Author's Note: I wanted to post this before Christmas, but things didn't turn out the way I had hoped they would. This is just a fun idea of what Drake would do if the twins were stuck with him over the holidays. Thank you Zeil for giving me this idea! Might become a two shot if enough people are interested!
Drake laid in bed smirking to himself. Despite Danica's moods, he had convinced the twins to stay just a little longer. Danica and her brother Asher were really making their lives miserable, even he had to admit that. Still, it hadn't been easy to make them stay, since neither of them liked or trusted him.
But then, he couldn't blame them.
In the end, Drake had been forced to threaten the twins. Separately having to go to each of them and saying that unless that one behaved, the other was going to be forced into his bed. Frowning now, he got up and stretched. It still confused him how the two of them could possibly be so loyal to each other. To his mind, this bond could be both their greatest strength as well as their greatest weakness.
He was thinking way too much. There was absolutely no reason why they should be constantly in his mind. It was bordering on obsession now.
Inwardly cursing, he left the cell that Danica's crew called his room and headed towards the gym, hoping that a bit a physical activity would ease his mind. At least when he was exercising he could siphon some of the anger that still flooded his bloodstream whenever he was reminded of what he had learned the night that he had tasted Galen's blood.
Drake shuddered, remembering the images of the blood, the pain, and Nadia's heartbreakingly shrill screams.
'Lesser people have died from what they went though, but the twins were only children! Their father was truly a stupid man, not seeing the priceless gifts his children were just being who they were naturally.' He thought, wishing once again that they hadn't killed their father so that he could have done so instead. 'Whatever they did to him before they booted him out of this world, it wasn't enough, not by a long shot.' It seriously ranked the father of all vampires that Drake would have to settle for the man that had given the monster that the twins had been forced to call their 'father' fangs instead of the bastard himself…
His feet automatically took him to the gym that was on the ground floor of the building complex. To his surprise however, he found that the gym was already occupied by the very two people that he was most interested in.
They were a study in contrast. Galen's cat-quiet fluid moments as he moved across the floor with all of his attention focused on the moving the light blade in his hands was vastly different from his twin's awkward dragging and otherwise limping walk between two bars.
It shouldn't have been a contest.
Physically speaking, the brother was by far the more attractive of the two, and it looked like he could actually do something in the bedroom other than just laying there. So why in the world was he continually dwelling on the younger and crippled girl who was currently struggling to simply walk behind her brother?
'Challenge. In the end, it's all about challenge. She is the most stubborn woman I have ever encountered in a long, long while…' Drake pondered that thought as he leaned casually against the doorframe, out of the way and half in the shadows so that the twins wouldn't notice he was there as he watched them, hoping to overhear the twins interact with each other the way that they would naturally when they thought were alone. All the while, Drake found it very interesting that the vampire half was the one working in the light, while the human counterpart was the one in the shadows, semi-hidden by the darkness of the otherwise dim room.
"…I'm telling you Sunhawk, the Dragon is only paying attention to me because he wants to get on your good side. He's not interested in me, he wants you." She said, pulling Drake's attention from his thoughts and focusing them on the private conversation that was taking place.
"Moondove, if that's true, then why did he bother going after you in the first place? I love you, you know that, but he would have no reason once so ever to try and pretend an interest in you if I'm the one he's after." Galen pointed out calmly as he continued to practice his overhand and underhand swings. "Personally, I doubt that he's stupid enough to think that I would try to take him away from you if I honestly thought that you were interested in him."
"Brother, you give him way too much credit. You know just as well as I do that he would sink that low. He's not like the others twin. We are seeing the vampire race as they could have been had they not become twisted by a millennia or more of inbreeding and Goddess-only-knows-what-else. Frankly, I personally hope that the Dragon never ever gets it in his head to wipe the slate clean by killing them all off only to create a new race of vampires in his own image!" The frailer redhead shot back at her brother in between deep breaths of air as she fought with trembling legs to move and turn around while carefully shifting her hold on the bars.
The older brother paused in mid-stroke, causing Drake to silently wince in sympathy, knowing from experience just how difficult it was to pull that particular move could be when you were putting your entire weight behind your blows. Galen, however, appeared not to notice as he turned his head toward his twin in concern. "You going to make it honey? I told you that you were pushing yourself too hard. Don't force yourself if you can't make it, I don't want to see you getting yourself hurt."
Nadia managed a tired smile for the anxious note in her brother's voice. "I can handle it twin, I just need to get my breath back. You know I have trouble turning around. Apollo Sunlord doesn't fuss as much as you do Galen!" She replied, the gentleness in her blue eyes softening the not-quite-playful rebuke as she allowed herself to go into a semi kneeling position with her weight fully supported by her arms hanging on either side of the bars.
"Artemis MoonMaiden was a bit more mobile than you sweetling. I can't help but be worried when I know for a fact that the minute my back is turned that those male vampire hyenas are going to move in to hurt you." He said gently, loosely holding the handle of the blade in one hand as he stepped towards his other half, sweat glistening on his naked torso.
She didn't seem to notice her brother's movement. From where he stood, Drake could actually hear the girl dragging in lungful after lungful of air into her lungs. Frowning to himself, he calmly stepped out of the shadows and strode toward them, his face turning calm and unreadable. Ignoring the elder brother's glaring, Drake casually straddled one leg over the bar that stood between him and the little Amazon princess. When she still didn't look up, he frowned slightly before swinging his other leg over so that he was now standing in front of her.
"You don't have to kneel before me princess, but it shows the proper attitude." He said mockingly with a smirk, his ruby eyes seemingly bored as he gently teased her, knowing full well that she hated it when he used the pet names that only her brother was ever allowed to call her by. All the while he was thoroughly examining her with his eyes, finding this odd and surprising need in his midnight-dark soul to assure himself that she was all right. It didn't escape his notice that her heart was beating oddly out of sync with her brother's, that fact alone was enough to concern him.
"Will you please not rape me with your eyes in public!" Nadia demanded in a low voiced hiss, forcing herself to stand on legs that felt too weak to hold her. Feeling her legs tremble and spasm in protest, she automatically locked her aching knees together to hold her in place, but the young woman knew full well that there was no way that she could hold herself upright for very long. Although she used the word 'please', the tone of her voice made it clear that this was not a request, but rather more like an order. She blamed herself for letting this vampire catch her in a moment of weakness and sincerely hoped that he'd get bored again and go away before her legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor.
Drake ignored her, the smirk still playing on his lips. Instead he reached out and rather tenderly brushed a lock of hair out of her face that had escaped from the loose messy tail that Galen must have had pulled her hair into just before coming to the gym. When her legs almost gave out from that small bit of contact, he took that opportunity to pick her up and hold her in his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, Drake noticed that Galen had stopped dead in his tracks and his heartbeat had stopped cold in his chest while his face drained itself of color. The older brother's emerald cat-like eyes were filled with deadly fear mixed with an equally strong bitter hatred.
Holding her with surprising gentleness, he smelled the sweat that mingled with the girl's natural scent. "Considering that when you are standing you are as weak as a newborn kitten, I'd rethink that request." He said quietly in her ear as he turned around to put her back into her wheelchair. "Besides" Drake added softly with a seductive purr that only she could hear "the more you order me around, the more I'm going to start thinking that you really do want my attentions…" Feeling her shiver in response to his purr, his embrace tightened just a little as he brushed his lips lightly against her small shell-like ear before gently dropping her into her chair.
Galen was at her side immediately, murmuring softly to her in a voice too low for even someone like Drake to hear. Without another word, Nadia followed her brother as he put away the blade that he had been holding before they left the gym together. Neither looked back at him, but Drake knew that the minute they were safely back in their rooms that there was going to be some very heated discussions about what had just occurred.
Chuckling, Drake chose a blade of his own and set to the exercises at hand, losing himself in the dance between him and the blade.
A few hours later, feeling much better, he put the blade away and took a quick shower. He was putting on his rings again when someone tapped politely on the door.
"Come in." He ordered calmly, a quick sniff before the door opened informed him that it wasn't Danica. This was a good thing, seeing as he still wasn't altogether certain what he was going to do to her yet for almost ruining his plans for the twins.
His door opened just wide enough for an oriental woman, most likely either Japanese or Chinese judging from her bone structure, to slip into the room. The only trace of outward vampirism that showed on her were a pair of glowing blue cat-like eyes.
"I'm sorry to disturb you my lord, but I thought that you would like to know that Galen has left the building, and Nadia's holed herself in the library again." She said, bowing slightly.
Drake raised his eyebrow in surprise but nodded. "Thank you Krystal. You've done well." Feeling uncommonly pleased, he opened the door politely for her, earning a smile as Krystal left the room to go about her own concerns for the night.
Thinking for a moment and weighing his choices, Drake felt a bitter smile twist his lips as he headed toward the library. He was never one to leave a job unfinished, besides, he could always go torment Galen later if he found that he needed to do so. Opening the door, he let his eyes adjust to the surprisingly dim light before stepping into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. The only light that being used in the room was coming from a table lamp from a desk towards the back.
'No wonder the girl needs such thick glasses if she always reads or writes in this kind of dim light.' He thought to himself as he finally spotted the redhead who was currently busy writing in a very thick notebook, a black smudge already forming on the side of her left hand. Still, he certainly understood why she had chosen this room as her hiding place. It still disgusted him to know that he seemed to be the only vampire here that still valued history and the so called "old fashioned" values.
Moving quietly, Drake picked up a book at random from the shelves and took a seat across from her, flipping on the table light that was on his side as he sat down. Seeing her tense up as his presence communicated itself to her, Drake found himself having to throttle down the sudden and troubling urge to beat down her seemingly automatic reflexes towards him. The scent of aging paper and fading ink was surprisingly calming and relaxing to him. He knew without asking that Nadia felt the exact same way, as the girl had been completely relaxed before he came into the room.
Although his head was seemingly bent towards the book he was pretending to read, Drake was really studying the young woman in front of him. His ruby eyes were calm and looking like a dying fire, for once not malicious or otherwise threatening. Actually, Drake was more confused than anything else at the current moment. He still had no clear idea why he felt so drawn to someone who was, for all intents and purposes, his exact opposite.
"Would you mind? You are making it very difficult to concentrate on the dialogue that I'm trying to work on at the current moment." Nadia's annoyed voice broke into his wandering thoughts, though she never looked up from her work.
Honestly both startled and rather offended, Drake growled softly and put down the book he was holding with a muffled thump. Perversely, he was pleased to have finally gotten a reaction out of her. Ignoring the loud scraping sound his chair made against the floor, Drake stood up and strode around to her side of the table. Seeing that she still had not looked up, he grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him.
"I have had just about enough of your Vestal attitude little girl." He hissed softly, idly stroking her high cheekbone with a thumb. "One way or another you will accept my offer. Why don't you just stop fighting me and admit that you are interested in my suggestion?"
"Because unlike you and Danica, I actually have standards that I adhere to quite strictly. Unfortunately for you Dragon, you don't meet them." She shot back hotly, dropping the pencil back down on the pad of paper. "You've already ruined one date, I'm not about to reward you for that thank you." Raising her head, she calmly broke his hold on her.
Snarling now under his breath, Drake firmly recaptured her face in his hands.
"I don't think so little princess. He didn't deserve to touch you, let alone court you, considering that I had already made my interest in you known."
"You did what?!" The redhead demanded, her mouth agape.
Thoroughly enjoying himself now, Drake allowed himself a satisfied purr as he gently shut her mouth with the tip of a finger. "What? You really didn't think that I would allow another to take you to his bed when I already promised you I would."
Nadia tried again to get away from him. "Funny, I don't remember it that way. You never promised me anything, you only offered. Where you offer something, the other person doesn't have to accept whatever was offered. I chose not to accept your offer."
Softly tracing her sweet pink lips with the finger of one hand, he quietly popped her seatbelt open before letting his other hand entangle itself in her hair, for the moment ignoring the uncomfortable position that he was in. "Sweet little girl, how little you know of me despite your vast knowledge of almost everything else." he murmured, his eyes and fangs gleaming in the dim light. "Do you really think that after reading your journal that I would lose interest in you?"
Before letting her answer, Drake dropped his hands to encircle her waist and pulled her up so that she was on her feet, but he was the one bearing most of her weight. Even standing on her footplates, she was still smaller than he was, he noted seeing once again that she only came up to his chin.
"Not again…" She muttered, stiffening but wrapping her arms around his neck. Clearly not trusting Drake to support her.
Chuckling softly in amusement, he held her close, not touching her back as he automatically shifted slightly to angle himself better so as to make her more comfortable. "It's all right. I just got tired of bending over." Came the silken reply. "By the way, you never answered the question that I asked you a while back."
"I still think it's none of your business. You're not as hot as you seem to think you are." Her thin tense body radiated anger and confusion.
Drake tightened his hold on her, feeling rewarded by her soft hiss of discomfort. "It is my business if I decide it is little girl." He crooned quietly, stroking the back of her neck almost soothingly if not sensually, smelling her body's arousal at his carefully placed touch. "Your scent doesn't lie my sweet. Admit the truth or at least answer my question."
"No I've never been 'properly' kissed by someone I liked, but I'm not about to lock lips with you either." She snapped as she tried to raise her head to look at him.
He allowed himself a smirk, but let her meet his eyes. "And why not? Until you do, you won't find another date, you have my word on that." Drake's seemingly bored eyes could make anyone nervous, if not frightened out of their wits, and he was well aware of that fact as he stared deep into hers.
Swallowing as discreetly as possible, Nadia tried to break the eye contact. Not wanting to admit that she was intimidated by him, but unable to continue the staring contest, she turned her face away from him. "What good is your word Dragon Lord? You said yourself that you only wanted sex. If that's all you want, then go ask Danica to accommodate you. I don't like you, and I don't trust you. Leave my brother out of your sick games, because we aren't interested in playing!"
The amusement rapidly faded from Drake's mood as she spoke, but her last sentence was what really served to enrage him. Deciding that he had had enough of her taunts and insults, he crushed her slender body all the closer to his and pressed his mouth against her ear. As he traced her ear with both fang and the tip of his tongue, he distinctly heard the sound of her heart jumping and missing a few beats.
"Want to reconsider that last statement my dear?" He purred the question in her ear, lifting her off her feet and closely cradling her bridal style in his strong arms so as to better support her. "I would strongly recommend it…" Smirking to himself, he pointedly stepped awake from her wheelchair and perched on the edge of the table they had both been sitting at, trapping her in his embrace.
"Why bother? You'll just go after my brother after you are finished with me anyway." She said quietly. There was no bitterness in her voice, only a kind of weary acceptance.
"Not if you stop fighting me." He said, all the while feeling a deep kind of shock somewhere within him. Did she really think that he was only using her to get to her twin? How many times had that been the case in her life? As his thoughts continued on that track, he rested his chin on her red hair, idly rocking her as though she was a teddy bear.
In his arms, Nadia stayed oddly quiet, clearly hoping that he would finish toying with her soon and go away so that she could get back to whatever she had been writing. Already her path of the redhead's thoughts had left him and had turned once again inward, back to the unfinished work that was on the table.
Vain hope.
Seeing that her attention had gone elsewhere, Drake smiled inwardly to himself and brushed a kiss against her forehead, tightening his hold when the girl valiantly tried to jump out of her own skin. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." 'yet.' He added to himself silently. "Why do you always think somebody's going to hurt you when you are touched by anybody other than your brother?" He asked, lifting her sweet face towards him again to look her directly in the eyes.
Nadia bit her lip hard, not wanting to answer. Not wanting to admit weakness. When she tried to look away from him, Drake simply rested her head against his shoulder, but continued to look down at her while absently stroking the length of her arm.
"Never mind." He purred after several minutes of silence. "You'll tell me eventually. I can be very persuasive when I choose to be…" Drake purposely left the last sentence hanging as a seductive suggestion and felt more than amply rewarded when the redhead blushed to the roots of her hair as well as far past her collarbone.
"Maybe with most people, but not with me." She answered slowly, but forcefully, as though trying desperately not to stutter. Something Drake had noticed she tended to do when angry or afraid.
For an answer, he chuckled as he let his hands roam freely, feeling her tense and shiver in his arms. Giving her an oddly tender smile, Drake kissed her gently on the lips. "Maybe I don't love you princess, but I do desire you both in and out of bed." he informed her honestly but firmly with steel in his voice.
"Just like Danica." She answered flatly, disgust clear in her voice. "No. My answer is still the same. I refuse to join your growing harem, and I don't need or desire your attentions."
Sudden cold fury filled the dragon lord, and for once he threw rational thought out the second story window and let his actions do the talking for him. He kissed her again, this time quite passionately as he let his hands draw mindless patterns on her skin. In the back of his mind, Drake wondered if his heightened interest in the girl had anything to do with what he had experienced when he had sipped Galen's blood.
'Either way, it doesn't matter.' Drake thought, breaking the kiss to gauge the girl's reaction. Seeing her eyes were glazed and confused, he couldn't help but laugh.
As though his laughter was a bucket of ice water, Nadia's eyes flashed and turned cold as she regained control of herself, sternly telling her body to behave itself. Taking a deep breath, she let herself relax and grow internally cold.
"Are you finished?" She asked coldly, proud that she had regained control of herself.
He stopped laughing immediately, surprised and confused by the sudden change. "I wasn't laughing at you."
Nadia turned her face away, not bothering to answer. Disgust and fear rose within her like a tidal wave, leaving no room for any other emotions. All she wanted was to be left alone to continue working.
Drake regarded the girl's expression coldly, knowing that he'd screwed up again. He didn't like that feeling, but these two were so damn confusing and secretive that he never quite knew if he was on target or hitting the proverbial brick wall. Holding the now cold woman-child in his lap, he shifted his weight.
Breathing shallowly, Nadia tried to assure herself that the dragon was all bark and no bite. 'He won't do it. I'm not attractive enough to seriously have his attentions. The dragon just wants to see how far I can be pushed until I loose it. Galen is more interesting than I am. Why he's playing with me, I don't know or care, I just want him to stay away from us!'
"Why do you think that I would just go after your brother after I get you?" Drake asked her, deciding to return to an earlier subject. All the while he tried to make himself less threatening, finding to his surprise that he actually wanted to know the answer. Stroking the still messy ponytail, he gently worked it loose, dropping the hair tie on the desk.
"I'm not stupid. I see the way you've been looking at him. You are just looking for a quick roll in the hay. Something I can't and won't give you." She replied angrily.
"Can't?" He asked, raising and eyebrow. "Interesting choice of wording…"
"Shit…" she muttered, her eyes going dark and expressionless. "Now I'm really in for it…"
Looking down at her, Drake smirked, enjoying her emotional discomfort. "You should know by now that 'can't' is not a word that you use when you are talking to me Princess. I chose you first, not your brother. My offer was not made lightly or without reason."
Now Nadia tried to pull away, not caring that she might hurt herself. "I'm no one's lap dog. The only thing you offered to me was sex, nothing more. You should know by now that my brother and I value ourselves more highly than that." The words sounded bitten off as they were spoken. "You offered nothing of value to either of us, and we aren't interested in fool's gold."
"Who said that it was fool's gold little girl?" Drake growled in reply. Then his voice gentled as a thought suddenly struck him. "Has Danica been making a nuisance of herself again? If she's threatening you…" He let the thought hang unfinished but his hands were tender as he resettled the struggling Nadia more securely on his lap before she fell.
"If?" the young woman's voice now dripped with scorn and rage. "I would have thought that you would have heard our almost daily battles by now. She doesn't think that I'm telling the truth when I say that I'm not interested in you and that I'm not the one whose chasing you. Frankly, I told her flat out that she was crazy."
He laughed again and stood, still holding her. "I wish that I would have been there." Came his reply, laying a kiss on the crown of her head.
"I don't." Nadia answered curtly. "You would have only made it worse just to spite her." Automatically she curled up so that she was easier to hold.
Chuckling he smirked and gently dropped her back into her chair, but kept his hold on her hands and kissed both of them lightly. "You're right, but it would have been enjoyable. Don't bother to deny that you've wanted to take her down a few pegs."
"Then I won't, but that doesn't mean that I would have sunk to her level by becoming your lover either." She shot back, pulling her hands free to fasten her seatbelt again, this time making sure it was pulled tightly while keeping her head bent to hide her blushing.
"That won't save you little girl." He purred, amused by her reaction to the simplest of affectionate actions. Then turning serious again, he gently lifted her chin with a finger until her eyes met his, finally figuring out what attracted him to this fragile human girl. A part of him was angry that Galen hadn't made her aware of this before, but he was more angry at their father for making her doubt herself. "Never doubt your beauty little princess, your sprit is what attracts people to you. The body is nothing compared to the sprit inside." Giving her another light kiss, he let go and headed towards the door.
Surprised, Nadia turned to watch him go, shutting her mouth with a snap. Then turned to the desk and pushed the project she had been currently working on aside. Her mind elsewhere, the redhead took out a fresh notebook.
'I'll thank him later… Maybe.' She thought, and began to write