Dante smiled as he stood beside Timothy's bed and watched him sleep. Timothy didn't know it but sometimes he came to Dante smelling of death. Sometimes it was new death, rich and fresh and often violent. Sometimes it was old and faint and corrupt.

But even as his days were filled with often gruesome deaths and discoveries when he slept his mind was filled with joy and sunlight. Dante reached out and gently touched Timothy's mind and smiled. He was dreaming of angels again. It seemed that the sensations of flight from Dante's night time wanderings that Tim received via their connection had translated into him regularly dreaming of angels.

Not angles with huge leathery bat like wings, but white feathery hallelujah chorus type angels. Dante smirked to himself and shook his head at his fate. He, a dark demon of the night was bonded to a man who dreamt of angels.

Dante considered again the intense moment when he had sunk his teeth into Timothy's neck and drank of his blood. He had been hesitant to discuss what had happened at their joining as he simply didn't know the answers to whatever questions Timothy might ask of him. Dante trailed his fingers softly down the side of Timothy's cheek in a sort of curious wonder.

There wasn't exactly a central library of useful vampire information. You learned what you needed to survive and you lived long enough that you figured most things out..or died. Vampires weren't particularly social. The young ones were still crazed with blood lust and impossible to speak with while the elders were often so withdrawn into themselves there was little point in seeking knowledge from them.

There was another reason that Dante almost couldn't admit to himself as it seemed so pitiful. He was jealous. He simply didn't want to share his companion with another vampire. He didn't want them to know Timothy existed or the strength of the bond they already shared. He didn't want them to touch Timothy through him, or ask him questions or have him smile softly at them. Dante especially didn't want to show them his own ignorance by asking why his companion affected him so.

The thought of another vampire even laying eyes on Timothy's beauty and growing strength was enough that even now Dante could feel the rage building and he snapped his wings and twitched his tail instinctively in response to his own anger.

Mine.

Dante tried to smoother it but he knew he should warn Timothy of the dangers. It was rare that Vampires sort each other out but if another should decide that Dante had lived enough of his life then an easy way to hurt Dante would be through his mild mannered companion. Timothy's death at a crucial time might be enough to distract him or even weaken his powers.

So whether they wanted Timothy for themselves or to use against Dante Timothy needed to know that other Vampires were to be avoided at all costs.

Dante was suddenly filled with the wild desire to renew his bond with his companion. Timothy was his and no one else's. Dante almost hissed in possession and he slipped into the bed behind Timothy and snuggled in behind him, wrapping his strong cool arms around his waist.

Timothy woke with a bleary smile and a surprised look in his eyes at the intense look Dante was wearing.

"Are you alright? " Tim asked quietly

Dante smiled grimly and nodded, feeling his fangs lengthen and his grip tighten instinctively around Timothy's warm flesh. Dante struggled through his rising blood lust to form coherent thoughts and express them in a way that wouldn't terrify Timothy.

"Timothy…..I want….. I would like to drink from you again…..If you would allow it. I wish to…..renew our bond. I also have questions about our joining that may be answered if you will allow me to taste you again"

Tim blinked over his shoulder at Dante and instantly tensed up in fear before his rational mind kicked in. Dante had already done it once and it hadn't been unpleasant. Intense and almost indescribable but not horrendous. Dante was asking him permission, not demanding it of him.

There were also many things he too had wondered about that night when he became Dante's companion and he had quietly considered this very question. What would it be like to have Dante drink from him again?

Dante could feel the surge of emotions through his tender companion and he almost licked his lips in anticipation as fear worked its way through to curiosity and acceptance.

Alright

Tim touched Dante's mind with the answer knowing that doing it that way he was also communicating all of his fears and the trust that Dante would not willingly hurt him.

Dante lunged hungrily at the permission and sank his fangs deep into Tim's neck. Tim twitched and gasped in shock before sagging back boneless onto the bed, his eyes glazing over as a wave of intense connection overtook him.

He was Dante's and Dante was his.

Tim could feel Dante sucking and drawing his warm blood into his mouth. The sensation of Dante's immense power entered his body and it made Tim gasp as he tingled all over and arched in Dante's arms. More visions and thoughts crashed into Timothy head making him see infinite impossibilities while Dante wallowed in rich shining emotions ranging from intense to tender as they lay entwined together on the massive bed.

It wasn't sex. But that was the closest thing Tim could use to describe it. There was a sense of intense emotional completion, a physical release and even afterwards as Dante withdrew his fangs and tenderly licked at the wounds on his neck healing them, a sense of relaxed exhaustion.

Tim found himself blushing shyly and he bit his lip as he turned his head to look at Dante. Tim's eyes widened in wonder as he took in Dante's normally icy blue eyes now turned to blue fire.

"Did I do that?" Tim asked softly as he reached up to touch Dante's face which for an instant seemed warm.

Dante threw back his head awash in Tim's beauty and laughed.

"Yes. Do you know what you taste like to me? You are like a fistful of cocaine dumped into a large glass of champagne…and wrapped in chocolate."

Dante growled and buried his head back into Tim's shoulder making his shiver and finished licking at Tim's wounds on his neck until they were completely healed.

Tim sighed and smiled slightly to himself.

"Well at least now we know. The whatever it was between us wasn't a one off. In fact ….to be honest I wouldn't mind if we did that more often"

Dante could hear the teasing humor in his Boys voice as it covered over his surprise and relief. More? His companion offered him more? He needed to make him understand that this was serious.

Dante growled suddenly and pinned Timothy to the bed, wiping the smile from his face.

"Do not offer me such things lightly Companion. You are addictive and I fear you may be my undoing"

Tim looked up, honestly a little frightened at the ferocity before him.

"You must stay away from other vampires. Each time I drink from you and we renew our bond of blood you become more marked as mine. Another vampire will know you are mine simply from the way you smell. If you even sense one near you, call for me and then run. Do you understand Timothy? They may try to take you for themselves as a curiosity or as a pet perhaps even as a blood slave. They may even take you so that they can hurt me. I will not stand for either option to happen. Do you understand?"

Timothy considered the implications of what Dante told him and he nodded seriously knowing that Dante's fear of loss was underneath his sudden anger. Timothy reached for Dante to try and understand and for the first time found his touch blocked. He recoiled in surprise.

Blood Slave??

Dante shook his head "No my Little One. I will not show you what horrors have existed between my kind and mortals. Only know that what I say is true and you must take all precautions as you may be in danger"

Tim nodded and he felt a faint almost smothered backwash of anxiety from Dante as the Vampire gathered his beloved in his arms and held him tight from imagined fears. Tim reached around and tried to soothe him but Dante was lost in his own mind, sealed off from Timothy so he couldn't hear the screaming and feel the terror of approaching death.

Concerned, Timothy offered Dante the only thing he knew of such strength that it would bring him back to the here and now instead of dwelling in the evils of past deeds.

Tim bent his head to the side and offered Dante his neck again.

Dante blinked and smiled before his fangs sank down into tender flesh.

"You will be the death of me, my sweet Companion"