Work Text:
The scream came from Aster’s office.
Dante arrived before the guards, knife drawn, expecting to fight off an intruder. It was rare that someone made it into the inner palace, but Aster ignored warnings to keep his windows latched, insisting that should anyone try to attack him, he had both wings and fangs.
He was at his desk, shrunk into his shoulders and staring up at the ceiling. Had a dangerous creature flown in? Something from the Dead Zone? Dante saw nothing but shadows. He crossed to Aster and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Where?”
With a trembling finger, Aster pointed to a spot where the wall met the ceiling.
“I don’t see anything.”
Aster rose to his feet. He lifted a candle from the desk and held it overhead. The intruder came into view: a dark, elongated body and six legs thinner than hair. In the candlelight, it danced against the ceiling while Aster shuddered.
“A mosquito?” Dante said.
“I can’t stand them! That high-pitched whine, those horrible itching bumps they leave behind, the blood drinking . . .”
The back of his hand pressed to his lips, Dante swallowed the obvious comparison that immediately came to mind. For the sake of his marriage, he did not laugh. He waved to send the guards away.
“Stand back.”
Using a sheet of paper that Aster had discarded in the woven basket next to his desk, Dante squashed the offender and burned the evidence. Aster exhaled a relieved breath and wearily sat.
Dante was at a loss for words. A vampire who kept beasts as pets, afraid of an insect he could crush with his pinkie?
“Did it bite you anywhere?”
Aster looked up at him through pleading eyes. “You had better check.”
Suspicious, but then Aster liked turning things into a game. He held out his arms so that Dante would pick him up and sighed as he was carried from his office to the bedroom.
“Does this mean you’re finally done with your work for the night?” Aster asked, toying with the collar of Dante’s shirt.
“The rest can wait.”
Aster settled on the bed and lay still while Dante undressed him, checking for bite marks as he did. When he discovered black lace at the top of Aster’s thigh, he lifted his eyes to find Aster smiling in triumph.
“You tricked me,” Dante said without ire. “I would have come to bed if you had asked.”
“Isn’t it more fun this way? I really do hate them! They give all blood drinkers a bad reputation. Can you believe some people have the nerve to call them little vampires? I was planning to come and distract you when it flew into my office. You’ve rescued me from a horrible beast. Name your reward and I’ll give it to you, anything you like.”
Dante was the one to sigh this time. Without realizing it, the Sun Lord of Solaria had been tamed by the vampire in his bed; but to look at him, the way Aster’s head was thrown back in delight, he could not bring himself to mind.