Master: Crimson Read online

  He spat his next sentence through gritted teeth, struggling to keep his fangs in check. “Well, I am. We’ve already started rehearsing our lines.”

  Actually, this was an out-and-out lie, but he supposed a little embellishment of the truth never hurt. At least he had read the dreaded script. In the confines of Gabriel’s stifling, slutty den of a bedroom, he had read the whole bloody thing.

  The day after they fed in the park, Gabriel finally revealed the reason why he had wanted to meet him in the first place: Luna Sunset.

  “I thought you were right for the part.”

  Never in his life had Raiden heard of anything more ridiculous. There was an obvious, darkly hilarious irony underlining the recent turn of events. Gabriel had wanted him to play the vampire Akemi. Instead of recruiting him for the part, however, the unsuspecting actor had managed to contract a blood-sucking disease and an intimate understanding of how it felt to walk around in his beloved character’s shoes. Priceless! He laughed so loudly, the sound nearly punctured his eardrums.

  After his mirth bubbled over, Raiden remembered that Gabriel had already told Joe and the rest of his staff that they would be collaborating on the movie. Though he normally wouldn’t be caught dead collaborating on a project with the overexposed celebrity, he was willing to live the lie in order to avoid suspicion from his band mates. In fact, pretending to work on Luna Sunset with Gabriel was a rather ingenuous cover-up for their real activities. Raiden had no actual intention of doing the movie, of course. He and the younger vampire discussed their plan, ultimately deciding that they would pretend to rehearse lines and work on their characters as long as possible before Gabriel’s Hollywood dogs started hounding them for an actual product.

  To deflect even more skepticism from their dubious living arrangement, Raiden vowed not to stay overnight at the summerhouse with his student. Instead, he would take the forty-five minute trek back to his apartment each night. Though driving back and forth practically every day would be a burden, he was too freaked about spending the night in a Gabriel-infested house to make any other arrangements. In truth, Raiden simply didn’t trust his guest enough to sleep in the same vicinity as him. Or maybe, you don’t quite trust yourself.

  “Raiden, it’s really hard to talk to you seriously when you’re not paying attention. Give me a little respect, would you?”

  Raiden snapped his head around, confused. Judging by the look on his best friend’s face, he had zoned out for a good five minutes. To make matters worse, Taro had the utter nerve to point one long, bony finger directly at him. A bloom of anger burst in his chest, and without warning, his incisors started to slide down. He walked quickly away from Taro, hunching his shoulders as he retracted his teeth with skilled secrecy. You really don’t know who you’re dealing with here, mate. Be lucky I like you more than I would like to eat you. Well, barely.

  “I already told you, Taro! I’m doing this movie with Gabriel, okay? I know you don’t like it, I know you would probably rather see me dead than onscreen with him, but this is something I have to do.”

  “Rai, a solo career is one thing—but a movie? That’s just branching too far away from Scent’s image.”

  “Fuck the image!” Raiden spun around. He held his arms tightly together, glaring daggers at Taro. “Why do we always have to keep the same image?! Only ten minutes ago, you told me to completely change the way I look!”

  “It’s okay to change physical appearances, yes, and sometimes our musical style, but that’s—”

  “So what the bloody hell is wrong with my wanting to do a movie? It’s one movie, T. It’ll probably make me a lot of money, it’ll give me a break from the band, and it’ll generate a ton of publicity. Not only for myself, but for Scent, too. Who knows how much our fan base will expand once I do this? That’s what you want, isn’t it? More publicity? Continued exposure?” Raiden’s tendons stood out forcefully on his neck, but the lead guitarist showed no signs of relenting.

  “Yes, but I want that for all of us, as a group, not just for you by yourself. You’re

  Scent’s vocalist first and foremost, and I’m still the leader of this band.”

  “I’m Scent’s vocalist, yes, and proud to be in the band, but I have my own life. I have projects I want to pursue that have nothing to do with Scent. I need some freedom, T, or I’m going to fucking suffocate. It’s time for me to take a break.” He was shocked to find that his words were actually true. It had been a while since he had told Taro his honest opinion about how the band was starting to take over his life.

  “You already took a break! You recorded a solo album, and you’re planning to do another one! What about the rest of us?” Taro demanded. He still wasn't ready to throw in the towel. However, the singer caught a glimpse of defeat in those permanently puffy eyes.

  “You have your own solo careers.”

  “But we’re not running off to do some half-brained movie some lousy Canadian

  actor!”

  “Hey, don’t insult the movie. You know I wouldn’t agree to do it if it wasn’t any good. This is my chance, T. My chance to do something really bizarre and out of character, my chance to break free of this image people seem to have stuck me in and show them a different side. This is my chance to try something else.”

  Raiden squared his jaw, glaring at his best friend with nothing less than fierce determination. So shut up and take it, bitch.

  “Do you fancy him?” Taro inquired suddenly.

  Oh, I fancy him all right. I fancy him at my mercy. I fancy him hard beneath me—what the fuck? Where the hell did THAT come from? Disturbing. Still, Raiden remembered the way his creation had moaned against him in the boat. In the half-moonlight, Gabriel’s black pants had clung tightly to his arousal. He had looked so helpless and beautiful…

  Fucking cut it out! The singer mentally bound and gagged the erotic images.

  “Of course I don’t fancy him. Far from it! He’s too much of a freak.”

  He recalled the strange tête-à-tête in which he and his protégé had engaged the previous night and this morning. They spent the majority of yesterday evening packing Gabriel’s entire wardrobe, accessories, and miscellaneous rubbish into their two cars. Joe, the only member of the actor’s staff Raiden had actually met, offered to help, but Gabriel shooed him away. After all, the bodyguard was clearly not as dumb as he looked. More than a few times during their brief encounter, Raiden caught Joe staring at him with a wary expression, as if sizing him up for trouble-making potential. Since the singer certainly didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to himself, he had been grateful when Gabriel’s human watchdog finally left.

  His relief, however, was short-lived. No sooner had Joe turned the corner, Gabriel proceeded to shove a mountain of nicotine-stained, messy papers under his nose. Upon closer inspection, Raiden realized that this disgusting corpus of dead trees was actually the movie script.

  “I‘m not reading this.”

  “We have to keep up appearances," Gabriel firmly informed him, taking a seat in the swivel chair he had taken from another room. Raiden raised his eyebrows in anticipation of the actor’s explanation. Do tell.

  “We need to prepare ourselves for whatever questions that may get thrown our way; therefore, we have to perfect our deception to a science. If we maintain the lies better than the truth, everyone’ll be totally fooled. No one taught me that better than you.”

  The older vampire sensed a quiet undercurrent of malice in this last utterance, but he ignored it. Today was not the day to engage in another squabble with his reluctant sidekick.

  “Can’t you just remind me what happens in the damn movie? I’ll remember the basic characters and plot, so there’s no need for you to subject me to reading this shit.”

  “It’s not shit,” Gabriel defended. He clutched the ratty pages as if protecting something valuable. “Who knows, you might even like it. After all, Akemi was modeled after your image. I find it hard to believe that you’re not narcissistic e
nough to want to see for yourself how beautifully I’ve illustrated your false persona.”

  Stunned, Raiden could only stare at him. That wanker thinks he knows me! He privately seethed. Still…he has a point, a miniature, Gabriel-esque voice chimed inside his head. He snorted so hard, his nose hurt.

  “Christ, do you ever stop?”

  “Not as long as it still makes you squirm,” Gabriel replied. He blew Raiden a cheeky kiss. The corner of the singer’s mouth quirked upward. Nice to know that this ponce still has some spunk left, both literally and figuratively. Ha.

  “Fine, I’ll read the fucking thing, but I’m not going to like it,” Raiden yielded, completely surprising both of them. And why the fuck did I just agree to do that? He wondered in disgust. Gabriel seemed to share in his puzzlement. They stared mutely at each other until, for the briefest of moments, the younger vampire’s eyes softened. Raiden stiffened, startled by the almost affectionate way in which his creation was gazing at him. A fraction of a second later, however, Gabriel dropped his eyes. The older vampire bit his bottom lip thoughtfully. Still a wee bit shy around me. Odd.

  “Here,” Gabriel muttered. He handed him the unwieldy mess of papers. Raiden hated himself for allowing his heartbeat to speed up as their arms accidentally brushed against one another. Get a fucking grip, man! This attraction shit is bad for business.

  “What the fuck is am I supposed to do with this lot?”

  “It’s the script, retard.”

  Raiden pointed to the expensive laptop positioned on the desk. “The script is on the computer.”

  “Correction—the script that I’m going to read is on the computer. You’re stuck with the paper copy,” was the actor’s smug announcement. Mischief practically beamed through his skin. Raiden gaped at his logic. It was past sunset, and the light was leaving by the minute.

  “There's no fucking way I'm reading this in the dark.”

  “What’s wrong? We vampires have no trouble seeing at night. At least, I don’t.”

  “Then you read this fucking thing and I’ll stick to the computer.”

  “Absolutely not. You weren’t even going to read it before, plus I’m already sitting here.”

  “That’s easily amended.” Raiden dropped the script and strolled up to him, preparing to extract him from his place.

  Gabriel gripped the chair, leaning closer to him, eyes challenging. “If you touch me, I’ll yell for Joe.”

  The older vampire leaned forward as well, closing the distance between their faces. As Gabriel’s breath hitched, Raiden’s heart resumed its racing. Still, he forced himself to move closer.

  “If you yell for Joe, I’ll kill him so fast he won’t have time to scream,” he whispered, his words practically falling into the actor’s mouth. Gabriel licked his lips. Raiden had but to lean closer, and he would doubtless feel for himself the warm, wet sensation of Gabriel’s tongue sliding across his own mouth. In this proximity, Raiden could do some licking of his own. His muscles quivered with restraint, but he resisted the urge to taste Gabriel’s tainted purity.

  “Cheap threat,” Gabriel scoffed. Abruptly, he turned away. A mixture of relief and disappointment swept over Raiden like a lukewarm breeze. These urges to touch the younger vampire, to rediscover the rapture bound within his blood—they were nothing short of violent. He swallowed his lust, along with the lump in his throat.

  “It’s even cheaper to threaten to sic your bodyguard on me when we both know full well what I’d do to him if he tried.”

  Gabriel whipped his head back around, slightly startling Raiden with his anger. “Look, you turned me into a vampire, Raiden! A vampire! At the very least, I have the right to read my own damned script on my own bloody computer in my own fucking house!”

  “Your language is atrocious,” the older vampire mock-scolded him. Gabriel pointed a chilly finger in his face.

  “Kindly refrain from criticizing me when you’re the one to blame for everything.”

  “Oh, yeah, blame me for everything,” Raiden half-growled. “Blame it all on me. However, I seem to recall your taking part in the recent feeding. I seem to remember your supreme enjoyment of it. You’re what I’d call a born killer.”

  The actor’s shoulders sagged. “I can’t help what I am, Raiden. You made sure of that. I can only help what I’m not, and what I don’t want to become. I don’t want to become like you. Yes, I kill to survive. For now. Sure, I have done some terrible things, and I know I’m going to do more terrible things before this is all over, but Raiden…” He paused for a moment, letting the full force of his words hit home. “I’m nothing like you.”

  Raiden narrowed his eyes. “Tell it to the boy. Tell it to the businessman. Tell to all your future victims! Trouble is, they can’t listen. They’re dead, because we killed them. You drank their blood to survive, right? That’s all I’m doing, Gabriel. Surviving.”

  The younger vampire fell silent. Raiden drew closer, leaning into his ear to whisper.

  “I’ll let you have the computer, but don’t forget, for one single instant, that now, you are exactly like me. We’re two of the same breed, Gabriel. You can’t keep trying to be like the humans, because you’re not one of them. You’ll never be anything but a vampire, or dead.”

  After that, all conversation ceased. Raiden reluctantly started reading the script, vowing to get even with Gabriel for his refusal to provide any sort of light save a few candles. As his protégé had stated earlier, vampires could definitely see well in the dark. The singer, however, still preferred to turn the light on when he read. It was one of those human habits he had not yet managed to break.

  During the few hours that followed, Raiden took frequent breaks from reading, his sole intent being to annoy the living shit out of the actor.

  “You’re such a poof,” Raiden said, rolling his eyes and shifting uncomfortably on the floor. He was tempted to stretch out on Gabriel’s luxurious bed, but a few careful sniffs of the sheets had alerted him to the possible ramifications of such an act.

  “How did you come to that conclusion?”

  Raiden gave an easy chuckle. He swept a hand carelessly through his hair just to see if Gabriel would follow its movement. He wasn’t disappointed. “Well, for starters, the boy you shagged in your car was a pretty glaring signal.”

  “I was just tense. I needed to relieve some stress.”

  “And apparently, you had quite an appetite to boot.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I’m sure you’d love to. At any rate, I was referring to your script. It’s gay.”

  “What are you talking about?!” The actor spluttered. His face reddened on the spot. Raiden decided that the blush on his cheeks was rather appealing.

  “Did you not understand the fact that two main characters are both in love with the same woman?” Gabriel continued. “Are you that dense?”

  “Are YOU? Gui and Akemi are so obviously hard for each other, dude. Especially Gui! Damn, you really had a crush on me when you wrote this,” the singer mused, lancing his tone with a fake incredulity that made Gabriel visibly cringe.

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I was enamored of your image, not of the actual thing you are beneath it. And for your information, their bond goes beyond the boundaries of physical intimacy. Their connection is so deep, it’s impossible to put a label on it. You totally missed the point. But I’m not surprised. You don’t seem to know anything about emotions concerning love,” Gabriel huffed in attempt to conceal his embarrassment with scorn. Raiden, however, remained unruffled. “I know what love is, Gabriel. I just choose not to get caught up in its wild delusions.”

  “Love isn’t about choice, Raiden. It’s just something that happens, and you have absolutely no control over it.”

  “Well, I don’t believe that.”

  “Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were. Oh, wait, never mind. It’s impossible to convince someone so cold-hearted to see the truth.”

  Raiden was about to shoot
back an evil, sarcastic remark, when a sudden pain assaulted his thumb. In the midst of their bickering, he had somehow managed to injure himself with a stray paperclip. “Bugger! The fucking thing stabbed me.”

  “It’s your own damn fault for fiddling with it in the first place.”

  Raiden pouted. Impulsively, he shoved the wounded thumb inside his mouth and sucked on it. Gabriel exhaled sharply, following the movement with a ravenous sort of intensity. His eyes widened, but he soon averted them when he realized Raiden had noticed. Without a hint of subtlety, the younger vampire crossed his legs. Caught you red-handed. Or is it…red-hardened? Raiden snickered at his inside joke.

  “You know, Gabriel, some human habits die hard—even after five years. After all, you’re still trying to eat actual food.”

  “If I consume enough quantities of rare meat, it might satisfy my cravings,” Gabriel mumbled. He looked around the room in a slightly embarrassed manner.

  “You know bloody well that’s not true.”

  Gabriel stood up to protest, and then sat right back down once he realized he had a visible hard-on. The older vampire bit his lip for more than one reason.

  “Well, I can still try. Besides, you told me yesterday to get used to eating food in public. I have to appear normal, don’t I?”

  “But instead of spitting it out or keeping it down for a few minutes, you actually try to digest it!”

  “I’m sick of throwing up!”

  Raiden looked at him with disdain. “Face it, Gabriel. Purging is just one of those things you’re going to have to get used to. In time, you’ll be able to last at least an hour without regurgitating.”

  “I can’t wait,” the actor sarcastically responded, rolling his eyes in defeat. With no warning, he exited the chair and threw himself face down on the bed.

  His unexpected action was so goofy and childish, Raiden couldn’t help chuckling. “Well, Gabriel, something tells me you’ve already had practice with purging in the past.”

  “Idiot,” the younger vampire muttered. However, his annoyed tone couldn’t hide the smile in it.