Bring on the smut...NC-17 fic
Title: Entranced
Ship: Beckett/Cadman
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: het smut, kind of ...erm... noncon, VAMPIRES, and plot if you turn your head several times and squeeze your eyelids together...
Waste of a perfectly good summary: Carson is infected with a vampiric virus and succumbs to the lure of human flesh.
Laura Cadman supposed she couldn't really call it a secluded date, considering the public nature of the mess hall and the poorly disguised grins that were always shot in the direction of any two members of the expedition who chose to eat away from everyone else. Leaning over to spear Carson's limpid remains of lunch, she remarked, "I've had better dates."
"Have you now," Dr Beckett returned smoothly, lifting his eyes from the swill of his mug.
Laura knew she shouldn't have assumed victory so quickly and managed an innocent grin when her fork was gently pried from her fingers, leaving the glob of food to its owner. She explained with a sigh, "You've been ignoring me - and now you won't feed me."
"You'd best take that up with the empty buffet, love. My hands had no part in it, although Rodney's might have."
Clenching her eyebrows together in frustration, she poked the air in front of his nose with an index finger which then dived straight into the quivering mashed potatoes swept to one side of his plate. Carson pulled his plate back hastily, shooting her an indignant frown, but the corners of his lips were twitching. Rolling her eyes, she popped the glob of food into her mouth and fluttered her eyelashes in pretend enjoyment.
"That's disgusting," Laura bit out after forcing it down her throat.
Her date merely smiled, exposing his dimples in all their cheeky glory. Taking a few brief moments to dip his finger into another slightly brown coloured mass next to the mashed potato, he offered it across the table. She wrinkled her nose.
"I'm sure this one tastes better..." Carson implored.
She caved to the twinkling insistence in his blue eyes. Slightly cranky at being reminded of how easily he could win her over, Laura paused briefly before slipping her lips over his finger. His quiet, startled breath was worth the tasteless mush now disappearing from her mouth. She glanced up in time to catch the odd shift in his eyes and smirked as she continued sucking at his finger intently. Drawing another breath, this one slightly shaky, Carson said softly, "Laura..."
The tip of her tongue danced along the bottom of his finger, causing his stern expression to slacken blissfully for a moment. She tightened her mouth mercilessly and watched the conflicting emotions on his face with triumph. Withdrawing from the lure of the moist heat of her mouth, Carson cleared his throat a couple of times. Laura smacked her lips, teasing, "What's the matter, want more?"
"I would have you right here and now, lass," he murmured, "But for the audience."
Unprepared for that answer - and more than a little thrilled - Laura brushed her knee against his leg and grinned when she discovered the source of the huskiness lining his voice. He opened his mouth to deliver a reprimand, but was forestalled by the sudden appearance of John Sheppard sauntering past their table with the adamant reminder of a briefing that was due to start any moment.
"Give me a minute, Colonel," Carson whistled through his teeth, ignoring how his girlfriend laughed at his predicament.
Laura patted his hand sympathetically, although the action was belied by her wicked grin. "Maybe I'll help you with that later."
Laura tried very hard not to roll her eyes as the warning klaxon grated on her ears, signalling yet again some catastrophe in the city. Judging by the hurried gathering in the gate room and the presence of openly brandished guns, something had busted into Atlantis again. The lack of Colonel Sheppard disturbed her somewhat, and the uneasy mutterings passed around her proved that she wasn't the only one. Major Evan Lorne cast a quick glance among the assembled numbers before him and explained.
"A team encountered some sort of trouble off world - we've got most of them into the infirmary and they seem to be alright. However, one of them has escaped into the city and might be under an alien influence."
After a few more words that didn't seem to be getting anywhere, in her opinion, Laura interrupted loudly. "Let me guess - another brilliant foray into the pathway of some infectious alien thing."
"Another foray," agreed Lorne.
"Who are we after?" Laura asked, tightening her grip on her P90 and unable to stifle the pleasant thought of having to hunt down Dr McKay.
Major Lorne's grim expression crackled briefly into sympathy as he replied coolly. "We're after your boyfriend, Lieutenant."
Laura began methodically storing several insults of Colonel Sheppard's team in the back of her mind, along with the growing concern that could cripple her effectiveness. Narrowing her eyes and tilting her head back to regard the taller men in her contingent, she steeled her voice to hide any sign of weakness. "Immobilise the target, that's the first priority. Stun, if you please."
She expected them to question her leadership, her emotional attachment to the target, but they either hid their thoughts very well, or those blank expressions were an actual reflection of their brains as opposed to professional disinterest. Lorne merely shrugged an encouragement before heading in the opposite direction, gun impatiently bobbing in his hands. Much as Laura admired him for his resolve, she fervently hoped her team would find Carson first. But what would she find, anyway? Nothing could be worse than some backfired genetic experiment running around and climbing walls. And she had half an inkling that a good kiss from Princess Charming would fix that right up.
"Just how far can someone get in ten minutes?" someone demanded from the back of her group as they trooped towards a part of the city, conveniently a part where the life signs systems refused to venture properly.
Laura was thinking the same thing herself, remembering that she easily outstripped Carson on a run down to the East pier. Briefly she distracted herself with wondering how he'd managed to sit through the briefing in that state. A grin threatened to reveal her distraction. No, she needed to think right now. Unbidden, dreadful images began to flit through her head of Carson adorned in blue scales. This was quickly shaken away.
Twenty minutes later, they still came up dry and various reports over the board seemed to confirm the same thing - Doctor Beckett had plain vanished. Ignoring the dissent flitting from mouth to mouth behind her, Laura forced her way through darkened corridors that contained murky streams of water as high as her waist. None of the marines were too impressed with this. One of them offered a lazy comment. "If I was running from everyone, I sure as hell wouldn't come here."
"So nice to see you exercising your imagination," Laura snapped in response. "I believe you just volunteered to scout ahead."
No arguments met this, but there was one lingering scowl thrown over his shoulder as he disappeared into the gloom around the corner. Minutes passed before she called out to no response. Annoyed, Laura tapped her radio and requested that he report in. More silence...accompanied by a sudden prickling feeling on the back of her neck. Leading her contingent forward, she tentatively called out. "Carson?"
Her feet found dry ground - and something solid in her path. Immediately, drooping guns snapped into position and they fanned out along the corridor. If not for the agreed hush that fell on the group, Laura would have objected strongly to being forced back down the ranks, but all she got were apologetic shrugs. They didn't trust her. Thinking of the target's cheeky smile, she had to suppose she wouldn't trust her leadership either.
A bitten back cry from the front of the group stopped them in their tracks and, sure enough, Carson Beckett was skulking not ten metres up the corridor. The first thing Laura noticed was how, well...how normal he seemed. No blue scales of any kind, no extra limbs, but a carnal light dancing in his eyes. That unnerved Laura more than any physical disfiguration could have. Carefully, she caught and held eye contact, fingers crawling along her P90 to flip the safety off.
"You need to come with me...to the infirmary," she wheedled firmly.
To her surprise, Carson took a few steps forward, halting when he was met with the hostile ripples through the line of raised weapons. A hiss issued through his teeth and his eyes darted from the guns to Laura, calculating. Her breathing hitched when he mumbled uncertainly, "Laura..."
Itching to move to his aid, she instead chose to give the order to stand down - which was refused, naturally, given that some were of equal rank and that the ripples of danger were still bouncing down the corridor at all of them. Laura frantically thought of some way to continue to reach him. Slowly she pressed the tip of a finger to her lips, reminding him. The unintended invitation sent Carson hurtling into the line of soldiers, crying out in a horribly anguished voice. She froze, only for a moment, and nearly wanted to scream for her contingent to hold their fire. The shots hit their mark, but were barely an irritation to him. Terrified relief mingled with the adrenaline coursing through Laura's veins as she watched the wounds on his body disappear.
That was probably the last good thing, she realised, when the panicked shouts started. It couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening...but there he was, sweet, gentle Carson tearing elongated canine teeth into the fleshy necks of his victims. His name left her lips in a scream of horror, eyes riveted to the rivulets of blood trailing from his lips down the neck of the marine falling limp in his grasp. Another bullet struck his shoulder - Carson burst onto the culprit and dealt with him just as easily.
Laura backed away, fumbling at the trigger with rebellious fingers. Her hands were shaking too much and failed her, refusing to perform their duty. An eerie quiet fell on the corridor, disturbed only by his carefully placed steps over the bodies towards her. The barrel of the gun finally acted, jumping up to meet him, barely an arm's length from his face.
Carson frowned. "There's no need for that, lass."
A few trembling steps backwards brought her against the wall. Trapped. His hands covered hers and the weapon clattered to their feet. He smiled casually. "That's better. I was waiting for you."
"You could have tried knocking on my door," Laura snapped, nervously eyeing the bloody fangs peeking over his lips.
Heavy gasps escaped him as he drew closer to press against her, hard and demanding. She turned her head to avoid the contact of his blood stained lips against her tightened ones. The growl started in Carson's throat, humming against her cheek as he pushed his hips to hers, evoking unwelcome stirrings low in her abdomen.
"Don't fight me, love," he requested, sounding pleased. "I want to taste you."
Laura shook her head vehemently. "You're not well. They could fix you up at the infirmary..."
Any other words died on her lips as he drifted his fangs to her neck, sliding in before she could push him away. Sharp pain lanced through her briefly, quickly replaced with a strange muzziness that swamped her from head to toe. Her limbs relaxed, ignoring her desperate wish to kick and slap at her attacker. She could feel the suction at her neck, strangely gentle and calming as Carson fed upon her. Her body started to heat up inexplicably, in uncontrollable ripples stemming from the fangs embedded in her neck. Teasing strokes delivered against her body moved Laura further against the wall in a slow, delicious grind. She blankly stared at him as he pulled away, turning to walk away from her. Feet stumbling of their own accord, she felt like she was floating along the corridor after him.
Panting as she tried to fight the warmth gathering between her legs, she followed dutifully, clenching her calf muscles all the way. They had only walked a few minutes before Carson commanded her through a door so low in power that it barely crept open, admitting them before starting the arduous journey back to closing.
"I did this for you," he said proudly.
Darkness swallowed the room at first, but Laura's eyes adjusted to reveal her windowless prison, a lair for a dark creature, and the pile of cushions delicately arranged in the middle of the room. Her heart thundered from rampant desire and panic. Kisses nipped at her jaw as he carefully unfastened her pants, tenderly removing the item of clothing and folding it neatly beside the cushions. Unquestioning, her arms rose to allow the top to pulled over her head. More kisses against her neck, allowing him another taste of her blood. Carson circled his fingers over her chest until he could feel the peaks of her nipples through her bra. He pinched one quickly, eliciting a muffled moan from his victim.
Laura stood completely still as she was unclothed, blushing with shame as he discovered her damp panties. A delighted grin crawled across his face and he rewarded her with a brief clasping of her wet opening in his warm palm. She whimpered, lying down on the cushions at his silent instruction. Heavy breathing filled the quiet and she realised it was hers mingled with his. Gazing down at her naked form, Carson licked his lips before decisively stripping off, freeing his hard desire. He cupped himself briefly, relishing the impatient gasps from her.
Kneeling beside her, he assured her with a soft kiss, tasting less like blood and more like the man that she loved. His fingers were welcomed with luscious ease, sliding, searching, languid and painless. Laura managed to squeeze her eyes shut and the look flitting across her face was far from a grimace. A light, taunting drift over the flushed area above her clitoris forced needy gasps from her. Carson glanced at her rosy cheeks and parted lips, feeling a vague warmth of tenderness pass through him briefly. He promised against her neck seductively, "I won't leave you wanting, Laura."
Her body stiffened beneath him as a tantalising draw of her blood restored control to her. Eyes opening to blink distantly as the numb chill dissipated, she curled her fists around the cushions beneath her in an attempt to make sense of the sudden blast of heat emanating from his touch, heightened by the now unclouded state of her mind. She groaned indecisively. Carson kissed her, hopefully and firmly. "I love you, my mate."
"Mate?" Laura repeated shakily.
Fingers warm and slicked from her own fluids traced careless lines up her stomach to stroke her face soothingly. She wanted to resist, but her nerves were screaming with unfulfilled release. Shadows covered his smile as he explained softly. "I want to make love to you for eternity. You're mine."
A scorching thrill spiralled through Laura briefly at the deepening of his accent on the last words. He punctuated this with a hungry suckle of the weeping wound he had marked her with. The bite didn't hurt anymore, instead flushing intense desire in ripples from her neck to her core. It was easy enough in her mind - push him off and run for the door. Yet now she was no longer his prisoner, but once again his lover. She hesitated. "You killed those men - "
" - because they were keeping you from me, lass," he insisted, face earnest and honest blue eyes laden with desire beseeching her.
The tempting brushes of his erection against her stomach were not helping her thought process. Laura's eyelids fluttered for a few moments before she caved to the yearning of her body, murmuring brokenly. "You're the only one I'll love."
He plunged smoothly into her moist acceptance, feeling her hips meet his frenetically. Laura panted heavily, trying to catch his lips with hers but he was intent on feeding, chest slick with sweat and blood sliding over her tingling nipples with each commanding thrust. The friction ignited her skin, shooting straight to where he strained to bury himself deep within her. She didn't care that the suction on her neck was providing him with blood - she felt so hot all over for him. Registering how his thumb rubbed slow, deliberate circles on her hip was enough to send a spasm through her.
"That's it lass," Carson moaned. "Clench tighter for me."
Dizzily, she tried to keep her eyes trained on the side of his face, but her vision slid out of focus. Laura was barely aware of feeling herself squeeze hard around his throbbing cock, but the ensuing intense waves roared up her body fast and satisfying. Struggling to remember to breathe, she managed in a strained whisper. "Carson...that was amazing..."
His steady movement against her overly sensitive body was too much. Laura gratefully let the darkness swallow her. Feeling her slump against the cushions, he wanted to embrace her, but he was aching fiercely. Watching her peaceful content expression, he thrust deeply into her a few more times before crying out against her slack face. His mouth opened to accommodate greedy gasps, widening the grin that appeared as he gazed down at his mate.
Placing an open bloody kiss on her lips, Carson slid to quietly spoon her with his arms securing her to him at her waist. He could feel her heart beating slowly alongside his, could feel the clouds of blood loss in her slumbering mind. Absently lapping at the excess of his feeding on her neck, he was aware of his bite fading from her skin as though it had never been.
She would wake in a few hours, and he could be there to hold her and to give her the sweet first taste of their future.
Carson crawled to consciousness towards the tangy scent that lured him from his dreams. Several breaths told him it was Laura Cadman and how she slept still. He pushed uncertain queries from his mind, burrowing against her back as he had done so many times. His breaths were coming short, as though panicked, and a strange gnawing feeling in his stomach began to intensify. Opening his eyes hesitantly, he saw the smears of blood across Laura's shoulders.
Horror hammered inside his heart, sending him lurching from the warmth of her body over dark stained cushions to the frigid floor. He saw his hands before him, coated in a dull red, splashed with more fresh blood. Carson shouted in alarm and turned to Laura, throat constricting as he saw her naked and covered in streaks of blood.
Her scent was all over him, coppery and sweet at the same time. Terrified by how his body responded to the thought of her blood all over him, he couldn't bear to approach her. Shaking legs forced him forward and his lips formed urgent words, but he couldn't hear what he was saying. Her face before him began to swim. Carson murmured, "It's alright, love, I'm here."
His vision cleared sharply as hot tears escaped to spill down his cheeks. He whispered empty words of comfort, clumsily dressing her and brushing stray locks from her forehead to press a kiss, begging for some forgiveness. Laura stayed comatose, her weak heartbeat thunderous in his ears. Gathering her in his arms and crying, he took her from the lair down empty corridors echoing the unsteady slapping of his bare feet.
"Hold on, Laura," he pleaded raggedly. "We're almost there."
The endless mazes of the corridors didn't seem to end, growing longer and longer with each of her thready breaths. He almost collapsed against some transporter doors when he came across them, balancing his precious cargo to slip trembling fingers across the panel to open it. The rest became a blur, but at last Carson stumbled into the unguarded infirmary, sinking to a crouch when she was taken from him.
"Dr Beckett!"
Insistent voices...questioning, afraid words matching the drumming of the blood through their veins. He heard his hollow voice answer them, "My mate...Laura...someone help her, damn it."
Curtains were roughly pulled across his vision to hide Laura from him. Shaking with suppressed sobs, Carson fell fully to the floor and cried freely. Shocked and wary spectators watched him and then the unfeeling beeps of a machine began to match the beat of his own heart.
"I want that man incarcerated immediately. He's a danger to this entire facility."
Caldwell didn't waste any words on polite preliminaries. He couldn't be blamed for the tightening of skin around his eyes or his apparent callous demeanour - they had lost good men and were close to losing another. Pacing outside the infirmary, he tried again to avoid the one man barricade at the entrance.
"We don't know everything about the situation yet," John Sheppard snapped. "He brought Cadman here. He could be thinking straight again. And that man is one of the finest men I know."
"Are you excusing his actions?"
Colonel Sheppard sidestepped the question while his feet remained sure. "I'm saying we don't act until we know what's going on. We could be dealing with something completely alien here."
The tension mounting inside was no less than the confrontation at the door. Every patient had been swept from the area and besides a few doctors, only Dr Weir was present to the situation. She had tried reasoning with Carson, but he prowled like a man caged, eyes anxiously flitting between the door and the curtained off area keeping him from seeing Laura. "I need to see her, Elizabeth. I need to be with her."
"Carson."
"She needs me!"
"Carson!" Weir countered firmly. "It is all I can do to stop the military from placing you in a cell. Please, I'm asking you as a friend. What happened?"
An unsteady breath drew past his blood caked lips and he turned away to clasp the bench against the wall in a vice. He spoke to his hands, low and guiltily. "I was hungry, so hungry. I needed my lass. I can't let her die..."
Elizabeth straightened her expression, which had threatened to soften at the vulnerability of his hunched shoulders. She didn't get a chance to fire her next shots as Dr Biro left the curtains to inform them quietly that the patient was awake. Weir started forward, but stopped to take in the panic stricken look that was directed towards them in frightened blue eyes.
"Let Carson see her," she ordered. "Alone."
A grateful half-smile half-grimace flickered across Carson's face before he hurried past them into the privacy of the curtains. He was startled to find Laura's face rosy and full, accommodating an excited smile when she saw him. Sliding onto the bed beside her, he mumbled brokenly. "I never meant to hurt you, lass. I killed those men...I'm sorry for doing this to you..."
"Shut up and fuck me."
His head snapped up from its bowed position to stare at her. The glint in her eyes reminded him of the hunger roiling in his stomach. Carson shifted uncomfortably, readying himself to hastily retreat, but she pulled him into a searing kiss. Laura received the desirous response she sought as he gave in to lie against her, but his tension betrayed his resistance. Travelling down his chin to his throat while distracting him with a jolt of her hips against his, she sank her fangs into his skin and began to suckle greedily.
"No, don't do this, love..." he begged weakly, feeling his limbs slip away from his control.
Laura breathed heavily against his ear, imploring. "I'm hungry. I need you... but not here. Come with me."
Fighting the haze that dropped across his awareness was useless. Carson barely registered watching his mate subdue the guards bloodlessly or how he trudged after her towards the lair that he had created. He nearly fell against the wall when clear sensations returned to him. Turning back to him from the entrance to his dark hideaway, Laura smiled expectantly.
"You didn't want to resist," she pointed out casually.
She was right. So few strides separated them, and when Carson reached her, he roughly shoved her inside. Shadows appeared as the door blotted out the light from the corridor. Lips warring and hands clambering to undress the other as quickly as possible, they fell to the cushions that had made their bed. Laura straddled his naked lap to allow a dirty, short feast of his blood before following drips of it down his chest with her marauding tongue.
Moaning with pleasure at the moist warmth that brushed past his leg as she slid over him, Carson begged her to not keep him waiting. Her response was slam him back against the cushions and trail fiery kisses down his abdomen to his proudly straining erection. She delivered one kiss to the tip of him, a teasing slide with the barest touch of her tongue, reaching to nibble lightly at the skin at the base of his cock and drawing the tiniest sip of blood.
He grunted as pain and pleasure flooded his senses. Laura's lips were suddenly at his ear as she leaned not close enough over him, and she breathed heavily. "I'm going to enjoy riding you."
Carson felt his cock spasm at the mere thought and by her delighted giggle, she had felt it too. Hot and moist she claimed him, digging her nails into his chest to steal the whimper of need from his lips. Her muscles tightened almost painfully around him as she began to ease herself up and down his aching length. He watched her with glazed eyes for a few moments before he shook away his lust slowed senses. His hands clenched her hips, guiding her into a faster, rougher rhythm.
The arching of her back, accompanying minor clenches from her warm folds, thrust out her full breasts in a flourishing bounce. Carson licked a finger and rubbed one of her nipples as it was driven towards him, relishing in the sexed grimace of pleasure magnifying on her face. It wouldn't be long for either of them.
Taking a quick moment to steady herself, Laura pushed harder than ever down on him and laughed as his blazing release filled her. He threw his head back to shout her name at the ceiling, panting uncontrollably. She collapsed against him to suck forcefully at his neck, muffling unintelligible exclamations as her body shuddered with a blinding orgasm. They lay together, sweaty and sated, slowly coming to their senses.
"They're going to find us," Laura said softly against his shoulder when he wrapped lazy arms around her. "I'm sorry, Carson."
"For what, love?"
"For making things worse. They'll probably lock us away from each other."
"We could escape," he suggested distractedly.
Carson knew he should have been trying to think, trying to formulate a plan to surrender or escape, but her hips pushed against his desperately. The curve of her neck enticed him and before he could stop himself, he rolled Laura onto her back. Maybe they could think about it later. Any pressing thoughts of their dire situation evaporated as she began to feed from him, inviting him to consummate their primal hunger again and again, until their bodies entwined in exhaustion.
Ship: Beckett/Cadman
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: het smut, kind of ...erm... noncon, VAMPIRES, and plot if you turn your head several times and squeeze your eyelids together...
Waste of a perfectly good summary: Carson is infected with a vampiric virus and succumbs to the lure of human flesh.
Laura Cadman supposed she couldn't really call it a secluded date, considering the public nature of the mess hall and the poorly disguised grins that were always shot in the direction of any two members of the expedition who chose to eat away from everyone else. Leaning over to spear Carson's limpid remains of lunch, she remarked, "I've had better dates."
"Have you now," Dr Beckett returned smoothly, lifting his eyes from the swill of his mug.
Laura knew she shouldn't have assumed victory so quickly and managed an innocent grin when her fork was gently pried from her fingers, leaving the glob of food to its owner. She explained with a sigh, "You've been ignoring me - and now you won't feed me."
"You'd best take that up with the empty buffet, love. My hands had no part in it, although Rodney's might have."
Clenching her eyebrows together in frustration, she poked the air in front of his nose with an index finger which then dived straight into the quivering mashed potatoes swept to one side of his plate. Carson pulled his plate back hastily, shooting her an indignant frown, but the corners of his lips were twitching. Rolling her eyes, she popped the glob of food into her mouth and fluttered her eyelashes in pretend enjoyment.
"That's disgusting," Laura bit out after forcing it down her throat.
Her date merely smiled, exposing his dimples in all their cheeky glory. Taking a few brief moments to dip his finger into another slightly brown coloured mass next to the mashed potato, he offered it across the table. She wrinkled her nose.
"I'm sure this one tastes better..." Carson implored.
She caved to the twinkling insistence in his blue eyes. Slightly cranky at being reminded of how easily he could win her over, Laura paused briefly before slipping her lips over his finger. His quiet, startled breath was worth the tasteless mush now disappearing from her mouth. She glanced up in time to catch the odd shift in his eyes and smirked as she continued sucking at his finger intently. Drawing another breath, this one slightly shaky, Carson said softly, "Laura..."
The tip of her tongue danced along the bottom of his finger, causing his stern expression to slacken blissfully for a moment. She tightened her mouth mercilessly and watched the conflicting emotions on his face with triumph. Withdrawing from the lure of the moist heat of her mouth, Carson cleared his throat a couple of times. Laura smacked her lips, teasing, "What's the matter, want more?"
"I would have you right here and now, lass," he murmured, "But for the audience."
Unprepared for that answer - and more than a little thrilled - Laura brushed her knee against his leg and grinned when she discovered the source of the huskiness lining his voice. He opened his mouth to deliver a reprimand, but was forestalled by the sudden appearance of John Sheppard sauntering past their table with the adamant reminder of a briefing that was due to start any moment.
"Give me a minute, Colonel," Carson whistled through his teeth, ignoring how his girlfriend laughed at his predicament.
Laura patted his hand sympathetically, although the action was belied by her wicked grin. "Maybe I'll help you with that later."
Laura tried very hard not to roll her eyes as the warning klaxon grated on her ears, signalling yet again some catastrophe in the city. Judging by the hurried gathering in the gate room and the presence of openly brandished guns, something had busted into Atlantis again. The lack of Colonel Sheppard disturbed her somewhat, and the uneasy mutterings passed around her proved that she wasn't the only one. Major Evan Lorne cast a quick glance among the assembled numbers before him and explained.
"A team encountered some sort of trouble off world - we've got most of them into the infirmary and they seem to be alright. However, one of them has escaped into the city and might be under an alien influence."
After a few more words that didn't seem to be getting anywhere, in her opinion, Laura interrupted loudly. "Let me guess - another brilliant foray into the pathway of some infectious alien thing."
"Another foray," agreed Lorne.
"Who are we after?" Laura asked, tightening her grip on her P90 and unable to stifle the pleasant thought of having to hunt down Dr McKay.
Major Lorne's grim expression crackled briefly into sympathy as he replied coolly. "We're after your boyfriend, Lieutenant."
Laura began methodically storing several insults of Colonel Sheppard's team in the back of her mind, along with the growing concern that could cripple her effectiveness. Narrowing her eyes and tilting her head back to regard the taller men in her contingent, she steeled her voice to hide any sign of weakness. "Immobilise the target, that's the first priority. Stun, if you please."
She expected them to question her leadership, her emotional attachment to the target, but they either hid their thoughts very well, or those blank expressions were an actual reflection of their brains as opposed to professional disinterest. Lorne merely shrugged an encouragement before heading in the opposite direction, gun impatiently bobbing in his hands. Much as Laura admired him for his resolve, she fervently hoped her team would find Carson first. But what would she find, anyway? Nothing could be worse than some backfired genetic experiment running around and climbing walls. And she had half an inkling that a good kiss from Princess Charming would fix that right up.
"Just how far can someone get in ten minutes?" someone demanded from the back of her group as they trooped towards a part of the city, conveniently a part where the life signs systems refused to venture properly.
Laura was thinking the same thing herself, remembering that she easily outstripped Carson on a run down to the East pier. Briefly she distracted herself with wondering how he'd managed to sit through the briefing in that state. A grin threatened to reveal her distraction. No, she needed to think right now. Unbidden, dreadful images began to flit through her head of Carson adorned in blue scales. This was quickly shaken away.
Twenty minutes later, they still came up dry and various reports over the board seemed to confirm the same thing - Doctor Beckett had plain vanished. Ignoring the dissent flitting from mouth to mouth behind her, Laura forced her way through darkened corridors that contained murky streams of water as high as her waist. None of the marines were too impressed with this. One of them offered a lazy comment. "If I was running from everyone, I sure as hell wouldn't come here."
"So nice to see you exercising your imagination," Laura snapped in response. "I believe you just volunteered to scout ahead."
No arguments met this, but there was one lingering scowl thrown over his shoulder as he disappeared into the gloom around the corner. Minutes passed before she called out to no response. Annoyed, Laura tapped her radio and requested that he report in. More silence...accompanied by a sudden prickling feeling on the back of her neck. Leading her contingent forward, she tentatively called out. "Carson?"
Her feet found dry ground - and something solid in her path. Immediately, drooping guns snapped into position and they fanned out along the corridor. If not for the agreed hush that fell on the group, Laura would have objected strongly to being forced back down the ranks, but all she got were apologetic shrugs. They didn't trust her. Thinking of the target's cheeky smile, she had to suppose she wouldn't trust her leadership either.
A bitten back cry from the front of the group stopped them in their tracks and, sure enough, Carson Beckett was skulking not ten metres up the corridor. The first thing Laura noticed was how, well...how normal he seemed. No blue scales of any kind, no extra limbs, but a carnal light dancing in his eyes. That unnerved Laura more than any physical disfiguration could have. Carefully, she caught and held eye contact, fingers crawling along her P90 to flip the safety off.
"You need to come with me...to the infirmary," she wheedled firmly.
To her surprise, Carson took a few steps forward, halting when he was met with the hostile ripples through the line of raised weapons. A hiss issued through his teeth and his eyes darted from the guns to Laura, calculating. Her breathing hitched when he mumbled uncertainly, "Laura..."
Itching to move to his aid, she instead chose to give the order to stand down - which was refused, naturally, given that some were of equal rank and that the ripples of danger were still bouncing down the corridor at all of them. Laura frantically thought of some way to continue to reach him. Slowly she pressed the tip of a finger to her lips, reminding him. The unintended invitation sent Carson hurtling into the line of soldiers, crying out in a horribly anguished voice. She froze, only for a moment, and nearly wanted to scream for her contingent to hold their fire. The shots hit their mark, but were barely an irritation to him. Terrified relief mingled with the adrenaline coursing through Laura's veins as she watched the wounds on his body disappear.
That was probably the last good thing, she realised, when the panicked shouts started. It couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening...but there he was, sweet, gentle Carson tearing elongated canine teeth into the fleshy necks of his victims. His name left her lips in a scream of horror, eyes riveted to the rivulets of blood trailing from his lips down the neck of the marine falling limp in his grasp. Another bullet struck his shoulder - Carson burst onto the culprit and dealt with him just as easily.
Laura backed away, fumbling at the trigger with rebellious fingers. Her hands were shaking too much and failed her, refusing to perform their duty. An eerie quiet fell on the corridor, disturbed only by his carefully placed steps over the bodies towards her. The barrel of the gun finally acted, jumping up to meet him, barely an arm's length from his face.
Carson frowned. "There's no need for that, lass."
A few trembling steps backwards brought her against the wall. Trapped. His hands covered hers and the weapon clattered to their feet. He smiled casually. "That's better. I was waiting for you."
"You could have tried knocking on my door," Laura snapped, nervously eyeing the bloody fangs peeking over his lips.
Heavy gasps escaped him as he drew closer to press against her, hard and demanding. She turned her head to avoid the contact of his blood stained lips against her tightened ones. The growl started in Carson's throat, humming against her cheek as he pushed his hips to hers, evoking unwelcome stirrings low in her abdomen.
"Don't fight me, love," he requested, sounding pleased. "I want to taste you."
Laura shook her head vehemently. "You're not well. They could fix you up at the infirmary..."
Any other words died on her lips as he drifted his fangs to her neck, sliding in before she could push him away. Sharp pain lanced through her briefly, quickly replaced with a strange muzziness that swamped her from head to toe. Her limbs relaxed, ignoring her desperate wish to kick and slap at her attacker. She could feel the suction at her neck, strangely gentle and calming as Carson fed upon her. Her body started to heat up inexplicably, in uncontrollable ripples stemming from the fangs embedded in her neck. Teasing strokes delivered against her body moved Laura further against the wall in a slow, delicious grind. She blankly stared at him as he pulled away, turning to walk away from her. Feet stumbling of their own accord, she felt like she was floating along the corridor after him.
Panting as she tried to fight the warmth gathering between her legs, she followed dutifully, clenching her calf muscles all the way. They had only walked a few minutes before Carson commanded her through a door so low in power that it barely crept open, admitting them before starting the arduous journey back to closing.
"I did this for you," he said proudly.
Darkness swallowed the room at first, but Laura's eyes adjusted to reveal her windowless prison, a lair for a dark creature, and the pile of cushions delicately arranged in the middle of the room. Her heart thundered from rampant desire and panic. Kisses nipped at her jaw as he carefully unfastened her pants, tenderly removing the item of clothing and folding it neatly beside the cushions. Unquestioning, her arms rose to allow the top to pulled over her head. More kisses against her neck, allowing him another taste of her blood. Carson circled his fingers over her chest until he could feel the peaks of her nipples through her bra. He pinched one quickly, eliciting a muffled moan from his victim.
Laura stood completely still as she was unclothed, blushing with shame as he discovered her damp panties. A delighted grin crawled across his face and he rewarded her with a brief clasping of her wet opening in his warm palm. She whimpered, lying down on the cushions at his silent instruction. Heavy breathing filled the quiet and she realised it was hers mingled with his. Gazing down at her naked form, Carson licked his lips before decisively stripping off, freeing his hard desire. He cupped himself briefly, relishing the impatient gasps from her.
Kneeling beside her, he assured her with a soft kiss, tasting less like blood and more like the man that she loved. His fingers were welcomed with luscious ease, sliding, searching, languid and painless. Laura managed to squeeze her eyes shut and the look flitting across her face was far from a grimace. A light, taunting drift over the flushed area above her clitoris forced needy gasps from her. Carson glanced at her rosy cheeks and parted lips, feeling a vague warmth of tenderness pass through him briefly. He promised against her neck seductively, "I won't leave you wanting, Laura."
Her body stiffened beneath him as a tantalising draw of her blood restored control to her. Eyes opening to blink distantly as the numb chill dissipated, she curled her fists around the cushions beneath her in an attempt to make sense of the sudden blast of heat emanating from his touch, heightened by the now unclouded state of her mind. She groaned indecisively. Carson kissed her, hopefully and firmly. "I love you, my mate."
"Mate?" Laura repeated shakily.
Fingers warm and slicked from her own fluids traced careless lines up her stomach to stroke her face soothingly. She wanted to resist, but her nerves were screaming with unfulfilled release. Shadows covered his smile as he explained softly. "I want to make love to you for eternity. You're mine."
A scorching thrill spiralled through Laura briefly at the deepening of his accent on the last words. He punctuated this with a hungry suckle of the weeping wound he had marked her with. The bite didn't hurt anymore, instead flushing intense desire in ripples from her neck to her core. It was easy enough in her mind - push him off and run for the door. Yet now she was no longer his prisoner, but once again his lover. She hesitated. "You killed those men - "
" - because they were keeping you from me, lass," he insisted, face earnest and honest blue eyes laden with desire beseeching her.
The tempting brushes of his erection against her stomach were not helping her thought process. Laura's eyelids fluttered for a few moments before she caved to the yearning of her body, murmuring brokenly. "You're the only one I'll love."
He plunged smoothly into her moist acceptance, feeling her hips meet his frenetically. Laura panted heavily, trying to catch his lips with hers but he was intent on feeding, chest slick with sweat and blood sliding over her tingling nipples with each commanding thrust. The friction ignited her skin, shooting straight to where he strained to bury himself deep within her. She didn't care that the suction on her neck was providing him with blood - she felt so hot all over for him. Registering how his thumb rubbed slow, deliberate circles on her hip was enough to send a spasm through her.
"That's it lass," Carson moaned. "Clench tighter for me."
Dizzily, she tried to keep her eyes trained on the side of his face, but her vision slid out of focus. Laura was barely aware of feeling herself squeeze hard around his throbbing cock, but the ensuing intense waves roared up her body fast and satisfying. Struggling to remember to breathe, she managed in a strained whisper. "Carson...that was amazing..."
His steady movement against her overly sensitive body was too much. Laura gratefully let the darkness swallow her. Feeling her slump against the cushions, he wanted to embrace her, but he was aching fiercely. Watching her peaceful content expression, he thrust deeply into her a few more times before crying out against her slack face. His mouth opened to accommodate greedy gasps, widening the grin that appeared as he gazed down at his mate.
Placing an open bloody kiss on her lips, Carson slid to quietly spoon her with his arms securing her to him at her waist. He could feel her heart beating slowly alongside his, could feel the clouds of blood loss in her slumbering mind. Absently lapping at the excess of his feeding on her neck, he was aware of his bite fading from her skin as though it had never been.
She would wake in a few hours, and he could be there to hold her and to give her the sweet first taste of their future.
Carson crawled to consciousness towards the tangy scent that lured him from his dreams. Several breaths told him it was Laura Cadman and how she slept still. He pushed uncertain queries from his mind, burrowing against her back as he had done so many times. His breaths were coming short, as though panicked, and a strange gnawing feeling in his stomach began to intensify. Opening his eyes hesitantly, he saw the smears of blood across Laura's shoulders.
Horror hammered inside his heart, sending him lurching from the warmth of her body over dark stained cushions to the frigid floor. He saw his hands before him, coated in a dull red, splashed with more fresh blood. Carson shouted in alarm and turned to Laura, throat constricting as he saw her naked and covered in streaks of blood.
Her scent was all over him, coppery and sweet at the same time. Terrified by how his body responded to the thought of her blood all over him, he couldn't bear to approach her. Shaking legs forced him forward and his lips formed urgent words, but he couldn't hear what he was saying. Her face before him began to swim. Carson murmured, "It's alright, love, I'm here."
His vision cleared sharply as hot tears escaped to spill down his cheeks. He whispered empty words of comfort, clumsily dressing her and brushing stray locks from her forehead to press a kiss, begging for some forgiveness. Laura stayed comatose, her weak heartbeat thunderous in his ears. Gathering her in his arms and crying, he took her from the lair down empty corridors echoing the unsteady slapping of his bare feet.
"Hold on, Laura," he pleaded raggedly. "We're almost there."
The endless mazes of the corridors didn't seem to end, growing longer and longer with each of her thready breaths. He almost collapsed against some transporter doors when he came across them, balancing his precious cargo to slip trembling fingers across the panel to open it. The rest became a blur, but at last Carson stumbled into the unguarded infirmary, sinking to a crouch when she was taken from him.
"Dr Beckett!"
Insistent voices...questioning, afraid words matching the drumming of the blood through their veins. He heard his hollow voice answer them, "My mate...Laura...someone help her, damn it."
Curtains were roughly pulled across his vision to hide Laura from him. Shaking with suppressed sobs, Carson fell fully to the floor and cried freely. Shocked and wary spectators watched him and then the unfeeling beeps of a machine began to match the beat of his own heart.
"I want that man incarcerated immediately. He's a danger to this entire facility."
Caldwell didn't waste any words on polite preliminaries. He couldn't be blamed for the tightening of skin around his eyes or his apparent callous demeanour - they had lost good men and were close to losing another. Pacing outside the infirmary, he tried again to avoid the one man barricade at the entrance.
"We don't know everything about the situation yet," John Sheppard snapped. "He brought Cadman here. He could be thinking straight again. And that man is one of the finest men I know."
"Are you excusing his actions?"
Colonel Sheppard sidestepped the question while his feet remained sure. "I'm saying we don't act until we know what's going on. We could be dealing with something completely alien here."
The tension mounting inside was no less than the confrontation at the door. Every patient had been swept from the area and besides a few doctors, only Dr Weir was present to the situation. She had tried reasoning with Carson, but he prowled like a man caged, eyes anxiously flitting between the door and the curtained off area keeping him from seeing Laura. "I need to see her, Elizabeth. I need to be with her."
"Carson."
"She needs me!"
"Carson!" Weir countered firmly. "It is all I can do to stop the military from placing you in a cell. Please, I'm asking you as a friend. What happened?"
An unsteady breath drew past his blood caked lips and he turned away to clasp the bench against the wall in a vice. He spoke to his hands, low and guiltily. "I was hungry, so hungry. I needed my lass. I can't let her die..."
Elizabeth straightened her expression, which had threatened to soften at the vulnerability of his hunched shoulders. She didn't get a chance to fire her next shots as Dr Biro left the curtains to inform them quietly that the patient was awake. Weir started forward, but stopped to take in the panic stricken look that was directed towards them in frightened blue eyes.
"Let Carson see her," she ordered. "Alone."
A grateful half-smile half-grimace flickered across Carson's face before he hurried past them into the privacy of the curtains. He was startled to find Laura's face rosy and full, accommodating an excited smile when she saw him. Sliding onto the bed beside her, he mumbled brokenly. "I never meant to hurt you, lass. I killed those men...I'm sorry for doing this to you..."
"Shut up and fuck me."
His head snapped up from its bowed position to stare at her. The glint in her eyes reminded him of the hunger roiling in his stomach. Carson shifted uncomfortably, readying himself to hastily retreat, but she pulled him into a searing kiss. Laura received the desirous response she sought as he gave in to lie against her, but his tension betrayed his resistance. Travelling down his chin to his throat while distracting him with a jolt of her hips against his, she sank her fangs into his skin and began to suckle greedily.
"No, don't do this, love..." he begged weakly, feeling his limbs slip away from his control.
Laura breathed heavily against his ear, imploring. "I'm hungry. I need you... but not here. Come with me."
Fighting the haze that dropped across his awareness was useless. Carson barely registered watching his mate subdue the guards bloodlessly or how he trudged after her towards the lair that he had created. He nearly fell against the wall when clear sensations returned to him. Turning back to him from the entrance to his dark hideaway, Laura smiled expectantly.
"You didn't want to resist," she pointed out casually.
She was right. So few strides separated them, and when Carson reached her, he roughly shoved her inside. Shadows appeared as the door blotted out the light from the corridor. Lips warring and hands clambering to undress the other as quickly as possible, they fell to the cushions that had made their bed. Laura straddled his naked lap to allow a dirty, short feast of his blood before following drips of it down his chest with her marauding tongue.
Moaning with pleasure at the moist warmth that brushed past his leg as she slid over him, Carson begged her to not keep him waiting. Her response was slam him back against the cushions and trail fiery kisses down his abdomen to his proudly straining erection. She delivered one kiss to the tip of him, a teasing slide with the barest touch of her tongue, reaching to nibble lightly at the skin at the base of his cock and drawing the tiniest sip of blood.
He grunted as pain and pleasure flooded his senses. Laura's lips were suddenly at his ear as she leaned not close enough over him, and she breathed heavily. "I'm going to enjoy riding you."
Carson felt his cock spasm at the mere thought and by her delighted giggle, she had felt it too. Hot and moist she claimed him, digging her nails into his chest to steal the whimper of need from his lips. Her muscles tightened almost painfully around him as she began to ease herself up and down his aching length. He watched her with glazed eyes for a few moments before he shook away his lust slowed senses. His hands clenched her hips, guiding her into a faster, rougher rhythm.
The arching of her back, accompanying minor clenches from her warm folds, thrust out her full breasts in a flourishing bounce. Carson licked a finger and rubbed one of her nipples as it was driven towards him, relishing in the sexed grimace of pleasure magnifying on her face. It wouldn't be long for either of them.
Taking a quick moment to steady herself, Laura pushed harder than ever down on him and laughed as his blazing release filled her. He threw his head back to shout her name at the ceiling, panting uncontrollably. She collapsed against him to suck forcefully at his neck, muffling unintelligible exclamations as her body shuddered with a blinding orgasm. They lay together, sweaty and sated, slowly coming to their senses.
"They're going to find us," Laura said softly against his shoulder when he wrapped lazy arms around her. "I'm sorry, Carson."
"For what, love?"
"For making things worse. They'll probably lock us away from each other."
"We could escape," he suggested distractedly.
Carson knew he should have been trying to think, trying to formulate a plan to surrender or escape, but her hips pushed against his desperately. The curve of her neck enticed him and before he could stop himself, he rolled Laura onto her back. Maybe they could think about it later. Any pressing thoughts of their dire situation evaporated as she began to feed from him, inviting him to consummate their primal hunger again and again, until their bodies entwined in exhaustion.