A/N: As promised, here is the next chapter, shortly after the previous mega chapter. Desna was the one to help settle on the song in this chapter, called "Black Hole Sun" by SoundGarden. The next chapter will be getting posted shortly, after a little bit of tweaking for editing. After that, there may be a bit of a delay as Desna and I work on completing the chapter(s) after that. Never fear, there will continue to be updates! Please remember to read, AND review, it helps keep us strong!
Bickslow smiled faintly, easing back a little more into the soft couch, Levy snug against his chest, she kept sighing, he couldn't blame her. Vander had agreed to take time off from a heavy work load and return to Magnolia with them for a visit. He hadn't seen his siblings in months, too busy with the high demands of his work for Boscos Steel Council.
He'd loaded up several of his precious guitars though after he and Gajeel had spent half a day going through his collection, the two men shared a deep passion for music that, they found, complimented each other. Gajeel could play guitar and write music but couldn't sing it, Vander could play guitar, wasn't good at writing music but could sing like none other.
Bickslow had known this, growing up he'd been listening to his brother sing since Vander was old enough to start doing so. Their brother Cristoff also enjoyed music, loved it's soothing qualities and while he couldn't sing on the level Vander could, Cristoff could play guitar, piano and violin, and did have a good singing voice. Paired with Vander, he sounded amazing. Vanders voice they found, could even carry Gajeels if Gajeel kept to the background.
So they sat in the basement of the house among the work out equipment while Gajeel and Vander practiced, today with Cristoff, Natsu lounging on the other side of the couch opposite Bix and Levy, smiling crookedly watching his mate play guitar and sing with his brothers. When they finished Levy was on her feet and Gajeel was chuckling trying to get his guitar out of her way so she didn't crush it between them.
Bix would have done it himself but instead went and ruffled his baby brothers hair instead. Vander swatted his hand away.
"Hey! Quit it Bix!" He growled, jerking back, vanishing and reappearing a few feet away to set his guitar on it's stand, shoving his hand through his hair to settle it back in place.
Bickslow rolled his eyes, Vanders hair had always annoyed him, he kept it in the traditional length for the heritage of the Boscan clan he'd been born to, just past the top of his shoulders, usually either pulled back in a low tail or held back by one of the black headbands he would wear frequently when he worked so he could cover his eyes if needed to better contain his magic, which under heavy combat situations could sometimes "leak" from his eyes and endanger people around him as well as his foes.
His hair had always had this wave to it, it wasn't straight and smooth like Cristoffs, or wild like his own, it fell in these flawless waves and he could go through a windstorm, emerge and with one push of his hand through his hair look like he was ready for a magazine photo. It had always annoyed Bickslow, who would spend more time getting his hair under control than Levy did and one gust of wind would make him look like he'd pissed Laxus off and gotten himself electrocuted.
So Bickslow took wicked pleasure in messing with it.
Vander smirked over at Bickslow, "So Bixy, still keeping your hair in a permanent state of rats nest gone sad mohawk attempt I see." He taunted. Bickslows eyes narrowed and started to light but Vanders blindfold came into place before his brother could get control of him. With a smirk and a wicked cackle,Vander dodged his older brother while Cristoff stepped to the side to avoid being bowled over by the pair as Bickslow chased Vander up the basement stairs and clear out of the house.
"Guess they'll be getting their daily run in now…" Gajeel snorted.
Levy rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs. "He was going to make pancakes today." She sighed.
"I'll do it. Bix and Kaleb aren't the only ones in our family that can cook." Cristoff smiled, coming up behind her and setting his guitar back into its case on the dining room table. Once it was secured he headed to the kitchen waving his mate away. He no longer allowed Natsu in the kitchen after finding his mate tended to "taste" things until they were gone while he cooked.
Their house had finally been finished, so they were living there now, and Natsu had admitted, reluctantly, that it was much better than his little one bedroom hut. Four bedrooms, four baths, a large kitchen, den and dining room as well as a work out room for them that Cristoff made sure Natsu used. A well worn out Natsu was easier to manage than one dripping undirected energy, Cristoff cooked their meals, Natsu did the clean up afterward, it worked, and Happy was content too, with his own room upstairs and Cristoff made sure there was always something to eat in the house, kept the pantry stocked and the fridge full.
The blue Exceed was sitting on the kitchen island with Lily playing checkers and drinking tea when they came upstairs. Both Exceeds looked up when they came in.
"Vander and Bickslow already shot by...I believe Bickslow said something about shaving Vanders head and Vander promised to put rubber cement in Bickslows hair gel…" Lily said, mouth quirked in amusement.
"Wouldn't be the first time…" Cristoff chuckled, accepting ingredients and bowls from Levy to start making breakfast.
Levy giggled. "Seriously?"
"I can't say I haven't had my tangles with Vander, all of us have been victims of his pranks, but Bickslow and Van? Yeah, endless one upping each other while we were growing up. They drove Dad to distraction." Cristoff grinned.
"I can't see you getting into that much Cris." Levy said, eyeing the massive man who stood taller than her own Iron Dragon. Cristoffs eyes though, when not in a combat situation, or running Natsu down, they were always calm, soft.
"I didn't tend to get in much trouble, I had our father and my mother Nurem watching me. If Dad didn't catch me...Nurem always did and believe me, punishment from a 125 foot long Dragon Queen? Yeah...I tended to behave, I figure Natsu and Gajeel are such shits because they were raised by male dragons." He said with a smirk getting instant reactions "Hey!" from Natsu and "Fuck off Cris!" From Gajeel.
"See?" He grinned at Levy and she giggled. She very much liked Cristoff, he and Kaleb were easy to be around, mature, rational and if she had a problem or concern, either one was happy to take time to listen. Cristoff had even sat down with Wendy, and gone over, with great care, all Wendy needed to do to help Levy recover from her ordeal so she could still have children.
He hadn't taken the least bit of offense that she wanted Wendy to handle her female health issues, instead of pointing out he knew more about it and was better able to provide that help, he just taught Wendy what she needed to know, calmly sitting behind a screen where he couldn't see and Levy didn't feel so exposed and walking Wendy through everything she needed to learn to do.
He kept tabs on her though, reproductive health was something he was well experienced in, Bosco tended to render their military unable to reproduce when they got top performing fighters, so Cristoff had learned to reverse those procedures so guildmates and friends could have the children they wanted. He loved children too, and Levy had asked him once as he'd worked with her and Wendy what he planned to do going forward, since his mate was Natsu.
"Adoption maybe, you know I was adopted myself, and surrogates can always be arranged too. Don't worry Levy, your babies when you have them will have lots of cousins to play with." He said.
Levy had frowned. "But...you're a dragon slayer, mated, you can't can you? Have um...sex..with anyone but Natsu?" She blushed furiously and Cristoff had smiled.
"I can if Natsu is there, he has to agree to it, want it, if he does then yes, I could have sex with a woman to reproduce. Dragons used to have entire Tatsus that were just made up of males, mated pairs, and un-mated female dragons could be bred, could produce broods for them, usually the female would leave the eggs to the male Tatsu to protect and raise, since female dragons were so rare, it happened more than you might think. Multiple births are also incredibly common for Dragon Slayer mates Levy, with Gajeel, you're more likely to have twins or triplets than a single baby. And, because of him being also mated to Bickslow...well...I have a book you should read, it has information recorded hundreds of years ago by some of the religious groups that worshipped the dragons. Helped protect their clutches and watch over the young whelps." He'd said.
The prospect of a new book had enthralled her, and after a visit home with Natsu, Cristoff had returned and given her the book he'd promised.
"The Love of Dragons" It was called, and, it was written in Draconian. Levy had at first been crestfallen, Draconian was a lost language, one she didn't know, but, she had been delighted to find Gajeel knew some of it, and what he didn't know, Cristoff did. Her brother-in-law spending hours with her and Gajeel at their dining room table while still living with them waiting for his and Natsus house to be finished, teaching them both Draconian, both written and spoken, using the book he'd brought her.
Inside, she had learned, when a mated pair of dragon males bred the same female, their genes would combine in the children produced, it was rare, but had been documented. The children were always born more powerful than their parents, and new types of magic could be created that way. The genetics of three parents combined in a single child, brought into harmony by the dragon magic that bound the mates together. In Dragons clutches, eggs could number 2-3 dozen for large powerful females, in Dragon Slayers, births were almost always multiples, twins, triplets, even more, and gestation was short, six months instead of 9.
The males had to remain with the female until the birth too, have regular sex with her, she would crave it powerfully because the babies would need the magic from the father(s) as much as the mother, or it would drain the mother down and she could die giving birth. The bodies had to join, so the magic could flow.
Levy had been wide eyed, amazed and enthralled by it all, and Cristoff had answered her questions patiently, Gajeel and Bickslows too. When Levy had read the book he asked her to let Wendy read it, he was getting Wendy taught thoroughly how to handle Dragon Slayer pregnancies, and pushed her hard, refusing to say why but insistent she needed to learn well and sooner rather than later.
Levy still was waiting, still was taking her potion, Wendy watching her, promised to tell her when she had finally healed enough, when her body had cycled enough to remove the few issues still remaining that Wendy and Cristoff couldn't quite free her from, but both promised her time would.
So she stood by her large brother in-law, smiling while he teased Natsu and Gajeel about being raised by male dragons and that being the reason both were so much trouble growing up. "Male dragons, so few taught much beyond fighting, fucking and taking the world by storm…" Cristoff smirked.
"Damn straight, Metalicana didn't worry about whether or not I could make pancakes or fold napkins right." Gajeel grinned, flashing fangs.
Natsu huffed. "Neither did Igneel." He agreed.
Cristoff turned, smiling. "Yeah? How much did he teach you about raising children? Because Nurem made sure I'd be ready for that…" He returned and both men fidgeted.
"I like kids...get along good with em too…" Natsu said
"I'll do fine, I have Levy and Bickslow practically IS a child." Gajeel smirked.
They all laughed. Seeing as how Bickslow and Vander were still out there somewhere doing Gods knew what. It was a good morning.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
He was late.
He was fuming.
And he was downright pissed.
When he had agreed to stay at the guild party the night before and enjoy a few drinks with Sting while he pretended to not watch his mate dance with the other ladies in the guild, it had been with the understanding that Sting would go over the plans for the bed and breakfast that was in the works with him in the morning. And that had never happened.
He had woken up at his usual time, started his usual routine, and while eating some breakfast, had started going over the paperwork that was now tucked into the folder hidden away in his robes. Continuing to make small changes here and there on what was now a nearly seamless design, he had lost track of time, expecting and waiting for Sting to show up.
Which he never did.
And now, Rogue was running late and seething. He absolutely loathed running late, and the only time he made exceptions for breaking that long developed habit of his was when he had absolutely no control over it. A valid example was jobs. He kept to a schedule when it came time to meet the client, but outside of that, he did not set any solid schedule simply because jobs could become unpredictable at a moments notice. Outside of that, he was a stickler for keeping to a set time frame, and he had planned on being at the guild at ten to catch the master for a meeting, and then continue on with his day.
Instead, here he was, damn near running to the guild, at a quarter to eleven. He knew, he KNEW how chaotic the guild could become, and had wanted to get this idea rolling before it was too late. Huffing lightly, he paused at the top of the stairs leading to the guild, rolling his shoulders and smoothing his hands over his robes to settle them properly. Taking a deep calming breath, determined to take his frustration out on Sting later for leaving him high and dry, he pushed open the guild doors and stepped in, allowing his gaze to track over the gathered crowd, looking for a particular head of platinum blonde hair.
Finding the head of hair, cuddling up with another head of dark hair, which he knew belonged to Sting's mate, he quickly made his way towards his friend, pulling out the folder that they were supposed to have gone over together. Having to weave through the many bodies filling the guild made getting to him a little interesting, but still possible, and he was only a few feet from Sting and Xally when he was suddenly knocked into strongly enough that the folder fell from his hand, papers scattering free.
Cursing fervently, he quickly dropped to his knees, reaching for the scattered papers when he saw a hand with long, slender fingers reach out to grab some papers as well, stacking them together haphazardly. For some reason he couldn't bring himself to be upset at the papers being put together so unevenly, and he froze for a moment as an unbidden thought of wondering what those fingers would feel like caressing his skin flashed through his mind, causing his blood to warm.
"Sorry bout that man, I was turning when you came walking by, and ran into you. No harm done I hope?" A deep, lilting voice asked softly, triggering a shiver to run up his spine. He couldn't stop his gaze from shooting up, and when his own crimson gaze met a burgundy set of eyes, he would fully admit that he gulped. The man before him was...breathtaking, handsome, with elegant but decidedly masculine features, slanted eyes with thick lashes that were vivid purplish red like a fine deep wine and tanned skin, rusty streaks in his black hair that was thick shiny and hung loose around his shoulders in smooth waves. A full lipped sensual mouth curved in a cocky smile that made Rogues heart beat erratically. Shaking his head in the negative to the question asked, he dropped his gaze and quickly gathered the last of the papers.
Blast his tongue!
It was tied.
Completely and unequivocally, tied.
And he could not for the life of him, get his voice to work.
Seeing the man crouching before him shift into a standing position and hold his hand out to help him up, Rogue gripped the hand without thinking too much about it, and inhaled deeply at the sharp tingle that shot up his arm. Lifting to his own feet, he hesitated to let the hand go, lifting his gaze to the other man once more. Seeing the small curl of his lips, and the obvious heat in the gaze that flicked over him, Rogue had to bite back the growl that hovered at the back of his throat. Giving the hand he still held a gentle squeeze, the young man introduced himself.
"Vander Pradesh, Bickslows younger brother, here for a short visit." Vander explained with a half smile.
Gulping hard, Rogue struggled to unglue his tongue from the top of his mouth. "R-Ryos Cheney, Fairy Tails Shadow Dragon slayer." He stuttered, he actually fucking stuttered, feeling mortified as his face flushed.
"Shadows eh? Sounds like something we'd have in common." Vander said, his voice dropping slightly, taking on a husky quality that had Rogue biting the inside of his cheek. The mans eyes were just alight with mischief and this subtle, heated touch of interest. Wine, they were the color of a rich red wine, with the slight purple hints in them that made them unique, his own were a pure deep ruby color, but this mans...his eyes were like pools of fine wine Rogue could drown in.
"Oh?" He asked, clearing his throat slightly.
"Yep. I'm a specialized variety of shadow mage, a Shadowquip, I can generate them, extinguish them, mold them, shape them." He was smiling, this wicked edge to his voice that had Rogues mouth go dry and eyes widen as he spoke. " I can make shadows bend to my will." He explained with a purr, leaning forward, invading his space, taller than Rogue by a few inches so he dropped his head to brush soft lips against the shell of his ear. "Bend in any way I want." He continued with a whisper, chuckling. The vibrations from that had Rogue jerking, and his eyes flying wide in shock as he felt himself harden painfully, suddenly, the subtle unseen touch of the man in front of him against his groin shocking him and clearly he heard his dragon growl in pleasure, damn near rolling over under the attention Rogue was getting from the newcomer.
Before Rogue could come up with any sort of response, Vander stepped away with another smirk and heated look before turning and walking away after dropping the papers he had gathered on top of the ones Rogue held. Rogue could do nothing but watch frozen in place as Vander weaved his way seamlessly, much like a shadow, through the people there, disappearing behind the stage at the back of the hall. Dazed, and highly confused, not even remembering his anger, Rogue continued on and dropped onto a bench beside Sting and Xally, not saying a single word. He stayed that way for a while as he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened.
He'd heard of specialized varieties of shadow magic users, every field of magic had its specialists, healing magic usually stemmed out as a specialization of another larger form of magic, like Wendy used air, Xally used water and Cristoff used moonlight to heal.
Shadowquips, he knew he'd read about them somewhere, they were rare, it was a born specialization, not one that was learned. He'd have to look into it, he'd felt shadows stir to life, but they were shadows he himself couldn't have used, the hidden ones beneath his own clothing had swirled around his groin in those moments Vander was in front of him, but he hadn't felt magic activate, had it been that subtle? He'd never been able to use the unseen shadows, few shadow magic users could, it added a level of deadliness that was obvious but Vander, if he'd done what Rogue thought he had, had not used those shadows in anything short of a very blood heating caress.
Gods, if he could do that, what could he do with the shadows that were laced all through Rogue because of his magic?
Behind stage, Gajeel was smiling, adjusting his guitar while Vander pulled his out, the Iron Slayer smiling at the elegant instrument and noting Vanders smile didn't match the one he usually wore when his hands were on that guitar.
"S'up with you? You look like you're planning something evil, you better not fuck around with the song." He narrowed his eyes, Bickslows brother had a talent for messing with people, and while he also could play the guitar and sing like a damn angel, he had an uncanny gift for stirring up trouble.
Still though, he'd had nothing but respect for Gajeels works as he'd read through them, and the last few days had been a lot of fun working with another person who appreciated music and knew how to play.
Gajeel knew he wasn't the greatest singer, he just had a passion for getting his music out and had no other options but to sing his music himself, even so when Bix had suggested this he'd been skeptical.
Having another musician work with things that had honestly been like his soul pouring out onto paper at times, left him feeling uncomfortable and a bit vulnerable. Vander hadn't crossed any lines though, he'd played around a bit, but once the music started he paid it the respect it deserved.
Vander shook his head. "Really wouldn't do that to you Bro. Your music is solid, I was just messin' with someone on my way in, that's all." He assured him and Gajeel relaxed, nodding.
Vander eyed him, Gajeel used shadow magic, the same type as the young man he'd just met out there. He wouldn't mess too much with his brother in-law, Bix would possess him and have him fucking toasters or something if he did, but Vander had enjoyed messing around with regular shadow mages all of his life.
His ability to pull shadows out, manipulate them, right through a shadow mages very body just made those mages delectable treats for the Shadowquip. Admittedly he'd been with more women than men in his life but Vander had no real preference, pleasure was pleasure, he was Boscan, he'd always take it when it was offered or he was given consent. And that shadow slayers expression, reactions, that had been consent, interest, and dear Gods did that man have shadows laced everywhere, delicious, strong, easy to touch and bend and play with. He'd threaded his shadows through the other mans, used them like his own hand to fondle him, seen his eyes heat up, watched his face flush and heard his breath catch.
The black haired ruby eyed Dragon slayer had been too tempting to walk away from, and he had a hard strong lithe body, lighter built than Vander was, a few inches shorter, but his skin was so smooth and hot, and once Vander had curled shadows around beneath his clothes, he'd wanted the man, wanted him badly too, was drawn to him, and that meant his mind was working out ways to get in that dragon slayers pants, maneuver him into his bed, or against a wall. on a floor, anywhere, Vander wasn't picky. He wanted to taste those lips, find out if that faint sugared pear type scent translated into sweet tasting skin.
Vanders magic was subtle, difficult to detect when he used it, and after so much time in his line of work, he'd long since mastered the subtle use of his magic. He hoped that ruby eyed Dragon Slayer was still around when they took the stage, Gods could he have fun with him, especially using the song they had planned. He'd see just how interested the man was. Fiorans were so withdrawn when it came to play, pleasure, the physical enjoyment their bodies could provide, it was a damn shame to Vander. Regardless, passion or prude, he'd have fun if that mage was still out there all dripping shadow magic.
A while had passed, with Sting and Xally looking over at him occasionally with worried looks, but never once pressing him, knowing how he felt about being pestered. It wasn't long after that that the sound of feedback echoed through out the room, drawing everyone's attention to the stage. Blinking, Rogue focused on the stage, seeing Mira standing before the microphone with a bright smile.
"Hello everyone, for today's activities, seeing as how this is the first day of Spring, we thought we'd kick off the new season with a special song from our very own Gajeel Redfox and guest!" Mira cheered, lifting her hands to clap enthusiastically, ignoring the winces that crossed most everyone's face at the announcement. It was a well known fact that the Iron Dragon slayer was great at many a thing...singing was not on that list. But with the additional knowledge that Mira wouldn't allow them to leave, and Gajeel would be quick to lash out at them, everyone clapped politely as he walked onto stage, carrying his beloved guitar.
The first sign that this was different was that Gajeel wasn't wearing his usual white suit like he normally would when performing. Instead, he was dressed somewhat casually, a dark glowing shirt stretching across his chest and hugging his torso comfortably, while his gray plants were tucked into black boots. The second was rather than taking place behind the microphone, he sat on one of the two barstools that had been provided to the side of it, leaving the one next to him open. The last obvious sign was when Vander walked onto the stage, his stride confident, and smirk cocky.
He was quick to grab the microphone, and every bit of tension that Rogue had noticed in his shoulders before seemed to just melt away. Tall, wavy black hair laced with sunkissed rusty red highlights from being outdoors. Bickslows brother was rakishly handsome. As a shadow mage himself Rogue leaned toward loose fitting clothes, robes over slacks, they generated shadows, allowed his magic to flow around and through him better, gave him more surface area he could use to spread his reach out when he was in shadow form.
Vander though was in snug fitting clothes, Black pants that hugged his long muscular legs, knee high boots with a black metal wrapped over the toes and heels and fronts like a set of greaves. A snug sleeveless black leather jerkin made from a leather that looked butter soft and like it had been painted onto his defined torso. Tattoos poked out by his neck, along the edge of the v-neck and on his right arm above his bicep was an unfamiliar guild seal. Below it, coiled around his bicep was a winged serpent with distinctly draconic features, black with red lined scales and red eyes.
Tanned skin, hard muscle, Rogues eyes skimmed the crowd and narrowed on Cana who was giving the man far too much interest. But the wicked wine colored eyes found him and a smile curved those full lips.
"Alright ladies and gents, some of ya know me, some of ya don't. For those who don't, m'name's Vander, annoyance extraordinaire to my older siblings. I'm here visiting family for a short time, and after much needling from those who shall remain nameless coughBixcough, I've been encouraged to do a song or two, possibly more, should no ones ears start bleeding from my dear brother-in-laws guitar playing." Vander was quick to dodge the kick that was aimed at him from the glowering dragon slayer beside him. Blowing a quick kiss over his shoulder to him, Vander turned back to the enraptured crowd with a genuine smile. "So for tonight, we're going to get this started with a song picked out by my brother in-law here."
Stepping back for a moment to take a deep breath, he brought his own guitar around and nodded his head to Gajeel, he let the intro play as needed then stepped forward again, and when he started to sing, the guild froze in shock.
In my eyes, indisposed
In disguises no one knows
Hides the face, lies the snake
The sun in my disgrace
Boiling heat, summer stench
'Neath the black the sky looks dead
Call my name through the cream
And I'll hear you scream again
His voice, it was as smooth as whiskey, as warm as a fire, and as calming as a gentle breeze, beckoning everyone to sway with his words. Rogue could scarcely breathe as their eyes met while he lilted out "Call my name" and "I'll hear you scream again." The images that hit him took his breath from him. He had never been prone to lewd thoughts, lechery was Stings territory not his, but as soon as Vander started singing, his voice stirred them, heated lust filled thoughts of what he and the tall shadowquip could be doing to make screams happen.
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come (won't you come)
And the heat! The heat that was just barely hinted at in the low tone of his voice, was an aphrodisiac that wrapped itself around everyone and pulled them to their feet, beginning to dance in place whether alone or together, it didn't matter. What was that?! Rogue eyes widened, dilated, "Wont you cum" was all he heard.
Stuttering, cold and damp
Steal the warm wind tired friend
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes
In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Heaven sent hell away
No one sings like you anymore
With Sting, Xally and Rogue, Bix plopped down across from them, grinning up a storm as he watched what he had been working with Gajeel and Vander on finally happen. He had known for a long time that Gajeel wrote and played beautiful music, it was his voice that made it difficult to stomach the songs. But now, putting two of the musically inclined people in his life together, everyone else was able to enjoy what they each had to bring. Watching his brother sing, and his husband strum away happily at his guitar clearly enjoying the very positive rapt reaction of the crowd. Then Bix began to notice that Vander seemed to have eyes for only one person. Rolling his eyes, he knew his brother was on the prowl, and being careful not to be too noticeable with his movements, Bix began to run his eyes over the crowd, trying to find who had been singled out. Unfortunately, in a crowd this large, it was rather difficult.
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come
Rogue could only watch, dazed, as his jaw became unhinged and surely hit the table, Vanders voice stroking along his skin in such a way that had him shivering almost non-stop. He physically felt like he was being touched, but that wasn't possible. Hearing him like this had unbidden images of the shadowquip mage writhing beneath him, moaning his name, singing it, begging him to cum flashing through his mind.
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come Gajeel added another bar here, his harsh voice somehow fitting (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Rogue could smell the arousal that was beginning to permeate the air from all of the members at hearing his voice, the suggestive lyrics, especially the way Vander was singing them, moving his body against that guitar in his hands as he sang.
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Gajeel just fit into the song, his harsh voice carried by Vanders easily, providing a stark contrast that fit the song and those wine colored eyes were on Rogues as he sang. He'd tear them away, to give Gajeel appreciative looks as he ran through a stirring guitar solo that was honesty impressive. He'd slide his gaze invitingly over people in the crowd, but the heat didn't ignite until his eyes would brush over Rogues. He was fighting it now, a compulsion that was consuming him watching Vanders tall body move with the music and against that guitar he held. He fought hard against the possessive growl that wanted to escape him. He didn't understand this, he had no claim what-so-ever on the visiting mage.
Hang my head, drown my fear
Till you all just disappear
Bix felt his own jaw drop as a movement across from him caught his attention and he watched as Rogue shoved away from the table to make his way to the stage. He had just managed to catch a glimpse of narrow slitted eyes, and the heaving chest, signs that he had gotten used to seeing periodically over the last number of months. Hoping that he wasn't right, Bix didn't hesitate this time to activate his eyes to check on Vanders soul, and the seed of a bright green soul within Vanders blinding silver one had Bix groaning and dropping his head to the table in front of him with a muffled thud. It was official, he gave up. It looked like all of his siblings were going to end up with slayers, somehow, someway. Except for Farron and Wendy, he was fairly certain that would never happen because of how far apart the two were, not to mention age and the responsibilities they both had.
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come
By now Rogue was down right panting, and hadn't even realized he was moving through the crowd until he stood at the edge of it, the only still body amongst the sea of swaying bodies and couples. He had seen, felt, damn near tasted Vander's words as they caressed him, and his eyes had beckoned him closer. When his body moved against the guitar Rogue physically felt as if it were moving against his skin, it was driving him mad.
Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Won't you come (black hole sun, black hole sun)
Rogue wanted to take him away, far away to claim him as his own, set his mark deep and dark against that tan skin that was glowing with a thin sheet of sweat from the overhead lights, his scent of light smoke, spices, and a hint of cherries, driving his dragon insane with desire.
Yes, he would take him, claim him, mark him before anyone else could. Take the other shadow mage as his mate. Keep those wine colored eyes on him and hear that lilting voice saying his name.
Won't you come
Won't you come
Holding the burgundy eyes that were gleaming down at him, Rogue couldn't keep from licking his lips, and allowing the growl that had been building since Vander had knocked into him, loose, drawing startled looks from every slayer in the hall at that time. He didn't even hear the responding groan or quiet thuds as Bixlow went back to hitting his head on their table repeatedly.
His mate. Only his. He was perfect, sensual, gorgeous, and Rogue had never in his life wanted anyone so badly. His dragon repeating over and over in his head "Mate! He is Mine!"
Oh yea, Vander was his, and Rogue knew he was screwed in what he needed to do.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The performance had gone over better than anyone had expected. Gajeel was grinning, about as "giddy" over it as Bix or Levy had ever seen him, both so thrilled with how happy their mate was Levy kissed Bickslows cheek. "THAT was a great idea! We should get them to do another some time soon, maybe a few of Gajeels songs next time, let everyone see just how talented he is and let him enjoy sharing that for a change." Levy had said and Bickslow had been patting himself on the back, would have been all over getting his mates home to celebrate, Gajeel was game for anything in a happy mood like he was in.
Except one thing. Vander. His baby brother had done something, he knew it, he wasn't entirely sure what all had happened but he'd done something to Rogue. His eyes weren't wrong, he'd seen it, Vanders gleaming brilliant silver soul twining through strands reaching from Rogues deep green one. Vanders soul was always hard to look at, it shined like a beacon, so bright it hurt to look at it. It was unique that way and their father had long ago figured out it was what had made Vander able to survive his youth learning to cope with his difficult magic.
The dark terrifying things of the voids, the deepest shades in the shadows couldn't harm him or defy him because his soul was blinding and strong. Vander could destroy those things with little effort and they knew it, so they obeyed him and didn't encroach on him as he slid through the voids, used the shadows. He was a master of them all.
Rogues gleamed brighter than most, so did Gajeels, and Bickslow figured that was the way with Shadow magic users, their souls had to be bright to handle the darkness they dealt with.
He'd seen that intense silver soul of Vanders winding around the strands reaching from Rogues, Rogues was more insistent, but Bickslow had seen that with all of the Dragon Slayers, hell Stings had been wrapping around Xallys wildly while Xallys had just been accepting, welcoming.
Cobras had about dived right out of him into the embrace of Kalebs,Laxus and Emis had been….well...as her older brother he really hadn't needed to seen how lewd and sensual that union had been. He still couldn't look at theirs, those two...he knew Laxus was like that but seeing his baby sister… he shook the thoughts, narrowing his eyes on Vander who gave him an incredulous look.
"What?! Seriously Bixy, what's the problem? That went over great, Gajeel had a good time, so did I, so did your guild, what's with the look?" Vander had demanded defensively.
The Shadowquip was off balance and unsure as to why. That performance had been a pure unadulterated good time for him. He'd teased the hell out of that sexy shadow mage, enticed most of the single women of the guild to the point two of them had been all over him in the back. He'd been up for it, wanted it, something about his play with the shadow mage and the fact the man hadn't appeared backstage like he'd honestly hoped he would had him...unsettled and he'd wanted to bury that into the two very willing and eager women that had grabbed him backstage and dragged him into a store room, two women wasn't a new thing for him at all, he'd tagged along with the last several full moons with Cristoff before he'd departed to Fiore to visit and ended up mated to the good looking pink haired slayer.
No more full moon sex fests stirred up by his brothers magic, Vander would miss them but clearly he'd be able to keep having fun on his own. The brunette and the white haired women were both gorgeous, willing to share and all over him.
Then the shadow mage had finally appeared in the doorway, crimson eyes wide for a moment in stunned surprise, then Vander had seen and he could have sworn he FELT the pain, humiliation, denial, this wild flood of unhappiness and disappointment and he'd been compelled to try and follow the shadow mage but the women had too good a grip on him and he'd been unable to untangle himself, his shout "Hey! Wait!" though had caught attention, and before the brunette could get his pants undone they'd been caught and a glaring Makarov had sent both women scurrying and even Vander retreating swiftly from his annoyance.
He'd been swept into a hug from Gajeel when he'd gotten back to the backstage area "That was perfect! Damn it, I knew if people could hear it like I meant it to be they would like it." He'd grinned, releasing Vander to turn and sweep a glowing Levy into his arms, kissing her until she was breathless.
Vander didn't miss Bickslows reproachful distrusting look though and it pissed him off. He'd just done his brother a solid favor singing with his mate, not that it hadn't been fun and he wouldn't volunteer to do it again, but still, Bickslow should be HAPPY, not giving him that...look. Like he'd done something wrong.
He felt funny, off, should be happy like the others but wasn't, he was upset by the Shadow mage and that made no sense to him at all. He'd set out to stir the man up, give him a hell of a show, play with him, and he'd done just that and it had worked, the mans body had responded just...incredibly to Vanders handling, really, even women weren't usually that responsive, that...exhilarating to seduce and Vander tended to sleep with more women because they tended to be more sensitive, more responsive than most men were and he deeply enjoyed pleasuring a partner, getting those responses was a large part of the fun for him.
The shadow mage though, Ryos he'd said his name was, he'd been just incredibly responsive, his body had reacted so well, every touch, every caress, when Vander had started playing with him, driving his shadows beneath Ryos' clothes, making them move like his own body was against his guitar, Ryos had hardened under his caress, shuddered, shivered, trembled….skin heated, breathing hitched, heart rate spiked, sweat had broken out over that smooth pale skin and Vander had been taunted himself with all sorts of ideas, images of him tangled with Ryos in bed, of wild delicious sex with the ruby eyed Dragon Slayer. He'd never had preferences, men or women, he just loved sex and pleasure and would happily take it wherever he found it, so that had to be it, the reason behind his sudden sharp desire for the other shadow mage.
Toying with him, working his body while he'd sung, had stirred Vander up too, given him all sorts of ideas, things he'd love to do with the Dragon Slayer, images playing in his head more vivid than most he would get when he found someone he particularly wanted.
Images he'd been enjoying even as those women had been on him because he'd really wished it had been the shadow mage to find him first back stage, to pull him to a secluded room, he would have gone more willingly, eagerly even, because Ryos was just….he shook his thoughts as Bickslow rolled his eyes.
"You need to talk to Rogue." His brother said firmly.
"Rogue?" Vander frowned and Bickslow nodded.
"The Shadow Dragon Slayer...I saw you during the performance Van, there's more there than you know, you should talk to him...I'll give you his address, seriously." Bix had turned and written down the address on a slip of paper. "I'm going home, Gajeel and Lev want to celebrate and I know you, your brand of celebration...well...just see Rogue first ok?" He'd looked at his brother firmly and Vander had rolled his eyes this time snatching the paper from his hand.
He'd gotten himself a hotel room so he didn't have to explain any of his coming and going to Bickslow or Cristoff, though Cris was in the process still of furnishing the recently completed new house he'd had built for him and Natsu, which was gorgeous even by Vanders standards and Vander had discerning tastes.
Cris was having serious wards and protections put all through the house and furniture, fixtures, everything because his mate was destructive. Levy and Freed both were working on it along with the wood make mage Laki and an Earth mage doing the countertops and tiles etc.
No, Vander prefered not to have his brothers watching his activities so he'd taken a suite at the hotel by the cathedral. Turning he headed for the showers to clean up but not before Bickslow grabbed his shoulder.
"Van, I'm not kidding, go see Rogue." He'd said again and Vander had leaned into his brother giving him a sly grin.
"Oh I will, I'll see every inch of him." He'd purred and Bickslow had rolled his eyes and shoved him toward the door.
Showered he'd opted for some faded jeans, boots and a dark red button down, rolled the sleeves up and dodged the Guilds main hall, slipping through shadows to the dark city streets.
He'd started toward Rogues but his own nerves, pure excitement at the idea alarmed him and he stopped, glaring at the cobblestones beneath his feet. What the hell was wrong with him?! Yes, Rogue/Ryos was elegant, good looking, sexy, and naturally Vander wanted him, of course he did, the mans body was the ultimate playground for the Shadowquip, all laced with shadow magic, lithe, nicely muscular with smooth skin that smelled of sugared pears...he fucking loved pears... and the delicious smoky scent of shadow magic...he shook his head.
"Fuck…" He growled softly, pushing a hand through his still faintly damp hair. He looked at the slip of paper in his hand and frowned, shoving it back into his pocket and glaring again for a minute at nothing in particular.
There were still people out, heading to or from the bars and few clubs Magnolia boasted. No, he wasn't going to go now, he was too wound up, maybe the thrill of performing was making him like this, he couldn't go see Rogue like this, all panting and eager, he needed more control. No, he was going to do something else, go have some fucking fun and get this out of his system so he could be in full control of himself when he did see the Shadow mage.
He'd catch him in the guild or something but he would not go looking for him, no, that was too...desperate, giving in to this odd compulsion, this eager hunger that wasn't his usual predatory thrill that normally drove him to someones bed.
Shaking his head he walked purposely away from the area where Rogue lived, deliberately seeking distance from it. He knew a few clubs, hell Bickslow had introduced him to them, a couple were pretty racy, almost to Boscan standards. It was just past 10, two hours on a train and he'd be in Hargeon, with their 24 hour fun, he'd find himself company and fuck this out of his system with a willing partner or two...three...however many it took to purge the residual need for that shadow mage from his system.
When he boarded the train he was so distracted he didn't notice the trio of mages following him, the two pretty young women and slender good looking young man, they stumbled onto the train car he had just sat down in laughing.
"I'm thinking the Berry Patch, they have the best drinks." The Pink haired woman said brightly. There was a shorter, blue haired woman with full pouty lips and wide dark brown eyes. "But Hells Gate has the dancing and the private rooms…" She grinned and Vander saw her grope the slender blonde man between them.
He wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her over to kiss her, gripping the back of a seat to keep from stumbling. They had clearly already started their fun earlier and likely were heading to Hargeon because unlike Magnolia, the Hargeon bars and clubs never closed.
Vander smiled in spite of himself, his kind of people. There was nobody but himself and them in the train car, and he didn't mind the man starting to make out with the blue haired girl, but the pinkette did.
"Darious! Ohna!..." She whined then spotted Vander and her eyes widened, her pout turning immediately into a very interested smile. "Forgive them, we didn't see you there…" She grinned, kicking the blonde who jerked back with a frown.
"Ow! Fuck Rena!...oh!...Hi!" He smiled at Vander, interest sparking in his blue eyes as much as it had in the Pinkettes and Vanders smile widened a little, oh these three could be exactly what he needed…
By the time the train stopped in Hargeon, Vander had the Pinkette in his lap, her tongue in his mouth while the blonde was groping him through his jeans as he kissed the bluenette.
The train conductor cleared his throat...loudly...and they broke apart laughing.
"Sorry! We're moving, we're moving!" Darious grinned, holding up his hands.
"Ok, so the Devils gate because of good dancing and...private rooms…right?" He asked as they all stepped off the train, he met Vanders eyes smirking.
"Absolutely!" Vander agreed and Darious grinned, pulling out his lip balm, something he seemed compulsive about from Vanders observations so far, the man used it a good bit, the girls refreshed their lip gloss alot too, he didn't care, it all tasted good. Really good even, and he was wanting to try all of it more.
The group strolled down the busy streets, midnight in Hargeon was crazy busy in the nightclub area. Hells Gate was a bigger club, Vander had been there before, strippers and good dance floors, music and decent drinks. Darious went to get them drinks while Vander took a private booth, set back with sheer enchanted curtains enclosing it so the occupants could see out and enjoy the entertainment but nobody could see in and watch what might be happening in the booth.
He had to pay a good bit for it, but that didn't bother him at all, he always took these booths when he was down here with Bickslow.
Rena was on him immediately, kissing him, that sweet lipgloss of hers was tantalizing, and he slid his tongue right over her plump lips tasting it, his thoughts of Rogue had started to fade with the first kiss from the woman and he needed that so he responded willingly to her advances, to Ohnas too, and when Darious slid into the booth, placing drinks on the table and suggested body shots they all started and clothes started getting moved out of the way,
Vander was fuzzy headed, submerged in a hazy thoughtless fog as Rena kissed him, Darious was under the table, between his legs, and the man knew how to give a blowjob. His hand was working Renas center, and the woman was writhing sitting on the table in front of him finally gasping and leaning back so Vander could eagerly work at her body better. Ohna didn't leave his mouth free though, lunging in and kissing him, the blueberry flavor of her lipgloss getting to him, making him moan and the world got hazier, foggier, lust swallowing him.
He wasn't sure when he got pushed to his back on the bench, or when Ohna straddled him and started fucking him, Darious climbing over him and sliding his cock into his mouth also barely registered but he responded vigorously, trained, with too many years of enjoying pleasing partners not to.
Darious groaned. "Oh fuck he's good...shit...I was all pissed when we got this assignment but shit!" He moaned again, starting to thrust into Vanders eager skilled mouth, groaning again when the man took him in completely without hesitation or any sign of discomfort, his throat working around him tight and hot.
"I think he's far enough gone...I'm gonna start the line…" Rena said, pulling out her purse and producing a long thick needle and jar.
Darious groaned, waving at her. "F-fuck...wait a minute...Gods! Let me finish, shit! Don't want him...nnngh! Biting me…" Vanders hands never left Ohnas hips, keeping her steady on him as Darious came, shuddering and thrusting a few more times into the shadowquips mouth, groaning when he felt the man swallow all he had.
He slumped to the side panting. "Holy fuck...best fucking blowjob I've ever had!" Darious groaned, Rena rolled her eyes, looking at the shadow quip hungrily.
"Yeah, well, I haven't got mine yet, maybe you should run this line since his mouth isn't busy anymore…" Rena stated, licking her lips.
Darious smirked at her, sliding down to the floor beside the bench Vander lay on, Ohna was ignoring them, clearly having too much fun herself. "Maybe I'll wait till Ohna gets hers...he's pretty well hung…I wouldn't mind a ride…" She sneered, leaning up and kissing Vander, adding to his distraction while Darious inserted the needle. The shadowquip tensed but didn't stop his thrusts up into Ohna, his tongue only stalling a moment against Renas.
"Fuck...I...oh God he's good…" Ohna gasped out, reaching her end with a moan.
"That good with the load of drugs we've put into him is saying something, I'd be fucking unconscious if I'd swallowed that much of this shit." Darious said waving his lip balm in the air before smearing more on and moving to kiss Vanders mouth again, watching Rena shove a panting Ohna off the Shadowquip so she could straddle him and eagerly start taking her own pleasure from the willing man.
She groaned as she sank down onto him. "Oh fuck….oh he's bigger than you Darious dear...Gods!" She gasped as Vander gripped her hip with his one free hand and started moving.
Darious held his arm still, the jar slowly filling as Rena took her turn. "Oh my Gods…" She gasped out as Vander started meeting her movements more forcefully. Darious slid the needle out, sealing the jar and stowing it safely in Renas pack. Once his arm was free Vander flipped Rena, settling between her legs and driving into her hard and she bit her lip to keep from screaming.
"Oh...my...Gods!" She gasped out, Ohna was smirking, leaning in to run a hand down Vanders ass over his taut thighs.
"Uh huh...Oh Darious, we should have more fun….we could make sure he got back to his hotel...right?" She asked hopefully. Darious had moved and was watching Vander pumping into Rena, his red shirt still on, though open, his black pants shoved down to his knees so the play of the muscle beneath the tan skin and tatoos was easy to watch.
"Oh fuck yes…" He grinned and prompted the shadowquip to move and he did, lifting off and out of Rena who whimpered and quickly shoved the table aside as Darious brought Vander to the floor, standing over her as she got on her knees in front of the hazy eyed mage.
He grasped her hips and thrust into her, making her smile. "Oh...oh Gods...he's so…" She couldn't finish, mewling as Vander started moving. Darious smirked, standing over her and coaxing Vander to tip his head up so he could slide his cock into the mans mouth again.
"Yeah he is, one more gorgeous...I can't wait all the way back to Magnolia without at least one more from you...nnngh...oh holy Gods...I love our boss….best assignment ever…"
Vander woke late during the day, naked with painfully bright sunlight hitting his eyes, tangled in the sheets on a bed he didn't remember getting into. Groaning he slid his hand over the bed, seeking a body but finding nothing but cool sheets. He was reluctant to open his eyes, the last thing he remembered was going to a club in Hargeon? It was all a haze.
A pounding sound made him groan again, his head was throbbing and his body was achy, as his senses checked in he smirked faintly, he decidedly smelled of sex, alot of it too, he remembered the trio he'd met and cracking an eye open frowned, he was laying on his bed in his hotel room...how the fuck had he gotten back to…
Pounding again, his door, someone was pounding on his door.
"Vander?! Vander you shit open this door!" He rolled to his back groaning quietly and sliding from the bed reluctantly at the sound of Bickslows voice. Not bothering to cover himself, it was just his brother after all, he staggered to the door noting there were empty wine bottles on the table and womens underwear on a chair back, they must have returned here after partying in Hargeon…but why was his head like this? He hadn't drank much, certainly nothing close to his usual limit.
He opened the door and Bickslow and Gajeel both reacted immediately, Bickslows eyes flying wide then narrowing, Gajeel wrinkling his nose.
"Fuck Vander, you smell like an Autumn City Whorehouse." Gajeel growled, shoving Vander back into the room. Bickslow heaved a sigh following his mate and closing the door behind him.
"Well at least we know what you've been up to, you didn't go see Rogue...that's obvious." Bickslow frowned.
Vander cast a glare at him, walking into the bathroom, not bothering with the door and turning on the shower. "I went and had fun, I came here for a vacation you know." He reminded his brother.
"I know that Van, and you've been fucking your way through Magnolia since you got here, but seriously, why didn't you go see Rogue, you were all into him the other night." Bickslow demanded leaning on the doorframe as Vander showered.
"I didn't feel like it. Shit Bix I thought you DIDN'T want me fucking your guildmates?! What the hell, make up your damn mind!" Vander shot back. "And lower your voice...fuck I'm hung over."
Bickslow frowned at that comment. Vander never drank until he was drunk, it was risky for him, his control over his magic was too important and he always preferred sex when he was in full control of his senses, he never did drugs, never drank too much.
"Not the point Vander, point is you said you'd go see him, and if I'm right you really fucking NEED to go talk to him. I saw your soul act a certain way when you were on stage the other night…"He said and Vander frowned.
"Other night? You mean last night." He grumbled and Bickslow snorted.
"Shit Van, how much did you fucking drink? It's been three days man, Rogue hasn't been to the guild at all, even had Sting and Xally take Frosh for him which is way weird." Bickslow commented.
"He doesn't smell like booze…" Gajeel said suddenly and Bickslow snapped his head around looking at Gajeel with a frown.
"He doesn't? But he says he's hung over…"
Gajeel shook his head, taking a few sniffs around the room and frowned "No...I smell drugs, poison...not the fun kinds either…" He said darkly and pulled Bickslow out of the doorway as Vander shut off the water and emerged from the shower, rubbing his hair with a towel.
Gajeel grabbed his arm suddenly and glared at the large bruise there.
"What the…" Vander started to protest but then he frowned too looking at his arm.
"This was from a needle...too small for a knife…" He said softly, he knew blades, they were part of his life in a big way, he'd been stabbed...with a serious needle.
"It's been three days? Seriously?" He asked and Gajeel and Bickslow nodded, Bickslows anger was gone now, his brother partied, and had his good times but never lost track of time, not ever, at his worst, had Vander ever gone that far. His brother valued his presence of mind, always kept himself reasonably sharp because he worked in dangerous circles and couldn't afford to drop his guard. There was no way Vander had deliberately done this.
"Ok, lets get you to see Cristoff and Erik, find out what's in you Van and make sure it's not going to get worse…" Bickslow said, remembering the seed he'd been poisoned with by the Madame. Gajeel remembered it too and pushed Vander to hurry and get dressed while Bickslow called Cristoff to make sure he'd be at the guild when they got there.
Crisoff pulled Vander up to the infirmary as soon as he arrived and Wendy watched with close interest as the older healer checked his brother over, cleared what he could and then they called Cobra in.
The Poison slayer made a face. "Fuck...this is like what was in Bickslow…" He observed, sinking his teeth into Vanders shoulder ignoring the shadowquips faint grimace. Vander remained still, he knew how Cobra did his work, and he still felt...off, the headache and hazy head had mostly been cleared by Cristoffs magic but he hoped Cobra could clear the rest of it and restore him. He was already feeling hungry, which made sense because he hadn't eaten in three days, something he planned to fix as soon as he was done because he'd seen Lucy tucking into a plate of spaghetti that looked amazing on his way in.
Bickslow and Gajeel exchanged worried glances and Kaleb frowned as Cobra leaned back in and bit Vander again, pushing the antidote into his blood to clear out what had been put into him.
"No memories?" Kaleb asked, already knowing the answer, he'd plunged right into his brothers head as soon as he'd come in after Bickslows call. He'd met three young mages on the train, by the time he reached Hargeon thought was already difficult and the memories were spotty at best, all involving a little drinking and a whole lot of sex, which, for Vander, wasn't out of the norm at all.
The drugs and poison though, that was completely unlike him, he never used drugs, even his drinking was light and measured, Vander was too disciplined and too in tune with things, too committed to keeping his senses sharp to let himself get drunk, he'd always been that way.
"Nothing you haven't already pulled Kaleb, really, it was a normal night for me, and I was plenty willing, no idea why those three drugged me...except for the needle shit...and they did that AFTER drugging the fuck out of me." He sighed.
Kaleb nodded, exchanging a look with Cristoff who reached up and pushed his baby brothers bangs out of his eyes. "You're clear now, they took your blood though, go eat something and you'll feel a lot better." He urged and Vander sat up looking seriously at Gajeel.
"You had me look into that guild, Nightmare, after what happened to Levy, after you and Kaleb...the shit with the Hellborne? I dug hard, nailed one of their lieutenants in South Seven last month, me and an energy mage friend of mine from work, Presca, I think you've met him...we drilled the guy hard...as in...he didn't walk away. Anyhow, their main leader is currently being held in a Pergrandian prison, pissed off the wrong politicians there and Nightmare has been getting their leadership from some unknown source for the last 18 months, someone took it over in the leaders absence, only the first four highest ranked guild members, including Rotbull, work directly with the new leader, when there are meetings, the leader doesn't attend in person, they hear her voice through a lacrima and the top three enforce her will through the guild." Vander said.
Gajeel blinked in amazement, Nightmare had been taken over by a woman leader? With its heavy involvement in human trafficking and how often they messed women up, he was surprised.
"So this new leader is behind whatever the fuck they're doing." Bickslow said frowning, he'd forgotten Vanders promise to Gajeel, to go and find out what he could about Nightmare.
"You guys eliminated Ruger, there's still Quince of the men who were involved with what happened to Levy...the woman who messed with Xally, Sting, and Laxus is called Tressa, she's been with Nightmare for 14 years and is one of the four. The other two are a Wind mage named Jerix and a Seith mage named Cuther. All of them are high level, high power mages who fought and killed their way to their positions in the guild and they all have complete loyalty to this new leader, whoever she is." Vander said.
Gajeel nodded, rising. "Good job...thanks for that. Go eat, I need to talk to the master, Bix, make sure he eats and gets his ass over to see Rogue." The Iron slayer narrowed his eyes on Vander before he stepped aside and gestured toward the stairs. Vander rolled his eyes, standing and a deep dark snug shirt formed over his bare torso, soft leather boots taking the place of his usual greaves over his black jeans. He headed downstairs then, Bickslow going with him while Gajeel watched them leave.
"There's more, Bickslow said Vanders soul was reacting to Rogues, so something is going on there, why would they take his? Just because he's a member of your family? That's all of you now isn't it? They've taken blood from all of your family?" Gajeel asked and Kaleb shook his head.
"Except for Farron and...and our other brother who they can't reach...I'm wondering if this is all Rotbull, he's a blood mage, but I can't see why he'd be collecting our blood, there has to be a reason, but there are hundreds of ceremonies, thousands of rituals involving blood…" He sighed.
"Not likely, with a new leader he wouldn't want to rock the boat that hard, it has to be this new leaders plans." He growled shaking his head.
Gajeel squeezed Kalebs shoulder, moving past him to head downstairs.
"We'll find out Kaleb." Cristoff said, nodding at Wendy and following her from the infirmary. Cobras arms around him made Kaleb relax and lean into his mate gratefully.
"I have a really bad feeling about all of this…" He sighed and Cobra pressed his lips together in a frown.
"Like Cris said, we'll figure it out, now lets make sure your little brother gets his ass over to see Rogue, Bickslows suspicions sound right, and your baby brother is feeling a pull even though he's denying it vehemently to himself…." He said. Kaleb nodded and followed Cobra down the stairs to the guild hall.
Vander ate, feeling better by a huge margin once he did, though the drive, the NEED to see Rogue was still firmly in place, something he'd thought would have lessened. He felt off still, like his world was out of balance and for a man who spent his life walking sharp edges, was trained in balance and precision, it wasn't a good feeling, was so far from normal it alarmed him.
"Go, get off your ass and go see him." Cobra snapped at him not completely unkindly but the mans cool indigo gaze left no margin for much argument. Vander rolled his eyes.
"Fine, but Bix had better not bitch about me sleeping with one of you guys' guildmates because I won't promise not to...If anything, I plan to make an effort to get into that guys pants." He said flippantly, annoyed at the conflicting messages he'd gotten, his own weird feeling of being off balance and out of sorts, losing three damn days to some blood drawing loonies he damn well knew he'd had sex with and didn't even have the pleasant memories to enjoy or ease his raging libido.
Giving Cobra a wicked smirk he slid from his barstool and headed out the doors of the guild, to go find Rogue, fuck the man absolutely senseless, and get on with his damn life, he had to get back to work in a few days and he wasn't entirely happy about that fact.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It had been a few days since the performance.
And Rogue was avoiding the guild like the plague.
Instead, he holed up in his room, in the apartment that he and Sting used to live together in. Now, after meeting Xally, Sting had moved out when they had managed to find a place, leaving the apartment to Rogue. He was stretched out on his bed, hands tucked under his head, staring blindly at the ceiling above him. His lips were lightly bruised from being caught between his sharp teeth repeatedly, and the signs of lack of sleep were evident by the bags under his eyes.
He honestly had no idea what to do. He knew his dragon had made it's choice. But it was a choice that he couldn't allow to happen. Vander had a life back in Bosco, and as a shadowquip, his particular skills made him invaluable to his home kingdom. He had seen each of his friends, each slayer finding their mates, and while each of those mates were siblings to Bixlow, they probably didn't have as many responsibilities to their home land as Vander did.
It wasn't a lack of desire, Gods no, he ached for his mate, his dragon was nearly torturing him now and the certainty of that never getting better terrified him.. He would need Vander like air for the rest of his life, and now, knowing, having touched him, made that contact, now he would never know peace unless he was with his mate, unless they mated, consummated everything and were fully bound to each other, if they did that, after a while, he'd be able to be apart from his mate but never for too long.
He'd never really put much thought into what his mate would be like, but now he knew, tall, graceful, handsome, so intensely sexy and wickedly flirtatious Vander was just sinful. He was talented, successful, Gods his mate could play the guitar and sang like an angel, that voice, that silken gorgeous voice would haunt him forever. So would the memories of seeing him on stage, moving against his guitar, the feel of Vanders caress even if it had just been at a distance using his magic, the scent of him.
Gods seeing him there, shirtless, Cana and Mira all over him in that storage room, Rogue had drifted between fury, confusion, and unbelievable pain as he'd struggled with a dragon inside him roaring that he should kill the women, take his mate, claim him on the floor right on top of the vanquished bodies of his rivals.
Just remembering that night had Rogue groaning and rolling over to shove his face into his pillows, feeling his dragon straining against him, and releasing a snarl in response. Even now, days later, he could still smell the man, hear him, feel the calloused palm against his own. He had to avoid the man at all costs, so that when Vander left, it wouldn't be as painful.
"You know...no matter how hard you press your face into that pillow, you won't be able to suffocate yourself before your body stops you." An amused voice sounded out behind him. Seeing as how Rogue had been alone in the room before he rolled over, hearing that had him yelping as he flipped and jumped in shock, flailing as he ended up rolling off the edge of the bed, his blankets twisting around and trapping his legs.
Vivid curses flew around the room, echoed by deep belly laughs as Rogue tried to get his legs free so he could stand up. Snarling, he reached down to tear through the linen, allowing the pain and anger of seeing the other shadow mage to strengthen his arms.
"Awwww falling for me already are we?" Vander cooed from his spot leaning back against the closed bedroom door, hands tucked into the back pockets of his tight fitting black jeans.
"Oh yea, absolutely, falling for the man who is only here for a short time to visit family, really smart of me." Rogue snapped, managing to free his legs and rolling to his feet to glare at the quirked eyebrow aimed at him.
"Ooohh someone's grumpy." Vander huffed, shifting to cross his arms over his chest. "And looks like shit. Have you gotten any sleep lately?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but no." Rogue answered in a low tone. "Now how the hell did you get in here? I have traps set throughout the apartment that would've alerted me to a visitor."
"Shadowquip remember? I can bend any type of shadow to my will. I think I showed that to you clearly enough that night at the guild." Vander smirked, a knowing look in his eyes as he let his gaze wander down over Rogue's body and back up again. Taking a breath, he took one step and disappeared, only to reappear right in front of Rogue, his body just grazing along the smaller mage. There was just the right difference in height, just two or three inches, it was enough so Rogues head had to tilt up to meet the heated wine colored eyes of his mate as Vander gazed into the eyes that had widened and pupils that had turned into slits as Vander trailed the back of a finger over Rogues throat.
The sharp inhale that Rogue took stuttered in his lungs even as he took an instinctive step back to get away from Vander. Only to have him take one step forward, keeping him in Rogues space.
"Don't." Rogue frowned. Vander smirked playfully, his mischievous eyes undoing Rogues grip on his resolve moment by moment.
"Don't what exactly? We didn't get to be very near each other at the guild the other day and I know you wanted to…" Vander countered.
Another few steps that were matched had Rogue's back against the wall and struggling to keep his dragon at bay, even as he lowered his gaze. He knew, instinctively, that if he had kept his gaze on Vander's, he likely would've tackled him, and started something that couldn't be finished. The amount of need, desire coursing through him was painful, and having Vander right there, right in front of him, smelling so good, his shining black hair loose around his shoulders, his defined chest outlined by a skin tight maroon t-shirt, his full tempting lips curled in a sultry smile.
"You shouldn't be here Vander." Rogue said softly, his hands clenching at his sides.
"Why? You've been avoiding the guild, and I've wanted to talk to you." Vander countered, so close his breath fanned through Rogues hair and he knew if he looked up he'd have that smiling mouth on his. He wasn't usually this aggressive, he really wasn't, he always played, but not usually like this, he was just so driven, wanted this shadow mage more by the moment.
"I'll say it again, you shouldn't be here." Rogue repeated, this time growling slightly.
"I want to know why you haven't been there. I know I made it clear that I want you, and you certainly didn't give any impression of not wanting the same, the way you got so hard in my touch that night..." Vander stated smugly his voice purring, lifting a hand to trace gentle fingers along the curve of Rogues shoulder, his smirk turning into a smile when he felt the telltale shiver under his fingertips. "And your body tells me that it wants the same." He added then in a softer breathy tone, smoothing his fingers down Rogues arm.
"It doesn't matter." Rogue whispered, his head ducked, voice cracking as sudden tears of conflict burned in his throat. He couldn't stop the moan that escaped him as Vander lifted his other hand to slide the fingers of both hands he had so admired into his dark hair, pinning him further against the wall. the feel of those fingers burrowing into his hair, skimming along his scalp, of Vander leaning closer, so close the warmth of his body could be felt, it was pleasure and pain.
"And why would that be? I can tell you've been with men and women, albeit only a couple of them, maybe you're a little inexperienced but it can't be a question of your preferences. I know you want me, I can feel it, I'm not a Dragon Slayer but I can even smell it from you...I want you just as bad I promise. Are you promised to someone?" Vander asked quietly, leaning down to nuzzle into Rogues neck. Inhaling that luscious sugared pear scent and letting his eyes roll back in pleasure. His warm breath fanning over his skin as lips ghosted over his throat,
Feeling his mate nuzzle into him had Rogue choking on a moan as he planted his hands against the wall behind him hard enough to leave finger dents. It took an extra moment for him to realize he had been asked a question, and he mentally lavished gratitude on Xally for teaching him some of the Boscan ways, one of which was the promise to another. He wanted to lie. So badly did he want to lie, if it meant it got his mate away from him.
But he couldn't.
Not to his mate, not about something like that. The pain it could cause him was something that would bring no end of torment to Rogue. Gritting his teeth, he managed to growl out his answer. The answer he felt was the truth.
"No. And I never will be."
"Hmmmm, more fun to experience different flavors then, wouldn't you agree?" Vander asked, feeling his body shudder in response to his touch right against his ear. Hearing the smug satisfaction, and confidence, Rogue felt his heart crack slightly, and the burn of tears in his eyes became painful. Vander felt incredible, and all he had to do was reach out, lean forward the slightest bit and he could have him, could press against that tall body and accept what was being so freely offered. Freely now, but Vander didn't know...didn't know what he was or what Rogue would take if they touched much more.
"I might. But not this time. Not with you." Rogue said, forcing himself to still completely, not letting a single shiver or twitch give him away. Feeling Vander pull away and look down at him with a confused frown, he shifted into his shadow form and darted past him, to reappear behind the other shadow mage.
Turning quickly, Vander met the crimson gaze that held no small amount of pain and longing, and felt his own stomach and heart lurch, feeling like he was about to lose something incredibly important, even when he didn't know what it even was, he couldn't stop himself from throwing one last question at Rogue, a need to know driving him.
"Why not? After what happened the other night, why not enjoy a little fun with each other?" Vander demanded, hands clenching at his sides. He didn't understand it. He knew how to back off, how to let rejection just roll off his back. But this time, he couldn't bring himself to shrug and leave. His body wouldn't let him. This time, he'd wanted it too much. "I could make it better than anything you've ever had before...Ryos…"
Hearing his mate say his name made him wince in acute pain, his dragon screaming inside of him, begging, demanding he rush into the taller mages arms. Feeling the last bit of his control straining, close to snapping, he could damn well scent his mates arousal, desire for him and it was too much to bear. Rogue bit out his answer before disappearing into the shadows once more.
"Because it wouldn't be JUST a little bit of fun with each other! You're my mate and I can't have you!"
To say Vander went instantly numb, and became too stunned to move, shocked senseless, would've been an understatement, and that was his excuse for not chasing after the shadow dragon slayer, as he watched the shadows race from the small apartment.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It wouldn't be until much, much later when Vander stumbled into the guild hall, that any of the other slayers would find out what had happened.
It was mid-afternoon, the guild wasn't crowded, but members were littered around the hall, and in the center of it all were the slayers and their mates who had shoved a couple of long tables together and were enjoying lunch together. Pausing on the threshold of the guild, and seeing them gathered, he let his gaze drift over each pair in the order he had been told about by Bix.
Bix had found his soulmates in Gajeel, the iron dragon slayer and Levy, the cute little script mage. They were seated together, Levy sitting sideways in Gajeels lap with her legs stretched out across Bix's, enjoying the caresses she was getting along her legs, and the absent minded tugs of her hair as it was played with. He could see they were happy, content, even glowing with the bond that was between them.
His brother Kaleb, the still current master of White Sea, and currently on hiatus from the guild as he spent time with his mate, Erik, the poison dragon slayer who had not had a great start in life. There had been some rough spots, but they had managed to make it through, he could see the gleaming band of white gold on Eriks finger, the matching one on Kalebs. He knew he hadn't missed their wedding, if he had, he would've gotten another verbal lashing from the rest of the family. But he knew his older brother had about moved Heaven and Earthland to be able to be where he was in that moment, to stay with Erik, live in Magnolia. Kaleb had been stunned to find he was a Dragon Slayers mate, but he'd embraced it, fought for it, and now they were happy. Kaleb had straddled the bench, allowing Erik to lean back into his embrace, who would also glare venomously at anyone who thought to poke fun at him with the display of affection. When they had met, it had apparently been with a great deal of confusion, but acceptance at what they had found with each other.
Shifting his gaze further, he saw Cristoff leaning over his own mate, Natsu, the fire dragon slayer. Cristoffs hands were braced on either side of Natsu, caging him against the table as he pressed against the smaller mage from behind with an amused look on his face. Natsu's own face had a, what Vander could admit was a downright adorable, pout, as he huffed and pointedly did not look at his mate. It was only another moment before one of Cristoff's hands lifted and slid into the pink locks of hair, firmly tilting Natsu's face to look at him with a raised brow. Slumping in defeat, Natsu sighed before nodding, tilting his head further to accept a heated kiss from his mate. They were, quite literally, as different as night and day, and yet they still worked well for each other. Cristoff loved how challenging his mate was, it frustrated him at times, but he'd always had ridiculous amounts of patience.
Laxus and Emzadi. Now that had been a pairing that had come completely out of left field, but again it just worked. They had mimicked Erik and Kaleb, only Laxus was the one leaning back into Emzadi's embrace, matching content grins on their face as they watched their family. Emzadi had always been like the sun her magic was based in, 6 feet tall, blonde and built like every boys most heated dreams she'd always stood out and it wasn't that surprising her mate had turned out to be the massive Lightning Slayer. They were both bigger than life, pissing-yourself worthy strong, and had a bond so deep already between them, and those they considered family, that Vander actually felt a bit of pity for anyone who was stupid enough to attempt to hurt any of them. Mercy wasn't likely to be on the attackers side if those two found out about it.
Then there was the most recent pairing that had happened. Sting and Xally. Like Natsu and Cristoff they appeared to be complete opposites. Vander knew there was a great deal of smarts under the prankster exterior Sting gave to those around him, but only those truly close to him knew of the brains. And Xally, like Cristoff, was a quiet, thoughtful little water mage who had, on more than one occasion brought each Pradesh sibling to their knees, but they would just as quickly stride through hell for her. She was close to all of them, with her hidden streak of troublemaker endearing her to her siblings. Even now, Sting sat on the table directly, legs spread to accommodate Xally as she scolded him for being on the table in the first place, an indulgent smile on his face as he braced elbows on his knees and messed with the ends of her hair.
The table itself was littered with plates of partially eaten food, mugs of various drinks scattered around them. Vander could only watch as his own wistful smile crossed his face, seeing his family happy like this. Seeing them come together like this, so quickly had shocked many, but now, actually seeing it, there was peace. Even if only for a moment. Because he knew that as soon as Erik and Kaleb caught onto his thoughts, and realized what had happened, he was going
to-
"Vander, what the hell did you do?!" Kaleb demanded, his head snapping around as he caught his just arrived brothers thoughts. He personally had enjoyed the way Vander had initially looked over each of his siblings with their mates, but as soon as he had heard those thoughts take on a darker tone, he knew something was wrong. His question immediately caught the attention of all of the slayers and mates, and had their individual conversations cutting off. Vander absently noted how eerie it was for each of them to shift at the exact same time until he was the focus of many worried gazes, and two downright pissed ones. Damn the mind and soul hearing!
Gulping slightly, he stayed where he was, hoping that maybe he could make a run for it after he-
"Oh no you don't, you get your ass over here so we can fix this!" Erik snarled, sitting up fully, his gaze furious as he heard the memories echoing through Vanders soul. Hearing those words, delivered that way, Vander felt his stubborn and rebellious side snap into place.
"There's nothing to fix! He knew that I'd be leaving soon! It's not my fault he had to tell me that I'm his mate! He could've just left it alone!" He snapped, then blanched as he realized the hole he had just dug himself.
He'd grown up in a home with two dragon slayers as siblings, had learned to walk gripping the scales of the massive Lunar Dragon Nurem, he knew, KNEW what mates meant.
He couldn't even hide behind preferring women, everyone of his siblings knew he had no preferences, he'd slept with more women than men but that was more due to the fact women were drawn to him and he was approached by them more often than it was related to what he enjoyed more. He was pretty much impartial, pleasure was pleasure, sex was sex.
So when he said that his siblings universally frowned.
"I'm sure I didn't hear you say that load of bullshit just now. Rogue told you then…told you you're his mate? Confirmed it?" Cristoff demanded.
Vander narrowed his eyes. "Yes, and nothing happened dammit so don't look at me like that Cris, it's not like I fucked him and walked off, we didn't do a damn thing. But he told me I was his mate and that he knew he couldn't have me. Then he took off, didn't give me so much as a minute to say anything." He said. "And why aren't any of you surprised?" He demanded.
"Because we heard him fucking growl after watching you the other night, so we suspected it. We recognize different growls dammit. Not to mention what Bix saw with your souls! And what do you mean, can't have you? It's not optional, a mate can't be denied, once the dragon soul finds them that's it, consummated, marked or not, you're mates and separation just weakens you both. Vander…this is basic shit…basic shit you fucking KNOW." Cristoff growled.
Vander leaned on the support pillar he was standing by, glaring at his family. "Yeah well I didn't know we were mates ok? When I was messing around the other day I just thought he was interested for some fun, I'm not a mind or soul reader, I went to his place yesterday to ask him why he hadn't been around just like all of you TOLD me to because I'm due in fucking Hargeon tonight now damn it, to catch my flight home, it's not like I don't have at least 50 jobs waiting for me right now…Fuck! I knew I shouldn't have come here, I fucking knew a vacation was a bad idea with all of you taking time off because you've found your damn mates, I didn't WANT a mate! I'm happy being single, fuck!" He snarled.
He rammed the sole of his boot into the Pillar behind him, glaring at the floor because he couldn't meet the eyes of the people he cared about.
"Vander…where is Rogue?" Sting asked. He'd kept quiet until now but only because he was too stunned to speak, now, Xally had turned to face her brother and was standing between his legs leaning back against his chest, were it not for her cool soothing presence in his arms, he would have flown at Vander, beat his head against that pillar.
"I don't know, he took off after he told me and I was a little too stunned by the news to follow him, I went back to the hotel to think and when I got up this morning I went to his place to find out if he was serious but he wasn't there so I figured I'd check here…I don't have time for this, I need to get to Hargeon." Vander replied.
"No, you're not running from this, you can't, you'd be putting your life and Rogues at risk if you did." Kaleb said firmly, turning and getting to his feet.
Vander narrowed his eyes again. "I'm not missing my flight Kaleb, a couple of the jobs I have waiting can't be blown off and one is time sensitive." He snapped.
Kaleb closed the distance between them, his eyes hard and set firmly. "Then I'll contact Farron and have him arrange for another person to take it off your hands…you're staying Vander, until we clear everything up and sort it out, you think you're the only one with responsibilities? I have a guild with 17 branches and over 4000 members waiting for me in Bosco, not to mention back home, and it's not like I can just hand it off to someone. I couldn't afford to take this time off any more than you could but when something like this comes, you don't hesitate, you don't doubt, you fucking fight for it. I know you, I know how you are, but this wasn't some cheap fuck for fun Van, you're the mate of a Dragon Slayer."
Vander frowned. "I didn't fuck him! Nothing happened, not a damned thing Kaleb, ok? Shit we didn't even kiss or anything. So maybe we can still walk away… Not like either of us are getting a damn thing but misery out of this!"
"I already said that doesn't matter Van. Just…wait ok? Lets find Rogue and we'll sit down and figure this out." Cristoff said.
"Where would Rogue go Sting? We need to find him, he and Vander need to hash this out, the sooner the better for both their sakes." Cristoff asked.
Sting drew a breath. "Library maybe, I know a spot I can check not far from here, usually if he's brooding on something he just goes home and needs privacy…it's why I haven't bugged him the last few days. He's been…brooding." Sting admitted.
"Yeah well I just left his place, he's not there, and by the looks of it, he packed some shit in a hurry and left so I came here…" Vander crossed his arms over his chest shifting uneasily.
Kaleb smiled faintly. "Looking for him…like you damn well know you should be. Ok, we need to find out where he went…." He trailed off and Levy was shimmying off Gajeels lap.
"I'll check the libraries where I've seen him before!" She said determinedly. Gajeel and Bix both standing to join her.
"I'll check the spot I know near here." Sting said, easing himself from the table, smiling faintly when Xallys fingers laced with his, making it clear she was staying with him.
As those people headed out Kaleb nodded toward the table at Vander. "Have a seat little brother, I'll buy you a drink if you just relax." He offered.
Vander glared at him. "Relax? Are you fucking kidding me? You know…I almost didn't come here Kaleb…I almost took the 1pm to Hargeon…I didn't want this…I'm not ready…" He hissed.
Kaleb put a hand on his shoulder, almost wincing at the riot his brothers thoughts were turning into. He was completely conflicted, the cold hearted Blood Hunter covert operative he was wrote Rogue off, but the rest of him wasn't sure, and a small part of him…wanted the Shadow Slayer.
"I wasn't either, neither was Erik, he's a good person you know…has a cute little cat, an Exceed like Lily named Frosh." Kaleb smiled trying to be encouraging. He could hear the panicked worries about losing all he'd fought for, never having fun again…something he knew from personal experience was decidedly not true.
"I heard about Frosh before…" Vander heaved a sigh letting his brother pull him to the table finally. Kinana put a cold beer in his hand while Erik looked at him carefully and he wouldn't meet the mans indigo gaze.
"Frosh is at Stings place with Stings Exceed Lector…Rogue dropped her off there right after the performance the other night." Wendy said, knowing this because Carla had gone over to check on the sweet little cosplaying exceed. Vander didn't respond, keeping his eyes on the table. It was bad enough he couldn't hide a thought from Kaleb, Cobra heard his damn soul.
"You want him…and not just for a fun fuck…sooner you admit that and make peace with it, the better off you'll be." Erik said, reaching to touch Kaleb without even realizing he was until his mate put an arm around him and rested his chin on his shoulder, leaning against his back. The contact was immensely soothing.
Hearing Kaleb admit to all the trouble he was dealing with because he was his mate had made Cobra cringe. He knew it wasn't his fault, knew Kaleb didn't hold a damn thing against him for it but it still pained him. He needed him, needed Kaleb like air, when he was there nightmares didn't plague him, he woke up smiling, fingers curling in silken platinum hair, strong arms around him. Kaleb was a light in the darkness for Cobra now and he knew, felt, through the ever growing bond they had, he was that for Kaleb as well.
He had never in his life experienced passion and pleasure on the levels Kaleb could bring them, but more than that, was the unwavering love, something Kaleb had given him quickly, no reservations, no doubts and it staggered him, he'd never thought he'd know that emotion, but he did now. He hadn't spoken the words but Gods did he feel it, he loved Kaleb, with every ounce of his being he loved his mate. It had happened so fast, but ran so very deep.
Did he think he'd end up mated to a 6'3" blonde powerhouse? A Wizard Saint and Guildmaster already before he'd reached 25? Hell no, Cobra had wondered for a while why he'd never felt drawn to Kinana, or Lucy, or any of the beauties Fairy Tail had to offer, some sweet woman who would give him beautiful children, warm his bed and burrow into his arms on the couch.
He'd been surprised just how much he enjoyed being the one who burrowed into strong arms. Not having to be hard and strong, organized or anything else, just being…loved. He fucking had that now.
He knew everything Kaleb felt about it, first, he could hear the mans beautiful soul clear and soothing, calm and strong better than any other he'd ever heard. Second, Kaleb told him, never held back a damn thing. From being stunned he was a mans mate and would be coupled with a man for the rest of his life, to everything related to the guild, Cobras past, all of it.
The dark beautiful mark on Kalebs neck hadn't been easy for Cobra to put there. Intimacy, touching, it was hard on him, and even with Kaleb reading his thoughts, able to respond instantly to his needs, it had taken more than one try before everything had finally clicked, Kalebs gentle patience and some serious hardships they had gone through had made it happen though, and they had been pretty active since, Cobra getting more and more demanding of that portion of their relationship as he got more and more comfortable with touching, being held, intimacy and everything that went into it.
He and Kaleb maybe more than any of the others, could relate to Vanders hesitations and fears. It didn't mean he'd let the little fucker skip out and try to walk away from this. He'd seen the damn tease on stage.
Fuck, Cana, Mira, Laki and about six or seven other women had been just about to throw their panties at him. He knew Cana and Mira both had tried to catch him after the performance, and that the two had gone into a storage room where they had almost gotten what they had been after, Vander being plenty willing.
Gods, Cobra couldn't imagine how that would feel, he couldn't imagine seeing Kaleb with lust minded women who reeked of arousal hanging all over him when he'd first met him, first realized what he was. He'd been lucky, Kaleb had realized what was happening almost before Cobra himself had, and had accepted it almost immediately, welcomed it, welcomed him.
But Vander hadn't, and it was true, Cobra knew it right from the younger mans soul he honestly hadn't known, had honestly just seen Rogue as a potentially really fun fuck because Rogue used regular, albeit much more powerful than normal because he was a Dragon Slayer, shadow magic and Vander could manipulate shadows, bend them to his will, create them, extinguish them, make them into things, so he could use the shadows Rogue had laced through him in his magic, could do things to Rogues body he really enjoyed doing, having taken a few shadow mages to his bed before, Vander already knew how much fun they were for him.
So he'd wanted Rogue because of that, because of his elegant features, ruby eyes and what, Cobra realized with a smile, was a steadily growing list of things about the man he'd found attractive.
It had, honestly, been that simple.
Until yesterday, when he'd gone to Rogues home at everyones prompting to find out why he'd not been by the guild, wickedly hoping he could lure the man into a fevered roll in the sack before he had to catch his train to Hargeon. Not exactly innocent, but far from evil or even mean, Vander had just wanted some fun, he'd give every bit as good as he got, better really, the things he could do to a shadow mage really were deeply, erotically pleasurable and he'd wanted very much to pleasure the Shadow Dragon Slayer, to drive him wild.
When Rogue had started rejecting him he'd been confused, because Rogue was putting off some seriously mixed signals, and it, uncharacteristically for Vander…hurt. He really wanted Rogue, wasn't even sure why it had been so important to him he'd bothered to find out where he lived and gone looking for him instead of just relenting to Lakis advances and trying out some of her toys with her right from the beginning.
Cobra and Kaleb now both, knew all of this, because Vander couldn't stop himself from replaying it all, wondering where things had taken the turn from just hot fun to…life altering choices. Not even that, choice wasn't on the table…a bond was already forming.
Cobra and Kaleb could both see Rogue in Vanders memory, knew he'd admitted to no sleep and Vander was observant as hell, he'd noticed things like no pots or pans were drying in racks, no scent of food recently prepared, and multiple bottles of whiskey drained dry on the coffee table.
All signs Rogue wasn't handling finding his mate well and that the few days of being separated from him, with no physical bonding, no acknowledgment to soothe his inner dragon, his Dragon Soul was making him suffer. Proof there was a bond trying to form.
Sting came back in with Xally, both frowning and Kaleb and Cobras initial hopeful looks when the doors had opened fell along with Vanders.
"He's not out there, hasn't been out there either, not for a couple of days…" Sting called.
"Who are you looking for?" Lisanna asked, having just come in after taking a break to go pick up some flour and sugar for the guild kitchen.
"Rogue, we can't find him anywhere." Sting replied.
Lisanna smiled. "Well he took a job yesterday, came in, grabbed it, registered it and left, he said he was catching the next train, so there you go, nothing to worry about." She smiled.
"What job did he take?" Sting demanded as Vander stood and crossed to the bar with Kaleb and Cobra.
Laxus stood. "I'll go get the log and find out." He offered, going back to his grandfathers office and emerging a few minutes later with a copy of the job flier Rogue had taken.
Wanted, mage or mages to take down a group of bandits
that have been kidnapping people near Bayview.
Possible S-Class
Reward 2,000,000.00
Contact: Captain of Bayview City Guard
"Isn't Bayview near Darkwater? That's a fucking nest of dark guilds out there, their city guard is serious shit, why would they need mages?" Cobra frowned. It didn't sound right, didn't sound right at all.
If the City Guard of Bayview was having a problem with a group of Bandits, that was cause to call in the damn rune knights, not put in a job request to a wizards guild. Bayviews City guard were badasses, even the Oracion Seis hadn't fucked with that city, they went around it when they had business in that area.
"It is a little bizarre, they're all about fishing and martial arts in that city, I've never seen a job request like this come from them, if we get one it's usually asking for a water mage to work out a stuck ship or something." Laxus agreed.
Vander drew a breath, he wasn't feeling especially well and he didn't know if that was due to the monumental stress he'd been under since Rogue had dropped the whole mate thing on him or if he was just out of sorts because he was damn well wishing he'd kept his ass in Bosco or Archipelago, not like he'd gotten a break in his damn work load.
Boscos Steel Council always had plenty for him to do. Recovery missions though, where he had to get into places, bring back people or things, those he got a lot of, because of the way he could move through the deeper void shadows he could get into pretty much any place regardless of the security undetected, and then back out the same way. He'd brought back plenty of kidnap victims and lifted plans from many a war desk in his 21 years.
Blood Hunts were less common, but he was that as well, the black shield of the Steel Council of Bosco was tattooed on the back of his right shoulder and it was outlined in the deep red blood line for a reason. He took Blood Hunt contracts.
Vander was lethal, Bickslow sometimes kidded about their father bringing Vander along being a gauge of how much danger the King thought he was heading into. He only brought Vander when he knew it was very likely he'd face real and serious attacks.
Vander didn't like that work, he hated it usually. Generally he was sent in to take out pretty terrible people, but sometimes the people he was sent to take out, didn't seem like bad people to him, they were just in the way somehow.
He listened carefully as the others discussed the mission Rogue had taken and winced inwardly. Rogue hadn't looked especially well when he'd seen him, lack of sleep, food and stress had shown and if the misery and pain he'd seen in those ruby eyes had been as deep as what it looked like, he wasn't likely to be careful, more likely to run in blind counting on his fury and frustration to carry him through.
"How far is this place…how long to get there?" He asked, he had never been one to stand around for long and people were starting to repeat things they had already said while everyone was deciding what to do next.
"From Hargeon it would be about 2 hours on the coastal train. So 4 maybe 4 and a half hours total, it's not that far." Laxus replied.
Vander turned on his heel to leave, it was Stings hand on his shoulder that stopped him. He turned and met hard blue eyes edged with worry. "I don't know why he ran from you, Rogues always been quiet, but he's my best friend, and he wouldn't do it over nothing." He said firmly.
Vander nodded, and as he was about to head for the door again when an overwhelming feeling of pain, disorientation and panic hit him and brought him staggering to his knees.
Cobra was catching him before anyone else could react, keeping him from going all the way down and Vander stared dazedly down trying to get his vision to clear but more pain washed over him, terrible, bone deep pain this time sending his vision almost black as Cobra held him and Xally rushed forward.
"Van! Van what is it?!" She demanded, on her knees in front of him swiftly, grasping his face in her hands and pushing magic into him as Cristoff leapt the table and rushed to help her.
For a moment Vanders vision left him entirely, he saw the flashing of magic, it was hitting him, sending pain through him until he could scarcely breathe and suddenly there was a bald man, heavyset, with a brush of a moustache over a sneering mouth. "Fucking Fairy scum…get him in the manacles, he's one of the ones we want, reset the traps, when he doesn't come back or report in…we'll be getting more…fuck…he's almost pretty…ha…chain him in the office…facing the wall…" He laughed darkly and others could be heard joining in his dark amusement. The way the man looked, the hurtful interest that bordered on…Vanders whole being recoiled and there was blackness.
Panting he could smell the warm sea breeze that was his sister, could feel her cool soothing hands on his face and felt her magic probing through him trying to find injury but there wasn't any, the injuries weren't his.
"Ryos…" He rasped and Kaleb blanched, locking eyes with Sting who was wide eyed.
"What?! What the fuck? What about Rogue?!" Sting demanded, fighting the urge to move closer.
"Something…" Kalebs eyes were moving, hazed as he retraced what he'd just pulled from Vanders mind "Rogues been captured…injured…some big bald man...fuck...Rotbull…" He narrowed his eyes and finally closed them, Cobra growled and slid his arms around Kaleb as his mate reeled.
The Fairy Tail mages stilled, eyes widening in horror.
"Nightmare…Fucking Nightmare again. Dark guild that attacked Levy, your brothers, Gajeel." Laxus said.
"Dark Guild?" Vander asked, getting to his feet with Cristoffs help.
"Yeah…I know they don't fuck with Bosco because of…" Laxus snorted nodding toward Kaleb "Fucking White Sea, but they're strong here, the Rune Knights can't get a handle on them. Human trafficking, dark magic items trade, shit if it's nasty as fuck that guild has a hand in it."
"They stepped into the void left when the Bellum alliance fell apart because the Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart were taken down. They've gotten really strong, Caelum and Midi have been having a lot of trouble with them and in the last two years they've branched into Fiore under a lieutenant called Rotbull, guys a nasty piece of work…I've met him, sick twisted fuck. After what he did to Gajeel and Kaleb, I have my own plans for him too." Cobra said, meeting Kalebs eyes.
He could feel Kalebs anger rising, see plans swirling, images of Rotbull screaming and writhing at his feet, worse than Ruger had. Kaleb wanted Nightmare on its knees, wanted to be the one to burn the darkness out of Rotbull like he had Ruger. Cobra would love nothing more than to be the one to lay them in front of Kaleb and watch his mate destroy them.
"He called Rogue Fairy Scum, said something about resetting traps for more." Vander said, voice steady and strong now but he was alarmed at a sudden void he felt, like a piece of him was missing.
Cobras hand tightened on his shoulder, the younger mages soul was in serious turmoil in spite of the icy calm way he looked, he could see Vander prodding gingerly at a void in himself that hadn't been there until Rogue had been taken.
The shadowquip was getting a nasty taste of what a mate being taken felt like, even with the barely started bond, with no active work to build it between him and Rogue, the dragon magic had already begun it, made space in Vanders soul for the other half of it that was Rogue.
It was good Bickslow wasn't in there right then, Cobra couldn't imagine what it would look like to the Seith, it shook Cobra reminding him of what he had gone through when Kaleb had been taken and he could only hear it, not actually see it. Glancing at his mate he knew Kaleb was seeing it from yet another angle and tightened his fingers on Vanders shoulder again. All anger over the mans stubbornness was gone, Vander wasn't rebelling anymore, he was well aware and terrified by what he was feeling, but to his credit, without magic revealing that, there was no way to tell it, his heart was steady, breathing even, gaze icy and pure business.
"Kinda my thing huh "Master" Kaleb? How many Dark guilds, mages, organizations have I tracked and collected intel from? I'll head down there, better if I'm alone, I know how to not be seen or noticed. I'll find Rogue, get him out...body count will be at my discretion." He added the last because his assignments often said that when he was given license to kill for a job.
He wasn't asking for permission though, he was warning his family, their mates…he wasn't going to be nice about getting Rogue back and he didn't want any of them to give him trouble over it.
Kalebs eyes turned hard. "Agreed…do what you must. Get Rogue back, find out what you can about why they set a trap for a Fairy Tail mage and how it worked so we can warn other guilds." He said firmly.
It wasn't a job, no request had come in, this was purely personal, but Kaleb knew Vander would benefit from being given permission and orders, it triggered a harshly trained in mindset for his youngest sibling that took him from the relaxed, semi-lazy seeming smart ass, to the walking death machine that could take out Dark Guilds and facilitate the downfalls of governments solo.
Vander wasn't ranked, mostly because he'd been busted down so many times it was ridiculous for all the trouble he tended to get into with his gregarious sex life, but he had made S-class 3 times since he was sixteen. If he hadn't kept landing himself in trouble, he long since would be ranked as high as Cristoff who was a double S Century class mage in White Sea, as high as a mage could get short of Guild Master, Council or Wizard Saint.
"I'll keep in touch." Vander vowed and this time walked swiftly out of the guild hall.