Chapter Thirteen

It was silent for almost a minute on both ends of the line. Blaine looked over at Kurt, knowing that he'd heard everything, and saw a rather conflicted expression on his face. Blaine couldn't tell whether Kurt was shocked, scared, or somehow relieved to hear about his brother. Maybe it was a bit of everything.

Blaine cleared his throat. “Like I said, no problem we can't fix, right?” He tried to sound optimistic and thought he was doing a pretty good job but Kurt raised an eyebrow at him that could only mean something along the lines of 'what the hell are you talking about?'

Jeff seemed to have similar doubts. “Are you sure? I mean, what if he comes back when you're actually here and he finds Kurt and you? What are you going to tell him?”

Blaine hesitated. If he was being honest, this was a sort of difficult question. In the end, it would be Kurt's decision. “Would you guys give us a minute? We gotta talk about this.” Blaine asked. When Nick and Jeff agreed to wait, Blaine muted the phone.

“What exactly do you plan to do about Finn?” Kurt wondered, sounding slightly lost.

“Well, we have two options. Actually three. One, if he finds us in New York, we tell him everything and hope that he'll keep the secret. Two, we actively try to hide from him and if he finds us, anyway, we run and hide, only returning in like 90 years and hope that he's died by then.” At this point Kurt made a rather indignant noise but Blaine gave him a pointed look. “Face it, it's gonna happen sooner or later. And third, we seek him out and proceed like in option number one.”

“If those are my only options, I guess I'd prefer number one to the other two.”

“So, now all of a sudden, you want to tell him? Two months ago, you were so adamant about not telling your family. Why are you changing your mind now?”

Kurt looked down, avoiding Blaine's eyes. “I was scared they wouldn't understand. I still am scared but now there's no going back. So why not tell them?” He paused but continued after taking a deep breath. “I didn't realize I would miss them this much. If I told Finn the truth, at least I could see him again once in awhile.”

“What about your dad? Do you want to tell him, too? Because then we might as well just go back to Lima and tell them immediately. You'd only have to be sure that they would keep our secret to themselves.”

“Why is that so important?”

“Because if we risk revealing vampires to the human world, we might find ourselves in another war. And if vampirism really is revealed to humans, they'd hunt us.” Blaine explained. “And trust me, it ain't fun being chased by an angry mob.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Oh yes. Nowadays though, they wouldn't come after us with pitchforks and torches but rather with machine guns. We wouldn't survive very long.”

Kurt frowned. “Then why did some vampires back then want to reveal themselves? If they knew it was this dangerous, why would they risk it?”

“Like I said, pitchforks and torches. Humans back then weren't a threat. Vampires would have easily overrun them.”

Kurt just nodded, his expression thoughtful. “We can trust him. I know it.”

“Alright then.” Blaine put the phone on speaker again. “Guys? You don't have to worry about it. Kurt and I will deal with it as soon as we get to New York. And we'll be coming soon.”

“Sounds good.” Jeff replied. “We'll be waiting. Give us a call when you're on your way.”

“We will. See you.”

They hung up and Blaine glanced sideways to see Kurt as he looked down at his hands. He could tell Kurt was worried, stressed as well probably. He just wished things didn't have to be like this. He wanted to be happy with Kurt, not constantly worrying about the future.

“We'll be alright, you know that, don't you?” Blaine asked, his voice gentle.

Kurt nodded. “I do know that. I am just scared how Finn will react. It won't be easy for him. He'll see me and he'll immediately know that something's off. I don't look like I used to. The differences are subtle but I notice them and he will, too.” He sighed quietly. “And then I'll have to explain myself, which won't be easy. Even worse, you have to explain yourself. Telling someone that you are over two hundred years old, that you can shapeshift and control objects with your thoughts, that you are more powerful than any other vampire and that you have people trying to kill you-- that is on a whole other level than just saying 'yeah, I have to drink human blood now but I'm still your brother'.”

“You make it sound way worse than it actually is.”

“I'm really not. We really have to figure out what to do about the vampires that are coming after you.”

“And we will. After we have made it to New York.”

Kurt looked up at him and showed a small smile. “You are right. We will be fine.”

Kurt's training in the next few days was more intense than it had ever been before. Blaine pushed him to his limits in every way possible. Their fight training in the basement went on for hours each time and only stopped when Kurt couldn't get up from the ground anymore.

It was never Blaine on the ground, though. At the start of their training Kurt had sometimes managed to prevail for several seconds but by now Blaine had found his way back to his old self, so to say. He fought like it was all he'd ever done in his life. He was pretty sure Damien wouldn't stand a chance against him anymore. He had improved his technique and he had grown stronger as well.

Fighting wasn't all they did, most of their time was actually spent in one of the studies. With Graham. And a knife.

Blaine had decided to work on Kurt's control of himself by making him resist. Graham had agreed to help, which Blaine appreciated because he hadn't wanted to bring in another random person to the house.

So, that's what they did. Having Kurt sit down in front of Graham and Blaine making thin cuts into Graham's arms. The blood oozed out and Kurt had to gather all his strength not to lunge forward and attack.

Graham was biting his lip out of nervousness. He couldn't decide whether to look at Kurt or not. If he did, he could see Kurt's hunger. The vampire's eyes were dark and he pressed his lips together constantly to hide the fangs that he couldn't keep from appearing at the sight of Graham's blood.

“Kurt, concentrate.” Blaine said with emphasis.

“I am trying.”

“Try harder then. I know you can do this.”

Graham glanced at Blaine, who spun the knife in his hand, and Graham had to wince. He was hoping Blaine wouldn't have to make another cut. They hurt even though Blaine had been incredibly gentle, only cutting where it wouldn't hurt as much.

“You need to focus on something else, Kurt. You are barely holding back, I can tell. One more cut and you won't be able to stop yourself anymore. You need to calm down, control your breathing, relax. Ignore the hunger.” Blaine stood behind Kurt as he talked and leaned down to Kurt's ear from behind him. “Just ignore it and focus on something else.”

“I can't!”

"Yes, you can. I know you can."

Kurt let out a frustrated growl and glared at Blaine who walked around his chair and then stood behind Graham.

"Are you angry with me?" Blaine asked almost casually. As an answer Kurt pulled back his upper lip to bare his fangs. Blaine raised an eyebrow. "See? That means that you can concentrate on something else."

"I still want to rip out his throat, though, and yours afterwards." Kurt said through clenched teeth. "This isn't working!"

Blaine crossed his arms, his expression hard and determined. "Fine. If you don't want to learn to be in control of yourself, I won't force you." Blaine pulled up one sleeve of his shirt, bit into his wrist and shoved it against Graham's mouth, maybe a bit too forcefully. Graham, though surprised, drank without protest. “We’ll continue tomorrow, I guess.” Blaine said and disappeared from the room.

Graham awkwardly sat across from Kurt for a couple seconds, the silence in the room seemed to last forever.

“I’m sorry, Graham.” And with that Kurt left the room as well, leaving Graham who still had the taste of blood in his mouth.

Kurt searched the house for Blaine, trying to figure out where his scent was leading but it was almost impossible, seeing as it was everywhere. In the end, he found that Blaine had left the house through the back door.

And he didn’t return that night. Kurt had no idea where he went.

Kurt woke when he heard a loud crash. He had been sleeping on a couch in the study, not wanting to spend the night alone in their bed upstairs.

The noise he’d heard came from somewhere near the entrance hall, that much he could tell. At first he figured it must have Graham knocking something over, or maybe even Damien who had finally returned. But then he heard footsteps. Human footsteps. Of five people.

He quickly tried to concentrate his hearing on upstairs where he knew Graham had to be. He heard his heartbeat and his even breathing. He was still asleep.

“Fuck,” Kurt murmured. “Blaine, where are you?”

Without making a single noise, Kurt left the study and made his way down the hallway. Carefully he looked around the corner into the entrance hall and stopped breathing immediately.

The door had been busted down and seven people had come in. Five humans. All male. He had been right about that. What he hadn’t heard, though, was that there were two vampires as well.  A woman with long red hair and a shorter blonde male. They were very obviously sniffing the air for any scents. The humans all carried guns, two of them had a bow and arrows strapped to their backs. They looked like professional killers.

“There’s a human upstairs.” The woman said in a smooth, quiet voice. “What are we doing about that one?”

“You are not going to touch him.” One of the humans answered. “We’re only here for that vampire.”

Great, Kurt thought. They were looking for Blaine most likely. What were they going to do, when they found him? And why the hell were those hunters working with vampires? Shouldn’t they be enemies?

“Well, if he’s smart he’s made run for it already. You announced yourselves quite obviously by bulldozing the front door,” The woman sneered.

“Shut it, vampire! Make yourself useful.”

“There are too many scents. I can’t tell which one is the red-eyed one.”

Kurt instinctively pulled back his upper lip into a silent snarl. In that moment, a hand closed over his mouth and he almost turned and attacked whoever it was but held back. Blaine was standing beside him, one finger on his lips, and motioned for Kurt to follow him.

And he did. They ran without making a sound until they reached the entrance to the basement. Blaine pushed Kurt towards the stairs. “Run,” he whispered.

“Graham?”

Blaine closed his eyes for a second. He then bit his lip and pushed Kurt forwards anyways. “Go. I’ll get him.”

And Kurt ran down the stairs, not bothering to pick up a torch. He knew the way and he could find it blindly. He only stopped when he reached the tunnel that Blaine had said led to an exit. He had never gone through this tunnel.  He had no idea where it ended. And he was panicking.

He had let Blaine go back upstairs. He was alone up there with five hunters and two other vampires who wanted him dead for all he knew. He wanted to go back and help. He wanted to protect Blaine at all costs. But Blaine had told him to go and he couldn’t oppose his request. Physically couldn’t.

So he ran until he reached the end of the tunnel. It was a dead end. At least it seemed like it. It wasn’t until he looked up that he noticed light coming through some small cracks. It had to be about twenty or thirty meters above him. The walls were made from rough, wet stone and eventually Kurt realized that he was at the bottom of the well that was situated somewhere in the woods behind the house. Blaine had once told him that the well and everything else out there belonged to the house as well, he remembered.

He decided to wait. And the time seemed to slow down as he did. For Kurt it seemed like took way too long for Blaine to return and he started to worry, whether everything was okay. From down here it was almost impossible to hear anything that was going on up there and Kurt nervously tapped his fingers against the cold stone wall of the well.

The nearing sound of footsteps almost had him turn invisible but then he recognized the scent as Graham’s.

“Where’s Blaine?” Kurt asked and he swore his heart would have jumped, if it still could have.

“He should be here any second.” Graham said breathlessly. He was wearing the shorts he had slept in and a t-shirt, his hair unkempt and falling into his eyes. “He said he had something he needed to do. He only brought me to the training room and then went back upstairs.”

Kurt motioned for Graham to talk more quietly. “They could hear us.”

Just then, Blaine appeared behind Graham and Kurt let out a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding. “Where were you? What do they want?”

“They want me, I suppose. Dead. I don’t know how they found us. However, they seem to take this quite seriously, if they would reveal themselves to hunters just to get to me.” Blaine explained quickly. “Now, I need you to listen and listen carefully.”

Kurt nodded. Blaine’s tone of voice suggested that whatever was coming was not going to be a subject of open discussion.

“I want you to leave. Without me. Take Graham to town, find him a safe place and then you run. I’ll come and find you as soon as I have gotten rid of the hunters and then we leave for New York.”

From the corner of his eye Kurt could see Graham’s face in the dark of the tunnel. And he saw his distress. “Blaine, please, Graham-- we can’t just leave him.”

“Kurt, I wish it didn’t have to be like this but we are in a really bad situation here. I didn’t plan for this to happen so quickly. I was seriously considering taking Graham with us but now-- we’re being chased. In the worst case, taking Graham might get us or him killed.”

“What difference does it make? I can take him with me and we hide together until you come find us.” Kurt argued.

“Kurt, please, we can’t--”

“Yes, we can, Blaine. Whatever happens, I take full responsibility for Graham until this is all over. Please, Blaine. We don’t have to leave him.”

Blaine hesitated and then gave a barely noticeable nod. “Fine. But you fucking owe me one for this.” He showed a lopsided smile and with one hand on the back of Kurt’s neck pulled him in for a kiss that sent sparks through Kurt’s entire body. “Be careful, Kurt.”

“I will be. You’ll find me, right?”

“I’ll always find you. Now go.”

Sending Kurt away on his own had pained Blaine immensely. The fact that he had Graham with him didn’t change that. There was so much that could go wrong with this plan. To be honest, yes, it was his own plan but he had had about fifteen seconds to come up with it in the first place. And it wasn’t exactly foolproof.

Also, he had no idea how he was going to get the hunters to follow him. He had figured out how to get rid of them but he needed them to follow him first. Of course, he could just show himself to them and then they might start their hunt. But Blaine feared they would simply send the vampires after him, figuring that he could outrun them anyways.

When he arrived at the top of the stairs, though, his choice was taken from him. Three of the hunters were in the study and two of them noticed him immediately seeing as they were already investigating the entrance to the basement.

“Don’t move a muscle, vampire, or I’ll nail you to the wall with a stake.” One of the men hissed, his gun pointed at Blaine’s chest.

“Are you sure I’m a vampire? And even if I am, are you sure I’m the one you’re looking for?” Blaine asked and tilted his head to the side. His tactic wasn’t exactly ingenious but it worked. They hesitated. They were confused.

And that moment of confusion was long enough for Blaine to lunge forward. He had the man’s gun in his own hands before anyone even noticed he had moved. He clicked the safety mechanism and pressed against the man’s temple as he held the hunter’s body in front of his own in case one of the other’s decided to shoot.

What he didn’t expect them to do, was pull a pager out of their pockets. The other two men hit the button on the pager almost simultaneously and Blaine heard two pagers go off upstairs.

Shit! His quick calculations told him, he had about five seconds before the two vampires would arrive. Time to make a run for it. And the man he was holding at gunpoint? A hostage, yeah, that would work.

He didn’t know how, but he made it outside without being shot-- even though the shots flew through the air the second he started moving-- and none of the vampires caught up to him. He disposed of the gun that was of no use to him and headed for his car. His hostage was experiencing a serious case of vertigo after being transported outside within seconds, so Blaine pushed him inside the car without being too careful where he hit his head.

He saw the two vampires reach the front door just as he got in the car and he saw the anger on their faces when they realized they couldn’t get past the threshold. After Blaine had brought Graham into the basement, Blaine had put oak ashes in front of every exit and window of the house except for the one he’d left through. It had been close to a miracle that no one had noticed him while doing that. That part of his plan had worked and he allowed himself a triumphant little smile before he stepped on the gas. It would slow them down but not for long.

The wheels skid and the noise hurt his ears but he didn’t care. The remaining four hunters came running around the house and saw him drive away. He desperately hoped that would be enough for them to follow him. And if not, then hopefully they wanted to at least save their friend.

He didn’t drive far. He didn't even leave the property. He parked  the car on the side of the driveway closest to the old barn that was hidden between the trees. Blaine could already hear the hunters running down the driveway. Apparently they hadn’t bothered to free the vampires at first, which could be a good thing.

Blaine popped the trunk of the car, lifted out the two suitcases inside and then lifted up the bottom of the trunk. Where usually people stored a spare wheel, Blaine had stored explosives. He never thought he would use them but desperate times called for desperate measures and he couldn’t think of any other way to get the hunters off his track. Killing them in an explosion would be messy but he didn’t want to risk fighting them.

He picked up the little device that triggered the explosives and grabbed both suitcases. He closed the trunk and opened the passenger door instead. “Now, listen.” He said to the half-unconscious hunter. “Your friends will be here in, let’s say, thirty seconds. If they try to open one of the doors, the little bomb in the back will go off. That means the entire car with you in it will blow up, got it? If I were you, I’d stop them from opening any of the doors.”

Blaine slammed the door shut just as the hunter inside started panicking. He hammered against the window but Blaine locked the car and disappeared into the trees. There he hid and waited.

Two hunters arrived first. When they went to open the door as Blaine had predicted it, the man inside started shouting.

“No! No, don’t! The doors are linked to a bomb. It’s going to blow up, if you open it.”

“Shit! What now? We can’t just leave you in there.”

With a rush of air both vampires arrived. “A bomb? Why would he blow him up? Why not just kill him?”

The remaining two men came closer, obviously out of breath. As soon as they were all standing at the car, Blaine pushed the little button on the trigger device. The explosion that followed was huge. It almost knocked Blaine backwards who had been way out its reach. He knew without a doubt that none of the hunters could have survived it. The vampires, however, would still be alive. Maybe injured but definitely alive.

He got out from his hiding spot and slowly made his way towards the burning car. He found both vampires not far from it, severely burned up and groaning on the ground. Blaine kneeled next to the woman and turned her head to the side so that she was looking at him.

“Why do you want me dead? Come on, tell me, what have I ever done to you? Just because of some weird vision someone had?” Blaine’s voice was cold as he asked those questions. “Who sent you?”

“I… I don’t…”

“You don’t-- what? You don’t want to tell me? Is it Starchild?” He spat out the name as if it was a disease but he was surprised when the woman choked on a laugh.

“Starchild is no one.” She whispered weakly. “I work for… someone way more powerful… than bloody Starchild.”

“Who is it, then?” Blaine demanded.

“As if I would tell you.”

Blaine tilted his head. “You know, I could bring you more pain than you’ve ever known. More pain than you’re in right now.”

“I don’t fear… pain.” The woman smiled.

“Then you won’t mind that I am going to decapitate you, right?” And with that Blaine ripped her head off her shoulders. He did the same to the other vampire. With a sigh he got up from the ground. With a little luck no one had alerted the police of the explosion and he still had a little time to get rid of any evidence. He scratched the back of his head.

There was another player in the game apparently. Someone other than Starchild and that someone was willing to go great lengths to find him. He’d have to find a way to find that bastard first before he would find Blaine because if he did, that would put Kurt and Graham as well as Jeff and Nick in danger.

And then there was Cooper. This place wasn’t safe anymore. Blaine couldn’t just let Cooper move back here. It’d be his death sentence, Blaine thought, but he couldn’t bring Cooper along, either. He already had Graham on his hands and New York wasn't exactly the safest place, even without vampires.

His thoughts were interrupted, when he sensed someone approach. He spun around only to be face to face with Damien.

“What the hell happened here?” Damien asked stunned. “I heard the explosion as I was on my way back.”

“We, uh, ran into some complications.” Blaine said and waved his hand at the scene of the burning car.

“Understatement, huh?” Damien gave Blaine a calculating look. “Where’s Kurt?”

“I told him to leave. He’s taken Graham somewhere safe. I’ll go find them as soon as I’ve gotten rid of this mess. Where have you been?”

“Wandering around town. I needed some time on my own.” Damien looked down at his hands. “Sorry about earlier.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Damien sighed quietly then. “So, this is it? You’re leaving for New York?”

Blaine nodded. Conflicted as he was, he couldn’t wait to get out of here. “It’s for the best. Kurt will be alright, I believe. I’m more concerned about the people chasing us. Or should I say ‘chasing me’?” He nodded over to the bodies near the carwreck.

Damien raised a questioning eyebrow. “Who were these people?”

“I have no idea. They said they weren’t working for Elliot. They said their boss was someone way more powerful. I can’t think of anyone, though. Is there someone out there older than Liam?”

“Doubtful. If so, wouldn’t they have spoken up by now?”

Damien was right. They would know if there was a vampire out there older than Liam. Whoever the hunters and vampires had been working for was either pretending to be someone they weren’t or the woman had lied to Blaine. Either way, Blaine would find out what all of this was about. He wouldn’t risk putting his friends in danger any longer.

Damien put a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “We’ll figure this out. I know it’s troubling you but we’ll find whoever is behind this. Now go on,” Damien gave him a little push. “Go find Kurt and leave. I’ll clean up and make sure this goes unnoticed.”

“Thanks, Damien.” Blaine said with a small smile. “Can I ask one more thing of you?”

“What is it?”

“Is there any way of contacting Liam?”

“Yeah, I could call him.” Damien said, a slightly confused expression present on his face. “What do you want from him?”

“Call him. Ask him to make his way here immediately. Tell him he can stay at this house, if he’s willing to look out for Cooper.”

Damien snorted. “You want Liam to babysit Cooper?”

“I need to know he’s safe. And he won’t be, if he stays here on his own.”

“Do you really think Liam will agree to this?”

“It’s worth a try. I don’t know how else to keep Cooper safe. I can’t take him with me.”

Damien took a deep breath and nodded. “It’s your call. I’ll ask him.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Now go. Kurt will be worried sick.”

Blaine smiled at Damien one last time before rushing off to pick up their luggage and then made his way to town. As he tried to pick up Kurt’s scent, he pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts and found Cooper’s number.

It took a couple seconds but Cooper picked up. “Yes, hello?”

“Cooper, it’s Blaine.”

“Oh, hey. I-- give me a second.” Blaine heard him excuse himself and another voice, a woman, told him she’d wait. Then a door closed. “Hey, Blaine. What’s up?”

“Kurt and I are leaving the Manor, so technically you can come back.”

“Why do I get the feeling that there’s a catch? Why just ‘technically’?”

Blaine bit his lip but he couldn’t lie to Cooper anyways. “Okay, look. The thing is, there are people after me. Dangerous people. It might not be safe for you to be around here, especially not at my place and especially not with the name Anderson.”

“Why are people after you?”

“That’s another story. I’d simply prefer if you didn't come back.”

“Blaine, I have to. I can’t just leave my life in Ohio behind. There’s no way I’m not coming back.”

“Thought so.” Blaine nodded to himself. “That’s why I’m making you an offer. You can come live here at the Manor and a friend of mine will stay here with you. Watching over you and keeping you safe.”

Cooper was silent on the other end for a few moments but then asked, “This friend, he’s like you, I presume?”

“Yes.” Blaine said, cringing slightly at Cooper’s tone.

“How exactly is that supposed to work out? I can barely function around you and being around Damien is even harder. How do you think can I live with a total stranger who might kill me any second?” His voice got lower near the end of that sentence as he feared that whoever was in the other room could hear him.

“It’s for your own safety, Cooper. He won’t harm you.”

“Blaine, I was gonna bring my girlfriend to Ohio with me. How am I going to explain your friend living in my house with us? I don’t even know him.”

“The woman in the other room is your girlfriend?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, she is and I don’t want to lose her over this.”

Now it was Blaine’s turn to be silent. “I don’t want to lose you, Cooper. I know, you don’t have to listen to me but I’d rather you accept my offer and be safe. We’d find a way to explain this to your girlfriend and it won’t be forever. I promise.”

“How would we explain it?”

Blaine thought about it for a second. “Something like, distant relative looking for a place to stay for a couple months, because his work forced him to move away from New York. You never met him, so you don’t know much about him but seeing as the Manor is huge you thought, you’d do him the favor.”

Cooper hummed in answer. “Sounds reasonable enough.”

“So, you’re okay with it?”

“I am. As long as this really isn’t going to be for long. And you promise he won’t cause any trouble?”

“He won’t. You have my word.”

“Alright, then.” Cooper cleared his throat. “Let me go break that to Chrystal.” Blaine heard him laugh a little. “Life never gets boring with you around, Blaine. Tell Kurt he’s mental for staying with you.”

“I will. Be safe, Cooper.”

“You be safe. Don’t let them get to you. At one point I want to introduce you to her, you know?”

Blaine smiled. “Oh, and how’s that gonna go? ‘Hey, Chrystal, this is my great-great-great-great uncle Blaine. I know he doesn’t look as old but there’s a really good explanation for that.’”

“I hate you sometimes.”

“Don’t I know it.”