The intimacy continues to develop, as does Jankin's confidence. Please do not continue if slashiness offends you.
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Daniel.
I did not dream, I rarely dreamed. It did not mean that I did not indulge in fantasy from time to time, though I did not always identify it as such. In many cases it was strategizing, or planning, running a scenario over and over in my mind, seeing all the possibilities and planning for every eventuality. At other times it was more indulgent. That sunset as I woke, the thoughts that swirled in my head as I lay motionless were a mixture of both. Jankin was no longer beside me, but I knew he was near. Now that he had ingested my blood I was more acutely aware of his emotions; and those emotions were scattered; flitting between despair, confusion and desperation. I could smell the fire still burning; the fairy spell still active obviously. The furs I lay in were warm, and Jankin's scent clung to them. I indulged myself in taking a great breath of them before I opened my eyes.
Jankin was sitting by the fire, hunched over his knees, his head in his hands, breathing quietly, sobbing even more silently, but not beyond my hearing. I sat up and pushed the furs off of my body. Suddenly unsure of what I had done, and of what I should do next.
"Jankin?" I advanced cautiously, "I am so glad to see you healed." He looked up at me, brushing the salt tears off his cheeks with the back of his hand. He took a very deep breath, ostensibly to steady himself before confronting me. I felt anger spice his thoughts over the black sadness.
"How is it possible Eric?" He looked back into the flames.
"My blood. It has that power." I sat beside him, not daring to touch him yet, unsure where his anger was going to take him.
"I was dying." The tone in his voice was eerie.
"You were." I admitted.
"I wanted to die."
"You didn't understand."
He looked at me, the fire reflecting in his blue eyes, taming the ice.
"Am I going to be a Vampire now?"
"No!" I paused, startled at my own anger. He was only frightened, he didn't know. I needed to tone down my outbursts. "No," I repeated more softly, "no, you are yourself."
"You would not take the Queen's blood? What is the danger? Have I become your slave?"
"No Jankin, I would never use someone that way." I hoped that the sentiment was true.
"Why did you save me Eric? Was it guilt? Was it obligation?" He rolled his fingers into fists, fighting the confusion.
"Those reasons and more." I began; watching his shoulders sag even further, eyes beginning to glisten again. I tried to qualify, because his misery was drilling into my bones.
"You saved my life: your blood and your body close to mine." Perfect recall of those moments shook me. "Your magic kept me alive. I could not let you die in return for it." I took an unnecessary breath and I reached for his hand. It was limp, and he made no effort to clutch mine in return.
"It was my battle Eric."
"And my honor to fight it beside you. And we are victorious." His eyes were melting in front of me and I pulled his hand towards my chest, causing his body to turn to mine. I let his hand drop and touched his cheek carefully with my healed palm. It was as if my body remembered his mouth so recently on my skin there, I trembled, as did he.
"I am selfish Jankin." I whispered as I pulled his head forward, he rested it on my shoulder, in much the same pose as he had struck after he had given me his blood on the nights of hunting. "I did not wish to be without you."
He made no show of hiding his sob then. I kissed the top of his head, lingering to breathe in his scent, it was comforting, like lavender and vanilla, and the earth itself after rain. He turned his face up to mine, eyes glistening, and he brought his mouth to mine, pressing softly against my lips, we shared the gentle kiss for a moment before the air was split with a howl I recognized instantly.
"Alcide."
Obviously Brigant's spell extended to disguising the cave mouth as effectively as it had to the perpetual fire. Alcide couldn't find us, but was reluctant to call out names in case there were still enemies in the woods.
"Go." Jankin whispered to me.
At the mouth of the cave I could see the giant wolf, pacing as if caged, casting his head about, searching for the scent of us. I stepped past the limit of the spell into the dark and he wheeled on me.
"We're here."
I watched him transform back, his healthy, tanned skin lit by the moonlight behind him. Every muscle was a knot, the tension and his nature written across each one. He was a creature of the dark, just as I was, just as Breandon and his minions had been; so different than Jankin. And I began to wonder if I had any right to feel the way I did.
"I couldn't find the place." He said to me.
"Let me explain."
I led him into the cave and he greeted Jankin in a warm embrace, it seemed that Jankin had that effect on most everyone he allowed to become close to him. But there were so few of us. I explained about Brigant's visit, and he in turn told me that the survivors had been safely delivered to the castle. They had met no other walkers on the way, which bore out the theory that their spell had died along with Breandon. The Queen had been very pleased to receive them, and pleased to hear from Alcide that they expected the troubles to cease.
After greeting Alcide, Jankin had fallen silent and begun to bundle up the furs and our blades. He seemed as anxious to leave as I was. Or perhaps it was his nerves that were affecting my own feelings? I had taken a great deal of his blood, a great deal of Fairy blood, and my emotions were churning. I girded on the sword he offered me, watching him do the same, searching for clues in a face that had become neutral to me since the appearance of my friend. Alcide and he left our hiding place as I sorted out how to put out a magical fire. I needn't have worried because in another instant Niall Brigant was with me again in the cave.
"Where are you going to take him?" I knew exactly whom he was talking about.
"Where he goes is his choice."
"The portal is here. I cannot offer you passage Vampire, but I can offer it to him."
"He will be safer with you? I cannot believe that. Breandon cannot be the only one from your realm who holds disdain for the half-blood fairies."
"Perhaps not. But with my protection he might stand a better chance than within a nest of Vampires."
"The decision is his. I will make sure he knows of your offer."
Brigant nodded at me, and then everything was plunged into darkness; darkness that even I couldn't see through. It passed quickly and the place that I could see as I emerged from it seemed just the same as before. The same crackling was tangible in the air, so I knew the portal remained. I left it behind.
ooOOoo
We moved quickly through the woods. Alcide returned to his wolf form, being less than pleased about running naked. (He had left his clothing at the fringes of the decimated village.) Jankin moved surely past the natural obstacles, a by-product of the blood I had given him. Considering the amount, his natural abilities, which had never been shabby to begin with, would be enhanced for many days to come. The blue-white glow I had noticed on our journey out was back, though I came to believe that I was the only one who could see it. We arrived back the castle gates in a quarter of the time it would have taken us at mortal speed. I loved running with both of my friends, seeing them in natural glory, and seeing a spark of the night in Jankin; even catching a pursed smile now and again. The emotions coming off of him were strengthening in their resolve, I wondered if it was because we were putting distance between ourselves and the portals, or if it was because he was seeing a new life beginning for him; free from the pursuit of revenge. Free perhaps, to pursue something else?
We were met at the gates by one of Godric's men, I had not expected he would come himself; it was beneath him. The message relayed though, were his words.
"The Queen awaits your presence Sheriff."
"Of course, though I think you will agree that we are in no fit condition for an audience with her Majesty. You will see that water is brought to my chamber, along with food for my companion." I did not leave the young vampire time to object, but turned myself towards the passageways that led to my rooms, Jankin falling in step behind me. I could nearly hear Alcide shaking his head, with a smile on his face at my insolence. Quite frankly, after the previous 48 hours I was less than inclined to be manipulated into anything. The water and trays arrived at almost the same time as we did, having slipped back into a mortal pace so as not to arouse the suspicion that I had given Jankin Vampire blood.
"Let me prepare the water for you," Jankin slipped back into the familiar mode of my servant, but I grasped his shoulder and held him back.
"You will eat first, and drink the wine they have brought. I will see to things."
I held my hands out for his sword, which he handed over to me. I lay it down on the table, just beyond the tray of cheeses and fruits that had materialized. I set my own sword beside it. Snapping a few of the larger logs into kindling with my fingers I built and then lit the fire and placed the cauldron on its tripod to heat, stealing glances back at Jankin as I worked, to ensure that he was doing as I had asked. (Or had I ordered it?) He was, with the most curious expression on his face upon every bite and careful sip.
I hadn't the time to properly attend to the weapons then, but I unsheathed each, and rubbed each blade down slowly with a cloth and oil to ensure they were clean, and free of tempting Fairy blood. As I always did, I burned the cloth afterwards. There would be time for a proper inspection later, but just then, other matters pressed.
Jankin was looking at me as I pulled the water off of the fire and tempered it as he always had.
"Give me your shirt." I held my hand out for it. He peeled it off, what was left of it and I tossed it into the fire.
"Why?" He began to ask before I offered my reasoning.
"The spell may protect you, but your shirt is soaked in Fairy blood. We need to avoid further temptations. It is enough that the Queen will smell the blood in me, hopefully the tale of those I killed will be enough to throw off any suspicion of your parentage. The Queen will likely chastise me for not bringing one back here for her to feast on."
He shuddered, but said nothing.
"Come and wash." I urged. He moved precisely, dipping the cloth into the warm water and dragging it over his face and neck, closing his eyes at the sensation.
"It feels different." He took a deep breath, "and the food, it tasted more complex."
"And you were able to run for miles in the forests, and you can see everything in this room despite there being no light but from the fireplace." He looked around, finally realizing that there were no lit candles, or lamps. I saw the question form in his features.
"It is my blood." I told him.
"And you are certain that I am not a Vampire?"
I laughed, "Quite certain." His fluttering heartbeat, his pounding blood singing in my ears, all spoke of his semi-mortality. "The effects will fade eventually."
"Pity." He continued to drag the cloth over his body, the water glistening off his skin, refracting differently off the new scars.
"Unless you take more of my blood." I whispered as I pulled off my own shirt to splash water on myself. The comment stopped him, I knew he would hear it, and I needed to say it. I stood fully before him, his body glowing with its own luminescence, besides the golden light the fire cast on him. I reached out and touched the shining white scar across his abdomen. I felt him tremble as my cold fingers caressed him.
"I am sorry that my blood couldn't heal this Jankin."
"What does not fade I will see as nightly proof of my fulfilled promise." He let his hand cover mine, his other one reaching out to my jaw, curling his fingers around it with some pressure. I did not object as he drew my face to his and kissed me softly. I slipped my hand around his waist and pulled our bodies together. The warm press of his chest against mine made me close my eyes, and I teased his bottom lip with my tongue, coaxing him to open it so that I could deepen our kiss. It would have been easy to become lost in him, feeling his heartbeat quicken, feeling his hands brush down my sides, feeling one of them slip in between our bodies to brush against me. I could not help but gasp. I felt his smile against my lips and he only pushed against me harder.
"No." I managed to whisper.
"No?" His confidence was suddenly enticing, but dangerous.
"We cannot go to the Queen smelling of sex." I tried to back away from him but found my legs unwilling.
"But I want you." He whispered in my ear, and again I began to wonder when I had relinquished control.
"I want you too." I forced myself away from his body. "And once we have fulfilled this duty I will bring you back here, and you will understand the depths of my passions."
He curled his mouth into a wry grin and returned to washing himself, as did I, our hands brushing together periodically in the common basin. I began to question my common sense.
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