Death Become Him - 40

“Go away,” Trent groaned when the sound of the doorbell pulled him out of a deep sleep. His body clock was now so attuned to his regime that even though it was just midnight he had been dead to the world for hours. He tried to ignore the bell, but it kept ringing. Finally, ready to tear someone a new ass, he got up, pulled on a pair of jeans and went down to answer it.

He flung open the door and froze when he saw Phillip standing there. “Something’s happened to Rory,” Trent said, his voice filled with panic.

“No, not at all,” Phillip instantly assured him. “He’s out on the midnight tour so I thought I’d take advantage of that to come have a talk with you.”

“About what?” Trent asked ungraciously, crossing his arms as he stared at Phillip. Now that he knew Rory was all right he wanted to go back upstairs and sleep again until he returned home.

“About you,” Phillip replied. “And it would be easier if you’d let me come in, rather than doing it here,” he added pointedly.

With a nod, Trent stepped aside.

When they were seated in the living room, Phillip asked, “How long has it been since Rory’s turning?”

“Over five years now, which I’m quite certain you know.”

“I do. I just asked as a way to reinforce it, as it has to do with what I want to talk about. If I’m correct, you’re thirty-five now, or close to it. Rory on the other hand will always remain thirty.”

Trent nodded. “I’m well aware of that.”

“The same will hold true when you’re forty and fifty and…”

“You’re pointing out something I already know. I see it every time I look in the mirror. I’m showing my age, he isn’t. We both know that in time we’re going to have to move somewhere else before people begin noticing he isn’t aging. It’s a way of life with vampires.”

“Exactly,” Phillip agreed. “But that’s not why I’m—why we’re talking about this. When the two of you move on, are you willing to tell people he’s your young, with the emphasis on ‘young’, lover. Or your boy-toy? Or whatever other excuse you can come up with for why an old man is keeping company with a much younger one?”

“Are you saying I should get out of his life before that happens?” Trent spat out angrily. “If so, it’s not an option. Or at least not until he asks me to, and he won’t.” He sighed, “I don’t think.”

“As much as he loves you, no he won’t. However”—Phillip paused, obviously waiting until he had Trent’s full attention—“there is something you can do to alleviate the problem. Something you may even have considered, at least subconsciously.”

Trent nodded, staring down at his hands clenched tightly in his lap. “Become one of you,” he replied tightly.

“You make it sound as if it were a death sentence.”

“Isn’t it, both literally and figuratively? Never being able to see your family again? Losing any friends you’ve made? What about work? I’d be hard pressed to find another job doing what I do best unless I changed my name and started over again, without, I might point out having any resume or recommendations from past employers.”

Phillip chuckled, earning a glare from Trent. “To begin at the end, we’re a large network. If you want to run a hotel we can arrange it with no problem. As for losing friends, you’ll make new ones. We always do. I understand about family but be truthful, Trent, how many times have you visited them since Rory came back into your life?”

“Well—never. I call them, we email, but in the last five years I’ve managed to use work and distance as a reason for not going home for any of the holidays. They accept that, reluctantly. But they do.”

“Exactly. To some extent you’re already doing what you would have to if you became one of us. Cutting ties with family always hurts but, and this may sound harsh, family is transitory. Soon enough in the grand scheme of things they’ll be dead and gone. The same holds for you at this point. A hundred years from now, when you’re long in your grave, Rory will look back at his life with you with fond memories, knowing he loved you and was loved in return. He’ll be sad, for a while, but…” Phillip spread his hands.

“In time he’ll move on to someone new.” Trent did not like that idea at all.

“He will. We all need love. Some of us are lucky and find eternal love with another of our kind, or at least someone close to it in my case.” Phillip snorted softly. “Thankfully the whole mated-for-life thing you read about in romance novels is not real. If it doesn’t work out, you can try again.” He looked thoughtfully at Trent. “In your case, if you decided to be turned, I think you’d have nothing to fear in that respect. You have accepted Rory for what he is, and he has stayed with you despite what you are.”

Trent managed to chuckle at that. “Meaning one of the lesser beings.”

“Humans aren’t ‘lesser’. After all, we were all human at one point in time.”

“True.”

“Will you at least think about it, for both your sakes?”

“Of course.”