Relationship(s): John/Sherlock

Summary: Sherlock is a vampire. John is there to remind him of when the sun comes up.

Tags: vampire!Sherlock, human!John, pre-slash

Author's Note: This is the sequel to "Discontent" but both can be read as a stand-alone. Part 1 of the series titled "Rogues"

Sentiment


"That's why Lestrade couldn't find a match. He used someone else's print." Sherlock shoved open the door and paced on the street for a moment. "If I can just get to Mycroft's personal records I can narrow down which print he used and we can find an association." For a moment Sherlock's eyes reddened in the pre-dawn light before they retreated to their usual dulled silver mask.

John sighed and buried his hands in his pockets as Sherlock wandered off down the street. While he waited for Sherlock to realize that he wasn't keeping up he checked his watch. It read 4:10am. That meant that they had about 45 minutes before they needed to be back at the safety of the flat. John set the alarm on his mobile for 30 minutes just in case traffic was bad (and because he knew Sherlock loved to argue).

Sherlock made it about 150 yards up before John saw him pause and look around. When he noticed that John wasn't following him he turned around and came back. He was scowling by the time he reached him again. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm trying to solve a case you appear to be…"

"It's 4:15am Sherlock."

"And…"

John freed his right hand and rubbed tiredly at his eyes. "And the sun will be up in less than an hour. So unless you don't mind spending the rest of your week laid up in bed while I cover you in after sun lotion I suggest we make for the flat."

Sherlock opened his mouth to argue but John was already headed for the curb to hail a cab. Sherlock huffed loudly behind him and John worked to hide his smile.

By the time they finally flagged one down they had about twenty minutes before true dawn hit. John slipped the cabbie a few extra pounds and asked if he could drive any faster. The cabbie looked nervously in the mirror and sped up. At the rate they were going they would reach the flat in under ten minutes. Plenty of time to secure the windows and get Sherlock to bed before he collapsed and John had to drag him up the stairs again.

"We could have made it." Sherlock sounded like he was bordering on petulant and John couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him.

"Yes you're right we could have. If you had asked Mycroft to send a car. But are you sure you want to owe Mycroft anymore favors when you could just as easily pick up where you were tonight? Especially knowing that whoever is committing these murders won't be able to kill again until tonight either?"

Sherlock paused for a moment before he acknowledged John with a head tilt. "I suppose you have a point." With that said Sherlock went back to staring out the window. John simply smiled and accepted his victory with grace and no small amount of satisfaction.

When they finally reached the flat Sherlock's feet were beginning to drag. John merely settled Sherlock's arm over his shoulder and helped him up the stairs. John put Sherlock on the sofa while he locked the windows and lowered the blackout blinds. When he was done with that he put the kettle on and then helped Sherlock remove his shoes. When there was only five minutes left until true dawn John began helping Sherlock to his room.

"You know John there was another way we could have made it in time." John jumped as Sherlock's fingers ghosted over the right side of his pulse point. John inhaled sharply and paused in the hallway.

"We've talked about this before Sherlock. You know why it wouldn't work." John tried to catch Sherlock's eyes but his head was beginning to tilt as the daylight sapped his remaining strength.

"We haven't discussed it recently."

John sighed and tried to get him closer to the bedroom but Sherlock seemed to have decided that he wanted to have this conversation now and he wasn't going to let John get out of it.

The thing was that John knew the benefits of letting Sherlock drink from him. Sherlock would finally be able to work cases during the daytime, he would be stronger and faster and he would heal quicker. But it also came with side effects that John had seen first hand back when he had worked at A&E. Sherlock would be more volatile (both emotionally and sexually) and he would have far more control over his glamour.

John also knew that once Sherlock started drinking from him he wouldn't want to stop. Nor would John be able to hide his attraction behind expensive pheromone-controlling colognes anymore. Sherlock would be able to feel everything he felt if he chose to do so and that terrified him.

But the real reason that John had turned Sherlock down so far is because Sherlock was only ever thinking of himself. John knew that he thought it was for the right reasons. Hell, John agreed it was for the right reasons. Sherlock could save that many more lives if he was able to continue working in the daytime. If he was no longer forced to rest once the first rays of light spread across the horizon. But John was selfish. He wanted Sherlock to want to drink from him. Not because of cases or to have more chances to prove how smart he was (John already knew that anyways) but because he wanted that connection to John. John didn't want to be an afterthought. John wanted Sherlock's full attention.

So what if that made him selfish. John deserved a little selfishness. He had spent his whole life helping other people piece themselves back together and now he had finally found the one person who could make him feel whole. Now he just needed to wait for Sherlock to feel the same way.

"Maybe we'll talk about it more when you wake up. How's that?" John lurched suddenly to the left and had to brace himself against the wall to prevent Sherlock from braining himself against a framed painting. John sighed heavily and used the wall to help turn Sherlock around. He wrapped his other arm around Sherlock's waist and started dragging him the last few meters down the hall. When he finally reached the bed he hefted Sherlock sideways and then slid his legs up after him. John thought about removing his jacket and pants but decided against it after the mere thought made him blush. Instead he simply ended up removing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt a little.

After John double checked the windows he went downstairs to grab the cooler from the fridge. He placed it next to the lamp so Sherlock would see it when he woke up and then headed for the door again. Before he left he took a moment to admire the view. Sherlock's skin was so pale it almost looked like it was glowing in the darkness of the room. His face was finally relaxed and it helped to smooth out the skin around his eyes so that if someone asked John how old Sherlock was he never would have been able to give a satisfactory answer.

The kettle sounded from downstairs and John was pulled out of his reflections. He took one last look before he closed and locked the door and headed back downstairs. As he poured himself a cup of tea he pulled the morning paper closer. In bold type face the headlines read: ROGUE VAMPIRE STRIKES AGAIN. John put the paper down and pulled out his laptop instead. He figured he could get a little work done on his blog and then maybe charm Mrs. Hudson into stopping by the grocer's and the blood shop for him. If not he would just wait until Sherlock woke up and then head out before Sherlock called Mycroft. Either way John wasn't going anywhere until the sun went down. Someone had to watch over Sherlock and John didn't trust anyone else to do it.

Neither did Sherlock.