A/N

Note: I had fun using the French, German, and Russian I have here; there are translations into English on the bottom of the page but you don't have to read them. That's not the point of me using them. Feel free to correct me if you spot something wrong, though.

EDIT: Thanks to Sansi for correcting my German. Without you, it'd all be a bunch of shit. XD

Changed my penname because I am an Overlord and that's what Overlords do.

Enjoy, and please review.

DARK PASSIONS

Chapter 14: The Killing Dance

There was a feeling. A singular motion. A beat. It surrounded them until there wasn't room for anything else.

Ryou reminded himself to breathe as he felt Bakura behind him, tracing a pattern with his hands down Ryou's sides. It was wrinkling his clothes, but he couldn't find it in him to care. It was a challenge to even think beyond the sensations on his body, so he didn't. He just let it go. Let it roll over him until his ears were ringing with the beat and his skin was thrumming under Bakura's touch.

Everything was suddenly pushed out of his mind when Bakura's mouth found his neck. Ryou felt the rest of his body lose feeling until he was only the part that connected him to Bakura. He reached down and put his hands over Bakura's on his hips, joining their moves together and increasing the pace.

Ryou thought that was all he would be able to take without loosing his sanity but then, Bakura grazed the skin on his neck with his fangs. Ryou felt his heart speed up even faster as Bakura grabbed him tighter and pressed him against his own body.

Ryou swallowed hard. He watched Bakura's arms flex against his hips, back and forth, as they grinded together to a heavy beat.

"Bakura..." His voice was husky and low, made only for Bakura's ears. The vampire felt his own shiver run up his spine and he ran his hands down Ryou's arms, leaving a static electricity in his wake. Their sexual tension was thickening and racing to a conclusion that they awaited eagerly.

The music changed abruptly, a calmer beat, to catch breath on.

Bakura reluctantly loosened his hold and made sure Ryou could stand on his own without tipping over before letting go, his fingers trailing across where Ryou's shirt had lifted to show his skin.

"You see that couple over there?" Ryou jumped as Bakura's voice whispered in his ears. He looked through the pulsing crowd for the couple but didn't turn around to look at Bakura; there was something strangely erotic about having the vampire's mouth so near his skin.

"There," Bakura nudged Ryou's head to the left and waited for him to nod when he saw the couple before continuing. "They're too full of themselves. Much too full."

"Shall we show them up?" Ryou asked, amusement lacing his voice, as he felt his strength returning faster at the prospect.

Bakura just snickered lightly and wrapped an arm around Ryou's waist. "You know it."

"Wait a minute," Ryou paused, squinting through the club lights even as he moved with Bakura's new rhythm. "I think they're Da'kana, or should I stick with the more human version of the word with 'vampires'?" -Bakura rolled his eyes at him. Now that both their secrets were out, there was no point doing that- "I didn't know you lot liked night clubs; I thought you were a special case, Bakura."

Bakura grinned, "I am. There's no one alive who can top me, either." He laughed when Ryou got the double meaning of that and shoved him, grinning. "Ready, Ryou?"

The music changed again as if on cue.

A new pounding bass, a new rhythm, and something energizing hit them all at once, and swept the old melody away, its memory faded from the crowd already.

But Bakura and Ryou were ahead of the other dancers, mindlessly moving to the beat, and had made a clearing for themselves in between the mass of bodies. Ryou had managed to nudge the last dancer far enough back when he felt Bakura's arm snake around his waist, fingers already inching under the band of his leather pants.

Ryou's lips curved into a smile as Bakura spun him out and ran his fingers suggestively down his arm. He grabbed the vampire's hand and made him follow his spin, ending with them pressed together; Bakura hitched him up so they were eye-to-eye as the vampire's hand traveled down Ryou's willing body.

The dancers nearest them finally took notice and one of the guys whistled appreciatively, bringing more attention to them. Like moths drawn to light, more dancers turned towards them and began dancing around the couple as their dance became more and more daring and focused on each other.

Bakura felt a flash of jealousy when he heard whistles, knowing that it was towards Ryou. Mine, he thought as he tightened his hands around Ryou's waist and trailed his lips down his neck. Mine.

With a growl that only Ryou heard above the music, Bakura spun him out and motioned to the DJ for one of his own songs. New club or not, the ones manning the music knew who he was and knew what he wanted. Or else. The vampire felt himself grinning as the music he wanted came on. Good.

Bakura felt Ryou jerk in his arms and look up at him knowingly as the first bars of a song Ryou had admitted induced the most animalistic of his desires. The animal that Bakura wanted to come out; that he craved. Fuck, when Ryou lost his inhibitions, they were unstoppable, Bakura gave a shuddered breath as Ryou ran his hands down his chest. Right now, Bakura glanced at the opposing couple out of the corner of his eye and saw that they were pissed the attention wasn't on them anymore, that was exactly what he wanted.

He looked back at Ryou and asked him to do what he rarely did: lose himself in the music. Ryou just stared at him for a moment, their bodies rocking to the music intro, before he grinned and stepped closer, leaning up.

"I hope you know I hold you entirely responsible for anything I do tonight from this point onward," Ryou spoke low again.

"That was supposed to be a warning, wasn't it?" Bakura smiled lazily as his eyes took in Ryou looking up at him coyly.

Ryou put his heels back on the ground but remained pressed tightly to the vampire, the nearness doing heavenly things to his body. "Some say warnings are just another way of telling the future."

"Then I'm looking forward to how this night is going to end," Bakura chuckled and pressed a hand to the small of Ryou's back as the music sped up and words joined in.

Ryou didn't even have time to protest as the vampire suddenly bent him backwards and spun them both, so resembling something else for a moment that their audience gave a shout of approval. It was then that Ryou actually noticed the crowd and sent a glance toward his boyfriend. Let's begin.

Yuugi looked at the endless flights of stairs and then back to Yami. "You've got to be kidding me."

'Well, we've got no other choice, now do we?" Yami snapped back, his finger pressing the useless elevator button repeatedly. "Life isn't all fun and games. It's not all easy, either. You want to control your power, fucking work for it."

"Well, I fucking know that!" Yuugi shot back, his pissy mood already inducing a mirroring reaction in Yami. "I just don't see why we have to climb all these stairs to see Zed's girlfriend." He crossed his arms and looked away.

Yami sighed and leaned against the wall, his hand still pressing the button. "This isn't about Zed at all, is it?"

Yuugi snapped his neck back to look at Yami. "Out of my head."

Yami frowned. "I wasn't in it. I can't help it if your thoughts and emotions are written all over your face."

"Yeah? Well you can stop looking then," Yuugi replied, and even to his own ears, it sounded lame. He wiped a hand over his face and sat down on the bottom stair of the staircase. "A lot has happened in the past couple of days. You, for example, went from wanting to drink me dry, to stalking me" –Yami sputtered– "to helping me."

Yami just stared at him.

"Thank you for that," Yuugi finished.

Yami just continued to stare before he got a hold on himself and then he grinned. "So what brought on this touchy-feely shit?"

Yuugi scowled. "I don't know. And it's not touchy-feely shit. You asked me to tell you so I did."

Whatever Yami was going to say was cut off as the elevator bell sounded and the doors opened, waiting for them.

"Well it's about bloody time," Yami said instead, walking in and holding the doors for Yuugi. When they'd both got on and leaned against opposite walls, they both realized that the panel had no floor numbers on the buttons, or even buttons. There was just one, and it was marked 'UP'.

Yami looked at Yuugi who shrugged, 'We're already in the damn elevator, aren't we? Just press it. What's the worst that can happen, we go down?"

"Famous last words," Yami muttered but pressed it anyway.

The doors shut lightning fast and the car shot up as if there were rockets attached to the bottom. Yuugi lost his footing and ended up clutching Yami's arm for support, who stood there unaffected.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, surprised by Yuugi's reaction. "Are you drunk?"

"Don't you feel it?" Yuugi exclaimed, feeling as if gravity was getting increasingly heavier. "Why are you so damn special?"

Yami used his free hand to rub his temple; he could feel a headache coming on already. "I know what this is; it's a spell. We've only gone up a floor, two at most. 'Worst that can happen' my ass. I knew there was some reason we should have taken the stairs."

"Well tell me 'I told you so' and be done with it." Yuugi panted. His body had become so heavy; it was getting harder to breathe. "Fix it."

"Avec plaisir(1)," Yami smiled grimly and then froze as his ears caught up with his mouth. "Quoi?(2)"

"Es-tu bon, Yami?(3)" Yuugi asked then jerked to a stop…French?What! "QUOI? JE PARLE FRANÇAIS MAINTENAINT? QUOI LE FUCK, YAMI?(4)"

Yami's eyes were wide as his mind raced, searching for an answer to their strange predicament. "Je ne sais pas! C'est très bizarre! Tu es raison; quoi le fuck?(5)"

They turned their panicked gazes to the door and next thing the vampire knew, Yuugi was pounding on it as hard as he could. "M'AIDER! JE NE VEUX PAS PARLER FRANÇAIS! J'AIME MON ANGLAIS!"

Suddenly, it all came together and Yami knew why they were speaking French. It must have been a spell; what else?

"Yuugi," he called. Yuugi just kept pounding on the door, screaming obscenities in French. "Yuugi, dieu-condamne-il!(7)"

He finally had Yuugi's attention. "Wir muessen zusammenarbeiten!(8)" he paused and re-said it in his head. German? What happened to French? "Was zum Teufel? Jetzt wir sprechen in Deutsch? Das ist Irrsinn!(9)"

Yuugi felt a hysterical scream coming up and forced it back down. Barely. What the hell was going on? First French, now German. What was wrong with good, old, plain English?

"Oh Yuugi, ich weiss(10)," Yami spoke again. "Es liegt ein Fluch auf unseren Zungen. Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass Zeds Freundin dahinter steckt.(11)"

He waited for Yuugi's reaction, but he just continued to stare at Yami with an incredulous look on his face. Then he took a breath and said, "ICH VERSTEHE NICHT WAS DU SAGST, DU FUCKING VAMPIR!(12)"

'Shit,' Yami winced; he had forgotten that while he was being forced to speak in French and now German, he had been around long enough to actually be able to speak and understand the languages. Yuugi hadn't lived that long and he couldn't, which was why he was panicking now; the vampire was surprised he hadn't broken down already.

'Wait a minute,' Yami suddenly realized what he could do. He froze and breathed deeply, gathering his wits while at the same time spreading them out in his mind. 'Yuugi…'

The human abruptly stopped in his tantrum and looked at the vampire, one of his eyebrows rising and his chin sticking out, despite their circumstances. "Was machst du in meinem Kopf, Yami?(13)"

Yami rolled his eyes and tried again, finding that now that he'd forged a path to Yuugi's mind, it was easier the second time. 'Don't be an ass, Yuugi. Haven't you noticed I'm speaking in English now?'

Yuugi didn't know how to send his thoughts like Yami had so he just said it out loud. "Нет" –Yuugi's eyes widened- "О Фок, русский язык теперь? Я не знаю больше.(14)"

Yami restrained a laugh at risk of Yuugi losing it again; they didn't need that again, especially since they were still in the elevator. Russian wasn't his best language but Yami found he could understand what Yuugi was saying if he listened. 'Yuugi, would you like to learn how to send your thoughts directly to me? We'll need it if something like this happens again.'

Yuugi managed to restrain himself from strangling the vampire, but just barely. "ДА! Конечно, я хочу. Я не хочу остаться говорящим по-русски, Yami.(15)"

Yami grinned. 'So, I shouldn't have asked then. Right. Do you know the feeling of concentrating on something so hard that you feel some blood vessel in your brain is about to break?'

Yuugi chose not to speak and nodded his head instead.

'Well, forget about that.' –Yuugi scowled at him – 'If you're concentrating too hard, your mind creates an automatic barrier around to keep your thoughts all in. It's your mind's way of ensuring privacy.'

"Тогда, что я делаю?(16)" Yuugi asked, his tone exasperated.

'For you, Yuugi, just empty your mind. Let all your thoughts, and emotions go. Let them go over your head as if you're not there. By doing so, you open your mind enough to let it leave the confines of your head and-'

'Like this?' Yuugi asked, his voice not an actual sound but a warmth that danced across Yami's skin. It felt like the sun that Yami hadn't felt in over three thousand years.

Yami hitched his breath. 'Yeah, you got it. Perfect. Yuugi?'

Yuugi faltered, and Yami watched him close his eyes for a moment, and the strong presence that was Yuugi faded in Yami's mind until it was a hum. Still warm, but distant. 'That was trippy. I must have let go and sent too much of my mind into yours. Yeah, Yami?'

Yami looked away and stared at the closed doors for a moment before looking back. 'What do I feel like to you in your mind?'

'Well,' Yuugi paused and it was such a long one that Yami didn't think he'd get an answer, 'I guess I can only describe it as a wind, cool and light but strong and powerful at the same time. I don't know whether to say you're like a breeze or a cat in that tense moment before a pounce and- holy shit, was I actually almost poetic just now?'

Yami couldn't help but laugh at that. Yuugi just watched him for a moment, and then he joined in. They continued until they were almost in tears and gasping for breath. It was either that or faint from the stress right there, in the elevator.

When they had faded to giggles, Yuugi gave a big groan, "We should have just taken the damn stairs."

"Shit," Seto swore as he saw the singer turn back to look the way he'd come in another bout of paranoia.

Seto dived behind the nearest building and felt his trench coat bunch up for his trouble. He brushed it irritably down again and peeked out from around his building, his enhanced vision allowing him to see through the dim lighting and spot the singer.

He hissed as he realized he'd hit his head on the brick wall he'd jumped behind. He reached up a hand to rub the bump he could already feel forming as he looked around the corner again.

Seto had yet to see the singer's face, so he was thankful that the singer had a guitar slung over one shoulder; it made following him much easier.

'What the hell am I doing?' Seto asked himself again as he ducked under an emergency staircase to keep from being seen. He asked himself the same thing again, but still his mind could think up no legitimate response.

'Let's face it, I'm stalking the human. Now wouldn't the Tombrobber be proud of me?' Seto asked himself even as he ducked under an emergency staircase to keep from being seen. 'No, he'd probably just laugh himself sick at the irony.'

After three or four blocks of following the singer home, Seto had graduated to asking himself why he was stalking a human and whether he planned to stop anytime soon.

A block after that, he was enjoying himself too much to remember that he'd been balking at the idea some time before. It was only when Seto started getting uncharacteristically excited that he realized that it was his Hunger influencing him in his actions. He was, in essence, hunting the human, and by then, too much of his vampire side had taken over his body for him to care.

Seto flitted past a store front with reflective glass and caught a glimpse of himself. He didn't need to see it to know he didn't look human in the least at the moment. His piercing, blue eyes were almost glowing and his pupils had narrowed and elongated themselves to resemble those of a cat. His hair was ruffling in a non-existent wind, lagging a moment in reaction to his movements. If he opened his mouth, he knew he's see his gums receded to show his teeth, and in particular, his fangs, which would also have descended.

The vampire watched the human's shoulders tense again, warning him that he was going to look back, and darted around the corner of the nearest building, landing on an abnormally large window sill, and realized where he'd followed the singer to: the business district.

The people that lived here were either businessmen or ex-businessmen spending the money they'd cheated out of their clients on frivolous things. While the creatures of the dark loved to play about at night and give the people the only scare they were likely to get, their leaders, the Da'kana, didn't come here often. The businessmen's blood was too bitter and dry to enjoy, no matter how much the vampires enjoyed stalking and scaring them.

'What was the singer doing here?' he had time to wonder before his Hunger finally overrode everything else. Seto felt what was left of his blood recede from his extremities and pool in the middle of his body, closer to his heart, as his joints stiffened. Then, his pores opened up, soaking in the humid air of the city, as if searching for blood. His eyes darkened to a bloody color and the glow in them dimmed. All that mattered now was- 'Blood'.

He flexed his legs, and then jumped- a mix between a leap and a dart, it was so quick- to land with his fingers jammed into the wall of the opposite building, listening for the human somewhere ahead. He crawled along the wall, his fingers and feet finding holds and when they couldn't, they made them, until he was looking out over the street he'd left.

The singer had quickened his pace and was now almost jogging to the next intersection, his guitar case bouncing on his back. It couldn't help but excite Seto to see his prey trying to get away. His vampiric side was screaming in his head for him to follow, to stalk, to pounce, to feed. 'To hunt.'

Seto slithered along the wall, his hands and feet barely touching down against the sills and emergency ladders. He made no sound; not even breathing would spoil his game tonight.

The singer had reached the intersection and was crossing it, his shoulders squared, disregarding the eerie feeling of empty sidewalks and streets. The absence of the sound of motors running and wheels on the slick, wet road was disconcerting even to the vampire, blood-crazed as he was, and he briefly felt admiration for this human's trait. Then his blood lust returned with a vengeance.

Seto reaching the intersection and dived off the buildings he'd been hanging off of. He briefly landed on all fours before taking the weight on his legs and straightening, his feet already moving him toward the singer.

'Closer…closer…' Seto could smell the blood and already taste it on his tongue, going down his throat, filling him up.

It was at that moment that the human turned around and saw Seto following him, the feral expression on the vampire's face exposing him for what he was. He was still far enough away that he couldn't lunge for the singer, crouching at the curb of the street while the singer was in the middle of it.

But Seto locked gazes with him and watched the singer's jaw slacken as the vampire invaded his mind. Seto straightened then and leisurely smoothed his trench coat and hair, all the while maintaining eye contact with his prey. He smiled lazily as he began walking towards him, a jaunt in his step.

So caught up in his catch and busy congratulating himself on a job well done was Seto, that he didn't even hear the blaring horn of the approaching car until the last second. Then he sprang into action and jumped upward, his enhanced strength carrying him over the roof of the taxi, him watching it speed by beneath him.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten about the prey under his control. Seto felt the singer's abrupt blossoming of pain and loss of consciousness and cringed. 'Shit…'

He landed and heard the taxi cab's tires squeal as it hurriedly drove away; he turned to watch the taillights fade into the distance. The vampire in him had surprisingly settled down because of the abrupt interruption and Seto found he didn't feel the Hunger quite so painfully anymore.

He found his voice, "Well, what do you know, I've got myself a hit-and-run victim here," he snorted in amusement. Not in all his thousands of years had he thought he'd have to deal with something as lowly as a hit-and-run. He frowned as he realized, "This is technically my fault; fuck, the council's going to kill me."

He stepped around the human's body and lowered himself to crouch next to his head; he could hear his faint breathing. Seto smoothed the hair back from his face, and turned the human's head to face him. He immediately jumped back and scrambled to his feet, staring down at the prone human in anger.

"What devilry is this?" He shouted, outraged. His words echoed down the street, but no other response came forward. There was nothing left to do but face the fallen human again.

"Shit," Seto said softly.

1. Avec plaisir - With pleasure

2. Quoi? - What?

3. Es-tu bon, Yami? - Are you okay, Yami?

4. QUOI? JE PARLE FRANÇAIS MAINTENAINT? QUOI LE FUCK, YAMI? - WHAT? I SPEAK FRENCH NOW? WHAT THE FUCK, YAMI?

5. Je ne sais pas! C'est très bizarre! Tu es raison; quoi le fuck? - I don't know! It's really weird! You're right; what the fuck?

6. M'AIDER! JE NE VEUX PAS PARLER FRANÇAIS! J'AIME MON ANGLAIS! - HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO SPEAK FRENCH! I LIKE MY ENGLISH!

7. Yuugi, dieu-condamne-il! - Yuugi, goddamnit!

8. Wir muessen zusammenarbeiten! - We must work together!

9. Was die Teufel? Jetzt wir sprechen in Deutsch? Das ist Irrsinn! - What the devil? Now we're speaking in German? This is insane!

10. Oh Yuugi, ich weiss - Oh Yuugi, I know

11. Es liegt ein Fluch auf unseren Zungen. Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher, dass Zeds Freundin dahinter steckt. - There's a curse on our tongues. I am almost certain Zed's girlfriend is responsible.

12. ICH VERSTEHE NICHT WAS DU SAGST, DU FUCKING VAMPIR! - I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, YOU FUCKING VAMPIRE!

13.Was machst du in meinem Kopf, Yami? - What are you doing in my head, Yami?

14."Нет...О Фок, русский язык теперь? Я не знаю больше! - No...Oh fuck, Russian now? I don't know anymore.

15. ДА! Конечно, я хочу. Я не хочу остаться говорящим по-русски, Yami. - YES! Of course, I want to. I don't want to be stuck speaking in Russian, Yami.

16. Тогда, что я делаю? - Then, what do I do?