Prologue

Blake might have been the son of local petty thief Rhoda Bagley, but from the beginning it was Ma Bagley, his grandmother, who ruled his life.

"I tolerate a lot of things, Rhoda, but I won't tolerate his brat in my house. Give me one reason not to throw you out like the garbage your are!"

"And leave precious little Sherman to take over the family business? He'd go straight to the cops the moment you started grooming him to it. Your little empire would be in ruins overnight."

"Sherman is loyal to me," Ma retorted, "which is more than I can say about you."

"I'm not without a heart however. As long as the child does not prove a financial burden, the two of you may stay. Just ensure you continue to earn your keep."

And so Blake Bagley grew up, under the shadow of the local crime-lord.

 When he was sixteen, he was sent to live with some of the family's 'business affiliates' in Bridgeport, in an attempt to, as Ma put it, "Toughen the little goody two-shoes up."

For a while, Blake was lost. His family's criminal activities revolted him. Heck, his family revolted him. But what else could he do besides go along with them. It wasn't as if he had anyone else.

That is, until he met Shane.

Shane Merrick, son of one of the prominent vampires (Blake would never understand Bridgeport), was everything Blake hadn't realized he'd beer looking for. He took three months to remember Blake's name, his idea of a fun 'date' was collecting data on the local frog population, and, well, somehow he was perfect.

 Blake didn't want it to ever end.

Of course, it had to. Eventually they would finish school. Blake would go back to Riverview, Shane, as a vampire, was subjected to some sort of weird vampire code that Blake couldn't quite understand. What he did understand, however, is that it allowed Shane's father to essentially rule over his son's life for a long time after high-school. And Beau Merrick hated Blake. They would be separated.

"Unless we leave," Blake suggested one day. "After graduation, we could go and never come back. Neither of us like the lives our parents have picked out for us. Do we really have to follow them?"

Shane came close. "I'll follow any plan, as long as your a part of it."

Blake smiled. "Then let's make it official."

 Before they left, Blake did one more thing. This would be a fresh start, and he had no interest in taking anything Bagley related with him. So he took his father's last name. Dean.