Death's Middle Name {boyxboy}

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Friday 22nd December 2017~

Shockingly enough, Alwynn did not get a good night's sleep. Despite Vant staying at their house the entire night since his parents couldn't get a flight until the morning, he still barely slept at all. He couldn't get Brodie's expression from his face, that manic grin, the psychotic look in his eyes. It was burnt into his retinas, Alwynn knew that, he would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

Waking up alone, Alwynn knew his parents must have gotten home. That or Vant was downstairs making breakfast, however, finding no note, Alwynn knew it wasn't the latter. He sat up with a sigh, rubbing his tired eyes and yawning into his hand. Really, he should have showered like he did every morning, he simply didn't have the energy to stand up for that long.

Instead, Alwynn shrugged on Vant's jacket, taking a moment to appreciate the rich, musky scent that radiated from the thick material, before walking to the top of the stairs. He could hear a conversation, there was Vant's voice, as well as both of his parent's. He perched on a step midway down the staircase, knowing his parents wouldn't allow him to sit in whatever the conversation was with Vant.

"I was on my way to check up on him," Vant's voice only presented subtle concern, nothing more, nothing less, he was a good actor, "I'd bumped into him in a store earlier this week and he told me he was home alone. I obviously wasn't expecting to find the police there and someone trying to break in," Vant wasn't lying entirely, he was telling a half-truth, as Alwynn often did. Apparently, he had heard the sirens pass his house and his instincts just screamed that something was wrong, it would have warmed Alwynn's heart at the thought of him caring so much if the context was different.

"And what did the police say about this man? Do they know who he is?" Lyanna inquired, clutching onto her husband's hand in her lap, although the rest of her demeanour was completely relaxed.

"Brodie Belmaire. He's from the coastal town that Ali visited with Wisteria and Jethro. They think he might have spotted him there and an obsession sparked," Vant paused for a long moment, his lips twitching like they often did when he was thinking of the best way to formulate a sentence, "the police found a knife on him," Alwynn covered his mouth, only just managing to stifle his own gasp, "they have reason to believe he was intending to do serious harm to Ali last night, he will remain in their custody until his trial, unless he's bailed out. He'll be charged with vandalism, breaking and entering, multiple counts of harassment and intent to inflict grievous bodily harm," although, to his parents, Vant's voice would have sounded normal, Alwynn could easily detect the wrath that lied within the vampire.

"My God," Lyanna muttered under her breath, "Clark, Alwynn could have been killed last night," was that genuine fear Alwynn heard in Lyanna's voice? What a change from the usual cold nature she held. Rising to his feet, Alwynn strode down the stairs, past the living room and into the kitchen.

He ignored the calls from his parents, opening the fridge and drinking long gulps of orange juice straight from the bottle. The footsteps from Lyanna, Clark and Vant grew closer, although Alwynn didn't really care. He didn't want to think of the previous night, didn't want to speak about it either.

"Will Vant be staying for breakfast? I'm making pancakes," Alwynn smiled sweetly over his shoulder, disregarding the bemused looks on his parent's faces whilst he found the rest of the ingredients to make breakfast.

"No, thank you for the offer though, I have some business to attend to," Vant didn't look as shocked as Lyanna and Clark, clearly just taking Alwynn's cheerful demeanour into stride, "did you sleep OK?" flawless liar, that man was, Alwynn liked that, even though it probably should have been a red flag for him.