Title: His Vampire Mate

Fandom: Various Dracula Mythos

Chapter: 1

Characters: Dracula, Jonathan

Word Count: 1444

Warnings: Dracula can come across as creepy but the book is filled with him being creepy. It gets better.

AN: So, remember that I told you that I was going to post a Dracula/Jonathan story? Yeah, that's right, I'm posting it now! Because it's after midnight and the tags are going to be a pain in my ass.

Post tagging: Yes, I still hate tags. They can eat me. But I am fucking well marking everything I can! If you think of something I forgot tell me. Might end up with new ones as I go along.

The first time that he had seen Jonathan Harker had been while the man had rested after his long travels in his room at the boarding house. What the Londoners had called a 'hotel'.

Not that any knew what he had done. If he hadn't been able to hide himself away from the prying eyes of a normal mortal, then he couldn't call himself a vampire. His sire would have been most amused if he had been caught, the old bastard traveling somewhere in Russia currently.

Despite what most of the people of the village below thought, he wasn't a selfish monster. He had long worked hard to protect his home and the land around it, first from those who would dare try to take their children as he had once been taken, and then later from his own blood.

But still, he had seen the young Jonathan Harker. Not yet twenty-five and freshly new to being a solicitor, but smart from what he had heard. And fast on his feet, which he needed. He wished to spread his wings, so to speak, see the world before coming back home to recharge and rest.

He was simply beautiful in his sleep. Hair touched by the sun and mussed on the pillow, and a little to long for what most Londoners considered proper. Eyes closed as a pink flush of sleep spread over his cheeks, highlighting the high cheekbones. Lean body resting partially turned onto his stomach, as if he was laying in bed with a lover.

Dracula smirked as he remembered just how that he had looked. It hadn't looked as if he was holding a woman. No, that position was as if Jonathan himself was being held by a lover who was bigger than him.

But now, greeting him after someone had tried to steal him away from Dracula, he could truly take in the lithe form of the other man. He very obviously had worked manual labor as a young man, most likely to pay for his fees for schooling and his apprenticeship, but he was still so lean.

Dracula wanted to do nothing more than press him against a wall, remove the various layers of cloth that stood between him and the flesh of the man before finding out just how long Jonathan would deny himself the pleasure offered. And like most men of the day and age they were in, he would try to deny it.

But he was nothing if not patient. He could wait and work on the other man, courting him, opening his mind to the possibilities of what being the beloved of an ancient being could be like. It would take time and slipping him a few select texts that he had taken time to translate from his youth.

While his…introduction to having male lovers had been a painful one, he had found that it didn't have to be. After he had escaped the bastard that had tormented his brother and he and had started to court a girl from the local nobility as he started had worked on changing things.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, he walked down the stairs, staring at the pretty male with pretty brown eyes that were almost gold in the candlelight. "Welcome, Master Harker. I am Count Dracula. I do hope that the trip wasn't to strenuous," he greeted, watching as just the faintest of red spread over Jonathan's cheeks as he cleared his throat.

"No, the trip was fine. Outside of the couch that was apparently going to take me elsewhere," Jonathan said, taking in the man before him. With long hair carefully pulled back out of his face and held with a braided length of ribbon and leather, and black eyes, the Count quite obviously showed his familial history.

Dracula had carefully edited his family history, showing that he was the last descendant to Vlad Dracul, the father of Vlad Tepes, from a bastard line. All of the proof was in his father's journals after all and the village below wouldn't speak of his truth. Not after they had tried to hand him over to his bastard brother to kill all those centuries ago and had almost been turned into a slave village.

Not that they knew that by then, after losing wife and son, he had met his sire and become a being that was just waiting to die the first time.

Not that Jonathan knew that. All he knew was that he was the descendant of the bastard son of a mistress who had given birth to him before Vlad the Second had died and had been hidden away by the third Vlad.

"Yes, I had worried about that," Dracula sighed, smoothing a hand over his vest, shaking his head, and stepping off the stairs. "Come, let us retire to my study and we can speak over some finger foods about what I hope to do with you here. I do hope you are able to adjust to a night-time schedule."

"I was told that I was going to have to work at night, but I was not told why…" Jonathan admitted as he gathered his work satchel, looking at his bags.

A woman smiled as she appeared, dressed much like any other servant of a wealthy employer did. She bobbed and picked up two of the luggage pieces, a man who looked like he worked in the back rooms, picked up the other two.

"They will take your luggage up to your room and once we finish our discussion, I will personally show you where you are staying for the time being," Dracula promised as the two headed up the stairs. "And my family has a rare condition. We can withstand the sun, but too much causes us pain after some time. Sometimes my family does not have it come up, but when it does, it comes with dangerous consequences for those who have it," he admitted. "I would rather not be sick when we can be working on finding me property in London. And hopefully, later, in other cities."

"Of course," Jonathan said. His eyes widened as he quickly turned back to Dracula, noting that the man had a carefully trimmed goatee around full lips that were quirked in a small smile. He cleared his throat. "If you could, by any chance, show me where the study is? And maybe where I can do my own work so I do not bother you?" he asked.

Dracula hummed, the sound rich and rumbling, before turning to a large table that sat in the hall, sitting with several candelabras. He picked up one that only held three tall candles and used another candle that was already lit to lite them. With light in hand, he led the way down the halls, showing where there was some updating work being done on the castle.

"I wish to have the castle updated while keeping the historic charm so that I may one day open it up to guests who wish to see the castle of our greatest leader," he said, Jonathan tilting his head. "Despite what most would say, those outside of our land, Vlad Tepes only wished to protect his land from those who would use and abuse our lands. Our children."

Jonathan's eyes widened in shock as they stepped into a lush study. Dracula walked around and lit the oil lanterns, throwing warm light all around the room as he digested what he had been told. He finally got out, "Your children?"

Dracula sighed as he knelt before the fireplace, using a long piece of splintered wood to set the wood ablaze. "Dracul, that is the Second Vlad, gave the king of the Otto empire his two legitimate children. From what I have been able to translate from the journals, the man had a taste for them young," he said softly, Jonathan swallowing heavily. Dracula smiled. "He was a bit of a fool seeing as how Vlad the third became quite powerful. Let us stop talking about what happened before now and speak of what I wish to do."

Jonathan nodded his head, a servant girl walking in through a hidden door, pushing a cart with plates and drink for them. "Yes, let's," he said, sitting down at the round table that had the best light, nodding when she placed some plates next to him. Dracula smiled at him and moved a lantern over so that he had enough light before taking his own seat.

He could wait to start his courtship. Let the man relax and get settled in for a long working vacation.