Not-So Mind-Forged Fires

Bee

Xavier Church caught a quick glimpse of the last bright colors fading into the shadows as he opened the wooden door leading to his chambers. The door itself refused to make its usual groan, almost as if it too had known that the tall blond was in rare form tonight. In truth, everything tangible here had a mind of its own, an extension that was a mix of Xavier’s overwhelming power and that of all the elders residing within the circle.

A deafening boom of thunder rattled the windows in their sills. The sudden cliché of setting caused Xavier to roll his eyes in an almost affectionate fashion. Most of the personal rooms had been charmed to reflect the owner’s mood upon approaching and entering. After finding out about the novice Nicholai Creighton, his mood had been none to lively. As if proving this, the curtains had melted from their usual deep green into the most depressing of blacks. It was so black, that Xavier began to wonder if it could even be considered black or classified into its own color group. Grave spider webs with their fat little companions hung like extra white draperies from the corners, and where the two walls met, shadows loomed in silence.

There was not a sound to be heard besides Xavier’s light stepping across the carpeted floors. Rain assaulted the windows, but in his deep thought, he did not hear them as they rattled in an almost adamant way. Long, gloved fingers reached underneath the fringe of the amber lampshade to expertly click on a single light beside his large bed. His room was rather ostentatious in fashion even with the overhanging gloom, yet still managed to keep some semblance of modesty. He sat down slowly and, almost trancelike, began the tedious task of unlacing his boots. As he sank both physically and mentally in exhaustion—as always happened when there was a rookie to show around—Xavier told himself that it wouldn’t do to be so miserable. Yet the insufferable murk that seemed to infect the room like a plague failed to aid him. So he laid back and closed his eyes. It was so silent and steady that Xavier almost wanted to hear the shadows as they shifted restlessly along the walls.

Then came the ticking of the clock mounted on one pasty wall, a jingle of bells from Sloan’s collar, the almost inaudible clanking and hissing of the basement pipes, the hum of the heater, and the high pitched frequency of whine from a television in the next room. All of these things brought reality in slow movements back to his senses. Xavier could feel the rough carpet beneath his bare feet, the cushion of the mattress beneath him, and the sleek brush of fur as Sloan wound himself in crazy-eights around his ankles.

“Feed me!” The amber eyes that stood out against the rather bleak surroundings said. “I don’t care what problems you are having, but I am hungry and you have to feed me.” Sloan climbed on his chest and pawed insistently.

Xavier laughed, for the first time since the night had begun, the rain lessened, and the dreary room became not so dark. He felt alive again.

At least…in some way he seemed alive…

In fact, although he had a body, a mind, and feeling in his nerves, Xavier was not truly alive. He was not alive in the sense that a person is alive in that he was lacking a beating heart. He was a vampire, a creature of dark and death for as long as he could remember…and he could remember a lot.

Nicholai was the very first impure thing to be allowed within the circle. Most of the others seemed comforted by the fact that he was mostly vampire, yet they couldn’t figure out what the other blood was. Nicholai possessed the voice but his ability in mind power was severely limited. The voice referred to the subtle hint of power in the vocal cords that, when applied, brought their victims willingly into obedience.

It was quite unusual for anything with at least a little of the vampire nature to be so lacking in the glamour ability. Xavier thought that maybe it had been one of the reasons that Armand had allowed Nicholai to stay here. Armand Cole, another elder, had always been unusually fascinated with other kin creatures, but to keep up appearances, he tossed them all away. Only Xavier knew of the odd enthrallment. Although—even Xavier had to admit—there was something else that made Nicholai very attractive and hard to resist.

Perhaps, the elder thought as he poured the cat’s food into a small, silver dish, I am just too attached to the old ways. Nicholai is not as impure as he suspected Evangeline to be. A moment later, he shook his head to clear the thought. He would not plague himself with his beliefs of her.

The blond shook back his long hair and absently admired one golden lock. It was a shameful feeling, but suddenly he was insecure about his looks. His hair was not blond the way a human’s hair is blond, but rather as if he’d bleached his hair with moon water. It almost emitted a light of its own. His skin would have been the same color, had it not been dusted so finely with a light coat of the fairest grays. Xavier had always been long admired as one of the highest beauties among the elders in their place of Cockaigne. Strangely enough though, if Xavier could breath, surely his breath would have been lost the instant he laid his ebony eyes on Nicholai.

His hair trailed in velvet ribbons well down to his ankles and was the exact color of midnight. It was not black, but rather a deep and alluring play of all the richest blues. Nicholai showed off much skin in a human-like outfit far from tradition, skin that shamed the deepest crimson, the drop of blood from a pricked finger. The scarlet skin tone was extremely uncommon among vampires, and Xavier was convinced that Nicholai was the first and last he would probably ever see.

He had forced his face and eyes to remain neutral as he’d approached, instead judging the reactions of the others lined up near Nicholai. Armand Cole especially stood out, his eyes of smoke widened in immediate rapture, and a most cunning grin had ruptured on his face. Xavier stepped forward and shook Nicholai’s hand—which was slightly warmer than normal—then stepped in line beside Armand.

“Isn’t he the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?” Armand hissed in his ear.

“Don’t be fooled. He is likely impure.”

“But he is so rare!” Armand protested. “Truly a treasure no matter the blood in his veins.”

That very line was repeated in front of the assembly of elders, who then nodded in agreement, acquiring the first impure vampire ever to join the cult. Something about Nicholai didn’t sit quite right with Xavier though. He sat down on his bed again to ponder it some more. What exactly was Nicholai a mix of? The blond sighed in annoyance and flopped backwards like a child throwing a tantrum. It wasn’t a beast of any kind that Xavier had ever seen, and he had the sudden longing to get close enough to the strange vampire to find out.

Xavier looked for his chance over the next week. He started following Nicholai around as he became quickly acquainted with his surroundings. At the end of one week, Nicholai could expertly navigate the secret corridors within the shortcuts to places all over the castle. It was phenomenal that the red creature became so at home so easily. Xavier leaned back into the shadows and twirled his hair thoughtfully as he often did.

“Are you following me?” A voice came from behind. Xavier leapt around and hissed, somewhat embarrassed to discover that it was only the newbie there looking back. The thought of being startled by something so menial disgraced his thoughts and the disgust showed on his face and in the tone of his voice.

“It would do you well to learn your place quickly,” Xavier attempted to look down at the other man.

“And I think I like this place. Armand tells me that I am special,” Nicholai clamored on; seemingly unaware of the strange look he was receiving from the elder vampire.

“On your first day you seemed so solemn. Where did the sudden energy come from?”

“Sugar,” Nicholai replied and then grinned like a child.

“Sugar?” Xavier arched one thin, sleek eyebrow at this. “You indulge yourself on human food? I believe we came to the conclusion that you were almost all vampire?” It was unheard of to his ears.

“And what an indulgence it is!” Nicholai laughed loudly and covered his hands. He did not blush, but the moss green eyes showed embarrassment for the sudden outburst. “Sorry. Sugar affects me strangely.”

Xavier only nodded and turned on one booted heel, not quite so sure now that he really wanted to know any more. It was against his beliefs in norms to associate with someone so strange. With that, he would have dropped it there, should have dropped it there, but the damn kid followed closely at his foot. He was content to ignore it, thinking that Nicholai would tire of his game before Xavier even finished his nightly prowl of the hallways. When the scarlet being hadn’t disappeared when he arrived at his room, the blond turned, a bit flustered and agitated.

“Do you want something?” He snarled, baring one sleek, ivory fang. Much to his annoyance, Nicholai only shrugged. “Do you think you could leave my sight before I do something nasty to you?”

“I don’t know…” Nicholai rolled the piece of candy in his mouth with a tongue that matched his crimson skin. “I might want to stick around to see just how nasty you can get.”

Xavier was dumbstruck, something that didn’t happen very often. Nicholai had barely been here a week, was young in his years, and quite arrogant at that. Any other resident here would have been pleased at the beautiful bedside company, yet the raven-haired boy had just offered himself to Xavier. He couldn’t speak, so instead the tall blond grunted in annoyance and turned to his door. With a wave of his hand, it swung open.

The inside looked as it normally did, with its red curtains, green carpet, and nice four poster bed. It resembled nothing of the dreary thing it had been a week ago. He had been in the motion of shutting his door in Nicholai’s face, when the crimson beast caught it with one hand and let himself in. He shut the door behind himself and before Xavier could yell at him, Sloan bounded over and rubbed lovingly against the legs of his unwanted company.

“What a beautiful cat!” Nicholai grinned from ear to ear and squatted down to pet the black cat. Seeing him there like that softened Xavier’s anger to a dull roar in the back of his head. Perhaps Nicholai wouldn’t be that much of a distraction after all.

“Yes, his name is Sloan,” Xavier moved to get his cat food, luring the small being away from Nicholai’s petting hands.

“I like this,” Nicholai commented, looking around. “Mine is very plain and standard because of my lack of…” He looked down again and acquired that same look of embarrassment again.

“Yes…” The blond purred. “I have been thinking about why you are so different from the rest of us. I have never seen one with so much vampire blood without the ability to change his surroundings.”

“Armand tells me that it is simple for the rest of you, but it is very difficult for me to even hold a glamour of disguise over myself. Which is why I came here, hoping I could stay at a place where I could just be myself.”

“They usually do not let vampires with impure blood inside of our circle.” Xavier scoffed again, peering inquisitively at Nicholai as he came over to lean on the kitchen counter opposite the blond. “But I guess that there are so few of us left, that we now have no choice but to accept your kind.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?” The embarrassment was gone, replaced quickly by anger that startled Xavier again. He watched, entranced, as the green eyes flashed a deep ruby-orange.

“What are you?” He breathed, stepping closer, entrapped both by the spell in those eyes and the sound of the voice.

“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” Nicholai offered.

“A thousand other beds,” Xavier protested, gently taking the crimson cheeks in his hands. His skin felt hot to the touch. “Why mine?” He wanted to know.

“You were the only one that seemed genuinely interested in my heritage for a purpose other than seeing me as some collector’s item,” Nicholai smirked at his own reference to Armand.

“Your face is so warm,” Xavier whispered hesitantly against the burning pink lips.

“Other parts of my body are just as hot,” Nicholai lashed out at Xavier’s lips with his cherry-red tongue. It took only that subtle movement to bring the blonde’s lips to his. Xavier groaned and felt his entire mouth light up as he thrust his tongue forcibly into Nicholai’s mouth. It was not as if he’d gone for a long time without sex, but contact with another vampire had been limited for himself, especially contact as intimate as this. His hands slid tenderly down the red neck, marveling at the feel of marble strength rippling in the muscles.

“Why are you on fire?” Xavier murmured, walking the red creature backwards to the bed. “You are so hot to the touch, and I don’t believe it is the so-called ‘heat of passion.’”

“Shush now,” Nicholai chided, moving to the very centre of the plush green blanket. He folded his body into a coy position and peered out from beneath black lashes that shimmered with hints of silver. “I am sure that you will find the answer for yourself.”

“You tease me,” Xavier growled—he did not usually waste time on petty games with his lovers—crawling seductively towards the younger vampire. “Are you disfigured?” He questioned, running a gloved finger down one crimson cheek. “Is this atrophied body of yours not quite as beautiful naked?”

Most Vampires would have accepted this as a challenge and responded passionately to it. If it had been one like Armand, or Evangeline Delacroix, or even the older Orlando Von Stein, the look on Nicholai’s face at the moment would have never touched upon their youthful features. Xavier stumbled mentally for a second at the negative effect his words had. Again, Nicholai began to show such human behavior. His words had been meant as teasing foreplay, but instead they’d made the grassy eyes look away in sudden sadness and uncertainty.

“I value you,” Xavier tried, licking gently upon the shoulder-skin that showed to one side of the tank top. “Your perfection now must be no match to the perfection of your natural body.” Nicholai slowly began to relax under the probing tongue, opening willingly when it slid over his lips. Instead of kissing him, “show me” Xavier demanded.

There was something akin to hesitance as the red raven stripped himself of the abhorrent human-wear. Bit by bit more of his crimson flesh was revealed, the lovely green eyes glazed over in concentration. Xavier helped the clothing aside, tenderly caressing each patch of new skin with his gloved hands—the skin that seemed as if it might stain the pristine whiteness. Nicholai was of stillness now, showing no sign of his earlier sugar-rush, as he sat with a placid look. It was almost as if he was waiting to be inspected like an animal in a show.

Xavier removed one glove ad carefully touched the rosy cheek. The warmth remained and pulsed through his fingertips like a molten heartbeat.

“You truly are alive in many ways more than I had first imagined,” He gently kissed the frowning lips, wondering still what troubled his companion, as he slipped his tongue between them. Nicholai’s body was as radiant unclothed as it was clothed; the amazing scarlet covered every inch of him.

“Now what?” Nicholai questioned with innocence, folding his knees beneath his body.

“What do you mean ‘now what’?” Xavier feared that he may have grossly underestimated Nicholai’s experience as a lover.

“I mean…you don’t fear me?”

“Fear you?!” The elder laughed in spite of his strict demeanor. “How absurd! What is there to fear about you?”

“Armand tells me I am special, that I am not like the other vampires here, I am too different. He also let me know that he would find out what it was about me that was different. I already know what I am, and it is one of the reasons I have been exiled from so many places.”

“So what exactly are you Nicholai?” Xavier breathed across his cheek, gently coaxing him down into the pillows so he could assault the tempting collar bone. If Nicholai displayed so many human emotions, he would try to treat him as gentle as he did his Human lovers.

“Xavier,” Nicholai gasped in a whoosh of charred breath as the gentle gloved hand found his dark chocolate nipple and rolled it between the rough clothed fingers. “They will turn me away when they find out.”

Xavier moved his mouth to replace his hand and gently squeezed the thin waistline with the other. He wetted tender kisses down the cherry-red torso, sucking and licking in the most provocative way. There was absolutely nothing imperfect about this beast. A beast Nicholai was too, making the most arousing guttural sounds in his throat and arching off of the soft bed into Xavier’s soft mouth. He knew that the raven-haired vampire would cave to his touch sooner or later. His actions said that he had never had a lover of the same species, which meant that he had also never had his own magic work against him.

“What are you concentrating on?” Xavier murmured, softly kissing the plum shaped head of Nicholai’s protruding organ. It was soft in his mouth still and hardening against his tongue. “You need to let go of your powers Nicholai, give yourself to me and allow me to discover what it is that you so fear.”

“I fear…” The crimson one groaned at the peachy vacuum at his groin. “I fear that you will fear me,” The breathless reply came and Xavier looked up the line of the beautiful and tone body. It was shuddering with need and his face was screwed up ever so slightly in deep focus. It was surprising at first, and then Xavier lashed out in anger. It was considered rude to tell a vampire that something would bring out a weakness in him. He was gripping the blood red shoulders and in Nicholai’s face so fast that the other barely had time to get out the squeak of surprise.

“Are you calling me weak?” Xavier spat, sliding his hands upwards towards the surprised face. It would have been an arousing movement had Nicholai not been so frightened and Xavier so angry. “If anyone is weak here, it is you! You are out of place here in that you do not know our ways! If you had been so easy to disgrace another of the elders your life would be nonexistent in a fraction of a heartbeat!”

“Then you must be much different Xavier, seeing as how I am not dead yet,” Nicholai observed in a smart-alecky tone. “Tell me if I have insulted you so that your curiosity about me has been satisfied enough to let me go.”

“No,” Xavier suddenly grinned, baring his ivory fangs and sensing that as Nicholai’s attempt to escape. “You will stay here until I am fully satisfied,” He rubbed his prick against one solid thigh. “It takes a lot to satisfy a man like me.”

“How can you call yourself a man?” Nicholai spat, struggling now, wondering why in the name of all nine hells he had put himself into a situation like this. Was he always damned to make himself so easy to discover?

Xavier growled, turning Nicholai roughly onto his stomach and struggling for a moment before he pinned the bucking body down. With one hand he freed his throbbing cock, erect and dripping from all of the sudden violent excitement. “You will enjoy this,” He grunted, pushing himself all the way in. He bothered not with any form of preparation or lube. They were both vampires, and as soon as the skin of his sensitive fanny would rip, it would barely drip two drops of blood before closing once again. It took a lot to even damage someone with as much Vampire blood as Nicholai.

He screamed anyways and clawed at the covers in front of his blood-skinned covered body. Xavier pulled back and thrust brutally back inside the vulnerable cavern, the struggling and cries only fueling his fiery passion. The blond loved it rough, but he loved giving it rough even more. Nicholai should thank him for it later, it was always the best kind of sex Xavier had ever had.

He could feel the magic melting away from Nicholai’s body and was surprised to sense that the crimson one had been using a form of glamour all along. It made him wonder what he’d been hiding. There had been no glamour in the initial meeting; the elders would make sure of that. There was no evidence of anything that had been covered up, so it must have been something hidden in a different fashion. Under the peculiar clothing…

Xavier leaned forward and whispered into the long tangled nest of velvet black hair. “Are you enjoying yourself yet?”

“Yo—you are more of a beast than I am!” Nicholai cried, unable to stop himself from moaning in pleasant rapture and thrusting back to meet Xavier’s strong, steady hips.

“If you are a beast, then you are truly a stunning one at that.”

“You don’t understand!” He mewled again, arching, wanting to cave into his natural desires to couple in such intimacy as this, but Xavier could feel him hanging on to the last shred of his power, of his control. The still gloved hand curved around the slender waist, tracing the firmness of a jutting hipbone, and finally encircling the rigid penis. It jerked and twitched in his hand and Nicholai pressed his cheek into the wall, his mouth in a silent ‘o’ of ecstasy.

“That’s it…” Xavier coaxed, gently working his hand in small tugging movements. There was an underlying tone to his voice this time, something that made Nicholai shudder and release himself from the binds of his magic and concede to the blonde’s. He thrust again, but this time his motion was more gentle, more cajoling, more sensitive to Nicholai’s needs.

“No…” he breathed, sucking on the back of his hand, biting hard with his teeth, shaking his head in defiance of the pleasure coursing through his veins.

“Come for me,” Xavier urged, thrusting harder, feeling the tickle of Nicholai’s long hair against his legs and thighs. On his command, Nicholai pulsed wildly in the gloved hand, streaming golden desire onto the comforter. He was somewhere between groaning and screaming when the blond released himself as well. The hot wetness drilling deep inside of his melting intestines drove him to the brink of insanity. “Oh my…” Xavier whispered, brushing aside the hair covering Nicholai’s shoulders.

“Oh no…”

“What,” The blond took a deep shuddering breath that shivered all the way from his groin. “What have we here?”

“Stop it!” The scarlet being screeched, this time succeeding in freeing himself and scrambling away. “Don’t look at it!!”

“Nicholai, you are—“

“A freak of nature!!” The distraught vampire filled in, pulling his knees to his chest.

“No, I was actually going to say that you were being unreasonable. Now come over here and let me look at you.”

Nicholai had no choice but to obey Xavier. He was still an elder and his powers reigned far above that which he could resist. Quietly he crawled over, sitting between the parted ashen legs. With much care and gentleness, the blond swept the mass of hair away and caressed the wondrous protrusions. At the two spots where scarlet protrusions of shoulder blades should have been were two distinctive knobs. Under his touch, they shifted, almost as if reacting to Nicholai’s natural born desire to fly away.

His spine was slightly disfigured. Xavier touched it with his bare hand and found that also along the line of it, rough skin had replaced the smooth, ivory of before. It was almost scaly to the touch. A breath caught in his throat but a moment later he pressed his lips to the gorgeous nape.

“I had no idea that there were any of you left,” He whispered into the sensitive shell of his slightly pointed ears.

“It is almost likely that I am the last of my kind. People see me as an infection to all races; therefore they strive to kill me.” Nicholai cocked an eyebrow when Xavier muffled his laughter in the crook of his neck. “What’s so funny?!” He cried.

“You called me a beast!” Xavier wrapped his arms and legs around the younger one to keep him from climbing away. “You are more of a beast than I am dear Nicholai…”

“Don’t rub it in! Now go tell the others so I can be on my merry way!” The crimson beast struggled to free himself but the blond shoved him back down into the mattress.

“No,” He cooed again, that same evil grin playing across his lips. “I think I will keep you for myself for now.”

“Keep me?”

“This will be our little secret,” Xavier whispered into the parted lips before kissing them fully and thoroughly.

“Are you good at keeping secrets?” Nicholai asked once they had parted. His mossy eyes were filled with worry. The tall blond encased the raven-haired one within his long limbs again and nuzzled his neck most affectionately.

“I have learned of what they do to your kind. I will promise to keep you safe to the best of my ability.”

Nicholai wrapped his arms too around the elder, pressing a kiss to the temple that never pulsed, and settling into a sleep beside a lover whose heart never beats. The elder settled down too, not needing sleep, but craving the warmth of Nicholai’s other kin blood.

“I think I feel at home finally,” Nicholai whispered.

“I will be your only home from now on, my little Dragon. There is much to learn here.”