to his, his warmth his voice soothing away most of the aches and hurts. As her eyes closed she saw the ribbons of life that were him and her, wound together tightly and was unable to tell whose started where or whose ended where. It was if it were one single ribbon now. "Why's it still hurt?"

"Don't be sorry lovely, please, its ok, I owe you so much for letting me know who I am and what to do, so don't ever worry about that," he whispered as he felt so at ease and sedated with her now.

"I don't know why it still hurts darlin" he stood up for a second to see if Mic knew why it would still hurt, he walked into the living area only to see Jon asleep on the couch with Mic curled on top of him into his chest, soundly asleep but the oddest glow surrounded them both, brighter than a football stadium. He shook his head and walked back into the bedroom and kicked off his shoes and lay down beside her. "I just saw the oddest thing" his arms snaked back around her.

She snuggled closer again. "Oh?"

"Jon and Mic are asleep on the couch both zoned out but content, but the weirdest brightest glow is humming around them."

A smile crept onto her lips. "Well energy vamp and his storage unit.. gaawd what a way to say mate.. makes sense. They're probably leveling out. He's been a bear right?"

Richie nodded "Hell yea when he wasn’t on stage he was, and always complaining about headaches, and now wait a minute, you're telling me she's his mate? Well I'll be damned"

She nodded slowly, "Looks like it considering what you saw." She closed her eyes a moment and winced. "Sorta makes sense, she was all over the place since he left." She tilted her head, her emerald gaze centering on his. "How did you fair? I mean, learn much?" The thought of him with a lot of girls, of learning of feeding intensified the ache, but she needed to know if he had been successful.

Richie secretly wondered how Jon would take that news, but dismissed it for now.
"I did, I perfected my prey, I guess, but learnt a lot in the process, that some blood tastes so different, some bitter, some sweet, some sour, its odd really," he trailed off remembering, he sensed why she had asked the question. "I slept with a lot of woman looking to fill my void, but I could never find it, and I know now I won't ever find it in other women for sure"

"Why is that Richie?" Her hand slid down along his arm to his chest, her slender fingers undoing the couple of fastened buttons before moving in to brush over his cute patches of fur. "Why wont you find what fills the void?"

Chapter 25

Richie slipped from the bed in the early hours of the morning, quickly pulling on his jeans he glanced back at the girl lying limply in the bed. Another one down, another girl in another town who gave in to his thrall. He licked his lips slowly, cringing at the taste of this one. This feeding hadn’t gone as well as he’d planned and the girl had been a little scared, so the blood had tasted sour. Richie had learned that emotions effected the blood, countless feeds and countless woman now told him that fear was a more like vinegar taste and emotions such as desire, lust and passion brought out blood that tasted like dark chocolate and honey. But none was in comparison to the blood he drank in San Diego, none, hers held precedence to all he had devoured over the last few weeks, like sweet honey hers tastes in contrast to all the others, and it was that he craved, even the sweetest blood he had tasted still left him longing for more, he was never fully satisfied and contented like with Gia.

It had taken some time to perfect, this whole lifestyle, but luckily Richie was in a position where there was no shortage of woman throwing themselves at him every night, disguising it in sex often was the way it worked, his band mates apart from Jon were none the wiser that he was sleeping around, even more so that David had nicknamed him the King of Swing, sometimes even taking in more than one girl at night, as he searched for that right mix that right taste that always eluded his lips. He’d perfected the act of sex with a bit in the climax always choosing his places to bite, and always avoiding that one place on the bottom of the neck that he fed from Gia, he could never bring himself to bite anyone else in the same place.

The nights he didn’t feed were filled of dreams and ethereal visions of a girl with fog that had somehow managed to stay firmly etched in his soul, dreams filled of erotic acts of pleasure from love makings to feeding, he could always feel her and smell her and sense her near in his dreams, Richie always woke with the void firmly in his chest the next morning. In his dreams he longed for her, he needed her and he completed her.

As the days grew longer, the nights more frantic for feeds and fucks, Richie felt himself becoming less complete and losing his desire to feed for pleasure, some nights he bit the girl and didn’t sleep with her as his heart just wasn’t in it for some reason. He missed Gia, he knew he did, but some times as a new groupie caught his eye off stage that niggling feeling was dismissed. Now that the tour was breaking he had no idea how he would fill in the days, a sharp pain ripped through his chest and a loud scream sent his soul reeling as he gripped onto the couch stumbling, his chest grew tighter and then as never before a vision flashed through his mind of a gangly woman weak lying on the floor, motionless Gia!
“Noooooooooo” he screamed in a pain that ripped his heart out.


~~~~

Jon winced at the unearthly yell. Rolling from the bed he stumbled to the living room while pushing a pair of shades on his eyes. AS he reached the room he saw Richie on his knees. Fuck that wasn't good, nothing took the man down these days. He moved to his friend and knelt. "What the fuck is going on? Bro? you ok?"

Richie gasped "It's Gia, some thing’s wrong, something’s fuckin wrong Kidd, I can feel it," he panicked as he winced as the pain still shot through him.
"Man you haven’t even mentioned the gypsy girl in weeks. What's so different now?" He watched as Richie grabbed his chest. "Tell me man, What now?"

"She's weak, she's lying on the floor, I can see her, feel her, I have never been able to shake her, I just haven’t mentioned her, she haunts my dreams and she's all I god damn can think about" Richie stood back up as he shook himself and tried to clear the raging panic that was taking him over.

Jon winced as some of Richie's pained energy filtered through to him. "So what you gonna do man?"

"We gotta go there, you gotta help me find her, I need to see if she's ok, maybe she needs me, Mic said ages ago that we could be bound by something, maybe this is part of all that, there has to be something" he winced again "Jesus fuckin Christ!"

Jon nodded and moved to the table and grabbed his keys. "Well let’s get moving. San Diego or bust right man?" He managed a smile as he walked to the door. He'd never seen his friend lose his cool and he didn't wanna start now, no telling how a vamp like him would handle that loss. "Come on man."

Richie stumbled out and followed Jon to the car. He only hoped they weren’t too late, and that he could help somehow, but Mic would know she knew everything.

~~~

Mic arrived home, it was one of those days, the headache seemed worse tonight, as she fumbled with her keys she stumbled inside and flicked on the light, the sight that she saw her nearly broke her heart. "Gia!!!" she exclaimed dropping everything and rushing to her side. She shook her and there was no response barely a whisper.

"Shit don’t do this to me, I don’t know how to fix this" she panicked as she picked her up with a little difficulty and carried her to her bedroom and put her in bed.
"Gia? can you hear me?" she asked stroking her forehead. Shit, this was not good.

Dull emerald eyes fluttered open and tried to register the face. It had to be Mic, only one it could be. She tried to smile and failed. Her soft voice whispered, "just sleepy." as her eyes fluttered closed. God yes I just wanna sleep and dream.

Mic stroked her head again "I am going to try and get help somehow" God knows how she thought as the only way she knew was not even close.

She shook her head barely, "nothing to do. Just lemme sleep ok?"
"No please don’t, just fight it babe, please just till I figure out something," she took her hand.

"Too tired Mic, I.. I..m sorry."

Mic's heart filled with panic "Please don’t, hang on for me, hang on for Richie, you gotta" she whispered.

A sweet smile whispered onto her lips. "He’s ok.. didn't need us again, he's learned what he needs." She took a deep breath as her hand fisted on her chest. "Just gonna sleep a lil while."

"What about what we need? In case you hadn’t noticed both of us are royally fucked without them here? Have you noticed that?!" Mic vented finally letting out.

Gia's eyes fluttered open slowly and tried to focus. "Find Jon, you'll be ok.." Her voice faded out and in as her breaths turned ragged "he needed his youth, didn't need a girl to slow him down."

"Don’t skip around what you know is true Gia, we're it, we're their damn life mates, deny it all you want but you know as well as I do," Mic squinted as a blinding force ripped through her head "Shit, its worse for some reason"

Her eyes closed as she faded closer to sleep. "Never denied it, just chose to let him go. He can survive without me."

"Yes but you cant without him Gia, shit, this is my fault I never should of told him to give you his blood, never"

"NOT your fault. The...bond.. isn’t cemented yet." she sighed slightly and shivered. "not your fault."

Mic didn’t reply lost in thought she started to think how she could get hold of Richie and get him here as soon as possible but she had no idea what their schedule entailed or where to start.

Chapter 24

His nerves jangled as he moved from song to song, his mind wandering yet again over months of intense concentration as he learned which triggers worked. A certain wink, a certain smile and he could have girls nearly cumming while standing watching, and god help him if he shook his ass he’d damn near overload from the pure emotion flowing from the women in the crowd. It was a high better than any thing he’d ever felt, except for that one night in San Diego. That night haunted him, the flash and sizzle of two people exchanging all they were. He missed that feeling and searched for it nightly in each girl he had.

He was good at it now, a simple brush over the skin could send a girl into a close orgasm as he pulled the little he wanted from her. None of it satisfied him but it kept him moving as they went from town to town, concert to concert, venue to venue. Shaking his head he glanced at Richie and gave him a wink. Time to get this party started.

He reached for the crowd, his hand spread as he poured his heart into the song. It was so easy now. The months had slowly through trial and error shown him how to give and get what he so desperately needed from the audience. If he reached out and gave to them what they needed their screams would fill his soul. He could run faster, twirl quicker and scream any note higher, which in turn had them screaming and clapping, so he went to work, winking, shaking, shimmying and fairly screaming his songs to make it through yet one more night.

As the concert ended and the screams faded away his body nearly folded into itself as he drug to the showers. The headaches always returned at the end of night, damn near blinding him with their intenseness. Sometimes a girl helped sometimes they didn’t, and he could tell this night that nothing would help. NOTHING was going to help. They had two weeks off, no concert on schedule for weeks, and he KNEW he was going to be miserable. He’d have to fuck like crazy just to keep his sanity, unless he could find a better way.

As he slumped on the couch a thought occurred to him, one that seemed relatively easy. He’d just go to San Diego. He’d find Mic and ask her how he could get out of this dump of energy he was in, IF he could drag himself from the damned couch to get there.

~~~~

Day after day passed in some grey foggy state of existence. Get up, go to work, come home and watch Mic struggle to make it till eight o'clock at night. She made it through the days just to get to the nights. It was the nights when she could feel a bit of freedom from the constant ache that lived inside her chest now. At night she could sleep and when she slept she began to dream. As the days had shifted to weeks then slowly into months her dreams had become more vivid than her reality. She could close her eyes and he was there, touching her, loving her, needing her. Unfortunately each dream was always followed by a morning, a morning that led to yet another day of grey grey life.

Dragging herself from her bed she took a deep breath and rubbed her chest. She was doing that more and more she knew, but it hurt to even move now. Shambling to the bathroom she glanced longingly at the mirror, wishing for just a glimpse of what she’d seen there so many months before only to see her own haggard pale face staring back at her. Showering quickly she moved into the bedroom and slipped into a pair of sweats and a thick cable knit sweater. Even in the heat of the California days she was cold. Nothing seemed to keep her warm now, no matter how thick the cloth.

Grabbing her purse she stumbled into the kitchen and said a quick prayer of thanks that Mic hadn’t made it into the kitchen yet. Grabbing her keys she shuffled out the door and into her car. Another day, another dollar, she had bills to pay. Entering the store she set up for the day and flipped MTV on, plastered a fake smile on her face and prepared to deal with the customers of the day.

She watched the clock as hour six at work slowly moved into hour seven. Just one more hour and she could go home and fall back into bed. Just one more hour and she could hear Mic bitch about how she needed to eat. Mic didn’t get it though, she didn’t feel like eating, hell she didn’t feel like breathing these days either, or much of anything at all. She wanted to lie in bed and let the days wash past without color or form.

It was all grey anyways. The days started being grey the day she’d walked from that hotel. It had been months and neither man had contacted them so they obviously were fairing well, at least she’d heard no news of either of them being arrested. As hour eight finally came to and end she sighed in relief and closed up the store. As she walked to the car she blinked away the fog as her heart began to beat in triple time.

Shaking her head to remove the fog she slipped behind the wheel and slowly drove home. Stepping from the car she struggled to her front door as the world began to slip and sway erratically. Redoubling her efforts she focused on the door and finally made it inside. As she stepped into the living room her heart twisted and the room began to dim. She slipped to her knees as her soul began to scream and Gia knew no more.

Mic sat at her desk in the study tapping her pen frantically on the oak surface, thinking over the last few months, she’d been so busy keeping herself occupied studying trying to find out more information about the boys types of Upier since all the Romany documentation wasn’t quite correct as they had discovered. Her life had just been turned upside down since she left Jon that day, the first week was ok but gradually over time she had become drained of all energy and the damn headaches that returned at night sometimes blinding, sometimes light, but they always niggled away at her brain.

She’d read that Jon’s life mate would be like this if they couldn’t have their energy fed off by him, it was all about positive and negative energy, she provided him with the positive energy that he needed and he provided her with the negative energy she needed. And without that they would be completely off balance, and she was. She had to wonder if he had any effects to this and how he was coping with his new way of life. She had wanted to sleep for weeks, she just had needed to, so drained and lost, she’d tried everything but nothing seemed to work.

Her thoughts turned to Gia, who was growing so weak and lethargic without Richie, days spent in depressive slumps had dragged past. Mic had tried everything she knew from elixirs to potions she knew where to purchase but to no avail. She had done more research and found that that this exactly was the behavior of an intended life mate of Richie’s would be on withdrawal. She had tried to avoid the subject with Gia as she didn’t want to talk about it but seeing her in pain, seeing her constantly rubbing her chest was ripping Mic apart.

Her undeniable pull to Jon was what dogged her the most. Every day she’d spent apart from him she couldn’t stop thinking of him. she knew she was being ridiculous as by now he would have devoured handfuls of groupies and maybe forgotten anything about her outside of her revealing to him his new way of life.

What intrigued her most was her I wish magic that had appeared, she hadn’t really had a chance to use it since, well the times she had it didn’t work. It seemed to only work in certain times, with Jon silencing and the scrolls and proving to him that she was in fact right about them being Vampires. She’d once again consulted ancient scripts that had revealed that “I wish “magic often came in many forms for a purpose, one was love, but the user had to be in love, and she wasn’t in love with Jon, bond or no bond, her affection had certainly grown for him on her departure from him, but love was a huge stretch. She sighed softly as the sun began its descent in the evening sky. Another night to come, another long lonely night as once again sleep wasn’t on the cards but a date with a blinding headache.

Chapter 23

Richie felt a slow pull at his chest, it had always occurred to him that he would have to drink other people's but the thought of it, gave him a dull ache in his chest. "Ah well none yet but I just know yours will be sweetest," he grinned.

Mic just raised her eyebrow at Gia.

Gia shivered then glanced at Mic with a huh look. "Well Richie, you'll have plenty of time to test the sweetness theory. You all go to Costa Mesa tomorrow right?"

Richie nodded, he didn’t want to leave them. "Yeah we do, I, dunno if I can leave you both," he admitted. He was a little scared to face this alone without someone that understood exactly what they were.

She pulled the sheet around her and slid from the bed, giving everyone a flash of thigh. "Use your wit, your humor, your looks and your charm. You can make it feel good for them, that much you already know. You'll do fine, you'll survive without us." She knew she meant he'd survive without her and that rattled her heart more than she'd admit.

She hurried to the bathroom scooping her clothes up as she went. She had to break things now or he'd never learn to stand on his own, and he needed too. In order to survive and be able to seem normal he HAD to do this alone, for as long as it took for him to learn.

Richie watched her leave the room his eyes filled with intense longing. He looked up at Jon trying to read him, and saw he felt just as confused as he did, unsure of what the future would bring them.

Gia slipped from the bathroom fully clothed and stepped to the bed. Leaning over she pressed a gentle kiss to Richie’s forehead. "You'll see, you'll be ok." She turned and moved to the door and slipped out quickly, her hand moving to her chest as she walked away. He'd be fine. She only hoped she would be.

Richie sighed as she left, knowing that she was right, hell he was too young to be worried about being tied down, but he had a strange connection to her, maybe he always would as she had helped him understand who he was. Eyeing Mic and Jon, he thought he'd give them a few minutes privacy as they needed to get some sleep since tomorrow the tour continued. Richie couldn’t help feel like he'd be leaving a piece of him behind. He stood up. "I'm gonna go and grab us some burgers bro, I'll be right back" he smiled.


Jon nodded a quizzical look in his eyes. "You still eat food?"

"Yeah I do bro, thank the fuckin’ Lord." He shook his head and walked from the room contemplating just exactly how his life would be changing.
"Well ok, double pickles on mine dude." His gaze moved back to Mic. "So, what else do I need to know ?”

She looked into his blue eyes that were still full of questions. "That’s the basics Jon, you just need to know if you are tired you will need to feed, and you can do that but concentrating and choosing carefully, not the weak ones" she teased.
"If you or Richie do need help, anything, don’t hesitate to ring me ya know" she scrawled their number down on a piece of paper.

Mic didn’t really want to tell him but she did, an odd feeling nearly stopped her "Sex is a good way of doing that discretely as well, I am sure you will have that opportunity or three."

Jon rolled his eyes. "Life of a rock n roll musician baby." He leaned back against the wall his eyes steady on hers. "So you think we'll be ok?"

She nodded "You just need to be careful, both of you, there are people out there that don’t take kind to your way of life, I am studying more about this though, so when I know more I will find you somehow"

"Well I'll be careful. I'm sure Richie will, he sorta loves life."

Mic smiled she got up and dusted herself off. "I better go Jon and make sure Gia is ok"

Jon nodded. "Ok babe. " He flashed a mega watt smile her way. "Keep us in your prayers I think we're gonna need it."

"I will, you will be fine" she went to turn to leave and cursed herself silently before turning back to him, she reached over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "And by the way, I admit it, you didn’t force me, and yes I enjoyed it," she winked before she slipped out the door.

A grin settled on his lips as he watched the door close. "Damned straight ya did babe. So did I.. "

Chapter 22

"Holy shit." Jon took a step towards the bed then stopped. His eyes swept over Richie and the girl beneath him, before turning to Mic. "This isn't possible."

Mic put her arm on Jon "It is, its nothing to be scared about though, its not like the movies or anything" she said quietly.

He stepped to his bed and sat, his blue eyes on Richie. "How?"

Richie wiped his mouth and pulled the covers up around Gia."I just found out bro, its been a shock for me too," he admitted "The girls figured it all out, everything" he explained.

Gia glanced at Jon her eyes shining with dazed passion. "You are such a in the moment kind of man. Work hard play hard but never in the middle. Anything outside your little circle is hard to grasp huh?" She sighed softly and pushed upwards to sit against the headboard. "You think we're crazy, your seeing things, but before you write it all off, do me one favor Jon."

Jon looked across to Gia and shrugged, "What's that?"

Gia smiled. "Touch your friend's shoulder."

Jon shook his head and snorted. How would touching his rather naked friend help matter's any? Oh well not like it would hurt. He reached over quickly and put a hand on Richie's shoulder, his eyes going round as streams of unadulterated energy flowed through his fingers straight into his head. "FUCK!" Jon pulled back shaking his hand.

Richie winced and let out a loud growl as he felt Jon zap his energy from him. He felt his friend's frustration, his force and uncertainty of what to do with it; even worse he realized exactly what Gia had felt when Jon had brushed against her. He couldn’t hold off anymore that one touch had his need raging nearly out of control, he had to feed especially now that he'd just been sucked of energy. "Sorry" was all he said before burying his fangs back into her neck slowly desperate for the blood, as he began to pump her vein slowly with his tongue.

Jon watched as Gia's hand slipped around Richie's neck seeming to anchor him too her. She was whimpering like she was in the middle of some damn good sex, but Richie was behind her with no action to be had other than his lips on her neck. "Holy fucking god." He had a freaking honest to god living breathing vampire in Bon Jovi? No fucking wonder he played so fucking fast. He didn't want to believe, shit it was impossible to believe, but the evidence was right there in front of him.

Turning to Mic he growled, "and you called me a what? and WHY did you call me that?"

Mic stared at him almost shaking at how angry he was. She tried to hone in on him and use her own energy to calm him down. "You're a vampire Jon, but you don't need blood to survive, you need energy." she tried t explain. "Remember earlier at the bar? You were bouncing and Gia was collapsing, you were feeding from her and didn’t even know you were."
Jon shook his head, "Oh come on, I mean Jesus Mic, that’s just too much, I wouldn’t hurt anyone. I can't take shit off anyone, I don’t have fangs,” he looked up horror in his eyes, “.. do I?" His hand reached up to feel his teeth. "Nope, same old pearly whites I've had all my life."
Mic smiled "You don’t have fangs Jon, you're completely different, I can explain it to you, remember when we had sex? Anything different for you? Afterwards the headaches? It was all connected" Mic pointed out to him.

Gia glanced at Jon and read the confusion in his gaze. She pulled her scattered wits around her, damn thinking was so hard when Richie was doing what he was doing but she had to try. "It's hard to believe Jon, I know, but you feed on the energy of others. Think about it, when your in concert how do you feel? Like your flying right? All those people sending you love and you lap it up and spit it back at them right? You barely feel tired afterwards, takes you hours to come back to earth? That's what being you is. its not a bad thing and best I can tell you've actually used it to your advantage." Gia leaned back against Richie, suddenly a bit tired. "Just Listen to Mic, she'll help."

Jon listened to Gia and sighed. Everything she said was true, but what did this mean for his life? Turning to Mic he shrugged, "Ok tell me more."

Mic sat down beside him "My knowledge is a little sketchy but the way you are using this now is kind of right, but what you have to be careful of is taking it from people in big amounts like you did with Gia, um, you also will have a life mate, one that can take your excess energy from you, and also feed it back when you need it, kinda like a storage unit so to speak. Once you are bound with them, if you are apart from them you will still be able to feed off the crowds and people around you, but if she's not around, she might grow hyperactive without you, as her energy wont be able to be taken," she tried to explain.

"Well if all that's true then how do I control it huh? How do I keep from hurting someone?" He glanced over to Gia a moment, "I don't think I'm responsible for HER looking that pale dammit, I didn't do that."

Mic watched Gia "Well no, you didn’t cause her paleness, you took her energy dangerously low though. You have to learn to concentrate and control it. You will know and learn and sense who you can take it off, it will just take practice. Like me, I don’t seem to get sucked that dry when you touch me, I can feel it but it doesn’t seem to hurt me like it did Gia," she explained.

Jon's brow lifted. "Oh really?" He reached out and ran a finger along Mic's arm and again felt the flash and sizzle that seemed to flood through him. "I didn't hurt her though, and you don't seem to be hurting, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing."

"Oh I am not hurting, not at all, and no it doesn’t hurt, and neither does what Richie does, well unless he wants it too, you will find that a vampires bite, or touch is in fact very pleasurable to the person they are feeding from," she smirked. The familiar sizzle of his touch hitting her was making her shiver all over.

His fingers slid up to brush over her lips, his mind centering his need into the simple touch. "So just concentrating on doing it or not will help?"

"That helps, and if you need it, if you are tired you can pull it from someone, but for what ever reason, I can tell when you need it and when you don’t need it right, you're fully charged, so of course your touch will feel different than if you need energy," she smiled.

Jon nodded. "What about him?" He pointed to Richie. "How's them teeth gonna .. well.. " He shook his head, "Damn my life just took a trip to the twilight zone."

Mic chuckled "Same thing, he will learn to control them. He can make them show or not depending on his want, not just when he needs to feed. Having your support will be vital Jon, he's got a harder way of surviving than you, I know its a hella lot to take in babe, I do but I will be here if you need me to help, we both will"

Gia shook her heard. "Look at the bright side, it seems to make you both very alluring, it will help you sell tickets." She appealed to his more mercenary side casually giving him a moment to consider things completely. "Test it out at your next concert. Well except for fangs on stage that is."

Richie laughed "Oh I could see that as a neat party trick, hey Sambora show us your fangs!"

He shook his head "Its just so much to take in, how ironic that we both have these, I dunno powers but also that we met both of you, its such a coincidence" Richie pondered.

Jon snorted, "Hardly a coincidence, they were standing side by side at the concert man."

He frowned "Noo I mean that they knew all this and all this happened at the same time we found out we were, well this. You got the better deal man, although some people's blood tastes like the sweetest honey," he said winking at Gia.

Gia gave a rather unladylike snort, "And just how many other's have you tasted to decide that Richie?"