Till Death Do Us Part

"Your majesty, there are talks that Queen Tina plans to expand her reign over the southern territory," an advisor informed Queen Rachel after his return from Jackson.

The Queen extracted her fangs from the thigh of a nubile young man and wiped the blood from her mouth with a tissue handed to her by one of her attendants. Queen Rachel was petite, only 5’2, with long dark brown hair falling over her shoulders and dark red lips. If you didn’t know about her, you would never guess that the woman in front of you had murdered thousands since she was turned over six hundred years ago. Queen Rachel looked like the wholesome girl next door, with her knee socks and animal print sweaters. It had been the downfall of many to underestimate her. 

"Is she now?” the Queen drawled. “I'm not surprised. My half sister has always been a nuisance even when we were still alive. Always trying to steal my favorite playthings. We should invite her here, find out what she plans to do."

"How are we going to do this, your majesty? I doubt she will just tell you," her advisor asked.

With a wave of her hand, the Queen dismissed her latest food source and her attendants.

"It has come to my attention that one of my sheriffs has found himself a telepath," she told her advisor once they were alone. "Summon Anderson and his toy. My sister may be able to protect her human confidante from getting killed, but that little human won't stand a chance against a telepath."

The advisor bowed his head.

"As you wish, your majesty." 

*+*

Kurt Hummel, resident telepath, and Blaine Anderson, the sheriff of area 5, were sitting on the Hummel’s living room couch, as always supervised by Kurt’s father Burt Hummel, who may have been grateful that Blaine saved them during a vampire attack a few months ago, but most certainly didn’t trust the vampire to be alone with his son. Burt had accidentally walked in on Kurt as he was getting dressed after a shower and had to his horror discovered a bite mark on his son’s inner thigh. Ever since, the only dates Kurt and Blaine were allowed to have were supervised ones. Kurt could have easily defied his father and snuck out to meet Blaine, but for the time being, they were obeying Burt Hummel’s rules, even though Kurt’s teenage hormones weren't too happy about it. Usually, during their supervised dates, Blaine tried to engage Burt in conversations about sports, but tonight the vampire was unusually quiet and broody and Kurt seized the opportunity to ask what was wrong when Burt went into the kitchen to grab another beer from the fridge.

"Alright, spill. What's wrong?"

"Queen Rachel has arranged meetings with the Kings and Queens of the southern territory over the next two weeks and her advisor has summoned me," the vampire explained. Kurt furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What's the big deal then? You travel to New Orleans once a month to meet with her. I'll miss you, of course, but two weeks are not the end of the world. Especially for someone who is immortal," Kurt teased his boyfriend, but Blaine's expression remained grim.

Blaine Anderson had been turned when he was in his early twenties and for vampire standards he was practically still a baby. Even though Kurt didn’t know much about vampire politics, he knew what an honor it was that Blaine had been elected sheriff when he was still so young. At a 120 vampire years even one of Blaine’s grandchildren was still alive. Blaine had told Kurt all about his former live during their first date, but Kurt often felt like he had barely scratched the surface and knew very little about his vampire boyfriend.

"There's more?" he guessed and Blaine nodded.

"I don't know how they found out about you, but I've been ordered to bring you along. Now, you can say no, but if they are requesting you because of your ability, then they may just take you by force should you refuse."

Kurt swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. Even with his 'gift' as Blaine liked to call it, he would never be a match against vampires. He had somehow managed to push one vampire off of him when he and his dad had been attacked by two rogue vampires a few months ago, but if Blaine hadn’t arrived when he had, Kurt and his dad would probably have been killed.

“Alright, I’ll come with you, if we can convince my dad to let me go," he told Blaine.

“Let you go where?" Burt returned from the kitchen, beer bottle in hand, and eyes narrowed.

"New Orleans. For two weeks," Kurt explained, trying to look as innocent as possible and not like the boy whose dad found out he was sexually active because he saw a bite mark on his son's inner thigh. "I'd only miss a week of school because of Thanksgiving break," Kurt continued to dig his own grave  judging by his father's expression.

"And let me guess, all the hotel rooms in New Orleans are booked already, so I'd just have to let you room with your boyfriend."

Kurt decided it was better to keep his mouth shout, because his dad's left eyebrow had started to twitch.

“Burt,” Blaine started but seeing his dad’s expression, he added, “uh, Mr. Hummel, I’ve been invited to speak at a business convention and attend seminars in New Orleans and since Kurt’s thinking about applying to UNO we thought he could accompany me and sit in on a few classes after break. We would actually stay with a friend and not at a hotel.”

Officially, Blaine was a club owner. His club Fangtasia over in Shreveport catered to humans looking for a thrill - that thrill being a night out with a group of vampires not opposed to taking a bite out of you. To those in the know, Blaine was the sheriff of area 5 who kept the vampires in his area under control and hunted rogues who refused to play by the rules the vampire council of America had agreed on with president Obama.

Burt was not impressed by Blaine’s speech. It didn’t matter that Kurt had recently turned 18 and was legally an adult, there was no way he would let his son run off to play house with his more than a century old boyfriend.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” he got right up in Anderson’s face, ignoring the little voice telling him that the vampire could kill him in the blink of an eye. He had to trust that Anderson really loved Kurt as he had proclaimed and wouldn’t actually hurt his father. “You think I’m gonna let Kurt go with you because you can’t keep it in your pants?”

Kurt was between him and Blaine in a flash though it wasn’t clear who he thought he was protecting - Burt or his boyfriend.

“I’m not a child,” he protested but Burt just ignored his outburst.

"As long as you are in school and live under my roof, you do as I say Kurt, and there ain't no way in hell I'm gonna let you go on a vacation with your boyfriend."

Kurt glared at his dad and was about to remind his dad that he was 18 now and didn’t actually need his dad’s permission anymore, when Blaine lifted him up and put him to the side as if he weighed nothing.

“What the fuck, Blaine,” Kurt exclaimed but Blaine ignored him as well and looked deep into Kurt’s dad’s eyes. The vampire’s normally hazel eyes, looked almost purple as he spoke to Burt in a deep and soothing voice.

“It’s a great idea for Kurt to go to New Orleans. It was your idea in the first place. He’s finally going to be exposed to culture. And the school here is a joke anyway. Kurt deserves a break from being treated like crap."

His dad repeated every sentence Blaine fed to him, while Kurt unsuccessfully tried to pull his boyfriend away.

"Stop it, Blaine!” he yelled. "Have you lost your mind? You can't just glamor my dad!"

Blaine just shook him off like he was a particularly annoying mosquito and ignored him until he was satisfied with Burt's responses. Only when Kurt’s father went back into the kitchen to fetch and heat a bottle of True Blood for Blaine, did his boyfriend finally acknowledged his existence again.

"I know you're angry with me right now, but think it through, Kurt. What if the Queen's men decided to take you when you are with your father? Do you think they would care if he got hurt trying to protect you? This is for the best. We'll go to New Orleans and find out why the Queen wants us there. And your father will never find out that I somehow got you mixed up in vampire business and hate me even more than he already does."

Kurt had to admit his boyfriend had a point but he was still furious that Blaine had done this to his dad, when he had promised in the beginning that he would never, even if it meant having to work for Burt's approval and deal with his disapproval.

"Fine, you are right," he admitted reluctantly, "but you should have talked it over with me first."

Blaine at least managed to look a bit apologetic.

"My apologies, love.  But it's not in my nature to get the permission of a human to do things," the vampire explained, earning himself another glare from Kurt.

“Well, if you want to stay in a relationship with this human, you better learn to consult me, especially about things concerning my family," Kurt informed Blaine haughtily, but quickly schooled his expression when Burt returned with Blaine's O Negative.

"So have you made plans already for what you want to see in New Orleans? Probably should have taken you as soon as I figured out you're queer," Burt asked cheerfully.

It was unnerving to see his father so happy about their trip only minutes after being ready to rip Blaine's head off. Kurt forced a smile on his face.

"Actually, Blaine and I were about to go upstairs to look things up on my computer," he told his father.

"Should get you a laptop so you don't have an excuse to go up to your room with him anymore," Burt grumbled, before he yelled after their retreating forms. "Door stays open!"

Kurt didn't see a point in reminding his father, that he would never be able to sneak up on Blaine. If they wanted to get up to things, a partially open door wasn’t going to stop them.

Kurt’s bedroom was small like the house he’d been sharing with his dad since his mother ran off nearly 10 years ago. Briefly, they’d considered moving when his dad was dating Carole Hudson, a former classmate’s mother but after her son Finn had been turned vampire at a party there was no need for a bigger house anymore. Carole lived with them for about six months until she and his dad ended their relationship and it was just Kurt and Burt again.

The Hummels didn’t have much money - his dad had to put a second mortgage on the house a year ago when after a heart attack he had to hire someone to run his auto repair shop. With hospital bills stacking up and the extra wages his dad had come close to losing the shop and he’d been lucky that his bank manager liked him and had agreed to the second mortgage. Kurt helped out as much as he could and he would have done it for free had his dad not insisted on paying him at least minimum wage. His classmates assumed he had money though, because of the clothes he wore. They didn’t know that he was buying them second hand in thrift stores in Shreveport or from flea markets. All his furniture had come from flea markets as well and Kurt had repainted them in mahogany so all pieces matched. The first time Blaine was in his bedroom, he’d remarked that it reminded him of his own bedroom growing up because of Kurt’s late 19th century furniture.

On his desk stood an old, blueberry colored iMac G3, he’d bought from his high school when they’d upgraded the computers in the library. At the moment, the most modern thing he owned was the iPhone 5s Blaine had bought for him after his dad had confiscated his cell phone. Since he only used his computer for homework assignments and to scour the internet for deals on clothes, he was happy with the computer he had, even if it took forever to boot up.

“I meant what I said to your dad,” Blaine said as he followed Kurt into the room. “You should check out the school while we’re there. Though I still think you should apply to NYU if that’s your dream.”

“And pay for it how if miraculously I get in?” Kurt sighed. They’d had this conversation many times before, since Kurt had first confessed that his dream was to study musical theater in New York City.

'And I know it’s probably crazy that I even consider this because can you imagine auditions. I would know what they really think about me the whole time I’m auditioning. I haven’t even been in any school plays because I was afraid to hear what the audience is thinking. But I used to take singing lessons when I was younger and if I could be anything in the world, I would love to be an actor on Broadway', he had confessed when Blaine had asked him over the summer what his plans for after graduation were.

“Even if I got a scholarship we still couldn’t afford to send me there, Blaine. My dad’s struggling enough to keep the house and the shop. If I wanna go to college at all, it has to be in state and I need to get a scholarship.”

“If you’d just let me help, money really isn’t an issue for me,” Blaine reminded him, but Kurt shook his head stubbornly.

“We could never accept that. It would kill my dad if the only reason I get to go to the college I want is because you’re paying for it. And it’s okay, if I don’t get a scholarship I’ll just go to community college for the first two years and transfer to UNO then. Or I don’t go to college at all. I could ask Mercedes to keep an eye out for other stores in the mall that are hiring. It’s not like you went to college.”

“I went to school till I was sixteen which was quiet long back then,” Blaine pouted. “And if we hadn’t been in hiding till recently I would have gotten a degree. I sat in on a lot of business classes before I opened Fangtasia.”

“You could get one now,” Kurt joked, though he’d liked the idea of having his boyfriend on campus with him very much, but Blaine shook his head.

“Only Queen Rachel can relieve me of my duties as sheriff. I need to stay in the area if I want to do my job right.”

'And you wonder why I’m not applying to colleges in New York, when you can’t even move to New Orleans with me', Kurt thought and pressed the power button on his computer.

There were so many things he wanted to do and see when they got to the city and since the Queen would only be able to summon him during the night, he had all day to explore the city. Since it was November, the days were short and Kurt loved that it gave him more time with his boyfriend. Hopefully, the Queen wouldn’t need them all the time and he and Blaine could spend time out together like any other youngish couple.

They spent the next half hour looking up theaters, museums, concerts and campus tours for prospective students, his dad coming upstairs twice to check that Kurt’s door was open. Every time, Kurt got up from his perch on Blaine’s lap as soon as Blaine picked up his dad’s heartbeat as Burt moved toward the staircase and told Kurt his dad was coming.

Once Kurt was happy with their research he turned to Blaine. “I’m still angry with you for glamouring my dad, but luckily for you I’m also a teenager with a hot boyfriend.”

When Blaine looked at him in confusion, Kurt turned to straddle him and pressed his lips to Blaine’s. His hands found their way under Blaine’s button down and the vampire moaned quietly as Kurt raked his nails up and down his back as they kissed.

“We have about 15 minutes till my dad comes up again,” he whispered as he rubbed his erections against Blaine’s and sighed in relief when Blaine unbuttoned his pants and slipped his hand into Kurt’s underwear.

“Been too long,” he moaned as Blaine stroked him expertly causing his boyfriend to chuckle.

“I’m pretty sure I blew you before you went to school yesterday morning.”

“Yeah, like I said, it’s been too long.”

Blaine dove in for another kiss, before he let his fangs scratch lightly over Kurt's pulse point.

“Horny teenager indeed,” he laughed before he sank his fangs into Kurt’s throat and Kurt orgasmed in his lap.

*+*

They left for New Orleans the following Monday night. As he dragged his dad’s suitcase and a duffle bag Sam Merlotte - the owner of Merlotte's Bar and Grill - had lent him downstairs - Kurt didn’t own a suitcase of his own since he’d never travelled or spent the night at a hotel before - he had to admit that he probably packed way too many clothes. But he had never been further away than Baton Rouge and didn't want to look like a hick from Hicksville in a city like New Orleans.

Blaine was tense as he loaded Kurt’s bag into the backseat of his Corvette, his eyes searching the trees closest to the house.

“What is it?” he asked while his dad tried not salivate over Blaine’s car since he didn't want Blaine to believe he could be won over by fancy cars.

“There’s someone in the woods,” Blaine hissed. “But I can’t investigate with you and your dad out here. What if it’s an ambush?”

Kurt waved him off. “Oh that’s just Sam, he’s the owner of Merlottes. He always runs around in the woods when he changes into a dog.”

Blaine raised an eyebrow in question and Kurt blushed.

“I caught him change back into his human form a while ago. I had picked up a weird thought pattern and wanted to know why I couldn’t properly read that person’s mind. One minute there was a collie sitting by the pond and the next it was the guy owning Merlottes going skinny dipping in the pond. He doesn’t know that I know he can do that though.”

Blaine didn’t look convinced. “No, the smell’s vaguely familiar,” he said before he pulled out his phone and dialed Santana’s number.

“What?” Santana barked. “I’m busy. Brittany’s here.”

“I don’t care if it’s your girlfriend your with or the Queen, Santana. I need you to come to Kurt’s ASAP and find whoever’s sniffing around his house.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself,” Santana grumbled.

“Santana, that’s an order.”

On the other end, Santana told Brittany that she had to leave.

“I’ll give you a call if I find anything,” she then told Blaine who hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

He didn’t use his powers over Santana often, trying to limit it to life and death situations but this was Kurt’s safety they were talking about and he didn’t have time to wait until it was convenient for Santana to search the woods.

“I can’t believe they actually hit it off,” Kurt mumbled.

He had promised to bring his ‘ex’girlfriend Brittany to Fangtasia after Santana had done him a favor and had demanded to meet Brittany in exchange. They girls had started dating the same night and ever since, Santana had been much nicer to him. With Mercedes now living in Shreveport close to the mall where she worked, it was nice to have another friend and ally  in the area. He still spent every Saturday with Mercedes before he went on a date with Blaine with his dad’s permission as long as the dates happened in public.

Kurt climbed into the passenger seat after hugging his dad goodbye and promising to call every day.

“I’ll take good care of him, Mr. Hummel. I promise,” Blaine vowed before he started the car and drove off.

“If you’re right and it wasn’t Sam, do you think whoever it was is dangerous?" Kurt asked when his boyfriend kept checking the rearview mirror as they drove south toward New Orleans. Blaine shrugged.

"All I know is that it wasn't a vampire, but I do think that it's more than a coincident that someone is sneaking around your house the day we are leaving to see the Queen of Louisiana."

Kurt hadn't thought about it like this, but now that Blaine had shared his theory, Kurt became concerned as well and joined his boyfriend in his surveillance of the road ahead and behind them. As soon as they got to the interstate, Blaine accelerated to a 100 mph, using his supernatural hearing as a radar and police detector.

They arrived in New Orleans without any problems, two hours earlier than planned. Knowing they had some time left before sunrise, Blaine drove them into the city center so Kurt could catch a glimpse of the city before heading toward the Queen’s mansion located near Audobon Park. Before Kurt  could meet Queen Rachel, however, they were ushered to their room on the ground floor and Kurt was given instructions to meet the human consort of the Queen of Mississippi - a dancer named Mike - for lunch. Kurt didn't question the ‘request’, tired after a day of working at the shop and driving through the night, and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Blaine used the remaining hours of darkness to unpack their bags and met the Queen for an informal drink - Blaine refusing the human donor and asking for a True Blood - and confirming that he and Kurt would accompany the Queen to the theater the following night. When his alarm reminded him that it was 5 minutes before sunrise he said good night to Queen Rachel and lay down next to his sleeping boyfriend. The moment the sun rose, Blaine was dead to the world.

*+*

When Kurt woke up later in the day, the sun was high up in the sky. Next to him was Blaine, still and unmoving like a corpse, but Kurt had gotten used to the sight and it didn’t freak him out anymore when he saw Blaine ‘sleep’. For a moment he was confused, but another knock on the door made it apparent what had woken him. He groggily rubbed his eyes, before he called out for whoever was behind the door to come in. The young girl who poked her head through the door, didn't look faced at all by Blaine's state but still approached him timidly.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was told to fetch you for your lunch date," the girl who didn't look much older than him explained.

Kurt groaned. He would rather have slept a bit longer than meet a total stranger for lunch on the request of a Queen who meant nothing to him.

"I need at least half an hour," he told her nevertheless, and the girl nodded once, before telling him she would be back in thirty minutes to come and get him.

Thirty minutes later on the dot, there was another knock on the door and Kurt buttoned up his shirt before following the girl through a maze of hallways.

At a table set for two in a sunlit garden, sat a tall young man of Asian descent. He stood up in greeting as Kurt approached him and offered his hand to shake.

Don’t know why Tina insisted I meet him right away, but at least he seems nice.

Kurt shook the offered hand without hesitation after learning that the young man was as clueless as him.

"I'm Mike," the stranger introduced himself. "Your Queen arranged this meeting with my Queen when she heard that one of her sheriffs was bringing a human as well."

Kurt thought it best not to let Mike know he knew he was lying so soon. He just wanted to know why he had been summoned along with Blaine and maybe not scare off the other human with his telepathy from the start.

"Nice to meet you," he told Mike, before he grabbed a bagel from the basket in the middle of the table and cut it in half.

During the course of their lunch, Mike kept studying him, and so Kurt didn't feel guilty at all when he in turn snooped through Mike's mind.

He doesn't seem to know why the Kings and Queens are meeting. Maybe I should tell him, but what if he's loyal to Queen Rachel? Would he even deserve to know then?

Kurt had no idea what any of this meant until one of Mike's thoughts nearly made him drop his fork.

I wonder when it will happen. I can't wait to move in here once Tina is the new Queen. Our place is a dump compared to this mansion and I'm sick of Jackson. No one appreciates Ballet there.

Kurt had a pretty good idea all of a sudden why he had been summoned along with Blaine. Queen Rachel must have found out about the plans to overthrow her and Kurt was her means to find out how and when it was supposed to happen. He wasn't sure how he felt about that because he hadn't met either Queen, but Blaine was loyal to Queen Rachel and deserved to know what was going on. A quick glance at his watch told him that Blaine wouldn't rise for another few hours and they were supposed to meet with the Queen at a theater in New Orleans an hour  after the sun had set. Kurt hoped he would get a chance to speak with his boyfriend in private before their rendezvous with the Queen. At least, they weren’t in a hurry, because Kurt was sure that had there been a plan already, Queen Tina’s confidante would known about it. During the rest of lunch he engaged Mike in conversation about his Queen and girlfriend, but unfortunately Queen Tina's human lover's brain didn't reveal any more details, and Kurt was forced to listen to Mike gush about Queen Tina for the remainder of lunch. Once their plates were cleared, Kurt excused himself, citing exhaustion from the drive, and hurried back to his room.

Inside, he removed Blaine's laptop from his bag and sat down next to his sleeping boyfriend with the device. For the next two hours, Kurt found out as much about vampire royalty as he could from the Internet and when he put the laptop aside, he knew one important thing. Rachel, as a Queen, wasn't well liked in the southern territory, and Queen Tina wasn't the first in line waiting to overthrow her. She was, however, the first, who had the support of the other Kings and Queens of the southern territory who would stand behind the Queen of Mississippi, should she decide to attack.

Kurt's head was spinning. If the vampire royalty of the southern territory was set against Queen Rachel, should he and Blaine even get involved? Wouldn't that put them in danger if it appeared they were on Queen Rachel's side? After a quick shower, Kurt decided to take a walk to clear his head.

*+*

By the time Kurt returned from his thankfully undisturbed walk, the sun was about to set and Kurt rushed back to his room. Unfortunately, he wasn't any closer to making a decision as he walked through the door and watched as the last rays of light gave way to dusk. On the bed, Blaine stirred, and Kurt grabbed his toiletry bag before entering the bathroom to buy more time. The warm water was calming and Kurt relaxed into Blaine's strong arms when the vampire joined him in the shower.

"Too bad we have to leave in a few minutes. It's been too long since I've had you alone like this," Blaine whispered into his ear, a fang grazing the lobe, causing Kurt to shudder.

Quickly, Kurt sidestepped his boyfriend and wrapped himself up in a towel.

"Later," he promised, while he styled his hair. Blaine hummed in agreement.

Ten minutes later, they walked out to Blaine's car and Kurt got into the passenger seat. The 'Saenger Theatre' was playing Miss Saigon and they were supposed to meet Queen Rachel, an avid theater fan, there.

A few miles from the queen's mansion, their car was stopped.

"Ugh, not another construction site," Kurt complained, as a man in an orange vest made his way to the passenger door. “There aren’t even any tools."

Blaine shot up in his seat, and reached for the button to lock the car doors, but he wasn't fast enough. Before the scream even left his mouth, Kurt was yanked out of the car and unceremoniously carried from it, the ripped out seatbelt still clinging to Kurt’s body. Over his captor's shoulder, Kurt saw Blaine being restrained by three more ‘construction workers’. Whatever those men were, they matched his boyfriend in strength, and no matter how much Kurt kicked and screamed, Blaine didn't come for him.

As Kurt was carried into the park, tree branches slapped his face and scratched his arms, and he protested loudly.

"Let me go," he yelled, hoping anyone out for a stroll would hear him and get help, when to his surprise he was suddenly dropped onto the ground.

Dazed from the fall, he realized too late what his captor intended to do and his next scream was muffled by a thick tape over his mouth. Ropes bound his arms and legs, and his captor picked him up again, like he was nothing more than a large postal package. But still, Kurt was grateful, that his kidnapper hadn't blindfolded him as well as he was carried through the park. When they came out on the other side, a car pulled up, put before Kurt could make out model or color, a gunny sack was pulled over his head before he was thrown into the trunk of the car. Kurt struggled against his bonds but the knots were tight and didn’t budge. With the bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back, Kurt couldn’t look at his watch to determine how long they were driving so he started counting in his head.

Roughly 1800 seconds later, the car stopped and Kurt was pulled from the trunk. His captor was carrying him on foot again and once they left the road, the sack over his head was removed.

“Gonna take you to Queen Tina,” his captor informed him, but the information did little to calm his racing heart. So he wasn’t gonna die just yet, but who knew what the Queen wanted him for? As he was carried through the woods, Kurt tried to remember his surroundings even though he had no clue where they were, wishing with all that he had that Blaine would come and save him.

*+*

Meanwhile, Blaine was also lying in the trunk of a car, his wrists and ankles bound by silver chains, burning away his flesh. He had been injected with something that had weakened him before he could get to Kurt, and so he had to watch helplessly as his boyfriend was taken from the car. After one man had carried Kurt into the park, the three others had tied him up before stuffing him into the trunk of his car. Blaine tried to fight his bonds, but to no avail. The smell of burning flesh, nauseated him, and Blaine prayed that the ride would soon be over. His prayers were answered a few minutes later. When the trunk was opened, Blaine furrowed his brow in confusion as the car had stopped in front of the 'Saenger Theatre' where he and Kurt were supposed to meet the Queen. Could Queen Rachel be behind the attack on Kurt? But if she was, then why?

Suddenly the front doors opened, and people started to run out in panic. The three men who had captured him, leaned against the trunk and watched the commotion with bored looks on their faces, but the screams of the patrons leaving the theatre told Blaine what was going on. Apparently, a fire had broken out before the performance even started and the theater was being evacuated. Blaine doubted that it was true, because it seemed too much of a coincidence.

As soon as everyone had fled the theater, Blaine was yanked out of the trunk and frog marched into the building. A few stragglers pressed their backs against the walls as they passed, but his captors paid them no attention. The moment they walked into the performance hall, Blaine gasped in shock. On stage was the Queen of Mississippi, and next to her, held in place by a group of vampires, was her half sister, Queen Rachel. The stage was stained with blood, telling Blaine what had happened to the Queen's guards.

"Ah sheriff, just in time for the party," Queen Tina greeted him with a smile, before she stepped behind the Queen of Louisiana and snapped her neck.

A few Days earlier - Jackson, Mississippi

Queen Tina was lounging on her throne, her lover Mike next to her, when an attendant approached her and whispered into her ear.

"Michael, will you excuse us for a second," the Queen addressed her young man, who got up immediately and left the room.

Once the Queen was alone, the door opened and Queen Rachel's advisor entered.

"Yes?" the Queen asked.

"I did as you requested, your majesty," the advisor began. "I informed Queen Rachel of your intentions. You were right - the rumors about a telepath in her area are indeed true."

Queen Tina smirked.

"Excellent. I won't just gain a new crown, but a telepath as well. You can leave, but keep me informed. Let me know how my sister intends to use the telepath."

"Yes, your majesty."  The advisor bowed and left the room.

"Call Sebastian," the Queen instructed the attendant returning to her place.

*+*

An hour later, a tall man, with meticulously styled hair entered the room.

"You called," he said in a bored tone.

"I have a job for you." Sebastian raised his eyebrows in question.

"There is a telepath in my half sister's area," the Queen elaborated. "Make sure he doesn't reach New Orleans."

"And why would I do that? You have no authority over me." Sebastian asked.

"Because right now, the telepath is the sheriff's plaything and we all know about your little crush on him. You do this for me and I promise to make him yours once I'm Queen of Mississippi and Louisiana."

Sebastian considered the offer for a moment.

"Alright. Where does this telepath live?"

"Follow the sheriff and he will lead you right to him," the Queen instructed before she followed Sebastian out into the hallway but turned left when he turned right. Michael was waiting for her in their bedroom like she had instructed him, his shirt unbuttoned and his head turned to the side to expose his long neck.

“Not now,” the Queen told her lover. “First I need your help with something in case Sebastian lets me down.”

“Whatever you need,” Mike replied.

“If Sebastian fails, you will have to trick a telepath. Make him think we don’t have a plan ready. Make him believe there’s nothing new to tell my sister.”

“Everything for my Queen.”

Queen Tina smiled brightly, before she sunk her teeth into her lover’s neck.

*+*

Kurt couldn't tell you how long he had been carried through the night, but it felt like he had been bound and gagged for hours. His arms and face were littered with bloody scratches, which didn't seem to bother his kidnapper at all. He was sure by now, that whoever the man was, he was no vampire. He was strong like one however, and Kurt discovered why, when they took a brief break and the man downed a vial of blood. He had been kidnapped by a V addict, the vampire blood making it harder for Kurt to read his mind.

They were entering a clearing in the woods when the man suddenly cried out in pain and dropped Kurt. Kurt was certain his eyes were playing a trick on him, because next to the man sat a weasel that appeared to be smirking. Suddenly, however, the animal in front of him started to shift and if his hands hadn’t been bound, he would have rubbed his eyes. He blinked twice, but nothing had changed. The weasel in front of him had changed into what looked like a college aged boy, a very naked boy. Kurt quickly averted his eyes. Clearly, he had lost his mind, if he was seeing stuff like that.

Minutes earlier

Sebastian was driving towards New Orleans, a sour expression on his face. First his plan to get to the telepath had been thwarted and then he had to change into a bird to escape that dyke from Fangtasia, as she was searching the woods for him. Sebastian hated flying.

His cellphone alerted him to a new text message and Sebastian picked it up, keeping an eye on the road. The message was from the Queen.

My men have the telepath. They are instructed to bring him to me immediately to avoid suspicion. Delay him and I will give you a second chance. Don't disappoint me again.

Attached he found the telepath's coordinates. With a sigh, he  ditched his car and transformed into his favorite animal. He preferred it to scarier looking ones, because no one ever believed he was a threat when they were faced with a weasel.

*+*

His captor looked at the naked man in confusion as well, so at least, Kurt wasn't the only one seeing things. For some reason he’d believed that shifters could only change into dogs and those who could change into wolves were called werewolves.

"Get lost," the weasel boy snarled at Kurt's kidnapper who protested only weakly to Kurt's surprise.

"But, I, I thought," he stammered, but when the stranger glared at him, he turned and ran away.

The naked man sank to his knees next to Kurt and started working on the knots, and Kurt lay still until his arms and legs were freed. As soon as he had control over his legs again, he kicked the stranger in the shin, because while he could catch an errant thought every now and then from his supposed savior, his brain told him that the young man was not human. Was he a shifter that could change into rodents? Were weasels rodents?

"What the fuck is wrong with you? the stranger yelled, rubbing his shin. “I just rescued you. You could show some gratitude.”

"I'm sorry that I don't trust the boy who was a freaking weasel only moments ago," Kurt retorted, mentally planning his escape. "And could you at least get dressed, or do you want to torture me as well."

"Torture?" The stranger asked incredulously. "There's nothing wrong with my body!"

Kurt bit his tongue. He had to convince the stranger to go and get his clothes, so he could run away and find Blaine. After they stared each other down for a moment, the stranger relented.

"Look, I just want to help you, and you look like you need help. At least that's what I thought when you guys interrupted my nightly stroll through the woods. I'm Sebastian by the way."

Kurt didn't shake the offered hand, but he gave the stranger his name, nonetheless.

“Okay Kurt. Please stay here while I get dressed. I've never seen you in those woods before, so I'd hate for you to get lost if you tried to find your way out without me."

Unfortunately, Sebastian had a point. He could still try to ditch his 'savior' once they reached the road.

"Fine," he conceded. In this moment, he could kick himself for leaving his phone behind in his room, because it had run out of battery.

They were deep into the woods and Kurt couldn’t even see the stars. Exhausted he sank down onto the mossy ground only for his hand to grip a glass vial. His captor must have drop the V as he ran off. Thinking it might come in handy at some point, Kurt quickly pocketed it before the shifter returned.

*+*

An hour later, Kurt was certain Sebastian was leading him past the same oak tree for the third time. How did he know? He’d managed to drop his tie without Sebastian noticing after the second time they passed the tree and there it was, right where Kurt had dropped it.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that the guy who kidnapped me left without a fuss – especially after you shifted in front of him?” he asked his ‘rescuer’.

“That guy was high as a kite on V, he probably thought he was hallucinating,” the shifter replied.

That was a possibility, but Kurt was certain, Sebastian knew more than he let on and was possibly involved in his kidnapping.

“You haven’t asked why I was kidnapped. Aren’t you curious?” Kurt continued his hopefully stealthy interrogation.

Sebastian shrugged. “I thought you’d tell me if you wanted me to know.”

“Okay, fair enough. But care to explain why you are leading me in circles?” he was sick of playing games and wanted answers.

Sebastian paled for a moment, before his usual unsettling smile was back.

“What are you talking about? I’m trying to get us both back to the road. Which by the way, I would have reached by now if I didn’t have a clumsy human as a companion.”

Kurt huffed. “I’m not clumsy! And this is the third time we’ve passed that tree.”

“So what, you are suddenly an expert on trees as well? This isn’t the same tree, okay.”

Kurt reared back. He’d had his suspicions and now Sebastian was out right lying to him. He wasn’t safe at all, he had just traded one kidnapper for another.

“What do you want from me?” he yelled at the shifter. “My tie’s over there. The one I dropped the second time you lead me past that tree. So tell me, Sebastian, who sent you and what do you want from me?”

Sebastian was about to answer when his phone chimed in his pocket. The shifter pulled it out and while Kurt couldn’t read the text message he could tell that Sebastian wasn’t happy about the content.

“I’m going to kill her,” the shifter yelled and Kurt didn’t doubt for a second that he meant it.

“Who?” he asked cautiously, making sure to keep Sebastian at an arm’s length.

“The Queen,” the shifter snarled and Kurt couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well get in line then. I didn’t know Queen Rachel had that many enemies.”

Sebastian looked at him like he had lost his mind, before he spoke slowly, as if he was explaining something to a toddler.

“Not Queen Rachel, Queen Tina.”

*+*

They were back at the Queen’s mansion only Queen Rachel was gone and it was the Queen of Mississippi who was lounging on the throne while Blaine was struggling in his bonds, tied to a chair in front of the Queen. He was still weak from whatever he’d been ejected with and the silver chains took care of the rest. Unless someone came to save him, there was no way of getting out of this.

“What do you want from me? he hissed at Queen Tina who was smiling at her phone. Blaine wondered if the texts were about Kurt. Their blood bond was strong, so he at least knew that his boyfriend was still alive and if Blaine was reading him right, he was also very angry. And so was Blaine.

Queen Tina got up from the throne and slowly approached the sheriff, swinging her hips seductively. Once, she was in front of the bound vampire, she used her long nails to rip his shirt in two.

“You’re even hotter when you’re angry. You’re going to make such a great Queen’s consort.”

“What the fuck?” the sheriff snarled uncharacteristically. He was usually too much of a gentleman to swear.  “You are not my Queen and I’ll never be your consort. I love Kurt.”

Queen Tina smiled at him benevolently. “Oh yes, the famous telepath. I’m afraid he’s a little tied up at the moment.” She laughed at her own pun. “You know,” she continued, “I’d planed to give you to Sebastian when this was over because I do like my Michael so much, but the other Kings are right, the Queen of Mississippi and Louisiana can’t have a human as her consort. And I didn’t know you’d be so pretty.”

The sheriff snarled at her again, baring his fangs and making smoke rise from his burning flesh as he struggled against his chains.

“Now, stop it. I want my consort intact when I claim him.”

Blaine didn’t know what was making him more nauseous - the smell of his own burning flesh, not knowing what was happening to Kurt or the thought of having to enter a claim with Queen Tina. He’d been married against his will once already, and he had no plans to do it again.

“You can’t do that, there are rules,” he reminded her through clenched teeth. “The claim won’t work if you ignore the rules.”

The Queen bared her fangs and threw her cellphone to the floor in a fit of rage. Miraculously it didn’t break and Blaine quickly pushed it closer to where his right arm was bound to the chair.

“Fine, your telepath has till sunrise to enter the claim with you first but I wouldn’t count on it,” she smiled at him, her fangs on show. “Like I said, he’s currently tied up with Sebastian, and the stupid shifter is under strict orders to keep him away till noon. Maybe, he’ll even be open to a trade. I keep you and he gets the telepath. Only when I don’t need his talents of course.”

Blaine roared and fought even harder to get out of his bonds but to no avail. He was fighting so hard to escape his chains that he nearly missed it when the Queen was summoned from the room. Suddenly, he was alone with a hopefully still working cell phone. He couldn’t text Kurt even if he managed to pick it up because his boyfriend had left his cellphone in their room, but maybe he could alert Sebastian to the change of plan. Knowing about Sebastian’s interest in him, he wasn’t sure if that would help Kurt much, but if it removed Sebastian from the Queen’s side, it would be a start.

It took him agonizing minutes until he’d finally managed to lift the Queen’s cellphone high enough with his bound legs so his right hand could grab it. The chains bit even deeper into his skin and Blaine wondered briefly if his hand would grow back if he ended up accidentally amputating it. And then he thanked his lucky star that the Queen hadn’t bothered with locking her phone with a personalized code and he could just open her messages. The last ones sent were indeed from Sebastian telling the Queen that he had Kurt and was leading him in circles while pretending to save him. As quickly as he could he let Sebastian know about the change of plan, deleted the sent message and dropped the phone before smashing it with his foot. All in the nick of time, as the Queen returned only moments later with half a dozen vampire guards.

“Take him to the cells,” she ordered. “I’ll prepare everything for the claiming in the meantime.”

Blaine didn’t fight as they dragged him from the Queen’s throne room, glad to be away from Tina. There was nothing he could do now but hope that Kurt would somehow get to him before sunrise. It was a strange feeling this helplessness. It had been more than a hundred years since he’d last felt this helpless, when he had been human still, and now he was supposed to wait for a human to save him? Yes, Kurt was no ordinary human but it was still highly unlikely that he would get Blaine out of this. And even if the miracle happened then what? They would have to enter the claim to keep them save from the Queen. And Kurt was still so young. Would he hate Blaine if he found out that the claim meant married for life. That even if Kurt never turned, his life would be extended by the claim. That he couldn’t never fully be with another man even if he broke up with Blaine. There was a reason a claim was rarely entered. It was for couples who couldn’t imagine spending eternity with  anyone else, not to protect your human telepath from a bloodthirsty Queen. Maybe he shouldn’t fight this and willingly enter the claim with the Queen straight away so Kurt would never even have to face this impossible choice. A stronger man would have, but Blaine wasn’t a stronger man. He was in love with Kurt like he’d never been in love with anyone before in his over 140 years on earth. If Kurt got to him on time, then Kurt would have to choose between saving Blaine’s life or giving up his own. Blaine knew which outcome he preferred, because he also wasn’t a better man.

A few hours ago

As soon as the sheriff and his telepath had arrived and were informed about the lunch plans, Queen Tina summoned her sister’s advisor. 

“So?”

“Queen Rachel doesn’t take your threats seriously,” the man who had betrayed her sister began. “She hasn’t told any of her sheriffs, there’s no additional security and the only reason she summoned Anderson was to get to his telepath,” he continued.

Queen Tina smirked.

“Rachel, Rachel. You always underestimated me, even as children. Too bad you’ll pay for it with your life this time.”

Queen Rachel’s advisor looked uneasy for a moment.

“Second thoughts?” Tina asked him. “You could still tell my sister about your betrayal and pray for her mercy.”

The advisor shook his head and squared his shoulders.

“Queen Rachel will meet with the sheriff and his telepath at the theater after sunset. There will be two human guards and four vampire guards with her.”

Queen Tina reached behind her and pulled a dozen of vials containing V from a bag.

“Give this to my men. Tell them to separate Blaine and his telepath before they can reach my sister and warn her. Tell them to bring the telepath to me and contain Blaine until you hear from me,” she instructed.

“Please forgive me for asking, but why not overpower both the sheriff and the telepath and have them brought to you. Why separate them?”

Queen Tina laughed.

“You didn’t really think I would give the sheriff to a disgusting shifter like Sebastian. No, a queen can’t rule two states with a mere mortal by her side. Blaine will be my consort when the sun rises again. Vampire law demands that I give his lover till sunrise to reclaim him, but it won’t come to this. Sebastian is instructed to keep him occupied till then. Of course, he still thinks he’s doing it to get Blaine.”

The advisor looked at her in awe.

“What a diabolical plan, if I may say so. But what if the telepath gets to Anderson before sunrise?”

Queen Tina rolled her eyes.

“Then I’ll have to kill him before they can perform the ceremony as much as I would like to have a telepath in my entourage.”

“Then I will instruct your men according to your wishes and let the guards know to be on the look out for the telepath tomorrow night.”

The advisor bowed and shuffled out of the room. Queen Tina turned to a picture of Mike.

“I’m sorry Michael,” she spoke softly to the picture. “But I offered to turn you and you refused. You’ll have to understand that I would look weak with you by my side.”

*+*

“Not Queen Rachel, Queen Tina. If everything has gone as planned, Queen Rachel is long dead now anyway.” Sebastian continued furiously. “I can’t believe she tricked me.”

Kurt had never met Queen Rachel but he was still shocked when he heard she was dead. The Queen had lived for centuries only to be killed by her own sister out of jealousy? Kurt had a hard time wrapping his head around it.

“How’d you know? That she tricked you?” he focused back on the problem at hand. The shifter couldn’t be trusted. He’d spent hours making sure Kurt stayed in the woods and he needed to know why. And with how angry Sebastian was, this might be his only chance to get some answers.

“She wants to keep him for herself. After she promised me I could have him if I helped. That I could have him if I got rid off you.”

“Have who…?” Kurt started before it hit him. “That was you at my dad’s house?”

The shifter nodded. “Got there too late though. He was already there and I couldn’t let him know I was involved. That would complicate any future relationship wouldn't you say so?”

Kurt’s head was swimming. What the hell was going on? Why did everyone think they could just take his boyfriend and neither of them had a say in it? There had to be something he was missing. And if they wanted to get Blaine why keep him alive? Why not kill him back in Bon Temps?”

He must have said the last part out loud unless Sebastian suddenly had telepathic powers as well.

“You’re too valuable. The Queen wants you alive if at all possible.”

“But why? I can’t read a vampire’s thought.” He really hoped that he wasn’t giving away secrets that no one knew at the moment, but he needed to understand why his ‘gift’ was valuable enough to keep him around.

“The Sheriffs and the Kings and Queens they meet with our government all the time to ensure peaceful ‘cohabitation’. They could have you sit in on those meetings to check if the government isn’t secretly planning to lock up all supernatural creatures or I don’t know. All I know is that the Queen considers you valuable enough not to kill you. And legally, she isn’t allowed to do so before sunrise anyway.”

As soon as he said it, Sebastian slapped his hand over his mouth because judging by the little twink’s expression he really had no clue about vampire politics. Figures, Sebastian thought. Gets to fuck the Sheriff and has no idea what it all means. God, what he wouldn’t do to finally have Anderson to himself. Might even let him turn him if the sex was still good a in a few years. Well, not good, fantastic. He wouldn’t give up his shifter powers for just good sex.

The telepath glared at him. “Oops,” Sebastian drawled. “Forgot about the mind reading shit. You know how hard it is to constantly think nice thoughts so you won’t find me out.”

“Explain,” Kurt hissed, not willing to let the shifter know that he could only get an errant thought every now and then. “Why aren’t they allowed to kill me now?”

“Fine,” Sebastian drawled. “It’s too late now anyway. So the Queen publicly staked a claim on Anderson and vampire law demands that his current lover gets till sunrise to claim him first. Hence the walking in circles.”

Kurt suddenly felt faint because this wasn’t what was happening, right? No Queen could just claim Blaine for herself, right? And what did claim mean?

“Take me to him,” he yelled at Sebastian, because, god, it was already  4 in the morning, they had lost hours in the woods, and the sun would rise in less than 3 hours time.

“Why would I help you?” the shifter snarked. “I’m not a nice person. I look out for only one person and that person is me.”

“Because if we don’t get there before sunrise, you don’t get him either.”

Blaine wouldn’t go for a guy like Sebastian, right? Given the choice he wouldn’t.

“But why bring you along? I could just leave you here, turn into a bird and fly to him. Eventually, you’ll probably find your way out but then it will be too late anyway.”

Kurt froze in fear because Sebastian was right. If he left him in those woods now, he’d never make it on time. Especially because he didn’t even know where they were keeping Blaine. So he did the only thing he could think off and lunged at Sebastian, who promptly turned back into a weasel. But it was what Kurt had wanted because in the pile of clothes the shifter left behind was his cellphone. Kurt grabbed it quickly before he yelled.

“If you leave me here, I’ll alert the Queen to your betrayal and then I’m going to call Fangtasia and let Santana organize a hunt for you. You will have to spend the rest of your life as a rodent if you don't want her to drain you.”

He screamed it over and over again until his throat was sore. Kurt couldn’t let Sebastian know that Santana was an empty threat because he hadn’t memorized her number and that he was also too afraid to call the Queen because what if she moved Blaine and then they would never find him?

Sebastian returned, cursing loudly while he put his clothes back on before grabbing Kurt’s wrist and yanking him through the woods. Kurt couldn’t hold back his tears any longer once they reached the road and Sebastian’s car in under 15 minutes. For hours, he’d been led through the woods when the road had been this close. Unwilling to let Sebastian see him cry, he wiped his cheeks with his shirtsleeves as they approached the shifter’s white BMW. A trashy car for a trashy guy, Kurt thought bitterly, because why would you ever get a white car?

“Get in before I change my mind,” Sebastian snarled and Kurt climbed into the passenger seat.

“Just out of curiosity, what’s your plan?” Kurt asked as they raced down the thankfully empty highway, pressed back into his seat and wishing with everything he had that the shifter didn’t crash the car.

“I’ll tell her human consort that she plans to get rid off him. Then when he goes to talk to her, I tell the other royals about her promise and they’ll honor it.”

Kurt frowned. “You sure about that? I guess you don't exactly have her promise in writing and you’re no vampire. As a matter of fact, most vampires hate shifters.”

“Most shifters are vermin,” Sebastian hissed. “And I got it in text,” he added defiantly.

Kurt decided not to tell Sebastian that it was highly unlikely that the Kings and Queens of the other southern territories would side with a shifter over Queen Tina who’d just demonstrated her power when she executed Queen Rachel if Sebastian was telling the truth. And it would be to his advantage if Sebastian managed to distract the Queen with Mike and was himself occupied, giving Kurt time to find Blaine. There had been human guards on the premises when they left and Kurt prayed that they were still at the Queen’s mansion so he could pick their brains. Granted he had to find a way in first. There was no way he could sneak into the building undetected by the vampire guards. They would pick up on his heart beat and hear his footsteps no matter how quiet he was.

Sebastian’s cellphone vibrated in Kurt’s lap announcing a new message. It was from the Queen.

Blaine’s waiting for you. How are things with the telepath? Keep him occupied till after sunrise then bring him here.

Kurt had suspected all along that it hadn't been the queen who’d texted Sebastian her change of plan earlier, but this text was proof that Queen Tina still thought Sebastian was on her side.

Can’t wait. Telepath still thinks I’m helping him. What a pathetic little human. Kurt texted back, trying to emulated Sebastian’s style from previous updates to the Queen. Then he googled sunrise in New Orleans. A quick glance at the clock told him they had about 2 hours left to get to Blaine.

Sebastian pulled the car over about half a mile from the Queen’s mansion. “They’ll hear us if I drive us any closer and I’m not supposed to be back just yet.”

Before Kurt could protest, the shifter got out of the car, mock saluted Kurt and turned into a mouse. Kurt watched in shock as the mouse took off towards the house because now what? How was he supposed to get into the house without Sebastian’s help?

*+*

Blaine’s arms and legs had been freed from the silver chains before he was thrown into a cell in the basement of the mansion, but his wrists still bled and none of his wounds healed. Blaine wasn’t sure if it was due to how weak the chains had made him or if there was something in the cells keeping him weak and unable to fight his way out of this prison.

The Queen was in the room with him, but kept her distance, the cell guarded by two humans, both high on V like the men who had ambushed him and Kurt on the road.

“There you are,” Tina drawled, “you keep passing out on me. And here I thought we could finally start the ceremony,” she added holding up a velvet bag.

“Kurt?” Blaine croaked, his throat sore. He was in desperate need for a drink of blood, feeling like he hadn’t had blood in months.

“Still tied up with Sebastian. Stupid shifter still thinks he'll get you if he follows my orders,” Tina laughed evilly.

"What about your lover?" Blaine asked tentatively. He hadn't met the human himself but Kurt had told him that he was very much in love with his Queen. Tina looks sad for a moment before her mask was back in place.

"He'll understand that I'm stronger ruling with another vampire. A Queen needs an immortal consort by her side.”

“This really means this much to you? You’d spend eternity in a loveless claim just to expand your reign?” Blaine shook his head in disgust. He was ambitious too - wouldn’t be sheriff if he weren’t but there were lines even he wouldn’t cross.

“You’ll learn to love me eventually,” Tina said matter of factly before she let out a very un-queenly shriek as right in front of her a grey mouse transformed into Sebastian.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she snarled. “You’re supposed to guard the telepath.”

“And you aren’t supposed to take what’s mine,” Sebastian snarked and Blaine might admire his bravery in the face of a furious vampire queen if Sebastian wasn’t yet another person staking a claim on him like his own wishes didn’t matter at all.

“Maybe if you were actually capable of following orders I might have considered it, but you are nothing but a filthy shifter that needs to learn his place,” Tina hissed and before Sebastian could reply, he was pinned to the wall by the throat, his eyes widening in fear.

“We should really get this claim over and done with, I’m getting fed up with people trying to put their hands on what’s mind.”

“I’m not yours,” Blaine said through gritted teeth. “And even if you force me into this claim, I will never be. My heart belongs to Kurt.”

The Queen smiled, showing her sharp fangs. “Speak of the telepath, it appears we have another visitor. That should be fun, right?” she shook a choking Sebastian while Blaine paled.

He’d hoped and prayed that Kurt would find him but he hadn’t factored in that the Queen herself would be his guard. There was nothing stopping her from killing Kurt if she thought he was getting in the way of her claim on Blaine.

'Run love, run far away', he thought desperately, for once wishing Kurt could read his mind.

*+*

After Sebastian had abandoned him, Kurt tried to determine where he was in relation to the Queen’s mansion. Since Blaine had driven them to New Orleans, Kurt hadn’t paid much attention to their surroundings the previous night. A little to his left was a small hill and Kurt climbed it carefully, knowing that if he was caught by the Queen’s guards before he could get to Blaine all hope was lost. Without a cellphone to light his way - Sebastian had turned his off before he’d shifted - he could barely see anything as he tried not to get scratched by long hanging tree branches. He pulled his suit jacket sleeves down as far as they would go, remembering what Blaine had told him about his blood. According to his boyfriend, Kurt’s blood was to vampires like catnip to a cat. The smell was intoxicating and even if it was just a few drops, Blaine could smell it from miles away.

Finally, luck was on his side. From on top of the hill he had a good view of the queen’s mansion, thankfully illuminated by porch and garden lights. As he observed the building, he tried to count the guards. He easily picked out the two human guards and discovered that one was itching to sneak off for a cigarette and the other was in desperate need of a toilet. There were at least five vampire guards that Kurt could see, but he guessed that there were probably more hidden somewhere on the premises. He could wait until either of the human guards left their posts, but then there was still the problem of getting past the vampire guards with their supernatural hearing. After mulling the problem over for a good five minutes while keeping his mind on the human guards a lightbulb finally went on and Kurt smacked his forehead because a possible way to distract the vampires had been right in front of him the whole time. His blood. He still had the vial of V, dropped by his first captor. If he was quick and luck was on his side, maybe he would manage to spill some of his own blood and draw the vampires away from the house, but seal the wound and run off before the guards reached his hiding place. Hopefully, it would distract Queen Tina’s guards long enough for Kurt to slip past and get to the house undetected. Kurt carefully pulled the vial from his pocket, uncorked it and placed it between his teeth, ready to drink the blood as soon as he had spilt enough of his own. Then he pulled up his sleeves covering the scratches on his arms from when he’d been carried through the woods. The wounds had scabbed over already, but Kurt kept his nails slightly longer these days because Blaine liked it when Kurt drew blood with his nails when they had sex, so it wasn’t a problem to scratch the wounds open again.

Fuck that. I’m not pissing myself for a fucking vamp.

Kurt knew it was now or never. Hands shaking with nerves, he dug his nails into the longest scratch on his left arm and increased the pressure until the first drops of his blood hit the ground beneath his feet. Ignoring the pain, he kept squeezing for another few seconds not knowing how much of his blood was needed to attract the vampires. It was a thought from a guard that made him stop.

What’s with the vamps? Did I miss some order?

Kurt gulped down the blood from the vial, before hurrying down the hill, praying that he wasn’t running right toward the vampires. As he tried to run without falling down or getting scratched again, he could feel the V take effect and heal his wounds. Dawn was breaking in the distance making it a bit easier for Kurt to see, but also reminding him that he was running out of time. He couldn’t have gotten far when he heard voices coming from the hill. It sounded like the guards were fighting over who got to lick up Kurt’s blood. Kurt grimaced before he forced himself to move forward and tried to keep his heartbeat under control - an impossible feat with fear cursing through his veins. Finally, the house came into view and Kurt hid behind a large oak tree when he saw the lone human guard nervously point his gun in Kurt’s direction.   

It’s probably just some animal.

Humans were less dangerous to him than vampires, but there was still no way he would stand a chance against a gun. Kurt bent down as quietly as he could and picked up a rock the size of a coconut. Putting all his strength behind it, he threw it away from his hiding place. Only when the guard ran off to where the rock had landed, did he release the breath he’d been holding. After another deep breath, Kurt ran. He’d never been a fan of P.E or sports in general to his dad’s chagrin, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he broke the school record sprinting across the lawn. He ran until he reached the little garden where he’d had lunch with Mike less than 24 hours ago. To his right was the door that led to his and Blaine’s room where his phone was hopefully still charging. What he wouldn’t give for a chance to text Santana for help. Slowly he tried the handle and silently cursed when it turned out that the door was locked. There was a second door leading to the west wing of the mansion and after some jiggling of the handle, the door opened. It was dark inside and Kurt prayed that he wasn’t walking straight into the arms of the other guards as he used the wall to guide his steps. Heart in his throat, he tried the first door on his left, knowing he had to start somewhere. Slowly, he opened the door far enough to see what was behind it. It was a large room with marble floors, lit by what looked like 2 dozens of candles. At the end of it stood a golden throne, similar to the one on the stage of Fangtasia. When he saw what was in front of the throne, Kurt couldn’t suppress a gasp. The armrests of the sturdy wooden chair were stained with blood likely caused by the silver chains lying abandoned next to the chair. Kurt closed the door slowly, but a groan coming from the other end of the room made him stop in his track.

Ow.

Human then. But was it friend or foe? If he went to see who it was, would he be walking into a trap?

Gonna kill him.

Kurt picked up a large silver candlestick as he crept into the room and followed the moans brandishing the candlestick like a weapon. In the corner opposite from the throne, Mike was trying to pull himself upright by holding on to the heavy black curtains keeping all possible light out. His left eye showed bruising in many colors of the rainbow.

“Kurt?” the Queen’s boyfriend frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Kurt rushed over to Mike, but he didn’t loosen his grip on the candlestick.

“What happened to you?” Kurt asked as he helped Mike sit up.

“Sebastian,” Mike croaked. “He punched me when I refused to help him get to Tina. I think I hit my head going down,” he added after feeling for the back of his head.

Like I would ever betray her.

“Where did he go?” Kurt demanded.

“Why?” Mike replied and Kurt sighed.

“Look Mike, I really don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. So let me ask you again, where did Sebastian go?” He tighten his grip on the candlestick and prayed that he didn’t actually have to use it. Whatever his expression was in this moment, it must have convinced Mike that Kurt wasn’t joking.

“He went to the cells. Tina’s got some vampire locked up down there.” Mike laughed bitterly. “Fucking Sebastian tried to convince me that Tina was planning to dump me for the vampire. As if. Not after I helped her get rid off Queen Rachel. And why would she need to lock up the guy she wants to be with instead?”

Kurt gave Mike an incredulous look. “How hard did Sebastian hit you? Obviously the guy isn’t interested in your girlfriend so she’s making sure he can’t run away from her. And it’s not some vampire she’s got locked up. He’s my boyfriend.” Deciding he’d wasted enough time on chit chat, he grabbed Mike by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet. “So take me to the cells.”

Mike hesitated. “If what you’re saying is really true then why do you even want to go there? She’ll kill you in the blink of an eye if she thinks you’re getting between her and what she wants. I was there when she killed her half sister.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “According to Sebastian she has to obey some weird vampire law that gives me till sunrise to claim my ‘lover’ after she publicly staked a claim on him. If I don’t then he doesn’t have a choice and will have to enter a claim with her whatever that means. That’s the only reason why she hasn’t forced Blaine into it yet, some stupid vampire law. So please Mike,” he implored, “just take me to the cells. I won’t force you to go in if you don’t want to see her.”

Kurt didn’t have to read Mike’s mind to know that he just broke his fellow human’s heart. It seemed that while Mike hadn’t believed Sebastian’s story, he was believing Kurt.

“Fine, I’ll show you where they are but then you’re on your own. I’m getting out of here.”

Kurt wrapped his arm around Mike’s shoulder and helped him walk through the dark corridor until they reached a candle lit staircase leading underground.

“Good luck.” Mike told him before he turned and stumbled away.

“I’m sorry,” Kurt whispered, but Mike was already too far away to have heard him. He really was sorry though and felt like a dick for not realizing sooner that he wasn’t the only one who got hurt by Queen Tina’s deception. As Mike rounded a corner in the distance, Kurt started to creep downstairs. The walls were damp and the whole place looked more like a dungeon than the basement of the Queen’s otherwise modern mansion. Left and right were wooden doors but what had caught his attention was a large steel door at the end of the corridor. It was cracked open and through it, Kurt could hear yelling. He recognized one of the voices as Sebastian’s and assumed the female voice was the Queen’s. At this point, Kurt didn’t have to be quiet anymore. In the near presence of vampires he couldn’t hide no matter how quiet he was. So he pushed open the door hard enough for it to bang against the wall behind it.

The room he entered housed three old fashioned cells. Two guards - humans to Kurt’s surprise - stood in front of the cell furthest in the back, guarding what had to be Blaine’s cell. Right in front of Kurt however, was the Queen of Mississippi. She was a beautiful woman of Asian descent, with long dark hair falling down till just above her waist. Dressed in a dark red cocktail dress the color of blood, she was an impressive figure. Next to her was Sebastian, pinned to the wall by his throat by the Queen’s left arm. What looked effortless for her, had the shifter gasping for breath, while his eyes blazed with anger.

“Ah, the human telepath,” the Queen drawled. “You shifters really are good for nothing,” she added and increased the pressure on Sebastian’s throat.

Kurt’s eyes wandered back to the cells though and he failed to stifle a gasp when he finally spotted Blaine, curled up on the stone floor of the cell, his eyes boring into Kurt’s as if he was trying to glamor him. His wrists were still bleeding even though he wasn’t bound by silver chains anymore. The cell bars also looked like regular bars, but there had to be a reason why Blaine wasn’t healing and hadn’t escaped his prison yet.

“You have to let him go,” he addressed the Queen, his voice shaking.

“Do I?” the Queen laughed. “Are you going to attack me if I don’t?” Her smile widened, showing her long, sharp fangs.

“But the law,” Kurt stuttered but the Queen kept smiling.

“You must have been quite clever, getting past my guards without them noticing. Unfortunately, that also means that no one who would tell on me knows you are here. So, while I would have loved to have a telepath in my collection, I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you. And don’t even think about screaming or I’ll send someone to daddy dearest as soon as the sun sets.”

Kurt stood frozen in space, his heart racing and his limbs shaking. There had been a time in his life, when the bullying had started in 5th grade, when Kurt had contemplated suicide. But things had changed for the better since then. Overcome with nausea, Kurt lurched forward to his knees and dry-heaved.

“No!” someone yelled and it took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t him.

Blaine had struggled into an upright position and was holding onto the bars even as smoke rose from where his flesh was touching the bars.

‘Don’t hurt him, please,” Blaine begged, his face contorted in a pained grimace. “I’ll do it, I’ll be your mate. But please don’t hurt him. He’s got nothing to do with this.”

Kurt shook his head. His head was spinning and no matter how much he wanted to protest, he couldn’t get a word out as his stomach revolted and his whole body shook. He’d never been this scared in his life before, not even when Karofsky and his goons had attacked him and Blaine months ago.

“I knew you’ll change your mind,” the Queen smirked but Blaine wasn’t done.

“Just give me a few minutes to say goodbye to Kurt. I’m going to be yours for eternity, so please give me a few last minutes with him.”

“Fine,” the Queen looked like she was biting into a lemon as she agreed. “I need to inform the other Kings and Queens of your decision anyway. Lock the human in with the sheriff!” she ordered the human guards.

Kurt suspected that whatever was keeping Blaine locked in his cell,  would also weaken the Queen if she got too close.

“Now what to do with you,” the Queen turned to Sebastian as Kurt was dragged upright by one of the human guards.

She loosened her grip on Sebastian for a moment.

“Fuck this,” Sebastian rasped and shifted. The last thing Kurt saw of him was a small grey mouse hightailing it out of the basement.

“Gotta call an exterminator,” the Queen muttered as she too left the room.

One of the guards opened the cell while the other threw Kurt through the door. A sharp pain shot through his arm as he crashed onto the hard stone floor and this time he couldn’t hold back a pained cry.

“Could you give us a moment,” Blaine pleaded with the remaining guards after carefully pulling Kurt into his arms.

“We are under strict orders…”

“You’re married, yes?” Kurt interrupted, cradling his injured arm.

Betty. The guard’s mind supplied.

“How would you feel if Betty was forced to marry another man and you only had a few minutes to say goodbye to her.”

I’d kill whoever tried.

“Don’t try anything stupid. Will be right outside,” the other guard said to Kurt’s surprise.

The moment the heavy steal door closed behind the guards, Blaine forced himself up onto his knees and gently took Kurt’s right hand into his.

“We don’t have much time, Kurt. And I hate having to do this to you because you’re still so young and I’ll understand if it’s too much. Because a claim is a big commitment even most vampires shy away from.”

Blaine wiped a stray tear from Kurt’s cheek as his boyfriend looked at him, brows furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t understand. Is it like getting married?” Kurt whispered, still shaking badly.

The silver chains and the silver bars surrounding him were taking a toll on Blaine's body, but he still raised his own injured arm and pressed his bleeding wrist to Kurt’s lip.

“It’s marriage for eternity,” he explained as he tried to get Kurt to drink. His stubborn boyfriend pressed his lips together and shook his head before offering Blaine his own wrist.

Blaine wanted to refuse as long as Kurt was still hurt but he knew he needed his full strength back before Tina returned. He tenderly kissed the pale, slim wrist before he sank his fangs through skin and started to suck Kurt’s intoxicating blood. Knowing they didn’t have much time left before either the guards or the Queen returned, he only took a few deep drags before he carefully extracted his fangs, bit his own thumb and seal the wound with his blood.

“A claim with a vampire,” he continued hurriedly as his own cuts started to heal, “really is marriage till death do you part. There’s not getting out of it, not divorce, no falling in love with someone else. Even if you fall out of love - the claim will ensure that you can’t be happy with anyone else. And I know I shouldn’t even ask you when you’re only eighteen and have your life ahead of you. I shouldn’t ask you to tie yourself to the first man who saw how incredible you are. Because if you do this with me, it will prolong your life too. You won’t be immortal, not if you remain human, but you will age slower, and you will outlive all your friends and any kids we might have. So, I understand if you refuse me. I never should have dragged you into this vampire business in the first place, and now I’m forcing you to make an impossible choice.”

Kurt shook his head as his boyfriend rambled on. He couldn’t see himself ever dating a regular human, not when he couldn’t promise to stay out of their minds. For better or worse, Blaine was it for him. What he had trouble believing was that Blaine wanted to spend the rest of Kurt’s live with him knowing that Kurt would age eventually whereas in Tina he would have a young bride forever.

'He’s been forced into one heterosexual marriage already which he only escaped by becoming a vampire and you think he would be better off with Tina. What’s wrong with you?' His brain reminded him.

“What do we have to do?”

Blaine’s eyes lit up for a moment, before he smiled sadly. “I hope you won’t hate me for this.”

Kurt pressed his dry lips against Blaine’s, kissing him deeply to show his boyfriend that he had nothing to worry about. Once they separated, Blaine took Kurt’s uninjured hand into his again.

“Remember what you did with the chain when that boy attacked you. I need you to use that power again.” He pointed to a velvet bag lying where they Queen had stood before.

“No, no, no,” Kurt shook his head desperately, because if they needed what was in the bag they were doomed. “I don’t have telekinetic powers.”

“I don’t know where your powers come from, but they are stronger than you think. I know you can do this,” Blaine looked deep into his eyes and Kurt wanted to believe his boyfriend was right so badly but he didn’t have any powers beside his telepathy. Whoever had wrapped the chain around Karofsky’s neck it hadn’t been him no matter how much he’d secretly enjoyed chocking his tormenter. And that meant that no matter how much he wanted to get his hands on the bag it would stay where it was.

“Open your eyes,” Blaine whispered and Kurt wondered when he had closed them.

“No,” he shook his head in shock when there, right next to him, was the black velvety bag. “How did it, how did you…?

“It was all you,” Blaine smiled at him but Kurt kept shaking his head, because he just didn’t have those kind of powers. Maybe Blaine had them and he didn’t know.

“Hey,” Blaine shook his hand lightly. “I promise we’ll look into it if we survive this but right now I need you to reach into the bag and hand me the knife that’s in it.

Knowing that Blaine was right and that they didn’t have the time to freak out right now, Kurt pulled a knife with a beautifully carved handle out of the bag and handed it to Blaine. The vampire cut his just healed wrist before he handed the knife back to Kurt and motioned for him to do the same.

Kurt dug his teeth into his bottom lip as his sliced his own wrist, crying out in pain as the sharp knife cut through skin and blood vessel like a breadknife though a loaf of bread. Blaine caught the knife before Kurt dropped it and pressed his own bleeding wrist against Kurt’s. Even though his arm hurt like hell, Kurt watched in fascination as his blood healed Blaine’s wound and Blaine’s blood healed his. Just before both wounds fully closed, the vampire wedged the bloody knife between their wrists and for a moment the knife glowed brightly.

All of a sudden, Kurt was flooded with a feeling of love so intense it nearly overwhelmed him. “What’s happening?” he gasped, just as the door flew open and a furious Queen Tina barged into the room.

“It’s the love I feel for you,” Blaine explained calmly, while his eyes  were fixed on the furious Queen. “You will never be able to read my mind nor I yours but we share our most intense feelings from now on, be it love, anger, fear or sadness.

Kurt had thought he knew what love was before, but nothing could compare to what he was feeling now. He felt like he could fly, like he was high on love and nothing could touch him and Blaine. Not his bullies at school, not the closed minded citizens of Bon Temps and not the Queen of Mississippi.

"You tricked me,” Queen Tina hissed, fangs bared.

“I wouldn’t be sheriff if I weren’t smart,” Blaine replied smugly.

“But how did you get the knife?” the Queen demanded.

There was no way Kurt was revealing a power he still wasn’t sure he actually had.

“Sebastian,” he lied. “He came back after you left and Blaine convinced him to hand us the knife in exchange for his life.”

With any luck the shifter had disappeared for good and wouldn’t contradict their story.

“Fucking shifters,” the Queen growled.

Suddenly both her’s and Blaine’s wristwatch started to beep.

“Five minutes till sunrise,” Kurt said as the Queen cursed.

“I’ll deal with you tonight,” she hissed at them before she called for the human guards.

“Find some food for the human and then don’t you dare move from your post unless you want me to snap your neck tonight.”

“Can we guard the door from the outside,” one of the guards asked bravely. “Sleeping vampires freak me out.”

The Queen smiled at him sweetly before she took a step forward and snapped his neck like a twig.

Kurt screamed as the guard fell to the floor.

“Do you have a problem with following my orders?” the Queen asked and the remaining guard shook his head frantically. “Good. Get rid off him, feed the telepath and then don’t you dare let them out of your sight.”

Queen Tina turned around and strode from the room, her long hair flowing out behind her while Kurt looked on in shock as the guard started to drag out his fallen colleague. He didn’t fight his - was it husband now? - boyfriend when Blaine turned his head so Kurt could bury it against his strong shoulder. Kurt whimpered in pain as it put pressure on his injured arm. A moment later the now familiar smell of blood hit his nostrils and he opened his mouth obediently when Blaine pressed his bleeding wrist against it. He drank until all the aches in his body were gone and all he felt was hunger and thirst, his body reminding him that it had been more than twelve hours since he’d last eaten or had anything to drink and unfortunately blood didn’t sustain him.

A glance at Blaine’s watch told him that they had a minute left till sunrise. “Do you need to feed before you go down.”

“I’m not,” Blaine shook his head stubbornly.

It was possible for vampires to be awake during the day but the way Blaine had described it it was like trying to move through quicksand. It was draining and unless it was a life or death situation, a vampire shouldn’t force his body to stay awake during daytime.

“You’re exhausted, you need your sleep.”

“So do you. So you sleep and I’ll watch over you,” Blaine insisted.

They were both stubborn and Kurt knew there was no convincing Blaine to do otherwise.

“Then you’ll feed,” he insisted, picked up the ceremonial knife and used it to cut his own wrist for the second time. “Unless you want it to end up on the floor you better drink.”

His threat had the desired effect and Blaine latched onto his bleeding wrist drinking deeply until Kurt started to feel light-headed and tried to remove his burning wrist from Blaine’s fangs. His mate let go reluctantly, his expression sluggish as the first rays of light came in through the high window opposite the cell. Blaine hissed as his arm was hit by a ray and Kurt helped him move to a corner of the cell that wasn’t touched by sunlight, Blaine heavy in his arms. Kurt could tell that it was a struggle for him to stay awake, his limbs heavy and his movements slow.

“Can you hear when the guard’s on his way back?” Blaine rasped and Kurt opened his mind and searched the house for human brain patterns. He found none.

“He’s not close. I don't know where he’s taking…” he trailed off still in shock from the murder committed right in front of him. "Why?”

“Make love to me,” Blaine whispered and Kurt frowned.

“Here?” They were sitting on hard stone floor with nothing but the clothes on their backs shielding them from the damp cold in the basement.

“She might still kills us and if those are the last hours we have together, lets make them count.”

“You can barely keep your eyes open,” Kurt shook his head “and this guard, he died right in front of me. I’m not like you, Blaine, I’ve never seen anyone die before. But I promise, once we’re home you can glamor my dad as much as you like if it gives us some uninterrupted alone time. Right now, just hold me, because half an hour ago I thought I would die in this basement and now we’re what - vampire married? Just being in your arms is enough.”

“Okay,” Blaine whispered hoarsely and Kurt rearranged them so that he was in Blaine’s arms and also shielding him from the sun coming through the window.

By the time the human guard returned, his hands shaking and his taint pale after disposing of his friend’s body both the human and the vampire prisoner were out cold. He still pushed a pack of energy bars and a bottle of water he’d gotten at the gas station into the cell because he had a little girl who needed her daddy not to get killed.

“Then why are you even here?” the human’s eye’s blinked open and Trever shrieked.

“Yes, I just read your mind and yes that’s why I’m a prisoner,” Kurt said quietly before downing the bottle of water and digging his teeth into the first energy bar.

“No one’s hiring and my baby’s momma, she took off after she was born. This was the only work I could get.”

“Can’t you just leave?” Kurt asked, feeling sorry for the guard who shook his head.

“She killed my friend in front of two humans and has a human in a cell. I don’t know much about politics but I’m sure there’s a human - vampires relations law against that. She’ll never let me go now.”

He didn’t have to say it out loud that he thought Kurt wouldn’t be faring much better.

*+*

He was woken hours later when the cell door slid open. The human guard wasn't alone anymore and as soon as he and Blaine had stumbled out of the cell, they were both grabbed by vampire guards.

“You fight and we snap his neck,” one of the guards threatened and put his big meaty hands around Kurt’s throat causing Kurt’s heartbeat to speed up and Blaine tense next to him.

“Where are you taking us?” Blaine asked as they were led up the stairs.

“Queen’s orders are to clean you up and then take you to the throne room.”

The guards took them back to their room and once inside, one guard picked up a towel from the bed and threw it at Blaine.

“You first, he stays with us.”

Kurt could feel the anger inside Blaine, their blood bond stronger than ever, so he tried to flood it with all the love he felt for the vampire.

Blaine was back in flash, towel slung low around his waist and his wet curly hair hanging into his eyes. He must have used his vampire speed, Kurt concluded. To both their surprise, Blaine was handed a well tailored black suit and instructed to put it on while Kurt cleaned up. When one of the guards followed him into the bathroom, he protested loudly though.

“Are you crazy? I’m not showering in front of you.”

The guard looked at him like Kurt was a particularly nasty insect he’d loved to squash.

“You are our insurance that he’ll behave,” he said in a bored voice. “The Queen wants you to shower and look presentable so you will. Do I have to help you?”

Kurt’s hands shook as he turned his back to the vampire and stripped off his ruined suit. He showered quickly, forgoing both shampoo and conditioner because he wanted to get out of the bathroom as quickly as possible.

“Can you hand me a towel,” he asked the guard trying his best not to cry.

He was hit in the head by a grey towel just like Blaine’s and Kurt caught it just before it hit the wet floor. Once he was wrapped up in the towel, the guard put his hand to Kurt’s neck again and lead him back into the bedroom were Blaine was sitting on the bed, dressed in the suit and his hair combed neatly. His was surrounded by five guards, one of them holding a silver chain in his gloved hand, ready to use it on Blaine if the vampire decided to fight.

“Put this on,” another suit was thrust into Kurt’s arms and he quickly put the suit pants on under his towel not daring to ask if he could get a pair of underwear from his suitcase. Just like the suit, the black leather oxfords that came with the suit fit him like they were tailor made for him and Kurt had to admit that he and Blaine looked even better than the night before. It didn’t help calm his nerves though because no one was telling them why they had to dress up. The Queen wasn't going to murder them when they were dressed like that, right? Not even Queen Tina was that cruel.

Once the guards were happy with their appearances, they led Kurt and Blaine to the throne room Blaine had been tortured in. The room was filled with the Kings and Queens of the southern territory and other well dressed and important looking vampires. Blaine and Kurt were escorted to a corner where the other sheriffs of Louisiana  were standing together.

The guard’s hand had disappeared from Kurt’s neck - apparently the Queen didn’t want anyone to know that he and Blaine were prisoners - but his hands were still on Kurt under the guise of guiding him through the room.

“There are rumors you were there when Rachel was killed,” Jean-Luc, the sheriff of area 4, hissed when Blaine and Kurt came to stand next to him. “What kind of sheriff can’t even protect his Queen? I kept telling her that you are too young, not even a 150, but was she listening no. Now look what that’s got her. Killed by her own sister.”

Jean-Luc’s tirade stopped abruptly and Kurt screamed as he was hit by a fountain of blood, erupting from the vampire’s mouth. Before he could stop it, he’d swallowed down the strange blood. More and more blood covered his face and body, but Kurt remained frozen in shock as Jean-Luc’s body crumbled in front of him, leaving him in a pile of bones, muscles and clothes, every ounce of blood drained from his body. Where Jean-Luc had stood only moments before, stood the Queen, holding a thick wooden stake, covered in Jean-Luc’s remains. Kurt gaged when his eyes fell to the mess at his feet.

“Anyone else got a problem?” Queen Tina asked sweetly and the assembled vampires quieted immediately. “Good,” the Queen turned to the Kings and Queens of the other southern territories. “Now, can we finally crown me?”

She strode toward her throne as Kurt fell to his knees and vomited on top of Jean-Luc’s remains, the slain vampire’s blood dripping from his face and body. Blaine, who had frozen as well, bent down and pulled Kurt into his arms as soon as Kurt stopped emptying his stomach. Then he stripped off his suit jacket and button down, handing the silk shirt to Kurt so he could clean his face.

“I’m so sorry, love” he whispered in Kurt’s ear. “Are you OK?”

Kurt shook his head. How was he supposed to be OK after that? But he wasn’t given any time to freak out in private as one of the Kings approached Queen Tina.

“Your majesty,” the King of Georgia frowned. “What about the claim?
Kurt, who was still in shock after another murder had been committed right in front of him, tensed up even more and not even Blaine’s hand rubbing his back soothingly was helping.

“Oh, that,” the Queen waved King Edmont off dismissively. “I’ve reconsidered. Only a King is fit for a Queen so I will wait until I meet a King worthy of me.” King Edmont bristled at the veiled insult but Queen Tina paid him no attention. “However, Sheriff Anderson and his mate,” the Queen’s eyes flashed with anger for a moment so brief, Kurt wasn’t sure if he hadn’t imagined it, “have begged me to be the first to swear their allegiance to thank me for officiating their claim before sunrise this morning,” the Queen continued.

Blaine dropped to his knees in front of the Queen and Kurt followed suit. All around them people were whispering about the vampire - human claim.

“There’s less than 10 of those in the whole world,” a young vampire said as he openly gawked at Kurt and Blaine.

Vampire after vampire bowed to the Queen who took a seat on Queen Rachel’s throne. The Queen of New Mexico, a vicious looking vampire with scars all over her face - Kurt knew by now that she must have gotten those before she’d been turned - approached Queen Tina with a golden crown decorated with sapphires and diamonds. Kurt figured it must be worth thousands and thousands of dollars and was old, really old.

“Repeat after me,” she instructed as she placed the crown on Queen Tina’s head. “Ego regina Tina, protegens et patriam defendere Louisiana.”

The Queen repeated the words and Kurt whispered to Blaine. “What’s she saying? Is that Italian?”

Blaine shook his head. “Latin. She’s promising to protect and defend Louisiana. When it’s our turn just follow my lead. There’s no getting out of it.”

The Kings and Queen also bowed to Tina and the Queen of New Mexico declare her Queen over Louisiana and Mississippi. Blaine took Kurt’s hand and together they approached the throne where they knelt again.

“I, Blaine Francis Samuel Anderson, do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Tina.”

Kurt watched as Blaine’s fangs pierced the skin on his thumb and a few drops of blood fell to the floor in front of the newly minted Queen of Louisiana.

“Thank you Sheriff Anderson, I accept you pledge. Now your mate,” her eyes bore into Kurt’s and he couldn’t suppress a shiver.

“I, Kurt Elijah Hummel, do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Tina,” Kurt repeated Blaine’s words before he held his hand out to his boyfriend. If the Queen demanded a blood oath then he was going to need some help. For a moment he thought Blaine would refuse but then a fang pierced his own skin and Kurt let a few drops of blood join Blaine’s on the floor.

One by one, the assembled vampires swore their allegiance to Queen Tina while Kurt and Blaine watched from a sofa in the back, both exhausted after the night they’d had.

“Why aren’t the guards watching us anymore?” Kurt whispered.

“I’ve sworn my allegiance to the Queen,” Blaine said as if that explained everything. It didn’t. “It means I’m physically incapable of disobeying her. I don’t know if the pledge affects you too, but I’m under her control now.”

Kurt shuddered at the thought of having to obey Queen Tina. But at least they were still alive.

“So are we safe now?” he forced himself to ask.

“As safe as we can be,” Blaine didn’t sugar coat it. “If we behave and follow her orders she can’t just kill us. Because she’s sworn an oath too. To protect and defend her subjects in this state. And for better or worth we both are her subjects now.”

“And my dad?”

“He’ll be safe as long as you do what the Queen says,” Blaine sighed. “But you will never be free as long as she reigns.”

Kurt took a moment to let Blaine’s words sink in. If his boyfriend was right, Kurt wasn’t in charge of his own life anymore. If the Queen said jump, he had to jump.

“If that’s the price for my dad’s safety, I’d do it all over again,” he finally settled on.

In his mind, he said goodby to his dream of college in New York. He was a vampire Queen’s subject now and ‘married’ to a vampire sheriff. He would be kidding himself if he thought he could still leave the state and go to college like a regular human. Even going to college in New Orleans seemed out of the question now that Queen Tina would take up residence here and Blaine couldn’t leave area 5 for more than a few days at a time. At best, he’d end up in community college in Shreveport, an hour away from his classmates who’d be lucky to find work in the local lumber processing plant. He just didn’t know how to tell his dad any of this when his dad had been scrimping and saving to send his only son to college.

“Dismissed,” the Queen released her subjects and Kurt stumbled off the couch anxious to get off the premises, but the Queen stopped them. “Sheriff Anderson, a word.” She motioned to her attendants to place two chairs in front of her throne and Kurt and Blaine sat down in front of the Queen.

“You may return to your room for a few hours or join the celebrations. One of my attendants will deliver your itinerary for the next two weeks before sunrise so you can familiarize yourself with it.”

“Itinerary?” Kurt frowned. He’d been hoping he and Blaine would be able to leave and either head back to Bon Temps much earlier than planned or check into a hotel on the other side of the city.

“I have scheduled meetings with your human government. They need to be made aware of the change in reign and I will inform them that I will not accept attacks on vampires. In the future, if a human attacks one of my subjects, they will be killed on the spot.”

Kurt swallowed hard. “What’s that got to do with me?”

“You will be my ears - I want to know what they really think during the meeting. And you,” she turned to Blaine, “will find anyone who isn’t happy about me being in charge and take care of them. By the end of the month, I want a pledge of allegiance from every vampire living in this state. Videotape them and collect their blood.”

Kurt paled. Did the Queen intend to keep him in New Orleans while Blaine travelled through the state? He opened his mouth to protest but slammed it shut when he thought about his dad. If the Queen wanted him here, there was nothing he could do about it.

*=*

After agreeing to the Queen’s terms, not that they had a choice, he and Blaine were finally allowed to return to their room. Kurt didn’t protest when Blaine stripped him off his clothes and pulled him into the shower. For a moment, Kurt had forgotten about the dead vampire covering his body, but when the water turned the shower floor red, it all came back to him and he crumbled. Only Blaine’s arms around him kept Kurt from falling to the floor as sobs wrecked his body.  During the last 24 hours he’d been kidnapped, locked into a cell, had vampire married his boyfriend to keep them from getting killed, had witnessed the murder of a human and had swallowed the blood of a vampire staked right in front of him. It was all too much.

Blaine held Kurt with one arm while his other removed junks of Jean-Luc from his mate’s hair. It was a testament to how out of it Kurt was when he didn’t protest when Blaine started to wash his hair. Blaine hadn’t removed his suit before he’d put Kurt in the shower and it clung to him while he rubbed Kurt’s favorite body wash into his tan skin. Next to Blaine, every human appeared tan.

“All clean,” he whispered and wrapped Kurt into a fresh towel since the ones they’d used earlier were still wet, thanking whoever had stocked their room with multiple towels and fluffy bathrobes.

Kurt had managed to calm himself down during the shower but when Blaine lead him to the bed so he could take a shower as well, Kurt grabbed his hand.

“Don’t leave me,” he begged, hating himself for acting so pathetically.

“You could always come and watch me shower,” Blaine winked, trying to make light of their situation and Kurt surprised himself by barking out a laugh.

While Blaine showered, Kurt inspected himself in the mirror. His skin was much darker than was usual for him this time of the year, his skin clear of any blemishes and his eyesight had improved - all common side effects from ingesting vampire blood. Not only did vampire blood make you look healthier, it also increased your strength and could heal any broken bones instantly. No wonder there was such a big black market for V. All Kurt wanted however, was to get Jean-Luc’s blood out of his system. It was one thing to share blood with Blaine when they had sex, but he’d never wanted to drink any other vamp’s blood. The thought made he gag again, but his stomach was too empty so he ended up dry heaving over the sink. Blaine passed him in a blur and returned from the main room with a glass of water which he accepted gratefully just as he stomach rumbled.

“You need to eat,” his boyfriend observed but Kurt shook his head.

“Can you just hold me for a bit?” he asked, still not in the mood for anything more after having witnessed a second murder.

For a while, they lay together in silence until they were interrupted by a knock on the door and the same girl who had fetched Kurt for lunch with Mike what felt like a life time ago entered the room. She handed each of them a typed out itinerary - a list of appointments for Kurt and a list of cities for Blaine.

“There’s food for you in the kitchen,” she told Kurt before she left.

“Let’s get you something to eat,” Blaine said and put his itinerary aside.

His tone of voice made it clear that it was non-negotiable and Kurt dressed quickly in a pair of black jeans and a dark grey sweater while Blaine put on grey slacks and a dark green dress shirt. Blaine, who’d been at the mansion many times before, led them through the maze of hallways to a kitchen that was way too big for a house occupied by vampires. All mainstreaming vampires needed was a fridge and a microwave and Kurt was pretty sure that Queen Rachel had not been mainstreaming - getting blood from donors instead of the synthetic True Blood. Not even Blaine was fully mainstreaming - but Kurt tried not to think about his boyfriend occasionally feeding of men and women who weren’t him. But maybe now that they were ‘married’ he could ask Blaine to not drink from donors anymore. He’d read up on the subject and if he took B12 supplements it should be possible for him to serve as Blaine’s main food source besides True Blood without it being detrimental to his health.

There was fruit on the counter and when he looked into the fridge Kurt found two wrapped sandwiches labeled ‘human guests’. He didn’t bother to check what was in them and unwrapped one quickly. It was a chicken salad sandwich with a little too much mayo for his taste - vampire blood heightened all your senses - but beggars can’t be chooser, Kurt thought as he devoured the food. He’d only recently had a growth spurt which had turned him into a typical teenage boy when it came to food. Blaine handed him the second sandwich and opened an O negative True Blood that he’d popped into the microwave.

“So when do you have to leave?” Kurt asked after finishing the turkey sandwich.

“Tomorrow, right after sunset. Tina’s sending a human driver with me so I can travel during the day and interrogate vampires by night. When’s your first meeting?”

“Also tomorrow night. There’s a meeting with the mayor of New Orleans they want me to sit in on.”

“How many meetings? Because if she requires you longer than 2 weeks, I’ll have to drop in on your dad.”

Kurt shook his head. “No, just this week. Maybe I can join you after.”

“I’d like that,” the vampire smiled at him, his fangs on show because of the blood he was drinking.

After finishing their meals, they returned to their room - neither in the mood to celebrate with Queen Tina - and spent the rest of the night cuddling in bed, whispering assurances that it all would soon be over and they would return to their normal lives. After a whole day on a cold stone floor, Kurt’s body was begging him for sleep, but he forced himself to keep his eyes open until the first rays of sunshine fell through the vampire proved window and Blaine went limp next to him. Only then, did he close his eyes as well.

*+*

They only had a few minutes to say goodbye when the sun set later that day and Kurt asked Blaine to refresh the bite mark on his neck that would mark him as taken to other vampires. Blaine kissed him deeply after, his mouth tasting faintly of Kurt’s blood, until a knock on the door told them it was time to part ways.

“I’ll call you every day,” Blaine promised, “and I’ll be able to feel you over our bond if there’s any trouble.”

Kurt nodded and with one final kiss, Blaine was whisked away by a human named Jamie who had introduced himself as Blaine’s day driver. Only moments later, a vampire Kurt recognized as one of the Queen’s guard came to fetch him. The vampire’s nostrils flared as he took in the smell of Kurt’s blood from the two puncture marks on his neck and he kept an arm’s length between them after ordering Kurt to follow him. After a detour through the kitchen, where Kurt was handed a travel mug of coffee and another sandwich by a human dressed in a maid’s uniform - tuna this time - he was lead outside to a waiting black Escalade. The guard climbed into the passenger seat while Kurt was forced to sit in the back with the Queen.

Queen Tina wore another cocktail dress cut so low Kurt could see all the way to her belly button when she leaned forward to inspect him.

“Good, you put on the clothes brought to your room.”

There’d been another suit waiting for him when he’d woken up and Kurt had put in on with a sigh after looking longingly at all the fancy clothes he’d brought to New Orleans thinking no one would bother him here if he wore some of his more out there outfits.

“You will be introduced as an assistant,” the Queen continued. “During the meeting, you will write down what the mayor and his people are thinking, understood?” Kurt nodded.  “And don’t try to keep things from me. I’ll know if you are lying.”

Kurt gulped because the Queen seemed pretty certain that the pledge would work on him too.

After a short drive, the Escalade pulled over in front of City Hall and Kurt scrambled out of the car after the Queen when the guard opened the door for her. They were lead through the building by a woman in her late twenties whose hands were shaking in fear.

Why’d they ask me to escort the fucking vamps? All tough men up there but they send the token woman to fetch the vamps.

Kurt gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and asked where she got her hair done because she looked just fabulous.

Why’s he with them? He looks like a child playing dress up in his daddy’s suit. Too tan for a vampire so who’s he?

Since the Queen hadn’t introduced him, Kurt kept his mouth shut until they reached a conference room where the Queen shook hands with a man Kurt assumed was the mayor of New Orleans.

“My guards and my assistant,” she waved a hand in Kurt’s directions. “He will take notes.”

On the other side of the table, the mayor introduced his own aides before everyone took a seat.

“May I ask what happened to Queen Rachel? It was her that I was expecting.”

“She stepped down,” Queen Tina smiled, her fangs on display.

Disgusting vampers. Should be exterminated not given more rights.

Kurt scanned the brains at the table and concluded that the thought came from a middle aged man sitting next to the mayor. Not that it was an incriminating thought - he was pretty sure his dad had thought the same thing until recently when he’d gotten used to the idea of his son being romantically involved with a vampire.

“Oh, okay,” the mayor stammered. “It’s just that we had some problems downtown with vampires attacking tourists coming out of bars and Queen Rachel had promised to deal with the problem.”

“We like cocktails too,” Queen Tina drawled before her expression became serious.

“I’ll have my sheriff take care of it, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t rely on what the nice vampire lady on TV is saying. We’ve held back while your people have attacked my kind and you are now the first to know that I won’t tolerate this kind of thing in my territory any longer. From now on, if you attack a vampire, you better be prepared to die. I am letting the Louisiana vampire community of its leash. So you better communicate that to your constituents. Think about physically attacking or even draining a vampire - think twice - because it will most certainly end up with you dead.”

Kurt wasn’t the only one in the room who’d gone a little pale at the Queen’s announcement.

She can’t do that. The National Vampire League said it will obey our human laws. I’ll be chased out of City Hall if I make that announcement. It’s political suicide. People will think I’m too weak to stand up to the vamps.

The mayor was shaking - probably a mix of anger and fear. And then there was the mayor’s right hand man who was openly glaring at the Queen.

Maybe it is time to poison their True Blood. I know a guy who works in that factory in Baton Rouge. What was it they are allergic too again. Not garlic. Silver. Or is that werewolves. Gotta find that out and call Gerry.

Kurt froze and he swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. If he told the Queen what the man was thinking, he would be responsible for his almost certain death. The Queen had already killed two people right in front of him for lesser offenses, there was no way she would show mercy here. The killing would probably be more discreet so it couldn't be traced back to the vampires, but happen it would, Kurt was certain. So what was he supposed to do? He could try and lie to the Queen but if she really could tell, would that fall under an offense she could kill him for without breaking any rules?

Gotta call Nat Flannigan’s office and report this, another of the mayor’s aides thought and Kurt agreed that that seemed liked the best course of action. He was too scared however to report what had happened to the National Vampire League, especially because he wasn’t sure who ranked higher, the NVL or the Vampire monarchy ruling the states.

Even though the Queen glared at him from time to time, Kurt didn’t take any notes. Only one person was thinking evil thoughts and Kurt thought it was better if they weren’t written down for the police to find when they inevitably investigated the man’s murder. The mayor and his aides left the room first and Queen Tina dug her sharp nails into Kurt’s arm so hard, she drew blood. As the smell of it hit her, her pupils dilated and she looked at him like a heroin addict might look at a case of free heroin before she shook her head and pushed his arm away from him.

“Now I get what he sees in you. A fairy,” she hissed. Kurt tried not to be offended, he’d been called worse.

“Yes, I’m gay. What gave it away - the fact that Blaine only wanted to mate with me?” he snarked

The Queen paid him to attention though. “Not a full one though. I’ve had full fairy and your smell’s not that potent. Maybe an ancestor.”

It took him a moment to cotton on to the fact that the Queen hadn’t used a derogatory term to describe his sexuality, but that she was actually considering that he was a winged creature like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. The notion was absurd. Surely fairies didn’t exist. And even if they did - he couldn’t be one. He didn’t have wings or pointed ears or, he blushed just thinking it, a vagina.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’m a telepath that’s it.”

The Queen stared into his eyes and Kurt knew she was trying to glamor him. “Is that all you are?” she said in a hypnotic voice, but glamor didn't work on Kurt.

When he answered yes it wasn’t even a lie because for all he knew a telepath was all he was.

“Curious,” the Queen remarked. “You smell like you’ve got fairy blood in you and you’ve got fairy powers. Say what was your mother’s maiden name?”
Kurt came up short. It had been 10 years since his mother had taken off, unable to deal with a child with Kurt’s ‘gifts’. “I don’t remember,” he said truthfully.

“I’ll have to look into the Hummel family of Bon Temps,” she muttered to herself, but to Kurt it sounded like a threat. “So what did you get from our little gathering,” she changed topics abruptly and Kurt tried to hide his shaking hands in his suit pockets.

“The mayor was wondering if you had the authority to do what you said and is afraid of not getting reelected. The man on his left wants to report you a Nat Flannigan and…” he trailed off. If he continued he would be directly responsible for another man’s death. It wouldn’t be a surprise killing like his guard’s or Jean-Luc’s, Kurt would know it was coming and all because of him. The man had worn a wedding ring so what if he had kids too? How was he supposed to live with himself if he sentenced another man to death?

“And the other man?” the Queen promoted as if sensing his inner turmoil.

“He doesn’t like vampires very much. Thinks you shouldn't be given more rights,” he said lamely. If that was the best he had on offer than it was probably for the best if he didn’t apply to performing arts schools.

“Do we need to pay your daddy a little visit?” the Queen threatened and Kurt crumbled. There was no way he was putting as stranger’s life above his dad’s.

“He thought it would be best if your True Blood got poisoned and he’s got a friend who works in the factory in Baton Rouge,” he rasped before he sank to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees.

“Make it look like an accident and find the factory worker,” the Queen ordered and Kurt’s started to shaking even worse because it sounded like he would be responsible for two deaths.

The Queen marched out of the room and two of the remaining guards unceremoniously dragged Kurt to his feet and out of the building back to the waiting Escalade. The night wasn’t over however. The car took them to Club Dead, a vampire bar owned by Queen Rachel, where Kurt had to interrogate the accountant, the human bar stuff and a group of ‘fangbangers’ who were regulars to find out who’d been stealing from the bar. Fortunately, all humans were innocent and Kurt was a little calmer when they approached their final destination for the night, a house only a few blocks from the Queen’s mansion where Queen Rachel’s various day men and women lived. It was Kurt’s job to figure out who Queen Tina could keep on and who was loyal only to Queen Rachel.

“Please don’t kill them,” Kurt begged as they approached the house. “Can’t you just glamor them so they forget they ever even worked for Queen Rachel.”

Fortunately, all the humans in Queen Rachel’s employ had the good sense of swearing fealty to the new Queen, probably afraid of getting killed if they didn’t so Kurt never had to find out what Queen Tina would have done with them had they not.

The rest of the week past in the same fashion, only the cities changed. A few nights he and Blaine were even in the same city but they weren’t allowed to meet up, Kurt forced to remain at the Queen’s side all night. By the end of the week, three days after the first Thanksgiving he’d spent without his dad, all he was thankful for was that he’d only sentenced one other person to death. Ever since the night in the New Orleans mayor’s office, Kurt had kept away from newspapers and the TV that came with every room he stayed in had remained switched off. He was too afraid to stumble across an article or news bulletin about some freak accident that had killed the mayor’s right hand man. He hadn’t felt too guilty after Blaine had killed 4 of his classmates, because given the chance they would have killed him first and if his chief tormentor had gotten him alone for a moment, he might have been raped too. But these people he was ratting out to the Queen were complete strangers who’d never hurt him or any of his loved ones and the knowledge that he’d caused their deaths was eating away at him. Blaine tried to be understanding when they talked on the phone, but his boyfriend was a vampire and as much as he loved Kurt, vampires came first when it came to kill or be killed. Kurt had protested and said they could have gone to the police but Blaine had pointed out that you couldn’t arrest someone for thinking about killing people. How would you argue that in court? Your honor, my telepathic boyfriend read the mind of Mr. XY when Mr. XY was thinking about committing this crime. So Blaine agreed with Queen Tina that the man had to be stopped before he could actually find a way to poison the True Blood supply of thousands of vampires. He just didn’t like that Kurt was forced to spy for Queen Tina who had basically given the National Vampire League the finger and was going rogue with her new law about vampire self defense. It was their first real fight since they became a couple 8 months ago, which ended with Blaine saying, ‘you knew what you were getting into when you got involved with a vampire. I never lied to you about my true nature, so don’t act like I tricked you into this relationship.’ He hadn’t been able to argue against that because Blaine was right. He’d killed for Kurt only days after they’d met and had shown no remorse when Kurt had confronted him with it. Human life didn’t have the same worth to Blaine as it had to Kurt, just like Kurt had less of an issue with killing a vampire than he had with a human.

He spent his last night in the Queen’s ‘employ’ at a local news station where Queen Tina was recording a discussion with Steve Newlin, the leader of the Fellowship of the Sun Church, the anti vampire church his dad had joined with his ex-girlfriend Carole Hudson. His dad only recently stopped going to their services, once it became clear that Blaine wasn’t going anywhere and there was no way to keep him and Blaine apart. The Queen didn’t need a telepath to know what the Reverend was thinking, because he said everything he thought out loud. Steve Newlin believed vampires should be stripped off all rights including owning property or being allowed to own a business and he vehemently opposed a bill that would legalize vampire - human marriage.

“Why not legalize marriage with animals if we say it’s okay to marry dead people.”

“The Reverend knows good and well that vampirism is caused by an allergic reaction to sun and most food groups,” Queen Tina smiled just as sweetly as Nat Flannigan, the leader of the National Vampire League, usually did on TV. “We are a minority and from now on we’re fighting back.”

The Queen reiterated what she’d told various government officials during their trip through Louisiana adopting the rhetoric of the gun lobby.

“If someone breaks into your home, it is your right to defend that home. Why shouldn’t the same apply to a vampire’s body? Human’s are allowed selfdefense, so why not vampires too? We’re not asking for special rights, we’re asking for equal rights.”

Kurt watched the cheering, mostly human audience with a look of incredulity on his face because if the vampires managed to pass a law like that, every little thing would be construed as an attack to justify a ‘defense killing’. Kurt had a sort of inbuilt detector for all things supernatural but most people didn’t realize it immediately when they were dealing with vampires. A vampire who wanted to kill a human in a bar only had to provoke a fight where the human threw the first punch and would be protected by Queen Tina’s proposed law if he ‘accidentally’ killed the human while defending himself. He had no love for Reverend Newlin, who, among other things, called for conversion therapy for humans ‘fraternizing’ with vampires, but Kurt had to give him kudos when he dared to challenge Queen Tina and asked for her definition of selfdefense. The audience remained firmly on the Queen’s side though and Kurt wondered briefly if Queen Tina was powerful enough to glamor a whole room. But if she were, she would be affecting Steve Newlin too, and he was definitely not enamored with the vampire Queen.

“Oh honey,” a bubbly blonde came up to him. “Aren’t you a little too young to associate with vampers? It’s very important to never look them in the eye, they can do about’s anything to you if look at them. Is that’s what happened here?” she eyed the still visible fang marks on his neck with distain.

For a moment, he considered playing along but he was too afraid to hear more things that would get someone else killed. He forced his mind to focus on the crowd, their disjointed thoughts a chaotic mess in his mind that made him feel the being of a headache only moments after opening his mind to them, but it helped block out the blonde next to him.

“My boyfriend and I are very happy together,” he forced out through gritted teeth.

“Homosexuality is a sin, but if you have to congregate with men at least do it with humans,” the blonde hissed. “Anyone who promotes necrophilia is a freak of nature.”

Again, Kurt had heard worse, so he just shrugged her off. Undeterred, the woman handed him a business card for when he was ready to change his life. ‘The Newlin Conversion Center’ was printed in bold on the card with Director Sarah Newlin in italics underneath. So he’d been talking to the preacher’s wife.

“No thanks,” he shook his head but pocketed the card because there were rumors that some fellowship supporters were kidnapping ‘fangbangers’ and forcing them into conversion. Maybe he could get Blaine to investigate at some point now that he had the address of the center.

The host thanked Reverend Newlin and Queen Tina and Kurt was whisked away by the Queen’s guards so he wouldn’t be associated with the Queen in such a public setting. They were in Baton Rouge and the Queen had agree to let him go after his last job. Kurt hadn’t dared to ask how he would get his luggage that was still in New Orleans or how he was supposed to get back to Bon Temps.

“Anything?” the Queen asked once they were back in the car after leaving the station through a back door.

“The Newlins want all vampires locked up but that's no secret and the audience loved you,” Kurt reported dutifully.

The Queen smiled evilly. “Humans, so easy to fool.”

The car pulled up in front of the Baton Rouge bus station and the guard in the passenger seat turned around and thrust a ticket to Shreveport in Kurt’s hand.

“Your luggage has been sent to Fangtasia,” he informed Kurt briskly.

“You have my permission to join your sheriff and you should expect the itinerary for our trip to DC shortly. Apparently, your human president has heard of little old me and wants to meet,” Queen Tina added before she told him to get out of the car.

Kurt found himself standing at the sidewalk in front of the bus station, gaping after the Queen’s car that was speeding off. She had to be kidding him right. He couldn’t go to Washington and spy on the President of the United States. Before he could really worry about the Queen’s words though, a pair of strong arms wrapped around him from behind and Kurt shrieked.

“It’s me, it’s me,” Blaine said quickly and was in front of Kurt in a flash.

Kurt took a few calming breaths before he hit the vampire’s strong chest.

“How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me? You’re going to give me a heart attack before I’m 20.”

“Sorry,” Blaine said, sounding not sorry at all. “I’ve missed you.”

They kissed then and there, in plain view for everyone to see, but Kurt had missed him too, so he didn’t care who saw them. Someone would always hate them either for being gay or for being a vampire - human couple and Kurt had developed a thick skin growing up gay in Bon Temps.

“What are you doing here?” Kurt asked after the kiss ended. “I thought you already did Baton Rouge.”

“Someone called about a nest so I thought I could see you briefly before I take you to my hotel. Unless you want to go back to Bon Temps tonight.”

Kurt shook his head. “I have another week before I have to be back home. I’m coming with you. Starting right now. I’m not gonna sit around in some hotel waiting for you to come back from doing her bidding.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Blaine protested. “The vampires I’m seeing tonight haven’t registered when they moved here or turned vampire so they might be rogues.”

“Were you going to take Jamie?” Kurt asked and Blaine nodded.

“Someone needs to operate the camera.”

“Give him the week off. If a regular human managed not to get killed, then your mate shouldn’t have a problem either." At least that’s what it had sounded to him when Blaine had explained the claim - that vampire’s would think twice about going near him now that he was bonded to Blaine until the day he died. “You can feed me some of your blood first so I’ll be extra strong. And you should refresh my marks so everyone knows who I belong to,” he added with an alluring tilt of his neck.

Blaine picked him up and ran across the street to where Jamie was waiting in the car with vampire speed.

“Take the rest of the week off,” he ordered the startled human, before pulling him out of the car, depositing Kurt on the passenger seat and taking the wheel himself.

They only drove a few minutes before Blaine stopped the car in a dark alley and Kurt inclined his neck to him again. Blaine shook his head and seconds later, he found himself on the backseat lying underneath his boyfriend. Kurt would never admit it out loud, but the reason why he liked fooling around in the backseat of a car was that it made him feel like a normal teenager for once. So he didn’t protest when Blaine literally ripped off his jacket and dress shirt and started trailing kisses down his chest, gently grazing a nipple with his fang, causing Kurt to buck up helplessly. Before he’d met Blaine he hadn’t thought about sex all that much, thinking he wouldn’t have a boyfriend until he moved to a bigger city anyway, but ever since that first night with the vampire, he couldn’t get enough of it. Blaine used his vampire speed to strip them of the rest of their clothes and before long, Kurt was panting and begging Blaine to bite him. His back arched when the vampire’s fangs finally sank into his neck and Blaine took a few deep gulps before biting his own wrist and offering it to Kurt who drank for a few seconds as well before the metallic taste became too much for him. Blaine’s blood closed the twin wounds on his neck as well, so Kurt begged his boyfriend to bite him again. The vampire didn't have to be asked twice though he refrained from drinking this time around, to avoid weakening him.

Queen Tina’s words came back to him once he was back in the passenger seat, dressed in Blaine’s dress shirt since his own had been ripped in two.

“The Queen, she called me a fairy when she smelled my blood. Do they exist?” he asked just as Blaine was backing the car out of the alley and he was glad he’d buckled his seatbelt with the way Blaine slammed his foot on the break.

“Why was she smelling your blood?” he hissed, his normally hazel eyes blazing with anger and jealousy.

“It was an accident,” Kurt said quickly not wanting to tell Blaine that the Queen had gripped his arm so hard, he’d bled, afraid Blaine would throw all caution in the wind and go after her for harming his mate. “And you haven’t answered my question.”

Blaine took a few calming breaths. “I’ve heard of fairies but they don’t live in this realm anymore. Vampires, we were too dangerous for them. Couldn’t restrain ourselves when smelling a fairy. A vampire who drained a fairy could walk in the sun for up to a week without dying so we hunted them. Or so I’ve heard. I’ve never met one myself and if the stories are true, then I’m glad I haven’t. So I don’t think you are a fairy but if the Queen thinks you are, than maybe you have fairy blood in you. That would explain your blood’s intoxicating smell and your powers.”

Kurt swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. So it looked like he was part fairy. If any of the homophobes ever found out they would have a field day with that.

“I have some contacts in the supernatural world who might know more about them. I’ll see if they’d be willing to meet once I’m done with this mission,” Blaine offered and Kurt nodded gratefully because if he was a sup - a supernatural being - as well, he wanted to know.

“Did your mom have any powers?” Blaine asked as he drove them to their destination - a house on the outskirts of Baton Rouge occupied by half a dozen of unregistered vampires if his informant was right.

Kurt shook his head. “She left us because she couldn’t handle how much of a freak I was. Dad tried to cover for her, but I read it on her mind. She wasn’t freaked out because I had inherited her powers, she couldn’t deal with a child who couldn’t stay out of her head.” Then he voiced another thought he’d had. “ I thought fairies were all women.”

Blaine laughed. “I thought you knew how babies were made, love, it needs a man and a woman. Same goes for fairies. It’s only vampires who can’t procreate because we’re, well, dead, no matter what we claim in public.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe some people actually fell for the vampirism is a disease story. He’d asked Blaine early on in their relationship how it was possible for vampires to walk, talk and have sex if their hearts didn’t beat and pump blood to the brain and organs. Blaine had shrugged it off as magic, because what else could it be when an already dead person could be brought back to ‘life’ by exchanging their own blood for a living dead’s blood. He hadn’t asked again, just glad Blaine’s body was in full working order once they started having sex.

Their conversation stopped abruptly when Blaine stopped the car in front of a derelict looking house at the end of long gravel driveway. The only light in the house seemed to come from candles which wasn’t surprising when the current inhabitants were most likely squatters. Kurt climbed out of the car quietly and accepted the camera Blaine was taking out of the trunk. His boyfriend approached the house holding an empty jar and a clipboard and Kurt tried not to show his fear as he followed.

Blaine didn’t bother with knocking and pushed the door open so hard it was ripped of its hinges. Only seconds later, he was surrounded by three ferocious looking vampires, two males and one female. They were all young, possibly less than a year old and Blaine wondered what had happened to their makers because vampires this young shouldn’t be left to their own devices.

“Blaine Anderson, sheriff of area 5,” he announced himself. “I’m here on orders of the Queen of Louisiana and Mississippi.”

Kurt’s grip on his hand tightened when the female snarled.

“Let him in, after all, he’s brought us a treat,” the male said though.

Even though it made his blood boil, Blaine ignored the veiled threat and pulled Kurt into the building with him.

“If you intend to stay in this state, you need to register,” he informed the baby vamps. "And you need to swear fealty to the Queen. If that’s not to your liking I suggests you get out of Louisiana right now before I can write down your names.”

But Kurt’s eyes fell on a vampire huddled in the corner, a young woman drained of all blood by his feet.

“Finn Hudson,” he whispered horrified. He hadn’t seen his former classmate since he'd been turned and had shown up at his house looking for his mother. His dad had chased him off and told him he would be killed if he ever showed his face again.

Finn’s face scrunched as he tried to place Kurt. “You’re the homo,” he concluded. “Burt’s kid.”

Kurt nodded because while it was tactless, Finn wasn’t wrong. Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind and dragged into the next room.

“Smells so good,” a female voice whispered, but before she could sink her fangs into his throat she recoiled. “No,” she whined, but didn’t try again and Kurt hoped it was the claim keeping her away and not just some fluke.

Also the voice sounded vaguely familiar and Kurt wondered briefly if he'd seen her at Fangtasia maybe, before he came face to face with his attacker and nearly screamed. Because there, right in front of him, fangs glistening in candle light, was Elizabeth Hummel, ten years older but still beautiful with waist length chestnut hair, brilliant blue eyes and Kurt’s nose. The vampire just looked at him blankly though no recognition in her eyes.

“Why can’t I bite you,” she snarled.

Kurt knew from stories that vampires had no problems killing human family members so it had to be the claim that was holding her back.

“Kurt,” Blaine stormed into the room, chased by the three baby vamps who’d answered the door. “You okay?”

His mother didn’t react to his name either. Kurt expected his heart to break any moment, but all he felt was indifference. He’d already mourned the loss of his mother when she’d left them 10 years ago and in the end, it had brought him and his dad much closer.

“Yes. She couldn’t touch me,” he told his boyfriend who looked ready to kill the woman who used to be his mother. “Her name’s Elizabeth Hummel,” he added.

Both Blaine and his mother looked at him in shock. Blaine because Kurt had told him that as a child he pretended that his middle name was Elizabeth like his mom’s name, and his mother because he knew her name.

“Have me met?” she hissed and Kurt shook his head. This woman was not his mother and they hadn’t met.

“I knew you in your human life,” Kurt stated simply waiting for her to connect the dots but she didn’t.

“Let’s get out of here,” she turned to her companions. “I’m sick of Louisiana anyway.”

Blaine didn’t stop them as they rushed past leaving only Finn behind.

“Did you kill that girl?” Kurt rounded on him and the vampire actually looked ashamed.

“I didn’t mean to, but I was so hungry. How do you control it?” he pleaded with Blaine.

“When was he turned?” Blaine turned to Kurt.

“A little over a year ago?”

“Do you know who did it?” Kurt shook his head.

“I wasn’t invited to the parties Finn went to. Rumors were he left with a pretty blonde and that was the last time he was seen alive before he showed up as a vampire at my dad’s place and tried to attack his mom.”

Finn looked stricken. “I didn’t hurt her, did I? I can’t remember much from when I turned.”

“What happened to your maker?” Blaine asked.

“I dunno,” Finn shrugged. “Her name was Quinn and she said she was from California. I don’t think she meant to turn me, because I remember her saying ‘oh shit’ when I saw her again a few days later. Didn’t see her again after.”

Blaine sighed. Young vampires were dangerous enough even when they were guided by their makers but it was even worse when they were abandoned. It was a miracle Finn hadn’t been staked yet, because baby vamps were usually so blinded by their blood lust that they threw all caution into the wind and were easy prey for hunters. Finn was lucky he hadn’t crossed paths with Blaine before because Blaine would have locked him into a coffin bound with silver chains and sent him to the bottom of the ocean for the next ten years as punishment for running wild.

“How do you do it? How can you bite him and not drain him?” Finn asked. “Can you teach me?”

Blaine shared a look with Kurt that said if you don't want me to help him, say the word and I make sure you never see him again and Kurt considered it for a moment. But he also knew that Carole was still mourning her son and her relationship with his dad had mostly ended because she couldn’t move past it and felt like she was a burden to his dad. If Blaine could teach Finn how to mainstream, maybe he could be reunited with his mother.

“There was a gas station a few miles back. I can go and check if they have some True Blood,” he offered and handed the camera he miraculously hadn’t dropped to Blaine. “You could do the pledge in the meantime. Just press the red button to record.”

“I have an iPhone 6, I know how to record a video,” Blaine huffed indignantly, and Kurt kissed his cold cheek briefly before he pulled the car keys from Blaine’s pant’s pocket and left the house.

As he was paying for the True Blood he got a text from Blaine.

Don’t come back to the house, I’ve called the police. Finn will come to you. Drive him to the hotel while I deal with things. The address is in the GPS. Room keys at the front desk. I told the concierge to expect you.

Finn had looked hungry even though the girl couldn’t have been dead long so he turned to the gas station attendant.

“Can I use your microwave?”
The man, who wore a baseball cap and whose arms were covered in tattoos, gave him a quick once over.

“Don’t look a vamper,” he remarked and Kurt shook his head and widened his eyes knowing it made him look even younger.

“Lost a bet,” his said, his lips quivering. “They told me I had to drink it hot like a vamper.” At that he screwed his face up in disgust and the man shook his head.

“Kids these days,” he muttered and took one of the bottles Kurt had just paid for and popped it into the microwave. Kurt watched it spin, itching to text Blaine back why he was dealing with the cops instead of calling it in anonymously, because even knowing that the claim would keep Finn from biting him, didn’t mean he felt save in the presence of a guy who’d bullied him in high school and had since turned vampire. What if he could still beat Kurt to death. Thanks to Blaine’s blood he was stronger than normal, but if Finn wanted to fight him, he would surely be no match. The heated bottle was handed back to him and Kurt held it gingerly while he thanked the man.

“Good luck,” he called after him as Kurt walked out of the gas station back to the car Blaine was driving that night.

Finn was already waiting next to it and Kurt told him to get into the passenger seat.

“Here,” he thrust the bottle of True Blood into Finn’s hand. ”I got you a O negative because Blaine seems to like it, but there are other types as well.

Finn took one sip and spat it back out. “That’s disgusting,” he exclaimed. “That’s supposed to be blood.”

“It’s either that or nothing at all,” Kurt informed Finn and put the car into drive. “If it’s good enough for a sheriff, it’s good enough for you.”

Finn didn’t need to know that Blaine didn't live just of True Blood because if he really wanted to give mainstreaming a go, he had to learn to drink the synthetic blood and nothing else. At least not until he could control his intake.

Finn drank the bottle but he complained the whole ride to the hotel Blaine was staying at and Kurt was considering staking him himself by the time they arrived. His mood was already sour as he walked into the lobby with a big sulking vampire in tow but it deteriorated even further when the man behind the front desk turned and Kurt came face to face with Sebastian.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he exclaimed. “I can’t believe you haven’t left the state yet.”

“Welcome to the ‘Anubis’, America’s top accommodation for the modern vampire. My name is Francois, how may I be of service?” the shifter greeted him in a horrible fake French accent ignoring Kurt’s outburst.

If that’s how you’re going to play it, Kurt thought, fine. Whatever. I honestly don’t care.

“I need my room key, should be under Anderson or Hummel.” Kurt had to give Sebastian kudos for his acting skills because his face showed no recognition at all as he pushed a plastic card over the counter and said in a friendly voice, “room 210, second floor on your right.”

Kurt knew from years of trying not to read people’s mind that his power was even stronger when he touched someone while snooping around in his brain. Shifter brains were usually impossible to read, but he at least had to give it a try because he really wanted to know why Sebastian was working at a vampire hotel.

What he got from the shifter as he grabbed Sebastian’s hand were no thoughts but images. He saw Sebastian take a large check from Steve Newlin and shake his hand and calls to the fellowship about the vampires staying at the ‘Anubis’. It didn't surprise Kurt, that the shifter had switched sides and was now spying on the vampires for the Fellowship of the Sun. He couldn’t wait to tell Blaine about it, though he had a feeling that Sebastian would quit his job as soon as Kurt went upstairs now that he’d been discovered.

He let go of Sebastian’s hand and leaned over the counter briefly. “Stay away from me and Blaine or I’ll send my bodyguard after you,” he jerked his head at Finn who thanks to his stature looked threatening even if his face didn’t.

“Enjoy your stay,” Francois beamed but his hands were shaking.

“Follow me,” Kurt ordered Finn and together they went upstairs.

Inside room 210 was a large kingsize bed, a sofa, flatscreen TV, large bathtub and a shower two people could easily fit into. It was clear that Blaine had planned a romantic reunion and now they had to share the room with a baby vamp who used to bully him for being gay. Just great.

“You stay on the couch,” he told Finn before he fell onto the bed, exhausted after a week of doing the Queen’s bidding.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep - not with a strange vampire in the room - but he must have because when he opened his eyes again, Blaine was next to him on the bed. It was still dark outside, the only light in the room coming from the TV. Empty True Blood bottles were littering the floor around the sofa Finn was on, who was currently watching a football game, thankfully with headphones on.

“Everything go okay with the police?” Kurt asked after a yawn.

“I told them I was following an anonymous tip about rogue vampires but they took off when I got to the house. Gave the vampire cop with them the description of the 4 that weren’t your mom or Finn,” Blaine recounted. After a beat he added. "You should have staked her when you had the choice."

“I'm not strong enough. You should have reported her to the police. Now she's still out there killing innocent people.”

“Because you are human. The first person I killed after I was turned was my father. He was a tyrant who hit my mother, beat me and my brothers and married my youngest sister to a friend of his for an acre of land when she was only 12 years old. It was exhilarating to rip out his throat. I left soon after though, not trusting myself around the rest of my family.”

Kurt shuddered. He knew most of Blaine’s life and death story by now, but every now and then Blaine shocked him with a bloody story from his past. He wasn’t naive and knew his boyfriend had killed dozens after he’d first turned vampire, but Blaine had promised that he hadn’t killed any human since after World War II during which he and many other vampires had fought alongside American soldiers in Europe.

“I still think she needs to be stopped,” he repeated. “I can report her to the police and say she bit me. I have marks to prove it.”

“It’s up to you, love,” Blaine whispered into his ear and kissed him softly.

Kurt allowed the kiss for a moment, before he pulled back, because they weren’t alone.

“Are we going to take him with us?” he asked and jerked his head in Finn’s direction.

“I’ve already arranged for a second coffin for him,” Blaine nodded. “I’ll get him to climb in before sunrise and the hotel will load them into the hearse you’ll be driving to our next stop.” With a look at Finn he added. “I’ll get him his own room for tomorrow night so we can finally start our honeymoon.”

“Who’d you talk to at the front desk?”

Blaine frowned in confusion. “Young brunette, nice smile, a little too much make up maybe, why?”

Kurt yawned. “I’ll tell you tomorrow night.”

*+*

It was already past noon when Kurt woke again later in the day. Next to the bed were two mahogany coffins and Kurt tried not to let them freak him out. Most vampires slept in coffins all the time and his boyfriend was actually an anomaly with his preference for a regular bed. From the phone on his bedside table he called down to the front desk to let them know it was okay to come up and load the coffins. In the meantime, he jumped into the shower before dressing in yesterday’s clothes since his luggage had been sent to Shreveport. As much as he hated it, he had to ask Blaine for money for clothes tonight, because he only had about 20$ left in his bank account and he needed at least fresh underwear, a second pair of pants and a jacket because nights were cold outside.

Downstairs in the lobby, he returned his keycard to the human man working the front desk and gratefully accepted a cup of coffee and croissant while Blaine and Finn’s coffins were loaded into the hearse.

When he was handed the keys 10 minutes later, he was surprised to find the name of a funeral home printed on the back of the hearse.

“We don’t want people to know when vampires are transported during the day. Otherwise, those transports might be targeted by anti vampire fanatics," a staff member explained when Kurt asked about it.

“Makes sense,” he agreed before he got into the car and turned on the GPS.

He spent the drive first talking to his dad, making up a story about a music class he’d just sat in on at UNO before taking a call from Mercedes who was bored out of her mind at her job.

“Don’t tell my dad, but I’m currently driving a hearse,” he confided in her since she already knew he was spending 2 weeks with Blaine. “It’s so we can travel during the day and be together all night.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Mercedes said and Kurt was certain she was frowning. “That all would be a little too weird for me.”

“It is kinda weird,” he agreed, “but only because I’ve never seen him use a coffin before.”

Two and a half hours later, he pulled into the parking garage of the ‘Anubis’ in Alexandria and instructed the front desk to unload the coffins in his room. He was sure Blaine would take care of getting a second room once he woke. In the meantime, he went for a walk along the Red River, wrapped in Blaine’s jacket, because it’d been a while since he’d last been outside during the day and he was starting to miss the sunshine. Blaine’s words from last night came back to him. A vampire who drained a fairy can walk in the sunlight for up to a week. Would his own blood have a similar effect on Blaine if he kept drinking it or did you have to be a proper fairy for your blood to work that way? He stopped himself before he started daydreaming about the two of them taking walks on the sunlit beach together, setting himself up for disappointment if Blaine couldn’t survive out in the sun after drinking his blood.

Since it was late November, it didn't take long before the sun set and Kurt hurried back to the hotel. Blaine was awake and Finn, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. They spent the next hour in bed together, taking advantage of the large bed and the privacy they had been missing the past week, Kurt making love to Blaine before his boyfriend fed from his femoral artery, his favorite snacking spot on Kurt’s body after his neck. Then they went out with Finn in tow, collecting pledges from vampires and registering a few newcomers who wanted to remain in the state.

The rest of the week passed in this fashion and too soon it was time for Kurt to return home. Finn wasn’t ready to see his mother, but Kurt thought it would be a good idea to talk to Carole to prepare her or in case she didn’t want to see Finn again, tell him gently. They went to Shreveport first to collect his luggage, where Santana after taking a whiff of him welcomed him to the family, before Blaine drove him to Carole’s house. Baine made Finn stay at Fangtasia, not trusting the baby vamp to be able to control himself close to his mother.

It was already close to midnight when Blaine stopped the car in front of an apartment building in Bon Temps but Kurt had called the hospital in Clarice where Carole worked and had been told she was working the evening shift so she should still be up.

“How much longer will you need?” he asked Blaine unwilling to say goodbye just yet even though he knew that he should be home by now because his dad was expecting him back today.

“At least another week to meet all the registered vamps and then I still have to follow up any reports of rogues in my area,” Blaine sighed. “But I’ll spend the weekend with you, I promise.”

Kurt tried not to cry when Blaine drove off after another long kiss because he’d spent nearly every waking hour with his boyfriend for the past 2 weeks and a week’s separation hadn’t felt like a big deal before they’d gone to New Orleans. He wondered briefly if the near death experience or their new claim was responsible for his clinginess.

After finding the right apartment, he wiped his tears and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Carole called out fearfully after a good minutes.

“It’s Kurt, Kurt Hummel.”

The door opened instantly. “Is everything okay? Is your dad okay? I just came from the hospital, they should have told me if something had happened to him.”

“My dad’s fine,” Kurt interrupted her quickly. “Can I come in, it’s about Finn.”

Carole froze before her eyes watered. “Have you seen him?” she whispered and Kurt nodded. Carole opened the door all the way and let him in.

*+*

He had to start from the beginning, because Carole and his dad had broken up before he’d met Blaine and surprisingly, she hadn’t heard of ‘the Hummel boy’s disgusting relationship’.

“Burt really lets you date a vampire?” she asked surprised after he told her who his boyfriend was. (The official version a.k.a my boyfriend owns a bar) He smiled.

“I didn’t give him much choice, but believe me when I say he wasn’t happy and he’s still weary of Blaine. But I love him and my dad’s not going to change that.”

He left out a big junk of story after his early courtship with Blaine and jumped right to where he and Blaine had stumbled upon Finn who’d fallen in with a bad crowd but wanted to be better. Kurt told her how Blaine was mentoring Finn and making sure he wasn’t hurting any humans so he could lead a relatively normal life in the future.

“And he wants to see me?” Carole asked with tears in her eyes and Kurt nodded.

“He was really scared that he had hurt you because he couldn’t remember if he had. But he also knows that he can’t yet, that it wouldn’t be safe for you until he’s got himself fully under control. And even then, Blaine and I, we’ll stay with him the first time you meet, just to be safe.”

They stayed up talking the rest of the night, Carole confiding in him how it had wrecked her when she lost her son, when she’d already lost a husband. And how much she missed Burt, but thought he was better off without her drama.

“He misses you too. He doesn’t say it, but I know he does,” Kurt assured her, because Carole had been good for his dad and he would feel better about moving out after graduation if his dad wasn’t alone.

“They’re are rumors that you can, that you know what people are thinking,” Carole said haltingly, like she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know the truth. “Is that how you know that your dad’s been missing me?”

Kurt shook his head. “You don’t need to be a mind reader to be able to tell that,” he smiled at her.

“But can you?” she seemed to steel herself for the answer.

He could deny it, but he doubted that Carole would call the authorities and have him carted off to a lab when her son was afflicted with ‘vampirism’. So he nodded once and stared on the floor.

To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, honey,” she whispered. “Do you hear us all the time?” Kurt nodded again. He was getting better at shielding himself, but it cost him a lot of energy to keep strange thoughts out of his head. He only ever felt really peaceful when he was with vampires and to a lesser extent shapeshifters.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine what that must feel like, but I guess it would drive me crazy.”

It was his turn to cry, because Carole was saying all the things he’d hoped his own mother would say to him once upon the time. He’d reported her to the police in Lafayette, tears streaming down his face as he’d told the police how his own mother had taken a bite out of him, a mother he hadn’t seen in ten years. He’d given them her description and his phone number asking for a call if she ever got picked up by the police.

“Crap,” Kurt exclaimed when he looked at his watch hours later and saw that it was already 5 o’clock in the morning. He was supposed to go back to school today and still needed to head home to shower, get changed and collect his books.

“Come on, I’ll give you a lift,” Carole offered and Kurt accepted.

They were met with his dad sitting on the front porch, holding his shot gun.

“Where the hell have you been?” his dad yelled brandishing his shot gun, not realizing yet that Blaine wasn’t in the car. “Got a letter from school saying you haven’t been to classes all week. So I don’t care what the laws say, you better get out here, Anderson, so we can deal with this.”

Kurt approached his dad cautiously not wanting to accidentally get shot. Apparently, the glamor had worn off and Kurt cursed Blaine for not instructing his dad to call his school to say his son was sick.

“Please, dad, calm down, your heart,”

“Calm down,” his dad bristled with anger. “I get a letter saying my son’s been skipping school for a week and I’m supposed to calm down. And my memory tells me I supposedly agreed to this. As if I ever would. He performed that mumbo jumbo thing on me.”

There was nothing he could say to make things better right now, Kurt realized as he carefully put his hand on the shotgun and pointed it to the ground.

“You wouldn’t wanna shoot Carole,” he told his dad when he glared at him.

The shotgun clattered to the ground. Carole climbed out of the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry, Burt. Kurt was with me all night. I should have called to let you know. I wasn’t thinking,” she apologized. Burt looked from Kurt to Carole in confusion.

“How…? he trailed off again.

“They found Finn, Kurt and Blaine. And he’s okay. Well sort of okay and they are helping him get better so he can come home to me.” Tears were streaming down Carole’s cheeks and his Burt looked at both of them, his mouth wide open in shock for a moment.

“You went out to look for Finn?”

Kurt knew that his dad could never find out the truth. One day, when human - vampire marriage became legal, he and Blaine would get married in front of his dad, but he would have to take what happened in New Orleans to his grave. His dad would blame himself for not properly protecting Kurt and maybe his weak heart wouldn’t be able to deal with the stress of knowing the truth. So he nodded.

“I’m so sorry that Blaine glamoured you, dad, but you wouldn’t have let me go. And I thought that maybe, if we could find Finn it would help Carole and then you could get back together so your not alone when I go off to college. And I’m sorry for skipping school but it took us more time to find him than we thought. Please don’t hate me.”

The tears came naturally even as his dad’s expression softened. Kurt focused all his energy on keeping his dad’s thoughts at bay because he didn’t want to hear what a disappointment he was.

“Where’s he now, Finn?”

“Blaine’s bar,” Kurt sniffled. “Blaine’s assistant is training him to become a bar tender once he’s ready to interact with humans.”

His dad picked up his shotgun and told him and Carole to come inside. They followed him into the kitchen and watched silently as he poured both of them a cup of coffee.

“I think we all need a little pick me up,” he finally said, before adding, “I’ll call the school later, tell them you’re still sick.”

“Thanks, dad.” After a beat. “So what now? Am I grounded?”

“Would it really keep you from seeing him?” his dad sounded resigned and Kurt decided to be truthful and shook his head.

“I know you don’t want to hear it Dad, but I’m 18. I’m old enough to decide for myself who I’m dating. If I’m old enough to vote or go to war, then I’m old enough to know how I feel. Right now, I love Blaine and he loves me. And did you know that I already have enough credits to graduate this Christmas? But I didn’t want to leave you on your own, so I didn’t apply to any colleges, figured I survived 3 years in this school, I’ll survive an extra 4 months. I don't mind any of that because I love you, but I love Blaine too, and you’re gonna have to learn to accept that and treat me like an adult. Because he’s not going anywhere and I want the two most important men in my life to get along.”

By the end of his little speech, Kurt was full on crying but so were Carole and Burt.

“Now, I think we all should go to bed, because I don’t think either of us slept a wink last night. Carole, you’re welcome to stay - don’t make that face Kurt, you want me to treat you like an adult then act like one. And tonight, we’ll have dinner together, because I think there’s much more to talk about. I’ll expect him on his best behavior, no more lying and no mumbo jumbo. If he ever does that again, I don’t care what you say, but his invitation to this house will be rescinded for good. Okay.”

“Okay.” He could find out later if Blaine could take another night off to join him for dinner with his dad and the way his dad was looking at Carole, his dad’s girlfriend.

“Now give me a hug.” Kurt fell into his dad’s open arms and pressed his face against the familiar flannel, the ever present smell of motor oil a comforting scent.

“There’s something else I need to tell you,” he whispered because his dad deserved to know.

“Why don’t you head up,” his told Carole. “I’ll be right up.”

Once his dad’s bedroom door closed behind Carole, Kurt took a deep breath.

“In the house where we found Finn, I also ran into mom. She’s a vampire, a very young one according to Blaine. But she didn’t recognize me.”

“I hope you put a stake through her heart,” Burt said after he looked at Kurt in shock for a moment and Kurt barked out a laugh.

“Blaine said the same thing.”

“I might just warm to that man of your’s after all,” Burt smiled smiled at his son.

And Kurt smiled back, because all he ever wanted was for his dad to get along with the man he loved. A man he would be with till death did them part. 

- Fin -