“Jeffrey and Matthew Hardy were as close as two brothers possibly could be. The two were inseparable friends, sharing hopes and dreams that they achieved with their combined determination. Those of us who knew them well know they would put their lives on the line for each other. They were loyal and protective. And this is how they shall remain. Matt and Jeff, brothers and best friends, together for all eternity.”

Jason Reso sniffled and leaned his head on the broad chest of his lover, looking at the twin coffins being lowered into the ground. Even though he knew that Matt and Jeff would be at home waiting for them he was nearly moved to tears by the funeral. So many people had come. Jay didn’t know the majority of the Hardy family, but he was impressed by the level of love and sorrow that filled each face. Then there was also the fellow wrestlers. So many of them had requested the time to go to the funeral that one of the Smackdown! shows had been cancelled.

“Jay, why are you crying?” Adam Copeland leaned down to whisper to him, quieter than a human could hear.

“It’s just touching to see so much love for the two of them.”

Adam smirked a little and petted Jay’s hair. “Don’t start really crying or people will be wondering what the hell is wrong with you.”

Jay nodded, knowing Adam was referring to the blood tears of the vampires. He restrained himself easily enough. He tuned out the emotional words of the priest presiding over the funeral and looked around the crowd again. Most of the wrestlers had kept to one side of the graves, staying separate from the family. Except for one. Amy Dumas, known as Lita in the business, and also called that most of the time by the Hardy brothers. Jay noted her grief stricken expression, the pale skin, the purple circles under her eyes, and the tears that seemed to never stop. Adam followed his gaze to look at her as well.

“I’m gonna go to her,” Jay whispered.

Adam nodded and let him go. Jay carefully picked his way through the strangers, drawing as little attention as possible. He slipped up beside Amy and put an arm around her shoulders, instantly getting her arms around his waist and her face pressed to his shoulder. He held onto her tightly. He could sense her emotions and thoughts, seeing exactly what everyone already knew. She had loved Jeff and Matt very much, but she was heartbroken for more reason than that. She was in love with Matt. He gave a small sound of sympathy and hugged her tighter, rubbing her back as she sobbed.

“At request of Gilbert, Adam, Jay, and Amy, I shall not recite the Lord’s Prayer to end my speech. Instead I will merely paraphrase something that Jeff had written and said. Yours truly, Matt and Jeff Hardy. Ours truly, this life.”

Barely muffled by his suit coat, Amy wailed out her sorrow. Jay squeezed his eyes shut as he held her, fighting to keep back his own tears. Thankfully Adam appeared by their side at that moment.

“Come on, Amy. Jay and I will take you home.”

“Yeah, you’re in no condition to drive right now,” Jay added.

Amy nodded, as she tried to quiet herself, fishing through her purse for her car keys to hand over to one of them. The crowd began to slowly disperse. There was to be a small party at the Imagi-Nation afterwards at Jeff’s insistence. Neither brother had wanted people to be sad for them, but to rejoice in their life. It was highly unlikely that there would actually be much partying.

Nearly an hour later there were only two men left standing in front of the graves. Matt and Jeff looked down at the headstones silently, each lost in their thoughts.

“They should’ve put a nice comment on yours,” Jeff said.

“They probably couldn’t think of anything. You were the one who always came up with nifty quotes,” Matt answered.

“You said ‘you have to believe to achieve’.”

“I don’t think that would look good on a tombstone.”

“Well, what did you want on your tombstone?”

“Pepperoni and mushrooms.”

Jeff looked at Matt with a smirk and chuckled. “You’re crazy. Seriously, what would you have asked for?”

“Truthfully?” He paused for a second to think about it. “I would’ve had it say Matthew Moore Hardy; September 23, 1974 to April 19, 1999; I love you, Lita.”

Jeff blinked in surprise and then sighed. “That would’ve been sweet. I’m sorry you never got to really tell her.”

“There’s nothing that can be done about that now. I made my choice and I have no regrets.”

“Liar. You wish you could’ve talked to her one last time.”

“Stay outta my head.”

Jeff moved up towards the head of his own grave, picking up the roses and carnations that had been left there by various people. He smelled of them as he began to walk away.

“Leaving already?” Matt asked.

“Why not? There’s nothing else here for us to see or do. Besides I’m hungry.”

“You can’t eat during the day and you know it. You’ll get caught.”

“Who said it was gonna be a person? I can have a little snack to tide me over till night time.”

Matt made a face. “Ew. You go ahead. I’ll meet you back at Adam and Jay’s later.”

Jeff shrugged and walked off to hunt down some animal for lunch. Matt gave a shudder at the thought. He had already had his taste of animals and humans, preferring humans without question. He, much like Jeff, had slipped into his new life well enough. The Hardy Boyz must’ve been in the Brood for a reason after all. The vampire lifestyle fitted them aside from repeated bouts of loneliness on Matt’s part.

Matt looked back down at the two open graves with the matching empty caskets. Well, they did have something in them to give them weight, but what exactly it was Matt didn’t want to know. Adam and Jay had taken care of everything. With a lot of mind tricks, altering people’s thoughts, and wiping some memories, Adam and Jay had managed to get everyone to believe that Matt and Jeff were safely inside their coffins, but Matt was too mutilated for an open casket funeral. Everyone had believed it. Even the pallbearers who had carried their coffins to their graves: Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Shannon Moore, Chris Irvine, Shane Helms, and of course Adam.

Matt reached down to take the flowers from beside his grave. He figured Jeff had taken them because they were technically his, given as a final gift from their friends and family. Matt plucked two of the roses from his bouquet. He dropped one onto each casket.

“Goodbye everyone. We love you all. Amy, I’ll miss you and I’ll never ever forget.”

That was Matt’s way of ending it completely. It was a way of gaining some closure and ending that book in his life. Now that he felt a little better he took to the sky, minding to stay high above the mountains to remain out of sight, and headed back to Florida.

Adam and Jay dropped down in the woods surrounding their home late that night. A quick scan of the house told them that Jeff and Matt were indeed home. It was convenient that each of them had made the brothers into vampires. The cut off between maker and child could’ve caused some problems in keeping track of them. As it were Adam could always find Matt, Jay’s child, and Jay could always find Jeff, Adam’s child. As long as the brothers were together they could always be found. A simple safety precaution that had been decided on because of the strength the newborn vampires possessed.

The very first night that the two had been made Adam and Jay had known they were in for trouble someday in the future. Though Matt and Jeff didn’t have a clue to it, they were indeed nearly as strong as their makers. It was a mystery that would surely cause trouble once the rest of the vampire world became more aware of their initiation. The thoughts and feelings of all vampires were always being broadcasted and echoing through the entire world, passing along the line from the strongest of telepaths to even those with little ability at all. It conveyed all situations and helped to instill peace between them all. Hopefully Jeff and Matt’s strength was still unknown.

Adam stopped outside of the house, seeing inside through the largest window that viewed the library. Inside Matt was searching amongst the shelves for something to read. Jeff was curled onto the nearby couch with a pad of paper in his lap, scribbling quickly. Jay stepped up beside him to look at the two as well.

“Do you think that we can save them, Adam?”

“Save them?”

“Keep them away from those that would hurt them. So that they don’t have to go through the tortures and the battles that we barely survived.”

“We will, Jay. We will or we’ll die trying.” He looked down at his companion. “We’ll keep them hidden as best we can so that they can emerge someday as two of the most powerful ever to be. Then they’ll be on their own. And you can finally claim that you raised children of your own and quit whining about it.”

“Ya know you sounded really dramatic and cool until you said that!”

Jay gave Adam a good smack in the back of the head and went into the house then, announcing their arrival with a yell. The boys came running as if they really were children waiting for their parents.

“Finally! Where were you guys?” Jeff exclaimed.

“We’re hungry!” Matt added.

Jay and Adam both laughed.

“You could’ve gone hunting on your own. You both know what you’re doing now.”

“Ha! Yeah right. I’m not going out there when you two are constantly worrying about other vampires,” Jeff said.

“So they can hear our thoughts,” Adam said.

“Tolja so,” Jay responded.

“Why are you guys so worried about other vampires anyway?” Matt asked.

They looked at each other for a moment, knowing that they couldn’t hide anything from these two. Their powers were too strong. Adam nodded with a small sigh and led the way back into the library. There, as the others sat down, he climbed the ladder to the top shelf where the oldest of the books were kept. He pulled down one of the relics and then took a seat between Jeff and Matt on the couch.

“When Jay and I were brought across our maker taught us everything, just like we’re teaching the two of you now. One of the things we had to learn the hard way, though, was that most other vampires are not very friendly to newborns.”

“And the stronger the newborns are, the quicker they’re killed off,” Jay added.

“We don’t know how or why, but the two of you have powers and strength that nearly match our own. You shouldn’t be this way. This can pose quite a bit of danger for all of us if you’re discovered.”

“How do newborns gain their strength?” Matt asked.

“Well, your strength as a mortal helps. Mostly it’s determined by your maker. Plus, always remember, age is strength. The older, the more powerful.”

“How old are you guys?” Jeff asked.

“We don’t know precisely. We were only peasants as mortals so we had no birth records. You can look at us now and tell we were in our twenties when we were brought across and it’s been approximately one hundred years since then.”

“Yep, we’re old,” Jay said.

“But nowhere near as old as a lot of others out there. We’re basically prepubescent teens as compared to the vast majority.”

“And Matty and I would be infants.”

“Precisely. Freakishly strong infants, but our cute little babies never the less.” Adam pinched Jeff’s cheek, who only smiled sweetly.

“Okay, so we’re a helluva lot stronger than we should be and that poses a threat to other vampires out there. So they would kill us because of it?” Matt summarized.

“Exactly.”

“How do we avoid them?”

“You’ll know it when you run into them, believe me. You’ll sense something strange around you and you may even hear whispers of thoughts directed at you, but somehow concealing their location.”

“Basically, if you feel like you’re being watched and there’s no one around, run,” Jay said.

“Yes. If anything like that should happen come straight to us. Don’t worry about leading people to us. We can deal with them better. After all, most of them know Jay and I well enough.”

“You have enemies?” Jeff asked.

“It’s not a matter of having enemies really,” Jay said. “It’s more like a simple hostility that most vampires feel towards one another. We’re lone creatures. It’s very rare to see a couple who stays together most of their lives, like me and Adam. We all get bored of each other, get frustrated with keeping the same company all the time, and most often children get sick of being under their makers thumb.”

“If you ever get invited into a coven, don’t say yes. Those are just disasters waiting to happen,” Adam commented.

“Yeah. They’re more like cults.”

“So what’s with the book?” Matt asked and pointed at it.

“These are mine and Jay’s memoirs. We started keeping this journal once we learned how to read and write. The first year or so won’t be useful unless you guys learn French, but after that it turns to English.” He handed the book to Matt. “I want the two of you to read through it. Not word for word or anything and there won’t be a quiz. It’ll provide some insight and maybe even some comfort when you start having problems.”

“And be sure it doesn’t fall into someone else’s hands. Not only is it private, but there are secrets in there no one else can know,” Jay said.

“Like what? Magic spells?” Jeff asked with a grin.

“Maybe,” Jay smirked.

“Oooo…”

“Just what we need. Jeff will be a vampire and a witch,” Matt commented and pulled the book from Jeff’s reach.

“Hey! Gimme!”

“I’ll share in due time. Once I make sure there really aren’t any magic spells in here.”

Jeff stuck his tongue out at him, getting flipped off in return. “Fine, then I’m not gonna let you have any cookies.”

“Cookies?” Matt and Jay both questioned.

“I was gonna make cookies later.”

“Hell, that almost sounds better than real dinner,” Jay commented.

“Well, let’s hurry up and go out so we can come back and have dessert,” Adam suggested.

“Sweet!” Matt exclaimed and hopped off the couch, heading for the door with the others hot on his tail.

An hour or so later Matt crouched alone on the top of a building, looking down on the people below him. In the alleyway just to his right Jeff was seducing a young girl he intended to feed from while Matt kept watch. This was the part of it all that Matt hated most. For all the delicious taste and the sweet ecstasy that blood brought to him in this vampire form, he despised having to take life. Unlike Jeff, who had learned quickly how to time himself and save his victims, Matt still couldn’t control himself. The blood high became so much for him that Adam or Jay had taken to monitoring him to make sure he stopped before he was dragged down into death with his meal. He glanced over as he heard the girl squeal with pleasure. A quick mental scan told Matt that Jeff was doing more than just eating. He sighed and tried to think about cookies. He lifted his head when he heard something.

“Who’s there?” he asked as he stood and turned around.

“It’s only me,” Adam said as he made his way through the clotheslines and cable antennas. “You heard me?”

“No. I don’t know. It wasn’t like hearing, but not like a sense either. It was almost like… I could feel a whisper.”

Adam arched a brow. “That’s strange.”

“Where’s Jay?”

“Miles away from us, back at home actually.” Adam looked around them with a frown, then down in the alley where Jeff was having his way with the girl. “I’m surprised he’s still interested in them like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most vampires lose their sexual desires after a short time. I mean, everything still functions and reacts as always, but there’s no need really.” He knelt down next to the short wall around the ledge, watching Jeff with curiosity. “Seems that vampires can make good lovers after all.”

“It’s kinda rude to watch isn’t it?” he chuckled, but kneeled down next to Adam.

“Only if he knows we’re doing it.”

“He does. He’s a show off, though.” Matt’s comment was answered by Jeff giving a quick glance up at them. “See? He likes the attention.”

“How cute.” Adam reached a hand in Jeff’s general direction, moving it back and forth slightly. Below them Jeff gave a cry of pleasure. “Cool, it still works.”

“What’d you just do?”

“Heh, let’s just say I know a G-spot that only a telepath can reach.”

“Dude, I think I just watched you make my little brother cum.” He and Adam exchanged a weird look. “Bizarre.”

“Sorry. Didn’t even think about him being your brother really.” Down below the girl screamed, but was quickly muffled as Jeff covered her mouth. “Now he’s hungry. First horny and then starved from the workout.”

“You don’t have any desire to... anymore?” he asked hesitantly.

Adam blushed slightly. “Little personal, but I guess since we did just watch Jeff fuck…”

“And you helped,” Matt pointed out.

“Yeah. Sorry. Well, to answer the question, no not really. Jay and I have our own ways of fooling around, so to speak.”

“Do you mind if ask about that?”

“We just drink from each other. It’s very intimate if you do it at the same time because you can feel each others emotions, see each others thoughts, and not to mention vampire blood tastes a lot better than human.”

“Really?” he perked slightly.

“Yeah. It’s very rich. I guess it’s cuz we absorb all that we drink so it’s like a cocktail or something.”

“Hmm.” Matt glanced over the edge of the building to see Jeff scaling the wall up to them. “You could’ve just jumped!”

“I know, but I wanted to see if I could do this.” Adam and Matt helped him over the ledge. “We could go mountain climbing if we wanted.”

“Too bad you chipped all your nail polish off,” Adam teased.

“Eh, oh well. Who wants cookies?”

“Matt, did you eat?” Adam asked.

“Yeah,” he lied, concealing it from everyone thankfully.

“Then we can go home. Though, Jay may have beaten you to your baking, Jeff.”

“I’ll beat him!” Jeff yelled as he took off running across the roof and jumped, soaring towards the sky.

“I thought he didn’t like flying?” Adam asked.

“He’s grown very accustomed to everything. He plays with his meals before he feeds on them, making sure they enjoy every moment and he never kills them. He can fly like a bird, perform acrobats while in mid-air, and still remains as human and sweet as ever. He reads minds, but knows when to butt out, and can block his thoughts without effort. A couple days ago I caught him practicing telekinesis. He moved a book from the table across the room to his lap on the couch.”

Adam finally interrupted. “Matt, you sound really jealous of him.”

“In a way I am. I’m having trouble adjusting. I just feel so odd all the time. I still can’t get used to all the things I can see, hear, and feel that I couldn’t as a human. I still kill when I feed. I have to really concentrate in order to fly.” He sighed, “And as if that isn’t enough I feel like I have a fever!”

“What are you guys talking about down here?” Jeff asked as he moved down closer to them again.

“Matty’s whining about everything and is having a hot flash,” Adam smirked.

“Oh, that. Yeah, he’s been really warm the past few days. It’s even giving me the creeps.”

Adam reached over to Matt, lying a hand upon his forehead, but drawing back quickly. “Yikes! I’m surprised your clothes aren’t smoking yet.”

Matt only sighed and shook his head, walking away from them to take to the air and head off in the direction of their house. Jeff and Adam quickly followed. A simple glance at Matt’s face told them to keep their mouths shut. He obviously had only needed to dump some of his feelings at that moment and had resumed his normal stoic ways. Matt had always been the type who locked everything inside, never showing his weaker emotions, and always remaining strong no matter what the situation. He was the definition of the typical male attitude.

The trip back to the house was indeed silent, but lightened once they entered the home. Jay greeted them in the living room where he had started a fire and was toasting marshmallows. He had also gone out to rent some movies.

“I bought some ready made cookie dough for you, Jeff,” Jay said.

“Ready made? Ew, you actually bought that crap?”

Jay arched a brow. “I’ve been known to eat it straight from the package because I love it so much! It’s not crap!”

“It is for making cookies with. I make mine from scratch and you’d better have all the ingredients I need.”

Jay and Jeff went off to the kitchen, arguing the whole way. Meanwhile Matt laughed as he looked through the movies Jay had rented. Adam put a finger to his temple and stuck his tongue out goofily.

“Let me guess. Terminator 2, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, The Ring, and a video game?”

“How’d you know? I know you didn’t read my mind or that’d be pointless.”

“I know Jay that well. Isn’t it scary?” Adam asked as he walked towards the kitchen.

“Well, when you know someone for over a hundred years…”

“Ya know, Matt, I’m kinda concerned about your high temperature. I’ve never heard of a vampire having a fever.”

“Fever? What’s going on?” Jay asked as he sat on the counter eating the package of cookie dough.

“You’re going to ruin your appetite. I dare you to touch Matty’s forehead. He’s practically an oven all by himself.”

“Really? I’ll take your word for it.”

“Yeah, he scared the crap out of me yesterday when he touched my shoulder,” Jeff commented as he started mixing things in a bowl. “Thought I was gonna light up.”

“Okay, can we change the subject now?” Matt sighed, leaning against the counter near Jeff.

“Be careful you might burn the wood,” Jeff snickered.

“Har har. Let’s stop talking about this now, okay?”

“Oh, c’mon Matt. They’re just concerned for you is all.”

“I realize that, but it’s kinda annoying when I’m the main topic of conversation.”

“You need to lighten up. It’s not like we’re trying to piss you off.”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jeff glared at him.

“Nothing. Forget it.”

“Oh sure. It’s okay for you to make a snide remark for no damn reason, but god forbid any of us talk about something that could be damaging you in some way.”

And there he went. Jeff was on another one of his tirades about how Matt was too uptight. He had heard it a million times. Always the same thing, too uptight, not emotional enough, stubborn, sometimes downright cruel, and did he even have a heart? Matt stared at Jeff with narrowed eyes, taking in every word as he always did, thinking of how insensitive it was to say such things when Jeff knew for a fact that Matt was hurting. They had spoken about his troubles just the other day on an intimate level. Matt had shown plenty of emotion then. Yet here he was, still complaining, and with Jay and Adam just watching the two of them nervously, feeling uncomfortable in their own home. Matt wanted to kill him at that moment. He could’ve strangled Jeff to death as he went about his baking like there was nothing wrong with making a big scene like this. Instead he closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at him.

“Jeff, shut up!”

All at once the oven mitts that covered Jeff’s hands burst into flames. Everyone in the room jumped in surprise, Jeff crying out from fear and dropping the cookie sheet with a clatter to the floor. Adam, thankfully, thought quickly and sent the mitts flying into the sink with a wave of his hand. Jay turned the water on them and they went out easily enough. Jeff stared at his hands, turning them over again and again in search of injury. He was thankfully unscathed. Jeff instantly looked at Jay, the resident pyromaniac.

“It wasn’t me! I would never do something like that, Jeff,” he protested.

“But how…” Jeff looked over at Matt, who’s face had paled and held a terror stricken expression. “You. You did it.”

“I… I don’t know. I was so mad while you were yelling and then I yelled when I looked at you. And the fever is gone. I’m not hot anymore,” he stammered, obviously more shaken than Jeff was.

“You tried to set me on fire! How could you do something like that? You know that vampires go up like old newspapers! I could’ve been killed!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“Okay! Okay, let’s calm down,” Adam intervened, taking Jeff by the shoulders. “Let’s go in the other room. Jay and Matt need to talk about this.”

“Jay? What about me?” he exclaimed.

“Living room. Now.”

Matt stared at the floor as the two of them left, not daring to look at anyone. Jay quietly gathered up the charred mitts and threw them in the trash, returning to rinse out the sink. He looked over at Matt, scanning him carefully with his eyes, wishing he could do the same with his mind. The maker and child block was frustrating. He had been able to read into Matt’s mind while he’d been mortal, before he had taken his life to become a vampire with his little brother. He had seen deep pain buried within him. Matt held a great amount of hidden depression. And as he stood there trembling, clinging to the counter behind him for support, Jay knew that things were getting worse for the newborn vampire. He looked down at the cookie sheet on the floor and kneeled down to pick up everything as he started to speak.

“A long time ago, not long after Adam and I were made, we got into our first fight. We’d never fought before as mortals. I don’t remember now what had pissed us off or sent us at each other’s throats, but it became a physical battle. Vampires fight dirty and it’s a horrific thing to be involved in. Mere slaps can send you flying through walls, a punch could send you a mile through the air. He was a little stronger than I in life and so it remained in death. He overpowered me, screaming at me, hitting me as hard as he could with his immortal strength.” He glanced at Matt to see him obviously listening, but not looking up. “I finally managed to throw him back and climbed to my feet. Looking back now it’s like something out of a bad movie. I was standing there, panting and growling, a total mess and blood covered from the wounds I’d gotten. I whirled around and my eyes locked right on his face. Then all I could see was fire. And all I could hear was screaming.”

“You lit him up?” Matt asked in shock.

“Yeah. I didn’t get lucky like you just did. I set Adam ablaze. Thankfully our maker had been keeping tabs on us from another room in the castle.”

“You mean Michel?”

Jay smirked and looked at him, seeing he had finally lifted his head. “You’ve been reading our book.”

“Yeah, a little. I didn’t know you’d done that, though.”

“It’s in French, that’s why.”

“What happened to Adam?”

“Michel came running in an instant and threw a pitcher of water on him. It doused the flames, but Adam was in agony. He was burnt pretty bad. I think they’d be third degree in today’s classifications. It took him a couple weeks to heal physically, but it was a lot longer before he and I could speak peacefully to each other.”

“Do you think Jeff’s going to hate me now?”

“No, Matt,” Jay said gently, reaching over to touch his child’s hair. “Jeff can never hate you. You died for him remember? I know that the two of you love each other more than any pair of brothers ever in history. He’s gonna be upset, worried, and probably scared of you for a while, but that will pass. Now that we know you inherited my power we can teach you to use it safely.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he whispered.

“You obviously have to use it. You said your fever went away once you set those mitts aflame. It builds up within you until you can’t control it and things like what just took place happen again. I’ll teach you to light fires and candles. That way you’ll be able to use it regularly.” He took him by the arm and pulled him towards the living room. “For now you better check on Jeff.”

Matt frowned, but made no protest. Jay led him into the room where Adam was on the couch with Jeff curled against his chest. Blood tears stained the shoulder of Adam’s shirt and covered Jeff’s cheeks when he raised his head to look at Matt. Adam and Jay left them alone, saying something about going for a walk before leaving the house. Matt remained where he was. He didn’t want to go near Jeff again, or look at him, especially his hands. He just kept thinking to himself that he’d never be forgiven for such a horrible action even if it had been an accident. Sometimes even accidents simply couldn’t be forgotten. But what would he do if he lost his baby brother? Jeff was the whole reason that he even existed.

“Will you please stop?” Jeff suddenly spoke in a soft voice.

“What?”

“I can hear you. You’re projecting your thoughts again.” He looked over at him. “Why do you do that when you’re sad? You say you don’t want anyone to know how you feel, and you always shove people away, but you let your mind scream out your agony. Why?”

“I didn’t know I even did that. I guess I don’t have to tell you how sorry I am if you can hear everything I’m thinking.”

“I can’t hear everything. Just what’s on the surface. And I’m sorry never crossed your mind.”

Matt’s shoulders slumped even further. If only he could make Jeff feel the sorrow and regret that coursed through him. There was a way. He came over to him, sitting next to him on the couch and thankful that he didn’t draw back in fear. He turned Jeff to face him, staring into his yellow eyes with his own crimson ones, locking their gaze and refusing to let him turn away. He projected his thoughts to him on purpose this time.

Drink from me…

Jeff’s eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed in confusion. “Why would I—“

Don’t speak. Just do as I ask. Trust me.

Matt reached up and pulled his curling locks off of his shoulders and tilted his head to the side for him. He closed his eyes in waiting. He knew that Jeff was staring at his throat, he could feel the hunger graze over his flesh like a caress, and he knew that any second he would lean in unable to resist the sight of his veins just under the skin. Jeff moved closer to him and his lips brushed his skin lightly. He wrapped his arms tightly around his little brother, ensuring he didn’t change his mind. He felt sharp fangs set against his neck and less than a second later tear smoothly through. He gasped at the pain, but knew he had to move quickly. He pulled at the collar of Jeff’s shirt to reveal his shoulder and lowered his head, sinking his own fangs into the soft flesh and drawing from him hungrily. The sweetness that flooded his mouth was beyond anything that he could describe even with his expansive vocabulary. Adam had made an understatement in saying vampires tasted better than humans. Jeff tasted better than anything that had ever touched Matt’s tongue.

His thoughts of the exotic flavor were obliterated by the sudden opening of Jeff’s mind. Thoughts, memories, and emotions came to him in a wave, receded, only to come at him again. He could see and feel everything that had ever came into Jeff’s mind and heart. He moaned softly as he felt the sorrow of their mother’s loss in full force, then the simple joy of a Christmas that went perfect, fear of getting in trouble for something done wrong, and everything else that Jeff had experienced as far back as he could remember. Then suddenly everything changed. It focused and became less cluttered. Matt could feel warmth, an overwhelming love taking hold of him, and all he could see with his mind’s eye was images of himself. At all ages, in all sorts of situations, in every mood possible. This was Jeff’s special place that he had always spoken of. This was that secluded dark corner that he hid in whenever things went wrong, and all that filled this space was his love for his older brother.

“Matty…” A voice cut into his mind. “Matty, stop now.”

He opened his eyes and lifted his head, pulling his lips away from Jeff’s warmed skin. He looked at the wound he had made. He watched as the skin pulled itself back together, knitting the fragile bonds that kept everything safely inside, and then gave a final lap of his tongue to wipe the last droplets of blood away. He pulled back to gaze down into Jeff’s eyes. He was crying again. Matt gently kissed his cheek, letting the tip of his tongue take the blood tear from his face.

“You love me,” Jeff whispered.

“Yes,” he whispered in return. “And you love me.”

“I never knew that you felt as deeply as I did. I just took your actions for granted.”

“I told you before that I would die without you. I wasn’t exaggerating.” He pulled Jeff into his embrace. “Your secret place is filled with your memories of me.”

“Yeah. You’ve always been my savior even when you couldn’t do it yourself. You calm me and comfort me. You give me rest.” He looked up at him again. “If you weren’t my brother…”

“I know. Believe me I know. I had those thoughts when we were mortal.”

“Why did you do this? And how did you know what it would do?”

“Adam told me about it. He told me that vampires usually don’t have sexual desires. This is what he and Jay do.”

“So basically we just had sex?” he chuckled.

“I guess. I don’t think it’s the same thing, though.” He looked down at him with a smile. “And to answer your other question, I did it to show you how I feel. Because I have no other way of telling you.”

“I need to teach you how to talk.”

“Can’t we just do this every now and then instead?”

Jeff narrowed his eyes at him, but smirked. “You liked it, you pervert.”

“Like you didn’t. Remember I know everything that’s in your head. Including some of your wildest fantasies.” Jeff’s eyes widened at that, causing Matt to laugh. “Maybe someday you’ll find someone who likes candle wax as much as you do.”

“Oh shut up!” he exclaimed and smacked him playfully.