Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon or anything associated with the Inheritance Cycle.

Claimer: I, SussieKitten, own this plot and the story. Borrow or steal my plot, my original characters (Aksel and Ren) or story and I will report you. I also own my version of Saphira/Thorn's human appearances, and the universe and versions of the creatures I use in this story (hydras and chimeras in particular).

Warnings: Male and female slash. Heterosexuality. Mature sexual content. Swearing or strong language. Supernatural creatures – there will be mainly elves, dragons, vampires and werewolves in this. Mentioned Mpreg (male pregnancy). Mentioned Character Death – made up characters only and it'll just be mentioned. A little blood – this is a vampire fic after all. If any of this disturbs you, click on the "back" button. I won't tolerate any flames.

A/N I really am glad people are liking this story. I was worried, when it too me so long to write it, whether people would still be interested in reading it. :)

So thank you, to each and every one of you out there that's reading this and letting me know you like it. You guys are awesome!

Be warned; this story is self-betaed.

STALKED

Year One: (Not so) Carefully Laid Plans

::August::

After picking up Murtagh's things in Aroughs, they just started walking. Murtagh allowed Thorn to take the lead because he seemed desperate to get them far, far away from what had happened and because Murtagh needed time to think.

That became their status quo for a good couple of weeks. They stuck to walking because they only had so much cash and it gave the Council less of a chance to get eyes on them.

Thorn guided them north first, but went east at Leona Lake. Then they went south again, closer to the border, before veering sharply west and then east. Murtagh allowed the erratic moments because it really did give him time to plan. Plan A hadn't worked, but plan B showed promise.

Murtagh kept working on the plan until they stopped outside a smaller town near the Beor mountains – because apparently Thorn had decided to go with his earlier suggestion. And Thorn probably didn't know it, but he'd just given Murtagh an opportunity he couldn't afford to miss.

"Tell me you have a plan," Thorn said after they'd gotten settled.

"I have an idea," Murtagh corrected.

Thorn squinted at him. "No murder."

Murtagh leaned back against the ramshackle cottage that was going to be their room for the night. "I no longer have an idea," he drawled.

Thorn dropped the bag onto the ground next to them. "...Seriously?"

Murtagh snorted. "No, we're murdering someone."

"Dammit, Murtagh!"

Murtagh held up his hands. "No, hear me out -"

"Murder?! No thank you!"

"Gods, your conscience is such a pain," Murtagh sighed. "Will it help if I say I only plan on murdering the Vampire Council?"

Thorn eyed him. "Not particularly," he said, though his voice told Murtagh he was lying.

"They're not going to stop until I'm either dead or one of them," Murtagh said. There was no doubt in his mind about that. Galbatorix had been far too keen on him. There was no way Murtagh was going to be allowed to live unless it was under his thumb.

Thorn looked tired. He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "All right, enlighten me," he said. "How do you plan on murdering a group of ancient vampires easily stronger than the both of us combined?"

Murtagh smirked, making sure to let his fangs slip out. "Like I said. I have a plan."

::STALKED::

"This is the worst plan I've ever heard!" Thorn said, pacing around with his hands in the air. "And considering this is you, that's saying something!"

"Ouch," Murtagh deadpanned.

Thorn came to a stop and gestured at him a little desperately. "Werewolves? Your brilliant plan is werewolves?"

"They have as much beef with the council as I do," Murtagh reminded him. "Vampires thrive on toxic masculinity and misogyny. Werewolves are matriarchal by default. Their Alphas are always women. Of course they don't get along."

"That sounds like such a stereotype," Thorn said, sounding defeated. He stopped by one of the cleared areas on the floor that was going to double as their beds and sat down heavily. "I can't believe I'm considering this."

"Look, I know I tend to argue for attack first and ask questions later -"

"Don't you mean kill first and ask questions never?" Thorn drawled.

"But!" Murtagh said pointedly. "I have actually thought this through."

Thorn sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I can't believe I'm actually considering this."

"If it makes you feel any better," Murtagh said as he walked over and sat down on the spot that marked his bed, "you're probably going to be safe from them. Me on the other hand?"

Thorn gave him a dead-eyed stare. "No, that doesn't really help."

Murtagh shrugged. "Well, you can't say I didn't try."

::STALKED::

Finding a local pack wasn't going to be the hardest part. It was finding one that wouldn't automatically rip him to shreds.

"I've heard some promising things about a pack not far from here," Murtagh said. "My intel is a few years old, but hopefully still good."

Thorn buried his head in his hands and said some things under his breath that Murtagh was going to do him the courtesy of pretending he couldn't hear. He finally let out a long groan and looked up at Murtagh. "Fine."

"If you don't like that, then you're going to hate this," Murtagh told him. "I need you to come with me."

Thorn blinked at him. "I wouldn't let you go without me, but why?"

"I need these people to think I'm moderately sane and safe. And since I can't go and grab the only other link I have to humanity; congrats, Thorn. You're it."

Thorn eyed him. "One of the other links," he said finally.

Murtagh cocked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Links," Thorn repeated. "Plural. Or have you forgotten that you're a father now?"

Murtagh snorted. "As if I could."

Thorn gave him another look. "All right, then let's try to think of a way you don't get instantly mauled by these guys when we come knocking."

"That part is easy." Murtagh flashed his teeth at Thorn. "You do the talking."

Thorn rubbed at his forehead. "No. This is your plan. You do the talking."

"Then I hope you aren't squeamish."

::STALKED::

Murtagh had heard talk of a werewolf pack in one of the mountain villages a few years back, when he'd last been down along the Surdan border. He hadn't thought much of it beyond making sure he'd stay clear, in case the pack was hostile.

Now he was wishing he'd paid a little closer attention.

He knew the moment they'd stepped onto pack land. It wasn't something as cliché as a smell in the air or a shiver down his back. It was the paw-prints off in the dirt and the snarl that promised danger.

Murtagh raised his hands and hoped Thorn was following his example. "I come in peace."

There was a long pause.

Murtagh stayed right where he was and hoped Thorn was doing the same. He didn't dare to check. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a figure stepped out from the trees.

Murtagh forced himself to swallow the first five retorts that came to mind. It really wasn't his fault. How was he supposed to take a werewolf with blue hair and an aversion to shirts seriously? Come on.

"You're Murtagh," the werewolf said, eyes glimmering faintly in the dying sunlight. His fangs were on blatant display.

Murtagh made himself keep his own teeth in check. There was no need for something as juvenile as a dick-measuring contest. "That's me," he said instead. "And this is Thorn, my Drake."

The werewolf paused. His eyes slid off Murtagh and landed somewhere behind Murtagh's shoulder, where he could feel Thorn practically radiating worry and regret.

"You're bonded to him?" The werewolf didn't sound very convinced.

Murtagh could picture the look of pained despair on Thorn's face perfectly. "Unfortunately."

Murtagh flashed a smirk – fang-free, of course. "You'll have to excuse him. He doesn't like the antics I get myself into. It makes him worry."

"Any Drake worth their salt would worry about their Rider," the werewolf said and focused his eyes on Murtagh again. "Why have you come?"

"I'm going to take down the Vampire Council," Murtagh said, deciding that there was really no reason to beat around the bunch. "I wondered if your pack might be interested in getting a piece of the action."

::STALKED::

The werewolf – he'd called himself Blödhgarm, though Murtagh honestly wasn't sure whether that was his real name or not – had told them to stay on the border while he took the matter to his Alpha.

That had been two hours ago.

The sun had gone down since then, leaving them standing around in the rapidly darkening dusk. Thorn had taken up pacing about an hour in. Murtagh settled for sitting down. It was exhausting enough to watch Thorn take seven steps, turn around, another seven steps, turn around, rinse and fucking repeat.

"If you're this worried about little old me," Murtagh said, "you're going to have a heart-attack when you and Saphira finally decide to reproduce."

Thorn swirled to face him. "That's not funny," he hissed, pointing at him angrily.

Murtagh smirked. "It's a little funny."

Thorn threw his hands up and went back to pacing.

Murtagh closed his eyes and went back to going over his plan again. Getting the werewolves on his side was, honestly, the easy part. The vampire council was well-protected – much more than he'd been anticipating. He wasn't sure what to do about the dragon and really hoped he could find a way around actually dealing with that obstacle. Even if the dragon was brainwashed six ways till Sunday, it was still a dragon. And the last thing Murtagh wanted was to get the draconic community after his ass as well.

Murtagh opened his eyes when he heard Thorn stop.

Blödhgarm had rejoined them.

"She agrees to help you on one condition," Blödhgarm said.

"All right. Let's hear it."

Blödhgarm told him.

Thorn immediately started filling his head with denials, but Murtagh blocked him out. He smirked instead, flashing just a hint of fang. "Sounds like fun."

::STALKED::

"You can't be serious!" Thorn said once they were alone again. "You can't agree to that!"

"I think I just did."

"They're going to tear you to pieces," Thorn hissed.

"Not with you there," Murtagh reminded him.

"Which I'm not always going to be!" Thorn gestured at something, though Murtagh wasn't quite sure what. "Or did you forget about the supply run I have to do on my own now?"

"We'll both be fine," Murtagh said.

Thorn rubbed his hands over his face harder than Murtagh thought the situation called for. "I don't know how to handle you being this positive about something," he said. "Especially about something like this."

"So I can't go anywhere without an escort," he drawled. "That's really not a big deal."

"That's within packlands," Thorn reminded him like Murtagh hadn't been listening. "You can't go outside them at all!"

"It's really not that big of a deal," Murtagh said again. He had a feeling he'd be repeating himself a lot. "And even if I could, we both know I wouldn't be snacking on any of the local population. So it's all fine."

Thorn rubbed his hands over his face. "We're going to die."

Murtagh rolled his eyes. Thorn would come around eventually. Murtagh had a plan. Several, in fact. They were going to be fine as long as nothing veered too sharply off course.

::STALKED::

The Alpha of the pack was a stern-faced woman who told them to call her Birgit. She had claw marks on every visible part of her body; her face included. The scar at the corner of her mouth probably made her smile look slightly lopsided – that is, if she smiled at all.

Birgit took one look at him and made a face like she'd stepped in a particularly nasty piece of dung.

"So you're Murtagh," she said. She didn't sound the least bit impressed.

"Alpha Birgit," Murtagh returned.

"From the stories I've heard, one would think you'd cut a more impressive figure," she continued flatly. "Instead you're nothing but a baby vamp."

Murtagh knew what she was doing. She wanted to see if he would attack if she riled him up enough. That had been the old Murtagh, however. He wouldn't have hesitated to go for her throat. Present-day Murtagh found her insults amusing.

"And you're nothing but an old fleabag."

Thorn made a wheezing sound like someone had punched him in the solar plexus.

Murtagh ignored him. He could tease Thorn about that later.

Birgit narrowed her eyes at him. She studied him for a long moment, during which Thorn started to chatter worriedly in Murtagh's head, prompting him to apologise already, before finally ending Thorn's suffering.

"Blödhgarm will take you to where you will be staying."

Murtagh kept his eyes on Birgit when he said, "How kind of him."

Blödhgarm appeared by his elbow as if summoned. Murtagh forced himself not to startle.

Thorn, however, didn't quite manage to do the same.

Blödhgarm didn't speak. He just looked at them before walking off, heading right for the tight grouping of werewolves that had surrounded them since the moment they'd stepped past the trees that shielded the outer edge of the packland from the small village they lived in. Blödhgarm guided them through crowd. The werewolves stepped out of the way just enough for Murtagh and Thorn to pass, but not an inch more. It was undoubtedly an intimidation technique and Murtagh wasn't going to let it work on him.

Rather than the edge of the packland, where Murtagh assumed more welcome – not to mention trusted – guests would have been placed, Blödhgarm guided them to a smaller cabin just outside another cluster of cabins. If Murtagh were anyone else, he'd give them a mental apology for getting stuck keeping an eye on him and Thorn.

The cabin was simplistic and likely built by the pack, just like the rest of the buildings. There weren't any windows as such, just shutters. If they ended up staying a while, Murtagh could only hope there were enough blankets to go around in the winter months. Because the truth was that he didn't know how long he'd need to win the pack's trust. He needed them if he had any hopes of making the Council stop coming after him.

::STALKED::

Murtagh didn't sleep that night. Instead he waited for Thorn to finally pass out before climbing out of the window and onto the roof.

The little pseudo-village was completely silent. Not a single lantern was lit, though Murtagh doubted everyone was asleep. There were likely guards patrolling the edge of the packland – not just because they now had a vampiric guest, but because that was what werewolves did.

He lay down on the flat grass-lined roof and stared up at the skies.

He tried to keep his mind empty, but it inevitably kept returning to the reason they were there. The Council had been a spectre hovering behind his shoulder since before he'd known of their existence. When he died, he had to make sure he thanked his dear old dad for that. If they ended up in the same underworld, that was. Unless underworlds allowed the deceased in one plane to visit someone else on another?

No, probably not.

He briefly considered the idea of sending Thorn off for good. So long as he convinced the werewolves to act soon, he wouldn't need Thorn to go into the fray with him. He could go off and be with his mate finally.

Only, the Council had a dragon. So then maybe he did need Thorn. A well-placed fireball worked wonders, after all.

Murtagh sighed.

Something he'd never dared to explore was whether his bond to Thorn allowed him to tap into the magic that usually followed. Considering the fact that he was a vampire, it felt he wouldn't. But why wouldn't he? What sort of twisted logic said that only humans, elves and dwarves would be able to benefit from the Rider-Drake bond? He had been born into his race, same as them.

Hmm. Food for thought. Though he'd still have to convince Thorn that exploring the possibility would be a good idea. And that, he knew, was going to be easier said than done.

::STALKED::

Thorn stared at him the following week, when he brought the subject up.

One thing had quickly become clear. The Alpha wasn't interested in speaking with him again until he passed some kind of unknown test – or maybe until she was willing to let his comment slide. But Murtagh wasn't good at waiting around.

"You want to what?" Thorn said, clearly hoping that Murtagh had been joking.

"Practice magic. You know, the thing that's supposed to come with a Rider-Drake bond."

Thorn's eye twitched. "You've never..." he started, but clearly couldn't make himself finish.

"No, I've never," Murtagh admitted. "But I've never had the motivation that I have now."

Thorn slowly reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And you couldn't have come to this startling realisation when we were at the Teller house?" he said, voice tired. "Or when Vanir could easily reach us?"

"Nah. That would've been too easy."

Thorn's eye twitched again. "You know that's not going to be a walk in the park, right?"

"Yes."

"I don't even know if our bond is strong enough," Thorn said. He was starting to sound a little desperate.

"Then this'll be a great time to find out."

Thorn pressed his lips together.

"Of course," Murtagh began, "if you don't want to -"

"No," Thorn interrupted. "No, you're right. We should check. It could come in handy." It looked like the words pained him deeply.

Murtagh did him the courtesy of not calling him out on it.

"I'll just...let our hosts know what we're up to," Thorn said before walking off, looking like he'd rather be heading to his execution.

Murtagh, meanwhile, decided to start looking around for a perfect place to practice.

::STALKED::

With the reluctant approval from the Alpha – who clearly hadn't minded speaking to Thorn even though she wouldn't so much as look at Murtagh – they began.

There was a clearing behind their one-room cabin, perfectly suited their needs. The trees were far enough away that they didn't have to worry about accidentally scorching them, though the same couldn't be said for the grass. And the other cabins were close enough that they could be seen, but not so close that they should suffer from any wayward spells either.

That was, if Murtagh could get the damn magic to work.

"I told you it wouldn't be -"

"Yes, yes, you told me," Murtagh snapped.

After days of trying and not so much as a flicker through the bond, it was starting to feel hopeless.

"Maybe we should wait until after my supply run," Thorn suggested again. "I can ask Vanir for advice."

Murtagh scoffed. "I'm not going to owe that asshole more than I already do."

Thorn sighed. "This is why you have so few friends, Murtagh."

"What, my winning personality?" he drawled sarcastically. "If they can't handle me at my worst, they don't deserve me at my best."

Thorn sighed again.

Murtagh closed his eyes and tried to concentrate again.

Thorn was a shit teacher, he'd decided. He hadn't needed to be taught how to use his innate magic. Thorn, apparently, just needed to think of something and it'd happen. And sure, he'd just had to teach himself control as not to overdo things like start forest fires when he wanted to light a camp-fire, but that wasn't the same.

Murtagh tried to empty his head of unnecessary thoughts. Picturing what he'd like to do to the Council was fun and all, but maybe not necessary right this moment.

He didn't need to breathe as often, but he found himself focusing on it nonetheless. The slow up-and-down movement of his chest wasn't as distracting as thinking of non-violent things to do to Thorn for actually saying 'I told you so.'

Murtagh tried, once again, to picture a small flame. It didn't need to be big. If a single strand of grass caught fire, then he'd consider it a success.

All he needed was to prove that the possibility was there. That he could do what Vanir, damn that guy, was able to do with only himself as a conduit. At least old man Teller had a broken Rider bond he drew from. Vanir being able to perform magic just felt like a slap in the face.

But he was losing concentration again. Dammit.

Fire.

Fire gleam and glow. Let your power shine. Wait, no, that was all wrong. And where had that even come from?

Never mind. That was not what was important.

All he wanted was a tiny flame. Just one tiny little flame; golden hued, more white and yellow than red. A single flame, flickering stubbornly in the wind and refusing to go out against all odds.

Like a pair of whisky-coloured eyes he could picture even in his sleep.

He smelled the smoke before he realised what was going on. He opened his eyes.

The ground in front of him was on fire. And it wasn't a tiny fire, either; it was easily as big as funeral pyre. The flames were the colour of Thorn's scales and sparkled just like them.

He'd done it.

Murtagh felt himself start to laugh.

"MURTAGH!" Thorn cried out, possibly not for the first time either. Murtagh couldn't really be sure. He was too busy staring at the fire and laughing.

Thorn transformed between one blink and the next and lay himself flat on top of the fire. It went out instantly, as most fires would if a huge dragon flattened themselves on top of them.

Murtagh only started to laugh harder.

He laughed until he found himself on his back, staring up at the slowly darkening skies. He bared his teeth in what no one would have mistaken for a smile as he caught his breath. Watch out, Galbatorix, he thought to himself. I'm coming for you next.

TBC

A/N And that's it for the chapter!

Did I have to include "I have a plan" "no murder" "I no longer have a plan" exchange? Well, no, but I thoroughly enjoyed it lol. I feel for Thorn, really. Murtagh is a lot to deal with. He might be...better now, but he's forever going to be guy that suggests unaliveing someone (to quote good old Deadpool) if said someone is in their way.

A note on the werewolves that will be included in this; if I use a name, 9/10 that's going to be an IC character. I've used Blödhgarm in the past, and I do enjoy referencing his blue hair (seriously, C.P. wth). Birgit is the woman that vowed revenge on Roran in canon because the Razac killed (and ate, I'm pretty sure) her husband, and she considered his fault they were there or something.

And because I'm a terrible human being, there is indeed a Disney reference in this part. I won't even commend you if you find it because it's honestly hideous and I should be taken out back and shot for adding it.

...I'll just see myself out.

I'm sussiekitten over on Tumblr if you want to keep up with my writing and any general life-posts I occasionally make. I mostly just reblog whatever I like, but Tumblr is where I talk about any fics I'm currently writing or are planning to update shortly.

Thank you all for sticking with me. :) I'll see you in the next update!