SPIFFY DISCLAIMER THINGIE!

Ah don't own Jesse Custer or Cassidy or any of the rest of that crew! DC/Vertigo Comics does!
This is a fanfic for entertainment purposes only and no infringement of copyright is intended so don't
sue moi:):) *eeeppp*

Rated PG-17 for m/m sex and foul language. If'n such like offends ya'll then skedaddle:):)

This one is for KJ because she planted the idea in moi's head and it wouldn't leave moi alone until Ah
wrote it!:):)


Wait for Dark
By: Dannell Lites




" ... Children of the Night ... Shut up!"
George Hamilton as Dracula listening to wolves howling in "Love At First Bite"


"Jess, go away! Get the fook outta here! Now." Cassidy rasped. "Before it's too late! Yeh don't
know ... yeh don't know ... "

Jesse Custer gazed at the shivering, stricken vampire in helpless frustration.

"Damn, Cass, I can't leave you like this. You know that. You'll die."

Cassidy's thin hand reached out to grasp the Texan's and Jesse winced at the strength in that hand.
Gasping for breath, Cassidy groaned low in his throat.

"Ah God," Cassidy moaned, "don't be leaving me. Please, no ..."

Jesse's chest tightened and, helpless to do anything else, he reached out and pulled the worn and
grubby blanket to cover the trembling Irish vampire and ran unsteady fingers through his own curly
black hair. Christ, he had to do something! But what? What the hell *could* he do? He bit his lip
in helpless rage.

"This is all your fault, you dumb son of a bitch!" he thought in acid fury. "So you better damn well
think of something. Quick like. Or Cass is fuckin' gonna die. Because *you* forgot to buy gas and
got the two of you stranded here in the damned middle of the Mohave fuckin' Desert. Real smart,
ass-hole."

" ... yeh don't know," muttered Cassidy again, "Jess, yeh don't know ... "

Jesse lay a hand lightly on Cassidy's brow and almost drew it back in shock. Goddamn. His friend
was burning up ... as if his body were consuming itself in a last ditch effort to sustain itself. Shit, shit,
shit.

Cassidy threw off Jesse's hand in a panic. "Don't touch me!" he hissed. "Yeh don't know," he cried
again.

"Don't know *what*, Cass?" Jesse asked in desperation. "Don't know that you're a damned
vampire? I sure as hell do. Ain't likely to forget that, what with traveling mostly at night like we are,
tryin' to get back home to Texas." Jesse tried to smile. "'Sides, I saw 'Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula'.
Six times." Cassidy groaned again and if he heard the feeble joke Jesse couldn't tell it.

The vampire began to trash, clutching at the blanket's scant warmth, shaking violently now like a
leaf in a strong, biting wind blowing from out of the cold north. Jesse watched as Cassidy
curled himself into a fetal ball, trying to contain the pain of his slowly dying body. He stuffed his fist
in his mouth to muffles his cries and Jesse paled and winced at the piteous sight.

He had to *do* something. He had to! But what? What to do? The Preacher bit his lip and, after
a moment, his mouth flooded with the salty metallic taste of blood and just that plainly, just that
simply he had his answer to the desperate query. Reaching out, Jesse swept the tangled sweat slick
ginger colored hair off Cassidy's forehead.

"Proinsais?" Jesse asked softly.

It was the first time he had ever called Cassidy by his strange first name since he'd learned of it atop
the Empire State building that day in in New York City. That beginning of their friendship seemed so
long ago, now. So very much had passed between the two of them since that distant time.

Cassidy stirred, weakly. "B-Billy? Where did yeh go? Jaysis, I'm sorry, bro. I'm so sorry ... "

"No, buddy, it's me ... Jesse."

He grasped Cassidy's feebly moving hands. They were weak, now. So very weak. All their
strength leeched from them. Jesse tried to warm their bloodless coldness with his own hands and
told himself that he was not being foolish. He told himself that Cassidy would do the same for him.
His memory brought back to him Cassisy's lilting Irish tones and the feel of that once strong hand
on his shoulder.

"Whatever comes, Jesse Custer, I'm with yeh. Yeh, know that, right?" Almost unnoticed, Jesse
nodded.

"I know that, Cass," he whispered. "Sure as I know anything, I'm sure as hell ... I know that."

The path before him was plain. But did he have the guts to walk it? Did he trust Cassidy that
much? Did he? Gazing down at the man shivering and gasping for breath on the dirt floor of the
shack that sheltered them he remembered Cassidy at Masada ... Masada and a dozen other places.
He remembered the many glasses of whiskey, good and bad, that had passed between them, all the
jokes and the laughter, the sharing of thoughts and dreams and knew that he *did* trust Cassidy.
Trusted him with his life. His life ... and more.

Groping in the pocket of his tight jeans, Jesse withdrew the small pen knife he kept there and
unfolded its thin, sharp blade in the gathering gloom of their temporary abode. He lay it against his
wrist, just at the pulse point. The cut he made was deep and red blood flowed forth, hot and
fragrant. With his free hand he cradled the back of Cassidy's head and guided him to the rich
wetness, his hearts blood freely offered.

The vampire's lips closed over the wound and he began to feed. After a few moments, a reviving
Cassidy looked up and a tiny fountain of Jesse's own blood splattered hotly onto the side of his neck
and cheek.

"Jesse ... " Cassidy breathed. "Jaysis, man ... Jaysis ... yeh needn't ... "

With strengthening hands he pulled Jesse closer and an agile tongue began to lick the blood from off
Jesse's face and neck. Jesse shivered at the touch and closed his eyes. He did not protest when
Cassidy lowered him gently to the floor and stretched his tall body out beneath him, claiming his
open mouth for a passionate kiss that curled the Texan's toes.

Jesse rode a wave of bliss as Cassidy kissed him. He knew what Cass wanted and as the vampires
erection rubbed against his thigh, sending spears of desire lancing through him, he found that he
wanted it, too. Warmth flooded him, igniting hot fires in his belly and groin. His lips parted and he
moaned low and deep in his throat. Cassidy teased the muscles of Jesse's broad chest leaving desire
in his wake. Jesse scarcely noticed when Cassidy ripped away his shirt to ease his way.

"Ah God, Cass ... " Jesse cried. "Ah God ... "

He felt Cassidy's bright smile against the flesh of his neck and he felt himself stir then harden. His
skin was aflame, it seemed. His back arched and he clung to Cassidy tightly; trusting him
completely. Cassidy's ready fingers unzipped the ministers jeans and slid them quickly, expertly off his
slim hips.

Pulling back onto his knees, Cassidy gently, almost reverently took hold of the Texan's penis. Warm
breath wafted over the tip and Jesse Custer shivered. Cassidy knew that the former minister had
never been with a man, and forced himself to go slow for Jesse's sake.

Gently, old son, gently, he reminded himself. Yeh'll nought forgive yehself did yeh hurt him.

Lightly he rubbed his fingers over the tense flesh beneath his hands and waited for his young lover to
relax before going any further. Seeing that his friend was relaxing, the Irish vampire stroked the long
sleek muscles of the other man's buttocks, smiling when Jesse moaned once more. Slowly, he
parted the firm twin globes of Jesse's butt cheeks and caressed the tight ring of muscle he found
there. Carefully he inserted a single finger there, easing it in slowly and smoothly. Leaning forward he
kissed his lover, beginning to match the movements of his finger with his darting, probing tongue.

Soon Jesse was eagerly sucking on his tongue and squeezing his finger in pleasure. Easing in another
finger beside the first one, Cassidy waited for Jesse to tense but he didn't. Instead he gasped, his
breath coming in small eager moaning pants and, burying his hands in Cassidy's ginger colored hair,
pushed himself deeper into the pleasure. Never had Cassidy had such an eager, trusting lover.

"Yeh like that do yeh, now?" Cassidy whispered to a trembling Jesse and was rewarded with yet
another moan. Beneath his caressing fingers he could feel Jesse's hips rock.

"Pluh - please, Cass ... " he moaned. "Oh Lord God ... "

When Cassidy's lips engulfed him, stroking him with a busy tongue Jesse Custer cried out, clinging to
Cassidy like a child and lost himself in the passion, the togetherness and the feeling of being part of
something greater than himself.

*This*, he knew, was what The Almighty intended sex to be; not simply procreation, the bearing of
children. This eternal moment, this togetherness against the loneliness of the vast Cosmos. For
however long it lasted, whether that might be forever or only for that one moment it was to be
cherished. Jesse was no stranger to the feeling. But he'd never expected to experience it with
Cassidy. Perhaps it was only right, though, this feeling. He had offered Cassidy a part of himself
with the blood the vampire needed to survive. And this was Cassidy's gift in return.

As the desire rose like a tide within him, Jesse Custer thought of Tulip O'Hare. Tulip ... lovely Tulip ... so strong and passionate ... long, warm Spring nights making love beneath the stars ... 'star gazing' ... *she* was the one who taught him what real love could be like. The one who'd first made him want more out of sex than just the mechanical joining of bodies. She was the one who taught him joy.

"Ah, Tulip, girl," he thought, refusing to dispair, "will ya understand this when I tell ya about it? Hope so. Couldn't live with myself if I fucked things up with you again. Literally, this time. Lord, Lord ... what am I doing?"

Almost as if his thoughts had summoned her from Dallas where she awaited his return, Jesse heard Tulip's low, contralto voice husking in his ear, just as he had so many, many times before. "How long are you gonna love me, Jesse Custer?" she chuckled. "How long?"

"Until the end of the world," he whispered.

His climax took him hard and he gave his joy a loud, strong voice as he cried out.

For a long time afterwards they simply lay there nestled like spoons in the night, breathing quietly,
contentment washing over them in a warm tide. It wasn't until Jesse was forced to look away that
one of them spoke and broke the silence.

"C-Cass? Could you - could you put the glasses back on, please?"

"Right," said Cassidy. And peace returned with the dark sunglasses on Cassidy's broad nose. Jesse
began to hope, to dream perhaps, that they might never be forced to leave this place. That the two of
them might stay here forever. He knew it was foolish. He knew that it as not possible, or even
desirable. And still he did not fight the feeling. He let it fade slowly as the best dreams do. God
was still out there somewhere, hiding from the mess he'd left behind him when he'd abandoned
Heaven and Jesse Custer meant to find him and bring him to account. When the silence was broken
once more, this time it was Cassidy who shattered it.

"Jess?"

"Hmm?"

"'Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula'?"

Jesse could hear a sandy brown eyebrow climbing over the rim of the sunglasses much better than he
could have seen it with his now blurry, unfocused eyes. He nodded sleepily.

"Swear to God. One of my favorites. Right up there with 'The Mexican Mud Wrestling Women Vs.
The Aztec Mummy' ... " Cassidy smiled and watched as Jesse curled into his pillowed arm, tumbling
down into peaceful slumber.

"Bollicking wanker," he said.


The End