Chapter Ten

Sage looked out over the fields below, a small smile tugging at his lips as he watched the battle come to an end. He assumed it was seeing Ian's army shift their loyalties, the realization that everyone was making a huge mistake and following the wrong people. Sure, there was a devastating number of dead, and he would mourn them as they deserved. However, for the moment, he was simply grateful to be alive. Malishka was leading the few that were uninjured through the wreckage, gathering up the injured souls first. There would be others to collect the dead.

Hiei put his hand on his heart as he felt the organ spasm in his chest, a deep pain encasing every nerve ending. He didn't scream, didn't make a sound as he hunched over and hoped clutching his chest would keep the thing from exploding. His crimson eyes darted up, seeking some source for the unexpected malady on the horizon. He saw a girl lick the blood from a blade as a figure with silver hair tumbled to the ground in front of her. It was enough to piece it together. Kurama was dying. He would soon follow.

Sage frowned as his eyes fell upon his father and he leapt down from his place of observation. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Fox." Hiei said the word between gasps as he struggled to breath. "Kurama."

Sage followed Hiei's line of vision to the group on top of the hill as they disappeared in to the foliage, one by one. "Ian, stay here and take care of my father. Shiori, come with me." He shoved his way past the weary soldiers, past the rescue party seeking out survivors and sprinted for the mountain pass that would take him directly to the cliff overlooking it. Shiori followed easily, not one for questions, just for blind obedience. She had always been the support behind her friends, never the one to capture the spotlight herself.

Sage kneeled down next to the fox, placing a hand a centimeter from his face and pausing. There was no breath. He put a hand on his neck, feeling for a pulse.

"Sage, he's dead," Shiori whispered.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sage snapped, looking over his shoulder to glare at her. "If he was dead, my father wouldn't be in pain. He would have died. The strength of a mating bond isn't one to be questioned. We saw the power it held today. Zane died. His mate died in the same instant. They each exhaled their last breath together."

Shiori shook her head. The stubbornness of foxes amazed her. "Fine, don't believe me. I'm just the healer. I know when a situation is hopeless."

"You don't know enough. I knew the entire list of medicinal herbs by the time I was two. I had them memorized. How about you just shut your yap and do as I say?" Sage raised an eyebrow. "We'll skip the arguing and bitching and get right to the point where you do what I fucking tell you."

Ayden's breath came in sharp gasps as his vision swam. He put a hand to his burning lungs and his breath shortened. Tears streamed down his face as he lost himself to the throes of a panic attack. Valihari rubbed his back gently, hoping to calm down the younger boy before he hyperventilated and passed out. "My love, if you don't start breathing properly, you're going to faint." Well, at least he was there to catch the tiny demon as he fell. He carried Ayden to the bed and tucked him in, wiping the tears gently from his face.

"We need to get him to a hospital," Ian declared as they passed through the portal. He was carrying an unconscious Hiei in his arms, while Ian and Shiori balanced Kurama on a stretcher. "Both of them."

Sage shot his lover a glare. "Do you honestly think that humans are going to do anything but announce Kurama as head and put him in a coffin? Then I'd be burying my other parent less than an hour later."

"Alright, alright," Ian muttered. "Don't get your panties in a twist already."

Sage led the way down to the basement, an area of the house that had long ago transformed in to a bunker of sorts. There was a security code necessary to even get through the doors. Sage tapped it in impatiently. The front room looked like a normal den. It had a television, a futon, and a lamp. Sage moved around the furniture to get through a hidden door behind the television. This led to a room that closely resembled a hospital room. It even smelled as sterile. There were two hospital beds. It was a room Kurama had placed in to the house once his young children got old enough to discover what fighting other demons was all about, not to mention playing with poisonous snakes in the backyard. Full-fledged demons would have been nightmares to take to hospitals. Imagine the questions when a lab result came back with inhuman blood.

"Ian, put my dad down on the left one. I'll hook my mom up on this one." Sage lifted Kurama's limp body from the stretcher on to the hospital bed before he went in to a flurry of motion. Shiori and Ian both kept their distance and simply watched. Within minutes, an EKG, an IV tube, and an EEC were all hooked up the fox. Sage pointed, a smug look crossing his features. "See? I told you!"

Ian moved closer to examine the device. "What are you babbling about?"

"The EEC." At his boyfriend's clueless look, Sage just rolled his eyes. "It's a machine that measures brain activity idiot. It means his brain is still working, which would completely prove my point. He's not dead. At least, his mind isn't."

"You know, scientists have proved that there are some lingering electrical pulses in the brain after death," Shiori replied, looking just as smug as Sage had a moment before. "He's dead Sage."

"If they were random electrical pulses, the damn machine wouldn't be going fucking crazy," Ian muttered. "I don't understand shit about this scientific babble, but I know one thing. When the machines say his brain is alive, it's alive."

Shiori rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I am not going to indulge in this sick, demented little world of yours any longer. I'm going home." With that, she grabbed her back and walked out, only turning at the doorway to look over his shoulder. "Don't forget to invite me to the funeral." She was gone before Sage could get in a witty remark.

Ayden woke up to the morning light drifting through the window. He woke to an unfamiliar bed in an equally strange place. He woke to walls he had never seen before, sheets he did not recognize. Valihari drifted in from the hallway and leaned against the door for a moment, his eyes searching Ayden's face carefully for signs of emotion. "I'm glad you're awake. You and I need to talk about our arrangement."

"There's nothing to talk about. You caused the death of my parents Valihari and I'm never going to forgive you for it. Our deal no longer applies." Ayden struggled to untangle himself from the wad of sheets and only succeeded in falling from the bed, face flushed in embarrassment. He had meant to be dramatic and angry, not to make a fool of himself.

"Don't you care about the lives of those I've spared?" Valihari raised an elegant eyebrow. "Your cousin, Shiori, your brother, his lover. There are so many weaknesses that I could list off and threaten. However, I hardly have the patience for those types of games. Why don't we get to the point where you give me what I want without question? You made a deal, Ayden, for the lives of all of them. Two died, yes. It was a tragic mistake. However, there are other lives you have yet to pay for."

Ayden crossed the room, turning his back on Valihari as he walked towards the door he assumed led to the master bathroom. "I won't."

"Then they'll die. It's a simple process Ayden. The words fell from your lips, not mine. It was not my deal, but yours. I taught you long ago not to speak what you can't pay in the end. Not to make idle threats or idle promises. They will only lead to your own downfall."

Ayden huffed and threw open the door. He blinked as an automatic light came on and he saw what was contained inside, confusion flitting across his face at the contents. The room wasn't a bathroom at all, but a playroom, if it could be called that. The walls were lined with various sexual devices, ranging from dildos and vibrators, to ball gags and whips. Chains dangled from the ceiling in random patterns and there was a large bed against one wall.

Valihari wrapped an arm around Ayden's waist and steered him from his gawking. "The bathroom is that way." He pointed to a door the opposite side of the bedroom as he shut and locked the doors to the playroom.

Ayden blinked before realization dawned on him. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm going anywhere near that room."

"Now is not the time to discuss such unimportant matters," Valihari said swiftly, closing the subject. "Go to the bathroom and come out. You and I are going to have a serious talk about just what is going to happen to you."

Ayden headed towards the bathroom.

"And Ayden… Don't try to break the windows and run away. They're shatterproof. This whole house will be your prison if you can't behave."

Ayden simply shut the door and locked it, the anger inside of him reaching a boiling point.

Hiei groaned as his eyes opened and his vision swam before him. He blinked, rubbing the grit from his eyes and focusing on the ceiling above his head. Eventually, the image came in to focus. He groaned and rolled over to his side, his crimson gaze meeting with an inquiring golden one. Hiei's lips formed in to a pout. They weren't the golden he wanted. "Kurama," Hiei croaked out.

Sage got up and moved to the mini-refrigerator shoved in a distant corner. He came back and handed his father a bottle of water. "In the bed to your right dad."

Hiei took the bottle and gulped it down, ignoring the churning in his stomach at the sensation of water flowing through his dehydrated system. He sat up and nearly fell back down as his head spun. He looked to his right to see Kurama's form. The crimson hair looked vivid among the stark white sheets and pillows. His cheeks were flushed, as if he were in some sort of fever.

"What the hell is that annoying sound?" Hiei growled out. It was distracting him from the image of his fox.

"The heart monitor," Sage answered. "For a long time, his heart and body showed no signs of life. Luckily, his heart and breathing started on its own after a few hours of being left alone."

Ian padded downstairs to the basement from the upper floor and handed his lover a cup of coffee, leaning down to kiss him on the lips. "Hey baby, how you holding up?" His eyes drifted over to Hiei. "Hey shrimp."

Hiei's eyes narrowed as he swung his feet from the hospital bed. His body wobbled for just a moment before Ian had a firm grasp on his arm to keep him from tumbling over. "Let go," Hiei muttered dangerously. "I'm not a weakling. I don't need your help."

"Dad…" Sage sighed as Ian threw his hands up in defeat and backed away.

Hiei pointed to the bathroom adjacent to the 'hospital' room. "I'm going to take a shower. I can smell myself, and it's less than pleasant. When I return, the two of you are going to explain to me exactly what you know."

Ayden moved from the bathroom after his rather long bath, the towel wrapped loosely around his waist. He doubted Valihari would have waited that long for him to emerge. The man was impatient. He moved his towel from his body to his hair as he glanced around the room and found it free of the man he wished to avoid.

Strong arms wrapped around his waist from behind. "My love, you are absolutely beautiful. More than I remember."

Ayden felt his body relax against the familiar arms around him, a blush striking his cheeks as he realized that Valihari's power over him had nothing to do with the strange power he had over every other living creature. Never before had Ayden been the center of attention in the eyes of anyone. His parents were focused on him only when they needed him to complete a task or wished to plan out his entire future for him. Sage was their pride. Sage was their perfect child.

Valihari lowered his lips to the smooth flesh of Ayden's cheek. "I love you. I would never do anything if I thought it wouldn't bring you happiness."

"I know Vali," Ayden breathed softly. "I know. You just get confused and do silly things sometimes."

Valihari smiled and spun the fragile body around, pressing his lips to the boy's and feeling him surrender. He parted them easily, exploring the faintly sweet taste of Ayden, a thing of peaces and apples. Carefully, he picked Ayden up and carried him to the bed. "Watch me darling," Valihari encouraged and backed away from the bed. He began to strip, his hips swaying to music that wasn't playing.

Ayden giggled, though his eyes never strayed from the hands that unleashed the perfect body from the restraints of clothing. "Vali, tell me that you love me. Tell me you love me enough to give me everything."

Naked now, Valihari moved to the bed and hovered over him, though he kept most of his weight from crushing the boy. "Ayden, I love you more than I love life itself. I love you enough to give me everything that is in my power to give. I love you enough to kill others to get you what you want if I am not in possession of it."

"Vali, I want to mate with you."

The older demon smiled and captured his lover's lips in a kiss. "Then we shall mate."

Hiei glared at the two near adults that sat in front of him, Sage on Ian's lap. He met Sage's golden eyes first and was pleased when the boy looked down, his lips turning in to a frown. Ian was more difficult to glare down, but he eventually broke the gaze to glare at a wall instead.

"So, the two of you are telling me that my mate is in a coma that he may never wake from, and two of my children are missing. Am I correct?" Hiei's voice was harsh.

Sage nodded. "Yes."

"You're also telling me that no one is searching for a way to cure Kurama and no one is concerned with finding my son. Am I correct in that assumption as well?"

"Dad, that's not fair!" Sage looked up at his father. "I love Ayden and Nevaeh, but saving the two of you were more important at the time. It was a more pressing problem."

"The fuck it was!" Hiei smacked the water bottle from where it had been resting on a nightstand, causing the plastic bottle to shoot through a window, breaking the glass. "Sage, you're young and inexperienced. You don't see things clearly. Kurama and I no longer hold sway over Makai. Ayden does. If his hand is forced one way or another, an entire nation rules their lives on that decision."

"Mom needed someone with medical experience to be here." Sage set his jaw stubbornly. "I'm the only one who knows herbs and plants as well as he does. I'm the only one who can control them just as well. Maybe even better."

Hiei rubbed his temples to chase away the headache he felt coming on. "You two are going to listen to me and listen to me very closely. If you don't, I have no more time and patience to be gentle. I will pummel you both until you scream for mercy. Sage, you'll stay here. Your whining will be useless to me. Ian, you're going to track down Nevaeh and bring her to me in one piece. The same with her bitch mother. That is your task. Am I clear?"

Ian nodded and moved Sage from his lap. "Not a problem. Where will I find you?"

"I have to return to Alaric to keep the people none the wiser that Ayden is missing. Hopefully, I'll find some clues to his disappearance. Ian, I want you to round up the people Kurama and I call friends. If they won't help us this time…" Hiei shrugged. "They are either with us or against us. This is not the time for middle ground. They should all be focused on finding Ayden. Without him, one of the territories will fall to civil war before the rest of you can even be inducted in."

Ayden groaned as the slick fingers that had been torturing him for the last ten minutes finally retreated. Valihari comforted him with a single kiss before sliding inside the tight channel. He made it halfway through before Ayden's muscles clamped down and he had no choice but to pause and wait for the boy beneath him to get used to the intrusion.

"Ayden, look at me," Valihari commanded. He waited for the crimson orbs to focus before continuing his words. "You must relax."

Ayden shook his head, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He had only done this once before and it had been with Valihari, all those years ago. "I… I can't."

"You can Ayden. You know I would never harm you. I didn't hurt you the first time, did I?" His tone was patient, the tone a teacher might take with an unruly elementary student.

"Vali, I can't," Ayden whimpered as a tear slid down his cheek. "Maybe I'm not prepared enough-"

"I took ten minutes for a reason," Valihari reminded. "Do you want me to force your muscles to relax for you? Perhaps that will make it easier for you." Ayden nodded and Valihari focused his gaze on the crimson orbs once again, his eyes beginning to shift colors every few seconds. Ayden's eyes widened and became glazed over, the look of a drug addict who had just had their first hit in some time. Valihari felt the muscles relax and he took a few experimental thrusts before releasing the mind of his lover. Ayden gasped, his back arching from the bed as his prostate was found. Within moments, the boy was pleading for more. Valihari leaned down and rewarded him with a kiss. This little tiny thing was indeed perfect.

Ayden's fingernails dug in to the back of Valihari's neck, but the elder demon didn't even pause. "Vali, now," Ayden whimpered. "I'm about to-"

"Hush," Valihari commanded. "And look out the window so I can see your neck."

Ayden obeyed, the head in between his legs reaching a peak. He screamed out, his back arching from the bed as his muscles spasmed and his climax was complete. Valihari grunted, his teeth sinking in the shoulder of his lover rather than the exposed neck as his seed splashed inside the boy.

"I am going to fucking kill you," Hiei said from the doorway.

Author's Corner: Woohoo! Another one down. So, things aren't quite how you imagined them to be? Well, at least there's a shred of light. No dead foxy! On another note, I have promised a chapter today and I delivered. Well, it's today my time. I can't say if it will get read today, but it certainly has made its appearance today. Since I lived up to my promise of updating, can I get a cookie? No? Well, a review will suffice. And once again, thank you for reading. I'm rather enjoying this story. For fans of "Bleeding Hearts"... The story is pissing me off so no chappy today. It's sooo badly written compared to my usual. So, until further notice, it will be in the process of a major facelift. Inside my head, of course. When its online and ready for you, I'll let you know.