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Janos shrugged. “It depends if I’m invited or not.”
Stephen smiled. Janos was an attractive man. He imagined Istvan would easily fit him in somewhere in his sessions with Sam, Severin and Nikolaus. Stephen had joined those sessions too. He thought of the barn in France too where he had been sandwiched between Sam and Istvan while the two vampires penetrated him simultaneously. “You know what vampires are like,” he said, holding Janos’s gaze.
“Yes, I do,” Janos said. “They’ll take everyone and anyone as long as they have a beating heart.”
“Quite true,” Stephen replied. “Although I’d like to think you and I are a bit more than that to Sam.”
Janos said nothing. He only watched Stephen until he felt compelled to speak again. “He’s my dearest friend. We fought a war together. He is a hero in all respects and he deserves to find the one who will treat him so.” It was a veiled threat because Stephen was nothing if not protective of his friend.
Janos regarded him with a serious expression on his face. “I am that one,” he said.
“And your future?” Stephen asked.
“Your negative thoughts didn’t stop you trying with Istvan, did they?”
Stephen shook his head. “No. I wanted him too much to consider the future. Now it’s all I consider and I know contemplating a future with a vampire is folly.”
Janos’s expression softened. “It’s not too late for you. You must take every day as it comes. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?”
Stephen sighed. “Istvan struck Sam, you know that don’t you?”
Janos nodded.
“I saw a side of him I disliked.”
“Which every vampire has. Is petty squabbling between vampires enough to make you give it all up?”
Stephen looked at Janos in surprise. Then he smiled and Janos did too.
“What’s your story?” Janos asked.
Stephen sighed. “Sam and I met in the trenches during the Great War. Istvan found us there too. He saved both our lives, but he had to turn Sam in order to do that. He wouldn’t have survived his wound otherwise.”
Janos regarded him. “What was it like?”
“What? The Western Front?”
“Yes.”
Stephen bowed his head. Flashbacks hit him from time to time and he still had nightmares, but nothing compared to the shell shock Sam still exhibited on a daily basis. “Hell on earth,” he said.
???
Sam rested uneasily in the apartment on Castle Hill while the sun was up. Who knew what would happen when he left the two humans to their own devices? His dreams were tormented by Istvan and stranger nightmares: that of a black-clad wraith stalking him. He woke in a cold sweat at sundown and wandered out into the living room to check on his guests.
Janos was stretched out on one chaise longue while Stephen occupied the other. Both of them were reading books from Sam’s shelf—Janos in Hungarian and Stephen in English. He was surprised to feel the atmosphere between the two men was cordial, rather than uneasy.
“Good evening, gentlemen.”
Janos and Stephen looked up and both smiled. Sam moved forward and brushed an affectionate hand over Janos’s dark locks. “I hope you’re sufficiently rested.”
Janos nodded.
“Well then. I need to go out.” He didn’t need to spell out to either of them where he was going. “I can bring you back some food when I come or I can point you in the direction of a good restaurant.” Would they want to dine together? Perhaps exchange notes on what Sam was like in bed?
Stephen spoke up. “I hope you’re not going to see Istvan.”
Sam was wrong-footed because, yes, it had been his intention once he had fed. “I merely wanted to speak with him about you.”
