A.N. - Hello everyone! Me again! I know I haven't finished a hundred other fics, but I will eventually, some day, so please don't fret!! This is my first slash/yaoi fic in English, so be nice to me, and give me your opinion!!

Anyway, I dedicate this whole story to Inyx, my slash-loving, sick-minded, beautifully perverted, OC-hating friend (they're all compliments, by the way). You inspired me so much in the little IM talks we had, that I just had to write some slash again. Sorry that this isn't a Darius fic, like you wanted......

Disclaimer - I don't own any DS characters. Strangely enough, every Darren Shan character is owned by Darren Shan. No OCs in this fic, so I own nothing but the slashiness.


Taste of Love

I : Hello

My first impression of the Mountain: huge and complex. My first impression of Gavner Purl: loud and friendly. I guess my first day at the Mountain wasn't too bad. At least, up to now it wasn't.

'And this, Kurda, is the Hall of Corza Jarn.'

Gavner said proudly as he gestured with his arms dramatically the entrance to a medium-sized hall. He has been my tour guide today, as my sire did not come to the Mountain with me – and he seemed very excited about this hall, unlike any other hall he's shown me. I entered the hall with him, and asked:

'What is this hall for? What do you do here?'

'Here, my friend,' he said excitedly, 'we rip throats, stab eyes out, splash our boiling blood, and spill our war-loving guts out!!'

I winced at each one of those words –

'That sounds disgusting!!!! And so...so barbaric!!'

I argued – Gavner cackled loudly.

'Well I hate to tell you, young man, but that's exactly what vampires are!!'

He laughed some more. I glared at him for a while, before looking around at the hall. It seemed small from the outside, but once you entered it, it was quite spacious.

I could see vampires lashing at each other with knives, swinging spears around, smashing heads with wooden sticks, and wrestling like wild animals on the ground. I frowned at the lack of moral in this hall – it was total chaos. And even more disturbing was the fact that everyone seemed to be enjoying the blood-shedding fights.

I felt like throwing up when a vampire's freshly amputated thumb flew from one of the fighting rings right at my chest, and dropped to the ground. I span around and strode towards the exit, feeling sick and angry and disgusted – but Gavner grabbed my arm and dragged me back, chuckling.

'Where do you think you're going?'

'Out. Outside. Anywhere but here!!!'

'Oh no you don't. I didn't bring you here for nothing, you know. And you'll get to like this some day, you have vampire blood running through your veins, mate.'

He chuckled, and poked my forehead. I glared at him.

'Why did you bring me here, then?'

'For no other reason but to introduce you to......'

'The great Vanez Blane. Right?'

A deep but smooth voice interrupted Gavner's rough voice – a tall man walked up from behind him, and placed his lean and muscular bare arm on Gavner's shoulder. Gavner chuckled loudly, and ruffled the man's deep burgundy hair.

'Exactly. Now how've you been?'

'Not bad, actually. Who's the jewel you've got with you?'

He said, shooting a friendly glance at me. The glance turned into a stare. I stared back at him. He only had one eye – a soft, grey, friendly eye twinkling mischievously at me. He looked quite scary with the other ruined eye, but if you hid it, I could tell he would be very good-looking. His clean-shaved face was tanned healthily unlike mine, and his dark red hair looked as if he had changed his mind while he was cutting it (some bits were short, some bits long), making him look like some kind of strange wild beast. He wasn't bulgingly muscular like most male vampires, but lean and tall, very powerful looking. He looked a little older than me, and he was just a fist's height taller than me. A sly grin spread over his thin lips, and he raised an amused eyebrow.

I just kept on staring at him – Gavner poked my side with his elbow, snapping me out of my daze. I stuttered hurriedly:

'K-kurda. Kurda Smahlt.'

'Kurda, eh? Cute.'

.........Cute? I frowned. He grinned, and held out a hand.

'Vanez Blane. You can call me Vannie if you want. Or Blaney. Whatever you think is apt, kay?'

'...O-kay...'

I answered uncertainly and took his hand. It was big, but dry and warm. He shook it extremely vigorously, and I frowned at the pain in my shoulder.

'Um...Nice to meet you, Vanez.'

'My utmost pleasure to meet you too, Kurda.'

We had finished shaking but he still kept holding my hand and squeezing it. Gavner cleared his throat rather loudly.

'Vanez, I'd rather it if you didn't lay a hand on this one.'

.........Lay a hand...? I stared at Gavner – Vanez let out a dry cackle.

'Why not? I mean, you're gonna ask me to teach him, right? It's all part of the lessons.'

He said with a mischievous grin, putting a curious emphasis on the word "lessons".

'Lessons?'

I asked. Gavner winced – Vanez laughed and explained.

'I'm a tutor, you see, as well as the gamesmaster. Not one student I've taught has failed the trials of death.'

I took a surprised breath – so this guy's going to be my tutor for the trials (which is the reason I came to the Mountain in the first place)!

'So you're going to teach me?'

'Of course.'

Vanez said with a sloven grin, putting a casual arm around my shoulder. Gavner tore me out of Vanez'z arm, dragged me away and whispered into my ear:

'He devours every single student he has, regardless of age or sex, saying it's part of 'teaching'!'

'WHAT!!? You mean he's...a bi-se...'

'I don't mind the company of both girls and boys, if that's what you're trying to say.'

Vanez grinned, crossing his arms in front of himself, and watching us curiously. Gavner glared at him.

'Don't you dare try screwing up this one, Vanez. His sire's very fond of him and won't like the idea of a beast such as yourself getting to his assistant.'

'He doesn't want to share this kid, in other words.'

.......kid? I'm 25 in human years - ......kid? Gavner huffed.

'No, I'm saying......Oh forget it. Just don't dare try anything with him, alright?'

'I won't guarantee that, my friend.'

Vanez smirked. I am feeling rather scared. Actually, really scared. I stared at Vanez Blane – he noticed my stare and winked at me (I know he only has one eye, but I swear it was a wink!). I bit my lip and quickly took a few steps back. Gavner looked at me apologetically, and said –

'Well, Kurda, I'm going to have to leave you now...'

WHAT!!?? He has got to be kidding.

'Why!?'

'I have to go to a meeting – besides, I've shown you most of the Mountain, anyway. Maybe you can try a few games here and amuse yourself.'

Amuse myself. Yeah right. Gavner shot a final warning glance at Vanez, then walked out of the hall. I could almost feel the tears welling in my eyes – great, I'm now left alone with a perverted bisexual tutor. Vanez disappeared somewhere, (at which point I seriously considered making a run for it), but came back a few seconds later, holding two long wooden sticks. I yelped at his sudden appearance, fell backwards and hit my backside violently on the floor. Vanez laughed loudly and threw me one of the sticks.

'Don't worry. These are for fighting with. Not something else you might have thought I'd use them for. Come on, we'll get on the bars for a match.'

I watched him walk off to the bars, not entirely understanding what he had said – then suddenly it came to me and I felt like throwing up. Instead, I blushed furiously and followed him reluctantly to the bars.

'The rule is simple,' – Vanez said, helping me onto the bars with an arm – 'you use your stick to knock the opponent off of the bars. Easy, eh?'

He grinned – I nodded glumly. I hate fighting. Even with sticks. Vanez took a few bars distance and yelled cheerfully:

'Ready!?'

'......I guess...'

'GO!!!'

He yelled, then charged at me holding his stick above his head. I just looked at him and sighed.

'Look, Vanez, I really don't like figh.......'

I never got the rest out of my mouth. Something incredibly hard made contact with my head, and I blanked out.

I felt a tingling sensation on my lower lip. Something warm, rough and wet was tracing it slowly, as if someone was licking my lips. Wait a second...! I opened my eyes and saw Vanez's good eye staring into mine. Someone was licking my lips!!!!

I let out a voiceless gasp and tried to scream – but Vanez held a finger in front of my lips, silencing me.

'Don't panic. I was just going to give you mouth-to-mouth because you passed out. Honestly, I thought even a human could have avoided that strike.'

'......Firstly,' I said angrily as soon as I got my breath back, 'I don't think any first-aid includes licking lips around. Secondly, mouth-to-mouth is used when the person has drowned or isn't breathing because of a heart attack, NOT when someone passes out! And thirdly, how am I supposed to know anything about avoiding strikes, when I've never had a martial arts lesson in my life!?!?'

I said breathlessly, knowing only too well that I was blushing head to toe, and my heart was beating unnaturally fast and loud for some strange reason. Vanez smiled and patted my head.

'Well, we'll fix that up, won't we? I'll give you the guaranteed best martial arts lessons you'll ever have, my student.'

I glared at him, horrified – he chuckled and pulled me up with an arm.

'Don't worry – I'd never do anything too rash to you in broad daylight when there's others around – and besides – I won't go further without your consent.'

He grinned, ruffled my hair like he would to a child, turned his back on me and whistled loudly to himself as he walked away, beckoning me to follow. I sat there, frozen, heart beating uncomfortably fast, wondering what he meant by "anything too rash" and "go further" – but determined never to ask...

A.N. (continued) – So. Well, that's the first chapter. If you want to read more, let me know via review! Especially Inyx, as this story is for you :)

I have to say this one thing – I like to portray Vanez as a perverted slutty teacher in this fic. He's a weak drinker but drinks anyway, he likes smoking, he's a bisexual, he has a tattoo – but he's a kind and caring guy overall. I'm sorry if this image doesn't match your image of Vanez!!