Update! Sorry for the wait, if anyone indeed has been waiting; I have a bunch of the next chapter written already, but it was more of a challenge filling in this part of the story.
Naughty sexual situations ahead, no kiddies. Anyone found to be underage gets sent to Choir-friend Ardwynna for scolding, then you get sent home without porn. Come back when you're 18 and allowed to have a filthy mind. We encourage it, in fact.
Let's get to it…
WITH THE DEAD
Chapter 17
Zack awoke feeling strange. Not hungover, exactly, though he didn't have the experience to accurately judge that, but heavy, though he had always been light and slender compared to other SOLDIERs. Sitting up in bed, absently noting the sheets under and around him had been changed, the boy roughly rubbed at his temples, further mussing his mess of black spikes, trying to center himself in the now as Angeal had tried to teach him to do. He and Dagan had gone to the carnival last night, he had drunk some kind of wine…
Zack's legs, which had been gathered close to him as he sat, suddenly sprung out straight, would've buckled under him had he been standing. He remembered it all at once with stunning clarity for events experienced while drunk. He and Dagan had had sex, actual, full sex. (The real word for it was buried so deeply in Zack, hidden out of need so deeply that he didn't consciously think of it.) He had had sex with someone other than Angeal and Genesis. He wanted to be angry at himself, but could summon no heat strong enough to fight the icy numbness in his stomach.
Moving without thinking, Zack staggered to his bathroom and got under the hot spray of the shower, turning it to almost scalding, and scrubbed himself as harshly as he could with his fluffy sponge, which is to say, not very. He had finished and was nearly done drying himself when he felt Dagan brush his mind.
Good evening, little one.
Dummy up, Zack ordered himself, retreating back into SOLDIER-mode, survival training. Act like nothing's wrong, he told himself, deep down far enough, he hoped, for Dagan not to see it.
H-Hi. The mental voice was shaky. The boy wanted to kick himself, but didn't trust himself to be able to stand on just one leg.
I'll be up in a few minutes.
Zack quickly pulled on a loose T-shirt (he'd never heard of the band whose name was printed on it, though it was possible Kunsel had mentioned it) and jeans, and was sitting on the bed when Dagan came in, socked feet moving in the air above the carpet, betraying his nervousness. The vampire lord at once sat beside him and wrapped an arm around the newborn's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, little one. I moved too fast for you. I should be showing you an example of an adult's control, and I did just the opposite."
Zack blinked at that, not having expected anger, but not remorse either. Dagan rested his chin on the boy's head, one hand moving up and down his arm in a seemingly non-sexual way. Instinctively, Zack let himself be drawn closer to the taller body.
"Are you all right? I Cured you, but do you have any pain?"
"N-No. I'm fine, really."
Dagan chuckled, a pleasant sound. "You're allowed to be mad at me when I mess up, little one."
"Really, I'm fine." Half of Zack yelled at him for the other half, which hated to see anyone feeling badly on his account. "I mean, I…" Did I say no? I don't remember. I think I did.
"Enjoyed it? You can enjoy sex physically without it being the right decision." Dagan chuckled again. "Strange to have to tell that to a teenager."
Zack laughed shortly, surprising himself.
"Are you really all right? Can you forgive an old man who had a bit too much vin?"
That's right. He was drinking it too… "Y-Yeah. Of course."
"You're so kind, little one." Dagan placed a brief kiss into his damp hair. "In more upbeat news, three nights from now, just in time before you have to go home, in fact, Geraint will be making his visit here."
"Geraint?"
"My friend you so wanted to meet."
"Oh! Really? Cool! I can't wait to hear about Malfidus."
Zack was a SOLDIER. The biggest lesson, the overarching one all SOLDIERs learn, because it goes hand-in-hand with every other, is to survive every moment however you have to. Genesis and Angeal had reinforced this, telling Zack to go along, play along, do whatever he had to to assure his own safety. Circumstances right now required him to put the previous night and its horror out of mind, or rather, deep in his mind, where the light of consciousness rarely shines. Zack pushed down his discomfort and focused on more cheerful things, a very natural thing for him to do.
"Do you really think he might let me meet him?"
Dagan laughed. "If he finds you as likeable as everyone else seems to, I'd say you've got a good shot, though even I've never had the pleasure."
"He knows I can't introduce him to Sephiroth, right?" Even if I could, I wouldn't. Seph isn't comfortable with fans.
"No need to worry. Geraint is a powerful lord of an ancient clan in his own right, he knows our laws better than most, and complies with them. True, many of us in the community would be glad to see what transformation would make Sephiroth into, but no one is brave enough to risk a visit from the Enforcers."
"Angeal and Gen never really told me anything about them."
Dagan edged back a bit, giving the boy some space, though he did pick up one of Zack's hands, held it and absently traced its outline with his thumb. He looked thoughtful for a moment or two before he spoke again.
"I doubt, I hope that you'll never need to know anything about them. Until your childhood is over, any serious infractions on your part would be your parents' responsibility to correct or punish. Adults who err enough to catch their attention, well, most of them disappear. How, or even if, they are executed, I suspect few other than the Council know."
Zack shivered. "They sound scary. What do they look like?"
"Not monsters out of storybooks, little one, no more than all we vampires," Dagan laughed warmly. "I've never seen them in person, but I hear they are taller than most and broader, roughly clothed in animal pelts, speaking little but relentlessly enforcing the rules of our world. I suppose Angeal and Genesis have discussed those with you."
Zack nodded, trying to remember them. "No knowledge of what we are can be passed to mortals."
"The most important one, yes."
"All civil matters that can't be resolved between vampires are to be mediated by the Council."
Dagan smiled. "As you and I have experienced ourselves."
"No transformation of anyone without their consent, and no one under 16."
"Angeal and Genesis were wise to hold off creating you as long as they did. But gods, I wonder how."
Zack felt shaky again as a cool hand stroked his face, as red eyes stared at him as though they were lasers trying to pierce. He cloaked his apprehension and struggled to keep talking.
"Why 16?"
"Hmm, I'm not certain. I imagine because it's the most common age of consent, and since our nature is one filled with sexuality…"
Zack suddenly gasped, head fell back and his hips jerked forward a few times. Amidst the pleasant haze of ejaculating, he felt himself being lifted onto a now somewhat-familiar lap, though strangely, Dagan wasn't stroking to help him release or doing anything else overtly intimate, just hugging him. Therefore, Zack felt safe enough, when coming down, to let his head drop against a tunic-clothed chest and allow himself to be embraced while he caught his breath.
After a few moments, he sat up straight, thinking he'd be released to return to his seat. Instead, the hand of Dagan's arm around his waist slipped under his shirt, stroking the soft skin. Zack reminded himself that even Angeal did this, and not always as a prelude to sex…but then his face was being cupped, being drawn closer, and then they were kissing, not sloppily but not chastely either. When Dagan broke the kiss, he embraced Zack more tightly, almost forcing the boy to rest his head against the elder's shoulder.
"I will miss getting to hold you," Dagan said softly, "but I imagine you're very much looking forward to seeing your papas again."
He was, so much he didn't dare try to put it in words or deny it. "It's been fun here too," the boy said tentatively, his nature having always been to please others.
"You're kind to an old man," Dagan chuckled, "how very honorable. I see even clearer now why Angeal chose you. I used to worry that nothing would ever really soften that hard shell of his, even Genesis. But from the memories I've seen in you, you bring out the teddy bear in him."
Zack laughed at that phrasing. "The other SOLDIERs used to tell me that Angeal became easier to deal with after he and I started working together."
"Love can work wonders," Dagan said thoughtfully. "Look at you. In loving you, I finally have common ground with Genesis and Angeal. You may well be what was missing all this time, and my chance to make up the past to them."
Dagan shared a visual with Zack, a scene of the four of them together, flying, traveling, sparring, just generally being a happy family. The shared image was so full of hope that Zack found himself more than ever wanting to be that bridge Dagan said he could be.
"Maybe they could come with me for my next visit," Zack said, with a bit of excitement. "They could see that you're not…um…"
Dagan sighed. "The monster I once was. No, don't try to defend me, little one, though I appreciate it. As I've told you, I was very jealous of what Genesis and Angeal had in each other, and that there was no place for me among them. I believe I've changed, though, and would like to show them that I just want to be a good sire and grand-sire."
"You…you are," Zack said, sitting up now but looking down somewhat shyly.
Dagan smiled at him, and for the first time, he looked almost completely human. "I will be and do anything I have to to remain a part of your life."
Zack felt touched by the emotion in his voice, and wasn't sure what to say. Before he could feel awkward for long, though, Dagan was pulling him close again, this time directing Zack's face to his neck. Zack understood, knew he needed the blood, and with no further prodding bit into the cool skin and began to drink the lukewarm liquid. As he did almost every time now, Dagan made Zack feel the warmth all over that he missed from his mortal days. The boy drank slowly in the sleepy state this heat induced, and didn't squirm in or resist the arms that enfolded him.
agzagzagz
Zack's dreams were not all ones of adventure, of flying and chasing after scientists and treasure. Sometimes he found himself in a pensive mood and a pensive sort of place, a familiar setting or one he'd never seen before, a well-trod path in Gongaga or the sort of empty, foggy plain he was slowly walking now, unable to see the ground for the curls of wispy white moving all around and with him.
Dreams like these were generally not unpleasant, if a bit boring, though sometimes a quiet place that helped him think about whatever problem was bothering him, and as the boy wandered through the dim (where light was coming from he had no idea, the sky above was nearly starless) he thought about his situation. He kept making his mind up that he didn't like Dagan, but good-natured to a fault, he kept reassuring the lord each time he went too far, kept hoping he could be the key to solving all the odd family's problems. Zack loved the idea of banishing Genesis's anger and Angeal's cold fury, and sometimes he thought he could, that he was making progress…
And then Dagan would go farther than Zack wanted him to, but always in such a way that the boy was left blaming himself partly or fully for what went on between them. Because he didn't fight enough. Because he didn't stop it.
For all his at-times immature behavior, and his youth, Zack could be mature beyond his years when he needed to be, and he'd been lectured by Angeal enough to understand that his own body could be used against him, could be made to feel good even when his mind was unwilling. He knew Dagan was, to some extent, taking advantage of him, of his hypersexual condition as a newborn and his hesitation and probably a dozen other small things.
It was just hard to see Dagan as strictly a villain when so many of his words and gestures seemed to be full of affection and concern, and when Zack had seen inside his mind and found nothing there that frightened him, except perhaps the intensity of his own presence. It was plain he was important to the vampire lord, and the good, innocent boy at least entertained the possibility that that importance was love, and not something more sinister.
What a mess. Zack looked at the ground ahead of him to make a face at nothing in particular, then suddenly halted his stride at the sight of a pair of strangely-clad legs several feet ahead of him. He looked up with a muted, faint alarm only (this was a dream, after all) to find a figure that was familiar, but took a moment for the boy to place. Tall and broad, with thick black hair, clothed in animal skins, eyes that were friendly but so old one couldn't help but be wary. Wyrm, the member of the Council who had spoke kindly to him, who had encouraged Zack to attack his mental shield.
"Don't worry," the tall man said with a smile. "This is not a vision. Your sires can be at ease. You are gifted, true, but not precognitive. I would've seen that within you at once."
"Seen how?" Zack asked, hesitant though he'd never sensed any danger from this vampire.
"There would be a terrible, haunted look within your eyes. An awful knowing. I've seen it before."
Wyrm looked sad, and for a moment Zack felt guilty for asking, but the not-stranger regained his faint smile quickly.
"You must be wondering why I'm here."
"Ha," Zack laughed shortly, "I don't even know why I'm here. This is a dream, right?"
"A bit more than a dream, but not quite reality."
"I don't understand." Even as he said it, though, Zack felt he actually did, though he couldn't put it into words.
Wyrm approached him, and Zack didn't move, as usual sensing nothing alarming or unpleasant about the broad man. He only blinked curiously when large, tanned hands reached out, slowly enough not to surprise him, and gently cupped the boy's face. It took Zack a few moments to puzzle out the strange way he was being looked at, finally equating it to the very-missed way Sephiroth had always regarded him. It was strange because it was rare – it was a man looking at him with affection, but not sexual want.
"You remind me of him," the elder vampire said softly, more to himself than Zack. "No one has ever reminded me of him before, somehow."
"Who?"
"The one I loved, and lost." Wyrm chuckled shortly and fondly to feel a few reddish tears reach his fingertips. "He was compassionate, too. I couldn't save him, and I can't do much for you either, as I am only a vision, not fully myself. You must be strong. Difficulties are ahead for you, and you can survive them, but you must be strong, as I know you can be."
Wyrm very gently drew Zack's head closer to him, and lightly kissed his forehead in blessing. The touch sent an undeniable surge through Zack, and unable to stop it he began to shake and release into his underwear and pants. The elder, still platonically, pulled the trembling body close and held Zack, rubbing his back to comfort, and as the orgasm came to an end, Zack's surroundings began to fade. He woke up in his bed, with no memory of the more-than-a-dream.
agzagzagz
On the night their esteemed visitor was due, Zack was faintly amused to see that Dagan had laid out clothes for him – something his birth parents or Angeal would've done. After his shower, the boy obligingly donned the leather pants and pale-blue silk shirt, guessing correctly the latter was chosen for its similarity to his eyes. When Dagan came in for his feeding, the grandsire smiled and told him he looked perfect. Zack never thought of himself more than "kind of cute, I guess" physically, but figured that if Dagan wanted him to look extra-nice for a dear friend, there was no harm in playing along.
Between his quickly-approaching return home and his excitement at hearing about Malfidus, Zack found himself in a good mood when the doorbell rang, Dagan went to it, and returned to the formal living room with a man even taller than himself. The guest was well-dressed, similarly to Dagan, in a black tunic and pants, which contrasted sharply with his stark-white, shoulder-length hair and piercing red eyes. Anticipation turned to nervousness in Zack, but this softened a bit when the stranger approached him with a genuine-looking smile. The expression greatly warmed his sharp, serious features.
"Zack, my old friend Lord Geraint. Ger, my dear grandson, Zack."
Zack decided to offer a quick bow, the gesture seeming appropriate even though the man was clearly not Wutainese. "It's a great pleasure, sir."
Smiling even more, Geraint extended a hand to shake the boy's. "The pleasure is mine. How polite. Is that your doing, Dagan, or the fathers'?"
"Just the way he is, I believe," Dagan said proudly.
Geraint brought Zack's hand to his own face. "Gods, you weren't kidding about his scent. I wish I could bottle it."
Disarmed by the joking, amused voice, Zack laughed. "Genesis says that sometimes."
"The dear boy, I haven't seen he and Angeal in ages. How are they? Well, I hope? Is he still complaining about bugs from Angeal's gardening?"
Feeling much more comfortable already, Zack happily updated the man a bit on his fathers as they sat down, Dagan and Zack on one couch and Geraint on another facing them. Dagan poured glasses of blood for he and his guest (as usual, Zack was offered but declined), and the two elders began to chat about their lands and people, their mutual friends, topics that mostly went over Zack's head, though they frequently stopped to fill him in. It wasn't uninteresting to hear, and Zack listened without much effort, correcting his attention back each time it wandered.
"…but I really am curious about SOLDIER, as you know, old friend, and I can't miss this opportunity to ask about it." Geraint asked Zack some questions about the program, its training methods, what kind of effects mako has on a body.
Zack, talkative by nature, found himself conversing easily with this new friend, pleased to talk about his former life that he sometimes missed, what it was like working for Shinra, what mako treatments had been like. He wasn't surprised at all when asked if the mako made his eyes like that, used to the question, and answered that the color never changed, just the brightness. Queried whether he was sad about leaving SOLDIER, Zack said no, though it had been a fun experience, mostly.
Dagan laughed after a while. "Get on to it, old friend, we know what you really want to ask about."
"Don't make me seem too much a fanboy," Geraint chuckled back.
Zack smiled genuinely. "You want to hear about Sephiroth? What do you want to know?"
Zack didn't know anything that, as far as he knew, was classified or especially secret about the SOLDIER general who'd counted him one of his few friends, and was happy to discuss someone he loved and missed so much. Geraint wanted to know the usual things – was it true he could cast Fire without materia, was it true he could fly, did he ever actually smile (yes, no, and yes) – but was also curious about Sephiroth out of the public eye. The vampire asked with earnest interest what the legend was like in person, what kind of things was he interested in, and earned a lot of points with Zack when he asked with what seemed to be real care if he thought Sephiroth was happy with his life.
After Zack had answered many questions and told a few stories that Geraint received with enthusiasm, Dagan spoke up again. "Fair's fair, no pun intended. Old friend, I believe you also know someone Zack is interested in."
Geraint smiled invitingly. "Ah, yes. You'd like to know about Malfidus, eh?"
"He's really real?" Zack asked excitedly, prompting Dagan to smile and run fingers through the boy's hair affectionately. "You really know him?"
"More than know him, I help to fund his work." Geraint paused to sip from his glass. "He's very real, though an absolute grump. Only interested in science, just hmphs at me whenever I suggest a concert or museum exhibit."
"What is he working on?"
"Well, he won't tell me everything, he's quite secretive, but sometimes he lets me know what project he's working on, there always seems to be more than one at once. For a time, he was trying to create synthetic blood, so that vampires need not feed from humans."
Zack seemed pleased by that. "What else?"
Geraint seemed enchanted by Zack's interest, rather than finding his insistent probing rude. "He's very curious about the combination of mako and vampiric blood in a person. In fact, if I tell him about you, dear boy, I'm pretty sure he'll be the one begging to meet you."
"Really?" Zack bounced slightly in his seat. "Can I? I promise I won't bother him or anything."
"I'd be very glad to introduce the two of you, if…"
Dagan answered somewhat reluctantly. "If Genesis and Angeal consent, and if the madman keeps his hands and needles to himself. I don't want any experimentation on my grandson."
"I wouldn't mind giving him a blood sample or something, if it helps his work."
"I don't know if we should tell him that," Geraint chuckled, "though I dare say that would get him to look up from his test tubes."
I hope he's nothing like Hojo, Zack thought, and out loud said, "Can I really meet him?"
"I could perhaps arrange a meeting, yes. In return, just let me have a closer look at those eyes."
Zack blinked innocently as Geraint came closer, settling on the coffee table between the sofas and carefully taking the boy's face in his cold hands. The redness of the elder's own orbs looked into Zack's unblinking, zeroed into them like lasers, and he didn't speak again until a dazed, faraway look had come over Zack's face.
"You will do as I command," Geraint said softly. "Do you understand?"
Zack answered in a voice unlike his own, stiff and lifeless. "Yes…"
Dagan, seeming unsurprised by this turn of events, maneuvered Zack onto his lap, trying not to shift the boy more than was necessary. No matter, Geraint let go of Zack and sat back, but the dulled expression on the teenager's face remained. Zack didn't flinch or stir as Dagan unhurriedly unfastened the buttons of his shirt, all the way down until the sky-blue garment opened all the way. The grandsire reached around, put fingers on each nipple, and rubbed, prompting a soft moan out of Zack.
Dagan continued, as Geraint watched with interest, until Zack without warning began to spasm and quietly cry out. When the last throes of the orgasm had ended, Geraint said with authority to the weakened boy, "Take your pants and underwear down."
Moving stiffly, still on Dagan's lap, Zack obeyed, his expression unchanging. When the semen-slicked organ was unveiled, Geraint leaned forward and began to lick, humming with surprise at his first taste of it.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Dagan asked idly, holding his grandson with a parody of true affection.
Geraint didn't answer till he had cleaned off every drop. "Gods, is his blood the same?"
"Even better."
"Ha, I don't believe you."
Dagan put his hand under Zack's chin and tilted his head back to rest on his shoulder, baring the pale white neck in invitation. Geraint came closer, sniffing the soft skin, then licking it a few times before sinking his fangs into the offered vein. Dagan mentally put a ring of pressure around Zack's penis just as it began to stiffen again, to prevent orgasm, then as Geraint drank the other vampire stroked Zack, now and then making a soothing noise to the boy whose parted lips were letting out soft groans and whimpers.
Geraint forced himself back just as Dagan was about to stop him, nearly shuddering with pleasure. "Gaia, how has no one drained him completely yet? I've never tasted anyone like him."
"Well, that would be a waste of his many other charms, wouldn't it?"
Chuckling together, each elder put a hand to one of Zack's nipples and began to stimulate him again, Dagan mentally informing his friend that it was the boy's most sensitive place. For a while, they silently enjoyed the feel of Zack's skin, the sight of him writhing, the innocent and yet wholly not sounds he was softly emitting. The boy's head remained resting on Dagan's shoulder, and now and then the grandsire kissed him, nuzzled the black spikes with his face, whispered "Good boy" in his ear.
Might I…? Before even receiving an answer, Geraint put three of his own fingers in his mouth and began to get them as wet as he could.
Dagan replied with a go-ahead gesture, albeit a bit reluctantly, and simply asked that he be gentle. Obediently, then, he spread Zack's legs open and began to insert just one finger to start with, humming with enjoyment to feel the silky insides of the teenager. He played a bit, brushing nerve endings, watching the boy's closed eyes briefly open only to roll, and not until three digits had penetrated did he push all of them directly against the prostate.
"Nnnnn," Zack groaned, and the only thing louder than pleasure in the sound was the refusal.
"You want this," Geraint said in a low, confident voice. "You like this."
Another jab, this one prompting a more cooperative moan, and a soft, wavering "Y-Yes…"
"Good boy."
As his fathers knew very well, and Dagan had discovered, Zack being sexually pleasured was a sight that once seen was very hard to give up. The elders played with him a while, Dagan with the constricted cock, Geraint with the pleasure gland, until at last the pressure around Zack's organ was removed. He at once started to come, and Geraint eagerly caught and drank down every bit of the fluid. Eyes still closed, the boy slowly caught his breath as the adults redressed him.
Geraint adjusted Zack's face to look into his own. "Open your eyes."
The beautiful blue orbs, like twin skies, blinked a few times before staring emotionlessly into the red ones.
"You will obey me."
"…yes."
"You will remember nothing that occurred after our talk of Sephiroth, beginning with my request to look at your eyes. You fell asleep listening to us talk, and in a few moments, you will awake. Do you understand?"
"Yes…"
"You will believe from now on, more and more each day, that your grandsire loves you more than your fathers do. You will report to Genesis and Angeal that you had a good time here, that nothing inappropriate happened, and that you wish to return often. Do you understand?"
"Yes…"
"You've felt uneasy for some time now about your relationship with Angeal. He wanted you when you were still a child, and you will think often of this and stop seeking out his presence. You will believe Genesis is angry at you for liking your grandsire. Within six months from now, you will petition the Council to grant custody of you to your loving grandsire instead. Do you understand?"
"Yes…"
Dagan kissed the top of the boy's head, and settled Zack's stiff body next to him on the couch, making it recline back in its seat as a sleeping person would be doing.
"You will awaken and follow all my commands when I reach the number one. Five…four…three…two…one."
Zack's eyes flew open, and he sat up, at once looking at the amused elders apologetically. "Um, sorry, I think I dropped off for a minute."
"Don't apologize," Geraint said, seemingly kindly. "It's understandable that a conversation about land parcels wouldn't hold your attention."
"I have no attention span," the boy said sheepishly, "just ask Angeal."
"Perhaps I will, when we converse about setting up a meeting with Malfidus."
"Really? Awesome! Thank you!"
Dagan ran an open hand soothingly up and down the boy's back. "I know our guest has to be getting home, and little one, it's nearly time you were in bed. Go and change, and after I see Geraint out, I'll be right up for your feeding."
"Okay." Zack stood at the same time the other two did, and held out his hand again with a smile. "It was very nice to meet you. Thank you, sir."
"The honor is all mine, dear boy. I hope to see you again very soon."
The teenager was all smiles as he headed toward the stairs. Once he was gone, Dagan sighed with relief and took a large swallow of blood from his glass.
"I confess, I wasn't entirely sure you could. He's so damn strong. My thanks, old friend."
"You know me, haven't yet met a resistor I can't hypnotize. And I should thank you," Geraint said as they walked toward the entrance, "for letting me sample your treasure."
"What are friends for?" Dagan chuckled as he opened the front door, letting in the tiny first rays of the dawn that was to come.
To be continued. Not quitting, promise.
