One Condition

By: Sleepy Lotus

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Henry scratched around the bed with chalk in hand, finishing the circle of power. Vicki, looking embarrassed and mildly bewildered, sat ramrod straight in her black lace bra, gripping the blanket white knuckled.

It didn't help that a demon seemed to have a direct line to her nighttime longings. Henry too set her just a little on edge, walking around her as a predator stalking smaller prey.

Well, maybe more than just a little.

Much more.

"Henry, stop pacing, you're making me even more nervous."

The vampire raised an amused eyebrow, for he felt certain it wasn't his pacing that set her on edge, but his presence. "You have to be in a receptive mood, Vicki, or else this won't work. Try to be in a more open state of mind."

"Right. A demon wants to fuck my brains out, and I-"

He ambushed her with vampire speed, cupping the back of her head in strong hand, taking her lips in a torrid kiss. A squeal of surprise quickly shifted to a moan, and her resistance to his advances melted under the heat of his skilled hands and mouth. It was only as he broke away to wrap an arm about her waist, lips traveling down the graceful line of her neck, that she pushed against his chest, croaking, "Henry, this is way out of line."

He paused to catch her gaze. Not to vamp her, but to read the emotions playing through her blue blue eyes. Clearly she was torn, and he could read this in her expression, the tension thrumming down her spine.

"Am I?" Testing her resolve, he leaned in again, brushing her nose with his. She gave a sigh, but did not fight as his mouth closed in on hers once more. This kiss was more languorous, less urgent, but no less passionate. He crawled over her, maneuvering her onto her back, and she let him. He made no mistake on any of this.

Anything that happened here, she let him.

He could have cried for the way she arched her back against him, as he settled his bodyweight down upon her. "And how-" she asked, between kisses, fingers tangling in his curls, "Exactly are we supposed to catch this incubus, if you satisfy me utterly and completely? Because I have a feeling that's where this is leading."

He could not suppress a smirk for her confidence in his abilities. "I'm having trouble caring, at the moment," he confessed. "I can't quite seem to wrap my mind around anything besides you, your glorious body, and the fact that you're finally allowing me to touch you."

And she did allow him, for a little more, reveled in his lips on her skin, his hand traveling up her torso. It was only as his finger slipped inside the lace of her bra, caressing a pink nipple puckered taut with desire, that she woke from her passion-induced stupor. "Henry, we have to stop this," she insisted, out of breath. Real convincing, Nelson, she scolded herself.

"Not really," he insisted, nibbling at her other breast through her bra, causing her back to bow. "I don't think we have to stop at all."

"If we don't catch it, this demon will kill again."

"I'm not particularly enamored of the idea of giving it a chance to kill you either."

"Is that what this is about? You're protecting me?"

"We could find a different way, besides using you as bait," he insisted, his dislike of magic of any sort coming to the forefront. She moved slightly, grinding against his throbbing bulge against her thigh, sending the vampire to groan as though in pain. She too had power, she could see, and for a moment felt intoxicated by it.

"I'm not sure there's anyone else as sexually frustrated as I in this whole city," she joked, "And certainly no one we can put our hands on immediately. So get off." Making her point, with the willpower of a titan, she sat up, forcing the vampire to retreat.

"On one condition," he bargained, a long digit beneath her chin turning her gaze up to his.

Vicki could barely find her voice, suddenly sensing she'd dug herself a deep hole with her weakness that night, letting Henry see how he really moved her. "What?"

Henry's eyes glittered in the candlelight, and she could see his determination, feel his longing heavy on her skin. Always, somehow, she managed to skitter away, out of his grasp.

Well, not this time, he vowed.

This would be their turning point. She wouldn't reject him again. He wouldn't allow it.

Easy words for a would be king, but no royal of 400 years ago ever met a will like Vicki Nelson's.

Still, he had to try. "After we vanquish this demon," he suggested softly, whispering over her mouth, "You will come to me, and let me fix this problem for you."
Though his words caused something primal to clench down low, in the moist recesses between her legs, Vicki still bravely stood her ground. Why? Did she think she was fooling him? That he didn't know she wanted him? At this point, she was merely clutching at principle, and it was a tenuous grasp at best.

"You sound like a mechanic."

Henry laughed, softly, lips sliding down the line of her jaw. "I am an artist, my lady, and I'm begging you for the chance to show you. Say yes. Say you will let me touch you again."

Oh, she wanted to say yes. She wanted to tear his shirt from his shoulders and jump on him, have him in this ridiculously romantic setting they'd outfitted in her room. She imagined the candlelight flickering across his bare chest below her, as he pushed inside, his strong hands guiding her hips…

"Your thoughts betray you, lover," Henry groaned, hovering above the throbbing vein in her neck. "I can feel your desire in your pulse, the sound of your heartbeat pounding madly." His lips touched her pulse, and she shuddered for the electricity that shot through her spine, wreaked hell with her nervous system. "All for me."

"Your ego is incredible," she hissed, pushing him back with three fingers on his chest. The smile upon his face communicated that he wasn't exactly daunted. Though, he never really was.

"And your control is infuriating," he countered. "But for what? Why? What is the point of denying yourself?"

Vicki cast her eyes downward, searching inside for some feasible answer. A logical one. Or at least a good comeback. Finally, the best she could grasp was, "Maybe I'm afraid."

"You know I would never hurt you," he insisted, fingertips ghosting over her arms, sending the fine hairs to stand on end.

"But you could leave me," she grumbled past the knot in her throat. "And I won't be just another of your little toys. Those random bimbos you feed off of almost every night."

"Then it is a commitment you seek?" asked Henry incredulously, sculpted eyebrows shooting sky high upon his noble brow. It was the last thing he expected from her; she seemed to run from such things. Otherwise, she would have gone to Cellucci a long time ago, wouldn't she have?

Who could honestly say with her?

"I don't know!" cried Vicki, pulling at her hair, suddenly very frustrated with herself, Henry, and this entire situation. "I want-I at least want to know that I mean something to you. That it isn't empty fucking. I don't think I could take it, Henry, if you made love to me one night and wanted nothing to do with me the next."

She searched his expression, desperate for some hint of what was to come next. His response, anything. But it remained blank and pensive, far too long to suit her impatience. "Well?" she demanded.

His next action was the last she expected, and very much the last she wanted. Henry laughed. He laughed loud and joyously, and Vicki's cheeks turned red with shame. But before she could slap him, tell him off, call him a bastard for leading her on, he grasped her face between two strong hands, and kissed her deeply. "I want you, Vicki," he declared against her skin, pulling her into his arms. "I want you now, and I will want you later. I will want you days and months from this moment, years from now, because you are one of the most unique women I have ever met, and no matter how much you infuriate me or even put my life in danger, I can't get enough of you."

Vicki bit her lip, a unsure gesture that piqued an ache in Henry, to take it between his own blunt teeth and lave it with his tongue. It seemed an eternity passed before she finally found her words again. "Fine then."

"Fine then what?"

"Fine then, after we catch this demon, we'll settle this, whatever this is, between us."

Henry laughed once more, and it was a rare and joyous sound. Vicki realized it was the first true, boisterous laugh she'd heard from him since they met. "It isn't a score to settle, darling. Love doesn't have to be a battle."

Of course with her, perhaps it did. Watching she and Cellucci interact, he could see how perhaps the two would seem congruous to her.

But she nodded, reaching up to caress his cheek, brushing wild curls away from his eyes. "I've heard that before," she admitted. "But I think you'll have to show me how."

Sighing contentedly, Henry leaned in for one more kiss before they got on with their night, and trapped this pesky demon. Suddenly, he couldn't wait to get that part of the night over with. And on the wings of that kiss he made a sincere promise.

"I will show you everything I know, my lady. Absolutely everything."

Fin