Title: Eternal Beloved

Author: DragonSapphire

Rating: R

Disclaimer: All characters belong to me. Do not use without my permission.

Warnings: May contain male/male relationships, violence, and sex in future chapters. Do not read if you do not like.

A/N: I'm not sure if I'm going to go anywhere with this. I felt like writing it at the time, but I don't know if that feeling will continue. We'll see, though. ^_~

~`*`~

"I'm sorry, Brandon, but I need to feed."

The pretty brunette glanced at the crimson-eyed vampire impassively before holding out his wrist obediently and turning his head away.

"Do what you want. I'm your property, remember? You don't need my permission." Dante looked at the boy sadly. His eternally still heart would have wrenched painfully in his chest had it been able to. He stroked the soft white skin of Brandon's wrist with his thumb, a long nail gently grazing the thin blue veins running beneath the surface.

"I wish you wouldn't say such things, beloved. I can only hope that one day you'll be able to accept that my love for you is sincere, and perhaps, even return it." Dante raised the unresisting hand to his cold lips and placed a tender kiss along a curved line of the palm before he allowed his gleaming white incisors to elongate and sunk them into the warm flesh.

He watched the beautiful face before him tense slightly before relaxing and remaining neutral as it most often was these days.

Dante sometimes found himself longing for the bright soul that had ensnared him those precious few months ago. Brandon was almost painfully brilliant when compared to his naturally cold and brooding demeanor - the vampire couldn't help wryly noting he was the metaphorical moth captivated by the boy's warm flame. But now that flame had dimmed to an ember, struggling in vain to cling to life but unable to rekindle the fire it once had before.

He felt the too-fragile limb beneath his long fingers tremble almost imperceptibly and he focused again on Brandon's face, berating himself when he saw the normally tanned skin damp and pale. He had taken more blood than he had intended to. He withdrew his fangs from the other's wrist, running his tongue along the twin puncture wounds as his saliva worked to hasten the healing process.

"Forgive me...." Dante murmured softly beneath his strongly copper-scented breath as he lifted the slender boy easily in his arms and carried him to their bedroom.

Brandon could have been a porcelain doll for all he reacted. He laid limply in the other man's strong embrace, the subtle rise and fall of his chest gave the only indication that he was still alive. His jade-green eyes had dulled to a murky, almost brown color, and one hand brushed lightly against Dante's leather-clad thigh as he walked, the other folded across his bare stomach.

Dante managed to open the heavy oak door to the room with one hand and shifted his burden slightly as he began to slip from his grasp. He made his way across the thick grey carpet to the massive bed located against the far wall, pushing back the heavy red drapery with a shoulder and gently placing Brandon on the cool silk-lined comforter and plush pillows. His bonded still remain unresponsive as the vampire adjusted him as he saw fit and stared up blankly at the velvet canvas that served as barrier between the bed and the high ceiling.

Brandon laid motionless on the soft bedding, voicing no protests when Dante removed his soft cotton pants and pulled black satin sheets over his precariously thinning frame. The boy had been healthy and filled-out when Dante had first taken him, often fighting him tooth and nail whenever the other man tried to cajole him into eating or doing anything that he needed to in order to avoid becoming ill. But Brandon refused whatever Dante brought him, and many times retched whatever foods the ebony-hair man managed to coerce into him.

Dante stroked Brandon's long alluring neck with the tips of his sharp nails carefully, watching the large vein pulse weakly beneath his fingers. He pressed a light kiss to the boy's temple before he rose, giving his delicate lover one last longing glance and closing the drapes behind, sealing him in darkness.

~`*`~