If you are still reading, thank you. Here is what some of you have been waiting for. If the intimacy between Eric and Jankin is likely to offend you, please do not read. But if it entices you, read on.

Daniel

Part 12

He held out my cloak for me, in front of the fire as he had so many times before, and as before he let his hands rest on my shoulders as I slipped into it, but his grasp was different, it dared more intimacy, or at least I finally understood it.

"What of the blood Godric gave you? What is to be done with it?" The phial had remained on my mantel, concealed against servants that might think to purloin it. Jankin knew where I had hidden it. And as I watched, he reached for the concealed panel. I put a hand out to stop him.

"Don't." I urged.

"Why not?" His fingers curled around it and he drew it to himself. "Do you intend to drink it?"

"I do not."

"Then let me give you a plausible explanation as to what has happened to it."

I lifted my brows, curious as to what he had in mind. He picked up my soiled shirt from where I had cast it on the bed and returned to the table with it.

"Jankin, it is a dangerous thing to play with," I began, but I did not move against him. He folded the phial in the tails of the shirt, and as I watched, he took up my sword, and pressed the flat of the blade into it, crushing the fragile glass into splinters. Nothing was said as he picked up the bundle and moved to the fire, emptying the shards into the flames, leaving the bloodstain on the linen.

"What have you done?" I asked, staring at him. He dropped the shirt on the hearth.

"You may now tell everyone with sincerity that the phial was broken in a struggle with one of the otherworldly creatures you encountered on your journey."

"I do not recall us struggling Jankin."

In an instant he had his arms wrapped around me, pinning mine to my sides, I writhed against him for a moment, which only made him laugh a bit. I had no wish to hurt him, which would have been easily accomplished in breaking his hold. But I let him have his way, and simply parted my lips for the kiss I wanted from him, taking his mouth while he concentrated on holding me still. When we broke apart he declared it a worthwhile and honorable struggle.

"Should they wish to see the proof I can return here and bring them the shirt. If the Queen asks nothing of it, then it will be washed on the morrow and the matter will be at an end."

"You are a clever thing Jankin." I slapped him across the shoulders. "When did you become so self-assured?"

"Perhaps it is your blood."

I reached for him, clutching his face in both my hands, looking deeply into the blue eyes; willing myself to see into his soul.

"Give yourself more credit, my friend. I think it was always there, simply over shadowed by the enormity of your task." I forced my mouth onto his roughly, not enough to tear his tender flesh, but enough to make my point about desires. That time it was he who gasped and paused as I tasted him. For that moment I felt back in control of things, a familiar feeling I had missed.

ooOOoo

We were admitted to the throne room by a different Vampire than the one who had brought us the summons. An older man than I when he had been turned, his hair showed a few grey strands at the temples, his eyes were dark, and he followed our approach down the hallway unashamedly. His barely hidden arrogance, and annoyance at our tardiness marked him as another of Godric's men. The Queen's hand groomed his men in his own image, and it would not have surprised me if they were all under a blood bond to him, if not his own offspring. Fiercely loyal to him and to the Queen in turn; though which one came first was a question for another day. He bowed his head stiffly as Jankin and I came to the doors, and opened them without a word to either of us.

The Queen was alone at her large desk, standing, though leaned over it, and she raised her head with a great smile to see us.

"Sheriff." Her white fangs gleamed, and her eyes glittered in the glow of the torches that lined the walls. She was alone, and I was glad for it.

"Your Majesty." I bowed low and Jankin, a few steps behind me, and now very quiet, a neutral expression on his face, stopped and went to his knees, casting his eyes down to the floor. The self-confidence had been reigned in on his part as we had walked the halls, he was again demure, and it would serve him well in this audience.

"We are so pleased that you have all returned unharmed to us Sheriff."

I rose.

"Captain Alcide has spoken highly of your actions, both of your actions." I watched as she peered around me to see Jankin, who was only now standing, remaining behind me. Sophie-Ann stepped down from the dais and came around to put a hand on my shoulder; her grin pre-eminent.

"There have been no reports of walkers in nearly a full day and night. Though I have sent teams out to continue the patrols. I am optimistic that you have rid us of this threat."

I nodded, "That is my fondest hope as well."

"And you have brought us more folk to happily repopulate our village."

"They have been well received?"

"Indeed they have, many are even now settling on empty lands and helping to restore farms."

"Your Queendom will be prosperous again in no time." Pleasantries exchanged she made her next point.

"And you were forced to battle with elves and fairies the Captain tells me?"

"Yes your Majesty. Many of the creatures."

She leaned in to me in a slightly uncomfortable way, and drew in a long, deep breath.

"A great many." She whispered in a frighteningly hungry kind of way. "Do you think there are any left?"

"I couldn't say your Majesty." And I couldn't. I stood quite still, acutely aware of her fangs and her wide eyes. Though Breandon had died, he might have other confederates ready to come through the portal, despite Brigant's best efforts.

"And I understand your servant proved himself quite the warrior." She moved away from me and circled Jankin; I tried to hide the sudden anxiety that she would discover him.

"You honor me your Majesty." He whispered, not making eye contact with her. If she were to try to glamour him, and then realize it wasn't possible he would be in grave danger.

"Nonsense. Captain Alcide said that you took down elves on your own." Her voice was almost a purr. She brushed her fingertips across his chest and over his shoulders. I could hear Jankin's heart speed up. She could too, but she likely expected that reaction, probably sought it out.

"The praise is most generous." He stuttered.

"He smells a little of you Sheriff." She turned her attention away from him and back to me. I had anticipated that question.

"It was necessary to give him some of my blood, he was injured fighting the Fairies." She glanced back at him then returned to me. Giving blood to a human was a Vampire's prerogative, but it said something about the human.

"And you did not come back to the castle then, where he could have been attended to?"

"We were unable to travel quickly without rousing the suspicion of the former hostages." I answered, another truth.

"Sensible." She walked back up to her large table, and beckoned me to join her. She had maps spread out over it.

"This is where Alcide told me the fortification was, around here?" She stabbed her index finger against the vellum.

"Yes." I agreed.

"And these lands here?" She brushed her hand along the far ridge of the gorge where the topography showed the change in elevation.

"Wild lands."

"That could certainly use the rule of law I believe."

"Under your capable hand."

"And the condition of this fortification you discovered?"

"Very stable, from what I could see of it."

"Safe enough for our kind?" She meant Vampire kind, would there be defensible, light tight areas for daytime rests.

"I would expect so, it is solid stone, and surrounded by the hillsides, which provide many natural opportunities."

"Excellent. I think I shall send Godric and some men out to explore it properly. An outpost seems to me to be exactly what I need."

"A wise decision your Majesty." And indeed it was. If the portal did remain open at that location no Fairy would dare use it, not when making the crossing would place them squarely into a nest of Vampires. The Queen might yet get her own morsel to devour, if Godric and his men could be in control of themselves.

"And what of your plans Sheriff?"

"I remain in your service." And I bowed my head respectfully.

"Your loyalty inspires a greater role I think."

"Your Majesty?"

"As Godric will be my eyes and hands over the wild lands, I would have you as my hand here."

"You do me a great honor."

"One you are well suited for." She had not stopped smiling at me. "Perhaps you will send Godric in as you retire? I expect he is outside the doors, listening in to what I am saying, as best he can."

I did not think Godric would be pleased with what Sophie-Ann was likely to sell to him as a promotion, he would see it as something else entirely, and my new position as a direct threat. Whatever else he was, he was devoted to her, and being supplanted at her side, without having control over the Vampire that did it, (for I now believed that the blood had been his), would mean I had one more thing to watch out for. Not that I was generally in the habit of believing myself completely safe from harm at any time, it was the fastest way to meet the true death.

"She is ready for you." I told him as we exited her hall, he had been waiting, trying to look as casual as he could with his blood boiling in his gut. Jankin and I continued back to my rooms. I had a great deal more to think about suddenly.

ooOOoo

I went through my door first, Jankin followed me, and I heard him bolt it securely as I swung off my cloak, and tossed it over a solid oaken chair. I looked at the two blades, still unsheathed on my table, and wondered for just a second if I shouldn't attend to them first. But it was only one in a miriade of thoughts that competed for my attention, chief among them, the pressing hands that lighted on my shoulders, urging me to spin around. I met Jankin's hungry mouth with my own, wishing just then, nothing more than to be lost in the scent of him and the warmth of his body, and the insistence of his fingers that pulled at my hems as urgently as I pulled at his.

In a moment I had his borrowed shirt pulled from his chest, and I ran my fingers through this short dark, spiky hair, finding his lips parted for me, his tongue ready to dance with mine. My fangs dropped, but even in my passions I guided his tender flesh around them, not wishing, not needing to taste his blood too soon, for fear of losing myself in the delights it promised. The beautiful noises that escaped his throat as I held him to me gave nearly as intoxicating a haze. He broke away only long enough to gasp a breath and forced himself back to me, curling his fingers against my skin, so careful not to scratch me, as much as I wanted to feel it from him. I wanted to feel it all.

His body was warm where mine was cold, but he knew the feel of it, having been wrapped against me for many hours over the last two days and nights. He could not let his hands be still, and I felt them move with urgent force over my skin, from grasping my shoulders, to crisscrossing my back, to coming to rest at the waistband of my pants, fingertips pulling against them. I did not resist as he slipped them from me, I only tensed my muscles as they were suddenly thrust against him. I could not restrain myself, and so I coaxed him out of his pants until we both stood before each other, in the last of the firelight's embers, both able to see and feel exactly what we wanted, even if it wasn't wholly with our eyes.

"Lay down cariad?" He whispered to me, and even though I still did not know the language he was speaking to me, the tone of his voice was enough to understand. I sat, then lay on the bed, never taking my eyes off the intensity in his. I could not hold back the rush of blood that had made me aching and hard, but it was no different than his own betrayed body. I closed my eyes and let myself feel the warmth of his breath as he came to hover over me, brushing his lips from mine, down my neck, across my chest with a deliberate slowness that was beyond enticing. I held myself in check against flipping him over and grinding myself against him until I was completely satisfied. The heat of his tongue began to circle my nipples even as his strong fingers reached down and grasped me firmly, pulling my own gasp from my throat as I arched against what had been unexpected. I felt the tremor of his laughter against my chest as his hand went to work. Instead of clutching at him I had to twine my fingers into the bedclothes, for fear of hurting him again in my zeal.

My lips fell open, my hips bucked to meet his touch, and his hand took powerful charge of my arousal, forcing the trickle of blood tears from my eyes and cries from my chest as he brought me to the very edge of the precipice, and then dragged me over it into an oblivion I did not soon want to find my way out of. It was a great while before I came to my complete senses once again. His self-satisfied grin did not last for long, or rather, it was briefly banished, but only after a great deal of play on my part.

Reviews are love, Cariad.