Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Birthday Boy: Part One

Jason

Jason was very drunk.

He stumbled out of the taxi, steadying himself on the door before pushing it closed. Overhead, the sky was still pitch black, but birds were singing somewhere, which made him think it was getting close to morning. He tried to look at his watch, but the numbers were a fuzzy blur. Everything was a bit of a fuzzy blur.

His plastic crown slipped down his head and he shoved it back up, accidentally scraping off some of the glitter from the words 21 TODAY etched onto a panel at the front. His actual birthday had been two days earlier, but that had been spent with his family, his vampire friends, and his fiancé. Tonight had been about celebrating with his human friends.

He fumbled in his pocket for his key, before remembering that he hadn't taken it with him. Having a front-door key to the most famous vampire House in the UK was a huge privilege, and it hadn't seemed the wisest move to take that key with him on a night when he planned on getting absolutely smashed.

The iron-wrought gate leading into the grounds of Belle Morte loomed over him, and Jason stumbled forward, almost falling against the cold metal.

"Seamus," he called, flapping a hand through the gate. "Lemme in."

Seamus Kennedy, acting Head of Security, walked over to him, not even trying to hide his grin. The winter air was bitingly cold, and Seamus was bundled up in a thick coat, with a woollen hat pulled over his thatch of tawny hair.

"You were supposed to text me when you were on your way back," he said.

"I did," Jason argued, holding onto the gate as if that would make the world stop spinning.

Seamus pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, then held it up so Jason could see it. "An hour ago, you texted me a smiley face and a love heart."

Jason squinted at the screen.

"Was this even meant for me?" Seamus asked.

"No idea," Jason replied honestly.

Pulling a set of keys from his pocket, Seamus unlocked the gate. Over the last few months there had been talk of ditching physical keys and installing coded keypads, but so far it hadn't happened, and Jason had no idea why. There were several secret keypads hidden inside Belle Morte, so what difference did it make having them outside as well?

"Vampires are weird," he mumbled.

"Nice crown," said Seamus as he locked the gate again.

"Thanks." Jason beamed.

"By the way," Seamus said, as Jason started up the stone-flagged path that led to the mansion's front door. "Try not to be too noisy going in. It's 4 a.m. – most people are asleep."

"Okay," Jason said, giving him a wobbly thumbs up.

"Quieter than that," Seamus advised, following Jason up the path so he could unlock the front door.

"We should just get keypads already," Jason mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself.

He'd started out with a coat, hadn't he? He couldn't remember, but he definitely didn't have one now, and the chilly air was biting at his skin.

"I would love to see you trying to put in the right code in your state," Seamus told him.

"I could do it," Jason insisted, and then almost tripped over his own foot.

"Sure you could. But maybe just focus on walking in a straight line for now."

Seamus pushed open the door and ushered Jason inside, then closed and locked the door again, leaving Jason alone. He stood for a moment in the vestibule, breathing in the smell from the flower-filled bowls on marble plinths on either side of him.