Fate tends to bring people together in a way that they could have, should have seen coming… but somehow managed to miss the telltale signs along the way. Sometimes it is immediate; other times it takes a slow progression of steps that form converging paths.

For the casual observer, these convergences can be amusing or alarming. Same for the people who are involved, and part of how things turn out can be attributed to the reactions of individuals.

At times, the reactions spark entirely new paths all by themselves.

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When Xelander finished his meal, Suzu escorted us up to the first apartment, which was the one that Xelander seemed dead-set on leasing. Now, don’t get me wrong, the man could live wherever he wanted, but the smaller apartment just wasn’t it. At just shy of eight hundred square feet, it didn’t offer itself to much in the way of entertaining, and the bedroom was… well… how do I say this without coming off as a chauvinist? It had ruffles and enough trim on the curtains to pass as a revival of French Rococo. “I take it back, Xelander. This is perfect. You’ll never have to worry about offending a woman’s decorative sensibilities because you’ll never get one to stay here with you.”

Suzu made a strangled little sound that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a snort. “Jedah, you’re terrible! I happen to like the décor in this room; I decorated it!” She crossed her arms and looked at me with that fondly exasperated glare of hers, and at that point, I had to laugh.

“Right, well, there it is then, the two of you are perfect for each other!” Silence fell in the room, Xelander gave me a startled look, and Suzu turned an interesting shade of pink. Let me tell you, a vampire blushing is no small feat. “Oh come on, it was just a joke!”

“The lack of a second bedroom will make things cramped. Perhaps I should see what the other apartment looks like. Shall we?” Xelander moved his arm, hand indicating the door, and we headed out to the elevator. The ride up was an almost awkward one, and I bit my tongue on half a dozen things I wanted to say.

The moment Suzu opened the door to the executive apartment; I knew he was interested in it. When he took the few steps into the foyer and crossed through to the baby grand piano to touch the mahogany surface of the lid, I knew that he was renting the apartment. I was tolerable in music, but Xelander was the one who could play any musical instrument he got close to.

“Go on, Xelander. Let’s see how it sounds,” I said, looking at how he regarded the instrument with a vague sort of longing. It took Suzu’s soft echoing of my sentiment before he sat at the piano, lifted the fall and rested his fingers on the keys. There was a moment, a sense of gathering, and then he started to play. The piano was in good tune, a rich and full sound filling the room as his fingers danced across the keys.

He could lose himself in music for hours at a time, and I remembered a time when I’d sat in St. Colm’s and listened to him play. Standing here in this room, listening to him play again brought my heart close to that moment, and I looked across to Suzu. Her voice spoke softly in my mind, a gentle caress of words. It has been a long time since I’ve seen you so open and relaxed. It looks good on you.

I let my lips twist in my own reply, for I lacked the ability to converse in kind. She was right, though. Around Xelander, I could feel my guard lowered, knew that I was more relaxed and at ease with the world than I was usually. Even with that hundred-year gap, he was still my brother, and still the man who had been at my side in my dreams, protecting me.

Xelander’s fingers lingered on the final notes, and when he looked up, he had a little half-smile on his lips. “I’ll take it.” Yeah, that’s what I’d thought. Once he’d gotten a chance to touch the piano, he’d not needed the rest of the tour. It made Suzu laugh softly, and she nodded. Perhaps she’d known as well. I ignored the twinge in my heart and followed the pair of them out towards the elevator so he could sign the lease.

An hour and a mind-blowingly large amount of paperwork later, Xelander Wexforth had private residence within the Bell Tree. The deal was signed, confirmed with yet another kiss to Suzu’s hand, and a drink sealed the deal. I wondered how long it would take Xelander to figure out her nature. Ah well, wasn’t my place to tell.

“Well, I suppose you ought to go check out of Rutledge House. Need help with your stuff?” I couldn’t imagine that Xelander had anything that wouldn’t fit in my car, and if he didn’t have his own car, he’d have to carry everything across in multiple trips, or take a taxi.

“There isn’t much to move, but if you are so inclined, I’d not mind the help.”

I checked my phone. It was early evening, not quite on to five, but getting close. I had nowhere to be, and other than that morning’s greeting in passing, I’d heard nothing from Ravenswing himself. For that, I certainly wasn’t objecting. “Right, let me just do one thing…” And as if on cue, my phone went off.

I glared at the thing, calling up the message and reading it. It took twice more to make sense of it. Ravenswing had a job for me… and he wanted it taken care of immediately. “Oh, damn it all, that can’t wait a few hours? Christ!” I looked up at a confused Xelander and shook my head. “I’m sorry, but something has come up at the office and I have to go take care of it.”

“If your things will fit into a five-foot cube, or you’re willing to keep it in your lap, I can help, Xelander,” Suzu’s Miata wasn’t known for incredible trunk capacity, but it wasn’t terribly small either. I looked to her gratefully, but she waved me off. “Go, go. I know what that man gets like, remember?”

That raised an eyebrow, but Xelander said nothing as I apologized and headed down to my car. I’d thought that since I’d not heard anything from Ravenswing, that I was off the proverbial hook for the evening. Of course, there would be no such luck, and I would have to make my report and deal with whatever he wanted to put me through. At least I could heal myself from whatever he wanted to inflict on me. I kept that thought centered in my mind as I drive back up to North Charleston, trying to keep the reluctant dread at bay. It had been such a good day.

When I arrived at Ravenswing’s office, I thought that I was prepared for just about everything. I’d reviewed the events at the warehouse and the rescue of Vanessa in my head, gotten everything straight and orderly for repeating back to Ravenswing. I’d figured out how to exclude Xelander and the Gate from my recalling of events and was as prepped as I could possibly be.

So, when the folder titled ‘Wexforth Xenobiological’ hit the desk as I approached, it was so unexpected that my wits fled me, and I found myself staring at the lettering like a fish out of water. I’d thought he’d wanted this approved. Had I misread him? “Um.” Oh, good. Nice to see my intellect at work. “Yes, about that. The Board liked it. Funny how that worked, isn’t it? Potential conflict of interest offset by you and the Board vote before I even knew it was on the table.”

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He regarded me with that dry look of his, and in his nasal drawl, he asked me if I’d had anything whatsoever to do with the Board approving it. I looked at him for a moment, and then my full mental capacity returned in the worst way possible, and I found my mouth moving before my brain had fully re-engaged. “I’ve spent the better part of a hundred and sixty years trying to keep him out of your hands, Ravenswing. Why the Hell would I choose to bring him close now?”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Especially as the two of you were at somewhat of an odds.” Ravenswing leaned back in his char and regarded me in amusement. “No, I will take my own enjoyment from this, I believe. Mainstream this, give it top funding. I expect great things from this… partnership.” I glared at him but offered nothing. The less he knew about the current situation with Xelander, the better things would be.

“Don’t think I’m an idiot. I know that you and he were seen today, speaking on what even seemed to be friendly terms.” He chuckled in his whispery way as he watched my face fall. “I know what you do, where you go, and who you do it with. I know your housemate left you, and that she’s opened her own equivalent of an Executive level Bed-and-Breakfast. I believe that your dear Doctor Wexforth just signed a rather sizeable lease as well.” How in the God-damned Hell had he known that?

I drew myself up and opened my mouth, knowing that I was going to get myself in considerable trouble by doing so, but not really giving a care for it. “Is it not enough that I go around doing your dirty work then? Do you have to set spies on me to keep track of my daily movements?”

It had to be sleep deprivation. I was closing in on thirty hours without much more than a few naps caught here and there, but I didn’t stop. “Christ, it’s not as if I can up and leave, you know? I’m under contract, just as I have been, and as I will be. If there’s something you want done, you tell me, and it’s as good as done. I don’t need to be babysat and supervised through the course of my day.”

“Of course, Teimhean, of course. I understand. But when you ended up in the hospital for an extended stay, I was concerned for your health. Imagine my surprise and concern when I discovered that your attending physician was the very man who had tried to convince you to kill yourself?” He was playing the role of the concerned associate so well it was Oscar-worthy. He even sounded contrite.

I didn’t rise to that bait. He didn’t know the story of the scar, only that it was Xelander’s words that had moved my hand. The rest of what he’d put together was based on conjecture, and while frighteningly close to the truth, wasn’t entirely accurate. “Well, call it off. I’m done with games, Ravenswing. I’m yours until I fulfill the contract, and as I have no intentions of harming my brother, you can bid me do as you will. I’ll dance on your strings, but my private time is just that: private.”

“Oh, Teimhean. My poor, poor Teimhean. You do dance on my strings, and unless you want something to happen to your delightful vampiric companion, you’d do well to remember that.” I felt the color drain from my face, and Ravenswing lifted his hand like a Father giving a benediction. “But I will give you your privacy. I’m not an unreasonable creature, and you did rescue my daughter. Consider it done.” Leave it to Valen Ravenswing to lace a threat together with an acknowledgement of appreciation and make it sound like he’s the one doing the favor.

“Is there anything else, then, that you need?” I didn’t want to ask, but it was formula, the way by which Ravenswing and I understood that one matter was closed and the other could be addressed. This was the point where things ended in brutality, the age-old dance of men who opposed each other. His answer could give me leave to fight back… or to submit and let his violence attempt to break me. It was part of the contract, an oath made by blood and magic, inviolate and violent.

Ah yes. The contract. In short, I traded my soul to the command of a demon for the power to save my brother’s life. It’s long, it’s sordid, and I don’t truly wish to go into the details of the whole of it but suffice it to say that I am entirely bound by the oath of contract made in the heat of the moment in the heart of a battlefield. After that, I was subject to the demon’s command, and Xelander remained free. Of course, I had no idea at the time that Xelander was bound to Ravenswing as tightly as I was, and that his freedom came with an invisible cage called immortality.

Ravenswing hadn’t answered, and I stood for a few moments longer before I cleared my throat. It was a sudden noise in the room that had fallen silent, and after another moment, he looked up to see me standing there. “No, I believe that will be all. Enjoy the evening; I am told it is a nice one.”

Excuse me, what? That certainly sounded like a dismissal, and before I could ask anything that might have clarified, the phone on his desk rang. With a glance my way that spoke volumes for me to leave, he answered in a language that I didn’t even recognize. That’s saying something, too, given how many I’ve heard over the years. I didn’t wait for a third dismissal, fleeing the office and shortly after, the building.

And there I was. Almost quarter to seven, on a Friday night, and I had nothing to do. So I did what any other bachelor male did on a weekend night when he had no-one to answer to and no place to rest his heart: I went to a bar.

Now, usually my idea of a night out does not include tight black leather pants and a fishnet shirt, but the theme at the club that night was leather and lace… and I just don’t do lace, so that put me in leather. Thing of it is, when you’re as skinny as I am and you’re wearing tight black pants, you end up looking like the newest addition to the hottest trend of vampires to walk the planet. And you get stared at. A lot.

Oh, don’t get me wrong; I’m perfectly fine with the staring. But when it ends up with a barely legal looking blonde asking me what I think of werewolves in what she thinks is a sultry voice? Trust me, I started regretting my choice in clothing after that. Fortunately, her friend confessed to having put her up to it as a dare, and after we had a light laugh over it, I ended up dancing with the blonde. Of course, when you consider that it was Lady Gaga at a level that left your teeth rattling with the beat, it wasn’t so much dancing as everything just shy of a one-night stand on a dance floor.

I almost took her home too. She had hazel eyes and her mother had named her Tania after a magic user in a Piers Anthony novel, which she was disappointed to learn I’d not read. I know, I know, a blonde with a brain and a love for Science Fiction, why didn’t I take her back to my townhouse right then? Her friend didn’t drive, and Tania was the only one with a car. I doubted I’d ever see her again, so I gave her a kiss to remember and let her go into the night. I may not do lace, but I can be a romantic when I want to be.

Another hour passed after Tania had left, and I was leaning against the bar, a drink in my hand when the Last Call went out. That meant the bar would close in a half hour, and then I’d be on my own for the remainder of the night.

Couples were breaking away from the dance floor, fingers entwined as they left the bar, one pair after the other leaving over the course of the half hour that remained. In the end, it was only myself and the bartender, and he and I had come to an agreement about that not terribly long after I’d moved to the city.

I put the chairs up for him and swept the dance floor while we discussed the night, and I’d get a nightcap by way of payment for services rendered. I downed the drink he poured me and set the glass on the bar as I prepared to make my way out for the night, bidding him a fare well and reminding him to lock up after me.

Imagine my surprise when Tania met me at the door, breathless and hopeful.

She was a student at the College of Charleston, quick to laughter and easy to kiss. It wouldn’t last; it couldn’t last, but she was lovely and companionable, and I could lose myself in the hopes of her world for a little while. And what College co-ed didn’t have a wild fling in her first year?

We laughed and talked the entire way back to my townhouse, and upon arrival, had a glass of wine. Between the banter, the alcohol and the fireplace, we didn’t even make it up the stairs.

Saturday morning was a tangle of blonde hair and slow kisses that led to hot showers and breakfast at the diner close to the college. I took her down to Waterfront Park, and on a whim, we acted like tourists and caught a lunchtime tour around the Charleston harbor. After the tour, we drifted through the shopping district and ended with an early meal at one of the seafood restaurants on the Market.

I’d spent the day with Tania, feeling more human than I had in a very long time, and when I kissed her by her dormitory building, I knew it couldn’t last. The semester was over, and she’d be gone in a few days. I didn’t expect her to return to classes and try to find me, and she didn’t ask for my phone number. It was probably just as well, considering my lifestyle. But I knew that her lips would haunt mine for quite a while.