Temptations Mate: Chapter Nineteen

Kurt felt as if time had turned syrup slow. His heart thundered in his chest and his throat dried up. "What…your…son?" Kurt asked brokenly.

Blaine reached out to Kurt, giving a silent prayer of thanks when the other man didn't recoil from his touch. "Come sit, let me explain."

Kurt blindly followed Blaine over to the sofa and sat, trying to gather his swirling thoughts. "He's…yours? But how? Why didn't you tell me? How could you not tell me you had a child?" Kurt asked hurt and betrayal making his voice rise with each word.

"Its complicated love, but I'll do my best to explain," Blaine said heavily. "As clich� as it may be the truth of the matter is that with great power comes great responsibility. Being the leader of my clan, of this clan, affords me a great deal of power. It also comes with its burdens. I am accountable to the council, to my clan and to my House."

"The House of Drăculeşti," Kurt said absently, still somewhat unsure how he felt about the fact that his mate was a pureblood descendent of the legendary Dracula.

Blaine nodded. "Even as leader I am bound by the traditions of my clan and my kind," Blaine explained. "One of my duties, like any leader, is to provide an heir. The fact that I am also a member of Vlad's house makes my leaving an heir doubly important and different. I don't choose my successor as other vampires do, among purebloods it's a more…traditional means of ascension. The first born of the first born son rules. Under ideal circumstances one's mate can also provide one's heir but…not all circumstances are ideal."

Kurt flushed, fighting back the feeling of inadequacy that crashed over him. At the stricken look on Kurt's face Blaine hurried to reassure his mate. "Kurt, love, I'm a vampire. We're omnisexual beings. I'm not the first vampire or clan chief whose mate was of the same sex and I won't be the last."

"But-"

"There have been several in my house who have met with similar circumstances or other situations that made it impossible for their mates to provide their heirs," Blaine continued gently. "It's not an unusual happenstance."

Kurt bit his lip. "I truly don't understand how this can be," he confessed. "Vampires cannot have children," Kurt insisted stubbornly.

Blaine smiled. "We also can't walk in the daytime and are repelled by garlic," Blaine teased then turned serious. "And you are right, love. Vampires can't have children, but Santana is not a vampire and I did not have Dmitri."

At Kurt's confused gaze, Blaine continued to explain. "I told you that Vlad struck a devils bargain to gift his sons with certain abilities that he did not possess. One of them is the freedom to walk about during daylight hours. Another is that purebloods, first born sons in the House of Drăculeşti, can sire children."

Kurt stared at Blaine. "I don't understand," he said flatly. "If you…fathered a child with a human the child isn't a vampire, he's a human. Dmitri is not a vampire but he's your heir. How does that even work?"

Blaine's eyes clouded over. "He's not a vampire now, but he does possess certain special abilities. He's stronger than the average human, he heals faster, his senses are enhanced and he's bonded to the clan. He'll live as as human for now and when he comes of age he will be made one of us so that he may someday rule in the event of my demise."

Kurt stared at Blaine as he grasped the meaning of Blaine's words. "You…you're going to change him?"

Blaine nodded. "I'll be his creator, yes."

Kurt reached out and placed his hand over Blaine's. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Blaine gave Kurt's hand a grateful squeeze. "Don't be my love. It's not pleasant but it's the way of my kind. I made my peace with what must be done long ago and Dmitri is being raised to understand who he is and the sacrifices he will be required to make for his clan and his house."

Kurt was silent for a few minutes, trying to work through his conflicting emotions when the memory of the crimson mark on Santana's bosom rose up and threatened to choke him with jealousy. "What about Santana? I saw…she's marked. Are you bonded to her?"

Blaine shook his head. "I told you that you are the only one to bear my mark. Santana is nothing more than the human I chose to breed with," Blaine said dispassionately. "Our relationship is purely a business arrangement."

"I don't understand why you would enter into such an arrangement," Kurt said. "Why did you not wait and see if the mate you chose could-"

"You forget that after Jeremiah I had decided not to take a mate," Blaine reminded him bitterly. "A few years ago I had a series of close calls and Vlad himself paid me a visit to remind me that I had an obligation to him and to my clan to father a child. Shortly thereafter I met Santana. At first I was simply going to feed on her but she impressed me. For a human she is quite formidable. Her home life was far from ideal and she was keen to escape her grandmother's house. I needed an heir and she needed sanctuary. She agreed to provide me an heir if I provided her a safe haven-a luxurious, well protected safe haven," Blaine added.

"She has a mark," Kurt said, unable to keep the accusation out of his voice.

Blaine felt his temper rise at the barely concealed accusation but he shoved it down. He knew that Kurt had every reason to be upset, but he couldn't help but be stung by the visible evidence of Kurt's shaken faith in him.

"As I told you, it's not mine," Blaine said evenly. "In case you hadn't noticed she and Brittany are close. Quite close. She's Brittany's Kurt, not mine."

Kurt let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. As illogical as it was, Kurt had to concede that the idea that Blaine would have given his mark to another, to the person who had provided him an heir, might have been more than Kurt could bear.

"Oh," Kurt replied in a small voice.

"Kurt-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kurt asked, staring at the floor, refusing to meet Blaine's eyes.

Blaine sighed heavily. "You still don't seem to quite grasp who I am," Blaine began carefully. "Jeremiah was an unexpected threat but he is merely the tip of the iceberg. There is no shortage of demon that seeks to destroy me and that will exploit any perceived weakness of mine in order to do so."

"I understand that-"

"No, my love, I don't believe you do," Blaine contradicted him. "Our kind holds no sacred cows. If it became common knowledge that I had an heir, and that my heir were a human, my enemies would descend upon him like a pack of wild dogs. He'd be hunted down. He'd be a target and none would hesitate to use him against me. Keeping him a secret is for his protection. None outside this house know of his existence, even some members of my own clan have been kept ignorant."

Kurt's blood ran cold at the implication in Blaine's words. Having an innocent child used as a pawn hit too close to home for the witch and the idea that it was Blaine's child at risk filled him with an unexpected surge of rage.

"Given what I've recently discovered about my own past I understand your position better than you might think," Kurt replied carefully," but that does not answer my question. Why did you not tell me about your son?" Kurt pressed. "Did you really think I would do him harm?"

"God no," Blaine answered instantly," I never doubted his safety with you. And I never planned to hide his existence forever, Kurt. I was going to tell you, I swear it-"

"You've pursued me for months, in all that time you could have said something and-"

"Yes, because you wouldn't have used the knowledge that I had a child with a human who meant absolutely nothing to me to validate the low opinion you held me in," Blaine interrupted angrily. "You searched high and low and clung to any reason to rebuff me, Dmitri would have been all the reason you'd have needed to keep me at even more of a distance and Kurt, I couldn't have that. I was already slowly going insane with need, the idea of giving you ammunition with which to keep me further at bay was intolerable to me."

Kurt pursed his lips but said nothing because Blaine's accusation, however unfair, was accurate. At the time of their strange courtship Kurt had looked for any and all manner of excuse to keep Blaine at arm's length and the circumstances surrounding Dmitri's conception and Blaine and Santana's relationship would have provided him the perfect cover.

Be that as it may, he was still hurt that Blaine hadn't trusted him with his secret after they had mated. "You could have told me after…after we mated," Kurt pointed out.

"I know," Blaine acknowledged. "I don't have an excuse except to say that I," Blaine paused momentarily then continued, "I was afraid." He confessed quietly.

"Afraid," Kurt repeated.

"I was afraid that you'd see my silence as a betrayal. I was afraid I'd lose you."

Kurt sighed and shook his head. "I don't know if what I feel is exactly betrayal," Kurt said slowly," I mostly feel disappointed. I'm your mate, I'm meant to stand by you for all eternity and you didn't trust me enough to tell me about your son, your heir. I don't know how I'm supposed to react to something like that," Kurt said sadly.

"Kurt-"

"You continue to keep secrets from me," Kurt said sadly. "I don't like being handled Blaine and it's not fair for you to withhold information I need to make informed decisions."

"I was going to tell you. I realize that rings rather hollow but-"

"Where's he been?"

"Dmitri's been in France. He's only been there a few months," Blaine explained. "Prior to that he and his mother were in Switzerland but I move them every few months just as a precaution and because Santana tends to attract attention wherever she goes. She and Brittany are not very good at staying under the radar, I'm afraid."

"Wouldn't it be better for him to be here, where you could keep an eye on him?"

"And he could be a target? And even if my enemies didn't get to him what kind of childhood would he have? He has precious few years of human life Kurt and I want him to be able to enjoy every one of them. How, exactly would his childhood go, Kurt?" Blaine asked quietly. "In case you haven't noticed I live in a house full of the undead. How long do you think it would take before the townsfolk gathered their torches and pitchforks if his playmates went home telling tales of what happens behind these manor walls? No, regardless of however much it pains me to be away from him it's for the best."

Kurt thoroughly disagreed but didn't feel as if he was in a position to argue the point with Blaine at the moment and he didn't know why he would want to. If Dmitri were gone then so was Santana and Kurt wouldn't be confronted with a daily reminder that his mate shared a bond with her that he'd never share with him.

"Who are Jeff and Brittany?" Kurt asked suddenly changing the subject. He needed to table the discussion on Dmitri until he'd had time to process all he'd learned and sort through his emotions. He was dangerously close to losing his composure and the last thing he wanted was to say or do something in anger that made the situation worse. "They seemed rather fond of Nick, especially Jeff." Kurt commented with a small quirk of his lips.

Blaine wanted to continue their discussion but he sensed that pushing Kurt would do more harm than good so he went with new direction of the conversation. "That's a bit of an understatement my love," Blaine said wryly. "They are Nick's fledglings, and it's rather complicated."

"Isn't everything tonight?" Kurt snapped.

Blaine bit back his angry retort and ignored the jab. "It doesn't make it any less true."

Kurt blew out a frustrated breath and raked a hand through his hair. "They're different aren't they," he asked quietly. "When Jeff hugged me I felt something strange about him. It wasn't bad," Kurt pointed out quickly, "in fact it was…comforting. Good. I just don't quite understand it."

Blaine nodded. "Jeff and Brittany are a particular type of vampire yes. I suppose you can say that it's their legacy from their people."

Kurt cocked his head to the side and stared at Blaine. "Explain that please."

"It's not a pretty story," Blaine warned.

"I suppose that means it just fits in with the night's theme," Kurt retorted.

Blaine again bit back his temper and exhaled. "Their people were travelers whose leader ran afoul of my clan by attempting to enchant and enslave some of our brethren. The condensed version is that the ensuing siege helped him see the error of his ways and in an attempt to keep us from slaughtering his entire tribe he offered us a virgin tribute."

"And they were the chosen ones," Kurt surmised.

Blaine shook his head. "Not quite. Alberik, their leader, thought himself clever. I'm sure you noticed that Brittany is rather…special. Her tribe believed her cursed, an agent of the devil and her unusual demeanor proof of that. Alberik believed he could kill two birds with one stone by ridding his tribe of Brittany and appeasing my clan."

Kurt winced. "Something tells me things did not work out according to his plan."

"Indeed they did not," Blaine confirmed. "Jeff, her brother, refused to let her go. He demanded to be offered alongside her and when Nikolas claimed them-"

"Nick? Why Nick?"

"I was indisposed," Blaine answered. At Kurt's sharp look he elaborated. "It was shortly after the council had demanded a halt to my eradication of witches. I was not in a good place and Nikolas had taken over many of my duties."

"So Nick claimed them and then what happened?"

Blaine smiled. "Jeff had no love lost for the people who would have so willingly sent his sister to her death. He exposed Alberik's plan to Nick and revealed how to breech what magical defenses they had. Nikolas had the tribe exterminated and then he…took his tribute."

"So he changed them?"

"Yes but...neither Brittany nor Jeff knew that they had been enchanted before being sent to Nikolas. Their blood was supposed to be infused with a spirit so pure that Nikolas met his death when he attempted to drink from them."

"Obviously that didn't happen," Kurt observed.

"No," Blaine sighed heavily," had Nikolas been an ordinary vampire perhaps, but…we're Drăculeşti. The protections we have far exceed those of inferior bloodlines. He was unaffected; however the change that Jeff and Brittany underwent was…altered."

"How?"

"They lost their souls but retained quite a bit of their purity. They have what I suppose could pass among our kind as a conscience. They are…especially Brittany, in possession of an almost childlike na�vet�."

Kurt worried his bottom lip. "If…how then does that work? A conscience cannot be a very convenient thing for a vampire."

Blaine chuckled. "Indeed it is not. In the beginning they both nearly starved because they refused to feed. It wasn't until Nikolas marked them both as his their bond with him, and in turn the clan, increased that they began to embrace the darker parts of their nature."

Kurt mulled the information over. "What does that mean?"

"That means that when properly motivated, Brittany and Jeff are every bit as vengeful and bloodthirsty as their creator," Blaine said," but they are not as virulent as the rest of us." Blaine gently stroked Kurt's cheek. "I suspect you will you have much in common with them, particularly Jeff."

Kurt leaned into the touch briefly before drawing back. "Because of Nick?"

Blaine nodded. "Jeff and Nikolas have a rather complex relationship."

Kurt mulled the statement over. "I was around them for five highly stressful minutes and I could see the bond between them. Is he Nick's mate?"

Blaine's eyes flashed briefly before he sighed. "He should be, but Nikolas has his head up his ass-"

"It must be a family trait," Kurt sniped.

"Kurt," Blaine warned, reaching the end of his patience. "I admitted I was wrong."

Kurt swallowed the angry words on the tip of his tongue and returned to the topic of Nick and Jeff. "Nick clearly cares for him and Jeff told me himself that he was Nick's. Why are they not mated?"

Blaine sighed. "Nick feels…guilt. He has convinced himself that Jeff is suffering from some sort of confusion and whatever feelings the boy imagines himself to have from him are due to the fact that he's Jeff's creator and he's the only lover that Jeff has ever had. He feels Jeffrey needs to gain more of an understanding of the world, have more romantic experiences and come into his own a bit more before he'll be in a position to decide if what he feels for Nikolas is real or not."

Kurt gave an indelicate snort. "What is it with you and your brother and trying to dictate how everyone should feel and what decisions they should get to make for themselves?" Kurt thundered. "I don't know Jeff but I do know that it's not fair of Nick to take away his choices and discount what Jeff says he feels. It's not fair for Nick to be the only one who gets a say, to treat Jeff like some pawn on a chessboard that can be moved about at Nick's discretion, to suit his needs under the guise of doing what's best for Jeff and-"

"Kurt, I understand that you're upset but projecting your emotions unto Jeff and Nikolas will help no one," Blaine said with a sigh. "I realize I handled things badly-"

"What things Blaine?" Kurt demanded. "Are you referring to your plan to throw me over your shoulder and take off with me like I was sack of potatoes? Or things like you and my brother discussing my future without my knowledge or input? Or the perhaps you mean things like mating with me without telling me you have a, a mistress and a child!"

"Santana is not my mistress!" Blaine denied instantly. "There is nothing but Dmitri and a business arrangement between us, that woman does not now and has not ever resided in my heart."

Kurt felt tears of frustration burning his eyelids. "You lied to me," Kurt accused. "You, you made us as close as two people could be, made me open myself to you, listened as I lay myself bare all the while holding back this massive secret. I trusted you with everything and you trusted me with nothing!" Kurt shouted as he leapt from the couch and ran for the doorway.

"Stop this insanity," Blaine demanded, racing after Kurt and pinning him to the wall. "I made a mistake-I made several mistakes-but don't you dare run out on me! We will discuss this and –"

"Stop it!" Screamed Kurt, aware that he was probably coming off as hysterical but past the point of caring. "Stop telling me what will and will not be! Stop trying to control every damn thing! Stop trying to control me!"

"Damn it Kurt, I'm merely trying to get you to calm down-"

"I don't want to calm down and right now I don't want to be around you!" Kurt yelled, pushing Blaine away from him. "I am not your puppet! I'm tired of everyone pulling my strings, directing me this way and that always for my own good!" Kurt sucked in a ragged breath, trying to compose himself. "I need some, some room to think. I…I'm going to Sam's-"

"Like hell you are!" Blaine bellowed. "You want some room? There are nearly twenty here, take your pick! Hell take the entire east wing but don't you dare walk out that door. I forbid it!

Blaine knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that he had made a grave error.

"You forbid it?" Kurt repeated lowly. "You forbid it? You imagine that you can order me about like the family dog and I'll sit still and obey?"

"Kurt, you know damn well-"

"What I know is that we agreed-just a few hours ago that you were going to stop being a dictator and trying to control me and-"

"We also agreed that you'd stop doing things to spite me and you'd trust that anything I asked of you was for your own good!"

Kurt deflated. "I am not being contrary," he said softly. "I am not trying to punish you or, or spite you. I need some space right now Blaine. I need to process what I'm feeling and I can't do that with you, and Santana and …your son just down the hall."

"But you can do so at Caisle�n? Need I remind you that Samuel has played just as many games and withheld just as many truths?"

"I'm well aware that you and Sam have pulled cards from the same deck," Kurt said tiredly. "But Sam is not my mate and forgive me if I hold you to a higher standard."

Blaine struggled with his impulse to drag Kurt upstairs and chain him to the bed. "I apologize for not rising to the level of your expectation but the fact remains that you cannot leave."

Kurt drew himself up sharply and gave Blaine a cold look. "If you still imagine that you have the right or the power to give me orders like I'm one of your servants than you have heard nothing that I've said and I no longer desire to speak with you any further. I will be at Caisle�n for the foreseeable future."

Before Blaine could formulate a reply Kurt turned on his heel and walked from the room,