No Chill

[Adley Reed]

* Kaspar had found himself in quite the interesting place, as seemed his rather unfortunate destiny, between two men he cared for. He'd run into his boyfriend slinking about in the cities Catacombs, no doubt letting out frustrations on the nasties that wondered below and they'd quickly been joined by one Adley Reed, Kaspar's sometimes lover, his friend and companion. The tension made him want to run, Adley attempting to keep up his positive attitude while Grey bore his teeth, easing up at the gentle pinch at his backside from Kaspar but not enough for his comfort. "Are you two done posturing yet? It is sweet, that you fight over little old me, but it is not necessary."

* Adley Reed had left Indigo behind in one of the nearby rooms - he'd suggested a game of hide and seek, while he wandered around trying to find more parts to play with when they all got back to Apiary. The first however long it had been with Indigo had been glorious, and challenging. Helping anyone transition from human to vampire while trying to help them keep their optimistic outlook would have been a struggle for anyone, and it was unfortunate that Indigo had inherited one of Adley's more violent curses. But they had a handle on it. They'd seen less of Kaspar than usual - just like he'd been distant before Indigo was turned, leaving them alone more often than not. When he saw Grey and Kaspar together in the catacombs, he couldn't help but stop. And hang out. This enforced distance had to stop. He laughed, teeth gleaming, clearly in a good mood and not aggressive in the slightest. "I don't know what you mean. No one's fighting, here," he said, turning an arched brow in Grey's direction.

* Grey Weston he'd left a trail bodies in his wake. The floors of the catacombs were dark with runnels of a slow-moving, vicious liquid. The dead were easy enough to sidestep; their skin cracked and sunken against their wiry frames. It split like parchament. Grey had spent the better part of an hour neatly carving through hordes of them, carefully placing incisions along the underside of their arms, removing chunks of bone that had yellowed with age. Running into Adley hadn't been high on his agenda, but he bore it gracefully. He shrugged when Adley's gaze turned to him. "Pretty sure I'd get an earful if your dopey smile was short another tooth," he agreed, tone light.

* Kaspar gave a short, sharp laugh. This wasn't going as terribly as he'd expected, but it certainly wasn't easy on any of the three. He'd tried to be supportive of Adley and Indigo, he'd come out with them at first but the blood lust, the uncontrollable nature of it went against his better nature. Instead he had sat with her and discussed her abilities, discussed what she might be able to do and helped her practice. "Well, good... I like his smile, and I like not having to bandage your fist." The hand that was not rubbing a slow circle at the small of Grey's back reached for Adley, gently gripping around the man's bicep. "How's our girl today?"

* Adley Reed grinned, even tugging at his lower lip to show the gleaming 'missing' tooth to Grey. It wasn't missing at all. "Grew back and everything. I don't even have any hard feelings," he said. He could have said more - could have said he understood cunts getting punched when they acted out, but he was too proud to stand there and shoulder all the blame. "Indigo is around here somewhere. She's doing good," he said.

* Grey Weston The hand in question was on the mend. It had healed quickly, almost alarmingly so. The only evidence that remained was the faint blush of new skin, darkening slightly around Grey's knuckles, still mottled a bruised shade. He bit back the start of a snort at Kaspar's question; clearing his throat to cover the mildly derisive sound. His shoulders hitched in a curt shrug as Adley peeled back his lower lip to reveal the absence of a blank space between the neat row of his teeth. "Good to know," he replied, distractedly.

* Kaspar had tensed slightly at the topic at hand, glancing between the two and only found his shoulders sloping forward, his posture easing when Grey had responded. "She is? Daintily stepping over corpses in stupid shoes, no doubt." He laughed, giving Adley's arm a fond squeeze. "Seriously, how is this normal? Just hanging out, tearing up zombies. I mean, don't we have better things we could all be doing?"

* Adley Reed shrugged as he leaned back, his weapons sheathed and his hands shoved into his pockets. "I'm not really tearing up zombies. I'm nudging at rubble to find bits of weapons," he said, turning to Grey. "How's your sword? Is it any good? I can make you something..." he said. On the outside, it might look a little strange, Adley being so nice all of a sudden. Although he had his grudges, they were tucked neatly aside, to be brought to light at the right moments. At this point in time, he had his goals, and those goals were not achievable if Adley pissed off Kaspar's boyfriend. Better to bring Grey into the fold then push them both out of it.

* Grey Weston "There's a market for it. Even if there wasn't, it keeps the ugly fuckers from showing up places they shouldn't." Doughnut shops, for example. He considered Adley for a split second, not entirely sure what to make of his jovial behavior. It had hardly been more than a handful of weeks since they'd nearly come to blows. More succinctly, since Grey had attempted to subdue him with his fists. He didn't entirely trust the abrupt shift in their dynamic. "I don't use one," he said. "But thanks, I guess."

* Kaspar perked up somewhat at a safer topic, releasing Grey to gesture to the satchel bag he carried. "OH, speaking of weapons, I found more parts for you love. I will see what else comes up, ja? I'm not so inclined to do anything with them. I'm better at making music, than making instruments of death."

* Adley Reed winked at Kaspar as he nodded at the offer of parts. He could definitely use them, and practice makes perfect. "I think at this point I'm better at taking photos than I am at making instruments of death, but it's nearly on par," he said. Starting a new 'career' from scratch was a lot of work, and Adley knew he had a fair way to go. But he had support, and those who helped him with the parts that he needed. And a comfortable place to practice, thanks to Indigo. "We can go back to Apiary, if you prefer to be somewhere more civil?" he asked, glancing between the two men. Indigo would be proud.

* Grey Weston stepped away with a visible sag of relief to his shoulders as Kaspar relaxed his hold. For all that his caution was understandable, he chafed beneath it. He couldn't blame Kaspar for being wary; the subtle tension that had soured the first handful of seconds of the conversation. The implied distrust still stung. He glanced between the pair, taking a moment to adjust the strap of the messenger bag slung across one shoulder. It bit into his skin, sagging with the weight of his collected spoils. Its contents gave a dry rattle as they shifted, knocking together with a thick, muffled sound. "You go."

* Kaspar scoffed loudly at Grey, fingers finding the strap of the man's bag, tugging it up and over his head. "Nein, liebchen." He tutted, putting the bag over his own head, letting it settle over his own bag. "I'm not sure i'm up for an Apiary trip, as much as civilised sounds fabulous. Maybe later? Or tomorrow? Say, where DID you abandon the Caramel?" He looked around as if the woman might appear, "The main reason I wandered down here was to round up this one." He gestured at Grey, "The Wife wants us to keep her company tonight."

[Grey Weston]

* Adley Reed nodded slowly as he pushed himself away from the wall. He got the hint. Go and find Indigo, Kaspar's not coming home tonight. The tart response was right there, on the tip of his tongue; a tongue that came unstuck from the roof of his mouth with a smart 'tsk'. "I'd like to meet your wife one day, Kas," he said coolly. "Apiary is open to everyone--" he said pointedly at Grey, "--whenever you want to drop by." If there was distance, if there was some kind of rupture or divide that Kaspar felt he had to straddle, it wasn't caused by Adley, or by Indigo. "We miss you, Hel," he said, softer, using a name he rarely used for Kaspar. "The place isn't the same when it's just the two of us. The more the merrier," he said, again with a pointed look at Grey.

* Kaspar gave a slow nod, a hand lifting up to rub at the back of his blonde locks, messing them up. He'd tried to arrange for the two to meet, but it wasn't always easy with everyone's schedules to organise. He followed the movement of Adley's gaze towards Grey, giving him a vaguely patient smile as if hoping for the reaction not to be too sharp. The use of his nickname, one that to many had become his stage name and persona outside of himself, had him turning to stare back at Adley. Guilt flicked fleetingly across his features, automatically reaching out to cup a hand around the back of Adley's neck, drawing the man closer. "Hey now, Ads, nien... I'll come by soon, and I will try to arrange family time." He muttered sheepishly, the words feeling dumb enough that he decided to abandon them. The replacement for them was a firm press of lips, a kiss that gathered the fullness of Adley's lower lip between his, nipping it with affection before releasing it back unto it's owner. "You two just make sure not to tear the place down with your... Activities."

* Grey Weston "Jesus," he hissed. "Really?" The words were flat in their delivery; borderline toneless. It was less incredulous and more subdued; hedging on resignation. He was exhausted by it; by Adley's blind attempts to keep Kaspar close, willfully oblivious to the gradual shift in the dynamics of a once solid group, and by Kaspar's inability to force the man to reconcile with the fact that such changes were permanent. That Kaspar wasn't coming 'home' because it simply wasn't any longer. As tame as the words were, the implied '**** off' was clear."I'm not interested." He said, the words addressed to Adley. The clipped tone brooked no argument. He reached up a second later, fingers closing around the strap that hung from Kaspar's shoulder, collecting both at once. The latter bag was tossed carelessly at Adley. Grey didn't particularly care whether it connected solidly with the man's chest or whether it dropped with the weight of a stone to spill its contents.

* Adley Reed welcomed the kiss, one hand finding the jut of Kaspar's hip, fingers curling into the cloth of his attire. Adley had opened up, even if just a crack. Kaspar was missed, and the honesty wasn't tossed out to cause any kind of friction. It was just a fact, one that Adley thought Kasparneeded to hear. One that Kaspar had heard, and caused him to react in kind - a reaction that Grey clearly didn't like. When the bag was tossed at Adley, he caught it with a grunt, shuffling back a step to balance the weight. "I see," he said, the muscle in his jaw pumping, a hard glint to eyes that had previously been soft, and amused. He grabbed the bag's strap and gently lowered it to the ground, his actions so precise as to be clearly controlled, willpower exerted to keep himself collected. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to Kaspar. "You were witness to it. I was inviting. I still am inviting - as is Indigo. Grey is always welcome, whatever he wants, whatever you want. If you feel torn between two places? It's his doing," he said, pointing a finger at Grey. "I just hope you avoid the chains, man, because they really don't suit you," he added. All the while, he didn't even look at Grey. Instead, he collected his own bag and took another step back, clearly prepared to leave, to go and find Indigo.

* Kaspar had only just leaned back from Adley, broken the brief entanglement when a bag was thrown between them, caught by the man before it could thud against him as most likely intended. A hiss of a breath exhaled between his teeth, his hands coming up to rub in frustration against his face as words were exchanged, as again he felt briefly in the middle of some boiling tension that had been bubbling beneath the surface and was ready to spill over between them. He felt soaked in it, stinging as it poured over his skin, thick and sticky like he'd have to fight against it just to breathe. "NEIN, genug. I am tired of this... Enough. Bitte, meine lieben. Please, my loves, I do not want to feel caught at. Have patience with me." The frustration was edged with pleading, softening it, weakening it. Perhaps it was his turn to leave, his turn to turn his back. And he did. The tall blonde hunched his shoulders, hands pressing into his pockets as he presented his back to the two men. "I'm going to see my son... I can't."

* Grey Weston stared at Adley for the space of a breath. He swallowed back the bark of laughter that threatened to well from his throat; sharp and humorless. He was nearly breathless with it; the sensation a restless one that rasped at the back of his throat, frayed his composure. He was amazed by the man's gall. His ability to pretend as though he were blameless; as if he were owed acceptance. As if Grey would forgive and forget at his say so, simply because he demanded it. Because Indigo demanded it. Two people who'd swept uninvited into his life and seemed unable to accept that their insistence - however well meaning - formed a noose. "Might wanna ask yourself why he hasn't come back. It's his choice." He said at last, tone even and cool. He shot Kaspar a look then - expression softening, guilt registering just briefly. Part of him wanted to counter that he'd been patient. It was the other two who seemed to have no patience. "Run home to someone who wants you, Adley." He finished, the words hushed. Surprisingly lacking in venom. Just tired. He shouldered the strap of his bag a second later, preparing to drift into the welcoming dark.

* Adley Reed let out the bark of a laugh that Grey might have kept bottled. “Oh but he has come back. On numerous occasions. Not as much as he used to, given, but he’s been back. It would be bad form of me to tell you in exact detail the things that we get up to when he does come around,” he said, words scathing and a cold smirk curling lips that were otherwise so inviting. “You’re a ******* idiot, you know that? You claim to give a **** but you want him to systematically cut people out of his life that he cares about,” he said, cutting a glance at Kaspar’s retreating back. Yes, it was unfair of him to be caught in the middle, but he didn’t have to be. That was the entire point. “Whether or not you two want to be exclusive means sweet **** all to Indie and I, and if that was a choice Kas made then so be it. Doesn’t mean he still can’t come around, that you BOTH can’t, but what are you trying to do, Grey? Prohibit him from seeing us? Deluding yourself that he comes around out of pity or obligation? If you were to just accept that we’re as much a part of his life as his wife and son are, then all his troubles would cease. Don’t you see? You can come around. I can give you blood and give Kas a break. It could be THAT easy, and you’re the one who won’t ******* allow it. You are ********,” he said. He reached down to snag the bag of parts that Kas had collected. He was going to leave them behind, but decided against it. The reasons were not required; bag of parts to deliver or not, he knew that Kaspar would come home. And when he did, Adley would apologise - though he had tried to be nice.

[Kaspar]

* Kaspar felt the words like daggers at his back, sharp and pointed. He asked them to stop, they had refused. What option did he have? Turn around and forcibly remove one of them? To cry and scream? To hit and scrap until they all bled? No, it wasn't going to solve the core issues. “Ask me what I want. Both of you. We can sit down, all of us, and we can talk this through like adults. Until then? I AM leaving. You are both, in your way, correct and yet incorrect.” His voice was tense but kept low, even. He hadn't turned back to them, merely paused his steps. “I am selfish, to ask it, but there it is. I love you… And I care for you. Let that be enough.” He did explain, didn't elaborate which he meant to whom, just taking another experimental step.

* Grey Weston A part of him was tempted to ask, all sincerity, whether Adley was that desperate to swallow another halved tooth. He’d endured it before, for the better half of an evening and however many days. But no. The largely rhetorical question was swallowed with a rough gesture, and for a moment he eyed the other man with an expression that wavered between irritation and mild pity. “What I want is for you to stop making a ******* *** out of yourself, but that, I see, is asking a lot, Adley. You sure are quick to make assumptions, though.” He was borderline cheerful.

“But while we’re on the subject, I don’t feed from him, you needy piece of ****. I don’t take what isn’t offered. I don’t use my addictions as a measure of control to keep someone close. And I don’t pretend that it’s because I actually give a **** about what they want or need.” He swept his tongue over his teeth in a reflexive, pointed gesture. “I haven’t tried to keep him from you. I’m not interested.” That phrase again; sharp and pointed. “You two started freezing him out long before I came into the picture. You don’t get to be angry. You don’t get to be bitter because I AM. The only delusional ones here are you and Indigo. Dating Kaspar doesn’t mean I have to like you or want your company just because YOU want me to.”

He flinched a second later, tone level. “The sooner the two of you **** off and stop trying to force something, the sooner we can all move on. You’ve made choices for me once already. You don’t get to keep doing it. We clear? Are you done, or are we going to continue with this pissing match?” His gaze drifted briefly to Kaspar. “Until you can stop tearing him apart and acting like you’ve done nothing wrong, and it’s all on someone else, I don’t have anything to say to you.”

He was already halfway towards the nearest exit by the time Kaspar’s voice entered the fray. He slowed just long enough to let him speak, before giving a curt shake of his head. “Good luck with that,” he muttered.

* Adley Reed glared at Grey, but didn’t fail to hear him. Adley would have said that he had no problems with Kaspar - that he hadn’t even had any issue with Grey until the asshole chose to be unreasonable. It would be nice, Adley agreed, to be able to sit down and talk through their issues. Like adults. Adley could admit that some of the attitude was his own; but Kaspar had never asked for space. Adley had greeted the two with the intention to offer an olive branch - something Grey would know was there when he was ready to accept it - and now he was left questioning everything.

He, too, was tired of the assumptions. Grey had been making them from the get-go, and Adley figured the guy just didn’t understand the relationship that the three of them shared. He, Indigo and Kaspar had an understanding. The accusations he flung at Adley now, however, had Adley questioning otherwise. What kind of pillow talk had the two men shared, and what issues did Kaspar have which he’d failed to mention to Adley and Indigo?

Thinking back, he couldn’t fathom why Kaspar would think that they were freezing him out. Wasn’t it Kaspar who’d started coming around less first? If any ‘freezing out’ had occurred, it had been unintentional, and it was something that would soon have been remedied if Kaspar had mentioned it. And since when were they tearing Kaspar apart? Instead, here Adley was hearing it from someone else’s lips. The tension dropped from his shoulders. He had nothing more to say to Grey. He instead turned and walked after Kaspar.

“If we’re all going to sit down and talk, Indigo has to be there. If that’s all true?” he said, gesturing to where Grey had previously been standing, to the ghost of the accusations still hanging heavy in the air. “Then she needs to hear it, too. If you want us to **** off, you’re going to have to tell us yourself,” he said. He dropped Kaspar’s bag back at his feet. He’d had enough of being accused of selfishness and greed. He’d take nothing from Kaspar. “We’ll be at the Apiary when you two are ready to talk. Until then…” he shook his head. Until then? He’d give them space.

With that, he stalked off down the hallway from which he’d come, re-tracing his steps from where he’d last seen Indigo. If he didn’t find her, he’d go home to wait for her.

* Kaspar And there he stood, alone in the bleak damp, dark catacombs alone. Grey heading off in one direction, Adley the other. Argument rose to his lips, requests for them to wait and answers to the questions but they never made it out. He lay them to rest with a sigh, leaning down to capture the strap of his bag, the poor thing thrown around between the two men and just as easily discarded. Briefly he identified with that bag, the protests he swallowed feeling just as sharp and unrefined as its contents. He had been the one to give distance, that was true, and while he did not believe the remaining Hive members were freezing him out, he did note their growing closeness and had wanted to let them explore it. They had earned that courtesy. It was more that he was uncertain where he could fit within that, and how best to give everyone enough of his time, of his affection. The short answer? He couldn't, not really. Someone would miss him, one relationship would suffer for another or his business would.

These were the things Kaspar juggled, and the bickering, the outright hostility and violence that had occurred recently didn't help. He wasn't sure if it was because of the first meeting, or Grey’s preconceived ideas of Adley and Indigo, of his struggle to let go of the hurt, but it was clear he’d never find a place with them. He wasn't asking Kaspar to choose, not outright, but in a way that's what it appeared like it would come to. He wasn't ready for that. As he walked towards the exit he began to consider some of the arguments made and the implications.

Chains of gold, are still chains. Did Kaspar have them wrapped around his throat?

Adley seemed to believe he did, and that their way of life offered freedom instead. He was wrong. Whether he was with them or without, whether he was monogamous, polyamorous or just WAS, he had responsibilities. He had links added to those chains. Adley had brought up his wife, his son and yet he had no real idea what that meant or how seriously Kaspar felt about protecting their interests. Grey couldn't either, not fully, but he had come to understand that to long term maintain a position as partner to Kaspar he had to fit into the family somehow.

He wished he had room, he wished he had time for everyone but the chains were getting heavy. Golden, or otherwise.

[Adley Reed]

<Adley Reed> Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes had been spent re-tracing his steps through the maze of the catacombs. He was searching for his Indigo, for that soft halo of curls, the welcoming pool of her Indigo orbs. A cool presence to calm the fire that raged within. When he couldn’t find her, Adley did as he said he would - he turned around and headed for the exit. If he ran into Grey instead, somehow, there was no telling what Adley would do. He had a vision of beating the blood thief’s head in with the blunt end of his sword hilt. Best not…

Although the train would have been quicker, Adley walked. With a furious energy like the one he currently was home to, he would be a volatile weapon on a train. With the visions of blood in his imagination, he’d probably slaughter the whole carriage, and be wracked with the guilt of it afterwards. Adley was no stranger to gore, and he had killed before, But not on a mass scale, and not innocent, helpless humans.

One would have thought that the brisk walk would have exhausted him, but when he walked through the doors of the Apiary he swung the bag from his shoulder and hurled it at the forge. There was a brilliant, cacophonous clattering of metal and stone and steel, weapons and weapon parts scattered across table-top and floor. In two strides he’d followed the mess, swiping the hammer from the floor so that he could slam a random bit of sword over and over again, bashing the metal until it was an unrecognizable pulp. Yes, he was still imagining Grey’s head beneath the violence.


<Indigo> Indigo heard the door being used first and leveled her gaze from the newly renovated lounge that had a perfect view of what was rolling in to the Apiary. A reflexive inhale that went deep as her lungs would allow took over. The relfex was weakening but it would take time for that to fully cease. Not that she was fully in touch with that inevitable change. She barely was able to keep from catching the soft damp muscle in her mouth from bleeding with each contact of the sharp points of her fangs. Sometimes they were there, sometimes the seemed to be retracted. All of that aside her current observation warranted action. Adley was in the house, well an extension it seemed of what was considered home, and he was appearing less than pleased.

While the bag he arrived with was airborne she moved around the stainless steel beverage bar and stepped through the room and down the steps. This, of course, would put her on even ground with the one she couldn’t be happier to see. Although it was evident that he was hardly in a comparable mood. Weapons parts scattered across the industrial grade flooring like an unexpected and rather unique invitation to play Jacks. Instead of the predictable small metal pronged pieces there was an impressive assortment of blades, hilts and whatnot that would go into making the swords Adley was known to specialize in. A drop of her eyes to a few in particular as she passed them gave her reason to believe since they were new to her chances were he was recently in the catacombs.

“Welcome back.” Indigo was cautious to be as enthusiastic as usual with her greeting since Adley found his obviously needed outlet in pounding the metal beneath the hammer in hand into what hardly appeared useable once he gave it hell. Recently there was only one thing that she had really seen getting him so worked up, if that was even close to what it really was, and that would be none other than the current conflict with Grey’s introduction by Kaspar to the Hive. “Do I need to guess what has upset you or should I just leave it be?”


<Adley Reed> The blood frenzy usually reared its ugly head upon seeing or smelling even a single drop of blood. This time, it was enough just to imagine it, to see Grey’s head there on the slab in front of him, concave and barely recognizable, hair matted into stringy red strands and bits of brain flesh pummelled and tenderized, marinated in a pool of dark, oozing blood.

And yet, it wasn’t just Grey that he was angry with. There was Kaspar, too, though he was torn between guilt and despair as well, in regards to the blonde musician. Mainly angry, though, if all that Grey had said was true and Kaspar hadn’t been man enough to confront his ‘friends’ about it. What were they to Kaspar, in the end? Were they just bits of flotsam to be discarded now that he’d found something new and shiny? And deep down, too, he wondered if he should be angry at himself. But, no. No, he told himself. They had done no such thing.

As soon as Indigo’s cool voice broke through the noise, Adley dropped the hammer as if it were scalding his palm. His hand was red and raw from where he’d been holding it so tight, though he hadn’t been so violent as to break the skin.

“******* Grey,” he said, spitting the words at the table in front of him.

“I found them together in the catacombs,” he said, finally turning to face Indigo, though he didn’t greet her like he normally would - with a tight embrace and a heady kiss. Instead, he paced.

“I offered an olive branch, y’know? You’d have been proud. I was nice as pie and suggested they come back here, to hang out. No hard feelings, and all that. He spat it back in my face,” he said. A growl ripped from his throat, his hands thrown in the air as if he were searching for something else to wreck.

“Trying to bring him into the fold so Kaspar doesn’t feel so ******* torn, but he won’t have a bar of it. I don’t even know if Kaspar WANTS to. He’s really good at singing a sweet tune, whatever we want to hear, but if half of what Grey said is true, then apparently we’re his worst ******* enemies. Did you know that? Apparently we froze Kaspar out long before Grey came around. Why else would Grey say that if Kas hadn’t given him that impression?” he asked. He ranted. He was impassioned, violently so. It wasn’t often that Adley let his temper get the best of him. It only happened when he cared.


<Indigo> Indigo listened and watched as Adley vented. If it were possible she could visualize the steam coming from his ears, the flair of his nostrils that clearly were opening wide like a bull on the ready to charge if given that target of it’s rage. So much anger had found its way in in the last few weeks and if the moment was about what she felt it would be a much different reaction than the one she was witnessing. Her faith in what brought all of them together, held them close and safe even while apart never wavered. She invested all her trust in each one. But as soon those words from Adley found the air between them things shifted within her as well. How could it not?

Adley spouted off each claim Grey voiced to him. Statements filled the room that would raise any of their concern and yes their tempers. They were fiercely protective of one another. It was not unlike any other family in that regard. What she was hearing was ludicrous. It had to be. Grey had to be talking from a position of insecurity. Kaspar was as constant and consistent as the roof over their heads. Solid. He said what he felt, thought and even if it delivered a sting he didn’t hold back. He never had a reason to. None of them did. They had their disagreements like anyone else did but enemies? Grey was given the impression or even more directly in words that they were his enemies?

The sound of it all had her working through her memories. A piercing of confusion manifested where it felt entirely too uncomfortable. It was toxic even in its early stage and she knew it. This was not good at all. How did Grey know this if in fact it was not some shot of bitter retort aimed at Adley just to get under his skin where Grey otherwise was not welcome? Indigo orbs narrowed in focus on Adley. His anger was easy to feel even at the distance she was currently from him. It created distance where there should be none. Grey. As much as she tried to be without judgement, open to the negativity that seemed to come with him she was no different in feeling insulted as Adley was. In fact, it seemed a little more difficult to keep in check. Her jaw tightened down. Kaspar was in the hands of a bitter and destructive man. Jay had been and now he was gone for the moment...was Kaspar next?

“Have you spoke to Kaspar directly?” She shouldn’t even have to ask such a thing. None of this happened when Jay was around. Was this what he left behind? “Grey seems to assume he knows a lot about a home and family he isn’t exactly welcome into with open arms. And I question how much he really is capable of knowing how Kaspar feels. I have felt nothing but resentment and hostility from him since he showed up. It boggles my mind that he and Kaspar actually work given the man…” She sighed.”Vampire to be. Something is seriously off with Grey. No one that is truly right or happy goes to such effort to infuse negativity and conflict into each situation I have seen him a part of with us.” Indigo wanted to soften the edges of what she said for Adley’s sake. It appeared he was enraged enough for both of them. “He isn’t getting anything from Santa this year if he keeps it up. Promise you that.”


<Adley Reed> With that singular question, all the steam evaporated. Adley dropped like a deflated balloon, backing up against the forge before sliding down to sit on the ground. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place to rest, but he was suddenly exhausted. He’d spent hours in the catacombs finding parts and slaying the ancient creatures that got in his way. The sight of Kaspar had buoyed him, and he had approached the two men only with good intentions in mind.

It was something about the way Kaspar had said he had only come to the catacombs to find Grey; that he and Grey were expected by Kaspar’s wife. It shouldn’t have meant anything, but it had. For weeks before Indigo was turned, Kaspar had been more distant than usual, and the weeks since had been exactly the same, if not worse. Although he dropped in every now and again, when was the last time he’d stayed during the day? When was the last time he’d stayed in bed with them? When was the last time he’d come to collect them from anywhere, for a particular purpose? Were they going to lose him, too, because Grey liked to imprison the men he called ‘boyfriend’?

Adley rubbed at his face before he held out a hand for Indigo, gesturing for her to join him. There didn’t have to be distance anymore, and he hadn’t yet got enough of the fact that he could touch her. He could hold her, and there was no fear of killing her.

“No. Kaspar suggested that we all sit down and talk about it civilly, before Grey made his accusations. Grey didn’t seem into it,” he said, his tone now tired and flat. He sighed, closing his eyes as he recalled the conversation, the muscles in his jaw jumping as his teeth ground together.

“Grey implied that we weren’t giving them enough space. That I was greedy and selfish. Told us to **** off and stop trying to force things. I told Kas that I’d talk, but if anything Grey said was true, then we wanted to hear it from Kas’s lips,” he said, opening his eyes to look to Indigo, inquiring, wondering if it was the right thing to say.

“If you and I treated him so badly -- if he wants us to **** off and give him space -- I want him to tell us personally. I gave him back the parts he gave me, and told him we’d be here when he’s ready,” he said. When that night came, he doubted he’d see Grey walk through that door beside Kas. Again, he sighed, and when he leaned back his head thudded painfully against the hard material of the forge.

“Kas said that both Grey and I were right. He didn’t explain. I just don’t know what to think anymore…”

[Indigo]

<Indigo> Indigo was finding as Adley divulged more of the conversation, if it could be called that due to the nature and obvious tone vs. argument, that she was feeling a rise and anger that was spawning from her increased confusion. It left her feeling perhaps she was the only one in her little cohesive world. Could that be? She practiced what she preached. She knew that much. Wasn’t everyone else on board like they said they were?

It was like being in the middle of a cocktail party, an epic one, where she was feeling at the top of her social game and those around her in turn the same. Energy was brilliant, invigorating. Then she steps into the bathroom and finds the biggest wad dangling in view in one of her nostrils. Really. It was starting to be one of those moments where she was stunned. All those assholes smiled in her face and not one cared to tell her. That is how off what she was hearing made her feel. It was like poison to her. And her face hardened in its expression as she refused the current dose Grey was working hard to send to her system via Adley’s verbal administration using his words as it’s route.

“Who the **** does Grey think he is?” Yes, Indigo was riding the wave now and it was a killer one. “So Kaspar suggested for us all to sit down like we always have and discuss and communicate and Grey counters a positive with his negative and claims not only will that not happen but that we are suffocating him...them?” Indigo never went out seeking Kaspar and just like Jameson or Adley she would see them when they walked in their shared home. Freedom. Grey had walked in once. “Only once has he been at the house. Once!” Her voice raised and it felt good. Really good in fact. So much so that she didn’t stop. “He walked in on something he could have been respectful to and bowed out if it wasn’t his thing, sat on the porch, knitted a sweater even for Kaspar while it took place. No, instead he critiqued it. Something so intimate and beautiful. He viewed it like it was third rate offensive porn with no acceptable plot. You know what, Adley. **** that.” Now she was pacing, her hands tugging back at the cloud of ringlets that had no order in their current placement. Her eyes lit up like indigo pools of heat as she fixed them on his face. “Does he have some kind of power he could be using over Kaspar?”

Perhaps that was it. She was still clueless on what true powers were out there...she still wasn’t aware she could choose to make all of those involved in this act like good little boy scouts if she really set her mind to it. Not that she would. Indigo was the peace she tried to spread. Her nature still lingered strongly but with it so did her sense of feeling targeted and in some ways attacked indirectly for who she was and what she was. That didn’t sit well at all. She did not try to choke Grey with rainbows or stick her sunshine where he didn’t want it. So why was he being like this to them? The way she saw it he was appearing toxic to Boo.

“Grey has some baggage...serious emotional baggage, Adley. Anyone so intent on pulling Kaspar away from where he has no need to be detached from, where he has total freedom to come and go and then even goes further to try to paint it as a space he is chained to is not coming from a good place. Certainly not a place with Kaspar’s best interests in mind. Now I really wish Jay was here. I would love to hear what he has to offer on all of this and perhaps what he knows about Grey.”


<Adley Reed> Adley’s outreached hand fell slack at his side. It was as if the steam that had so animated him had shifted to possess Indigo instead. He’d never seen her so worked up, and it fuelled him. He felt justified. He wasn’t imagining things. Some part of him at expected her to calm him, to tell him not to worry and that Kaspar wasn’t going anywhere. It was Kaspar, right? He made his own choices and he wouldn’t abandon them when he had the freedom to do as he pleased. To expect him to be around more, to be the same as he was, was a different set of chains.

But that was why Adley had left the way he had; there were no chains, and there never had been. When Kaspar was distant before, Adley had been understanding. Where Kaspar had sought forgiveness, Adley had given none because none was required. So why was Adley so worked up, now? Because of Grey. Grey was the one outlier that made all the difference. He came in the shape of a wedge that would eventually sever Kaspar from his Hive -- at least, that was the threat that Adley perceived tonight, and the one that he wanted to fight.

As much as Indigo’s fury aroused both his own justification and his lust, he leaned forward so that he could reach for her hand; so that he could pull her down and keep her still. There was no knowing what she was capable of, and he had told Kas, vaguely, that space would be given. It would not do to have a furious Queen Bee hunting him down to prick him with her stinger.

“Bee, c’mon. Kaspar will come and we’ll talk, but it’s probably best we just give him some space,” he said. The words tasted bitter on his tongue, and he wished he could take them back. But he let them hang there. Maybe it was because he was stubborn, or maybe it was because he genuinely believed it was what Kaspar needed. Regardless, he had no urge to hunt the man down just yet.

“I don’t think there’s any power -- Kaspar didn’t defend either Grey or I and he really did look exhausted. He doesn’t want to take sides. And he made a point. I haven’t asked him what he wants. I don’t know what he wants. You’re always the optimistic one,” he said, wanting to coax Indigo down, to remind her of her nature. “He’ll come when he’s ready and we’ll figure it out. Won’t we?” he asked. It was both question and statement - both confident, and wavering. Could he really be sure that they would? If Grey wanted exclusivity and didn’t allow Kas his freedom - if it was what Kas wanted, then there was nothing they could do about it.

“We didn’t do it, did we? Because of how we feel about each other. Did we push him out?”

<Indigo> Despite the tension finding it’s way into her muscles, the bracing of the inside of her joints Adley’s reach and pull of her hand worked as it was intended to. She was drawn to him. Moth to a flame was not doing the effect justice. It was deeper than that. It had been her words and it was true. It was all encompassing, everywhere. And now when she needed it more than she was even aware of he provided a calm to her inner storm. It is said you cannot be angry without love and often that is rooted by fear. She had never felt it before in such a way but she shared it with Adley. He loved Kaspar. She loved him too. Both of them enough that was perhaps what it was just as Adley had mentioned. What if? She would bet her...well, life wouldn’t work, at least not in the same context as she used to consider it, anyways she was certain, trusted and had faith that Kaspar was going only where he wanted and doing what he wanted and would come back around when he wanted. And not only that…

“You need to trust what is the deepest within. It is what will see us through all of this...together or at a distance. We are one yet made up of individual pieces. A perfect fit even in our separate imperfections. We are each other’s balance, source of strength and courage even if we are afraid.” Fear. Her eyes were swelling, the tell tale burn of tears finding the lower lids and pooling there. “I love enough to hold on and enough to let go. So far it has seen Kaspar come and go and Jay as well. No one is going away for good. Kaspar will sort through this and we will support him while he does. I love you, Adley. And the way I do excludes nothing that was already in your life before or in the future...especially Boo or Jameson. And as for him...” She smiled just enough to convey her sincerity. “I know he will be back and that we won’t be out of sour cream forever. I just hope he brings home a souvenir this time. We could use a rollercoaster in the back yard.”

Indigo brushed her lips to Adley’s. Each damp with her tears. She ached to be back in their bed. All of them. Jay’s long legs draped casually over Adley and under Kaspar’s. The scent of them combined like she would wake to and indulge in while watching them sleep. It was good. Too good for anything to break down and she would not accept anyone trying. That was a vow she kept to herself. No one was going to hurt them.

“For now what would you like to do?” She brought his hand to her lips and kept the contact as she looked at him over his knuckles. “Name it.”


<Adley Reed> These were the words that Adley wanted to hear. As much as Indigo’s fury had been appreciated -- knowing that he wasn’t alone in the way he felt -- the boundless wisdom that she spouted was the reason why he’d wanted to track her down. Some people might call it ********. They might call her a hippie high on whimsy, but it was what Adley loved about her. She had a free spirit, and she believed in things grander than themselves. She had the ability to humble Adley when he was often so full of his own confidence and ego. She balanced him.

It was a comfort to think that on some level Kaspar was connected to them, still. Regardless of the distance and the tension that currently frayed that bond, it was still there, and it would bring him home to them. They would let him go, and he would come back. Whether the dynamic had shifted, it didn’t matter. They were still them, and they would all still care for and about each other in the same ways.

Adley twisted Indigo’s hand in his own grip, echoing the gesture by bringing her knuckles to his lips. She shed the tears that pride often prohibited him from even considering; she’d have seen them, once, if she remembered. Kaspar had. Grey, too, much to Adley’s horror and dismay. Grey had witnessed Adley at his lowest point and still assumed Adley was a selfish, greedy monster. The ****** had no idea what was going on in Adley’s head. With callused fingers, Adley wiped the tears from Indigo’s cheeks and slowly, agonizingly got to his feet.

“I want to go home. I want to shower with you. And I want to go to bed,” he said. He wanted Kaspar there, too. And Jameson. In that regard, he and Indigo were on the same wavelength. They both wanted what they had once had; they both wanted what they currently couldn’t have. Except there was one crucial difference. In both scenarios they suffered a want for something untouchable, and now it was reversed. They didn’t have Kas or Jay, but they had each other.