The following chapters will be for Sage Carlisle and Auðr's story, The Hybrid’s Vampire
Sage Carlisle: It’s been great living in Portland. I have an incredible family and an equally awesome wolf. What more could I ask for? Okay, so being the only unmated person in the family is a downer. Being the third wheel with my twin and their mate is not fun. Everything changed fast when I found my mate. I don’t care that they are a vampire. One whiff of their scent and my wolf was hooked. One touch of their hand, and I was too. And they seemed on board with it until elders from Steelcrest showed up claiming I’m their prophesied Alpha. Auðr: I only came to Portland for a show. That’s it. It was going to be a gig during Pride Month. Show up, play my sets, enjoy the nightlife, fuck around, and eat a few bigots. The usual for me. All that changed with the most hilarious five words I’ve heard. “Taste the rainbow, mutha fucka.” Five hilarious words shouted at homophobic protestors by the tastiest-looking rainbow werewolf I’ve seen. Then the word ‘mate’ gets growled, and the next thing I know, my nomadic life is in upheaval because that tasty rainbow is some prophesied Alpha.June is always a busy month for my band, Immortal Eclipse. Being a gay man, I tend to book out June to attend as many pride events as we can. It doesn’t matter that the rest of my band are heteros. To each their own. The point is they are still allies and other than my great-great-grand nephew, we’re all vampires, and fresh blood is fresh blood. They don’t care about gender or sexuality regarding the feed. Tonight’s gig at Ember in Portland was going to be interesting. A trip through Bloodmoon territory is always interesting, especially after Albert mated up with their human princess. I like Hana. She keeps Albert and his buddies in line, and I like that. Plus, the girl is a fan, and unless they get creeper-level, I love all my fans. However, catching up with old friends isn’t what will make tonight interesting. My great-grand nephew Léonel got a message from a cop in Bloodmoon about an estranged daughter living there. I know how badly that cunt Jane Cornell and her equally douchey
I’m happy for my mom and my twin. Truly, I am. Our lives collectively vastly improved when we moved to Portland three years ago. Our family went from being just the three of us to including Daddy Hale, a new big brother in Austin and a sister in Suzie. Now Leo is part of all that. Not to mention, we gained the whole Bloodmoon Pack. The level of community, support, and general acceptance these wolves gave us blew the minuscule acceptance - mostly indifference we were met with back in Massachusetts. It’s great that we have such a large family and support base. The downside to all this is living in a house with THREE couples. At any given time, at least one of the couples is fucking or about to be fucking. I have seen and heard things that require therapy. Sure, I was already in therapy, but that was totally unrelated. No one should have to suffer what I’ve suffered by being the seventh wheel in the Carlisle-Shelton household. I’m strongly considering moving into one of the bachelor
This cannot be happening. I’m a fucking vampire! I’ve been dead for over a century! I get that the Darby bloodline was meant to evolve to be wolves, but that was my little brother Joseph’s destiny. He was fated to be mated to a werewolf, which sparked the evolutionary change in our line to be the basically pureblooded wolves they are today. Even if I hadn’t died and been turned into a vampire, I’m G-A-Y! I can’t have children with another man. On top of all that, why over a hundred years later? Either this wolf has their wires crossed, or their Mood Goddess is DRUNK and HIGH because there is no way a vampire is fated to a werewolf. While my purple Skittle, ugh, not mine, knock that shit off the brain, was getting pissed that I was keeping my emotions in check, I saw the guy they’d punched trying to get up. I’d managed to catch Rune’s eye without altering the wolf. We don’t have telepathy, but Rune picked up the social cue I needed to back up. He helped the protester up and, with h
I’ve been called flighty and easily distracted. I have ADHD. What do people expect? However, I’m not that way about everything. When someone is truly important, I hang onto that thought like a dog… er… wolf with a bone. Nothing, not even my ADHD, could or would distract me from this topic. Auðr is my mate, even if he won’t admit it. My mission is to make him see and accept me as his. It might sound needy and desperate, but I am. I am needy and desperate for him to acknowledge what we are. I’m needy and desperate for him to want this, to want me. I don’t care that it sounds pathetic or toxic. I’m a werewolf, and the mere thought of him not wanting me as his mate breaks my heart. I may regret this later, but there was no going back. I challenged Auðr. I wanted him to look me in my eyes and tell me he felt nothing. If he does, either means he’s a damn good liar, or he truly felt nothing, and being a vampire somehow makes him immune to the bond. All the humans I know mated to wolves fe
Sneaky wolf! I hadn’t expected Sage to kiss me. I hadn’t expected it to be that good, either. It’s not like it’s been a long time since I was with someone. I hooked up with a guy at our last gig in San Fransisco. He was human but fit and a great lay. So, I’m not hard up for physical intimacy. It made no sense why I was so into Sage’s kiss that we fell onto the sofa, and their gum ended up in my mouth. I’d wanted to lie to them and myself that I felt nothing. I knew it was a lie. I’d felt something off when I first touched Sage before they growled that ominous word. Given how my brother’s branch of our tree became werewolves, I know plenty about the mate bond. I’ve heard all about its wonders and how strong the pull is. I just never thought it was something a vampire would feel. I needed to get myself out of this situation, especially out of this room and away from Sage. I was too busy looking for a way out to bother lying. I was honest that I’d been looking for a pre-gig snack, and
I was trying not to take offense that my mate would rather drink from a blood bag than me. He keeps saying it’s not personal, and maybe it isn’t. He’s not the first vampire to say they don’t like the taste of werewolf. I just, I dunno, thought as his mate, it might be different. Part of me wanted to know how it felt to be fed on. Only by him, of course. In my mind, it would be intimate, like a prelude to what marking would be like. ‘Let him drink from the blood bag if that’s what he wants. Then the first time he sinks those fangs in your neck, it will be the marking.’ Eclipse said. I shivered at the thought. I know that vampires mark in the same way we werewolves do. I don’t know how the marking situation works between a werewolf and a vampire. I’m gonna need to ask Daddy Hale to ask Mister Tracey to look at the mating book to see if it’s talked about in there. I mean, Auðr and I can’t seriously be the first werewolf and vampire pairing the Goddess has ever made in the history of ou
Was it wrong of me to duck out while Sage was distracted by their sibling? Maybe. I could handle the repercussions later. My time was running out, and I needed to feed. This whole situation was not one I could deal with on an empty stomach, let alone play a four-hour set. Of course, I took the chance to get out of there. I managed to find a fridge with some blood bags. I mentally thanked Albert for ensuring we always had this. I don’t know what he tells the humans, and I don’t care. I was finishing my third blood bag when the others found me backstage. They’d all changed into their performance clothes. I was already dressed to perform, though I’ll likely lose the jacket while we play. It’s sort of my thing. I liked dressing up when we started our set, but I often wear less by the end. It’s hot on stage, damn it. The crowd enjoys seeing me remove clothes and, if I’m feeling generous, catch them when I throw them into the audience. “So, a mate.” Léonel was the first to speak as he l
As River so embarrassingly pointed out, I’m an Immortal Eclipse fan. Tonight was the first show I’ve been able to attend. However, I’ve seen videos of their shows online. So, I kind of knew what to expect. Auðr always talks to the audience and gets them excited for the show before they roll into the first song. The first song always changes based on the gig. It was fitting that they went with Colors In the Dark for a Pride Festival show. Watching videos of the shows is very different from being here live. I knew Auðr was likely to remove layers as the performance carried on. Eclipse didn’t like the idea of our mate stripping any layers of clothes for anyone but us. I felt Eclipse’s annoyance with how flirty Auðr sounded in his intro. That annoyance tempered when Auðr looked my way and winked at the end of his sentence. That seemed to appease my wolf. There were moments during the song when it felt like only Auðr and I were in the room. His voice was hypnotic and even hotter live tha