The Beast in Man (Vampires in Berlin: Book One)

The Beast in Man Part 12

"D'you think we did the right thing?" Paul asked, later that night.

Richard and Paul were alone in the living area of the cabin; outside, it still was snowing and the others had long since gone to bed. Both vampires were reading quietly, Paul stretched languidly across Richard's lap; Richard had been stroking Paul's hair slowly with his free hand.

"With Bob?" Richard asked, distracted still by his book.

"Hmm," Paul said.

"I don't know," Richard said, as he finally looked away from his book and down at Paul. "But we've gotta try something. You have to admit that Till has a point. We can't let it carry on."

"Hmm," Paul repeated, before he fell silent again.

"Let's not worry about it, too much, hmm?" Richard asked. "Whatever happens to Bob's brother, he deserves it, y'know?"

"Yeah, I guess," Paul said, before he fell silent again.

That time, Richard did not break the silence again.

****

"So how did he take it?" Paul asked, as soon as he'd bounded into the living area of the cabin the following evening.

He'd heard the low rumble of Till's voice from the bedroom, and had heard something about damned Schneider better not keep me awake with Justin Bieber songs again tonight before he'd entered the room.

"Who?" Till asked, even as Richard followed in Paul's footsteps

"You know who," Paul replied, with some irritation.

"Bob? Not well," Olli replied, before Till could.

"You should have seen what happened," Flake agreed, with an expression that was caught midway between a grin and a grimace. "Oh. Yeah. I forgot. You can't."

Neither Paul nor Richard took any notice; instead, they kept their gazes trained expectantly upon Till's face.

"What do you want me to say? That he agreed, with a great big happy smile upon his face?" Till asked, with a shrug. "He swore, he yelled, he cried real tears, he threatened to stop producing our record and throw us off-site; he even all but threatened to shoot us, instead. He turned purple, Paul, purple."

"Well, I didn't really expect it to go well," Paul pointed out, slowly.

"In the end, however, he saw it our way," Till continued.

"After Till threatened to break his arms, his legs, his nose and his best china if he didn't comply," Schneider offered, with a sudden laugh.

"I think it was the china that swung the deal," Till added. "He's gonna shoot his brother, don't worry. And the nightmare will be over. Well, maybe not for you two."

Richard grunted unhappily, but Paul remained stoically silent, until a thoughtful frown crossed his face.

"I hope he realises he needs a silver bullet," he said, suddenly.

"Oh don't worry; he's already got that sorted," Flake said, all too happily. "Turns out that he had a batch made a few years ago."

"He did?" Richard asked, in surprise.

"Yeah; it turns out that his wife wasn't too happy about having a vampire hanging around, brother-in-law or not," Flake said. "Bob had them made just to keep her happy, even if he had no intention of actually using them."

"Until now," Till said, with the vaguest of triumphant smiles.

"Hoorah for Mrs Adams," Richard offered with a smile.