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“Warren.”
As soft as the voice was, it rang in Warren’s ears, traveled down his spine, and stole his breath from his throat.
“How long are you going to keep standing there?” With a quiet rustle, Ailess shifted to lean over the arm of his chair, resting his chin in his hand. “Come here.”
Warren only nodded, entering the room and crossing to stand behind the chair-- though Ailess sat in it like a throne-- and resting his blackened hand against the wooden frame. Looking up at Warren, Ailess gave him the half-smile that Warren knew he was the only one that ever saw, the one that bound him in place better than magic ever could, and reached towards the other’s face, brushing cold fingertips over his cheek. “Sit.”
Walking around the chair, Warren sank to the floor next to Ailess’ feet, crossing his legs and resting his head against the other’s knee, watching the fire in front of them flicker with the last of its life. He heard another rustle of fabric, then felt slim fingers thread through his hair, as gentle as the hum that came from above him, barely audible over the crackling of wood.
“Ailess.”
“Hm?”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“About?” Ailess’ fingers were wrapped up in strands of gold hair, curling and uncurling.
“Staying here, and…” His voice trailed off, and Ailess’ hand went still.
“No, no, I mean-- I know it’s safe here, but we’ve been here so long, and--”
Warren’s arguments were cut short by the hand fisting in his hair and a sharp tug, forcing him to meet Ailess’ gaze. His eyes seemed to pull the remaining light from the room, keeping the glow from the fire and freezing it in two wide irises.
“And what, Warren?” Ailess didn’t raise his voice, but it had taken on an edge, threatening to cut through the silk that wrapped around his tone.
“I-I used to travel, and explore, when I was--”
“When you were human? Do you think you’re still human, Warren?” The way Ailess whispered his name, pulling on the syllables, making it into a threat and a promise, made Warren instinctively lick his lips, and the older vampire leaned in a little more. “Do you think you can go out there, as a child of darkness, shunned by God and man alike, and that they won’t chase you down, hunt you with fire and silver? That they won’t take your head as a trophy? Do you think you can go out there as you are, with this--” Ailess thumb traced itself gently under Warren’s red eye, pupil blown-- “ or these--” the cold hand cupped his cheek and slid down, thumb slipping between Warren’s lips, running along the edge of one of his fangs-- “and survive, for even a moment, among the masses of light and ignorance? On your own?”
Ailess leaned even closer, hair falling in Warren’s face, and brought his hands around to cup the younger one’s face, fingers splayed over his cheeks and thumbs resting at the corners of his lips, never blinking. His pupils grew, swallowing up the red, and Warren saw nothing reflected in them, no trace of himself.
“Warren,” he breathed out, so close that Warren almost felt how his mouth curled around his name, sending a shock down the younger’s spine. “Would you leave me here, Warren? I brought you here, to keep you safe, and I protected you from any that would wish you ill. I wrote contracts in blood to keep you alive, because you--” he closed the gap between them, a delicate brush of icy lips together-- “are my everything. You are all I have: in the endless years of darkness, there is nothing for me, nothing but you.”
The elder vampire tilted his head slightly to the side, eyes almost completely black. “I thought you knew, Warren, that in our soulless, damned eternity, there is no one but us, you and me, twined together, inseparable.”
Throat dry, Warren barely managed to speak, feeling the hands framing his face stroking like it was something fragile and breakable. “Ailess, I don’t…”
Ailess stared back at him, face as cold and unmoving as a frozen sea.
“I don’t want to leave.”
As though a switch had been flipped, Warren’s senses flooded back to him in intense clarity-- the shadows flickering across the room, across Ailess’ face, the popping and snapping of the fire, the tightness of his muscles as Ailess held his face close-- and the elder’s face almost melted, lips curling up around the corners.
“I would never want you to.”
“Never… No, never.”
Ailess stretched in a fluid motion, freeing the younger, and arched his back, arms above his head, settling down in his chair with inhumane grace. Even without being held in place, Warren’s eyes were fixated on him, following every movement, watching shadows slide over skin paler than moonlight.
Crossing one knee over the other, Ailess cocked his head, resting it against his own shoulder, and blinked slowly, watching the pupils in a pair of mismatched eyes grow and shrink rapidly, bright in a shadowed face. Warren stretched taunt, head next to Ailess’ knees, the nervous energy in the lines of his neck almost visible.
“Are you waiting, Warren?”
He nodded, once, and watched Ailess’ tongue flick over his lower lip.
“You know how to ask.”
Warren turned in a sinuous curve, resting on his knees, hands on either side of Ailess’ thighs, and leaned up, hair falling back from his shoulders and catching the glow from the embers behind him, lit through like fire. With one finger, Ailess caught Warren’s chin and lifted it slightly, expression expectant.
“Ailess, I…” Digging his nails into the cushion of the seat, Warren pressed against Ailess’ crossed legs, blue eye as sharp as the red was bright, lips parted.
Ailess pressed his thumb against Warren’s bottom lip, pulling it down enough to expose teeth, sliding it back up against slick enamel, pushing until Warren opened his jaw, hooking his thumb on the bottom row of teeth.
“Tell me, my everything.”
Struggling to swallow, Warren closed his lips around Ailess’ thumb, tongue slipping over the pad, and the elder vampire let his fangs show, tightening his grip on Warren’s chin to pull him up, feeling the smooth fabric of his shirt slide against his bare thighs, hearing Warren’s nails scratch against the seat as he edged his hands up to rest by Ailess’ hips.
One of Warren’s knees perched on the edge of Ailess’ chair as he hovered over the other, nearly tearing the cushion with his nails in anticipation, and Ailess pulled his thumb from the other’s mouth as he straightened his head, catching his fingers in Warren’s hair and sliding them through.
Taking it as permission, Warren dipped his head, mouth open, pressing against the older vampire, tongue sliding inside before their lips connected fully, and Ailess lifted his face, hand falling from Warren’s hair to grip his collar. The kiss was cold, without rushing blood and pounding heartbeats, but Warren ran his tongue over Ailess’ fangs, pressed it against the roof of the other’s mouth, and Ailess arched, pulling him down, grasping the back of his neck with his free hand.
Hands sinking into the cushion on either side of Ailess’ hips, Warren’s mouth moved from Ailess’, rubbing his cheekbone against the other’s jawline as his breath sent strands of blue hair fluttering, his lips coming to rest just below the corner of the elder’s jaw, pressed to a long-still pulsepoint. Ailess tilted his head to the side, just slightly, thumb rubbing circles against the skin of Warren’s neck, nails scratching lightly at the first knobs of his spine, and Warren eased his fangs into icy skin, breath stuttering as the grip on his neck tightened sharply, pain shooting through him.
A noise escaped Ailess like a soft whine, curling through Warren’s ears like smoke, and he arched again, neck bared fully to his protege, the latter’s hands sliding behind him, leaning in and pulling Ailess toward him, fingers pressed against the bottom of his spine, Ailess’ dark shirt falling back to leave a stark contrast between silk and skin. Withdrawing his teeth, Warren scraped them delicately against Ailess’ neck, a single word echoing through his consciousness, voice soft and heady.
Mine.