The Ripper

William Jack Holloway

William certainly couldn't deny that the words that had almost fell from his lips were those entirely of the love that he felt for the man that stood only inches away from him. Back on those London streets he had found himself wanting to say those words to him over and over and over again. He loved Sebastian. He loved him in every way that a man could love another. And yet then their love had been forbidden. But now it wasn't. Now there was nothing holding him back from yelling those words if he so chose. And yet he still found himself cut off from saying it. Within seconds those words were cut off by the vampire's words assuring him that he couldn't. He couldn't. William was too late, and Sebastian was slipping further away from him with every passing second. It was that alone that had the Englishman gripping at his palms, unaware of the memory that it might jog for his companion. He responded only to Sebastian's voice with the slip of his tongue, inquiring immediately about Georgiana in a way that was meant to be entirely teasing.

And yet, the instant he said it, he regretted it.

In all his years of living, Georgiana and Sebastian were perhaps the only two people that William could honestly say that he loved. Sebastian had been his better half always. HIs best friend, the person he relied on, the one he loved. He spent so much of his time alongside the Earl that sometimes he forgot where himself ended and Sebastian began. But Georgiana... Georgiana was different entirely. His entire youth had been spent at her side even after it became improper to spend some much time with his younger sister. So many of his formative years had been spent playing with his sister in the manor houses that their family owned.

He had known, to an extent, that she lusted after Sebastian. After all, once the Earl had found his place in those courts, there were very few women that weren't interested in his friend. He was handsome, for one, and he had the titles and status and wealth to make him a very strategic catch. William was not oblivious to the way the females would chat about Sebastian - too often William would tell the Earl any and all gossip that he heard. It was hilarious to the Duke when he heard the other women talk about it, and yet when it had been his sister speaking those things, it had filled William with the icy cold jealousy that William couldn't quite explain. He could live with the talking, he supposed, but the night he'd walked in on his sister and his best friend wrapped together in an embrace, he'd been filled with two things. Overwhelming jealousy towards his sister - Sebastian was his. And rage towards Sebastian for daring to touch Georgiana. It had ended with William punching Sebastian and then spending hours awake at night with the crushing guilt for the look on Sebastian's face afterwards.

But still, William could have lived with it if that were all. It was that August morning that Georgiana had burst into the drawing room in a haze of excitement to announce to her older brother that she and Sebastian were getting married. That had been the thing that had seemed to destroy the young Duke. He'd refused to allow Sebastian to explain or speak to him. Instead he was the face of politeness when he was forced to be near the Earl, a complete change from the Duke who jested with his friend. No, the jealousy and hurt and rage had threatened to devour him, and he didn't speak a word to Sebastian for months until that fateful night in which they would meet their demise.

Throwing Georgiana in his face was like stabbing both of them, and the look on Sebastian's face only confirmed that. In that moment, William was thrust back into England as he watched Sebastian wrap his arms around himself and look away from him. He'd seen that look before, and it seemed to tug at every fiber of his being. "Bloody hell..." He muttered, reaching out to put a hand on Sebastian's arm in an attempt to draw him back in. "Shite... Sebastian... I..." His voice trailed off as his friend began to speak, and though William didn't remove his arm his whole frame seemed to grow tense.

It was both a relief and a heartbreak to hear that he hadn't loved Georgiana. On one hand, Georgiana deserved to be loved. The girl had been sweet and kind and caring, and William had never doubted that the love she felt for Sebastian was entirely genuine. That, in a way, had made it all so much worse. But hearing that Sebastian didn't love her back made that fluttery feeling in his chest erupt. It was only the further admittance that he had fought over it, or that Sebastian had done it for him that caused William to let out the breath he wasn't even aware he had been holding. "I didn't know," William said finally, stepping forward further to pull the vampire in closer to him. He didn't hesitate as he wrapped his arms around his friend's form in a way that felt so natural to do.

"Georgiana spouted on about how you loved her, and how you wanted to marry her. And I had... I listened at all these dinners about what a wonderful match you two were and how happy you both would be and how thrilled I must be for both of you. And meanwhile I'm just... devastated. Because I loved you. I love you." The Duke corrected his use of the past tense immediately, hardly wanting his companion to think for a second that he had stopped loving him in the past two hundred years. "I knew we would never be able to... and that one day I'd have to see you marry just as you'd see the same of me. I just hated that it was my sister that got to be that person..."

His voice trailed off as his arms tightened on his friend. "I'm sorry. I... even if you were in love with her... you deserve to be nothing but happy Sebastian..." He swallowed, the tears spilling from his own cheeks as he ducked his head down to hide it in the shoulder of his companion. "This doesn't... change anything for me. I... I still want you in my life in any aspect, even if it's just as your friend..." The word tasted bitter in his throat, and yet William forced himself to continue. "I won't... deny that I want more than that. But I've always tried to take what I can get when it comes to you."

But darling -- it's only human nature.