Undead 2
By: vampfire
WARNING: Don't read this if slash, or particularly, slash applied to Vlad and company, who are all admittedly very straight, bothers you. While logic seems to say any slash with straight characters must necessarily be out-of-character, I think this is as in-character as possible, if that makes any sense. This is rated an exceptionally strong R.
"Say, Boss, do you realize you're now 'Vlad, the Vampire'?"
"Shut up, Loiosh."
"Come on, that's funny. You could introduce yourself that way at parties. Oh, oh... how about 'The Vampire Vladimir'?"
I shook my head in exasperation. "For one thing, I won't be going to any parties any time soon. The Jhereg still wants my ass, remember?"
"I thought Sethra said you'd be okay."
That had been a scary moment. When Sethra Lavode told me I was safe from Morganti weapons, I'd had a sickening thought, which I voiced immediately: "Does that mean I don't have a soul anymore?"
She smiled then, beautifully. I think she was loving this new apprenticeship. Sure she's had dozens of apprentices (each of which tried to kill her, by the way) but none who had been undead like she was. "You most certainly have your soul, Vlad. I'm not sure how to explain how Morganti work in a way that you would understand, but the way they access living souls doesn't always work on the undead." She was caressing the hilt of Iceflame as she said it, so I don't know how reassured I was supposed to be.
Recalling a particularly unforgettable face-off with an undead Athyra wizard, I said, "I've watched an undead wizard get killed by a Morganti. It sure worked on him."
"Loraan?" Sethra said, with a sudden smile. "That was a rather unique circumstance. You and young Savn had a little help." I did not want to know what Sethra had been doing to Loraan at the time to make him less invincible to Morganti. I knew now that Sethra had been keeping track of me during my exile even before Kiera and I had unraveled the secrets of the House of the Orca, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with the knowledge.
I turned away from the memory to Loiosh, who was wondering where I'd slipped off to after his comment about introducing myself as a vampire at parties. "Did you ever stop to consider what they're going to do when they find out that sticking me with Morganti knives doesn't have the desired effect? You're not undead, you know."
I felt him shudder and immediately stuck my hand out to trail down his scaly neck, sorry that I'd been so blunt. I'd worried about the assassins going after Loiosh well before I'd become a vampire.
Though I saw Aliera some as her social schedule permitted (please note the sarcasm), Morrolan was apparently in hiding. I figured he was pissed about the, um, whatever the hell had gone on between us when I'd drunk his blood.
It didn't really bother me anymore. I wasn't exactly used to the idea of drinking blood, but I didn't need to be; Sethra had assured me I could live a happy undead life without ever turning into a stereotypical bloodthirsty vampire again. Unless I wanted to.
There was that. Drinking from Morrolan had felt great, better than any sex I'd ever had. But it wasn't sex, and I hadn't even, um, gone off. Morrolan had though. And through the telepathic link we'd shared from the moment I'd bit his arm, I'd been along for the ride. It was really personal, even if it had been necessary to save my life. So I could understand if he never wanted to see me again. Not that I didn't miss him; I mean, we'd been friends since... well, since he and Sethra had ruthlessly set me up to carry out their plans to rescue Aliera.
I'd been undead for a month, and had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing Morrolan again, when he appeared in Sethra's sitting room, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Vlad," Morrolan greeted. I inclined my head in greeting, not showing how excited I was to see a real living human being, er, Dragaeran for the first time in weeks.
"Sethra told me you've been restless. Have you explored the entire Mountain yet?"
"It'd take longer than a month to do that."
He smiled knowingly. I wondered how much of the Mountain he'd seen. I'd never been able to peg his relationship with Sethra. If rumor was true, they'd met when the young Dragonlord had charged up Dzur Mountain to demand that all who lived there pay him a tribute, since it was technically on his property. Any other Dragaeran on the planet would have known this action was ludicrous, that it was certain death to demand anything of the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. I rather think Sethra must have been amused.
That was about the time that Zerika was rebuilding the Empire, which, if you're counting, was centuries before I was born. But a mere blink of an eye to Sethra Lavode, who'd lived tens of centuries... I froze in shock as I finally realized what being undead meant. I'd live as long as a Dragaeran now. Longer if I could stay ahead of Jhereg assassins.
"What's wrong?" Morrolan asked, concerned. Since it seemed to be my moment for making startling realizations, it occurred to me then that Morrolan was acting uncertain about me, perhaps wondering if the Vlad he knew was the same man standing here now, pale as death.
"Nothing," I lied, gesturing to the chairs beside us. "Why don't you sit down?" Damn, was I the host now? Would I be living here, hiding in Dzur Mountain, for the next couple centuries?
I could tell Morrolan hadn't bought it, but he let it slide without pestering me about it. "Actually, I came to see if you wanted to go out."
"Oh, right," I said. "Since I'm so restless. Sure, let's go out. Maybe I could pop in to see how Kragar's doing. Or eat a couple meals at Valabar's again before the Jhereg sets anything up."
Morrolan smiled slightly, I guess deciding I was the same after all. "I was thinking of some exercise. How's your wrist held up all these years running about the countryside?"
I refuse to admit what I first thought he was referring to, and it wasn't fencing. I sort of stared at him until he continued, "You did manage to find time to practice fencing in between robbing bandits and sleeping with minstrels, didn't you?"
Damn, how'd he found out about that? I must not have been hiding as well as I thought if both Morrolan and Sethra had kept such good tabs on me.
"Are you challenging me to a duel?" I deadpanned.
"Now why would I do that after all the trouble we've all gone to in order to keep you alive?" he wondered. I smirked at his assumption that he would win the hypothetical duel. It was actually a pretty good assumption; I knew of no one who could best Morrolan in a battle of steel. He clarified, "I was thinking more of getting some practice."
"Sparring with Blackwand?" I responded, not about to deliberately test Sethra's comment about Morganti. "Excuse me if I decline that offer."
"Not with Blackwand," Morrolan said with a smile. "I am capable of wielding other weapons, you know. Though Blackwand does lust after you almost as much as..." He stopped the sentence before it went somewhere he didn't want it to. "Besides, I will set up a protection spell to prevent us from hurting each other."
"I don't think it'd be wise for me to just show up at Castle Black and let everyone know where I am," I said, wondering why the hell Blackwand lusted after my soul. And I'd been terrified of that sword before...
"Oh, don't worry about that," Morrolan said off-handedly. "I have a private practice yard."
"I know, but one of your guards could see me. And guards can be bribed. I don't want anyone on the planet to know where I am. Except you and Aliera and Sethra, assuming you can't be bribed."
He drew up the dignity to look insulted over the bribery comment, but then had the chance to look smug, Morrolan's favorite expression, as he told me, "Actually, Vlad, these are practice grounds that even you don't know about."
I gave him a questioning look. I used to be in charge of updating Morrolan's security. I knew things about Castle Black that no one except Morrolan knew. I'd once been able to find out within moments how many guests were at the perpetual party, the present location of each of the seldom-seen witches of Morrolan's enclave, whether or not Morrolan had a woman in his bedroom and how many hours they'd been in there...
"Okay," I said. "Let me get my rapier." I told Loiosh psionically that I was going to go practice fencing; he was outside on the mountain chasing small mammals. Guess I wasn't the only one who'd been getting restless.
A few moments later we were in Castle Black, in the tower with no windows. Well, no real windows. Morrolan walked up to the Window that let him look upon any place in existence and maybe some that weren't and brought up a scene of stark desert, lit by the setting furnace.
We walked through, though I couldn't suppress the slight shudder Morrolan's Window always gave me. It was just so... unnatural.
I looked around as Morrolan started towards the lone building in front of us. Oh. Not a building, a wall, enclosing his "private" practice grounds.
"Where the hell is this place?" I asked, looking around before entering the stone-enclosed yard. "And who the hell would build a practice ground in the middle of freaking nowhere?"
He gave me a wide smile. Who, indeed. A cocky Dragonlord with a Window to anywhere in the universe.
I watched as Morrolan set up a protection spell to prevent our swords from doing damage. Then he gestured and the torches planted along the perimeter of the grounds flared into flame. Show off. There was still daylight, but the furnace was low, blocked from sight by the wall.
Soon we had stretched out and Morrolan had waited patiently while I shadow fenced to warm up. We faced each other for real, Morrolan wielding a rapier that could have been the twin of my own and taking a guard position that presented only his right side.
I must have shown my surprise on my face. "I did," Morrolan said snidely, "grow up in the East. What style of swordplay did you think I was taught out there?"
"Oh that's right!" I said disingenuously, parrying a cut towards my neck as Morrolan lunged forward. "How many centuries old were you before you figured out you weren't an Easterner?"
"Watch it, Jhereg," Morrolan said in a low voice, though there was a fierce exhilaration under it that I understood perfectly. It was the way fencing always affected me too. He stabbed past my guard and very nearly got a cut in, so I relaxed into the state of intense concentration I fought in and began to really get into the contest.
Fencing with Morrolan was great. I had been getting sick of Dzur Mountain. Living for a month inside a tomb of rock was difficult after the past years of sleeping under the open sky, traveling by foot so that I had to walk long distances each day. I warmed to the exercise and found myself assessing Morrolan's technique, searching for a weakness, an opening...
Morrolan's sword swept down into my neck, which was terrifying, by the way, and my body trembled under the force of the blow as the spell that protected Morrolan from beheading me deflected his sword.
I jerked away and couldn't stop from feeling the side of my neck in search of damage. Recovering, I resumed a guard position and attacked, saying lightly, "Point for the Dragonlord" as though my nerves weren't still trembling.
Morrolan barely recovered in time.
I fell into the fierce concentration of fencing again, watching my footwork closely because it felt rusty. He didn't make any mistakes, wasn't reaching too far or leaving any part of himself open to attack. But then, neither was I. We each held our own for a long time, and I realized I had no clue who would win if it came to a test of stamina.
A moment later I was staring in shock at my chest, where the point of Morrolan's sword had bounced off the protective spell and left again, barely slow enough for the eye to track. My body had leapt back instinctively without my conscious command, which is how I always was during a battle, but I'd been too slow.
Damn all this steel I was hauling around. One of the things I'd done during my month at Dzur Mountain was become paranoid again. Which means I'd found a large number of weapons and stowed them about my person. Now, however, they were weighing me down.
Before Morrolan could start again, I held up a hand. "Hold on a moment," I said, walking over to the wall of the practice grounds. Morrolan watched as I began removing various weapons from my pants. When I realized how long it would take to get everything out of my jerkin, I just took the shirt off, placing it beside our cloaks and sword belts, which we'd both removed earlier.
I walked back to where Morrolan stood, the slight glean of sweat on my chest from our previous two fights cooling in the breeze. Morrolan was staring at me with an odd expression on his face.
"I know," I said, "that I would have all that extra weight in a real sword fight, which is why I usually practice fully armed. But give me a little slack if I'm going to fight one-on-one with the best Dragaeran swordsman currently living."
Morrolan nodded, utterly failing to notice that I'd qualified my compliment with "Dragaeran" rather than "best swordsman." I'd thought that would win some points in our perpetual verbal war, but he seemed too distracted to notice. I watched as he took a deeper breath than seemed necessary and raised his sword.
I was the first to strike, and he barely parried. What the hell was wrong with him? "Come on, Morrolan, my hairy chest isn't that disgusting. Gees, you're as bad as Aliera."
He smiled then and the energy came back to his strokes. We were soon battling as fiercely as before.
The furnace set completely and the flickering light from the torches made it harder to judge distances and timing, but I could feel myself gaining. Perhaps... yes he was, his line was a bit too high to fully cover his side. I feigned at his side, causing him to swing off-balance to parry. Then I made my move, sword point hitting his chest as my momentum carried me inside his hasty attempt at defense.
My sword felt funny; it was definitely resting against something solid, but it was a full inch off Morrolan's chest. My other hand, which was pressed to Morrolan's back to aid my sword in spitting him, which it would have done if we'd been battling for real, was pressed against his shirt, not the invisible barrier. I wondered how this spell worked.
I suddenly realized we were too quiet except for harsh pants of breath and looked up at Morrolan, who was staring down at me as though... I hastily removed my hand from his back and realized I should have stepped back moments ago.
That was when Morrolan kissed me. I'm not sure if that does it justice. Our lips met, but it was more like a continuation of the battle than a kiss. I froze, but it didn't seem to phase him that I wasn't kissing back. My mind was working too slowly for me to realize what was happening, and before I knew it Morrolan had released me and stepped away, still breathing hard.
He met my eyes, daring me to ask him what I was in fact about to ask him, which was, "What the hell was that?"
The Dragonlord shrugged, turning away to head towards our cloaks and weapons. I got the impression he was hurt. Shit. I moved to catch up with him, though I had no idea what I was about to say. "Look, Morrolan, it's nothing to do with you, I just, I don't, um, not with guys..."
He whirled to face me. "Are you quite sure, Vlad? Tell me this doesn't affect you at all..." He grabbed me then and I didn't resist, just stood there as his arms went around me and he pressed his sweaty body against mine, his lips at my shoulder, my neck, and his hands running down my bare back, my sides, his fingertips reaching below the hem of my pants teasingly.
It wasn't as though it didn't feel good. And, well, I'd been alone for a month in Dzur Mountain. His lips found mine again and it was slow and needy, and I found my body responding.
What the hell was I doing? This was Morrolan, damnit. He was male. I was male.
His hands were on my ass, crushing me into him, and I realized what it was that was poking so hard into my stomach. I jerked away.
The expression on Morrolan's face was pure sex. I shivered under his gaze. He didn't seem upset that I'd pushed him away though. He reached one hand out to cup my face, to trail down my chest, following the line of hair that disappeared into my pants. I swallowed. He dropped his hand without going any further downward.
"Was my blood good?" he asked.
I nodded, remembering how wonderful it had felt to feed. I'd already admitted to myself that it was better than sex. But Morrolan wasn't asking for merely sharing blood this time. I asked anyway. "Is that what you want, Morrolan, to give me blood?"
He looked at me as though he were trying to figure me out. "If that's what you want," he finally said.
I was relieved. I didn't want to lose Morrolan as a friend, and I had one hell of a hard-on that begged to be satisfied. I might not be completely comfortable with feeding off people, but I was a hell of a lot more comfortable with it than with anything else Morrolan might want to do.
I looked around the torch-lit yard. "Here?" I asked.
Morrolan smiled and gestured as he teleported in a pile of thick blankets, which he spread on the ground. I was feeling less and less comfortable with this. And then Morrolan stripped.
He turned to me as he folded his clothes and told me to go ahead and sit down. I, um, didn't hear him.
"Have you never seen a Dragaeran naked before, Vlad?" Morrolan asked, infinitely amused.
I stopped gawking and closed my mouth firmly, largely because he was insufferably arrogant enough without me stroking his ego with something like, "Gosh. You're huge."
I sat on the spread of blankets, though stiffly, and felt Morrolan sit beside me, very close. "Take your boots off at least," Morrolan said, slightly irritated. "I'm not going to rape you, you know. If you don't want me, I'll contain my disappointment, but at least admit that you enjoyed drinking my blood as much as I enjoyed giving it to you."
I looked at him and then away, but I took my boots off and settled down on my back. You could see stars here, just like out East. It was utterly silent too, a quiet I hadn't gotten in the Dragaeran countryside, but that I remembered from my brief treks across deserts. Well, mainly from my journey to the Paths of the Dead, with Morrolan. We'd camped in the desert then too. I wondered if he'd wanted me then. That was barely a day or two after we'd met.
"Vlad," said Morrolan who, I should mention, was lying beside me completely naked. "You realize this is going to be almost as intimate as sex. Maybe more so, with the psionic link that seems to accompany it."
I looked at him and saw the desire in his eyes. My gaze went downward and I saw just how aroused he was. I felt shocked all over again at how big he was. But I reached for him, took his hand and turned it so I could settle my mouth on his wrist. His other hand... I tried not to watch as he slid his free hand down his body, as he held himself, as he... I bit down hard and felt my whole body convulse in pleasure as the blood spilled hot down my throat. I could hear Morrolan's thoughts now. I suppose I was in more control than when I'd done this while so weak a month ago.
He was mentally crying out in pleasure, wordlessly, even as I heard his breath come hard and needy and watched his hand move up and down as he drowned in the pleasure my bite was creating.
My body was throbbing with need. I don't even remember unfastening my pants, slipping my hand inside to follow Morrolan's example. I hadn't drunk much blood at all when I felt both of us reach the end of our resistance. Morrolan cried out. I couldn't make a sound with his blood in my mouth, but I know my psionic voice was a ragged scream as I thrust myself harshly into my hand, riding Morrolan's release even before I came myself.
I don't remember a thing after that, but I must have released his wrist, which I'd probably torn to shreds. We lapsed into unconsciousness.
A while later, I woke up and found Morrolan's eyes open as he stared at the stars above us. I couldn't help glancing down his body to see how he looked when he wasn't erect. It was still impressive. I felt my own body stirring as I looked at him and wondered if I'd always responded to males and just never realized it. No, I didn't find Kragar attractive. Or Savn. Or any guys I'd known in the Jhereg. But Morrolan... my gaze was on his smooth chest, so different from an Easterner's body. I was curious about him in a way that I would feel about a cute girl I passed on the street. And I had to admit how arousing it had been while we were psionically linked to hear him repeat my name over and over in his mind as he reached release.
I looked back at Morrolan's face, wondering whether he'd caught me checking him out. It took me a moment to realize there were silent tears running from his eyes into his black hair.
I thought I had a good idea what was upsetting him. He'd made his move and I'd shot him down. This must have been a long time coming too, with as long as we'd known each other.
I stared upwards at the night sky and said quietly, "It's not that I don't want you, you know."
He jumped and dried his eyes with his hand. He didn't turn to face me, but he didn't turn away either.
I told the stars, "I think I just need to get over the idea of doing things with another guy."
Morrolan rolled onto his side to face me then, and I turned my head to meet his eyes. "Do you find me attractive?" he asked, curious.
I cleared my throat, wondering if he'd read my thoughts a few moments ago and wondering how I could blush after what we'd done tonight. "I, uh, you're good looking, Morrolan, I mean for a Dragaeran."
He smiled at my attempt to joke. "Let me ask a different question then," he said, resting a hand on my far shoulder. He began to trail it over my skin, lightly, fingertips caressing. "Close your eyes and tell me how this feels." I did, shivering suddenly in the warm night air. I could hear him shifting position beside me and then there were two hands on my skin and they were brushing down my thighs. I felt myself harden, and he silently continued his caresses. It occurred to me then how caring his touch was. Morrolan wasn't just attracted to me; there were deeper emotions involved. That probably scared me more than the voice in my head that kept reminding me, 'This is a guy who's touching you.'
Morrolan continued silently to caress my lower body through my clothes, to touch my bare chest and arms and neck and make me shiver. Cowardly, I kept my eyes closed. There was a tension in his grip upon my body, and he massaged the muscles of my legs for a few moments. Then his hands strayed toward my groin, slowly deliberately circling, trailing towards and away and always coming back.
My breathing was fast. I was hard, really hard. And I wanted him to touch me, but there was no way I was going to admit it. Damn it, Morrolan, quit playing around and just...
His hands settled firmly on top of me, clutching me and massaging through my pants. I lifted up to press into his warm hands, wanting more. I felt Morrolan's body shift, felt what his demanding hands were continuing to do to me, then gasped in surprise when his lips crushed into mine.
I kissed him back. Hard. My arms wrapped over his shoulders to pull him against me, even though it meant his hands could not continue. We kissed hard and fiercely until I had to break away to breathe. Morrolan moved away and rose onto his knees, which caused my eyes to settle on his groin and note how thoroughly aroused he was. He was bending over me, hands at my waist again, and I realized he was undressing me.
I lay there passively as I let him take off my pants and underwear. I was more than a little self-conscious. By now I was stretched to my greatest length, aroused more than I'd thought I could be in bed with another guy, but Morrolan wasn't just big, he was huge. I doubted any Easterner on the planet could come close to that size, and certainly I...
I stopped my mental worrying when I felt Morrolan's hands close on my naked groin, felt him gently touch me just right, gliding over me smoothly again, and again. I groaned and then he was kissing me, harshly, needily, and his hands on me were firm, demanding. This was what I wanted, I said with absolute certainty. I heard his chuckle and realized that we were somehow psionically linked again. Morrolan's doing, I'm sure. No wonder he seemed to know exactly what I wanted. Gods...
I found myself reaching out, grabbing his enormous hardness, feeling him warm and solid in my fist. I could sense Morrolan's pleasure then, his need. I began to touch him as he was touching me.
I could hear his thoughts and desires and responded to them automatically, just as he was doing to me. But when his mental voice finally rang out sharply with, "Gods, stop!" it took me a moment to realize he wanted me to quit. It was his own hands stilling that finally got through to me. I was so close. I released him and Morrolan wrapped his arms around me, crushing us together.
I kissed him and he lay still and reveled in it. I'd gotten over the strangeness of being with a man, and I'd always prided myself on being a damn good kisser. That thought must have gotten across to Morrolan because he laughed psionically and assured me it was only one of my many skills.
He rolled us then and I let him take control, my breath quickening impossibly as his lips traveled down my chest. "Do you want it?" he asked me psionically as his fingers and lips played around with my thighs and lower stomach.
I answered and then cried out as his mouth sank over me. He was, well, amazing. Of course he was helped by my mental clues. "Yes, that!" I told him enthusiastically when he did it just right. He was seriously fucking me with his mouth when I realized I was going to come. He stopped just like that, and I groaned in need.
Morrolan laughed as he moved back up my body and ran both hands through my hair. "Not yet, Vlad," he whispered, speaking out loud instead of psionically for the first time in years. He was curled up along my body and I could feel his huge length resting on my thigh.
I suddenly had a scary thought. I mean, just because I'd never fooled around with another guy before didn't mean I didn't know a little about what was involved. And there was no way he could fit that thing into me without breaking something.
Morrolan was back to speaking psionically now, possibly because it was more intimate. More likely he was doing it to spare me the embarrassment of saying certain things out loud, even in the middle of nowhere with no one to hear. "Relax, Vlad," he said softly. "I won't do anything to hurt you. I was thinking maybe we could try it the other way around..." I got his mental image of what he wanted and shivered all over, found myself getting even more aroused and realized I was still very close.
"Morrolan, I..." I drew in a mental breath slowly. "I don't know how."
"I'll teach you," he told me. "That is, if you want..."
I wiped sweat from my face with the back of my hand. "Yes," I breathed.
Morrolan turned so he lay on his side with his back to me. I ran my hands down the long curve of his spine and he shivered. I loved, absolutely loved, having this much power over him. I know Morrolan caught that thought too. My hands went around to his chest then ended up in the inevitable spot.
I played with him, knowing it was torturing him, that he wanted it fast and hard and now, damnit.
I laughed at his desperate pleas and curled up against his back. That quieted him; he was trembling in anticipation. "Your fingers first," he told me, and his mental voice was hoarse with desire. I did as I was told, deciding it wasn't too much different than... Morrolan was gasping. I explored him some before replacing my fingers with what he really wanted. I stopped pushing in when I felt the waves of pain from him. "Just do it," he growled.
I did, and with the pain came an amazing feeling of pleasure, both mine and his, and I found myself clutching him, both of my hands pumping up and down over his sensitive skin. Then I pulled myself out, still working his hardness with my hands. Despite the wonder of the new sensations, I was already on the edge, and damned if I was going to get off before him. So I moved only slowly into and out of Morrolan's hot body, causing a constant string of begging and cursing from the tortured Dragon.
We were both crying out, verbally and otherwise, and I felt his body tense as I brought my hands down harshly, then up, down again and pushing myself in to the hilt as we both lost it completely with ragged cries that I was sure could be heard for miles.
The furnace was visible high in the sky when I woke up. I was warm from it, my entire body relaxed, refreshed. I turned to find Morrolan still asleep, then gasped and came fully awake as I saw how burnt his skin was. I glanced down at my naked body and cringed. Then I laughed, imagining Aliera's face... Sethra's face... when the both of us returned, hours and hours after we should have, and burned thoroughly on only one side.
My laughter awoke Morrolan, and it was even funnier when he didn't realize what was so funny. Surely he'd noticed how red I was? I just gestured at the two of us through the laughter, and finally he got it.
He charged at me, pinning me beneath him and kissing me harshly. I gasped, not just from the sudden desire shooting through me, but damn, the sunburn hurt. Morrolan raised himself up on his elbows, frowning. "Well, I can see this is going to be a bigger problem than I thought. I'm not a healer though. We'll need Aliera..."
He stopped, apparently catching the horrified look on my face. He smiled kindly then, "No, Vlad, if you don't want anyone to know what we've done together, I won't be the one to tell them. We'll just suffer with the burns then. With clothes on, it will merely look as though our faces were burned while we were sparring."
I smiled at the word "sparring," though I can't say why that sounded sexual, but Morrolan smiled back. We sat up and gently tugged on clothing over the burns. It was downright hot outside and with the clothing I immediately began sweating. I couldn't wait for a cold shower at Dzur Mountain.
It was awkward then, as Morrolan rolled the blankets up and tossed them in the corner and we picked up our swords and cloaks. "You know," I said, as we left the practice grounds and stood in front of Morrolan's Window. "This was rather good exercise. I'm sure Sethra will agree that I'll need it on a regular basis, don't you?"
He smiled then, kissed me once, slowly, then broke away and stepped through the Window. We didn't touch again, though there was no one in Morrolan's tower but us. It almost felt like we were different people, now that we were back in the familiar world. I shivered and was glad that I'd spoken before we'd come back. Morrolan teleported me to Dzur Mountain, but stayed in Castle Black.
Loiosh didn't land on my shoulder when he saw me. He knew I was burned there just as well as he knew what I'd done last night, what I'd discovered about myself and Morrolan. He flew with me as I walked to my rooms, chattering about a chreotha nest near one of the more often used doors into the Mountain that someone should probably take care of. He didn't ask me if I'd gone mad, or tell me that male jhereg didn't mate with other male jhereg and how the hell could a male Easterner mate with a male Dragaeran. He just licked worriedly at my sunburned face and told me I should get something to eat.
By: vampfire
WARNING: Don't read this if slash, or particularly, slash applied to Vlad and company, who are all admittedly very straight, bothers you. While logic seems to say any slash with straight characters must necessarily be out-of-character, I think this is as in-character as possible, if that makes any sense. This is rated an exceptionally strong R.
"Say, Boss, do you realize you're now 'Vlad, the Vampire'?"
"Shut up, Loiosh."
"Come on, that's funny. You could introduce yourself that way at parties. Oh, oh... how about 'The Vampire Vladimir'?"
I shook my head in exasperation. "For one thing, I won't be going to any parties any time soon. The Jhereg still wants my ass, remember?"
"I thought Sethra said you'd be okay."
That had been a scary moment. When Sethra Lavode told me I was safe from Morganti weapons, I'd had a sickening thought, which I voiced immediately: "Does that mean I don't have a soul anymore?"
She smiled then, beautifully. I think she was loving this new apprenticeship. Sure she's had dozens of apprentices (each of which tried to kill her, by the way) but none who had been undead like she was. "You most certainly have your soul, Vlad. I'm not sure how to explain how Morganti work in a way that you would understand, but the way they access living souls doesn't always work on the undead." She was caressing the hilt of Iceflame as she said it, so I don't know how reassured I was supposed to be.
Recalling a particularly unforgettable face-off with an undead Athyra wizard, I said, "I've watched an undead wizard get killed by a Morganti. It sure worked on him."
"Loraan?" Sethra said, with a sudden smile. "That was a rather unique circumstance. You and young Savn had a little help." I did not want to know what Sethra had been doing to Loraan at the time to make him less invincible to Morganti. I knew now that Sethra had been keeping track of me during my exile even before Kiera and I had unraveled the secrets of the House of the Orca, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with the knowledge.
I turned away from the memory to Loiosh, who was wondering where I'd slipped off to after his comment about introducing myself as a vampire at parties. "Did you ever stop to consider what they're going to do when they find out that sticking me with Morganti knives doesn't have the desired effect? You're not undead, you know."
I felt him shudder and immediately stuck my hand out to trail down his scaly neck, sorry that I'd been so blunt. I'd worried about the assassins going after Loiosh well before I'd become a vampire.
Though I saw Aliera some as her social schedule permitted (please note the sarcasm), Morrolan was apparently in hiding. I figured he was pissed about the, um, whatever the hell had gone on between us when I'd drunk his blood.
It didn't really bother me anymore. I wasn't exactly used to the idea of drinking blood, but I didn't need to be; Sethra had assured me I could live a happy undead life without ever turning into a stereotypical bloodthirsty vampire again. Unless I wanted to.
There was that. Drinking from Morrolan had felt great, better than any sex I'd ever had. But it wasn't sex, and I hadn't even, um, gone off. Morrolan had though. And through the telepathic link we'd shared from the moment I'd bit his arm, I'd been along for the ride. It was really personal, even if it had been necessary to save my life. So I could understand if he never wanted to see me again. Not that I didn't miss him; I mean, we'd been friends since... well, since he and Sethra had ruthlessly set me up to carry out their plans to rescue Aliera.
I'd been undead for a month, and had pretty much given up hope of ever seeing Morrolan again, when he appeared in Sethra's sitting room, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Vlad," Morrolan greeted. I inclined my head in greeting, not showing how excited I was to see a real living human being, er, Dragaeran for the first time in weeks.
"Sethra told me you've been restless. Have you explored the entire Mountain yet?"
"It'd take longer than a month to do that."
He smiled knowingly. I wondered how much of the Mountain he'd seen. I'd never been able to peg his relationship with Sethra. If rumor was true, they'd met when the young Dragonlord had charged up Dzur Mountain to demand that all who lived there pay him a tribute, since it was technically on his property. Any other Dragaeran on the planet would have known this action was ludicrous, that it was certain death to demand anything of the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. I rather think Sethra must have been amused.
That was about the time that Zerika was rebuilding the Empire, which, if you're counting, was centuries before I was born. But a mere blink of an eye to Sethra Lavode, who'd lived tens of centuries... I froze in shock as I finally realized what being undead meant. I'd live as long as a Dragaeran now. Longer if I could stay ahead of Jhereg assassins.
"What's wrong?" Morrolan asked, concerned. Since it seemed to be my moment for making startling realizations, it occurred to me then that Morrolan was acting uncertain about me, perhaps wondering if the Vlad he knew was the same man standing here now, pale as death.
"Nothing," I lied, gesturing to the chairs beside us. "Why don't you sit down?" Damn, was I the host now? Would I be living here, hiding in Dzur Mountain, for the next couple centuries?
I could tell Morrolan hadn't bought it, but he let it slide without pestering me about it. "Actually, I came to see if you wanted to go out."
"Oh, right," I said. "Since I'm so restless. Sure, let's go out. Maybe I could pop in to see how Kragar's doing. Or eat a couple meals at Valabar's again before the Jhereg sets anything up."
Morrolan smiled slightly, I guess deciding I was the same after all. "I was thinking of some exercise. How's your wrist held up all these years running about the countryside?"
I refuse to admit what I first thought he was referring to, and it wasn't fencing. I sort of stared at him until he continued, "You did manage to find time to practice fencing in between robbing bandits and sleeping with minstrels, didn't you?"
Damn, how'd he found out about that? I must not have been hiding as well as I thought if both Morrolan and Sethra had kept such good tabs on me.
"Are you challenging me to a duel?" I deadpanned.
"Now why would I do that after all the trouble we've all gone to in order to keep you alive?" he wondered. I smirked at his assumption that he would win the hypothetical duel. It was actually a pretty good assumption; I knew of no one who could best Morrolan in a battle of steel. He clarified, "I was thinking more of getting some practice."
"Sparring with Blackwand?" I responded, not about to deliberately test Sethra's comment about Morganti. "Excuse me if I decline that offer."
"Not with Blackwand," Morrolan said with a smile. "I am capable of wielding other weapons, you know. Though Blackwand does lust after you almost as much as..." He stopped the sentence before it went somewhere he didn't want it to. "Besides, I will set up a protection spell to prevent us from hurting each other."
"I don't think it'd be wise for me to just show up at Castle Black and let everyone know where I am," I said, wondering why the hell Blackwand lusted after my soul. And I'd been terrified of that sword before...
"Oh, don't worry about that," Morrolan said off-handedly. "I have a private practice yard."
"I know, but one of your guards could see me. And guards can be bribed. I don't want anyone on the planet to know where I am. Except you and Aliera and Sethra, assuming you can't be bribed."
He drew up the dignity to look insulted over the bribery comment, but then had the chance to look smug, Morrolan's favorite expression, as he told me, "Actually, Vlad, these are practice grounds that even you don't know about."
I gave him a questioning look. I used to be in charge of updating Morrolan's security. I knew things about Castle Black that no one except Morrolan knew. I'd once been able to find out within moments how many guests were at the perpetual party, the present location of each of the seldom-seen witches of Morrolan's enclave, whether or not Morrolan had a woman in his bedroom and how many hours they'd been in there...
"Okay," I said. "Let me get my rapier." I told Loiosh psionically that I was going to go practice fencing; he was outside on the mountain chasing small mammals. Guess I wasn't the only one who'd been getting restless.
A few moments later we were in Castle Black, in the tower with no windows. Well, no real windows. Morrolan walked up to the Window that let him look upon any place in existence and maybe some that weren't and brought up a scene of stark desert, lit by the setting furnace.
We walked through, though I couldn't suppress the slight shudder Morrolan's Window always gave me. It was just so... unnatural.
I looked around as Morrolan started towards the lone building in front of us. Oh. Not a building, a wall, enclosing his "private" practice grounds.
"Where the hell is this place?" I asked, looking around before entering the stone-enclosed yard. "And who the hell would build a practice ground in the middle of freaking nowhere?"
He gave me a wide smile. Who, indeed. A cocky Dragonlord with a Window to anywhere in the universe.
I watched as Morrolan set up a protection spell to prevent our swords from doing damage. Then he gestured and the torches planted along the perimeter of the grounds flared into flame. Show off. There was still daylight, but the furnace was low, blocked from sight by the wall.
Soon we had stretched out and Morrolan had waited patiently while I shadow fenced to warm up. We faced each other for real, Morrolan wielding a rapier that could have been the twin of my own and taking a guard position that presented only his right side.
I must have shown my surprise on my face. "I did," Morrolan said snidely, "grow up in the East. What style of swordplay did you think I was taught out there?"
"Oh that's right!" I said disingenuously, parrying a cut towards my neck as Morrolan lunged forward. "How many centuries old were you before you figured out you weren't an Easterner?"
"Watch it, Jhereg," Morrolan said in a low voice, though there was a fierce exhilaration under it that I understood perfectly. It was the way fencing always affected me too. He stabbed past my guard and very nearly got a cut in, so I relaxed into the state of intense concentration I fought in and began to really get into the contest.
Fencing with Morrolan was great. I had been getting sick of Dzur Mountain. Living for a month inside a tomb of rock was difficult after the past years of sleeping under the open sky, traveling by foot so that I had to walk long distances each day. I warmed to the exercise and found myself assessing Morrolan's technique, searching for a weakness, an opening...
Morrolan's sword swept down into my neck, which was terrifying, by the way, and my body trembled under the force of the blow as the spell that protected Morrolan from beheading me deflected his sword.
I jerked away and couldn't stop from feeling the side of my neck in search of damage. Recovering, I resumed a guard position and attacked, saying lightly, "Point for the Dragonlord" as though my nerves weren't still trembling.
Morrolan barely recovered in time.
I fell into the fierce concentration of fencing again, watching my footwork closely because it felt rusty. He didn't make any mistakes, wasn't reaching too far or leaving any part of himself open to attack. But then, neither was I. We each held our own for a long time, and I realized I had no clue who would win if it came to a test of stamina.
A moment later I was staring in shock at my chest, where the point of Morrolan's sword had bounced off the protective spell and left again, barely slow enough for the eye to track. My body had leapt back instinctively without my conscious command, which is how I always was during a battle, but I'd been too slow.
Damn all this steel I was hauling around. One of the things I'd done during my month at Dzur Mountain was become paranoid again. Which means I'd found a large number of weapons and stowed them about my person. Now, however, they were weighing me down.
Before Morrolan could start again, I held up a hand. "Hold on a moment," I said, walking over to the wall of the practice grounds. Morrolan watched as I began removing various weapons from my pants. When I realized how long it would take to get everything out of my jerkin, I just took the shirt off, placing it beside our cloaks and sword belts, which we'd both removed earlier.
I walked back to where Morrolan stood, the slight glean of sweat on my chest from our previous two fights cooling in the breeze. Morrolan was staring at me with an odd expression on his face.
"I know," I said, "that I would have all that extra weight in a real sword fight, which is why I usually practice fully armed. But give me a little slack if I'm going to fight one-on-one with the best Dragaeran swordsman currently living."
Morrolan nodded, utterly failing to notice that I'd qualified my compliment with "Dragaeran" rather than "best swordsman." I'd thought that would win some points in our perpetual verbal war, but he seemed too distracted to notice. I watched as he took a deeper breath than seemed necessary and raised his sword.
I was the first to strike, and he barely parried. What the hell was wrong with him? "Come on, Morrolan, my hairy chest isn't that disgusting. Gees, you're as bad as Aliera."
He smiled then and the energy came back to his strokes. We were soon battling as fiercely as before.
The furnace set completely and the flickering light from the torches made it harder to judge distances and timing, but I could feel myself gaining. Perhaps... yes he was, his line was a bit too high to fully cover his side. I feigned at his side, causing him to swing off-balance to parry. Then I made my move, sword point hitting his chest as my momentum carried me inside his hasty attempt at defense.
My sword felt funny; it was definitely resting against something solid, but it was a full inch off Morrolan's chest. My other hand, which was pressed to Morrolan's back to aid my sword in spitting him, which it would have done if we'd been battling for real, was pressed against his shirt, not the invisible barrier. I wondered how this spell worked.
I suddenly realized we were too quiet except for harsh pants of breath and looked up at Morrolan, who was staring down at me as though... I hastily removed my hand from his back and realized I should have stepped back moments ago.
That was when Morrolan kissed me. I'm not sure if that does it justice. Our lips met, but it was more like a continuation of the battle than a kiss. I froze, but it didn't seem to phase him that I wasn't kissing back. My mind was working too slowly for me to realize what was happening, and before I knew it Morrolan had released me and stepped away, still breathing hard.
He met my eyes, daring me to ask him what I was in fact about to ask him, which was, "What the hell was that?"
The Dragonlord shrugged, turning away to head towards our cloaks and weapons. I got the impression he was hurt. Shit. I moved to catch up with him, though I had no idea what I was about to say. "Look, Morrolan, it's nothing to do with you, I just, I don't, um, not with guys..."
He whirled to face me. "Are you quite sure, Vlad? Tell me this doesn't affect you at all..." He grabbed me then and I didn't resist, just stood there as his arms went around me and he pressed his sweaty body against mine, his lips at my shoulder, my neck, and his hands running down my bare back, my sides, his fingertips reaching below the hem of my pants teasingly.
It wasn't as though it didn't feel good. And, well, I'd been alone for a month in Dzur Mountain. His lips found mine again and it was slow and needy, and I found my body responding.
What the hell was I doing? This was Morrolan, damnit. He was male. I was male.
His hands were on my ass, crushing me into him, and I realized what it was that was poking so hard into my stomach. I jerked away.
The expression on Morrolan's face was pure sex. I shivered under his gaze. He didn't seem upset that I'd pushed him away though. He reached one hand out to cup my face, to trail down my chest, following the line of hair that disappeared into my pants. I swallowed. He dropped his hand without going any further downward.
"Was my blood good?" he asked.
I nodded, remembering how wonderful it had felt to feed. I'd already admitted to myself that it was better than sex. But Morrolan wasn't asking for merely sharing blood this time. I asked anyway. "Is that what you want, Morrolan, to give me blood?"
He looked at me as though he were trying to figure me out. "If that's what you want," he finally said.
I was relieved. I didn't want to lose Morrolan as a friend, and I had one hell of a hard-on that begged to be satisfied. I might not be completely comfortable with feeding off people, but I was a hell of a lot more comfortable with it than with anything else Morrolan might want to do.
I looked around the torch-lit yard. "Here?" I asked.
Morrolan smiled and gestured as he teleported in a pile of thick blankets, which he spread on the ground. I was feeling less and less comfortable with this. And then Morrolan stripped.
He turned to me as he folded his clothes and told me to go ahead and sit down. I, um, didn't hear him.
"Have you never seen a Dragaeran naked before, Vlad?" Morrolan asked, infinitely amused.
I stopped gawking and closed my mouth firmly, largely because he was insufferably arrogant enough without me stroking his ego with something like, "Gosh. You're huge."
I sat on the spread of blankets, though stiffly, and felt Morrolan sit beside me, very close. "Take your boots off at least," Morrolan said, slightly irritated. "I'm not going to rape you, you know. If you don't want me, I'll contain my disappointment, but at least admit that you enjoyed drinking my blood as much as I enjoyed giving it to you."
I looked at him and then away, but I took my boots off and settled down on my back. You could see stars here, just like out East. It was utterly silent too, a quiet I hadn't gotten in the Dragaeran countryside, but that I remembered from my brief treks across deserts. Well, mainly from my journey to the Paths of the Dead, with Morrolan. We'd camped in the desert then too. I wondered if he'd wanted me then. That was barely a day or two after we'd met.
"Vlad," said Morrolan who, I should mention, was lying beside me completely naked. "You realize this is going to be almost as intimate as sex. Maybe more so, with the psionic link that seems to accompany it."
I looked at him and saw the desire in his eyes. My gaze went downward and I saw just how aroused he was. I felt shocked all over again at how big he was. But I reached for him, took his hand and turned it so I could settle my mouth on his wrist. His other hand... I tried not to watch as he slid his free hand down his body, as he held himself, as he... I bit down hard and felt my whole body convulse in pleasure as the blood spilled hot down my throat. I could hear Morrolan's thoughts now. I suppose I was in more control than when I'd done this while so weak a month ago.
He was mentally crying out in pleasure, wordlessly, even as I heard his breath come hard and needy and watched his hand move up and down as he drowned in the pleasure my bite was creating.
My body was throbbing with need. I don't even remember unfastening my pants, slipping my hand inside to follow Morrolan's example. I hadn't drunk much blood at all when I felt both of us reach the end of our resistance. Morrolan cried out. I couldn't make a sound with his blood in my mouth, but I know my psionic voice was a ragged scream as I thrust myself harshly into my hand, riding Morrolan's release even before I came myself.
I don't remember a thing after that, but I must have released his wrist, which I'd probably torn to shreds. We lapsed into unconsciousness.
A while later, I woke up and found Morrolan's eyes open as he stared at the stars above us. I couldn't help glancing down his body to see how he looked when he wasn't erect. It was still impressive. I felt my own body stirring as I looked at him and wondered if I'd always responded to males and just never realized it. No, I didn't find Kragar attractive. Or Savn. Or any guys I'd known in the Jhereg. But Morrolan... my gaze was on his smooth chest, so different from an Easterner's body. I was curious about him in a way that I would feel about a cute girl I passed on the street. And I had to admit how arousing it had been while we were psionically linked to hear him repeat my name over and over in his mind as he reached release.
I looked back at Morrolan's face, wondering whether he'd caught me checking him out. It took me a moment to realize there were silent tears running from his eyes into his black hair.
I thought I had a good idea what was upsetting him. He'd made his move and I'd shot him down. This must have been a long time coming too, with as long as we'd known each other.
I stared upwards at the night sky and said quietly, "It's not that I don't want you, you know."
He jumped and dried his eyes with his hand. He didn't turn to face me, but he didn't turn away either.
I told the stars, "I think I just need to get over the idea of doing things with another guy."
Morrolan rolled onto his side to face me then, and I turned my head to meet his eyes. "Do you find me attractive?" he asked, curious.
I cleared my throat, wondering if he'd read my thoughts a few moments ago and wondering how I could blush after what we'd done tonight. "I, uh, you're good looking, Morrolan, I mean for a Dragaeran."
He smiled at my attempt to joke. "Let me ask a different question then," he said, resting a hand on my far shoulder. He began to trail it over my skin, lightly, fingertips caressing. "Close your eyes and tell me how this feels." I did, shivering suddenly in the warm night air. I could hear him shifting position beside me and then there were two hands on my skin and they were brushing down my thighs. I felt myself harden, and he silently continued his caresses. It occurred to me then how caring his touch was. Morrolan wasn't just attracted to me; there were deeper emotions involved. That probably scared me more than the voice in my head that kept reminding me, 'This is a guy who's touching you.'
Morrolan continued silently to caress my lower body through my clothes, to touch my bare chest and arms and neck and make me shiver. Cowardly, I kept my eyes closed. There was a tension in his grip upon my body, and he massaged the muscles of my legs for a few moments. Then his hands strayed toward my groin, slowly deliberately circling, trailing towards and away and always coming back.
My breathing was fast. I was hard, really hard. And I wanted him to touch me, but there was no way I was going to admit it. Damn it, Morrolan, quit playing around and just...
His hands settled firmly on top of me, clutching me and massaging through my pants. I lifted up to press into his warm hands, wanting more. I felt Morrolan's body shift, felt what his demanding hands were continuing to do to me, then gasped in surprise when his lips crushed into mine.
I kissed him back. Hard. My arms wrapped over his shoulders to pull him against me, even though it meant his hands could not continue. We kissed hard and fiercely until I had to break away to breathe. Morrolan moved away and rose onto his knees, which caused my eyes to settle on his groin and note how thoroughly aroused he was. He was bending over me, hands at my waist again, and I realized he was undressing me.
I lay there passively as I let him take off my pants and underwear. I was more than a little self-conscious. By now I was stretched to my greatest length, aroused more than I'd thought I could be in bed with another guy, but Morrolan wasn't just big, he was huge. I doubted any Easterner on the planet could come close to that size, and certainly I...
I stopped my mental worrying when I felt Morrolan's hands close on my naked groin, felt him gently touch me just right, gliding over me smoothly again, and again. I groaned and then he was kissing me, harshly, needily, and his hands on me were firm, demanding. This was what I wanted, I said with absolute certainty. I heard his chuckle and realized that we were somehow psionically linked again. Morrolan's doing, I'm sure. No wonder he seemed to know exactly what I wanted. Gods...
I found myself reaching out, grabbing his enormous hardness, feeling him warm and solid in my fist. I could sense Morrolan's pleasure then, his need. I began to touch him as he was touching me.
I could hear his thoughts and desires and responded to them automatically, just as he was doing to me. But when his mental voice finally rang out sharply with, "Gods, stop!" it took me a moment to realize he wanted me to quit. It was his own hands stilling that finally got through to me. I was so close. I released him and Morrolan wrapped his arms around me, crushing us together.
I kissed him and he lay still and reveled in it. I'd gotten over the strangeness of being with a man, and I'd always prided myself on being a damn good kisser. That thought must have gotten across to Morrolan because he laughed psionically and assured me it was only one of my many skills.
He rolled us then and I let him take control, my breath quickening impossibly as his lips traveled down my chest. "Do you want it?" he asked me psionically as his fingers and lips played around with my thighs and lower stomach.
I answered and then cried out as his mouth sank over me. He was, well, amazing. Of course he was helped by my mental clues. "Yes, that!" I told him enthusiastically when he did it just right. He was seriously fucking me with his mouth when I realized I was going to come. He stopped just like that, and I groaned in need.
Morrolan laughed as he moved back up my body and ran both hands through my hair. "Not yet, Vlad," he whispered, speaking out loud instead of psionically for the first time in years. He was curled up along my body and I could feel his huge length resting on my thigh.
I suddenly had a scary thought. I mean, just because I'd never fooled around with another guy before didn't mean I didn't know a little about what was involved. And there was no way he could fit that thing into me without breaking something.
Morrolan was back to speaking psionically now, possibly because it was more intimate. More likely he was doing it to spare me the embarrassment of saying certain things out loud, even in the middle of nowhere with no one to hear. "Relax, Vlad," he said softly. "I won't do anything to hurt you. I was thinking maybe we could try it the other way around..." I got his mental image of what he wanted and shivered all over, found myself getting even more aroused and realized I was still very close.
"Morrolan, I..." I drew in a mental breath slowly. "I don't know how."
"I'll teach you," he told me. "That is, if you want..."
I wiped sweat from my face with the back of my hand. "Yes," I breathed.
Morrolan turned so he lay on his side with his back to me. I ran my hands down the long curve of his spine and he shivered. I loved, absolutely loved, having this much power over him. I know Morrolan caught that thought too. My hands went around to his chest then ended up in the inevitable spot.
I played with him, knowing it was torturing him, that he wanted it fast and hard and now, damnit.
I laughed at his desperate pleas and curled up against his back. That quieted him; he was trembling in anticipation. "Your fingers first," he told me, and his mental voice was hoarse with desire. I did as I was told, deciding it wasn't too much different than... Morrolan was gasping. I explored him some before replacing my fingers with what he really wanted. I stopped pushing in when I felt the waves of pain from him. "Just do it," he growled.
I did, and with the pain came an amazing feeling of pleasure, both mine and his, and I found myself clutching him, both of my hands pumping up and down over his sensitive skin. Then I pulled myself out, still working his hardness with my hands. Despite the wonder of the new sensations, I was already on the edge, and damned if I was going to get off before him. So I moved only slowly into and out of Morrolan's hot body, causing a constant string of begging and cursing from the tortured Dragon.
We were both crying out, verbally and otherwise, and I felt his body tense as I brought my hands down harshly, then up, down again and pushing myself in to the hilt as we both lost it completely with ragged cries that I was sure could be heard for miles.
The furnace was visible high in the sky when I woke up. I was warm from it, my entire body relaxed, refreshed. I turned to find Morrolan still asleep, then gasped and came fully awake as I saw how burnt his skin was. I glanced down at my naked body and cringed. Then I laughed, imagining Aliera's face... Sethra's face... when the both of us returned, hours and hours after we should have, and burned thoroughly on only one side.
My laughter awoke Morrolan, and it was even funnier when he didn't realize what was so funny. Surely he'd noticed how red I was? I just gestured at the two of us through the laughter, and finally he got it.
He charged at me, pinning me beneath him and kissing me harshly. I gasped, not just from the sudden desire shooting through me, but damn, the sunburn hurt. Morrolan raised himself up on his elbows, frowning. "Well, I can see this is going to be a bigger problem than I thought. I'm not a healer though. We'll need Aliera..."
He stopped, apparently catching the horrified look on my face. He smiled kindly then, "No, Vlad, if you don't want anyone to know what we've done together, I won't be the one to tell them. We'll just suffer with the burns then. With clothes on, it will merely look as though our faces were burned while we were sparring."
I smiled at the word "sparring," though I can't say why that sounded sexual, but Morrolan smiled back. We sat up and gently tugged on clothing over the burns. It was downright hot outside and with the clothing I immediately began sweating. I couldn't wait for a cold shower at Dzur Mountain.
It was awkward then, as Morrolan rolled the blankets up and tossed them in the corner and we picked up our swords and cloaks. "You know," I said, as we left the practice grounds and stood in front of Morrolan's Window. "This was rather good exercise. I'm sure Sethra will agree that I'll need it on a regular basis, don't you?"
He smiled then, kissed me once, slowly, then broke away and stepped through the Window. We didn't touch again, though there was no one in Morrolan's tower but us. It almost felt like we were different people, now that we were back in the familiar world. I shivered and was glad that I'd spoken before we'd come back. Morrolan teleported me to Dzur Mountain, but stayed in Castle Black.
Loiosh didn't land on my shoulder when he saw me. He knew I was burned there just as well as he knew what I'd done last night, what I'd discovered about myself and Morrolan. He flew with me as I walked to my rooms, chattering about a chreotha nest near one of the more often used doors into the Mountain that someone should probably take care of. He didn't ask me if I'd gone mad, or tell me that male jhereg didn't mate with other male jhereg and how the hell could a male Easterner mate with a male Dragaeran. He just licked worriedly at my sunburned face and told me I should get something to eat.