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

Claimer: I, SussieKitten, own this plot and the story. Borrow or steal my plot, my original characters (Aksel) or story and I will report you. I also own my version of Saphira/Thorn's human appearances.

Warnings: Male and female homosexuality. Heterosexuality. Swearing or strong language. Mentioned Character Death. Mentioned Hurt/Injuries – mentions of prior injuries on a character. Mentions of past Rape. Supernatural creatures – there will be mainly elves, dragons, vampires and werewolves in this. Mentioned Mpreg – male pregnancy. A little blood – this is a vampire fic after all. If any of this disturbs you, click on the "back" button. I won't tolerate any flames.

A/N This chapter is a week late due to the fact that I feel head-over-heels in love with another fandom and have been forced to pull myself away long enough to read through this. Hopefully I'll be able to keep to the schedule from now on!

Anyway, here you have it; Trianna's first appearance, along with Brom's decision to start doing things for Science(TM).

Be warned; this story is self-betaed.

REPRIEVE

Part Two

Morzan didn't hesitate to let them know when he woke up. He also made no effort to hide that he knew Brom had taken Murtagh under his wing.

Brom was not surprised to hear that Morzan didn't approve one bit.

Murtagh looked deeply unsettled every time Morzan shouted at them through the barrier. Brom just took another sip of his tea.

"Has Father been doing that the entire time?" Murtagh asked, voice quieter than normal.

"When he isn't asleep," Brom answered and added, "The madness is probably starting to set in," before he could remember why that might not be the best idea.

The silence that followed almost seemed to echo.

Well, that proved that Morzan was actually paying attention to what they were saying. Brom briefly flirted with the idea of putting up a soundproofing spell, but discarded it. It went both ways and while it would be nice to silence Morzan's verbal abuse, at least this way he knew how far Morzan had progressed. And, not to mention, when it would be safe to go out to shop for food.

Murtagh was staring down at his own untouched tea. "So you know what's wrong with him, then?" he said, voice so soft that Brom almost couldn't hear him.

He paused. "I suspect."

"Are you going to kill him?"

Brom forced himself not to choke on air. This kid, honestly. He talked about death far too nonchalantly.

Curiously enough, Morzan was still quiet. A part of Brom wondered if he'd fallen asleep or if he was still listening in.

"I don't know yet."

-;-

"Father has been asleep for a long time," was the first thing Murtagh said when Brom stepped out of his bedroom some days later.

Brom paused. It was true that they hadn't heard much from him in the past couple of days. He'd thought Morzan was sulking after the conversation he'd overheard, but if what Murtagh said was true...

"You're sure?"

Murtagh looked at him. He nodded soundlessly.

Brom took a seat at the breakfast table and put his head in his hands. It was only seven in the morning. It was too early to make a decision between life and death.

He allowed himself a few moments to think and breathe. He wished sorely for coffee, but that was off the table now. Unless, of course, he took some drastic measures.

Measures, he realised, he wasn't sure whether he needed to take. Measures he could easily find out if he, preferably and arguably, should take. But it would have to be soon, if not now.

He looked up and found Murtagh staring at him. He pushed himself up slowly. "Wait here."

Brom didn't wait for Murtagh to answer before walking back the way he'd come. He brought out the heavy-duty medical bag from the master bathroom. He put it down on the kitchen counters and started to pull out everything he needed. He quickly fashioned a tourniquet, found a vein and slipped the needle under his skin. He then flexed his arm to get the blood flowing into the bottle on the other end of the tube.

Murtagh stared at him all the while, eyes wide.

"Don't look too much into it," Brom said brusquely. "It's an experiment."

Murtagh was still staring at him when he pulled the needle out carefully and quickly put a cotton-ball in its place. He wrapped it securely in place before turning back to what he'd been doing. He made sure to get as much out of the tube as he could before capping the bottle.

"Here," he said and held the bottle out for Murtagh to take.

Murtagh looked between him and it.

"It's for your father," Brom said. "Pour this into his mouth until he starts feeding on his own. Then run back here as quickly as you can. I'll let you back in."

There was a look in Murtagh's eyes that Brom hadn't seen before. There was a moment when he wondered if Murtagh was going to bat the bottle out of his hand or, worse, attack him for what he was suggesting.

"This is not me forgiving your father," Brom told him, voice clipped. "There is no forgiving that man." That, at least, he figured Murtagh would agree with. "But this is an answer I need in order to move forward."

Murtagh stared at him for another minute before slowly reaching out.

Brom didn't let go until he was sure Murtagh wasn't going to drop the bottle. And even then, he did it slowly. "You got it?"

Murtagh nodded mutely.

Brom forced himself to step past Murtagh and out into the living room. He grabbed onto the sword that now usually rested against one of the couches and didn't stop walking until he reached the terrace door. Only then did he turn around.

Murtagh was there. He'd followed Brom so silently that he hadn't heard him. Damn vampires.

"Ready?"

Murtagh's eyes were on his hand as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. He held out the sword, in its scabbard now that it no longer needed to be unsheathed, and waited.

Murtagh was slow to move. He padded over, barefoot, and put a hand just below Brom's on the pommel. He then crossed the threshold and promptly let go.

He looked so small, Brom found himself thinking. Far too small for what Brom was asking him to do.

"Remember to hurry back here," Brom told him.

Murtagh just looked at him again, eyes wide and almost unseeing, before he walked off to where Brom presumed Morzan had passed out some days before.

The wait was agonizing. And yet he only had a moment to regret not bringing a sweater to protect him from the chill before he heard a vicious snarl and saw a small blur running towards him.

Brom didn't even hesitate. He reached out, grabbing the small hand that was reaching back as soon as it was within range and practically forcing the sword into Murtagh's arms as he pulled the kid inside.

And not a moment too soon. Morzan slammed into the barrier before Brom could even take a step back, Murtagh still in his arms.

Murtagh was shaking. Shaking and clearly scared.

Brom took the sword from him and tried to put himself between Murtagh and Morzan. Due to Murtagh clinging to his shirt, he only mostly succeeded.

Brom took a moment to steel himself before facing Morzan head on.

Morzan's eyes almost instantly went to the crock of his right arm. Brom suddenly remembered the second – and probably the more important – reason he should have put on a sweater first.

"You."

"Me," Brom said as he put Murtagh more firmly behind himself.

Morzan bared his teeth, showing off what could only be traces of Brom's own blood. Dinner from the night before suddenly wanted to make a reappearance. Brom, firmly, told his body 'no way in bloody hell.'

"I will kill you," Morzan swore and Brom didn't doubt that he meant it.

Brom just stared death in the eyes and said, "Go ahead. I dare you."

-;-

Murtagh passed him a note a few days later. He hadn't said much since his trip outside to wake Morzan up, but he had yet to actually pass Brom a note. Usually he was able to gesture at or mime whatever he wanted. This was clearly different.

Brom looked at him, but Murtagh's mouth was pressed into a firm line. Whatever it was, he didn't want to say it out loud. Brom picked up the note and unfolded it.

Brom noticed Murtagh's handwriting before he read the words. It was a chicken-scrawl if he'd ever seen one, and not nearly as childlike as he'd been expecting. Still, it was a fair slight away from being nicely legible. He had a vague thought about schooling before the words on the page registered.

Are you pregnant?

Brom paused. He hesitated before looking up.

Murtagh looked unnervingly calm considering the weight of the question he'd asked. He just kept his eyes on Brom as he patiently waited for an answer.

Brom felt around for a pen and finally found one. He uncapped it and paused before the tip met the paper. He knew the answer. He knew undoubtedly that he was. But putting it to paper made it feel far more real.

Yes,he forced himself to write. It wouldn't be too much longer before Murtagh would be able to tell, so lying wouldn't do him any favours.

Murtagh frowned, looking between Brom's face and the paper. He wordlessly asked to borrow the pen and Brom relinquished it. Murtagh wrote, paper tilted slightly, producing the same chicken-scrawl as above.

Will it be like me?Murtagh asked before turning the paper towards Brom.

Brom fought the urge to put a hand on his abdomen.

No,he wrote. And I think you know why.

Murtagh's frown deepened. He looked up and nodded a little haltingly.

Anything else?Brom wrote under that.

Murtagh shook his head. "Thanks," he said softly before walking out as quietly as he had entered.

Brom picked up the note and threw it into the fireplace, where he set fire to it. And while the evidence slowly turned the ash, the bad feeling lingered.

-;-

"Do I want to know why there's a vampire stalking your grounds?"

Brom jolted and banged his knee into the desk. He swore loudly and colourfully in a vain attempt to numb the pain.

Trianna, meanwhile, looked unimpressed. No change there, then.

"I thought I told you not to come around for a while," he growled as he tried to rub the pain away instead.

Trianna's face went sharp with anger.

Brom suddenly regretted his decision to keep the mirror in the study. It was great for when he didn't mind his friends casting a scrying spell to talk to him. It was not so great when he had a murderous vampire constantly hovering just outside the walls in hopes of killing him and a fledgling vampire wandering around in his house.

"Brom Doran Teller, you tell me right now that you had nothing to do with the current circumstances,"Trianna hissed.

Brom knew better than to argue with Trianna when she looked like this. He put a sound-cancelling spell on the room instead and waited for the inevitable.

"Trianna -"

"I can't believe you." Trianna's lips were pressed into a bloodless line.

"It's not what you think," he tried.

"Oh, so you know what I think now?"

"You know that's not what I meant," he said, but it visibly fell on deaf ears.

"I think you're an overconfident ass who's in over his head."

Brom rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Well, you may be right there."

Trianna paused. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Who are you and what have you done with Brom?"

Brom leaned back uncomfortably. "I am capable of admitting my mistakes, you know."

"Under pain of death, maybe,"Trianna said dryly. "What have you done now? It must be serious if you're breaking pattern."

"The less you know, the better." And the less Trianna would be tempted to go physically to the house and shove some sense into his skull.

Trianna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gods save me from clueless men."

"That's why you like women, isn't it?"

Trianna just gave him a dry look. "Will you need to be saved from yourself?"

Translation: did Trianna need to come to Brom's rescue? Well, the answer to that was obvious. "No. I have this under control."

The look on Trianna's face let him know just how much she didn't believe him. "I'll be checking in regularly,"she told him. "And if you die, I want your family's bestiary."

"I promised Tornac he could have it," he deadpanned.

Trianna just bared her teeth at him. "He will have to fight me for it."And then she was gone.

Brom buried his head in his hands and groaned.

-;-

"He hasn't moved in a while," Murtagh said some days later, though it could easily have been weeks. Brom spent far too much time in his own head to be able to keep proper track of the time.

"I see." Brom closed the manuscript he'd been studying.

Murtagh just looked at him from the doorway.

"What do you want to do?" Brom found himself asking. "He's your father."

"He's your mate," Murtagh countered.

Brom snorted. "I hardly chose him."

"I didn't choose him either," Murtagh said, voice almost soft.

Brom found himself wanting to laugh. Here they were, two people irreparably touched by the great vampire Morzan, neither which had been chosen to be a part of his life. And now they were arguing about which one of them should be the one to decide between life and death.

"Has he always been the way I know him?" Brom heard himself say.

Murtagh frowned. "Yes," he said, "though he hasn't been this fascinated by someone before."

"That would be the bond talking," Brom said dryly.

Murtagh shook his head. "He was fascinated by you before. He would talk about you sometimes. Brom the great vampire hunter." He shifted on his feet slightly. "He'd talk about what he'd want to do to you if he ever got you."

Brom pushed himself out of his seat. "Well then, I think we have our answer."

Murtagh visibly startled.

Brom walked past him and made a beeline for his bathroom. He grabbed the kit from under the sink and went through what he now suspected was going to become a routine. He capped off the bottle and made sure to roll down his sleeve after taking care of the puncture mark.

Murtagh lingered in the doorway, looking caught between more emotions than Brom could count.

"Are you -"

"If he's been fantasising about torturing me for years, then it's only fair I return the favour," Brom said and held out the blood. "Are you ready for a repeat?"

Murtagh hesitated before grabbing the bottle. "He's not going to like this."

"Who said he had to?"

-;-

To say that Morzan hadn't 'liked' their interference was an understatement. Calling him furious would probably have been more appropriate.

"I should find a safe way to deliver the blood," Brom said as Morzan ranted and raved at the barrier. He was immensely glad that the sound-proofing was holding.

"That would be nice," Murtagh said from his place on the couch. He still looked shaken.

Brom didn't like that he'd used a child to do his bidding so far. Even if Murtagh's chances of getting away from Morzan unscathed far outweighed his own, it was no way to treat someone who had essentially become his ward.

Anyway, sooner than later Morzan's sense of self-preservation would kick in. He'd hesitate to kill Brom then, even if only for a second, and Brom wouldn't need more than that. They just had to wait. Then the supply runs would be a veritable piece of cake.

"I'll take the next run," Brom said. If they were lucky, the next one was months away.

More likely than not, it was only a matter of weeks.

"He'll kill you."

"He hasn't succeeded so far," Brom said dryly and closed the curtains. "I'd like to see him try."

TBC

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

Brom has yet to make a decision, really, about what to do with the pregnancy and Morzan, but that will come in time. And I really am sorry for everything I'm putting little Murtagh through, but with some time and therapy he should be fine. Hopefully.

Well, he'll definitely be more fine than he is in the Obsession main, anyway lol.

Regarding Brom's middle name: Doran is from an Irish surname which was derived from Ó Deoráin. Deoráin means "exile, wander" in Gaelic. I felt this fit because for most of his life, Brom has been "wandering" in a sort of self-imposed exile. During and after the war where he lost his dragon, Brom has been hunting down vampires. In the original Obs timeline, he hasn't been in Carvahall for more than ten years. Now he's jump-starting that gun just a little.

The next chapter isn't for a while, and I'm reluctant to say when because I've taken a look at my update schedule just now and frowned at it. I may juggle things around a little bit, so it feels more balanced.

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

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