Changing Fortunes

Part 18

Sarin had known all along what Angelo was. That was the reason for the high bounty on his head. The prick must have figured that if Cam and Balint managed to take Angelo out once and for all, Angelo would drag them down with him. He never intended to pay them. But how did Balint now? Unless....

Cam fixed his gaze on Balint. "You foresaw this, didn't you? All of this. That's why you said we had to bring all the high body-count weaponry when you read the Tarot spread. And the money wasn't what made this so attractive for you; it was that you knew you'd finally be with your own kind."

"Not quite." Balint flashed Cam a look of exasperation and impatience. "I've told you, what the Tarot spread shows me is not as cut and dried as you're implying it is. Yes, the reason I made sure we came armed to the teeth was that I saw our deaths if we didn't. I had no idea how we would die. Nothing specific. Tarot never is.

"And yes, I did foresee that Sarin wouldn't pay us, but not until last night and again, it wasn't specific. But don't do this Cam," Balint warned. "Stop the accusations. Stop the insinuations. Stop twisting around everything I've told you and everything you've learned about me. I'm already sorry you've found out that truth. I'm sorry that because of that, you've been dragged into this mess with me." Balint's eyes hardened into greenish-grey stone. "Don't make me sorry I've left you alive this long."

"What would you have done to me, Balint?" Cam asked angrily, "Use that razor of yours on me?"

"You have no idea how easy it would have been to kill you. Remember how sharp my nails were when you met me, Cameron? It wasn't for nothing. My nails can be like claws and I kept them sharp so I could slash and drink. Razor sharp. When we became partners, I got a real razor instead. Up until three weeks ago I didn't just drink the little amount I could tolerate while I was dying. I could easily drain someone but I made sure I was careful enough not to kill that way because it leads to questions. Especially when an investigator could match it up to the kills we made at the School for the Gifted." Balint suddenly shut up, as if he'd said too much.

"That's how you got away," Cam realized. "You killed the guards."

Balint nodded.

Cam wasn't done though. Not by a long shot. Balint may have been offhanded about it but Cam didn't miss the words he used. "'We,' Balint? Who else?"

Balint shook his head. "It's irrelevant."

"Then tell me."

"You know already. You met him tonight."

Cam did a quick mental checklist of all the boys he'd seen tonight not counting Weasel or Angelo. Dimitri? Cam doubted it; Balint wouldn't have had anything to do with that fucker. Ardoin? Again, Cam doubted it, Ardoin wasn't about to help anyone but himself. That only left one other person.

Someone who spoke the same language as Balint. Someone who knew Balint was Clan Szabo.

"Radu," Cam said.

Balint nodded again.

Cam blinked. "I thought you were enemies."

"Did I ever say that, Cam?"

"No," Cam admitted. "So he's not your enemy. He's your friend?"

"You can call him that," Balint said.

"But he's not just a friend, is he?"

Angelo snickered. "We're talking about Radu. What do you think, honeychild?"

Balint sighed. "Cam, Radu's Clan and mine came over from the Old Country together. Szabo and Ionescu had this adversarial alliance. Amongst ourselves we were always at each other's throats. But we went for the throats of anyone who attacked us. Radu and I were in the same pack. I was younger than the others so he looked out for me. The pack hung out together and we hunted together. We took what we wanted and the odogi took what they wanted."

"Well I'll be damned," Angelo grinned. "Szabo and Razvan were in the same camp as Ionescu. I've only been there a handful of times but there must have been enough odogi to confuse my senses so bad that I did not feel any of you."

Balint nodded, then went on with his story. "Radu broke into the School for the Gifted and told me about the massacre of my family the night it happened. The odogi were too late to save my family but they took blood vengeance upon the men who murdered Szabo and Razvan. Radu had come to get me because he knew I couldn't kill all of them all by myself and because he wanted to Share the spoils." The dark look Balint gave Cam warned him against asking what else they Shared.

He knew anyway.

"That was the last time I saw him before tonight," Balint told him. "When I found out that he and Angelo have been fighting for dominance for decades I wasn't surprised. Radu has a habit of seducing, bedding then befriending whoever he can't kill and eat as long as they're not odogi."

Weasel nodded. "That's been my experience with him."

"The truce only lasts until he tries to kill them again." Angelo's eyes gleamed. "Or until I try to kill him."

Balint smiled. "That's why you're different. You're pretty evenly matched. All three of you are, although Angelo is the one he's in heat over. And I can see it's mutual."

"I wonder why?" Angelo smirked.

"I don't remember," Balint murmured playfully, "you both might have to show me again."

"You lost when he Challenged you but you gave him a good enough fight for him to respect you," Angelo guessed. "That's why he has a soft spot for you. That and the fact that you're more Szabo than you are Razvan."

Balint gave Cam those puppy dog eyes that meant that he'd just gotten caught." I know I told Cam that my mom was only a halfblood but I only told you what I thought would ease things for you more. The truth is, Mom was a three quarter blood. Dad was a quarter blood. That technically makes me a half-blood if you divide it into eighths."

"You're really not very human at all, are you?" Cam said, trying hard not to sound accusatory.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Cam." Balint demurred.

Was it?

Cam was happy that for once, Balint was being fully honest with him. Strangely, he wasn't as surprised as he thought he'd be. It all fit. This was the truth that Balint had tried so desperately to protect Cam from. But he realized that yeah, he had one more question to ask. "Are there any more secrets waiting to bite us in the ass, Balint?"

To his surprise, Balint's lips curled into that impish smile that never failed to make Cam's anger melt away. "Secrets, Cammie? No secrets. Just things that never had a reason to be told."

That was the way Balint always had been. Shadowy. Crafty. Showing everything to reveal nothing. And that was how Balint always would be. But….

"Just tell me if I can trust you, Balint."

Balint's fingers brushed against Cam's mouth. "With your life, baby," he whispered.

And Cam realized that Balint had just revealed that he'd been doing exactly that.

"So who are you? My partner? My lover? Someone who could charm the birds out of trees or a predator?"

"All of the above," Balint answered before kissing him.

Cam had missed this so much. Balint's kisses like candy melting on his tongue, turning Cam to liquid. Balint's hands that were as slippery and sensual as Balint himself. Balint's passion that was now and probably always had amplified Cam's own but was so natural that Cam had always taken it for granted. Only now, that passion had been increased tenfold.

Of course, Balint had recently fed. Cam smiled to himself. Maybe he could get used to this after all.

"You been able to find a way around the ward, palikari?" Angelo asked Weasel, jolting Cam out of his reverie of Balint-lust. The two boys instantly broke apart and all eyes were on Weasel.

Weasel grimaced. "No. I'm gonna have to do my divining from here." He turned to Balint. "You still have your razor?"

Balint reached into his pocket and handed it to him. "It's all yours."

"Why do you need it?" Cam asked. "You can just bite, can't you?"

"I need something more precise than that," Weasel explained. "And unless I tear through my wrist, I won't bleed enough."

Then he slit his wrist open, shaking the blood at the invisible barrier.

Cam was instantly assaulted with the smell of sulfur and brimstone as the blood crackled and smoked.

"Fuck, I was afraid of that," Weasel muttered. "My blood is actually a vessel for energy created by the blood I drank. It won't tell me a thing." Cam watched as the slit in Weasel's wrist fused itself whole again.

"Neat trick," Cam remarked.

"We heal pretty quickly. So do you, actually." Weasel smiled a little. "Most people don't recover from what I did to you as fast as you did."

"We're gonna have that same problem with my blood or Balint's," Angelo said. Then he looked at Cam. And grinned evilly.

Balint shook his head violently. "Get that thought out of your head. Not his blood."

"You have any other ideas, dearheart? Weasel can't even attempt to lift this ward unless he knows what is powering it. Blood with stolen life energy won't help so that rules us out, Balint. Besides, you should know it doesn't take that much. Less than a few tablespoons full, if that."

Balint glared at him. "Find a sacrifice, then. Not Cam."

Cam touched Balint's cheek. "It's okay. At least I'll feel like I'm doing something to help."

Weasel frowned. "The razor isn't very sterile, Cam. No problem for me, but I can't guarantee you won't get infected with something."

Cam held his hand out to Weasel, palm up. "Don't worry about it. Besides, you said I heal faster than most people."

"If you say so," Weasel said, not convinced, but he gently sliced into Cam's wrist, then shook it the same way he'd shaken his own. "Now I'll find out whether this ward is powered by energy or blood magic. If it's energy, the barrier will remain invisible."

The barrier immediately turned crimson.

"I guess you got your answer," Angelo said.

"One of them. Now for the other one. This one is actually harder because it takes a divination spell instead of just testing for the power source." Weasel's fingers began to move furiously, as if he was weaving something through them. "It might not work." His fingers continued to weave. "I can't do shit if I don't recognize the pattern."

Cam noticed that it was getting very hot. The air seemed to be charged with a teeming heat. He also noticed that none of the other boys were sweating but he could feel the water dripping down his face.

"Before or after you burn everything down, love," Angelo asked gently.

It was getting hotter, the air all around Cam growing hazy and almost stifling.

"Then that works," Weasel decided. "Instead of pouring my time and energy into this spell I could just let Sarin burn to death." Silvery purple sparks began to pulsate between his fingers.

Angelo's expression grew grim. "Only Cam would implode first. Do it the other way before you can't stop the fire that's about to start as a result of the magic you're working."

Weasel nodded solemnly, the sparks dancing between his fingers instantly flickering out as he lowered them and the air immediately began to cool down.

Cam took a deep breath, not even realizing until then that he'd been holding it. "What just happened, Weasel?"

"An aftereffect. It happens whenever I spellweave. I… can't control the fire once it starts to burn."

"But you said Cam would implode," Balint noted. "Why just him?"

Weasel shrugged. "It's an elemental fire. We're unaffected by it. Cam isn't."

"Won't the same thing happen again if you try the other method, whatever it is?" Cam asked.

"Different kind of magic. It'll contain the elemental power within the barrier." Weasel replied.

"Elemental," Cam mused. "You mean like the elements?"

Weasel nodded. "Air. Water. Earth. And mine, Fire. For some reason, I seem to tap into the elemental energy when I weave spells. Eventually, I may be able to control it. Until then, I don't work magic unless I have to." His eyes glittered with determination. "It's now or never. Let's see if this works."

Weasel shut his eyes, concentrating as he traced a pattern into the air with his finger.

Like cutting through smoke, a silvery purple spiral shimmered through the barrier.

Weasel's eyes snapped open. Then he swore. "Good news. I didn't think it would but the shortcut I just took in divining worked. Bad news is, I don't know how to lift this ward and there is no way in hell we're gonna make it to Angelique's before sunrise. We're gonna have to come back tomorrow night."

Cam stared at him. "Tomorrow night? We could all be dead by then if Sarin sends another hit squad after us during the daytime." Then he corrected himself. "Sorry, I could end up dead and you three can end up…"

"Trulydead?" Angelo finished helpfully.

"Whatever," Cam growled.

"It doesn't matter," Weasel told him. "We have no fucking choice."

"Besides," Angelo clapped Cam on the shoulder, "you can guard us with that gun of yours while we Sleep."

Weasel gave Angelo a dirty look. "Ignore him, Cam. We're just gonna have to take that chance and go somewhere he won't find us."

"Then forget about the warehouse," Angelo said. "It's too close. He'll figure we'll be crashing there. It's bad enough that he'll figure out Weasel's been fucking around with the wards, we don't want to hand ourselves to the bastard."

"And the woods are gonna be crawling with cops once they see those bodies, if they're not already," Cam added.

Weasel thought a moment. "Hmmm. Angel Boy, how long do we have? I can still only estimate until the sky starts lightening."

"About four hours." Then Angelo frowned. "That is, not counting the fact that we have to get Balint somewhere safe so he doesn't die out in the open."

"Die?" Cam felt like shaking Angelo at his casualness. "What the fuck do you mean?"

"I thought you understood, Cam. Especially after your comment. The final part of Balint's Change is the death of his body." Cam's horror must have shown on his face because Angelo said softly, "Don't worry, sweet one. Only his body dies. But don't look at it that way. Look at it as Balint living forever. He'll never really die."

How was it that Angelo could be such a bitch one moment and be so kind the next?

"Death," Balint murmured. "What does it feel like, Angelo?"

"Actually, glike mou, it doesn't feel like anything. You get very relaxed, then little by little, parts of your body gradually fall asleep until you can't move at all. It's a preview of what it'll be like when you fall Asleep." He ruffled Balint's hair. "It's not as bad as it sounds. It's just that we want you somewhere safe because it won't be long before Weasel or I can't protect you."

"I will," Cam insisted. "I promise you, Balint. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Somewhere safe," Weasel thought out loud, "somewhere Sarin can't get to him and won't know where to find us."

Then Weasel and Angelo's eyes met. "Golden Slumbers," they both said at the same time.

"It's perfect," Angelo grinned. "The sun won't get in and we can get in through the outside instead of having to tunnel through and make Cam hold his breath."

"But if we can get in, can't Sarin?" Cam wondered.

"Into Golden Slumbers, sure," Weasel agreed. "But not into the tomb. There's only one way into it and even if Sarin is a magician, he's only human. He can't open it." Weasel's eyes narrowed. "Come to think of it, Angelique fixed things so only someone with witch's blood could set off what she put into place, Angel Boy. Why can you?"

Angelo shrugged. "I don't know. I never asked. Maybe a demon can too."

Angelo wasn't telling the whole truth, Cam realized. If Cam had to explain why he knew this, he couldn't. But for whatever reason he had, Angelo did not want Weasel to know the real reason.

And Weasel was completely aware of it because he gave Angelo a sharp look before changing the subject. "The Baptiste tomb is nearer to here than the Nocturne is but it's not close so we'd better go."

Not close was an understatement. Golden Slumbers cemetery was almost two miles away, which wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't run three to get to them earlier. It also wasn't a big deal to the Nightchildren but by the time they were halfway there, Balint had to carry Cam in his arms for the rest of the way.

It was funny. For someone who murdered for a living, Cam really felt uneasy inside a cemetery filled with dead bodies.

Balint gently put Cam down to his feet and laced his fingers through Cam's. "It'll be okay, baby."

Cam squeezed and Balint squeezed back.

Carefully.

They walked through the foggy cemetery, passing through headstones and unmarked graves until they reached a big stone crypt with the word "Baptiste" engraved on the front of it.

"Since you can open it, Angelo, why don't you knock on the door," Weasel suggested with a bit of snarkiness to his tone that suggested he was still a little pissed at Angelo's evasiveness.

Something Angelo purposely ignored. "Sure." He rapped on the door. Knock-knock-knock. Knock.

As if by magic, or probably by magic, the door opened. The same way the secret door opened in the Nocturne. That must have been Angelique's work as well, although it seemed like anyone could open that.

Angelo stepped aside. "After you."

They walked through the door and Angelo knocked the same way to close the tomb again.

It was dark but luminous moss reflected the moonlight and Cam could see that there were three smaller tombs. Ardoin Baptiste Beauduget. Angelique Baptiste Beauduget. And Josephine Baptiste Drollet.

"These are the resting places of your aunt and uncle?" Cam asked Weasel.

"And mother. But it's just for show, Cam." Weasel snorted. "The coffin and native soil routine is just an old wives tale and the tombs are there to create the illusion that they're all buried there."

"Will Cam be able to breathe?" Balint asked anxiously.

Weasel smiled. "There are airholes for any... Breather lovers we bring here." He laughed. "Don't give me that look, Cameron, it's not an insult, it's just the truth. You breathe. We don't except for the air we take in to speak so you can hear us and when we get really aroused."

Cam remembered the first time Weasel had kissed him. How his breathing had become heavier all of the sudden. No, Cam realized, not all of the sudden, it was the taste of Cam's blood, from cutting his tongue on one of Weasel's fangs. And he remembered how heavy Angelo's breathing got when he and Radu were Sharing pleasure with him.

Cam had to admit; knowing why they were breathing so heavy was arousing within itself. Just thinking about it was making him hard again. Or was it being around the three other boys?

Four Sangsue in the same proximity when three of them were already hot and bothered from killing was almost like a multiple orgasm, their emotions and blood ricocheted off one another's; their heat building at a fever pitch, until Balint drew close to Angelo and the dark-eyed boy tilted his face upwards and kissed him.

Now that Cam knew that Balint wanted him and that he wouldn't lose him to Angelo, he could watch the boy he loved and the boy he hated kissing deeply and grinding into each other without feeling as jealous as he had before. Well maybe not hated. Cam honestly wasn't sure how he felt about Angelo anymore.

Well that wasn't exactly true either. At least not now. Now, he knew exactly how he felt about Angelo and hatred didn't even factor into it. Angelo was a lot of things but the thing that was overriding everything else at this moment was the fact that Angelo was pure sex.

Or impure sex. Either one worked for Cam.

Suddenly Cam found himself being pulled down to the ground by Weasel and pounced on by Angelo and Balint. They quickly relieved Cam of his clothing, Angelo's lips seized Cam's and Cam instantly forgot all the fury he'd felt earlier, everything was blotted out by Angelo's greedy tongue snaking between Cam's lips and plundering his mouth.

Weasel's mouth was feasting upon Cam's chest, sucking his nipples. Balint was much lower, his face buried between Cam's legs as he licked at Cam's thighs.

Apparently this was make love to Cam night and Cam had no problem with that whatsoever.

Balint's tongue was now sliding up and down Cam's shaft, bathing his balls and Angelo's mouth slipped from Cam's, his tongue running down Cam's jaw, to his neck.

Weasel's mouth was slipping lower as well, he nibbled down from chest to belly, his bites almost hard but not quite hard enough to break the skin. Bites that sent sparks of electricity down Cam's spine sizzling to his cock that was now being swallowed hungrily by Balint.

So much stimulation. Cam had never felt so much stimulation in his life and it was rapidly overtaking him. Angelo's tongue was almost as raspy as Radu's, Cam realized fuzzily and in this hypersensitive state, every lick kindled little fires across his nerves, spreading all over his body, until Cam felt the prick of Angelo's teeth sinking into his neck, the softness of his lips moving against Cam's throat bringing Cam to a boil.

"Just a love bite," Angelo whispered as he sucked. "Feels good?"

Fuck yes. Cam was feeling Angelo's lapping all over his body and with the flicks of Weasel's tongue intertwining where Balint's mouth was already suckling at Cam's cock, he knew it wouldn't be long before he climaxed.

Only to have both Weasel and Balint lift their heads and begin to make out ferociously with one another before Cam had the chance to come.

Angelo changed his position, laying on top of Cam and rolling his hips as he nursed at Cam's throat, the double sensations sending Cam over the edge. Now Cam understood what Angelo meant by "tasting" because he was just lazily letting the drops of Cam's blood drizzle over his tongue, the sounds of his increasingly heavy breathing, unbelievably sexy to Cam.

Angelo himself was unbelievably sexy.

Balint and Weasel's clothes were off now and the two boys were tearing at each other, nails slashing at flesh, teeth sinking into skin, mouths sucking. At first, they focused upon each other, then fell on Angelo, stripping him, pulling him off Cam's body and lavishing their attention upon him, Weasel kissing Angelo's lips and Angelo gasping into Weasel's mouth as Balint bit just below Angelo's breastbone.

For the next few hours the four of them Shared pleasure, becoming nothing but a tangle of hands, mouths, teeth, tongues and nails, until their naked bodies were a mess of scratches, slashes and bites. This time, when he tried to reciprocate Angelo did not push Cam away, but he wouldn't let Cam fuck him either. Angelo didn't even try to fuck Cam. Instead, he took Balint violently, bringing both Cam and Weasel along for the ride of emotional rapture before his teeth sank into Balint's shoulder and Balint's teeth bit into Angelo's neck as they simultaneously came hard and fast.

"We're running out of time," Angelo said softly, getting off of Balint. "You better get dressed while you can still move."

Balint nodded and managed to slip on his jeans before he collapsed, falling on his back.

"Don't fight it," Angelo whispered, "you can't."

The rest of them got dressed, with Angelo and Weasel laying down on either side of Balint. "Thirty minutes," Angelo told them.

Balint's eyes were closed now, his body as slack as a rag doll's.

All of the sudden, Cam felt a heaviness overwhelming his limbs, his eyes shutting all by themselves….

"I'm sorry Cam," Weasel said, "but we can't have you awake when we're not."

"But Bal-" were the only words Cam could get out. He seemed to have lost the ability to talk.

"Sleep, lover," Angelo said. "Tomorrow we'll go to Angelique's and find out how to deal with Sarin. We can't do anything else about it tonight and Balint is at peace for now."

The last thing Cam was aware of was the thumping of his own heart. And the fact that it was the only one beating.

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Last updated 10/08/03

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