Daniel spent the following days barricaded in his rooms. At first Alexander would stop by at exactly spaced intervals of time to rap on the door and call to him, worry in his voice. Daniel could not bring himself to answer, would just pull the covers over his head and squeeze his eyes shut. He felt like a child hoping that the monsters would just go away if he made himself as small as possible.

After the fourth day Alexander no longer came to call. Daniel tried to tell himself that he was relieved that he was no longer subjected to the baron's attentions, but he couldn't help the stab of hurt that he could be so easily given up on. At the beginning of the fifth day he realized that he had run out of food.

Since childhood he had fallen into the habit of squirreling away any morsel that he couldn't finish on his plate and which could be preserved. It had served him well when his father had forbid him to be fed due to some conceived balk at paternal authority. Twenty eight years of age and he still couldn't shake the compulsion, ingrained in him to his very bones. Herbert had chided him for it, but Daniel had been able to bluff and say he would set food aside as a midnight snack and would then forget about it. At Brennenberg he finally found a reason to be thankful that old childhood traumas followed one throughout life. But now his food was gone, for all his thrift, and he had no idea what to do.

He supposed he would have to venture out to the kitchens. The trick would be to time it right where the baron would be occupied with some other task, yet the servants would be scarce. The staff of the castle had never troubled him before, had never even spoke a single word to him, so the idea that they would confront him about his recent confinement seemed implausible. They might go and fetch Alexander though and if Daniel had to face the baron he would die either of fright or shame.

Time dulled one's perceptions and memories. Almost a week and he already doubted what he had seen. At night he was certain that he had been privy to a secret that the lord of the keep would kill to preserve, but it was hard to keep that terror when the sun was up and thoughts of monsters seemed laughable. But he did know full well that such things existed. Ever since he discovered that cursed tomb, he had known. It called to him still in his dreams, he could feel it casting about, trying to pick up his scent. The Shadow was the only reason venturing from the sanctuary of Brennenberg hadn't crossed his mind.

Enough with the dark thoughts, he shook himself out of reverie. He glanced out the window, judging the approximate time by the position of the sun. Alexander, if he kept to his routine, should be starting off to study in his laboratories below the castle, the ones that Daniel had yet to be shown and which the baron would venture from in the wee hours of the morning, drawn and grim.

The servants should also have finished dinner and were off doing whatever they did when there was no work for them to do. He took a deep breath. Do or die, Danny. What's the worst that can happen?

He tried to move the furniture aside as quietly as possible. He was certain that no one was outside to hear, but he hadn't lasted through his younger years by taking chances. When the last chest was dragged aside he rested his hand on the handle of the door. He closed his eyes and threw it open.

"Good evening."His eyes sprang open. Alexander was leaning against the railing of the landing in front of his door, arms crossed, expression thunderous.

"G-Good evening." Daniel replied rotely. He gaped at the baron for a moment, and then took a step back, starting to shut the door.

Alexander sighed, reached out with a speed Daniel could scarce follow and caught the door. "None of that again. Stop being so childish, it wears my patience."

Daniel stumbled back, eyes seeking out the door to his bedroom. The furniture he had used as a blockade was now scattered about the room making it an obstacle course. Maybe that could work in his favor though, slow Alexander down while-

Alexander's hand gripped his arm painfully and Daniel yelped in surprise. He hadn't even seen the older man move that time. "Stop it." The baron said between clenched teeth, giving Daniel a shake.

"I'm sorry." Again the response was automatic.

"What had gotten into you of late?"

"I'm-"

"Don't apologize if it's just empty words with nothing behind them." He shook Daniel again, fingers curling over the other man's upper arms with bruising strength.

"I don't know what else to say." His voice cracked.

Alexander almost snarled, stopped it at the last moment, and regained his usual impassive expression. His eyes still glittered with fury though and Daniel realized that the fingers that clutched him trembled ever so slightly. Alexander was an inch from flying into a rage. "Your mind was much lauded in your field and considered quite promising. I'm sure if you think, actually think for once, you will be able to come up with a suitable substitute."

Daniel closed his eyes, fighting the memories this scene was conjuring. He tried not to recast Alexander as his father in his mind. "Please don't hurt me." It was the wrong thing to say, he knew it by the sharp intake of breath the other man drew.

Alexander pushed him away. Daniel stumbled over a drawer that had fallen out of the desk when he had moved it, and fell hard onto the floor. He quickly looked up at the baron, tried desperately to judge if he should scramble away or stay very very still as to not incur more wrath.

The baron studied him with narrow eyes, breathing heavily. "I've spent too much on you. Wasted too much time." He ran a hand through his hair. It shook ever so slightly. Daniel then noticed the circles under his eyes, his unshaved jaw.

"Were you…You couldn't possible have…been waiting out there all this…"

Alexander didn't reply.

"I…" he felt tears prick his eyes and drew his knees up to his chest. "I didn't mean to hurt you." He whispered.

Alexander laughed. It was a jarring, ugly sound. "Do you think sometime as small and insignificant as you could hurt me?" He sneered. "You presumptuous little-"He cut himself off with an angry gesture. "I have work I've been neglecting for much too long. If you are hungry, I've had the servants set your normal plate in my rooms." He paused at the door and looked back at man curled up on the floor. "Or you could stay here and starve. I find I don't much care anymore." And with that he was gone.

The growling of his stomach finally forced him to a decision. He slowly rose to his feet and made his way shakily to the baron's private rooms. He was crying and rubbed at his face with the back of his sleeve. He was so very tired. He would take whatever was on his plate and go back to his rooms. He supposed he was no longer welcome in Brennenberg and would have to try to formulate what he should do next. Even without The Shadow waiting to pounce on him the moment he misstepped, he was horrible at planning his own future. In childhood his motions had been dictated by staying out of his father's way and by trying to take care of his ailing sister. In university and out of it he had moved under the guidance of him mentor, Herbert. And after finding the orb there had been a blessedly brief floundering period before the baron had stepped in to take up the reins. Daniel realized that he was almost thirty and had no idea how to think about these things for himself.

The trip down the halls had exhausted him. When he found Alexander's door unlocked and his tray of dinner laid out seductively on the table, still hot due to its proximity to the fireplace, he gave in and slumped down into his accustomed chair. He ate with no enthusiasm. It was a grueling chore he had to do to keep the body appeased. He wondered why it was still so important to tend to such primal needs. It would make things so much easier if he just stopped running to and from things, if he just stood still and let himself fade away.

The food had no taste to him and after he had eaten enough to stop the pains in his belly, he turned to the fire. If he died, could he see Hazel again? Maybe even his mother? He never had given much thought to the afterlife or to any religion that was still practiced. But surely he could be reunited with his loved ones. If that were so, surely death would not be so bad. It would be preferable to this hell where he was either growing more insane with each passing day or was under the protection of a demon. His eyes drifted shut and he slept.

The fire had died down to burning coals when he finally began to stir. The darkness encroached around him like a pack of wolves waiting to pounce when the dim light finally died. Almost falling out of the chair in his haste, he lunged for the fire. He grabbed a poker and stirred the ashes and threw in another log. With his coaxing, the flames rose high again and he breathed a sigh of relief.

A glance of the room gave up no signs that its owner had returned. Everything lay as it had been when he had fallen asleep. He rose to his feet, wincing when his knees twinged and gave a resounding crack. He must have been lying in the chill for some time to stiffen up so. He pulled the throw rug from where it was draped over Alexander's chair and drew it around himself.

He had never been in these rooms without the baron in attendance. Curiosity and terror warred in his breast. He did a slow, cautious turn of the room, trailing a hand over the shelves and peering at the books and bottles they contained. He had no idea what the potions were for, but most of the books he had read before. They must be here for the baron's pleasure instead of to aid him in his work. Those books were probably kept closer to his laboratory.

The door to the baron's bedchamber was to his left. His fingers trailed over the wood. Did he dare? The old tale of Blue Beard and his hidden room came into his mind. He took a step back. Daniel had come to the keep as no one's bride, but better safe than sorry. There would be no dropped key or bloodstained hand to prove to Alexander his prying. The man was welcome to keep his mysteries.

A glint of light at the corner of his eye and he turned his head: the mirror. He approached it as one would a wild beast that might either flee or lunge for one's throat. His face appeared in the glass, pale and wan, more so after his five days of self imposed exile. He had washed up as well as he could with the water in his rooms, but his hair still hung in lank strands around his face. Maybe he could ask for a bath later on. He could try to flag down one of the servants, no need to talk to Alexander again. Surprisingly the thought made him sad.

The mirror, on closer inspection, wasn't of glass but metal polished within an inch of its life. There were carvings in the metal frame surrounding it, strange faces that peered out, frozen in frightful rictuses. The baron certainly had horrible taste on occasion. He wondered what the metal was…

"There were some that thought bronze was the metal of the gods, which had fallen from the very heavens." A deep voice intoned near his ear, breath stirring his hair. "Whether it is so or not, it has proven a damned sight inconvenient to me."

Daniel had no moisture in his mouth to utter a single cry of alarm. His lips felt sealed shut. He shuddered as Alexander's chin rested on his shoulder. The baron pressed their cheeks together. Daniel's eyes shot to the mirror.

The creature in the reflection smiled at him, all teeth and disdain. "You know, where I come from I was considered quite the beauty." He yanked Daniel by the shoulder, forcing him to turn around. "I take it you disagree." His face was Daniel's Alexander's again, old and wise, weather beaten but still handsome in its maturity.

Daniel could only shake his head mutedly.

"Nothing to say still? Really, Daniel, I wonder how you ever made it onto an expedition. You don't seem half as cleaver as I originally took you to be."

"What can I say…my lord?" He finally managed to get the words out.

Alexander cocked his head to the side, hair a silver spill down one shoulder. "If our positions were reversed, I could think of a great deal, I'd wager."

"What are you?" His voice was small and child-like. He felt his knees begin to shake and hoped fervently that he would not faint.

The baron bared his teeth in what was probably meant to be a smile. "Not from here."

"Are you like…like the Shadow?"

Daniel had an unerring knack of saying exactly the wrong thing. Alexander drew himself up to his full height, his face flickering for an instant and the other face exposed, before the mask was once more firmly in place. "How dare you assume that that lumbering monstrosity and I are kin."

"I know little of such things. I only recently found out that such…aberrations were possible."

"And that is what I am to you, an aberration, a horror?"

Daniel couldn't meet those eyes that stared at him so, looked everywhere but. "I do not think it's my place to say. Please, let me go to my room. Let us forget-"

"But you won't forget, will you? We can never go back to our little chats by the fire, you'll never again let me keep vigil at your bedside to keep the terrors away. You're just counting down the minutes until you scamper off back to your hidey hole and shut me out again." His hand shot out and his fist met the stone wall by Daniel's head. Bits of debris brushed his cheek and Daniel realized he had hit with enough force to break the rock. He trembled.

Alexander's breathing was labored. He seemed to be struggling to keep his composure. A shaking hand drew close to Daniel's face. He flinched from it. Alexander sighed. He grabbed Daniel by the chin, his preternatural speed making evasion impossible. He tilted the young man's head up, staring so long, Daniel wondered if he was trying to commit his features to memory.

His thumb traced Daniel's lips, parted slightly and panting. "We can never go back." He kissed him then. Daniel tried to back away but found himself held fast. It was like trying to wrestle with steel. He could taste blood in his mouth and a second later felt a prick on his tongue; damage from fangs that this Alexander didn't readily show, but were there none the less if you knew how to look.

Alexander parted from him with a growl. "You bit me." Daniel accused, shaken.

"I plan to do more than that this night."

Again Daniel tried to flee and again the baron proved faster than thought. "Let me go!"

"No, you owe me this. For the weeks of your upkeep, for the sleepless nights, the inconvenience that you've caused me, you owe me at least one night of this. I will not have put myself through this and have naught to show for it in the end."

"Alexander…"

"You thought of Blue Beard a bit ago." He grabbed a fistful of Daniel's hair and brought their faces near. "You should know full well there is a price to pay for discovering the secrets of another." He shoved Daniel through the door to his bedchamber.

Daniel gasped as he was flung onto the bed. He looked around, desperate to find some means of escape. He noted absently that the room was much as he imagined it, almost alarmingly exact.

Alexander chuckled. "You look like some woodland creature that finds himself cornered by the wolf."

"Please, don't-" It was the wrong thing to say again. Alexander's mirth faded into something hard and stony. The baron grabbed Daniel's ankle when the young man tried to scoot away and flipped him over onto his stomach. There was the sound of ripping fabric and Daniel felt a breeze on his back.

He whimpered and closed his eyes, praying that this would prove to be another sending of the Shadow's he could wake up from.

Alexander tsked, a long finger tracing patterns on his flesh. Daniel realized what the baron's finger was following. He bit his lip, shame flooding him. He tried to turn back over, but a strong hand on his neck prevented him. "You've been so ill used in your life." Did the baron sound slightly sad? Maybe he would let him go, feel some pity for him… Lips on his spine and he shuddered. Another kiss laid alongside his shoulder blade, a brief spattering of them across his ribs. He moaned. The baron was kissing his scars.

"Stop. Please." His voice was breathy, unrecognizable.

More kisses were his only answer. A strong, sure lap of tongue just above his tail bone. Alexander was tugging on his pants, desiring more skin to lave his attentions upon. Daniel clawed at the sheets. The moment would have been so tender, so sweet, if only…If only he didn't know…

Alexander pulled away and Daniel almost keened, stopped himself at the last moment. "You are lovely." The baron's voice was lower than normal, hungry.

Footsteps crossed the room and Daniel drew his legs up onto the mattress. He crawled to the head of the bed, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible. The lights began to dim. "No! Anything but that!" He faced the baron for the first time since he entered the room. Alexander's brows rose in surprise, hand resting on the lamp.

"Anything?"

His eyes widened, his hand frozen, outstretched towards Alexander in beseechment.

"Finish undressing for me."

When he hesitated, Alexander turned the key to the gas lamp, and the room plunged into gloom. His fingers flew to rid himself of the tatters of his shirt, to wrestle with the buckle of his pants. "Kneel on the bed. Yes, perfect."

It was agony not to squirm, not to try to hide his nakedness. Alexander did nothing but stare, face unreadable.

"Why do you look at me so?"

"Because I don't think I've ever desired anything as I have desired you."

"But you look so sad."

"Ah, well." A small smile flitted across his lips.

The moment stretched long between them, it grew unbearable. Then Alexander stirred himself as if awakening from a dream. "Turn. Face the headboard."

"Alexander?" He hated how his voice quavered.

"If you insist on the lights on, then it would be better if… I don't know if I can hold the glamour when we're making love."

Making love. Of all the crude words he could have chosen, he decided upon ones with such sweet connotations. And he didn't want Daniel to look upon him. A sharp pain pierced his chest. The refusal to obey was on his tongue, and then he remembered his lord's true face. He turned.

Alexander's weight dipped the mattress and a hand sliding over his flank. "I've wanted this since I first saw you." Hot breath on the back of his neck.

"Me too." He admitted, trying not to break down.

"I hate your world. It ruins the purest things."

Daniel opened his mouth, "I'm sorry."

A sharp bite on his shoulder. "No, you aren't. But you will be."

The baron wasn't gentle, nor was he cruel. It hurt, but Daniel knew full well it could hurt more. There had been some hurried preparation and then Alexander was in him in a long, burning slide. Tear sprang to Daniel's eyes. When the baron began to more vigorously express his passions, he had to bite his forearm to keep from crying out.

There was a slide of a hand over his ribs, following them down to his bony hip and then curving under to caress… He couldn't keep back his whimper.

"You're so sweet. Too sweet." Alexander murmured. He leaned over, the heat of him against Daniel's back. He mouthed his neck, bit him to hold him still. Daniel grabbed hold of the headboard, his knuckles white with the strength with which he clutched.

"Relax. Try to find some pleasure in this."

Daniel managed not to confess that he was finding pleasure, too much in fact.

"Just a bit longer." He could feel sweat dripping down his spine. Alexander lapped at a bead that was trickling down his neck and he shuddered. His body was moving to a rhythm not his own. It was almost peaceful, exhilarating, to relinquish such total control to another. Alexander made a peculiar purring sound, it vibrated through their joined bodies and Daniel finally gave up trying to restrain his pants and moans.

Something cool and smooth trailed up his thigh, began to loop around his waist. What- He remembered Alexander's reflection. Besides the more conventional limbs, he had extra…appendages. He tried to pull away, if it hurt him to disengage so hastily from another man, so be it, but the thing around his waist tightened, and a fist in his hair pulled him back, kept him in place.

"Please, Daniel. Please." Daniel didn't know for what the baron pled for, didn't have the breath to ask. Alexander kissed his cheek, caressed his face, hint of sharp claws in it. Then Alexander's weight was pushing him down into the mattress. Something shifted and squirmed between his legs, brushing against his shockingly still eager manhood. Alexander began to whisper things in a language he did not recognize into his ear. Daniel bucked up into him once, twice. Then he was spent, wrung out. A clawed hand loosely clasped his. Something else was muttered in that husky voice. It sounded like it should have been a proclamation of devotion. He was too exhausted to care, his eyes drooped shut. He didn't know if the baron had finished his pleasure or not. Even if he was asleep, he was sure it would not hinder Alexander's ardor, he thought with bitterness. And so he slept.