Title: Love Song for a Vampire

Summary: "Come into these arms again/and lay your body down/…Love o, love o… damned forever." Simon/Raphael

Word Count: ~1,830

Pairing: Simon/Raphael

Warnings: Moderate language, slash

Beta: Kahlan Aisling, I guess. This wasn't really beta'd.

A/N: I am proud to say that I am the first person (that I know of) to write for this pairing. Is it just me, or does the whole 'vampire sire' thing sound sort of romantic?

So these are all mini-fics that I've put into a vague chronological order.

And yes, the title and summary are both taken from "Love Song for a Vampire" from Bram Stoker's Dracula. The song is kind of meh in my opinion, but it fit.

Enjoy!

oOo

All you need is...

Simon had heard people argue that two men couldn't really love each other. They could feel lust for each other, or brotherly affection, or a love between friends, but they couldn't actually fall in love. Such an argument never made sense to him when he was human, and after watching Magnus and Alec for a few years, it really didn't make sense now. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the two of them were deeply in love, and Simon wanted to have some of that.

Not with them specifically, of course. With someone else.

When Clary went off and married Jace, Simon was happy for them. When Isabelle found a Shadowhunter who was strong, but she could control, he was happy for them. When Maia found a human who could See, he was happy for them. But damnit, he wanted to find somebody - anybody - for himself.

Raphael wasn't what he was bargaining for.

The Mark of Cain burned itself off eventually, and Simon never bothered reapplying. He had been pushed away from society long enough, thank you very much. He didn't tell anyone, though, so he still avoided being hurt. He thought it was a good deal. Then Raphael stopped by.

"You have not communicated in any way to us for quite some time, Dayligher," he said when Simon opened the door. "I was almost afraid you had left."

Simon frowned. "Why would I? All my friends are here."

Raphael gave Simon a cool look, saying, "The Mark of Cain pushes you from the society in which you wish to live, does it not? I wanted to be sure you had not changed your mind on coming to stay with the others of your kind."

Simon was already shaking his head. "I'm not staying with a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires, thanks."

Raphael snarled at Simon, looking for all the world like he would love to hit him. "You are a 'bloodthirsty vampire.' Or do you not drink blood?" Raphael took a step closer. "You pretend you are still human. You are not. You drink blood, you have fangs, you do not breathe, your heart" Raphael's hand went over the place on Simon's chest under which his heart lay "does not beat. No matter how you would like to delude yourself, you are el vampiro. Dead. And you cannot even do the things which make us feel most alive, because no one can touch you without burning up! You waste more than we ever did."

Simon gaped as Raphael turned and left, somehow making storming off look graceful.

Five minutes later, he thought of the perfect comeback to the "no one can touch you" part of Raphael's rant.

"You can," Simon murmured, looking at the place on his chest where Raphael had left five crescent marks.

oOo

Home

When Simon showed up on his doorstep, Raphael was quite surprised. He would have thought that the Daylighter would try to avoid him. After all, the elder vampire had threatened to kill him on more than one occasion. But all the same, there he was, a backpack slung over one shoulder. Raphael simply raised an eyebrow, keeping his face controlled. "What are you doing here, Daylighter?"

Simon shrugged. "I told my mom I was a vampire. She freaked. I needed a place to stay, and I'm not in Clary or Alec's best graces right now, so I thought I'd come here. If that's all right."

"How did you find my address?" Raphael asked. He was not angry, but rather curious. He let most people assume he lived in the Hotel Dumort.

"I followed you here." Raphael's surprise must have been evident, because Simon added, "I also kind of knew you didn't live in the hotel."

"I see," was Raphael's reply after a pause. He stepped away from the doorway. "I suppose you may come in."

"Thanks." Simon walked inside the apartment, his eyes widening as he saw the place. Raphael had masks and pictures on the walls, and various rugs on the floor. Many of the pictures were in black and white, or else in very faded color, and often featured a fairly pretty girl with her arm around Raphael's shoulders.

"Ahem." Simon turned to see Raphael kick the door shut. "What are you doing here, really?"

"I told you. I needed somewhere to stay."

"And you are lying about that being the only reason for coming here." Raphael smiled in a way that would have made Simon's heart skip a beat if it were, well, still beating. Raphael continued: "You would not come to my... home, were it not for some other reason. There are many places you could stay, no doubt; I hear you are friends with the head of the werewolf clan." His lip curled into a slight sneer at the word "werewolf". "Still, you come to me. Why?"

Simon shrugged. "I don't actually know. I just felt... drawn here, I guess."

"How so?"

"It felt like... I don't know how to describe it. I just felt like some sort of good might come out of coming here."

"I see. And what good might that be?"

"I don't know! Just... something!"

Raphael looked up at Simon through his eyelashes, and Simon noticed how close they'd gotten during their argument. He swallowed nervously, before mentally saying "Screw this" and kissing Raphael. Raphael kissed him back, grabbing his arms hard in a way that kind of hurt, but still felt-

Then the elder vampire yelled and broke away, rubbing his arms in apparent pain. Simon paled (a remarkable feat) and grabbed Raphael's wrists so he could see his arms. There were incredibly dark bruises all the way up.

"Oh hell," Simon muttered. "This is really bad."

"It's your Mark," Raphael groaned. Simon's eyes widened, and he used some swearwords that would put the toughest biker to shame. "It's okay," the other vampire murmured. "We'll just have to be more careful next time. And even through his worry, Simon felt relieved. There would be a next time.

oOo

Marks

Simon had yet to figure out why, but Raphael liked tracing marks on his body. Scars, birthmarks, places where he'd doodled on himself during class... Any sort of mark provided almost endless fascination.

"Is this supposed to be anything?" Raphael asked, running a finger along a scribble on Simon's left arm.

"It's supposed to be a dragon, but I think I failed." This earned Simon an amused look.

"Si, you did indeed," was all Raphael said before moving on. "And this? How did you get a scar in such an... unusual area?"

Simon's breath hitched as Raphael's hand went to the place on his leg that bore that scar. "I- I don't remember. I usually blame Clary for those."

"Ah." Raphael's hand went to Simon's neck. "I believe I know how you gained this one."

Simon snorted. "You should. You put it there, remember?"

Raphael looked up at Simon through his lashes. "The night I Turned you, si. I do remember." His hand went up to Simon's forehead. "And here is the mark that has given me so much grief."

Raphael always went back to the Mark of Cain. It had started to fade slightly, as Simon had been attacked by a demon who was extremely stupid. But it was still there, still black, and still effective.

"You were threatening to kill me, as I recall."

"Si. I am very glad I did not."

"Of course you are. You got what you wanted after that. I've accepted that I'm dead and vampiric, and you have a hot boyfriend. What's not to love?"

Raphael curled his face into Simon's neck. "I'm almost scared to touch you. That is what is not to love." Simon could feel the other boy's fangs poking gingerly at his neck; not enough to break the skin or hurt, but enough to let their presence be known. "When many vampires become lovers, they bite each other to show affection and to affirm to others that this person belongs to someone. I cannot do this to you for fear of experiencing something seven times more painful."

"So you're saying that the mark was a mistake."

"Si. Yes. It was a most grievous one."

"And it's all my fault."

"Of course."

oOo

Red for Remembrance

"So how were you Turned?"

"Don't you know already? It happened to you, si?"

"Well, yes, but what led up to you going into the hotel? I mean, you don't really strike me as the type to just go into a hotel that you know is filled with vampires without good reason."

At this Raphael was silent. He wasn't sure how to answer Simon without having to go into a long and frankly quite painful backstory. Raphael didn't like to look back at the past, especially the part of his life as a human. With present and future, you could delude yourself. Past was solid fact, carved into stone, which you could never change.

Still, Simon was expecting an answer.

"A friend had been taken into the hotel by the vampires." Raphael closed his eyes as the terrible night unfolded in his mind. His voice was flat, not shaky. "A... very close friend. We were just street rats with nothing else to lose. So we loaded up on holy equipment, as much as we could find, and set out to find him.

"When we entered the hotel, we encountered nothing for quite some time. The others grew relaxed; I grew more tense. I could tell that los vampiros were hiding, waiting."

Raphael nearly took a deep breath, actually having to remind himself that he didn't need to breathe. "And I was right. The vampires attacked when we were truly unprepared for attack. They drained most of our little group, but I bit the one who attempted this and escaped temporarily. That is, until one decided to simply snap my neck. They buried all the corpses, I suppose, although I certainly do not remember that. Apparently they feared that one of us would rise, for they left a vampire there with blood. I was the only one to rise."

Simon was quiet for a moment. "I... That's awful." He hesitated, then said, "If you don't mind me asking, who was your friend?"

Raphael smiled, a little sadly. "Lyle. He was..." What to put there? Boyfriend? Lover? "...a- a lover, I suppose. We decided to run away to New York when we were 14. It was not long after we arrived here that he was taken by the vampires. I nearly killed myself when I found out that they had drained him. I was not used to such grief, or being a vampire. I still felt human. Not for much longer after that, though."

Simon scooted down enough to bite gently on the mark he'd left earlier. Raphael relaxed, and felt better that he would not need to speak of that for a long time.