Worth The Price To Live

"Babe, I can't hold my guitar and you at the same time," Ashley commented.
Andy giggled and leaned in to kiss up Ashley's throat, anyways. "What do I have to do to convince you to give me some blood before we go out?" he whispered.
Ashley raised his eyebrows. "Why? You almost never ask for my blood."
The singer shrugged. "I mean...if I'm gonna be down in the crowd it may be beneficial to...ya know...smell like you."
The vampire was quiet for a long moment, then he sighed a bit. "You want my blood for protection," he stated.
Andy nodded.
Ashley sighed and swung his bass around to his back. "Come here," he said with a note of annoyance. The vampire reached to his belt for his knife, flicking it open away from them both before cutting across his shoulder.
Andy hummed and nuzzled in close to his mate as he lapped at the cut.
"Feel better?" Ashley asked, eyebrows raised.
"A little, I guess."
Ashley rose up on his toes to lightly kiss Andy on the nose. "You'll be alright. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. You know that."
Andy smiled a bit. "I do. I just..."
"What is it?" the bassist pressed.
"What happens when a vampire loses his mate? Like...what happens to the vampire?" Andy kept his eyes cast down, trying to avoid his mate's gaze.
Ashley looked up at the monitor in their changing room to see where in their set the opening act was. "I don't have time to go into detail, but I can give you the basics."
Andy nodded and sat on the edge of the vanity, casually twirling his eyeliner pencil between his fingertips.
"There's a reason you never read about this happening. It's rare, to start with. A vampire will protect their mate to the death - even if their mate is another vampire." Ashley took his bass off for a moment and set it back in it's case. Then he sat on the arm of the beat up old couch and folded his hands softly over his lap. "Typically, a vampire will immediately avenge his or her mate. In battle, this is almost an instantaneous act, and often they die in the process. If they survive, they'll go mad from the loss, and die shortly after, or they'll just kind of continue to exist in a half state."
"That's...harsh."
Ashley shrugged. "It's just how it is. The longer a pair is mated, the harder they take the loss. It's even worse when a mate is murdered. I've seen that happen myself. Watched someone I loved go mad with grief and anger until there was a stake firmly planted in the chest of the man who killed her mate."
Andy looked up and he could see the sorrow in Ashley's eyes. "Then what happened to her?"
"She had neglected to feed in the three months it took to find her mate's killer. She was fueled so much by her rage, blood seemed unnecessary and frivolous. She died of starvation the next day."
"That's...very sad. Who was she, to you?" Andy asked.
There was a soft knock at the door. Both men turned to see Sandra standing in the doorway. "My mother," she said softly.
"San, babe, hey," Ashley started. "I didn't know-"
"This is your closest concert to Deviant territory. Of course I'm here."
Andy gave a quizzical look. "I thought you were Orion."
"I am," Sandra said with a smirk. "Ashley's parents raised me after…"
"Oh."
The little halfblood rounded on her cousin. "Care to tell me why the hell you're telling depressing stories before a concert?"
Ashley pursed his lips and stuck his tongue through his cheek. "I think Andy's being hunted."
"By…?" Sandra didn't say it as if to ask who, but rather to confirm suspicion.
"Yeah," Ashley answered with a slight snip to his voice. "Look, Ghost Town's almost done with their set. We're on in a few." The vampire lifted his bass up and looped the strap over his shoulder as he slipped out the door.
"You don't think I upset him, do you?" Andy asked.
Sandra shrugged. "I may have grown up with him, but I know little to nothing about how to read his reactions to you. Honestly, I think that's how I figured out you two were, you know, supposed to be together. I could predict his reaction to literally every person in the world, except you."
Andy smiled. "Thanks Sandy."
The little drummer pulled Andy down to her height to kiss the top of his head. "Anytime, kid," she responded with a smirk.
The singer barely caught his mic as some stage hand - he was too distracted to tell which - tossed it to him. He muttered a few test words into it, waited until he heard the "all clear" over his headset, then eased over to the edge of the stage.
"I love you," Ashley whispered. Andy spun around and looked down at his mate. "I love you, too," he whispered, leaning in for a quick kiss before Ashley, Jinxx, and Jake bolted out onto the stage.
Andy would like to think the concert went well, but to be honest, he couldn't really remember. His mind was elsewhere, fighting off a waking vision through most of it. The songs were all simple, rhythm and syllable he'd memorized forever ago. He could vaguely recall being in the middle of the mosh pit at some point. He also remembered Ashley sneaking a nip at his shoulder and how amazing that bite felt. That bite kept him grounded through the last three songs.
The singer's vision was clouding over. "Just a few more steps," he muttered to himself, locking his sight on Ashley and quickly edging offstage.
"Hey, come here," the bassist exclaimed with a wide smile, pulling his mate up into his arms.
"Mmh?" Andy asked groggily before collapsing.
The bassist cast a panicked glance toward Jinxx, who nodded and jogged over. "He collapse?"
Ashley nodded.
Jinxx placed two fingers to the singer's forehead and paused. "He's having a vision. Feels like it's been going for about ten minutes."
"Why didn't he say anything?"
Jinxx shrugged. "You know Andy. He won't stop a show for anything. Remember the fit he had when we wouldn't let him play after he broke his ribs?"
Ashley nodded and scooped his mate up into his arms. "I'm gonna get him to the bus. Sandy, can you grab his stuff from our dressing room?"
"Yeah, got it. I'll go ahead and take it to your place. I can get there faster than the bus."
"Thanks, babe," Ashley called over his shoulder as he headed out the back entrance of the venue. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized security had already cleared the area, and he could get Andy on the bus without anyone noticing. He didn't even try for the bunks, just layed Andy out on the couch and ducked back off the bus to collect the rest of his gear.
"Hey, man, is Andy all right?" Jake asked,catching Ashley's arm as the bassist eased out of the instrument trailer.
Ashley shrugged. "I won't know until he wakes up. Why? What's going on?"
The mourner paused a moment. "The dead around here," he started, shaking his head. "Something's...off about them. They're overly active and upset. Someone's upset the balance of life and death."
The bassist narrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…" Jake always had this slight pause to his speech. Talking to the living required a bit more thought than talking to the dead. "There are several Majiks among the dead. Several quite young, pissed off Majiks."
"Have you told Jinxx?"
Jake nodded. "He's on the phone with the local council as we speak."
Ashley sighed. This didn't bode well. He knew the rogues that were after his mate, personally. He also knew they had a taste for Majik blood.
-o-
The edges of the vision were blurry. Andy had to focus to see what was happening. He was laying on his side, and he could tell by the presence of tattoos on his hands that this was a vision from his own point of view.
There was a sharp stinging in his shoulder, much like when Ashley bit him, but without the intense pleasure of his nerves dancing excitedly. Also, not like how it felt the one time he'd allowed Sandra to feed from him. It felt rough and sore, like the skin had been torn open. There was also the sensation of hot liquid pouring from the wound. Blood, Andy distantly recognized.
Andy looked around, frantically. It was clear he was too weak to lift himself from the floor. He could see the slim bar of light that suggested a closed door out in front of him, but mostly, the space was dark. He also, distantly, noticed that he was still shirtless from a concert, with grease paint still smudged over his arms in some places.
Light flooded his line of sight, but was quickly blocked out by the heavy silhouette of a broad shouldered figure. Just enough light flooded around the figure to reveal pale skin and almost black crop cut hair. All of that was overshadowed, though, by the piercing, glowing red eyes over the sharp slant of a nose.
"Not so strong without your mate to protect you, now, are you?" an eerily deep voice boomed.
Andy felt his breath rattle. "He will kill you," he sneered through grit teeth.
The man - no, vampire, Andy corrected himself - only sneered. "It will be too little, too late for his precious little plaything. There is nothing you can do"
Then Andy felt the butt of a hard object slammed into the side of his head, and everything blacked out.

Notes

Yeah so I'm getting a little more into the visions and how they work and such. It gets kinda complex over the course of this story and the whole series so please bear with me. Anyways, thanks for reading!