My soul now seeks another home
There was mud on his boots. Godric was sprawled in a chair by the fire, eying it dully and drumming his fingers against the elaborately upholstered arm. Eric was late, which wasn't so unusual, but Godric was hungry. For the past few weeks his appetite hadn't been what it was normally and it had made him irritable. Now that he actually was hungry, it was even worse. He licked pale lips as he rolled to his feet to pace restlessly from one corner of the lavish sitting room to the next. It was raining out and everything was cold and damp. His clothes felt moldy. He wanted to move on, he wanted to leave this stone house with it's glamored owners, tricked into thinking Eric and his young brother were guests of theirs, distant cousins from the South. He was bored. He was always bored, always restless, always snappish and cold. There was blood on the sheets upstairs, but nothing could keep his attention.
And Eric was late.
Late with good reason, Eric believed. This place was comfortable and he was in no rush to leave. Even less of a rush now, his lips still stained red with the blood of the young woman on his arm. The daughter of a local knight, she was attractive and feisty. He liked women who resisted him at first. He would hold off on the use of his glamour, and in doing so, they seemed to keep some of the fight once they acquiesced to his wishes. His seduction complete, he was considering how long it would take him to become bored of her, and if Godric would be interested in sharing this one.
"I have a treat," he smiled as he entered the room, the girl looking from him to the other vampire. "A very fine treat, in fact."
He turned on his heel, eyes flashing when the scent of blood hit his nose. The girl was still upright, but her expression was dull. "Who is this," he said, able to keep his annoyance out of his voice without too much trouble, "we were meant to be in town an hour ago."
"This is a woman. You may recognize such things?" He spoke dryly, leading the girl to his maker. "I brought her in case you wished to share. I thought given the change in circumstances, we could stay a few more days. There is still much undiscovered here, " people he meant, hedonistic in so many ways, "and traveling at this time of year is unpleasant."
"It is unpleasant because you insist on timing your lateness to the very moment it begins to rain," he snapped, still looking her over. "Who is she, she's familiar." They all looked the same now. The only person who's face he could see when he closed his eyes was Eric's. The rest were meaningless blurs.
"Yes, of course, I do it purposefully," he let out a low laugh, a sound that was entirely unamused. "Her?" Eric shrugged, not caring so much about who she was. Only that she had intrigued him and now he had her. "Someone's daughter. The knight I believe. The one in fealty to this place."
"The knight's daughter." He put a hand to his forehead, frustration clouding his head. "You'll have to kill her, then. She cannot bring some one like that back to this place." Godric hadn't cared how many peasant girls Eric seduced and fed off of. They were of no consequence. They had no one with real power to look after them. But a knight had men, and the ability to at least be troublesome.
"Godric do you think I'm a fool?" He looked to his maker - his friend - with dark eyes. "I am no more going to kill her than you are. A glamor will be enough, when I am done."
"You will kill her," he hissed, eyes flashing bright at this defiance, "and you will make sure wolves find her body."
Defiant he was, standing tall over the other vampire. "There is no need, Godric," his voice was low and thick with annoyance. "We can glamor those we need to. I will not kill this one unless I wish it." Or unless Godric ordered him, another thing entirely.
"You will kill her whether you wish it or not," he said, wrapping a long fingered hand in Eric's shirt, but there was no need for Godric to pull Eric down to his height. He was quite a bit shorter than the other vampire, smaller, lighter, but his was a presence that commanded attention. "Enjoy her however you wish, as your own, or shared, as you offered, but she is dead before the sun comes up."
"Would you order me, maker?" He chose his words purposefully, knowing that Godric could overpower him should he wished. He cared not for this girl's life, not truly. She was merely one of many dozens, no hundreds, of humans he would feed from. It was an act of defiance, as well as the acknowledgment that there simply was no need. Not in this case. "Would you order me to kill her and any others we might have come in contact with? You will do it yourself otherwise," he growled the words out, "as I will not."
Both hands slid up over Eric's neck, smoothing over the skin there, fingers slipping up into his hair. Godric's grin was slow, and still managed to be angry. "I would do it myself," he said, voice rich like silk, "because it would feel so good."
"Godric," he had pushed too far in his pride and obstinance, he saw that now. Eric raised his hands to cup Godric's face, knowing the slighter vampire was stronger than him. "There is little need to kill this one, but if it will keep you entertained, she would be my gift to you."
"Yes," he said, head cocked to the side as his eyes slid sideways to the girl's face. His hand dropped from Eric's hair to tug at her long curls instead. "Pretty." Almost this side of too young for his tastes. "What is her name?"
It was his hope that it would be enough for Godric. While neither of them cared much for the humans that fed and surrounded them, there were times that Godric's lust for death seemed extreme, even to Eric. "Joan. Rather a simple name. Likely named after one of their saints," he sounded unperturbed, "she is attractive, as you say."
"Joan," he said. He watched as the girl struggled to focus on him. "Release her," he commanded, taking the girl's hand and tugging her forward.
"Godric," he hesitated only a moment before speaking the few short words that would remove his glamor.
His hand went tight around the girl's throat as her eyes cleared and before she could utter even a muted sound of confusion, his teeth were in her throat. There was no way for her to scream. Blood flooded down his arm as he drank messily. She thrashed, gurgled, but was already too weak to put up a real effort. It didn't take long for the life to drain from her face, her lips going white, eyes dimming, until it was only Godric's grip that kept her upright. She hung there, like a rag doll, until he finished, tearing away, face red to her white, and dropped her to the ground.
It was so simple, extinguishing their lives. Yet made so much more sense to let them live and make them forget. When he said his maker's name again his voice was harsh and deep, "Godric. There was no need."
"Why do you care?" he asked, stepping over her body to be closer to the taller blond, eyes gleaming and teeth well stained.
Why did he care? It was a question worth asking, for it was not for the girl's life. There were more where she came from. His thoughts of feeding and leaving them alive, while noble sounding, were in practice not something he cared so deeply for to make a stand. One life gone, what did it matter? It was Godric, this way he was. "You enjoy it too much. The death."
"What?" he asked with a laugh, both hands sliding up Eric's chest, leaving a bloody trail, "I enjoy it too much. We are their natural predators. Are we not meant to enjoy it?"
"Enjoy the blood we get from them. Enjoy their fear or the fight they make," there was a difference in his mind, still more human after these few hundreds of years than Godric. He covered the other vampire's hands with his own, "you simply enjoy causing the death."
His hands moved up to Eric's throat and Godric tipped his head back to smile messily up at him. "Yes," he said, voice a low a purr, "and I thought I had taught you to enjoy the same. It seems I have more work to do."
The scent of blood so freshly spilled was still intoxicating to Eric, "you taught me to enjoy death, but not like this. Not in this way. It is like you are drunk from it."
"Why not?" he asked again, "why should we not enjoy what we want to enjoy, do what we want to do, kill who we wish to kill? What is there to stop us?" He had to go on tip toe to lick a smear of blood off Eric's jawline.
"None," the gruffness in his voice had changed in its timbre, drawing a thumb through the blood on Godric's cheek, "but they will kill us if we are found out."
"No," he said, dropping his hands suddenly to give him a solid shove, "they will not. They cannot. They are worms Eric. How do you not see this by now? They cannot touch us! It is just that they cause such a nuisance. I would prefer not to have a mob find us here, but if it comes down to that, it is a problem easily solved."
"What, you will kill them all?" He had no doubt that Godric was able. Whether they would survive the aftermath was another issue entirely. "Would that not bring the wrath of all others down upon us?"
"If I kill them all," he said with a laugh that was eerie in it's childishness, "who will be there to notice?" His touch was gentle again, urging Eric closer once more.
"Those who would bring their crops for taxes. Their little king. Others of our kind," he stepped closer to Godric, raising his blood covered thumb to his own lips. It was sweet, that taste, too much so at times. "You will just kill them all, and you will love it."
"And then we will move on," he said, delighted with the conversation. He pushed his thumb further in Eric's mouth, sliding it along his fang until the skin split.
Eric nearly growled, an inhuman sort of sound. He tasted blood, and the stronger blood of the elder vampire, no longer thinking of the argument, or able to argue it.
"There," Godric said lovingly, dragging his thumb over Eric's tongue, "agreement." He pulled his hand away and went on tip toe to kiss the taller man.
Before this life Eric would never had allowed another man touch him in such a way. The difference with Godric was their strange connection, something that pulled them together on myriad levels. "Acquiescence," he managed as he deepened the kiss, his mouth rough and pressuring.
"Same thing," he said, bloody fingers crawling over his shoulders, to his throat until both arms were wound, as best he could manage, around Eric's neck. "Are you still hungry?"
"Yes," four hundred years and still he hungered more than he cared for. The room smelled of fresh blood and it wakened in Eric the thing that he had thought sated moments before. "What would you have me do?"
"We will go out again," he murmured against his lips, lapping at the blood he found there. Godric found himself restless and uneasy. "We will find you blood. What do you want. Keep in mind, son, that it is raining."
It was a restlessness that he shared with Eric, though likely for different reasons. "The girl's father. It will be simpler than explaining." Even as he suggested it, he knew he was being drawn into something darker.
"There," he said, beaming, hands sliding back and forth over the back of his neck, "that is what I taught you. Now..." He pulled away, reluctantly, and stooped to lift the girl as though she weighed nothing at all, "we will go."
"Yes," the room was spattered with blood, something he thought dully they would have to care for later. At the moment he did not care. At the moment he wanted to follow Godric, whether to stop a slaughter or be a part of it he was unsure, torn between the two. "It is what you taught me."
"I need more enthusiasm than that," he said, slipping into the old Slavic language they shared as he stepped out the door and into the rain with the girl's body in his arms. "Come, Eric. How else are we to enjoy our eternity?"
The rain was welcome, dulling the scent of blood for him. "Would you like me to organize a procession?"
"Very smart," he laughed, "are you losing your lust for blood?" He doubted it. It was far too early in the vampire's life.
"No," his words still gruff he grabbed Godric's arm, pulling with all of his might. "But should we always kill? Should we enjoy their deaths so much?"
Godric stumbled back, the body of the girl slipping from his arms into the mud. "Why not?!" he all but yelled, something like a temper tantrum in his anger, he whirled, grabbing Eric by the shirt again. They were both getting drenched, but neither seemed to notice. "Why do you care? Tell me why you care!" As though, perhaps, if Eric gave the right reason, Godric would be convinced, as though he were begging to be convinced.
He had no good reason, other than a lingering respect for the lives of these worms, as Godric had called them. It was quickly fading, he found, and perhaps it was why he clung to the last bits of it. "I only care for our safety," he shouted, ignoring the girls body, the rain, the mud. "For the way you seem to revel in it, that we will go too far."
"Forget it," he hissed, pulling Eric bodily down so he could clasp his face between his hands, "forget safety. Forget all of that. Do you understand me?" Rain was washing away the blood and rivers of pink ran down his arms, down his torso. "We are gods, Eric. We will never die, we are above them and their mess!" He swept one hand out as though the muddy wastes they were traversing represented this vastness of the human race.
There was a majesty about the smaller vampire, he exuded it at times. It made it hard to not listen, harder because he was Eric's maker. Their connection ran deep, he knew, the Slavic language they spoke coming more easily to him than English even after these years. "If we kill we become targets," he insisted, dropping to his knees in the mud, his head tilted up toward Godric, penitent before his saint. "If we do nothing but kill, how are we gods?"
"Not all gods create," he hissed as he smoothed Eric's sopping hair back from his face, water dripping from the tip of his nose, "we are Odin in the dark, älskling. We are forever." He bent over him for a long minute before dropping to his knees as well, pressing himself to the larger vampire, turning his face into his throat and wrapping his arms around him.
"Destruction and revenge," Eric's voice was nearly raw as he held Godric's eyes for but a second, before he could see them no longer, knowing in them was the darkness of which he spoke. Eric growled, tangling fingers in Godric's clothes, "then let us be gods, and let us kill."
"I love you, broder," Godric said plaintively, still clinging to him, the words muffled by rain and Eric's throat.
There was a pause in which Eric swallowed, knowing well the line that they crossed was the last one. His grip did not loosen, cleaving to the other vampire in turn. "As I you, broder."
****************
It was the rumors that had brought him. Eric had left Godric in Italy, their separation amicable on this occasion. But there was talk that had made him rethink his decision. It could have been anyone, he knew, but few were so brazen as to go after clergy in the seat of their power.
He had not been wrong. It had been Godric slaughtering the nuns and priests. "In Vatican City," he hissed, displeased by the dark, dank sewer they hid in, "you are mad."
"I am mad," Godric said in easy response, "I am quite mad. But I am also very sated." He was free of blood. It had been some time since he'd gone on his rampage, which, he could now see might have been hastily thought through. It was not the power that Vatican City held that should have warned him away, but instead, their ancient superstition, still rooted in the old ways. "You know," he said, tipping his head up to look up at the dripping, arched ceiling, "they may have actually known how to kill me."
"They likely knew exactly how to kill you," he slammed his hand into the stone of the walls that surrounded them. This was little more than a cave beneath the streets. His mind raced with a million things, all of them overlaid with the annoyance he felt for the vampire he stalked toward, "they know how to kill us. Why else would we be hiding here with rats, in the human wastes?"
"Because it is daylight soon," he said calmly, "and we will certainly die if we move now. But we will leave the city as soon as the sun sets again. Perhaps I would like to see home again." He turned his head to look up at Eric. "How do you feel about Sweden?"
"Because they will be searching houses for us," even here Eric wondered about their safety. He fixed Godric with a dark look, "I feel that we should not be chased out of places like this. Sweden-" he had not been there for so long. "If you must."
"If they find us, they will be unable to drive us into the sunlight." Godric let Eric get as close as he liked, "are you afraid of them, Eric?" It had been a long time since they'd seen each other. And so it had been a long time since they'd had this argument.
"There is power to the church that you do not realize. It is strong, and it has soldiers who suspect our existence," what other could he say? "I do not care if you kill, only who."
"Age has made you cautious and boring, Eric," Godric said dully, "it would be best if we just waited in silence until we can go above ground again. You should rest."
"We have time," he responded quickly, the dullness in Godric's response bothering him. Eric grabbed his shirt, wishing to force an argument, "Age has made you incautious."
"We do have time," he agreed, enjoying the hand wrapped in his shirt, "and many ways in which to occupy ourselves, I think." He wanted to talk about anything but how reckless Eric thought he now was. "How should we start, älskling?"
That Eric was still unimpressed was clear, "what. Do you wish to rut like monsters in the filth, just as you kill like one?"
Godric dealt him a backhand strong enough to snap the neck of a human. "I'll beat the respect back into you!" His voice echoed off the stone cavern, "how dare you speak to me in such a manner!"
It was enough to force his head back and to split his lip, though the wound was fast-healing. "I dare because you act like a child," he clenched his fists, fangs out and eyes flashing, "son."
"I am your maker!" he cried, hitting him again, shoving him hard against the wall, "and if I tell you to get down on your knees in the filth, you do it with a smile!"
"Then order me," even with the stone biting into his back he smiled, "and you will regret it."
"Powerful Eric," he sneered in Swedish, "how would you show me, then? How would you take your revenge?"
"A companion you need to order to do everything you must. Where is the pleasure in that?" It was not so simple and Eric knew it. "You would be no more broder, my friend."
Godric's eyes went wide and before Eric's words could really sink in, really do the damage they were capable off, he was hitting him. His fist was closed this time, his intent to see blood, to cause pain, to make him stop before it actually came true.
Again his head snapped back, Eric roaring as he returned the strike. Full-on, he hit him, their bodies connecting as he tried to pull them both to the ground. To stop this madness, to pull Godric from this place he was in.
"You will never leave me!" he cried as he tore at him, digging nails into flesh and throwing his considerable weight forward until they both hit the wall, shaking water from the ceiling. "I will kill you before I allow that to happen!"
His laugh was cold and harsh, "kill me as you kill all the others? Will you revel in my death? Destroy me rather than break our bond?" He allowed Godric to hold him against the wall, raising his hands in an imitation of innocence. "Do it, then."
"Yes, I would kill you," he said, voice raw and choked. He slammed Eric into the stone again. "I would kill you rather than see you walk away. I cannot let that happen. I cannot let that-..." he gave an anguished cry, tears tracking down his face in a rush of emotion that he did not know how to contain, that he had never learned how to accept into himself. Grief was so alien it was painful, a physical stab in his gut, and it made him want to tear Eric in two for causing it at all.
Grief. He could not remember the last time he had truly felt it. He felt sorrow now, but grief no. That was too severe, too extreme. In fact, it was an emptiness that pitted in his stomach as he faced down Godric's tears. "You taught me to keep ourselves safe. What you do, it endangers us. It shows you to be a child, no longer worthy of being connected to me."
"I am not a child!" He hit him again, trying to drive him down into the ground. You can't leave me. You can't leave me. If he hadn't been so intent on making Eric stay, he would have smelled the torches, he would have smelled the soldiers' fear, he would have begun to hear the footsteps of those coming to kill them both.
He would have noticed it sooner himself, only realizing nearly too late what was almost upon them. "Godric," he hissed, in fear his strength increased. Eric pushed the other vampire off him, grabbing him as he stood, "would you kill now, or would you run?"
Godric looked back over his shoulder at the approaching lights with a loud hiss that echoed eerily back to the soldiers, who seemed to hesitate around the corner before advancing. In an instant, Godric was pulling Eric along instead in a desperate search for a hiding place where man nor sun could find them. He wasn't sure one existed. It was death by one or the other.
Their speed was beyond any the humans could imagine, and still there was worry. Dawn was encroaching, and with it the inevitable need to rest. "This way," he spied a smaller tunnel leading upward, a dangerous thing to break ground but he saw little other choice.
Godric followed without question and only came to a stop when a bright flare of sunlight showed up ahead. An open sewer was pouring out into the harbor. If it had been after dark, it would have been the perfect escape, but as it was, he could only stop and stare at the white light. It made him squint, but he didn't turn away. He couldn't. It was the perfect escape. The soldier's footsteps were nearing again, their voices loud, eager. Godric still didn't move.
It only took a moment to realise how fixated Godric seemed by the sun. Eric hissed dangerously, his fangs out. "NO." He yanked at the other's arm, "It is kill or be killed broder. There is no choosing death this day."
"It's best," he mumbled, dazed, steadfast as a mountain, "it's best if you let me go."
"No," for all of his threats earlier, this was not to happen. This would not be allowed. Eric grabbed his face tight in two hands. "No matter what we may say, you are too much to me to allow that. Never."
"You do not want me!" he cried suddenly, shoving him away, "you do not want me, and then what would I have left?!"
"You are an idiot," he spoke harshly, grabbing Godric again. The steps were close, too close. They were in danger. "It is because you terrify me. You will get yourself killed, like this and it will be I who is alone. I will not let this happen."
Godric looked back, straining toward the sunlight before the loud cry of a soldier behind them seemed to jolt him out of the hypnosis and he stumbled forward into Eric's arms. He choked once, suddenly clinging to the other vampire's clothing, eyes wide and startled.
"We can fight, or we can die," he growled, his cheek brushing Godric's. "I do not wish to die."
"I wish to taste blood," he said in a low voice, mouth next to Eric's ear.
"Then taste as much of it as you can," the soldiers were seconds away. Eric turned to them, his expression fierce - the expression of a predator. "Sweden you say?"
"Sweden," he said, a calm coming over him again, no trace of the frantic, furious creature that had taken his place minutes before. His fangs glinted in the slanted, indirect sunlight. "We must kill quickly, as I would like to see home soon, I think."
"It has been a long time." The soldiers approaching them seemed unsure now that they were face to face with the Vampires. Eric smiled, a truly terrifying sight. "Come. It has been too long since we have brought death together."
---------------------
They'd come to the New World together, but they hadn't stayed together long. Things had changed, things had shifted, inside and out. Godric wasn't what he had been, and neither was Eric. Their parting hadn't been violent, but it hadn't been the easy separations of years past, when they found each other again a few years afterward, each one hungry for the other. Godric hadn't been hungry for anything in a very long time. He kept to the north. It was familiar up there. It was isolated. He fed rarely, he spoke even less, and he kept company with almost no one at all.
But then Eric's reputation reached him. Which was why he was wandering the halls of his fledgling's house, unannounced, the rooms dim and the night thickly dark outside. It smelled like Eric and it made his chest ache, but he didn't rush. He would find him when he found him.
Eric enjoyed Louisiana. Even when the humans had their silly civil war it hadn't affected this strange state. The humans here were a mix of cultures and beliefs. They were intriguing, and easy to pick off in the rural areas. Good, now that he had created a vampire himself. She was a charming thing, quickly losing her uptight British ways. Eric sprawled, sated, leg hooked over the edge of the couch he lay on and watched her feed on the last human left alive in the room. It was a decadent thing, so much so that he found himself aroused. "Be sure to finish him," he told her, licking the remaining blood off a finger.
"Times have changed," Godric said as he stepped into the room, emerging from shadow to smile quietly at the younger vampire. "Once upon a time you did not wish to kill them."
"Godric," Eric looked up sharply at the other vampire. He'd been so engrossed in watching Pam, he'd not noticed him. The surprise wasn't entirely welcome, if he were truthful with himself. Eric didn't move, still sprawled on the couch, turning back to watch the woman finish the man. "These ones were a danger. They were encroaching on our territory."
"Yes," he said, half turned to look down at the young woman. So young. He could still smell the life on her. "You have no need to explain yourself to me. It is your territory, your rules." He turned bright eyes back to Eric, still smiling. "Hello, son."
"It is my territory," he was proud of that, waving Pam away when she went to speak. "Leave us. We have much to talk of, my broder and I."
He watched the woman leave as she strode from the room. Then he returned to Eric. "You look well." Glorious in his violent gore.
"I do, don't I?" Still he didn't move, his eyes tracing over Godric. "You look yourself. I did not expect you to come here so soon."
"So soon," he said, his smile fading just a little. "There was a time when 60 years was a long time for you to be away from me."
"There was a time we would not have parted as we did, either," he pointed out, his tone even.
"This is very true," he said and fell silence for a moment. "Are you not going to greet me?"
"Of course," he had paused before he'd answered, but when he did, Eric smiled and stood. "I have missed you."
Godric lifted his hands to take Eric's cheeks between them, slipping into Swedish as he spoke. "I have missed you as well. Deeply."
Things had changed for them both, something they always seemed to be faced with. Yet in these moments, Eric barely noticed. "You should stay here," he covered Godric's hands on his face, leaning to press their heads together. "With me."
"Yes," he said, before tipping his face up to kiss him gently, the warmest greeting he knew. "Tell me everything."
There was blood on his lips still, blood that Godric had to taste, even as Eric held the kiss for longer than needed. The relationship he had with his maker was difficult at times, but always worthwhile, he found. "What is it you wish to know? This is mine. A backwater, I tell you, villages and towns and farms. But it is my land."
"Yes, it is yours, and you have been making a name." His fingers slid up into blond hair and he pressed himself close, even trembling once as he kissed Eric deeply.
"Have I?" He knew that he had, but to hear it from Godric was another thing entirely. Eric growled into the kiss, strangely a pleased sound, wrapping his hands tight in the shirt the other wore. "I would be nothing that I am without all you taught me."
"Yes," he said fondly, tipping his head to lap at the blood on Eric's cheek. "This is true. And I missed you. Eric, I missed you."
It was all a bit emotional for Eric, a bit too touching. He said nothing, pulling Godric back into a kiss, hard and deep.
Godric returned the embrace intently. He used his supernatural density, pushing the larger, heavier man back to the wall, both hands digging hard into his scalp, twisting his hair.
He laughed roughly, barely letting the kiss break. "You have missed me, haven't you?"
"There is nothing about sex that interests me anymore. It has become woefully boring," he said, dragging his hands down his shoulders instead, "except with you."
Eric had found himself interested again with his new creation. Partially because of the lust she held for blood still, partially because of how different it was. It was still different with Godric. There was something there he could not name. "Then broder," his hands tore at fabric, his strength more than it could bear, "I would be honored to be of interest."
His shirt fell away and his tattoos were as stark as ever against pale, pale skin. Godric pulled at him, pushed at him, kissed him as though he was trying to crawl inside the other vampire. His hands already dropping to tug Eric's belt open.
He twisted away fabric, pulling at ties and buttons, cursing the layers that seemed so in fashion. Long fingers skimmed across tattoos Eric had memorized centuries before, but not seen in decades. Now they were there - the both of them - he contained himself poorly, "you have been gone too long."
"I'm sorry," he murmured, "things were shifting. The Earth was put off its axis." Godric was sliding his hands under Eric's last layer to feel bare skin, to trace familiar muscle. His leg wedged between both of Eric's. "But I am here, älskling. I am yours once more."
Fang pressed at Godric's skin, tugged at his lips, traced down his neck just as his hands moved down his back. There were words he could speak, but few of them seemed appropriate. Besides, he had learned in his years that words were merely that. Actions, these meant more. His back against the wall, Eric worked his hands beneath the clinging cloth of Godric's breeches, pushing them away.
The smaller vampire was moving restlessly against him, struggling to keep from moving too fast, from simply ripping Eric's pants away instead of shoving them down with matching eagerness. If he'd had to breathe, he would have been gasping. Instead he was quiet, but for the occasional sound of approval that spilled off his lips, liquid and smooth. He dug the blunt ends of his fingers into the firm muscle of Eric's ass, tucking his face into the blond's throat.
He had missed that, he realized. The ways they had become used to this, adjusting to their sizes and strengths. "The Earth does not matter," he growled as he shifted out of his clothes, again exploring each curve of Godric's body as he had so many times before.
They worked because Godric didn't have to think. They worked because he couldn't break Eric's arm without trying, because Eric knew the heart of him, because he'd pulled him out of the sunlight. "The Earth is all there is," he said with a chiming laugh, caressing soft skin, "the Earth is all I know." He gasped happily against Eric's collarbone at the roaming hands, lifting into their touch. "The Earth and you."
The words made him laugh, but not in mockery. Because there was a part of him that thought the same in this moment. A part that would never be so jaded when the other was about. It was a dangerous part to let surface too long, but he did not care as he dropped slowly to his knees. A deliberate slowness, his mouth trailing along Godric's stomach. "The earth and I. I could be a god."
"You are," he said, fingers combing through his hair, "you are a god. Do you remember the moment you realized you would live forever?" Godric tipped his head up to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "I do love you..."
"Yes," his voice was deep and husky, his hands tight on Godric's hips as he spoke. Love. A bizarre thing but it was the word that described their connection best. It could not encompass it, though, he knew that. "It was years later. With you."
"Yes," he repeated thoughtfully, "years later. I didn't realize I would live forever until the last time we parted, when I believed I would never see you again." He stroked one side of the larger man's throat, thumb running the length of his jaw.
If he'd need to breathe it would have ghosted along Godric's pale skin. Instead it was only his mouth that drew along his hip, his fingers circling the length of him as Eric let the tip of his tongue, the edge of a fang, touch him. "älskling."
Godric bit his lip, chin dropping to his chest again so that he could watch Eric. Eric and his mouth. He shivered hard, fingers tightening in Eric's hair. He took a deep, unnecessary breath, his chest rising and falling heavily. The word was a relief, the firm grip was a relief.
If he were honest, he would say that he did not prefer the company of men. Godric, however, was the exception to this. The exception to so many things in Eric's existence, if again, he were honest about it. His eyes flicked up, meeting Godric's as he closed his lips over the other, the taste and weight of him familiar even after all these years apart.
He moaned happily, eyes drifting shut. Godric had no preference. He barely had any interest anymore. He found himself aroused by less and less these days. But Eric was something else entirely. Heat was already curling in his groin and his fingers curled restlessly in Eric's hair as his mouth slid over the cool flesh. "You beautiful creature," he said in Swedish as blue eyes met Eric's again, "you intoxicate me."
Even if he'd had words, Eric wouldn't have been able to speak them in that moment. Fingers tightened on Godric's hip, his movements deliberate and just swift enough. What the other said caused more heat within him than anything he could do in that moment.
Godric hadn't actually had an orgasm in a long time and he had to laugh at how close he already was. He was acting his physical age, it seemed. He combed compulsively through Eric's hair, resisting the urge to thrust his hips forward, resisting the urge to beg the larger man to fuck him. He'd been alone for so long...so long he hadn't even realized he'd missed this kind of touch.
Nor had Eric, in truth, his arousal strong. There was a way of this, the way he felt near the other that was unlike most anything else. He growled, teasing Godric with his hands, slipping one between his legs to play at skin. Eric wanted him to lose all control, he realized; he wanted to see them both sated and exhausted in the end.
Godric reached back to brace a hand against the wall as what felt like supernatural heat rushed up his spine at the touch of Eric's fingers. He moaned Eric's name, half laughing in shock at how aroused he truly was. "You tease me," he panted, taking air in unnecessarily, "do you wish to see me spent before you've even started?"
It made him pull back, leaving a glancing kiss on sensitive skin, his lips brushing the base of him just briefly. "I wish to see you exhausted, to see us both so."
"I will be exhausted," he said, "but even at my age it is a matter of control." He chuckled at himself, maybe something he wouldn't have done the last time they were together.
It pulled a rare true smile from Eric as he rose, his arms wrapping about Godric. Bodies pressed together and yet standing, he felt a thrum of energy unlike any he had in longer than he cared to admit. "I wish to fuck you."
"Oh, good," he purred, mouth pressed to Eric's jaw, "I wish it as well." Both hands slid down his back to grip the firm muscle of his ass.
"Come," he had another place in mind. His private chamber, an honour he knew Godric would understand. It was in the bowels of the house, but that was what was secure. The room itself was decadent, as was befitting a Sheriff in his mind. Secure, but still a place he could spend his time with pleasure. He led him there, down the stairs and through the locked door, leaving their clothes behind without a care. "Here is better," he rumbled, his voice deep as he looked Godric over in the dim light. The pale skin adorned with tattoos, his lithe and well-toned body... Eric smiled, predatory, "we should not stay apart so long in the future."
"Oh," he breathed softly, looking Eric over with a similar expression, "I was hoping you would say that." He stepped forward to trace finger tips down the muscled lines of his chest. The light was dim, easy on his eyes, but he could still see Eric without trouble. Unnecessary breath ghosted over the other vampire's chest.
"Haven't we been here too long to hope?" It wasn't said with thought, nor with malice. Simply words that escaped him as he moved closer. Eric's eyes closed for a moment, enjoying the touch on his skin and the feel of Godric near to him. "You are the first to be down here."
"Am I?" he asked, leaning in to press his cheek to Eric's smooth chest. His arms went around his waist. "Then we shall christen it."
"Yes," he drew the word out, hooking his arms about Godric, lifting him and stepping them toward the bed. Eric was enjoying this, especially as he was sure that Godric was as well. "We shall."
Godric turned his head to kiss him deeply, tongue sinking into Eric's mouth, tasting him. He'd craved this, and he was pressed hard between their bodies, his skin flush despite its chill. He shifted against the larger man, stopping just short of wanton rubbing.
The bed shook when they landed on it, Eric looming over Godric. He didn't break the kiss, growling deep as he rubbed against him, his restraint fading.
Godric moaned, arching up into his bulk. His thigh worked between Eric's legs, pressing up hard and intent. The strength they were using with each other was growing, inhibitions fading, the constant consideration of how much strength their hands held.
There was no holding back with Godric, not as there was with a human or even with Pam. Eric moved against Godric, a knee between his legs, the rub of skin and flesh, the strength that lay behind it intoxicating. He growled again, pushing Godric's legs apart further, catching one and cocking it back.
He whimpered happily in response, tightening his fingers sharply against Eric's scalp, tugging, demanding more of his mouth. The slide of their skin was smooth, although they lacked sweat, and despite the heat he could feel curling in his gut, they were cool.
The desire he felt for Godric was strong, stronger than anything he had allowed himself to feel in so long. Yet there were practicalities that needed to be considered. Eric drew back, "do not leave." He didn't truly think that he would, not now. His speed meant it took no more than a moment, the door clicking as it locked again behind him. Eric stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes dark as he considered Godric carefully. It made him smile again, that strange half-smile he had, kneeling at the edge of it.
Godric had pushed up onto his elbows, sprawled artfully, as he looked up at Eric with intent, blue eyes. He licked his lips, tattooed chest rising and falling quickly. "I like that smile."
"You taught it to me," he crawled onto the bed, cat-like in his motions. Nudged his way between Godric's legs, slowly, only moving swiftly to demand a kiss at the end. He was hungry, tongue searching his mouth, his hand moving up the inside of Godric's thigh.
"I did," he said, the words hitching in his throat. He'd taught him many things. But now wasn't the time to talk about his doubts, his deep, unyielding guilt. He returned the kiss without hesitation, lifting his legs up around Eric's hips, letting their tongues tangle in an embrace that was becoming rather messy.
Eric wouldn't have listened in that moment. Not that he was likely to listen in others, either. Now he thought only of working the stopper from the small bottle of oil he had fetched, on slicking himself and his fingers, working two inside of Godric with a deep rush of breath that was unneeded but expressed the releasing tension he felt.
"Ahh! Yes, Eric..." he chuckled at his own enthusiasm even as he clung to the larger man, "I missed you." And now he was a bit overwhelmed by it. Fingernails dug hard into the flesh of Eric's back and he kept his eyes open, watching as his body molded around the vampire's fingers.
He grumbled low and deep, his face buried in the curve of Godric's neck, tracing vein and muscle with fang and tongue. He wouldn't do more than that, not now, but the touch of it, the idea of biting, it sent a thrill through him. Instinct, perhaps, but more than that with Godric. So much more. "Good," he murmured, just as he pulled his fingers away, guiding his cock instead, enjoying the way he fit, the way Godric wrapped about him. "You should miss me," he groaned as he slid into the other, as deep as he could.
Godric cried out again as he was filled, back arching, bending his smaller body under Eric. "Tell me," he panted as he adjusted easily, shifting just a bit, "tell me what it is you missed about me."
He didn't want to talk. He wanted to fuck, to feel himself in Godric, to have his body shuddering beneath him. But he would, fingers digging into the sheets as he started a pace that was almost too-slow, thrusting deep each time. It would drive him mad before Godric, Eric was sure, but he wanted to test his resolve, "this. You here." Each word punctuated by a thrust, the strength of them unfettered, "that you make these things complete."
His legs were drawn high up around Eric's waist and each thrust drove a pleased groan from him, the impact shuddering, forceful and just what he wanted. "More," he hissed between exposed fangs, eyes gleaming as he leaned up to bite at Eric's lips, "harder."
"Yes," he growled out the word, the sharp edge of fang against his own skin driving him further toward an edge. Eric found he couldn't hold back, his speed increasing with each thrust, their bodies meeting with a force that would bruise or even break another. The bed creaked beneath them and Eric did not care.
Godric was moaning loudly, happily, almost continuously, the sounds stuttered by the impact of Eric's hips. His frame shuddered with increasing frequency as he neared his own climax, mouth open and head strained back as he struggled to contain the intensity of Eric's body working inside his own. It was a heat he'd been missing for a long time, unable to find it in every day encounters, even unable to find it in the flush of the kill.
"Godric," Eric called out his name, knowing he had little control left. Each thrust took him closer, the rush of heat within him stronger than it had been in so long. His fingers dug into the mattress beneath them, tearing at it in his abandon.
It felt like hours when it was a matter of minutes before Godric couldn't even manage speech and was left with strained, primal moans. His hand came up to curl hard in Eric's hair, pressing his mouth to his throat, bucking up to meet him so they crashed together. He came hard, when he finally did, spilling himself over his abdomen.
It was that warmth that did it. A visceral reaction, his nature still strong within him, above any desire he may have felt for Godric. Eric roared, muffling himself against Godric's shoulder, collapsing against the older vampire.
He leaned up and sank his teeth into Eric's shoulder before either of them had a chance to relax again. Hot, thick, unnatural blood flooded his mouth and Godric moaned, aftershocks of orgasm coursing down his spine.
The noise he made changed, higher in timbre as he stiffened against Godric. The rush of blood against his skin, the sharp bite of fang, it was all so much, drawing out the waves of pleasure that he felt. It shouldn't have surprised when he returned the favour, finally allowing his teeth to sink into Godric's skin as he had wanted all this time.
Godric pulled back with a gasp, but kept Eric's mouth to him with one firm hand. Each draw of blood made him moan again, his body all but convulsing as pleasure overwhelmed him, something as intimate as sharing blood like this touching him deeply.
It was more intimate than the copulation in some ways. There were very few Eric would allow this with, being bitten, that was. He swallowed deep, only pulling back when he felt that he must. Still, he licked the wounds, wanting to waste none of Godric's blood.
He lay under the larger man, completely spent, almost light headed. His head lolled to the side when Eric pulled away and his chest still heaved with that unnecessary air. His lips were stained bright red with the other's blood. That was exactly what he'd wanted. He could feel Eric's blood coursing through him, and could smell himself on the fledgling. "Incredible," he murmured in Swedish.
"Yes," he responded in the same language, shifting his weight away from Godric, even as he pulled the other's mouth to his again. It was how it should be he thought. The two of them, like this.
Godric turned into him limply, returning the kiss with a slow heat. "Who is this creature," he said after a long silence filled only with the kiss, "you've created? Where did you find her?"
It was Godric that often wanted to talk of things, more than Eric. At least, it was how he remembered it, even if it was wrongly. "England. London. She intrigued me. It has been some time since any intrigued me." He slowly licked away a speck of blood, limbs still entangled. "She suits it."
"She seems it," he said, curling into him and taking comfort in the hard, cool presence of Eric's body. "Broder, it has been too long..."
"Do not leave," he twisted his arm to take Godric's hand, curling their fingers together. "Stay here with us. We can make it our own Kingdom."
He fell into silence again, cheek pressed to Eric's chest and eyes trained on the far wall. "Perhaps," he said finally, voice a bit lower, "or perhaps there are reasons for why we keep parting..."
"No," he spoke more loudly than he'd intended, in that moment nostalgic, "nothing we cannot manage."
"Eric," he said quickly, almost cutting him off, "please do not romanticize our last parting. It felt like the end, did it not?"
"Yet you are here," he responded, his words almost a growl. "Does this not seem where you should be?"
He sighed quietly and closed his eyes. "Yes," he admitted, "it does. You have always felt like home to me, son."
"Then let us not talk," he had a sense of dread within him now, "Dawn is coming. Let us rest."
Godric didn't answer, but burrowed deeper until he wasn't sure where he ended and Eric began. He would stay as long as he could, he decided, but he knew, without any hesitation, that there was no way he could stay with Eric indefinitely. There was no way he could stay with anyone for long periods of time anymore. He just wasn't capable. He was crippled in that way.
[ooc: :DDD long overdue for posting. Some NC-17]
And Eric was late.
Late with good reason, Eric believed. This place was comfortable and he was in no rush to leave. Even less of a rush now, his lips still stained red with the blood of the young woman on his arm. The daughter of a local knight, she was attractive and feisty. He liked women who resisted him at first. He would hold off on the use of his glamour, and in doing so, they seemed to keep some of the fight once they acquiesced to his wishes. His seduction complete, he was considering how long it would take him to become bored of her, and if Godric would be interested in sharing this one.
"I have a treat," he smiled as he entered the room, the girl looking from him to the other vampire. "A very fine treat, in fact."
He turned on his heel, eyes flashing when the scent of blood hit his nose. The girl was still upright, but her expression was dull. "Who is this," he said, able to keep his annoyance out of his voice without too much trouble, "we were meant to be in town an hour ago."
"This is a woman. You may recognize such things?" He spoke dryly, leading the girl to his maker. "I brought her in case you wished to share. I thought given the change in circumstances, we could stay a few more days. There is still much undiscovered here, " people he meant, hedonistic in so many ways, "and traveling at this time of year is unpleasant."
"It is unpleasant because you insist on timing your lateness to the very moment it begins to rain," he snapped, still looking her over. "Who is she, she's familiar." They all looked the same now. The only person who's face he could see when he closed his eyes was Eric's. The rest were meaningless blurs.
"Yes, of course, I do it purposefully," he let out a low laugh, a sound that was entirely unamused. "Her?" Eric shrugged, not caring so much about who she was. Only that she had intrigued him and now he had her. "Someone's daughter. The knight I believe. The one in fealty to this place."
"The knight's daughter." He put a hand to his forehead, frustration clouding his head. "You'll have to kill her, then. She cannot bring some one like that back to this place." Godric hadn't cared how many peasant girls Eric seduced and fed off of. They were of no consequence. They had no one with real power to look after them. But a knight had men, and the ability to at least be troublesome.
"Godric do you think I'm a fool?" He looked to his maker - his friend - with dark eyes. "I am no more going to kill her than you are. A glamor will be enough, when I am done."
"You will kill her," he hissed, eyes flashing bright at this defiance, "and you will make sure wolves find her body."
Defiant he was, standing tall over the other vampire. "There is no need, Godric," his voice was low and thick with annoyance. "We can glamor those we need to. I will not kill this one unless I wish it." Or unless Godric ordered him, another thing entirely.
"You will kill her whether you wish it or not," he said, wrapping a long fingered hand in Eric's shirt, but there was no need for Godric to pull Eric down to his height. He was quite a bit shorter than the other vampire, smaller, lighter, but his was a presence that commanded attention. "Enjoy her however you wish, as your own, or shared, as you offered, but she is dead before the sun comes up."
"Would you order me, maker?" He chose his words purposefully, knowing that Godric could overpower him should he wished. He cared not for this girl's life, not truly. She was merely one of many dozens, no hundreds, of humans he would feed from. It was an act of defiance, as well as the acknowledgment that there simply was no need. Not in this case. "Would you order me to kill her and any others we might have come in contact with? You will do it yourself otherwise," he growled the words out, "as I will not."
Both hands slid up over Eric's neck, smoothing over the skin there, fingers slipping up into his hair. Godric's grin was slow, and still managed to be angry. "I would do it myself," he said, voice rich like silk, "because it would feel so good."
"Godric," he had pushed too far in his pride and obstinance, he saw that now. Eric raised his hands to cup Godric's face, knowing the slighter vampire was stronger than him. "There is little need to kill this one, but if it will keep you entertained, she would be my gift to you."
"Yes," he said, head cocked to the side as his eyes slid sideways to the girl's face. His hand dropped from Eric's hair to tug at her long curls instead. "Pretty." Almost this side of too young for his tastes. "What is her name?"
It was his hope that it would be enough for Godric. While neither of them cared much for the humans that fed and surrounded them, there were times that Godric's lust for death seemed extreme, even to Eric. "Joan. Rather a simple name. Likely named after one of their saints," he sounded unperturbed, "she is attractive, as you say."
"Joan," he said. He watched as the girl struggled to focus on him. "Release her," he commanded, taking the girl's hand and tugging her forward.
"Godric," he hesitated only a moment before speaking the few short words that would remove his glamor.
His hand went tight around the girl's throat as her eyes cleared and before she could utter even a muted sound of confusion, his teeth were in her throat. There was no way for her to scream. Blood flooded down his arm as he drank messily. She thrashed, gurgled, but was already too weak to put up a real effort. It didn't take long for the life to drain from her face, her lips going white, eyes dimming, until it was only Godric's grip that kept her upright. She hung there, like a rag doll, until he finished, tearing away, face red to her white, and dropped her to the ground.
It was so simple, extinguishing their lives. Yet made so much more sense to let them live and make them forget. When he said his maker's name again his voice was harsh and deep, "Godric. There was no need."
"Why do you care?" he asked, stepping over her body to be closer to the taller blond, eyes gleaming and teeth well stained.
Why did he care? It was a question worth asking, for it was not for the girl's life. There were more where she came from. His thoughts of feeding and leaving them alive, while noble sounding, were in practice not something he cared so deeply for to make a stand. One life gone, what did it matter? It was Godric, this way he was. "You enjoy it too much. The death."
"What?" he asked with a laugh, both hands sliding up Eric's chest, leaving a bloody trail, "I enjoy it too much. We are their natural predators. Are we not meant to enjoy it?"
"Enjoy the blood we get from them. Enjoy their fear or the fight they make," there was a difference in his mind, still more human after these few hundreds of years than Godric. He covered the other vampire's hands with his own, "you simply enjoy causing the death."
His hands moved up to Eric's throat and Godric tipped his head back to smile messily up at him. "Yes," he said, voice a low a purr, "and I thought I had taught you to enjoy the same. It seems I have more work to do."
The scent of blood so freshly spilled was still intoxicating to Eric, "you taught me to enjoy death, but not like this. Not in this way. It is like you are drunk from it."
"Why not?" he asked again, "why should we not enjoy what we want to enjoy, do what we want to do, kill who we wish to kill? What is there to stop us?" He had to go on tip toe to lick a smear of blood off Eric's jawline.
"None," the gruffness in his voice had changed in its timbre, drawing a thumb through the blood on Godric's cheek, "but they will kill us if we are found out."
"No," he said, dropping his hands suddenly to give him a solid shove, "they will not. They cannot. They are worms Eric. How do you not see this by now? They cannot touch us! It is just that they cause such a nuisance. I would prefer not to have a mob find us here, but if it comes down to that, it is a problem easily solved."
"What, you will kill them all?" He had no doubt that Godric was able. Whether they would survive the aftermath was another issue entirely. "Would that not bring the wrath of all others down upon us?"
"If I kill them all," he said with a laugh that was eerie in it's childishness, "who will be there to notice?" His touch was gentle again, urging Eric closer once more.
"Those who would bring their crops for taxes. Their little king. Others of our kind," he stepped closer to Godric, raising his blood covered thumb to his own lips. It was sweet, that taste, too much so at times. "You will just kill them all, and you will love it."
"And then we will move on," he said, delighted with the conversation. He pushed his thumb further in Eric's mouth, sliding it along his fang until the skin split.
Eric nearly growled, an inhuman sort of sound. He tasted blood, and the stronger blood of the elder vampire, no longer thinking of the argument, or able to argue it.
"There," Godric said lovingly, dragging his thumb over Eric's tongue, "agreement." He pulled his hand away and went on tip toe to kiss the taller man.
Before this life Eric would never had allowed another man touch him in such a way. The difference with Godric was their strange connection, something that pulled them together on myriad levels. "Acquiescence," he managed as he deepened the kiss, his mouth rough and pressuring.
"Same thing," he said, bloody fingers crawling over his shoulders, to his throat until both arms were wound, as best he could manage, around Eric's neck. "Are you still hungry?"
"Yes," four hundred years and still he hungered more than he cared for. The room smelled of fresh blood and it wakened in Eric the thing that he had thought sated moments before. "What would you have me do?"
"We will go out again," he murmured against his lips, lapping at the blood he found there. Godric found himself restless and uneasy. "We will find you blood. What do you want. Keep in mind, son, that it is raining."
It was a restlessness that he shared with Eric, though likely for different reasons. "The girl's father. It will be simpler than explaining." Even as he suggested it, he knew he was being drawn into something darker.
"There," he said, beaming, hands sliding back and forth over the back of his neck, "that is what I taught you. Now..." He pulled away, reluctantly, and stooped to lift the girl as though she weighed nothing at all, "we will go."
"Yes," the room was spattered with blood, something he thought dully they would have to care for later. At the moment he did not care. At the moment he wanted to follow Godric, whether to stop a slaughter or be a part of it he was unsure, torn between the two. "It is what you taught me."
"I need more enthusiasm than that," he said, slipping into the old Slavic language they shared as he stepped out the door and into the rain with the girl's body in his arms. "Come, Eric. How else are we to enjoy our eternity?"
The rain was welcome, dulling the scent of blood for him. "Would you like me to organize a procession?"
"Very smart," he laughed, "are you losing your lust for blood?" He doubted it. It was far too early in the vampire's life.
"No," his words still gruff he grabbed Godric's arm, pulling with all of his might. "But should we always kill? Should we enjoy their deaths so much?"
Godric stumbled back, the body of the girl slipping from his arms into the mud. "Why not?!" he all but yelled, something like a temper tantrum in his anger, he whirled, grabbing Eric by the shirt again. They were both getting drenched, but neither seemed to notice. "Why do you care? Tell me why you care!" As though, perhaps, if Eric gave the right reason, Godric would be convinced, as though he were begging to be convinced.
He had no good reason, other than a lingering respect for the lives of these worms, as Godric had called them. It was quickly fading, he found, and perhaps it was why he clung to the last bits of it. "I only care for our safety," he shouted, ignoring the girls body, the rain, the mud. "For the way you seem to revel in it, that we will go too far."
"Forget it," he hissed, pulling Eric bodily down so he could clasp his face between his hands, "forget safety. Forget all of that. Do you understand me?" Rain was washing away the blood and rivers of pink ran down his arms, down his torso. "We are gods, Eric. We will never die, we are above them and their mess!" He swept one hand out as though the muddy wastes they were traversing represented this vastness of the human race.
There was a majesty about the smaller vampire, he exuded it at times. It made it hard to not listen, harder because he was Eric's maker. Their connection ran deep, he knew, the Slavic language they spoke coming more easily to him than English even after these years. "If we kill we become targets," he insisted, dropping to his knees in the mud, his head tilted up toward Godric, penitent before his saint. "If we do nothing but kill, how are we gods?"
"Not all gods create," he hissed as he smoothed Eric's sopping hair back from his face, water dripping from the tip of his nose, "we are Odin in the dark, älskling. We are forever." He bent over him for a long minute before dropping to his knees as well, pressing himself to the larger vampire, turning his face into his throat and wrapping his arms around him.
"Destruction and revenge," Eric's voice was nearly raw as he held Godric's eyes for but a second, before he could see them no longer, knowing in them was the darkness of which he spoke. Eric growled, tangling fingers in Godric's clothes, "then let us be gods, and let us kill."
"I love you, broder," Godric said plaintively, still clinging to him, the words muffled by rain and Eric's throat.
There was a pause in which Eric swallowed, knowing well the line that they crossed was the last one. His grip did not loosen, cleaving to the other vampire in turn. "As I you, broder."
****************
It was the rumors that had brought him. Eric had left Godric in Italy, their separation amicable on this occasion. But there was talk that had made him rethink his decision. It could have been anyone, he knew, but few were so brazen as to go after clergy in the seat of their power.
He had not been wrong. It had been Godric slaughtering the nuns and priests. "In Vatican City," he hissed, displeased by the dark, dank sewer they hid in, "you are mad."
"I am mad," Godric said in easy response, "I am quite mad. But I am also very sated." He was free of blood. It had been some time since he'd gone on his rampage, which, he could now see might have been hastily thought through. It was not the power that Vatican City held that should have warned him away, but instead, their ancient superstition, still rooted in the old ways. "You know," he said, tipping his head up to look up at the dripping, arched ceiling, "they may have actually known how to kill me."
"They likely knew exactly how to kill you," he slammed his hand into the stone of the walls that surrounded them. This was little more than a cave beneath the streets. His mind raced with a million things, all of them overlaid with the annoyance he felt for the vampire he stalked toward, "they know how to kill us. Why else would we be hiding here with rats, in the human wastes?"
"Because it is daylight soon," he said calmly, "and we will certainly die if we move now. But we will leave the city as soon as the sun sets again. Perhaps I would like to see home again." He turned his head to look up at Eric. "How do you feel about Sweden?"
"Because they will be searching houses for us," even here Eric wondered about their safety. He fixed Godric with a dark look, "I feel that we should not be chased out of places like this. Sweden-" he had not been there for so long. "If you must."
"If they find us, they will be unable to drive us into the sunlight." Godric let Eric get as close as he liked, "are you afraid of them, Eric?" It had been a long time since they'd seen each other. And so it had been a long time since they'd had this argument.
"There is power to the church that you do not realize. It is strong, and it has soldiers who suspect our existence," what other could he say? "I do not care if you kill, only who."
"Age has made you cautious and boring, Eric," Godric said dully, "it would be best if we just waited in silence until we can go above ground again. You should rest."
"We have time," he responded quickly, the dullness in Godric's response bothering him. Eric grabbed his shirt, wishing to force an argument, "Age has made you incautious."
"We do have time," he agreed, enjoying the hand wrapped in his shirt, "and many ways in which to occupy ourselves, I think." He wanted to talk about anything but how reckless Eric thought he now was. "How should we start, älskling?"
That Eric was still unimpressed was clear, "what. Do you wish to rut like monsters in the filth, just as you kill like one?"
Godric dealt him a backhand strong enough to snap the neck of a human. "I'll beat the respect back into you!" His voice echoed off the stone cavern, "how dare you speak to me in such a manner!"
It was enough to force his head back and to split his lip, though the wound was fast-healing. "I dare because you act like a child," he clenched his fists, fangs out and eyes flashing, "son."
"I am your maker!" he cried, hitting him again, shoving him hard against the wall, "and if I tell you to get down on your knees in the filth, you do it with a smile!"
"Then order me," even with the stone biting into his back he smiled, "and you will regret it."
"Powerful Eric," he sneered in Swedish, "how would you show me, then? How would you take your revenge?"
"A companion you need to order to do everything you must. Where is the pleasure in that?" It was not so simple and Eric knew it. "You would be no more broder, my friend."
Godric's eyes went wide and before Eric's words could really sink in, really do the damage they were capable off, he was hitting him. His fist was closed this time, his intent to see blood, to cause pain, to make him stop before it actually came true.
Again his head snapped back, Eric roaring as he returned the strike. Full-on, he hit him, their bodies connecting as he tried to pull them both to the ground. To stop this madness, to pull Godric from this place he was in.
"You will never leave me!" he cried as he tore at him, digging nails into flesh and throwing his considerable weight forward until they both hit the wall, shaking water from the ceiling. "I will kill you before I allow that to happen!"
His laugh was cold and harsh, "kill me as you kill all the others? Will you revel in my death? Destroy me rather than break our bond?" He allowed Godric to hold him against the wall, raising his hands in an imitation of innocence. "Do it, then."
"Yes, I would kill you," he said, voice raw and choked. He slammed Eric into the stone again. "I would kill you rather than see you walk away. I cannot let that happen. I cannot let that-..." he gave an anguished cry, tears tracking down his face in a rush of emotion that he did not know how to contain, that he had never learned how to accept into himself. Grief was so alien it was painful, a physical stab in his gut, and it made him want to tear Eric in two for causing it at all.
Grief. He could not remember the last time he had truly felt it. He felt sorrow now, but grief no. That was too severe, too extreme. In fact, it was an emptiness that pitted in his stomach as he faced down Godric's tears. "You taught me to keep ourselves safe. What you do, it endangers us. It shows you to be a child, no longer worthy of being connected to me."
"I am not a child!" He hit him again, trying to drive him down into the ground. You can't leave me. You can't leave me. If he hadn't been so intent on making Eric stay, he would have smelled the torches, he would have smelled the soldiers' fear, he would have begun to hear the footsteps of those coming to kill them both.
He would have noticed it sooner himself, only realizing nearly too late what was almost upon them. "Godric," he hissed, in fear his strength increased. Eric pushed the other vampire off him, grabbing him as he stood, "would you kill now, or would you run?"
Godric looked back over his shoulder at the approaching lights with a loud hiss that echoed eerily back to the soldiers, who seemed to hesitate around the corner before advancing. In an instant, Godric was pulling Eric along instead in a desperate search for a hiding place where man nor sun could find them. He wasn't sure one existed. It was death by one or the other.
Their speed was beyond any the humans could imagine, and still there was worry. Dawn was encroaching, and with it the inevitable need to rest. "This way," he spied a smaller tunnel leading upward, a dangerous thing to break ground but he saw little other choice.
Godric followed without question and only came to a stop when a bright flare of sunlight showed up ahead. An open sewer was pouring out into the harbor. If it had been after dark, it would have been the perfect escape, but as it was, he could only stop and stare at the white light. It made him squint, but he didn't turn away. He couldn't. It was the perfect escape. The soldier's footsteps were nearing again, their voices loud, eager. Godric still didn't move.
It only took a moment to realise how fixated Godric seemed by the sun. Eric hissed dangerously, his fangs out. "NO." He yanked at the other's arm, "It is kill or be killed broder. There is no choosing death this day."
"It's best," he mumbled, dazed, steadfast as a mountain, "it's best if you let me go."
"No," for all of his threats earlier, this was not to happen. This would not be allowed. Eric grabbed his face tight in two hands. "No matter what we may say, you are too much to me to allow that. Never."
"You do not want me!" he cried suddenly, shoving him away, "you do not want me, and then what would I have left?!"
"You are an idiot," he spoke harshly, grabbing Godric again. The steps were close, too close. They were in danger. "It is because you terrify me. You will get yourself killed, like this and it will be I who is alone. I will not let this happen."
Godric looked back, straining toward the sunlight before the loud cry of a soldier behind them seemed to jolt him out of the hypnosis and he stumbled forward into Eric's arms. He choked once, suddenly clinging to the other vampire's clothing, eyes wide and startled.
"We can fight, or we can die," he growled, his cheek brushing Godric's. "I do not wish to die."
"I wish to taste blood," he said in a low voice, mouth next to Eric's ear.
"Then taste as much of it as you can," the soldiers were seconds away. Eric turned to them, his expression fierce - the expression of a predator. "Sweden you say?"
"Sweden," he said, a calm coming over him again, no trace of the frantic, furious creature that had taken his place minutes before. His fangs glinted in the slanted, indirect sunlight. "We must kill quickly, as I would like to see home soon, I think."
"It has been a long time." The soldiers approaching them seemed unsure now that they were face to face with the Vampires. Eric smiled, a truly terrifying sight. "Come. It has been too long since we have brought death together."
---------------------
They'd come to the New World together, but they hadn't stayed together long. Things had changed, things had shifted, inside and out. Godric wasn't what he had been, and neither was Eric. Their parting hadn't been violent, but it hadn't been the easy separations of years past, when they found each other again a few years afterward, each one hungry for the other. Godric hadn't been hungry for anything in a very long time. He kept to the north. It was familiar up there. It was isolated. He fed rarely, he spoke even less, and he kept company with almost no one at all.
But then Eric's reputation reached him. Which was why he was wandering the halls of his fledgling's house, unannounced, the rooms dim and the night thickly dark outside. It smelled like Eric and it made his chest ache, but he didn't rush. He would find him when he found him.
Eric enjoyed Louisiana. Even when the humans had their silly civil war it hadn't affected this strange state. The humans here were a mix of cultures and beliefs. They were intriguing, and easy to pick off in the rural areas. Good, now that he had created a vampire himself. She was a charming thing, quickly losing her uptight British ways. Eric sprawled, sated, leg hooked over the edge of the couch he lay on and watched her feed on the last human left alive in the room. It was a decadent thing, so much so that he found himself aroused. "Be sure to finish him," he told her, licking the remaining blood off a finger.
"Times have changed," Godric said as he stepped into the room, emerging from shadow to smile quietly at the younger vampire. "Once upon a time you did not wish to kill them."
"Godric," Eric looked up sharply at the other vampire. He'd been so engrossed in watching Pam, he'd not noticed him. The surprise wasn't entirely welcome, if he were truthful with himself. Eric didn't move, still sprawled on the couch, turning back to watch the woman finish the man. "These ones were a danger. They were encroaching on our territory."
"Yes," he said, half turned to look down at the young woman. So young. He could still smell the life on her. "You have no need to explain yourself to me. It is your territory, your rules." He turned bright eyes back to Eric, still smiling. "Hello, son."
"It is my territory," he was proud of that, waving Pam away when she went to speak. "Leave us. We have much to talk of, my broder and I."
He watched the woman leave as she strode from the room. Then he returned to Eric. "You look well." Glorious in his violent gore.
"I do, don't I?" Still he didn't move, his eyes tracing over Godric. "You look yourself. I did not expect you to come here so soon."
"So soon," he said, his smile fading just a little. "There was a time when 60 years was a long time for you to be away from me."
"There was a time we would not have parted as we did, either," he pointed out, his tone even.
"This is very true," he said and fell silence for a moment. "Are you not going to greet me?"
"Of course," he had paused before he'd answered, but when he did, Eric smiled and stood. "I have missed you."
Godric lifted his hands to take Eric's cheeks between them, slipping into Swedish as he spoke. "I have missed you as well. Deeply."
Things had changed for them both, something they always seemed to be faced with. Yet in these moments, Eric barely noticed. "You should stay here," he covered Godric's hands on his face, leaning to press their heads together. "With me."
"Yes," he said, before tipping his face up to kiss him gently, the warmest greeting he knew. "Tell me everything."
There was blood on his lips still, blood that Godric had to taste, even as Eric held the kiss for longer than needed. The relationship he had with his maker was difficult at times, but always worthwhile, he found. "What is it you wish to know? This is mine. A backwater, I tell you, villages and towns and farms. But it is my land."
"Yes, it is yours, and you have been making a name." His fingers slid up into blond hair and he pressed himself close, even trembling once as he kissed Eric deeply.
"Have I?" He knew that he had, but to hear it from Godric was another thing entirely. Eric growled into the kiss, strangely a pleased sound, wrapping his hands tight in the shirt the other wore. "I would be nothing that I am without all you taught me."
"Yes," he said fondly, tipping his head to lap at the blood on Eric's cheek. "This is true. And I missed you. Eric, I missed you."
It was all a bit emotional for Eric, a bit too touching. He said nothing, pulling Godric back into a kiss, hard and deep.
Godric returned the embrace intently. He used his supernatural density, pushing the larger, heavier man back to the wall, both hands digging hard into his scalp, twisting his hair.
He laughed roughly, barely letting the kiss break. "You have missed me, haven't you?"
"There is nothing about sex that interests me anymore. It has become woefully boring," he said, dragging his hands down his shoulders instead, "except with you."
Eric had found himself interested again with his new creation. Partially because of the lust she held for blood still, partially because of how different it was. It was still different with Godric. There was something there he could not name. "Then broder," his hands tore at fabric, his strength more than it could bear, "I would be honored to be of interest."
His shirt fell away and his tattoos were as stark as ever against pale, pale skin. Godric pulled at him, pushed at him, kissed him as though he was trying to crawl inside the other vampire. His hands already dropping to tug Eric's belt open.
He twisted away fabric, pulling at ties and buttons, cursing the layers that seemed so in fashion. Long fingers skimmed across tattoos Eric had memorized centuries before, but not seen in decades. Now they were there - the both of them - he contained himself poorly, "you have been gone too long."
"I'm sorry," he murmured, "things were shifting. The Earth was put off its axis." Godric was sliding his hands under Eric's last layer to feel bare skin, to trace familiar muscle. His leg wedged between both of Eric's. "But I am here, älskling. I am yours once more."
Fang pressed at Godric's skin, tugged at his lips, traced down his neck just as his hands moved down his back. There were words he could speak, but few of them seemed appropriate. Besides, he had learned in his years that words were merely that. Actions, these meant more. His back against the wall, Eric worked his hands beneath the clinging cloth of Godric's breeches, pushing them away.
The smaller vampire was moving restlessly against him, struggling to keep from moving too fast, from simply ripping Eric's pants away instead of shoving them down with matching eagerness. If he'd had to breathe, he would have been gasping. Instead he was quiet, but for the occasional sound of approval that spilled off his lips, liquid and smooth. He dug the blunt ends of his fingers into the firm muscle of Eric's ass, tucking his face into the blond's throat.
He had missed that, he realized. The ways they had become used to this, adjusting to their sizes and strengths. "The Earth does not matter," he growled as he shifted out of his clothes, again exploring each curve of Godric's body as he had so many times before.
They worked because Godric didn't have to think. They worked because he couldn't break Eric's arm without trying, because Eric knew the heart of him, because he'd pulled him out of the sunlight. "The Earth is all there is," he said with a chiming laugh, caressing soft skin, "the Earth is all I know." He gasped happily against Eric's collarbone at the roaming hands, lifting into their touch. "The Earth and you."
The words made him laugh, but not in mockery. Because there was a part of him that thought the same in this moment. A part that would never be so jaded when the other was about. It was a dangerous part to let surface too long, but he did not care as he dropped slowly to his knees. A deliberate slowness, his mouth trailing along Godric's stomach. "The earth and I. I could be a god."
"You are," he said, fingers combing through his hair, "you are a god. Do you remember the moment you realized you would live forever?" Godric tipped his head up to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "I do love you..."
"Yes," his voice was deep and husky, his hands tight on Godric's hips as he spoke. Love. A bizarre thing but it was the word that described their connection best. It could not encompass it, though, he knew that. "It was years later. With you."
"Yes," he repeated thoughtfully, "years later. I didn't realize I would live forever until the last time we parted, when I believed I would never see you again." He stroked one side of the larger man's throat, thumb running the length of his jaw.
If he'd need to breathe it would have ghosted along Godric's pale skin. Instead it was only his mouth that drew along his hip, his fingers circling the length of him as Eric let the tip of his tongue, the edge of a fang, touch him. "älskling."
Godric bit his lip, chin dropping to his chest again so that he could watch Eric. Eric and his mouth. He shivered hard, fingers tightening in Eric's hair. He took a deep, unnecessary breath, his chest rising and falling heavily. The word was a relief, the firm grip was a relief.
If he were honest, he would say that he did not prefer the company of men. Godric, however, was the exception to this. The exception to so many things in Eric's existence, if again, he were honest about it. His eyes flicked up, meeting Godric's as he closed his lips over the other, the taste and weight of him familiar even after all these years apart.
He moaned happily, eyes drifting shut. Godric had no preference. He barely had any interest anymore. He found himself aroused by less and less these days. But Eric was something else entirely. Heat was already curling in his groin and his fingers curled restlessly in Eric's hair as his mouth slid over the cool flesh. "You beautiful creature," he said in Swedish as blue eyes met Eric's again, "you intoxicate me."
Even if he'd had words, Eric wouldn't have been able to speak them in that moment. Fingers tightened on Godric's hip, his movements deliberate and just swift enough. What the other said caused more heat within him than anything he could do in that moment.
Godric hadn't actually had an orgasm in a long time and he had to laugh at how close he already was. He was acting his physical age, it seemed. He combed compulsively through Eric's hair, resisting the urge to thrust his hips forward, resisting the urge to beg the larger man to fuck him. He'd been alone for so long...so long he hadn't even realized he'd missed this kind of touch.
Nor had Eric, in truth, his arousal strong. There was a way of this, the way he felt near the other that was unlike most anything else. He growled, teasing Godric with his hands, slipping one between his legs to play at skin. Eric wanted him to lose all control, he realized; he wanted to see them both sated and exhausted in the end.
Godric reached back to brace a hand against the wall as what felt like supernatural heat rushed up his spine at the touch of Eric's fingers. He moaned Eric's name, half laughing in shock at how aroused he truly was. "You tease me," he panted, taking air in unnecessarily, "do you wish to see me spent before you've even started?"
It made him pull back, leaving a glancing kiss on sensitive skin, his lips brushing the base of him just briefly. "I wish to see you exhausted, to see us both so."
"I will be exhausted," he said, "but even at my age it is a matter of control." He chuckled at himself, maybe something he wouldn't have done the last time they were together.
It pulled a rare true smile from Eric as he rose, his arms wrapping about Godric. Bodies pressed together and yet standing, he felt a thrum of energy unlike any he had in longer than he cared to admit. "I wish to fuck you."
"Oh, good," he purred, mouth pressed to Eric's jaw, "I wish it as well." Both hands slid down his back to grip the firm muscle of his ass.
"Come," he had another place in mind. His private chamber, an honour he knew Godric would understand. It was in the bowels of the house, but that was what was secure. The room itself was decadent, as was befitting a Sheriff in his mind. Secure, but still a place he could spend his time with pleasure. He led him there, down the stairs and through the locked door, leaving their clothes behind without a care. "Here is better," he rumbled, his voice deep as he looked Godric over in the dim light. The pale skin adorned with tattoos, his lithe and well-toned body... Eric smiled, predatory, "we should not stay apart so long in the future."
"Oh," he breathed softly, looking Eric over with a similar expression, "I was hoping you would say that." He stepped forward to trace finger tips down the muscled lines of his chest. The light was dim, easy on his eyes, but he could still see Eric without trouble. Unnecessary breath ghosted over the other vampire's chest.
"Haven't we been here too long to hope?" It wasn't said with thought, nor with malice. Simply words that escaped him as he moved closer. Eric's eyes closed for a moment, enjoying the touch on his skin and the feel of Godric near to him. "You are the first to be down here."
"Am I?" he asked, leaning in to press his cheek to Eric's smooth chest. His arms went around his waist. "Then we shall christen it."
"Yes," he drew the word out, hooking his arms about Godric, lifting him and stepping them toward the bed. Eric was enjoying this, especially as he was sure that Godric was as well. "We shall."
Godric turned his head to kiss him deeply, tongue sinking into Eric's mouth, tasting him. He'd craved this, and he was pressed hard between their bodies, his skin flush despite its chill. He shifted against the larger man, stopping just short of wanton rubbing.
The bed shook when they landed on it, Eric looming over Godric. He didn't break the kiss, growling deep as he rubbed against him, his restraint fading.
Godric moaned, arching up into his bulk. His thigh worked between Eric's legs, pressing up hard and intent. The strength they were using with each other was growing, inhibitions fading, the constant consideration of how much strength their hands held.
There was no holding back with Godric, not as there was with a human or even with Pam. Eric moved against Godric, a knee between his legs, the rub of skin and flesh, the strength that lay behind it intoxicating. He growled again, pushing Godric's legs apart further, catching one and cocking it back.
He whimpered happily in response, tightening his fingers sharply against Eric's scalp, tugging, demanding more of his mouth. The slide of their skin was smooth, although they lacked sweat, and despite the heat he could feel curling in his gut, they were cool.
The desire he felt for Godric was strong, stronger than anything he had allowed himself to feel in so long. Yet there were practicalities that needed to be considered. Eric drew back, "do not leave." He didn't truly think that he would, not now. His speed meant it took no more than a moment, the door clicking as it locked again behind him. Eric stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes dark as he considered Godric carefully. It made him smile again, that strange half-smile he had, kneeling at the edge of it.
Godric had pushed up onto his elbows, sprawled artfully, as he looked up at Eric with intent, blue eyes. He licked his lips, tattooed chest rising and falling quickly. "I like that smile."
"You taught it to me," he crawled onto the bed, cat-like in his motions. Nudged his way between Godric's legs, slowly, only moving swiftly to demand a kiss at the end. He was hungry, tongue searching his mouth, his hand moving up the inside of Godric's thigh.
"I did," he said, the words hitching in his throat. He'd taught him many things. But now wasn't the time to talk about his doubts, his deep, unyielding guilt. He returned the kiss without hesitation, lifting his legs up around Eric's hips, letting their tongues tangle in an embrace that was becoming rather messy.
Eric wouldn't have listened in that moment. Not that he was likely to listen in others, either. Now he thought only of working the stopper from the small bottle of oil he had fetched, on slicking himself and his fingers, working two inside of Godric with a deep rush of breath that was unneeded but expressed the releasing tension he felt.
"Ahh! Yes, Eric..." he chuckled at his own enthusiasm even as he clung to the larger man, "I missed you." And now he was a bit overwhelmed by it. Fingernails dug hard into the flesh of Eric's back and he kept his eyes open, watching as his body molded around the vampire's fingers.
He grumbled low and deep, his face buried in the curve of Godric's neck, tracing vein and muscle with fang and tongue. He wouldn't do more than that, not now, but the touch of it, the idea of biting, it sent a thrill through him. Instinct, perhaps, but more than that with Godric. So much more. "Good," he murmured, just as he pulled his fingers away, guiding his cock instead, enjoying the way he fit, the way Godric wrapped about him. "You should miss me," he groaned as he slid into the other, as deep as he could.
Godric cried out again as he was filled, back arching, bending his smaller body under Eric. "Tell me," he panted as he adjusted easily, shifting just a bit, "tell me what it is you missed about me."
He didn't want to talk. He wanted to fuck, to feel himself in Godric, to have his body shuddering beneath him. But he would, fingers digging into the sheets as he started a pace that was almost too-slow, thrusting deep each time. It would drive him mad before Godric, Eric was sure, but he wanted to test his resolve, "this. You here." Each word punctuated by a thrust, the strength of them unfettered, "that you make these things complete."
His legs were drawn high up around Eric's waist and each thrust drove a pleased groan from him, the impact shuddering, forceful and just what he wanted. "More," he hissed between exposed fangs, eyes gleaming as he leaned up to bite at Eric's lips, "harder."
"Yes," he growled out the word, the sharp edge of fang against his own skin driving him further toward an edge. Eric found he couldn't hold back, his speed increasing with each thrust, their bodies meeting with a force that would bruise or even break another. The bed creaked beneath them and Eric did not care.
Godric was moaning loudly, happily, almost continuously, the sounds stuttered by the impact of Eric's hips. His frame shuddered with increasing frequency as he neared his own climax, mouth open and head strained back as he struggled to contain the intensity of Eric's body working inside his own. It was a heat he'd been missing for a long time, unable to find it in every day encounters, even unable to find it in the flush of the kill.
"Godric," Eric called out his name, knowing he had little control left. Each thrust took him closer, the rush of heat within him stronger than it had been in so long. His fingers dug into the mattress beneath them, tearing at it in his abandon.
It felt like hours when it was a matter of minutes before Godric couldn't even manage speech and was left with strained, primal moans. His hand came up to curl hard in Eric's hair, pressing his mouth to his throat, bucking up to meet him so they crashed together. He came hard, when he finally did, spilling himself over his abdomen.
It was that warmth that did it. A visceral reaction, his nature still strong within him, above any desire he may have felt for Godric. Eric roared, muffling himself against Godric's shoulder, collapsing against the older vampire.
He leaned up and sank his teeth into Eric's shoulder before either of them had a chance to relax again. Hot, thick, unnatural blood flooded his mouth and Godric moaned, aftershocks of orgasm coursing down his spine.
The noise he made changed, higher in timbre as he stiffened against Godric. The rush of blood against his skin, the sharp bite of fang, it was all so much, drawing out the waves of pleasure that he felt. It shouldn't have surprised when he returned the favour, finally allowing his teeth to sink into Godric's skin as he had wanted all this time.
Godric pulled back with a gasp, but kept Eric's mouth to him with one firm hand. Each draw of blood made him moan again, his body all but convulsing as pleasure overwhelmed him, something as intimate as sharing blood like this touching him deeply.
It was more intimate than the copulation in some ways. There were very few Eric would allow this with, being bitten, that was. He swallowed deep, only pulling back when he felt that he must. Still, he licked the wounds, wanting to waste none of Godric's blood.
He lay under the larger man, completely spent, almost light headed. His head lolled to the side when Eric pulled away and his chest still heaved with that unnecessary air. His lips were stained bright red with the other's blood. That was exactly what he'd wanted. He could feel Eric's blood coursing through him, and could smell himself on the fledgling. "Incredible," he murmured in Swedish.
"Yes," he responded in the same language, shifting his weight away from Godric, even as he pulled the other's mouth to his again. It was how it should be he thought. The two of them, like this.
Godric turned into him limply, returning the kiss with a slow heat. "Who is this creature," he said after a long silence filled only with the kiss, "you've created? Where did you find her?"
It was Godric that often wanted to talk of things, more than Eric. At least, it was how he remembered it, even if it was wrongly. "England. London. She intrigued me. It has been some time since any intrigued me." He slowly licked away a speck of blood, limbs still entangled. "She suits it."
"She seems it," he said, curling into him and taking comfort in the hard, cool presence of Eric's body. "Broder, it has been too long..."
"Do not leave," he twisted his arm to take Godric's hand, curling their fingers together. "Stay here with us. We can make it our own Kingdom."
He fell into silence again, cheek pressed to Eric's chest and eyes trained on the far wall. "Perhaps," he said finally, voice a bit lower, "or perhaps there are reasons for why we keep parting..."
"No," he spoke more loudly than he'd intended, in that moment nostalgic, "nothing we cannot manage."
"Eric," he said quickly, almost cutting him off, "please do not romanticize our last parting. It felt like the end, did it not?"
"Yet you are here," he responded, his words almost a growl. "Does this not seem where you should be?"
He sighed quietly and closed his eyes. "Yes," he admitted, "it does. You have always felt like home to me, son."
"Then let us not talk," he had a sense of dread within him now, "Dawn is coming. Let us rest."
Godric didn't answer, but burrowed deeper until he wasn't sure where he ended and Eric began. He would stay as long as he could, he decided, but he knew, without any hesitation, that there was no way he could stay with Eric indefinitely. There was no way he could stay with anyone for long periods of time anymore. He just wasn't capable. He was crippled in that way.
[ooc: :DDD long overdue for posting. Some NC-17]