"Stupid boy, you're still much too timid. Look, your hand is shaking."

Daniel gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry, Alexander. It may be due to my not having eaten since we broke our fast this morning. I assure you I am keeping my word. I'm not hesitating to do my duty to you anymore." He smiled down at the bound man on the table. He patted him on the head. "Do not fret. This won't take more than a few minutes."

"You're spirit is still weak. You offer comfort when you should be instilling fear. A soul at peace gives us no sustenance that we can use."

"I know!" The man on the table whimpered. Daniel glanced down at him. "I wish you wouldn't chastise me in front of our…guests. It's bad form. It undermines me."

"Not much work to undermine the authority of a man who weeps like a child every night."

"Please, Alexander."

"Oddly, I don't think you mind this as much as you say you do. It's an excuse to share my bed, to burrow into my arms when you think I have fallen asleep, isn't it? Tell me, is it because you wish for the comfort of a father? Or is it the comfort of a lo-"

"That is quite enough, Alexander!" He threw the glass that would have collected the vitae against the wall. His breath came in hard, jagged pants as he stared down at the fragments, the light of the candles reflected in them. Alexander fell silent at last.

The man struggled with his bonds and tried to inch away, which brought Daniel out of his daze. "I am sorry. That was very unprofessional of me, I do know. I don't think he'll interrupt us again. Now let's get on with this, shall we?" Daniel brushed his fingers over the knives spread out on the table beside him. He selected one and held it up so the man could see it. He smiled as the terror bloomed in his eyes. "Yes, I think this one will suit. Do you want me to remove the gag? I would love to hear your protestations of innocence. I am always in need of a good laugh these days."

When the screams finally stopped, Daniel set about his work with a smile, humming a tune he vaguely remembered from his childhood.

"Daniel, you made a mess."

Daniel looked up from the bloody ruin that used to be another human being. "I'm sorry. I just lost control. It's your fault; you kept nagging me, goading me…" He put a shaking hand to his forehead.

"Daniel," Alexander lowered his voice, made it gentle. "I just arrived. You've been in the Nave alone for at least an hour and after I told you not to wander off."

"What? But then who…" He looked around the room, confused. "Oh." He set the knife down and walked towards Alexander. If the baron saw the unsteadiness in his gait, he chose not to comment on it. He watched Daniel approach, his eyes glittering in the scant light, the lines of his face cast in deep shadow. He looked more like something carved out of stone than a man, but when Daniel reached out and cupped that weathered cheek his fingers brushed flesh. Alexander sighed, eyes half closing. "Oh, you're real then." Daniel's thumb traced a wrinkle along the baron's mouth.

"And were you in doubt of that?"

"I think…I think I had one of my little turns again. I'm terribly sorry." He started to remove his hand, but Alexander's fingers closed around his wrist holding him in place.

"And what did your brain conjure up this time?" His voice was huskier than usual and Daniel shuddered as the baron's breath ghosted across his palm.

"You, my lord. Alexander." He corrected himself.

"You had a hallucination of me? How extraordinary. Pray, tell me what this illusion of myself did to stir such," his eyes looked at the ruin on the table, "passion in you."

"Nothing remarkable. What you always tell me."

"And what I always tell you leads to this degree of violence in you?"

"No, of course not. It's just that I allowed myself to be worked up. I haven't eaten since breakfast and, well…"

"You're dreams again?"

"I have them when I'm awake now. I see what it wants for me, what it has done to others like me. Every time I close my eyes or look into the shadows these visions are waiting for me." He pulled his hand away and turned his back to Alexander. A strong hand wrapped around his shoulder. "I did make a complete wreck of him, didn't I?" He sighed. "But I did get the vitae. I think you'll be happy with the amount."

"We'll process it and then go upstairs for dinner."

"I'm not that hungry now."

"You'll eat something. For me."

"For you." Daniel echoed, reaching for the jar beside the body.

"Daniel," a voice called out to him from the fog. He moaned and tried to roll away from it, but hands clutching his shoulders prevented him. "Daniel, what in the hells have you done?" The voice was snarling, barely human. He pushed against a thin chest, but again to no avail; he still remained held fast. He opened his eyes.

"Alexander?"

"Of course, you idiot." Despite the harshness of the words, he was being cradled in the baron's arms and rocked as if he were a child. "What happened here?"

"The laudanum cabinet, you locked it." Daniel's voice was petulant. He bit his lip, shamed as the memories came back. "I'm sorry. I was overcome and… It's the only thing that helps anymore."

He felt Alexander sigh. "It seems that the lock wasn't a very good deterrent. It never occurred to me that you would find the solution to it would be to overturn the whole damn thing."

"I cut myself." He pulled away enough to show Alexander his wounded hand.

"Yes, pet, you did. In fact you're still lying in the broken glass from it. Stand up, let me look you over."

Daniel tried but the room spun something terribly and he was forced to quickly sit down again. Another shard of glass bit into his thigh. "Ouch."

Strong hands under his arms forced him up onto his feet. He slung an arm over the baron's shoulders without having to be asked. "Just let me have another vial."

"You've had quite enough. I am surprised you didn't kill yourself, fool."

"Sometimes I think it would be a blessing."

Alexander halted. Daniel had to cling to him, his momentum almost unbalancing him. "If you ever talk so lightly of your own death-"

"You'll do what? Watch me even more closely than you do already? Lord, I can barely get enough privacy to use the chamber pot as it is."

"And look what has happened when my eyes left you for a second." he shrugged off Daniel and tossed him back against the wall. Daniel winced as his aching head hit the stone. "It's not an incentive to leave you to your own devices."

"I'm not a child to have to be chaperoned every hour of every day."

"Obviously you are!" Alexander snarled. "I can't leave you alone with the prisoners without you getting confused and butchering them before they are ready, I can't leave you alone in our bedchamber without you deciding you can't live with the guilt anymore and trying to throw yourself out the window." He ran a hand through his hair and pulled at it. "I am at my wit's end, Daniel. If you have a solution to how I can leave you without you doing yourself a mischief, I'd love to hear it."

"I guess you must resort to tying me to the bedposts."

Alexander wrapped a hand around Daniel's throat and forced him to look up. "Do not be flippant with me, little one. I am in no mood. And besides," he pulled Daniel back into their bedchamber, "I think that would make me even less inclined to leave your side."

It had taken ages before he could coax the boy to sleep. He had refused to give Daniel any more of the laudanum, but did allow a glass of warmed brandy. By the time Daniel was done sipping at it, he was dozing against Alexander's shoulder. Alexander muttered a prayer of gratitude to gods he no longer believed in and began to undress his charge. He went to the wardrobe and selected a nightshirt. He glanced over his shoulder at the altogether too pleasing picture the boy made curled up on his bed and let it slide through his fingers. It was late and they were tired. If he built up the fire and made sure Daniel was tucked in under the blankets well enough the boy wouldn't hurt for the lack of clothing.

Alexander attended to his own needs before he retired, then slid underneath the sheets beside the slumbering creature in his bed. Recently the only time that Alexander could find any amount of solace lay in the brief hours that the boy was asleep.

"Am I fighting the Shadow only to lose you to yourself in the end?" He traced a fingernail along Daniel's bared neck. It tempted him to press kisses to it, to graze the long graceful line of it with his teeth. When they finally did make love the boy and he wouldn't leave the bed for days, he vowed. Every inch of Daniel would show some proof, some mark, that Alexander had loved him and that they had revered every moment and every act of their mating.

His fingers clenched in the sheets. He wanted to shake the boy awake. Stop the sleepy protests that would ensue with tongue and teeth. Or better yet, awaken the boy with kisses trailing over his chest and down down down until he could wrap his lips around-

Daniel sighed in his sleep and turned over on his stomach. A good expanse of his shoulder was exposed and Alexander bit his lip to keep from moaning. He traced over a scar. The boy's back was a mess of them and every one of them was dear to Alexander. Each wound had reinforced the boy's desire to escape his gloomy Mayfair and seek out adventure, every one of them had ensured he would one day find protection in Alexander's arms. How could he not be thankful to them and find them beautiful? He leaned over and kissed the deepest one, shot his tongue out and lapped at it.

He stilled as the boy made a small sound and thrust into the mattress and wasn't that the dearest thing? More kisses and a nip and surely he could rest his weight against that lovely little body, surely he could writhe against the boy's thigh and not wake him if he did it slow? The thought of finally finding release after months of agony, nose buried in the boy's hair, his scent everywhere, was too much for him and his teeth closed a bit too hard on a shoulder blade.

Daniel whimpered and turned over. He blinked up at Alexander, still on all fours over him. "Was I having a nightmare? Did I waken you?"

"No." He cleared his throat, tired to make it less bestial. "I was already awake."

"Oh." Daniel ran his fingers through Alexander's hair, the back of his hand resting against his cheek. "Are you feverish? You look flushed."

A dry laugh. "I am well. You shouldn't worry about…me." He leaned closer, head tilting and eyes falling almost shut.

Daniel squirmed. "Your hair. It tickles."

"My apologies." Alexander brushed his hair over his shoulder. He wanted nothing more than to tear the blankets away and make Daniel move more, have the boy's hands fist in his hair as he lapped at the thin bones in his hips, tongue tracing that small trail of hair that started under his navel and went down to…

Daniel rolled over, back to Alexander. The old man sighed and lowered himself down onto the mattress. He hesitated then wrapped his arms around Daniel, pulling the boy to him. Daniel settled against him, the small movements of his getting comfortable causing Alexander to close his eyes in bliss.

Alexander paced in his study. "What do you mean you couldn't find anyone? Not even a child picking flowers, a woman washing her clothes in the river?" The creature before him remained silent. "You imbecilic thing!" He picked up the nearest object, a vase, and threw it. It missed the construct and hit the wall, shattering. He was shaking with anger that needed to be vented and the damnable thing didn't even have enough intelligence to fear for its life. The prisons were empty for the first time since he had taken up residence in the castle and the shadow had found its prey at last. The gate was still lacking what it needed to open and Daniel…Daniel was still very much marked, tainted by his humanity.

"Am I interrupting?" Daniel inched into the room, eyes darting between Alexander and what his mind would tell him was a manservant.

"No, we're done. Everything is done." Alexander threw himself into his chair and lowered his head in his hands.

"I've never seen you so melodramatic before, my lord. My friend." A trembling hand on his arm made him look up and into Daniel's anxious eyes.

"We've run out of prisoners and the devil is well and truly baying at our door. I don't know what to do. You're still…" He reached out and cupped Daniel's face. "I need to protect you and I don't know how."

Daniel smiled and it broke Alexander's heart. If he had ever doubted that his feelings were returned, they were put at ease by what he saw in the boy's eyes: forgiveness, absolute, horrible forgiveness. "You tried. You did everything you could and I thank you for it."

"Don't. Please Daniel, don't. I can't bear it." He brushed off Daniel's hand and rose to his feet. "There has to be a way. Something I'm missing." He stopped his pacing and stared at Daniel. "Something I am overlooking because I am afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

Alexander brushed a strand of hair from Daniel's face. "Of what you will think of me."

"And does it matter so much, my opinion of you?"

"It's one of the only things that matter anymore. But I would trade your esteem and gladly if it meant that you would still be able to draw breath to curse me."

"Alexander, confide in me. What are we to do?"

"There is a family that lives on the edge of Brennenberg." He began. And Daniel listened with a smile.

X

I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get up. I had major writer's block and couldn't quite get it to where I was happy with it. Thank you for the reviews and the encouragement! I hope the next chapter will be a bit more agreeable about getting put to paper.