Just a story I had floating around in my head. Besides, I wanted to write something different as a break from First Impressions...
Dietrich stared out over the city of Rome, perched on the balcony on the top floor of the building in which the Orden was holding its latest meeting. Golden rays of yellow and orange, red and pink lit up the sky and stained the roofs below him as the sun continued its descent towards the western horizon. In the north, a half moon was already visible, though faint and pale against the glory of such a sunset.
No doubt somewhere inside Cain was still outlining his newest plans to his loyal servants; Dietrich had grown bored as soon as he realised that none of them involved him, and had quietly slipped out of the room. He would probably get a lecture from Isaak for it later, but right now he was fairly certain that the view he had was worth it. Ironically, the only thing he wanted now was the mage to share it with.
In the distance he could make out the towers of the Vatican, and his thoughts flew instinctively to Ester. What was she doing then, and did she think of him sometimes? He had no idea why, or when, he had become so obsessed with the red-haired nun, but Isaak had not been at all pleased. In fact, the magician had shown such surprising jealousy that Dietrich had, not without regret, temporarily given up all interaction with her just to placate his lover. At times like these, however, when Isaak was cold and aloof by day and exhausted at night; the rest of the Orden were doing Cain's bidding and extreme boredom set in; his mind would fall to thinking of her. Sometimes he suspected it was simply because he had nothing else to do, and Ester was the first thing that came to mind.
At other times when he was being more honest with himself, Dietrich could admit that thinking about Ester was simply a convenient way to avoid thinking about Isaak. He knew that falling in love with a dark, sadistic mage was possibly the stupidest thing he could ever do, but he hadn't been able to find a way around it; nor did he know what to do about it now that it was irreversible. Isaak was a possessive, rather violent 'lover', but Dietrich doubted whether he actually cared at all. He would probably have slept with any pretty young boy foolish (or besotted) enough to throw himself at the magician's head.
Dietrich lost track of how long he had been sitting there, just gazing blankly into space, completely absorbed in his thoughts. The sun had set, the sky darkened and stars were glinting brightly above him when the door to the balcony opened and a tall figure stepped silently over its threshold.
"So this is where you are." Isaak frowned down at his errant protégé. "You missed the briefing."
"It was boring, Isaak. Besides, none of it affected me. And it's so lovely out here." Or it was. Dietrich shivered. When did it get so cold?
Dark eyes observed this sceptically. 'I.. see."
Then, as the young terran showed no signs of moving, Isaak turned and made his way towards the door. "Come inside now Dietrich. It's late, cold and I'm tired. My Lord set me a mission for the morning; I need to sleep now."
Obediently, Dietrich rose and followed him. "For tomorrow morning, Isaak? You'll never be awake at that time!"
"Then you will have to wake me- that is why I sleep with you. If I hadn't had to spend forever trying to find where you had disappeared to, I could have been asleep already."
Long, delicate eyelashes flickered, eyes opened, were dazzled by seemingly blinding light and then quickly shut again. Conciousness slowly surfacing, Dietrich shifted slightly and curled back against the warmth beside him. After a few minutes, having tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep, he opened his eyes again. Morning sun was attempting shine through the heavy blinds covering the window; he was fairly certain that this was what had both awakened and temporarily blinded him.
Raising his head a little, Dietrich gazed drowsily down at the mage sleeping next to him, arms wrapped securely around the young man's waist. He supposed that everyone looked innocent while sleeping, but he didn't think he would ever get used to it. It was the reason he always made sure to awaken before Isaak, so he could enjoy the only time when Isaak let his guard down. Why the vampire felt comfortable doing this Dietrich wasn't sure; perhaps it had something to do with the miriad of spells and shields that always seemed to surround their bedroom.
Reluctantly, he lifted his hand to gently shake the mage's shoulder. "Isaak. Isaak."
Upon receiving no response he repeated the actions a little more forcefully. This time he was rewarded with an uncommunicative grunt, followed by faint stirring and finally eyes flickering, blinking and slowly opening.
Isaak stretched and half sat up, then collapsed back into the warm bed, pulled Dietrich's lithe form against him, ignoring the yelp of protest, and buried his face in the young man's neck. After trying unsuccessfully for several moments to wriggle free, Dietrich gave it up and relaxed into the embrace.
A thought struck him and he raised his head again. "Isaak?"
"... mmm?"
"Your mission is only for the morning, right? So when you're finished, can we go into Rome?"
A pause.
"Can't you go by yourself?"
Dietrich pouted. "But I want to go with you."
"We didn't come here for sightseeing."
"But..."
Isaak untangled himself and rose gracefully from the bed, sounding much more awake now. "I have better things to do with my time than wandering through this Vatican infested city. So should you." He spoke impatiently, voice cold and uncaring.
Dietrich sighed.