Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters. Wishful thinking aside.

Warnings: This story is a Parrish/Lorne. Thus this fiction will contain allusions to a pre-slash relationship. This fiction also contains adult language and adult situations.

Author's note #1: This is a horrendously late response to a prompt for the Thing-a-Thon on the LJ community: Parrish_Lorne. The prompt goes as follows: "Lorne/Parrish - Parrish is a vampire."

Before the Blood Dries

Chapter Six

Now free of the obstruction, he could feel the edges of the wound start to harden. His body futilely trying to heal, struggling to knit both flesh and bone as the action itself dug deep into his last reserves of control. - But he knew it wouldn't work. Not without help. It was like trying to start a car with nothing but a gas tank full of rust and the ghosts of long expelled fumes. - Even now he could feel his body weakening. The cells beginning to shrink and twist as every nerve in his body sang for the bitterness of copper. - For the tartness of living crimson sliding down his eager throat like a warm drink on a cold, winter's day. The need was almost too much now..

– The wound was too big. It was too much for his drained body to manage alone. His head swum, lolling weakly and his vision flickered. – Blood... He had to-..

His pupils flickered, dilating back down into that perverse, silver rimmed crimson as the points of his canines caught against the ghost of his chin as he tucked his neck into his chest. Reflectively averting his eyes from the sharp intake of breath as the man caught another glimpse of his canines. - He didn't want to see it. …The fear, the horror, disgust and betrayal. - He knew it was there. It always was..

Blood… He needed to-…

Even now, he could sense it, the rich, fast paced hum of Evan's blood rushing just underneath his skin. The mere sound alone was enough to make his canines ache. – And he cursed himself as he tried to remember how long it had been since he'd last fed. Too long. Not enough. It was never enough.

The Major's blood had always been tempting, but now…God! - Every instinct, every impulse, and every god damned urge he had was screaming for it. – To strike, drink, and claim. – And yet, it was more then that, a lot more. Because it wasn't just the need, the blood or even the hunger, it was Evan. It had always been Evan. He couldn't remember having ever wanted another human's blood so badly, and it had been like that since the first day they'd met. Warmly shaking hands in the briefing room just two days before their scheduled mission to P3M-736. - The first mission of many.

NO.

It was sheer will power that had him turning away, hands clutching at the grass and reeds as he yanked himself around. Forcing himself to turn away from the delicious thrum. From the heart beat that promised life as he struggled towards to edge of the clearing on autopilot.

- Blood red blinders creating a murky, crimson haze as he kept his eyes glued on the tree line. Too far gone to push back the change as saliva pooled, soaking his palate as his mind raced. ..Already fast forwarding to the taste of warm animal blood flooding across his tongue. – And god, you know things are fucked up when you're that worked up about animal blood. Lord, Owen would have a bloody field day if he ever heard about this..

But he hadn't made it more four meters when a pair of tentative but determined hands fell across his shoulders, stopping him dead in his tracks as skittish human warmth sunk deep into the unnatural chill of his paling skin. He hadn't been expecting that. With the sensation alone being enough to cause his arms to buckle, sending him slumping back into the dirt and mouldering vegetation. Unable to summon the strength to turn himself over as Lorne hesitantly did it for him. Moving him so that the small of his back was resting against the crux of the man's bent knees. The man's thick, blunt fingers fluttering spasmodically around the edges of the jagged, oozing hole in his chest. Apparently at a loss as to what he should do next as the man made to speak.

"Dav-…Parrish…- What are you doing?" Lorne questioned. His voice authoritative and strong, but it was the word choice that gave the man away. Confusion, fear, anger, care, anxiety, professional calm, it was all there, milling on the edges of the man's tone as his hands curled around his lean shoulders.

"Blood. I need to.. Please - Let me.." He muttered, fingers pulling uselessly at the long grass, weakly trying to yank himself away. Almost begging, pleading with Lorne to understand, to just let him go.

But the man was having none of it.

Because Lorne appeared to be thinking quickly. Having obviously compartmentalized what had happened as his mind visibly worked. - Eyes flitting from his dripping canines, to the distant tree line, and then back again. Lingering on the yawning hole where his chest used to be as the scent of determination starting coming off the man in waves.

"If I can give you what you need. I will. I-I want to." Lorne responded, almost yelling the last part as he struggled to make himself heard amidst his growing murmurs and fitful spluttering.

A shocked silence reigned as the both of them fell deathly still. And in spite of all his good intentions he couldn't help but meet the man's gaze. Taking in the way they reflected back at him, eyes troubled, darkened with the trailing edges of fear and confusion. – Yet they undeniably honest at the same time. Because like it or not, whatever possible reasons Lorne might have had for wanting to do this, they were unquestionably genuine.

..And somehow, that just made the whole thing that much more screwed up.

"Major, I don't…Not-not like this." He muttered weakly, almost at a loss for words as he tried to explain. - It wasn't supposed to be this way. – This wasn't what he'd wanted. Between a vampire and a human, as rare as such a union was, the sharing of blood was the highest form of self. - A gift of both love and life that went beyond mere words or knowing glances. It wasn't supposed to happen this way..

But against the thudding warmth and rich liquid velvet pulse he was no match. And he knew it. Especially like this. - But he still hung on to the last tatters of his resolve as he tried to pull away yet again. Limbs ineffective, drained, and weak as he struggled against the man's budding strength, a sensation he hadn't felt since his last fleeting moments of humanity.

Feeling cornered and fasting running out of options, he bared his teeth and hissed. Trying his best to warn Lorne off, tugging himself away from the man's warmth with a few desperate jerks. Thinking that Lorne might leave him be after such a violent, threatening display. - Only the man didn't even blink. He didn't even fucking flinch.

"– Hey! This isn't up for debate! Parrish? – Look at me doc!" Lorne demanded.

And the man was either dumb as a post or had the survival instinct of an overly affectionate gnat because without even so much as a pause, the hands were back. Wrapping around fabric of his ruined expedition jacket in the exact same way as they always did. Like nothing had changed between them at all. - And for reasons beyond him he took solace in that, in the familiarity of it. – Clinging onto it by a thread as he willed himself away from the brink.

His mind screamed at him to take what he was being offered, with what he'd been craving since the very beginning. Blood that had never smell so tantalizing, so sweet. - Like it something that could have been a pleasure rather then a necessity. And now it was all he could sense. Christ. It was right there, moving through the veins and arteries just underneath the beguiling thinness of the man's skin.

…He was a triggers breath from giving into that thrumming, harmonic pull and they both knew it…

- Because the warmth of the man's skin was already making him shudder. All but curling into the man as instinct took over, hands unconsciously mirroring Lorne's hold as he grasped the man by the shoulders. - A desperate little whine rattling up his throat at the contact. Canines throbbing as the inches between them waned and the echoing pulse of Lorne's heart hummed through him. Sending tiny, shock waves of vibration coursing across their joined flesh.

His hackles rose. - Desperation, fear, and hunger all battling for dominance as Lorne eased them back to the ground. Holding him in that strong grip, their chests flush together as Lorne reached up, tearing off both their ear pieces as one handed before he started loosening his vest collar with the other. - Fingers only just starting to tremble as he looked back down at him, clearly at a loss as to how he should proceed.

…And just like that, the battle, if it had ever swayed in his favor, was abruptly, and quite wholly lost… Because he just couldn't…Not anymore. He just wasn't that strong…

"Doc. Doc… You gotta tell me what to do. How do I-.." Lorne began. Voice trailing off as long fingers curled around the thickness of his wrist, snapping off the man's watch with a criminally easy snap as he coaxed the curve of the man's wrist inwards. Breathing against the softness he found there. - Because he was already five steps ahead as Lorne shifted above him, confusion and nervousness slipping from his lips as comprehension began to dawn.

"This. Like this." He hissed, bringing the man's wrist to his mouth just as the man hunched closer, moving with him until he was all but draped over top him, surrounding him with the man's alluring scent as his canines dragged across his slick lower lip.

- He could feel the catch of partially dried blood pulling against the over sensitized pads of his fingers at he drew the man in. Scenting all the way down the man's skin as he all but nuzzled the underside of Lorne's wrist. - God, even now it was almost too much.

"Parrish..- Parrish, are you going to-..?"

The sharp drag of his fangs scraping across the vulnerable softness of Lorne's wrist was all the warning he gave. Because before the man could even so much as finish his sentence, his canines were sinking deep into the man's giving flesh. Fangs sliding through the man's skin like a knife through butter a mere second before the sweetness of red came flooding in.

- The man's blood hit his tongue in rich purifying waves. With a taste that had him both snarling and purring in turn as life started trickling down through his blood starved veins, coating his parched throat with life-affirming red as he swallowed again and again.

Everything else faded.

Ravenous, he let his jaw clamp down, yanking Lorne closer as he suckled. Losing himself in the pulsing thrum as the man breathed heavily above him. - Breaths puffing hotly against the curve of his neck and collarbone in a way that had him growling into the man's skin. Arching into him from behind as he pressed himself into every square inch of skin he could reach. - Taking it as his due when Lorne's muscles tensed. Pulse fluttering as pleasure fueled heat roared across the man's skin, blanketing the Marine in a full body blush as he nuzzled deeper into the man's hold.

A growl built in his throat as the man responded to him. Scent changing from the sour stink of fear and confusion into something better, something sweeter, something that almost tasted like.. – Fuck.. - The moment was wonderful and horrible all at once. Because the blood was hot, searing hot. – Human hot. – …Evan. - Christ, the potency of it! It was akin to sexual arousal. It was different. Different from all the other times.. All the-

Blunt fingers dug into his hair, scratching across his scalp with a fierce rhythmic motion that only had him swallowing that much faster. Purring and hissing into the heavy air as Lorne gasped into jut of his collarbone. Lips dragging across his skin as his head started to lower. - The man's lids fluttered obscenely as he drank. Unable to help it as he stared, watching the man out of the corner of his eye as he took a few deliberately hard pulls. Delighting in the hitching moan the action got him. The sight alone causing him in snarl in pleasure as the blunt fingers dug ever deeper.

"Oh..- Oh.." That was all Lorne seemed capable of saying. - Reduced to monosyllables and harsh, pitching sounds that had the gall to turn into real words when he wasn't looking.

He didn't know how long it had been when he forced his fangs to retract. Laving the wound with a few lingering swipes of his tongue before he wrenched himself away. Landing on his elbows across from where the man still knelt, panting hard as Lorne instinctively clutched his wrist, the wound already beginning to clot as they watched.

And for a long time they just stared at each other, breathing hard. Lorne staring at him with an expression he couldn't define. Fingers still wrapped disbelievingly around his wrist, keen eyes watching as the twin punctures and gently torn skin began to fade. His saliva encouraging the healing process as the wound slowly began to close.

He hadn't tasted human blood in over four decades. But still, there was something different about it this time. The feeding, the taste, he'd never experienced the like. It had been sensual and downright intimate for both of them. He knew it. - He had tasted it. - His brain worked, struggling for the answers that seemed only inches from his grasp. Body busily healing even as his mind spiraled outwards, thoughts flirting with the possibilities as reality slowly dawned. - Did that mean that Lorne-...

...Still, that didn't change the fact that everything had gone officially FUBAR.

- Because Lorne was still staring at him. And his tongue was still chasing the man's taste as he bathed his lips and fingers with his dripping tongue. Unable to stop himself as the man's breathing ratcheted up another notch, blue eyes glinting impossibly bright as the man's eyes took in every movement he made. Lips parting as the man's tongue slowly emerged. Peaking out to moisten suddenly dry lips in a way that had his canines throbbing all over again…

A/N: Please let me know what you think? Reviews and constructive critiquing are love!

"What is love? Love is when one person knows all of your secrets...your deepest, darkest, most dreadful secrets of which no one else in the world knows... and yet in the end, that one person does not think any less of you; even if the rest of the world does." – Unknown.