For everyone who freaked out when the Voltaire Vampire series disappeared, Don't panic, I just decided to edit them up and combined them together into one fic...with a MUCH better Title. This series was inspired by Aurelio Voltaire's music, which I absolutely love, and inspired this idea of a full-fledged homosexual themed Gothic novella. I am honestly considering turning this into an original novella. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I'm trying to earn a set of feathery wings
To take me away from here
It's me you leave-
You're gone from here
Don't leave from here
Don't leave me here
I hate it here
You're gone from here
Don't leave me here
I need you here
I need to see you smile
— Feathery Wings , Aurelio Voltaire
Part I : The Night
I
The day is the wife whom I elude
The one to whom I should be right
Although forewarned by peers and kin
I always get into the night.
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
The night's shadowy blackness was made all the more umbrageous by the storm clouds suffocating the stars with melancholy curtains of rain: appropriate since they'd come here to do murder.
Lightning flashed in the faroff sky and for an instant the world was noonday bright: the vast expanse of the moors glowing gray like rolling hills of silver coins and the forested grounds cluttering the back of the house shook and rattled like terrified hands cowering in clusters behind the far more bolder main house, indominably challenging the fierce storm and fiercer winds.
It stood imperiously atop the high flat plateau: austere, angled, and aristocratic. The huge castellated mansion dominated the landscape like the warlord's throne. Grand Gothic towers and turrets topped with spires dominated the roof like the points of a King's crown. The vaulted ceiling sported majestic flying buttresses and finely carved tracery like an embellished armor. The multitude of arched windows shimmered with prismatic images like someone had scattered jewels. The tall, wide windows glowed yellow with warning, an imperial judgemental light.
Spires and second floor porches were trimmed with iron wrought fencing, thorny with caution like the teeth of some terrible guardian. Tall brick chimneys stood in attention like loyal senetials The lightning flashing behind it, illuminating the details of the grand turrets, the spires of the roof, the jutting glass conservatory and the shadowed front porch. The soft gray shingles and plum red bricks, black in the darkness: a lacework of shadow and light like the face of some tyrannical god commanding all with an iron fist.
They expected no less from the home of the monster that destroyed their lives. They exchanged looks, their coattails writhing in the stormy winds, clawing like mad demons eager for bloodshed. Their glowing eyes met the others, visible through the darkness despite the shadow of their hoods. They glittered with murderous delight, pointed teeth flashed white. Lightning struck once more behind them illuminating them both: the bold burgundy and rebellious purple of their cloaks that did nothing to disguise them within the shadows. The stark bone white and pale blond of their spiky hair as wild and untamed as their savage thirst, the glint of metal strapped to their sides like the silver teeth of a predator.
They leapt from the top of the mountain and glided across the moor, riding the storm. The howl of the wind pushed at their backs guiding them towards their destination.
His white-haired companion laughed maniacally, mad with grief and glee and the gracious glory of vengeance. He flashed his friend a knowing smirk, and they exchanged a nod before altering their descents. He ascended to the second floor, his white-haired partner in crime, lowering towards the grounded levels where his target slept gloriously naive of danger in one of the grand lower rooms.
His own was no doubt asleep in one of the grand rooms upstairs.
He sniffed the wind, tasted the sweet, intoxicating ascent of hazelnut and chocolate and strawberries and fresh blood. It was like ambrosia in his throat and he felt the weight of his own fangs in his mouth as eager and impatient as he to sait the red thirst. He followed the scent, enveloping him like madness, a madness called freedom, a madness called rage, a madness called vengeance.
Something sweet spiced his tongue and he stopped, turned and dove towards it: the open window where it came from, rattling and obvious as a bull's eye, and there beyond the empty space, the object of his obsession rested peacefully on the bed.
Like a little entry on the silver plate of his bed.
Like a piece of cake just ready and waiting to be devoured.
II
She sways in her velvet dress
And pulls me towards her in the dark
While the others rest
While the others rest
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
Yugi's eyes popped open with a gasp.
He sat up and found himself alone in his bed, looked around but found not the whispery drapes nor the large canopy bed he recalled from his dreams but the simple clean crisp sheets of the hotel single he'd fallen asleep in. His older brother, Yami, curled up like a cat in a nest of blankets and pillows snored loudly in the bed next to him.
Releasing a sigh of exhaustion and disappointment, Yugi rubbed his face and fell back against the pillows.
The dream again...the same dream that had haunted his nights for weeks now. He had not had the heart to tell Yami, knowing all too well the stress of grief and moving had wrought upon him since their Grandfather passed away. In true mature fashion of an elder sibling, Yami had taken it upon himself to arrange the funeral, sell the Game shop that was their childhood home, summon the movers and arrange their tickets, and though he asked Yugi for help and knew he did not have to do it on his own, Yugi knew he craved the distraction, the necessity of completing the minor, minute details and getting them out of the way so he could enjoy their fresh start in its entirety. It made Yugi smile, as he climbed out of bed and slipped his feet into his slippers. With a smile, he tugged the sheets that had fallen to the man's waist up to his chin. Yugi's smile widened when Yami purred and nuzzled deeper into his nest of warmth, as he slipped outside onto the wooden balcony.
The inn they were staying at was as picturesque and antiquarian as the surrounding town: a labyrinth of cobblestone street and jutting Tudors. Their exposed ribbing and slanted rooftops all crowded together gave the town a sweet, fairy tale aesthetic. The wide streets opened to a market square where the stone cottages would advertise their wears in charming shop windows and food stands sold fresh fruits and vegetables and further down the alley was a harbor where the ships came in.
Yugi had fallen in love with it at first sight. He could easily imagine calling this place home.
The villagers had been so kind and welcoming of the two boys when they first stepped off the train platform into another world that appeared lost to time. The quiet, country life seemed so much quieter and simpler than the loud, riotous noise of the city where they'd grown up: the constant cacophony of smells and cars and claustrophobic concrete towers did little to ease Yami's anxiety, and though Yugi had been far more adaptable, he suspected his older brother who'd grown up used to the far deserts and constant traveling of their younger days with their archeologist parents, never truly felt like he belonged or at home in the loud, obnoxious city. Yugi understood, but here in this wild, forgotten land where the mist rolled over the moors after the rain and the rolling hills and the breeze sang-he could imagine his brother calling this place home.
There was an untamed uncultivated beauty about this place. something rough-hewn like it had been pulled directly from the earth and wrought from water and stone as opposed to metal and iron.
And in the heart of it all, rising from the mist and the moors like some fairy tale castle of another world, the magnificent Gothic Revival Mansion that he and Yami would soon call home. Though vacant for nearly two hundred years it had been willed to them from their mother-her request they were not to know if it until after their Grandpa had passed. Some distant cousins had seen to the repairs and the upkeep and the descendants of the original staff and housekeepers maintained its grandeur. Its fate was theirs to decide.
The decision had been surprisingly easy.
Their childhood spent traveling abroad with their parents, enjoying a wealth of freedom and cultural experiences, neither boy had ever had a permanent home except their Grandfather's game shop. With his passing and both boys past their college years there seemed to be no point in keeping it. Their grandfather had been the fun and laughter and heart of the place. Without him there was nothing left for the building but to die, and neither of them wished to see the legacy he had built suffer with such indignity. They had mutually agreed to sell it, to leave the city behind with its ghosts and its memories. The mansion and the moors it occupied, promised a fresh start and a place to call home.
But it was the mansion that drew them, like a lost lover whose arms were welcoming them home. Even now, as Yugi watched it vanish and reappear between the mists and shadows of the star strewn night like a magician disappearing into smoke, all Yugi could do was longingly sigh. There was something deeply alluring about the house itself, something strange and familiar, like reconnecting with an old friend whose name and face you could not quite remember. Perhaps it was the way those stained glass windows glittered like arched eyes, or the way it arched itself appearing both august and...was it cautious? All Yugi knew was one look at the place and he knew he and Yami had to own it.
Unable to contain his excitement, Yugi slipped back inside and dressed quickly. He packed a water bottle, snacks, a book, a blanket and flashlight and a first aid kit in his leather knapsack and picked up his shoes. Quietly, as to not wake his sleeping brother-Yami had ears like a cat-he slipped outside the door, pulled on his shoes as he hopped down the hall and let the innkeeper know he would be back early. He unlocked one of the twin bikes they'd rented from the shop, pulled his jacket over his shoulders to combat the cold and peddled down the cobblestone streets out of town and up the dirt paths towards the majestic manor, glowing, beckoning in the starlight.
The house loomed from the thick silver fog as he grew closer, like a curtain being pulled back from a stage. Yugi cast another glance over the grassy knolls and heather-strewn hills, the jutting granite stones speckled throughout and the steeper slopes. Yugi could imagine himself living here. Having the cliffs and the caves to explore, racing up the hillsides and venturing into the bogs, enticed by the danger. Could imagine looking out over the moors and the white-capped sea from the house's huge windows and curling up by the fireplaces with a good book while the orchestra of the storm raged outside.
Skidding to a stop just outside the entrance lot, Yugi's eyes widened allowing him to take in the full effect of the visage. To his amazement the house looked even more mystical and frighteningly alluring in the darkness with the shadows playing off the gray shingles and the plum red bricks shimmering like onyx, the starlight playing off the stained glass images in the arch-like windows like the many emotions of monstrous eyes and the shadows playing across the tracery as if to make the animals and images carved their come alive in the dark. The eyes of its windows all seemed to glance down at him, like the multiple eyes of a spider, but scrutinizing him curiously like an owl with a bright, shiny object.
For weeks they'd researched blueprints, read histories and documents. The townsfolk had all manner of ghost stories and urban legends about the place, all circulating around the mysterious circumstances of the old Lord's death and that of his two sons. Rumors ranged from accusations of murder and blackmail to more personal and passionate motives of love and vengeance. More fantastical imaginings told stories that the Lady was a witch and had cursed her husband upon her death. Others said vampires fell in love with the sons and hoped to transform them and their Father in a fit of fear and vengeance, attempted to burn the place to the ground and succeeded only in killing himself. There was nothing but mysteries and secrets. The surrealist allure only added to its charm and otherworldly magic.
Built in the late Victorian Era, the house was old and looked like it: baroque in nature, the Gothic furnishing involved fantastical creatures and surrealist otherworlds that had fallen into ruin and it was beautiful in it's decrepitness. Though old, the house was indeed in good repair, the gables strong, the spires pointed and majestic, the windows polished and clean, despite the woody skeletons of overgrown ivy spider webbing the glass walls of the conservatory and the creak of the front porch steps.
To Yugi, it resembled a forgotten cake left standing on a silvery green tablecloth. The cream colored trimmings of the towers shimmered beneath quaint circular roof caps. The iron fencing around the roof and the second floor porches both rusted and rich with climbing vines. Dark green ivy and golden sassafras flourished amid the crenellations. Campaigns of climbing roses burgeoned carelessly over the front porch window sills and framed the doors. The shadows played across its nooks and alcoves dances and darted like wicked little sprites making mischief.
Yugi adored everything about it.
Eagerly, he ascended the steps, admired the blooming flowers and painted vines curling all around the white oak paneling, the harlequin stained glass pattern of the front doors, the scrunched up little face of the gargoyle with the door knocker in its mouth, then slipped the key into the lock and turned it.
III
Heed the call the time has come
For you children of the Night
Mother's come she is the Night!
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
His trained ears perked alive and pointed as knives at the sound of the key turning, the ancient locks groaning under the weight followed by the unmistakable sound of the grand doors opening with the shriek of rusted hinges and the groan of antiquarian wood.
Someone was in the mansion.
Someone who was not supposed to be there.
The sharp points of his white teeth glowing in the golden dim of the candlelight curled into an amused smile. He rose from his chair and grinned as he swept in front of the mirror, grateful that the old superstition about mirrors and their kind was false. His pale blond hair fell in wild, unkempt spikes all around his shoulders and he ran a hand through it hoping to tame the frizzy mane, straightened his earrings and smoothed wrinkles of his dress shirt and royal purple vest, both cut to expose the taunt pentagram of his navel. He finished his white gloves off the dresser and pulled them on. Snatched the red and black cape off the coat rack with an elegant sweep of his arm.
It fell like wings around his shoulders, shadowed and silent.
The windows outside opened to the silvery moors and the star-strewn sky. the night rich and deep, swayed in a dress of velvet strung with shimmering stars winking in and out of the mist. The moon high over the hillside in all its golden glory, a promise and a premonition.
Soon two hundred years of waiting would finally come to fruition.
Checking his appearance one last time, he slipped out of the candlelit room and down the tower's spiral steps. Ever cautious as he crept across the second floor and past the master bedroom-the only room in the house kept perpetually dark. Spotted the tufts of white spikes peeking out from the pillows. Watched the steady rise and fall of the heavy blankets, heard the loud snore. His companion remained silent and undisturbed just as he had since that dreadful night.
He inhaled a sharp breath hoping to calm his nerves and gasped: smelled the perfumed allure of hazelnuts and chocolate and strawberries and fresh blood. The scent was too rich and too familiar to be anything else than what it was.
Spinning on his heels, he flew down the spiraling steps.
Someone was here.
And he needed to find out who.
IV
It just seems very strange to me
Not her quiet lonely streets
And draped in all her mystery
Could be so sweet and comforting
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
The house was even more grand and impressive inside than it was outside. Wonderment caused Yugi's eyes to bulge, his flashlight illuminating the velvet wallpapers and polished dark wood floors and the rich area rugs, the crown moldings and the 18th and 19th century furnishings, the magnificent rooms and the grand hallway. Just like the blueprints had promised, the massive shape of the manor wasn't due to the number of rooms in the house but the sheer size of them.
As Yugi stepped into the wide foyer whose arched windows and buttresses spread like wings, flooding the room with the natural light of the moon casting silver shadows over the richly orange, green and gold rug. The floors creaking invitingly under his every step, his flashlight illuminating something new and exciting. Mystification and wonderment caused Yugi's eyes to bulge and he explored with childish curiosity.
On either side of the foyer, Yugi's flashlight spotted two smaller rooms. One a small lounge or living space with a huge ornate fireplace and enormous framed bookshelves. Yugi could easily imagine a cheery fire burning there, and filling those shelves with his favorite books, spending hours sprawled out on one of the couches lining the walls reading. Saw Yami falling asleep in the huge velvet armchair position before the fire with an empty tea mug on the side table and his favorite book in his lap. The opposite room was a small study, well lit by the huge windows, the dim blue walla bare of furnishing. An imperial desk and two small chairs and tables filled it. A cozy little office nook if they wanted to keep it that way, or perhaps they could move that desk upstairs and use it for something else.
The foyer opened to an enormous grand hall that took up the majority of the central house and all the other rooms were connected too. Elaborately carved side tables and embroidered chairs lined the walls creating charming sitting and reading areas. Iron candelabras branched out of the woods in uniform fashion, glittering stars against the calm deep blue wallpaper printed with spiraling leafy vines patterns. The hall was so huge it took up nearly two floors so that the second floor hallway was a single balcony encompassing the first floor and the staircases spiraled up the towers and the vaulted ceilings and ribbing were exposed.
The rest of the rooms branched off the hallway: huge ornate double doors slid open offering the full vistage of the room for an open feel or could be closed for privacy. Each one sported a majestic fireplace and stunning stained glass windows, filling the room with natural light. Turrets jutting off the room offered private sitting areas and tables where Yugi could just picture himself sitting, writing poetry or reading books while looking out the windows and into the world beyond. Others offered lovely views to the walled garden and the lovely grounds out back.
Pressing his face against one of the windows, his flashlight a poor substitute for the sun, he made out small wildflower parks, a combination of manicured lawns and a natural world left to its own.
At the end of the hallway, the golden beam of Yugi's flashlight revealed a grandly ornate staircase dominating the far corner: its huge, creaking, carpeted steps led to a midfloor landing, an alcove wide enough to be its own room that branched into two sets of spiraling stairs, two separate entrances to the second floor. One more ambitious than its twin, continued to the third floor tower corridors.
Adjacent the steps, another set of grand oak doors that when he pushed them open revealed in all its splendor an enormous ballroom: the floor a checkerboard pattern in black and white, the cylindrical shape of the walls were an entire series of arched windows framed in metal ornamentations of vines and serpents, songbirds and swimming fish. Heavy curtains draped over the enormous arched windows. Yugi would only imagine what the room looked like in daylight when the curtains were open and the room was flooded with light. Yugi spun around in the room, taking in the painted ceiling's colorful images of dancing monsters and maidens. Spotted the stunning balcony jutting out from the second floor like a viewers box overlooking the entirety of the ballroom and imagined some great king overlooking his entertainers from it. Imagined the parties they could have here. The stories these walls must have.
Suddenly, he envisioned music flooding these halls: an orchestra of strings and strange tunes. Imagined long low tables laden with food and spinning bodies fluttering about in magnificent costumes and colorful masks.
His flashlight caught something in the corner, and Yugi saw the steps of a raised dais in the gap between the two doors. Examining the dais again, Yugi spotted something curious and flashed his light. A gargoyle face looked back at him and he fell back landing on his butt, the flashlight slipping from his fingers and rolling away. In a panic Yugi rolled over and snatched it up, holding it like a weapon. Blue-white light illuminated the ugliest chair he'd ever seen-an enormous brass thing whose top was shaped like the head of an enormous gargoyle with it wings sprawled out, its long monstrous hands forming the arm rests and its base carved up with what appeared to be kneeling manticores.
"Blah," Yugi made a disgusted sound at the gwady, goofy monstrosity. He hadn't believed the stories, but apparently they were true. The old lord, known for his arrogance, liked to receive guests while sitting in that god-awful throne.
They were definitely not keeping that thing. What a waste of perfectly good space.
A smile slit Yugi's face, a wicked idea forming in his mind. He climbed the steps, examined the throne-like chair from all angels and plopped right down into it, laughing at his own silliness as he imagined himself a vampire king looking down on all his subjects. No one said he couldn't have a little fun.
And then something moved.
Yugi froze. "Oh no," He jumped up, his heart sinking right into his stomach as mechanical sounds suddenly clicked and clanked and churned. The chair did not move but the eyes of the gargoyle started to glow. Yugi stepped back, tripping over his own feet and he descended the stairs backwards and landed hard on his butt, hissing as pain shot up his lower back and tailbone. A metallic groan sound suddenly echoed through the rooms like pipes churning water. Suddenly, in a single flash the gas-powered lamps of the house came alive with flickering flames. Yugi screeched and jumped up as an eerie golden glow filled the room, illuminated the whole house and the first floor, and the giant, drape covered windows between the gaps in the rooms.
Above him he saw the vaulted ceiling was not empty, as he first sought but in place of a chandelier and enormous planetarium bloomed to life, each of his planets and moons alight with a strange color symbolic to its planet. With an ancient grinding of gears, the massive thing rode to life, and started moving like an enormous clock counting down time.
"Well, well, well…" A raspy, haughty voice thickly accented, spoke of desert sands and foreign suns.
Yugi's heart stopped. Slowly, unwillingly, his stomach doing somersaults and his heart trying to crawl its way out of his mouth, he turned around.
There, standing in the illumination of the planetarium and the gas lamps on the balcony like he owned the place, black cape spread about him like wings, and ghostly lavender eyes sparkling wickedly, was a man. A man whose smile slit his face like a crocodile's. A smile that revealed a very sharp set of gleaming white teeth.
V
Come with me to the Other Side!
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
He looked nothing like the vampires in the stories: he was not pallor as death, his hair was neither straight, nor smooth, nor black as night; his eyes were not red, he was not tall or gangly thin, no he was…he was…
He was the most beautiful man Yugi had ever seen.
Delicious mocha-colored skin like the perfect mixture of cream and coffee. A lion's mane of wild platinum blond hair fell a halo of thorn bushes about his shoulders. His round face boasted sharp cheekbones and a finely pointed chin made for smiling—or smirking. Long limbs boasted firm muscles and a sculpted chest that the white dress shirt and brocaded violet vest only emphasized, the style that of a Victorian Fairy Tale prince, but were cut to expose the well toned torso of his naval—the sight of which sent a flood of heat into Yugi's cheeks until he was sure he was cherry red, and further south until his jeans felt tight. Long legs advertised by the tight black pants boasted slender hips and beautifully sculpted thighs that made it hard for Yugi to think, let alone breathe.
But most mesmerizing and mysterious of all were his eyes—sharp and almond shaped and accentuated by smooth black khol lines and thick, curvy black lashes, all serving to highlight their stunning color, a soft pale lavender, like clouds at the dawn, or the beginnings of twilight, or pale amethysts or lilacs (his favorite flower). They hypnotized him with their beauty. Sparkled with a wicked delight and quirked a glimmer that tugged his smile: a smile that promised things, pleasant things. But when that smile tugged and curled revealing a crocodile's grin, Yugi saw them: the sharp points of pearly white teeth that could only be fangs, peeking through the mane of his hair, the knife-pointed tips of long ears that had no hope of disgusting him as human; and small, sharp claws beneath his gloves—the whole thing gave him a more wild and organic nature instead of the stereotypical count.
Yugi gulped, more surprised than afraid.
Those eyes were suddenly on him again, widening as if in surprise. The whole of it transformed his expression to one of confusion for so quick an instant Yugi couldn've thought he'd imagined it. Then again, his face transformed: his smile curling at the corners, fangs bared and his eyes, oh God, those eyes were hungry.
"Hello, hello," the man, no, not a man, pnly one word formed in Yugi's mind as he stared at him, said in a deep, curled voice, high with youth and guttural with arousal. Instead of taking the stairs, the man climbed onto the thick banister, walked about it with all the fearless grace of a predatory cat. Those sparkling eyes never left Yugi's. "And here I thought you would never come?"
He swaggered about, Yugi taking cautious steps back and around to keep their gazes locked, but caution made him clumsy and his feet were constantly tripping over themselves. That silky tone catching him off guard, Yugi forced himself to stay defiant. To not show fear, though his heart was hammering.
Something about that voice, those eyes was familiar.
Achingly so.
"Who are?" Yugi demanded forcing all his defiance into it despite his trembling. "What are you doing in my house?"
The man, vampire, stopped. Stared at him as if caught off guard by the question. His eyes flashed with disappointment and what might've been hurt. It was gone in an instant. "You don't...know?" he groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "That's disappointing."
A smirk split his face and his smile showed teeth, those hungry eyes absolutely blazing. A shiver running down his spine, Yugi never felt so terrified and turned on in all his life.
"My name…" he began, low and relaxed as thunder, each syllable a purr. "...is Marik."
Yugi nearly tripped. Something about that name awakened something lost inside of him flooding him with a heat that taunted and tantalized and terrified him all at once.
"Why are you in my house?" Yugi steeled himself. "Are you one of the housekeepers? Or is this some kind of sick joke?" He rattled on, clenching his fists in rage, but the excuses were more for himself than any desire for answers.
Instead of answering, the man stepped off the banister with an elegant, graceful leap, landed with an imposing swoop at Yugi's feet and rose with all the grace and intimidation of a shadow. Yugi stumbled back, all bravado gone as he stumbled.
"This is no jest," Marik slid forward, gloves hands rising to cup Yugi's cheek, listened to the musical rhythm of his heart galloping in his chest, took in the luminous allure of those eyes and shuddered. Sparks of defiant and courage glittering there in spite of the tremor of fear.
He was a vision of loveliness: skin as soft and pale as lilies, wide round cheeks burning a bright rosy color when he flushed, and an elegant point of his chin and a generous mouth made for smiling. A crown of raven black spikes dipped in rich ruby red adorned his head, soft as feathers and a forelock of golden sunbeams framed an angelicely round face. He was a wisp of a thing, petite and slender like the curve of a wildflower but there was a quiet strength to his bones and his blood practically sang with it. And most mesmerising of all were those gorgeous eyes: deep, dark and penetrating like two moonlit amethysts. Those plump, pretty lips just begging to be kissed...by all the Gods above he was beautiful.
He leaned down to kiss those lips but found himself swatted away, to his own shock.
"Oh hell no!" Yugi snapped, scrambling to his feet.
Instead of running, he stood imposingly over the taller, older man with impressive dominance for his demure size and scolded. "I don't know what movies you've been watching body but let me make one thing perfectly clear, just because you're attractive and I'm gay does not mean I'm going to sleep with you, or make out with you. The whole vampire thing has been done to death. I'm going out on a limb and assuming you live in the town right? So you probably know the rumor about this place. Fine! Take those stupid fangs out and we can have a normal conversation. By the way, I own this place. My brother and I, and I won't press charges for trespassing, if you agree not to do this again, got it?"
Marik blinked, stunned, licked his upper teeth as if to make sure his teeth were still there. Then he did something Yugi never expected-he laughed.
"HAHAHAHA! I knew it!" The man jumped up, turned about in an exuberant dance of triumph. "Such spunk! Such spirit! I always adored that about you! Ha!" He turned about again before turning back to the gaping Yugi with an amorous grin. "You haven't changed at all, Yugi."
Breath froze in Yugi's throat, his whole body felt pralyzed as stone. "How...do you know my name…" Yugi hadn't told him, did not know him...and yet something about this man...this boy...this vampire...this Marik...why did his laughter stir something in his chest? Why did his smile make him shiver with a dreadful delight that made his blood sing and his loins ache? Why was he so achingly, painfully familiar? What was this overwhelming sense of familiarity?
Yugi shook his head unshed, tears welling up behind his eyes, but he refused to let them shed. "Who are you? What are you?" He shook his head but the overwhelming ache did not ease, and he clenched his forehead to stop the flow of tears. "What is this ?"
Marik's smile curled at the corners, a serpent's smile. "It's because, love," he whispered, soft as a kiss and wicked as sin. Darkness swirled at his feet and when Yugi remembered his flashlight, it dropped from his hands in shock, the shadows swirling around him not some trick of the light, but the living essence of darkness moving to his command. "I know you."
"As for who and what I am? Well," he chuckled, taking elegant steps towards him. Those claws reached to stroke his cheek. Frozen in terror and confusion, Yugi let him. "We can discuss that later?" That fanged smile moving to press its lips against his.
Shrieking, Yugi could bear it no longer and with a mighty, reckless swat of terror, he swiped the hand away and bolted from the ballroom and fled for the doors. He didn't make it far as the foyer doors slammed shut. The lamps blazed alive like fire demons all about him, casting monstrous shadows that reached for him with clawed hands. He gasped and spun around. Marik stood haughtily in the doorway, rolling his eyes and sighing flamboyantly. Then his eyes alighted, smoky lavenders glowing maniacally in the fire glow of the gaslight.
"How about we make this a little more fun ." Yugi did not like the way he pronounced that word and bolted.
The snapping of his fingers echoed deafeningly behind him.
Shadowy tendrils suddenly erupted from the floor like some sort of monstrous flower blooming all around him. The petals shot like vines ensnaring his wrists and feet and around his waist. Yugi screamed and fought, kicked and screamed as they enveloped him in a cocoon of darkness, then suddenly burst open like a blooming rose. Emerging like a butterfly, Yugi, gasped, airborn in wondrous amazement as his old jeans, sweater and sneakers evaporated like mists and the shades wove him a new gown.
A magnificent gothic concoction of flowing black and purple skirts, feathered in layers with a ruffle of white underskirts. A slender bodice hugged his chest, cut in a sweetheart neckline: black velvet trimmed with a sparkling pearl and amethyst brocade and tied with silky black ribbons. Fishnet sleeves ended in black wrist gloves. A set of long black boots laced from ankle to mid-thigh completed the look and to Yugi's shock and horror, his underwear had been replaced.
Blushing furiously, he stared back at the vampire, a mixture of horrified shock and reluctant gratitude and utter bewilderment. While he was open enough about his sexuality, only Yami knew he liked to wear dresses occasionally. And yet something about this one felt as achingly familiar as the rest of this place, and yet a hazy fog of smoke and shadow clouded the answer.
The vampire-or even Yugi couldn't deny that he was one now-licked his lips, appreciatively. "Now that looks lovely on you. Then again you look lovely in everything you wear." He teased, grinning like a school boy.
The vampire stepped closer. Yugi stepped back, but the vampire matched his retreat, step for step, until Yugi found himself back against the locked door, and the older boy towering over him-his only option to run. Thinking quickly, studying the other's movement's Yugi feigned left, waited until the other moved then pushed all his weight into the shove and shot left through the hall and into another room, half-stumbling in his haste. How the hell did Yami walk in these things?
He shrieked when the vampire followed him, laughing "Hide and seek huh? Naughty little impling." Yugi rolled out of the way when he lunged for him. The corridors and rooms, all traps, he bolted up stairs trying this luck with the second floor and slipped into an alcove until the vampire passed and made a mad dash down the hall towards the second staircase.
It struck him with horrible, revealing clarity that he knew exactly where he was going-knew which direction to take, which corridor to turn and which room led where. His vision became hazy as he looked about the furnishings and hallways, all of them suddenly becoming sunshine bright and new as if he'd stepped back in time: he heard shrieks of laughter and delight as he played this little chase game of cat and mouse. Saw it end with someone catching him by surprise and scooping him into their arms, attacking his neck and collar with kisses and love bites as Yugi shrieked with delight and half-hearted protests when those strong hands moved to undo the lacings of his bodice.
Yugi grabbed his head and shook it freeing himself from the visions and found himself in the shadowed, ancient halls of the house with a vampire that wanted to either eat him or fuck him chasing him.
He shook his head and made to run only to slam into a hard, heavy chest. Arms wrapping around his waist trapping him there and Yugi screamed when he came face to face with the vampire.
"I win," he shrieked, delighted like he'd won a children's game. "Wanna play again? You know how much I love to catch you."
Overcome with rage and frustration, Yugi released a monstrous growl and elbowed him hard in the stomach. The vampire released him and stumbled back more out of shock than pain. Yugi took advantage of the momentary moment and leapt down the old stairs, sliding down the banister with the vampire not far behind him. He slid off into another alcove, held his breath and pressed deeper into the wall when he spotted the vampire sliding past and down to the first floor. Yugi quickly slipped through the drapes and into another hallway, the house deceptively bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside and took another set of stairs, spilling out in his haste onto the checkered patterned floor of the ballroom.
Yugi scrambled to his feet and gasped as the room, as if by magic, came to life around him. The curtains pulled open letting the cloud strewn sunlight spilling in through the walls. Music blasted in an orchestra of strange, tumultuous tunes. Laughter and gossip of phantom figures only added to the cacophony and then bright figures appeared like colorful ghosts dancing all around him in spirling waltzes. Yugi remembered it, heard it, smelt it, felt it. Felt another's calloused hands around his waist and spun him and he found his body moving subconsciously to the actions. Found himself pressed against the immovable wall of a strong chest, felt the warmth of it against his cheek. Felt the ghost of warm, wet lips on his hair and his cheek and his chest, inhaled the aroma of exotic spices and tasted the phantoms of honey and cayenne.
Bombarded by the sensations, Yugi shook his head, fisted his temples and tried desperately to push them away-these ghosts that haunted his waking hours and refused to let him rest. These dreams that should not be real, should not have existed. Blinded by grief and terror he ran and smacked right into the unmovable wall of the vampire's chest.
Before Yugi could scream, the smirking vampire wrapped his arm around Yugi's waist and imprisoned his hand in his, lacing their fingers together. Imprisoned, Yugi put up no resistance as he was pulled into the steps of a waltz. The vampire's smirk was wild and waiting, but his eyes were dimmed, duleld as if sad or concerned.
"Remember how much we used to love the Masquerades? You could wear whatever you wanted because no one recognized you behind a mask. We could disappear for hours right under your father's nose?" His voice hugged Yugi's ears like dark velvet, intimate and carnal.
Yugi shivered: fear and arousal fighting for control of his thundering heart.
They pulled apart and Yugi found himself surprisingly graceful for someone who often tripped over his own feet. He flourished under the vampire's patient hands and swift steps. Marik smiled, endearing and indulgent. "Just like the first time," Marik cooed, sweetly, holding him in such a way that allowed Yugi to right himself and find his footing.
When they spun back together he found himself flush against the other's chest and turned bright red as their eyes locked, a nervous smile curling at his lips. This seemed to please the vampire, who spun them into a more wide and elaborate dance. Yugi felt like a ragdoll spinning in the other's grip and tried to push the other away but his hands were too strong.
As if sensing Yugi's discomfort, the other slowed, and Yugi found himself able to once more keep pace. On the next dip, Yugi caught a flash and spotted the white light leaking through the gap in the curtain. The vampire seemed oblivious of this, as he held out his hand for Yugi to take. A plan formulating in Yugi's head, he narrowed his eyes and switched to a more brawny air, and pressed himself up against the vampire, fingers danced up his chest and a sultry smile quirked at the corners of his lips.
Marik pulled away surprised, but Yugi, merley stepped back, teasingly, a coquettish wink in his eyes. He leaned back lazily near one window, then back peddled up to the dais and that hideous throne. Marik's eyes glittered with relief and something that looked like joy, before his smile curled hungrily and he pounced like a predator, unlatching his cape, pulling off his gloves, and even unbuttoning his vest as he approached Yugi.
Yugi's face heated as the other stripped, grateful he kept on his pants, but as he peeled away his dress shirt, revealing the smooth, chiseled grooves and valleys of his chest, Yugi almost abandoned the plan completely, but steeled himself with thoughts of escape. The curtain tassel hung tantalizingly near the throne. He was so close.
Suddenly, Marik swooped forward and scooped him up like a bride, set him upon the seat of the throne, his eyes flashed with a mixture of emotions ranging from hunger, humility, grief, gratitude, love, longing, remembrance, regret and so many others Yugi could not name them all. And then those hands and lips were upon him. Warm lips found his neck and collar at the same time than hand slid up his thigh, bunching Yugi's skirts around his waist. The tongue and touches sending delicate little shivers all along his skin and suddenly he was hyperventilating under the touch. A hard heavy hand slid along his thigh, cupped his bottom, squeezed. Yugi swallowed a shriek as the other untied the lacings of his bodice.
Reaching desperately for the tassel, he shivered under the touches, but not with disgust. His treacherous body abandoning all logic, as the man lips pressed against his skin in a possessive kiss, seducing him inch by aching inch. His back arched as those hands kneaded his bottom making him writhe and groan, his thighs quaking and his knees trembling, the heels of his boots digging into the brass, desperate with desire.
Finally his hands enclosed around the curtain rod just as Marik's lips pressed to his in a hot, hungry kiss.
That single kiss changed everything.
VI
Make the Girl in black your bride
—The Night, Aurelio Voltaire
Marik felt Yugi grow complaint under the kiss, his hands falling around his shoulders and pulling him closer. Obligating, he deepened their kiss becoming drunk on the magnificently familiar taste of hazelnut and chocolate and strawberries and blood. He felt Yugi arch against him, pressing deeper against the grooves of his chest, slamming their hips together, Yugi's tongue darting into his mouth.
By God, he even kissed the same. When he pulled away, Yugi looked up at him, his eyes huge and dark with desire, his face flushed with longing.
Yes , Marik's undead heart thundered with glee. Yes, there was no mistaking this taste, this face.
"You remember?" he asked, breathless and begging. "Don't you?" A desperate, pleading edge crept into his voice.
Yugi nodded because he did remember. He remembered those lips, this touch, the taste of honey and cayenne and foreign spices.
"I…" he stuttered tears choking his voice. "I do...but I don't...I remember this place...I remember us...but I don't...Oh God what am I?" He shivered, fat tears streaming down his cheeks.
Marik kissed them away and pulled him into his strong arms, "Shh...It's alright, my love. I've got you." he shushed, the warmth of his embrace soothing him. Yugi pulled away and looked into his eyes, cupped his warm cheek, that delicious mocha skin he adored so much warm under his touch. "I'm remembering, but there's still so much I've forgotten, but I...I remember you, Marik. I remember who we were...but, how is this possible? How can I feel this way when I've never met you? Oh, God, who am I?"
Marik scooped him up again, held him tight before he could cry. Caught off guard by the fierceness of that embrace, Yugi allowed himself to be held, to be comforted. "Your body has not met me yet, your mind may not fully remember, but your soul does. And your heart does." Marik assured him. "It doesn't matter who you were or who you are now. You are still Yugi. You are still the wild, stubborn, spunky, impish, spirited, kind, wonderful boy that I love very much."
Marik kissed him again, but this time it was a chaste and gentle kiss to his nose. Yugi giggled under the ticklish treatment, a bright smile Marik had not seen in centuries bloomed across Yugi's sweet, laughing face.
"There it is," Marik's eyes bulged with excitement and adoration. "That's the smile. God, I have missed it…"
"Marik," Yugi whispered the name, it rolled off his tongue with so much love and lust, that the vampire shivered. "I remember, but I need to remember more." Yugi cupped his face, looked deep into his eyes, a coquettish smile curling across his face, his lust darkened eyes half lidded with desire and he curled his fingers under the man's chin, a silent command. "Help me remember more."
Marik's eyes widened. "Are you sure? I admit, I was hoping my advances would stirr something, but I never intended to do more without your permission."
"You have it, Marik," Yugi purred, his voice a sultry rasp. "I trust you, Marik." He pressed their lips together in a hungry kiss, and Marik was lost. Yugi arms locked around his neck and his hands found those slender hips and pulled Yugi flush against him, one arm snaked around his waist cupping his back, the other spread his thighs and he pushed himself between them.
He slammed Yugi back against the throne, drawing a gasp from his beloved and attacked his now exposed collar and chest with kisses and bites, hiked Yugi's thigh against his hip, his leg wrapping around his hips. Yugi gasped and moaned, laced his fingers into his hair and tugged. His name exploding out of his mouth in loud, breathy, wanton gasps. His pride and arousal stirred by the pain and the evidence of his love's pleasure, Marik growled roaming freely with his teeth and enticing delicious little moans from Yugi. His fingers spidered up the leather of Yugi's boots, tiptoed across the soft skin of his thighs, stroked the junction between hip and thigh, avoided the one place he longed to be touched the most.
"Marik," Yugi groaned, loosening his grip so he could grip the armrests, a pleading edge creeping into his voice. "Please...don't tease…"
Marik rose with a smirk, set the boy down on the seat and slipped between his parted thighs with rough, rogue touches that made Yugi shiver with delight. Fingers slipping between his thighs wrapping around the thin strands of his underwear. The other pulled a vial from his pocket and upcapped it. "As you wish," he dropped to his knees, ripped them away and thrust his fingers inside.
Yugi screamed in rapturous delight. The burn of his tight smoldering heat crashed against the coolness of those oil slick fingers. The ring of his entrance bruised under the force of the entrance, but Yugi did not mind. His body relaxed under the onslaught of pain and pleasure as his lover, probed and pridded, stretched and scissored, curled and thrust, making Yugi arch and quake and quiver. His heels dug into the grounds, but his thighs quivered, his nails scrapped against the stone but his back arched and lunged uncontrollably: only Marik's hard, heavy hand kept him still. Admiring Yugi in such a writhing, wanton state, Marik rose and stared into those lust-clouded eyes, those flushed cheeks, those soft lips parted in moans of pleasure, watched the whole thing scrunch up with absolute delight, as he thrust his fingers up hard and Yugi screamed. Swallowed it with a kiss, and continued to probe and thrust and pound until he found the one place where Yugi could never deny him.
Yugi screamed into their kiss and then suddenly Marik pulled away, lips and fingers leaving him and Yugi mewled, desperate and empty. Marik kissed him again, a present and a promise as he undid his pants and pulled his arousal free. Yugi moaned into the gentleness of it, his only warning before Marik lifted him up and entered him in a slow, single thrust. Scorching heat engulfed his arousal and he growled at the magnificent feel of Yugi's velvety warmth enveloping him, his claws sinking into hips and thighs as he moved. Yugi seized him by the shoulders, his back curled in a perfect arch as he was filled completely. Breath exploded from his chest in hard, heavy pants.
Their eyes met, luminous and lusty. Locked as they moved against each other Yugi rolled his hips, all quivering thighs and trembling hips, lifted his legs and braced his feet on the seat, giving him more control of the angel. Marik wrapped an arm around his waist and lifted him in time with his next thrusts: long, languid and torturously slow, gradually building strength and speed, until he was slamming into his lover and Yugi was a writhing, wanton mess beneath him. They thrust against each other, erratic and wild and uncontrollable.
Suddenly white exploded behind Yugi's eyes and his next scream was a breathless gasp. Marik smirked, arched his hips and reangled his next thrust, pounding wildly into that one place Yugi could never deny him-Yugi's screamed, wrapped his legs around Marik's waist and arched up his hips, desperate to meet the other's thrusts and eager to keep the distance between them as minimal as possible. Marik braced himself against the throne and lifted Yugi higher, altering their angle, and driving deeper into his little lover the way he knew he liked.
Yugi screamed and thrashed wildly, his thighs squeezing Marik's hips tightly, his hands sinking into Marik's shoulder and raking down his back. Stirred by the pain, Marik increased his speed, feeling his thickness hardening inside Yugi, making him moan.
Feeling his blood boiling over and the coil in his stomach growing tight and taunt, Yugi had been reduced to a mewling, moaning mess, sweat beading his brow and his mind a haze of pleasure. He tried to speak, to warn his love, but his voice was lost in breathless moans. Marik swooped in, capturing Yugi's lips in a kiss, pinned him against the back of the chair, pounded into him just as their lips met. Overwhelmed but it all, Yugi felt the coil snap and he screamed his lover's name, the kiss broken by it. His tightness clamping down on that hot, heavy thickness inside him was all Marik took and his pleasure exploded with a loud, beastial growl of Yugi's name.
The boy shuddered as wave after wave of pleasure flooded inside of him branding him with liquid heat and marking him as the vampire's own. Marik and Yugi collapsed against each other, falling back against the chair, spent and satisfied.
And just like that Yugi's memories came flooding back: memories of Marik stealing into his room, determined to kill him and claim vengeance for the family his father had stolen. How Yugi's fearlessness and empathic understanding revealed within Marik that it was Yugi's heart and not his life he wanted. The love that had bloomed quickly and secretary between them, such a love unheard and unspoken among the Victorian culture, but in the seclusion of this place allowed them to express their love freely, right under his Father's nose. How many nights had Yugi spent curled up in Marik's arms, the two of them making love and relaxing in the sparsely decorated room of Yugi's chambers. How many times had they played games of chase and hide and seek among the many rooms and corridors. How many times had Yugi found himself free to indulge in his love of beautiful dresses and Yami his flamboyant coats and heeled boots, while Marik gushed about how cute he looked. How many times had they made love on his father's gaudy throne in a direct defiance against him?
Until…
"He found out about us didn't he?" Yugi asked, running his fingers through the soft, gold mane.
Marik didn't answer, just pressed his chin against Yugi's head, stroking his hair. "I don't remember much of that night but I remember screaming and fighting. He found out about us, about you and me about Yami and...then just...darkness. What happened?"
"I...I don't know.." Marik confessed, stroking Yugi's cheek, his heart twisted with anguish. "The upstairs study, it was on fire. By the time we got there, you were both dead." Tears pricked his eyes, and he pulled Yugi tighter into his arms, as if he were a phantom who would vanish if he let go. "I waited for you for two hundred years. I was afraid you'd never come."
"It was this place…" Yugi admitted, joyful tears coming to his eyes and his lips curled into a smile as he leaned into the familiar comfort of Marik's arms. "It was mother's in her past life and in this one...I knew as soon as I saw it it felt familiar, felt like home. Now, I know why." He looked into Marik's eyes joy and bliss glittering like rhinestones on his eyes. "It's because you were here."
He kissed him again, and Marik returned it with just as much passion. Unlike their earlier kisses which were of hunger and heat, this was soft and warm, full of adoration and love. Yugi gently pushed his lover back against the chair, only then realizing they were still joined from their lovemaking, his arousal growing thick and heavy inside of him. Yugi moaned into this kiss. they broke apart and looked down. Understanding turned to smiles and Marik did not resist as Yugi pushed him back, slipped his spread thighs on either side of his hips and slowly, achingly started to ride his lover.
Still sensitive from their previous love-making, Yugi shuddered at the sensation of his lovers' thick, heavy heat scraping against him, the thickness of it inside him, the slow, langid build of molten heat and the feel of his lover's chest beneath his hands: hills and valleys of rough, raw flesh.
From this position, Yugi could see every angle of his face: every curve and tug of his lips, every spark of pleasure and bulge of his eyes, what he liked and what he didn't. He used this as a map and rolled his hips, increasing speed when Marik groaned, and growled, slowing when his fingers twitched and he growled with impatience, fangs bared. Yugi pinned his hands, and he growled in protest, but Yugi only flashed a sultry smile and increased his speed.
Smirking, Marik arched his hips at the same time, driving himself deeper inside of him and Yugi gasped, breathless as his entire body shuddered with pleasure. Marik repeated the action, over and over until Yugi all but collapsed in his arms. Marik caught him easily, steading him and they rode against the other, reading the other's pleasure, the heat coiled in their bellies until the pleasure and the pressure became too much and they came together with a loud moan of the other's names.
With some maneuvering, Yugi managed to free himself from Marik and the both of them shuddered at the loss of the other's warmth. When they were finished, Yugi relaxed in Marik's arms, the other sprawled out over the chair, his legs propped up on the armrest. Yugi hummed, contently: Marik's long gentle fingers stroked his hair, the feeling comforting and reminded him of home.
Home .
Yes, he was home .
Home , with Marik, in this house, and Yami..
Yugi shot up, "Yami!"
Marik jumped, blinked, arched a brow. "Um, your brother's name isn't exactly something you scream after I make love to you."
"What! Oh! No!" Yugi blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, with a nervous chuckle. "I…kinda… sorta… didn't tell him where I was or where I was going, and it's morning." A worried, nervous smile.
Marik blanched. "Wait...Yami's back…" He smacked his forehead. "Of course, he is, damnit, I gotta deal with him again?"
Yugi laughed. "Well.."
A huge crash echoed throughout the house followed by a loud scream of a familiar name. The two boys shot up, blanched as the ball room doors suddenly swung open revealing the disheveled, out of breath face of Yugi's older brother.
He deflated with relief when he saw Yugi was alright. Then noticed where Yugi was, or rather whose lap he was in. Or rather sprawled over. Half dressed, skirts bunched up around his hips, bodice undone, positioned in a very telling way.
The two boys sat frozen as Yami scrutinized them. His worry evaporating into disgruntlement, his left brow twitching angrily. With a groan he pinched the bridge between his nose: his shoulder taunt, his hands fists, his voice low and dangerous with barely controlled rage.
"Yugi…" he said in a tone he only ever used when he was very, very, very angry.
Yugi gulped, loudly.
Marik didn't move.
He knew that look.
"Please, tell me you did not sneak out in the middle of the night to get laid with a stranger." He retorted, dangerously sweet.
"Hum…" Yugi stuttered. "Technically, he's not a stranger."
Before Yami could explode, someone else beat him to it. "What the bloody fuck is going on down there!"
An extremely loud, extremely disgruntled roar echoing from upstairs.
"Oh…" Marik's eyes bulged, remembering exactly who was asleep upstairs. "Shit."
Who was now stomping, very loudly down stairs, cursing, and grumbling. "God fucking damnit! Ishizu said two hundred and twenty three years, three weeks and four days until they get back. " The second floor balcony doors burst open with a single sharp kick.
"So… which one of you fucking idiots thought it would be a good idea to wake up two " A furious winter storm of a vampire bulldozed onto the balcony and slammed his hand down on the banister, his wild wolfish mane of white hair frazzled angrily all about him, the bangs reared up like frazzles bat wing. " Whole fucking days earl —"
Russet eyes expanded, anger evaporated from his face, transformed into surprise. His gaze locked on Yami's. "Ly…"
The boy looked up at him, then glared with the same intense scarlet eyes he had the first time they met two hundred years ago.
"Atemu?"
Three guesses who ;)