Fic: Written in Blood [Valentine's Day Challenge/Kink Meme, Kai X Uruha, NC-17]
Title: Written in Blood
Chapter: Standalone
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Supernatural/fantasy, romance, smut
Warnings: Male/male sex, vampirism, thigh worship, some bloodplay
Pairing: Kai X Uruha
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: Uruha has been pledged since birth to be a regular food source for a vampire. He doesn’t know what to expect from such a bond - until he meets a very special bloodsucker who will change his life in more ways than one.
Comments: Written for the uruai Valentine’s Day challenge, where my prompts were “candlelit dinner” and “pet.” Also fills this prompt on the GazettE Kink/Porn Meme: KaixUru, Kai is a vampire and Uru is a mortal. Uru is a addicted to the bite. . . and Kai. Kai is addicted to biting his thighs and neck. . . and Uru. And I’d like to say that this fic is all the fault of aleksiina_26, because I’d had an entirely different idea brewing in my head for the challenge prompt - until she began her fantastic series about Alice Nine being vampires, with the promise of GazettE showing up as a rival vampire clan. (Seems every time someone else writes a good vampire fic, I get inspired to write vampires as well. This is an entirely different vampireverse than the one I did where Ruki was a vampire, by the way).
When Uruha was a rebellious 16-year-old, he found out about his family’s unique calling. It was pretty much by accident, of course. He’d gotten into an argument with his parents about his need to go into music as a career, and was told that such things just weren’t fitting for someone like him.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Why is it not fitting? It’s not like we’re aristocrats or anything! We’re just another family!”
“We are NOT just another family,” his mother snapped back.
“What makes you say that?” the boy said. “We’re as ordinary as Japanese families get!”
“You have no idea,” his mother said.
“Idea of what?” This was getting ridiculous. He could just walk. Nobody was forcing him to stay here, right? He could get a job, have a life of his own . . .
“Of how special we are,” his mother said.
“Oh, yeah, we’re special,” the young musician retorted. “Everyone thinks their family is special! Well, let me tell you, we’re no different than any of the millions of other families whose sons have gone into . . .”
“They haven’t given their sons to the Brotherhood!” his mother cried - and his father glared at her. Not yet. He wasn’t supposed to know about that just yet.
Uruha blinked. “Brotherhood?” he said.
“No, never mind,” his mother said, waving her hand and sitting down. “Forget I said that.”
“No, I’m not going to forget it!” Uruha rushed over to his mother, planting himself in front of her. “What is this Brotherhood?” He looked from his father to his mother and back again. “Is it the Yakuza? Is that it? Have you pledged me to the Yakuza?”
His parents looked at each other and sighed. There was no avoiding the truth now.
“Not the Yakuza,” his mother said. “We’re . . . we’re pledged to offer one of our children as a food source to vampires.”
* * *
They were as old as Japan itself, the lineage of Pledge families. For generation after generation, they had offered at least one child to be the “pet” of a member of the Brotherhood. In return, they received protection, money, and, in some cases, power.
The children weren’t forced into it - at least to the extent where they were just handed over to a vampire as a present. No, when a child of a Pledge family came of age - 20, by Japanese standards - he or she was taken to a party to meet all the members of the Brotherhood who were currently between pets and were looking for a new one. They continued attending parties, continued meeting vampires, until a match was made.
It seemed simple on the surface - the pet provided blood, usually a half-pint or less at a time, to the vampire as needed. The vampire, in return, offered companionship and protection.
But, of course, it went a lot deeper than that - it was treated with the gravity of a marriage. Not all vampires and their pets ended up romantically or sexually involved, but s huge percentage of them did. Some male-female bonds even became marriages. Even those that weren’t sexual became deep friendships.
There was only so long that a vampire could hold onto a pet, however. It was a code of honor among them that they would stop using their bonded humans for blood once they got to middle age. And a lot of vampires - eternally young and beautiful - tired of their pets before that. It was pretty common knowledge that a lot of them would end up dumped as soon as they started looking older than their vampire pair-bonds.
There were cases, though, where a vampire fell so deeply in love with their bonded human that they took the relationship to a new level, one of very permanent commitment. And that was how many a pet ended up as a vampire.
* * *
It took quite awhile for Uruha to end up in a pet relationship. He met nobody who struck his fancy at the vampire parties his parents forced him to attend in exchange for not interfering with his musical dreams. Most of the people there were flat-out boorish. After centuries of life, they tended to become self-absorbed and egocentric.
When he did meet his destined pair-bond, it was another accident.
His band, the GazettE, had been together a year, give or take a few months, when their drummer suddenly quit. Nobody quite knew why, though Uruha suspected it was because he and their other guitarist, Aoi, had suffered a nasty breakup.
“Don’t worry,” their vocalist, Ruki, promised them. “I know a fucking awesome drummer. I’ll bring him in tomorrow.”
And so, a time was set up to meet with this person in their usual rehearsal space - the basement of an abandoned building in a quieter part of town. When you were a struggling VK band, you utilized any space you could find, legal or not.
But meanwhile, Uruha had to attend yet another party. Oh, joy. He wished sometimes that one of his siblings or cousins could take his place on the front lines of boredom every once in awhile - but, no, apparently he was his family’s chosen one. He figured it was because he was considered the best-looking member of their clan.
This event was like every other - having to listen to one story after another about me, me, me, my world travels, my fabulous homes in this country and that country, blah blah, yadda yadda . .
Uruha couldn’t imagine being bonded to one of them until he was in his 40s. Hell, he couldn’t imagine being bonded to one for four minutes.
He had determined that this was yet another evening where he wasn’t going to make a match (sorry, Kaa-san and Tou-san) and was headed out the door when he almost literally bumped into someone just entering the party. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the newcomer said, offering a deep bow.
Uruha sized him up. He sure as hell didn’t look like the vampires here. He had bright, carroty-to-flaming red hair, a cute, round little nose, and unpretentious clothes - black pants, a T-shirt with a stylized skull on it. Also, he was wearing a fair amount of makeup.
He looked to be about Uruha’s age. Obviously, this was another potential pet. Probably forced into it by his parents, too, Uruha thought.
“Not a problem,” Uruha said, bowing back. “And I’m glad to see you. You don’t look anything like most of the people here.”
“Oh, I know I don’t,” said the newcomer, rubbing the side of his head and flashing Uruha a smile that would light up the darkest pit of hell. “Let’s just say I kind of go my own way.”
“I hear you,” Uruha said. “I’m the same way. Though I don’t get to go my own way as much as I’d like.”
“Parents?” said the redhead with the smile. Damn, he did understand where he was coming from.
“Oh, hell, yes,” Uruha said. “So I guess you go through the same thing?”
The newcomer looked rather amused, and shook his head. “I haven’t had that problem in a long, long time.”
“You left home early?” Uruha said. “I’m surprised at that. Most Pledge families . . .”
“Oh, I’m not a pledge,” said the redhead. “You see . . .”
He opened his mouth wider, and suddenly, his canine teeth elongated, sharpened. The classic vampire fangs.
“You’re in the Brotherhood?” Uruha said. “Really?”
“I told you I go my own way,” said the vampire, letting his teeth settle back into human position. “I’m a musician. Visual kei. I just joined a new band, in fact.”
“Really?” Uruha said. “I’m a musician, too!” Holy crap. Holy CRAP. He’d actually met a vampire who was cool. Who was even in the same profession as him. This was too good to be true, wasn’t it?
“What do you play?” said the redheaded vampire.
“Guitar,” Uruha said. “I wanted to play guitar since I first heard Luna Sea.”
“Luna Sea is my favorite, too. When I first got hold of one of their CDs . . .” There was a far-off look in the vampire’s eyes, as if he were remembering something that had made a huge impact on him, a truly life-changing experience - the kind of thing that was rare when you were immortal.
He came back to reality and said, “Look, can we talk somewhere quieter? Like, at my place?”
Uruha gave him a toss of the head. “Is that a pickup line?”
“I don’t use pickup lines,” the vampire said, cheerfully. “I think life’s too short to make a fool out of yourself over someone you want to get to know better - don’t you?”
Uruha smiled at him. He liked this guy already. “Tell me your name, and I’ll go with you.”
“Kai,” said the vampire. “I’m called Kai.”
“Uruha,” he said, reaching out his hand.
He knew in his heart something had begun, something that was going to take him places on several levels.
* * *
They didn’t do anything but talk that first night, sitting around Kai’s little apartment. He said he could actually afford much more - a mansion, in fact - but if he was going to be an up-and-coming musician, he wanted to live like an up-and-coming musician.
They sat around his little table, illuminated with a couple of scrawny candles stuck into soda bottles. They split an order of convenience store noodles - which didn’t surprise Uruha, he’d seen vampires consume human food before, he just knew it had no nutritional value to them.
A candlelit dinner. What an appropriate way to start a romantic partnership.
As they sat there in the flickering light, Kai began to talk about himself. He was well over a hundred years old. He had worked in business when he was younger, running a small company, acquiring leadership skills. But as vampires always do, he had to abandon his venture after a certain number of years, lest people start wondering why the person never got any older.
He spent decades wandering around Japan after that, trying a variety of professions, never finding anything that suited him. He’d always had an interest in music, and had experimented with several different styles and genres - he’d spent several years hanging around jazz clubs at one point, which was when he decided to become a drummer.
“But then, I found Luna Sea,” he said. “And it was like I’d been born all over again. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a visual kei musician.”
They’d talked about their favorite Luna Sea songs, and other musicians they liked, and then the subject of pets came up. “I haven’t had a lot of them,” Kai said. “I usually feed the old-fashioned way - I hunt.”
“You mean, you kill?” Uruha said.
Kai shook his head. “I haven’t had to kill in a hundred years. Most vampires don’t, once they’re past their early stages. No, I mean I seduce an unsuspecting person, put them under hypnosis, and take what I need.” He gave Uruha one of those blinding smiles. “At least I try to make it pleasant for them.”
“And now?” Uruha said. “You must have changed your mind about that if you were at that party.”
Kai nodded. “Having my new life made me realize I was missing something. The music filled up most of my life, but it made me see what I didn’t have all the more.”
“You’re open to having a pet?” Uruha said.
Kai looked down, blushing a bit, sweetly. “If you’re open to having a vampire,” he said.
He looked up, and their eyes met. They held for a moment, and then they both burst out laughing.
Their first kiss was a few minutes later. Kai nipped him just the tiniest bit, saying he wanted a little taste of what was to come.
The next day, when Uruha reported to the basement as scheduled, he saw Kai there. “So, you finally showed up,” Ruki told their perpetually tardy guitarist. “Meet our new drummer.”
“Kai?” Uruha said. “You’re the new . . .”
And they looked at each other and started laughing again, just as they did the night before.
The other band members looked puzzled, looking from one to the other and back again. “You know each other?” said Aoi.
“Let’s say we’ve met,” Uruha said.
* * *
They took it slow, like the development of any other relationship, going on dates together after rehearsals, going to see other bands together. Rushing into things was as bad an idea for this as for any other bond.
Uruha’s family was thrilled, of course. They hadn’t cared if their son bonded with a male vampire or a female one, as long as a bond was made, and they immediately accepted Kai as part of their family - even though they were a bit baffled by the concept of a vampire being a rock musician.
Kai defied most of the human world’s perception of vampires, of course. He could go out in the daytime, although he often wore sunglasses because of his sensitive eyes. He slept in a normal bed or futon, not a coffin. He could see his reflection - he photographed very well, in fact - and could enter a room without being invited.
Just about the only thing that met the standard vampire stereotype was that Kai’s bite was usually on the neck.
It always happened during sex - not every lovemaking session of theirs resulted in a bite (Uruha would have no blood if that were the case), but all bites were during lovemaking sessions. Kai would tease Uruha during foreplay by lightly scraping his neck with his fangs, making him moan a little, the tiny bit of pain spicing the pleasure, offering the promise of more.
He’d continue to scrape the skin as the action between them got more and more intense, making Uruha writhe and moan beneath him, anxious for full consummation.
When Kai sensed Uruha was ready to come, he sank his teeth in the other man’s neck, drawing the blood into his mouth, moaning at the pleasure it created in his own body. Uruha came so hard he thought he was going to explode, the bite only enforcing the pleasure, amplifying it.
And then, there was the split second, during the orgasm and feeding, when Uruha could feel his mind open to Kai’s, the two of them suddenly linked mentally. It was a window into the other man, a point of ultimate connection. There was no Kai, no Uruha, just this shared consciousness.
Uruha could feel what it was to love the drums more than anything, and to feed off the energy of his new bandmates, feeling human in a way he hadn’t in years. He could experience years of sadness, loneliness, confusion, searching - and the joy he felt when he found music.
And then, as the orgasm faded, he was back in his own body, his own mind . . . but it was more intimate an experience than he thought possible. When he lay next to Kai panting, then leaned over for a final kiss, it was more than a standard gesture between lovers.
It was an acknowledgement that yes, I’ve seen you, every part of you, and I accept you. I want you in my life,
It was more intimate than any standard love relationship, and Uruha knew he craved it more than the sex itself.
* * *
On the band’s first anniversary, they moved in together, another little apartment, barely big enough for the two of them.
By their second, Kai had learned to cook. Most vampires only ate in front of humans, to keep up appearances of being normal. Not Kai. He was fascinated by food, the way people can only be fascinated by things they couldn’t really have.
Besides, he liked making Uruha happy, and cooking things that appealed to him.
They were able to move into a bigger place by their fourth anniversary, when the band’s career took off and gained momentum like a snowball rolling downhill. Before they knew it, they’d achieved the ultimate goal of any Japanese band: standing on the stage of Nippon Budokan. Kai and Uruha stood hand-in-hand after the final encore, wiping away tears.
Away from the stage, they lived in a cozy sort of rock and roll domesticity. Uruha would write songs in the bedroom while Kai worked on leader business in the living room. Sometimes friends visited them in their home; others, they went out with their friends.
And like any other couple, they had occasional fights. Reita would answer his door to find his longtime best friend there, fuming. “Who the hell does he think he is?” Uruha said. “That ‘I’m the leader’ stuff ends the moment he walks in our door! If he pulls that crap one more time . . .”
Like any best friend, Reita would offer Uruha drinks and a sympathetic ear until Kai would inevitably come knocking at the door, ready to talk it out, kiss and make up, and yes, apologize - as long as Uruha apologized as well.
They’d leave hand-in-hand, with Kai telling Reita, “I can’t stay away from him. He’s got what I need.”
* * *
“Why do families give their children to the Brotherhood?” Uruha said one night as they unloaded their dishwasher and stacked the contents back in the cabinets. Like many other young couples, they tended to just keep loading the dishwasher until they had no clean plates left, so there was quite a bit to stack.
“Why?” Kai thought a moment, staring into the teacup he was holding as if he expected to see the answer there. “There’s a lot of reasons. Some families think we can provide them with wealth and power. In the case of some of the older vampires, well, they can, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Most of us aren’t exactly politically connected. Then, there’s families who just like the idea of having a guaranteed mate for their child.” Never mond that the mating usually wasn’t for life, though the families were also aware that discarded pets were usually set for life financially.
“And my family?” Uruha said. “What do you think they were after?”
“They never discussed it with you?” Kai said, looking over his shoulder as he arranged silverware in the drawer.
Uruha shook his head. “They just wanted me to end up as a vampire’s pet. They didn’t say why.”
“Your family’s in the most common group of Pledge families,” Kai said. “They just want protection - mostly from Rogues.”
“Rogues? You mean, evil vampires?”
“I wouldn’t call them evil,” Kai said. “They’re, well, feral vampires. Someone turned them and then didn’t look after them very well, The first couple of months of a vampire’s life are pretty hard. They literally have to be watched like children, and their maker has to keep bringing them blood constantly - usually animals. If the maker abandons the fledgling too soon, well . .. “
Kai shut the drawer and said, matter-of-factly, “That’s where the reputation of vampires as mindless killers and monster comes from. Because that’s pretty much what Rogues are.”
Uruha frowned. “There’s a lot of them?” he said.
“Unfortunately,” Kai said. “There’s some vampires out there who consider it some kind of macho game to see how many people they can turn. Usually, they prey on people who are at the end of their rope - homeless people, teenagers who have run away or been thrown out . . .” It suddenly occurred to Kai that Ruki might have ended up an easy mark for these people. His extreme passion for music - having something to live for - had saved him.
“So . . . when families decide to have their children be pets . . . is it because they’ve had someone killed by a Rogue?”
Kai nodded. “We’ve always kept a watch on Rogue activity,” he said. “Whenever one of us heard of an attack, it was common practice to approach the family and offer our eternal protection, in return for . . .”
“One of their children being pledged to the Brotherhood,” Uruha said.
Kai nodded. “It’s not such a bad thing, is it? I mean, you’ve been happy?”
Uruha went over to Kai and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close. “Happy? Happy isn’t the word. I . . .” He leaned his head against Kai. “I love you so much it hurts.”
Kai snuggled closer, stroking Uruha’s hair. “Not from my teeth, I hope,” he said, jokingly.
“That hurts in a nice way,” Uruha said.
They laughed, and kissed, and headed for their bedroom. Another night of the unique passion that only they could share was ahead.
* * *
Single, single, single, tour, album, tour, tour final, start all over again. Life seemed to go by in an endless blur for the increasingly popular GazettE, who were now PSC’s marquee act. Uruha realized that it was probably a lucky thing that Kai had the pet arrangement with him, because if he had to live as a “traditional” vampire, he’d have no time to hunt.
Kai’s status was a secret from the rest of the band - even from Reita, Uruha’s closest friend since childhood. “Well, if anyone specifically asks me if I’m a vampire, I won’t deny it,” Kai told Uruha with one of his delicious smiles. “But I don’t think it’s going to come up that often.”
They flirted with and fantasized about the idea of telling a bandmate their secret and bringing him into bed with them for a threesome - complete with blood-drinking. During one such discussion - nestled together in their bed after lovemaking, comforter pulled up to their necks, covering the fresh marks on Uruha’s - the topic of what their bandmates’ blood would taste like came up.
“Ruki would be dark and intense,” Kai said. “A rich flavor. Very complex - a lot of subflavors in there.
“What about Aoi?” Uruha said.
“Wild and spicy,” Kai said. “Definitely kicky - and it grabs you right away and doesn’t let go. And Reita would be a straightforward taste, but very satisfying.”
“And what about me?” Uruha said. “What do I taste like to you?”
Kai leaned his head against his lover’s. “Sweet. But spicy, too. And warm. Always warm. Not just the temperature . . . it’s the kind of flavor that warms you up from the inside out. Like really good curry.” Then, with a kiss, he added, “Just without the risk of indigestion.”
“Do you even get indigestion?” Uruha said.
“No,” Kai replied. “But I’ve seen humans get it, and it makes me very glad I’m a vampire.”
They laughed, nuzzling each other. The truth was that Uruha’s flavor, his taste, the whole way his blood felt when it hit Kai’s body had become an addiction to him, just like the sensations of being fed from, the beyond-intense pleasure, had become an addiction to Uruha.
* * *
Every time they thought they’d hit the pinnacle of their career, there was another high. Suddenly, the band who thought that Budokan would be the experience of a lifetime for them found themselves about to play Tokyo Dome.
It was during the run-up to that momentous occsion, when they were starting to have rehearsals on a regular basis, that Uruha got a demonstration of just what being under the protection of a vampire meant.
The rehearsal studio’s back door opened onto a dark alley. Uruha was halfway through the rehearsal when he realized he’d forgotten to return a call from the band’s liaison at ESP, the guitar company. He figured he’d step outside, make the call - the ESP reps, like everyone else in their business, were available far into the night - and then get back to practice.
He was pulling out his phone and getting ready to dial when he became aware of . . . a sound. Like a scurrying. The kind of noise one associated with a mouse - except this sounded like one hell of a huge mouse.
Uruha glanced around, but saw nothing unusual. He shrugged and returned his attention to his recent calls list, trying to find the number he needed.
And then something came flying out of the darkness, springing like a panther, and crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. The phone fell from his hand, skittering across the ground.
“What the . . . “ he said, raising his head - only to find himself looking at a truly frightening human face. At least, it had been human at one point. The eyes were sunken, the skin pockmarked, the chin covered with a ragged beard, matching the long, matted hair . . .
And then, there were the fangs in the wide-open, slavering mouth. They looked not unlike Kai’s, but there was nothing erotic about them at all. These looked solely like instruments of death.
There was a horrifying moment when all Uruha could think was he was going to die, that this creature could probably drain him in a second, that . . .
But before he could complete the thought, something flew out of the back door of the rehearsal hall like a bullet, hitting the thing atop Uruha and knocking it off. The two of them rolled away, struggling, fighting with each other . . .
Kai. It was Kai. He’d come to Uruha’s rescue, like something out of a goddamn fairy tale.
The drummer raised his head and shouted, “Look away, Uruha. This is going to get ugly.”
He did what he was told, but he couldn’t shut out the horrific, animal-like screaming (thank God the walls inside were soundproofed), and the sounds of ripping, and the strange grunts that finally slowed, then stopped.
And then, Kai’s arms were around him and pulling him close. Uruha just melted against him, not caring that he reeked of a very foul-smelling blood, like meat that had been left out in the sun for a day.
“Uruha,” he said, “are you all right? The Rouge didn’t hurt you?”
Uruha nodded. “I’m all right. What happened to . . .”
“It was for the better,” Kai said. “When they become Rogues, they can’t be brought back. They’ll never have a real human thought again. They’re just animals, living on instinct. They’re killing machines.”
“How did you know . . .” Uruha said. Oh, damn, how long had he been cold and trembling? His hands reached up, grabbed Kai’s grimy shirt and held onto it for dear life.
“I felt it,” Kai said, softly.
Of course, he felt it. A vampire would have a psychic bond with his pet, wouldn't he? There’d be little point in the whole “protection” thing if he didn’t.
And, of all things, Uruha found himself saying, “You can’t go back into rehearsal like that.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kai said, laughing a little and rubbing the back of his head. “I look a mess, don’t I?”
So cute and sweet and boyish. One would never know that a few minutes ago, he was savagely destroying a monster.
“Maybe we should just call off practice for the rest of . . .” Uruha said.
“No, no, text the others and tell them we’ll be delayed,” Kai said. “We’ll explain later.”
As it turned out, there was a love hotel and a Don Quixote - a discount store roughly equivalent to Wal Mart, only a hell of a lot more chaotic - around the corner. They got a room and Kai took a shower while Uruha ran out quickly for a change of clothes - a plain pair of jeans and T-shirt. Within an hour, they were back at practice.
“Where the fuck were you?” Ruki said as they walked back in.
“I ran into somebody unpleasant,” Uruha said.
“Oh, an ex?” said Aoi, looking up for his guitar.
“Something like that,” Kai said.
Nobody questioned Kai’s change of clothes. Being in visual kei for as long as they had taught one that sometimes, well, strange things just happened.
Later, Uruha asked Kai if any traces of the Rogue were left. He didn’t want to say “anything that the police might find,” but the implication was there.
“Don’t worry,” Kai said. “I took care of it.”
And indeed, if anyone were to look in that alley after Kai and Uruha had left it, the only indication they’d have that anything was out of the ordinary was some fine black ash blowing in the wind.
* * *
Before they knew it, the band’s 10th anniversary was upon them. It felt strange to Kai, because it wasn’t his 10th - he’d joined the band when they’d been together almost a year. Still, he felt choked with emotion when they stood before the audience, thanking them for their massive success.
It really was as if he’d been with them from the very beginning. Maybe it was because he felt that GazettE had been his destiny since the moment he was “reborn” as a visual kei musician.
It was a path he wished he could walk for eternity, but he knew it was impossible. There was only so long a vampire could adopt one walk of life, one identity. Still, he was planning to hold onto this one as long as possible. Hell, he’d fake aging with makeup and become an elder statesman of the industry. Luna Sea - his old idols - were still performing, weren’t they? So were X Japan.
Kai really, really didn’t want to think about the harshest reality of a vampire’s eternal life - that these people around him that he had come to love so much were mortal, and he was not.
* * *
When Kai and Uruha had their personal 10th anniversary, Kai went out of his way to make it as special as possible. He dressed in the kind of clothes that Uruha said were most flattering to him - after all the items for dinner were on the stove and in the oven. All their mutual favorite foods, of course.
The table bore candles, long tapers in elegant holders, because he couldn’t imagine anything but the most romantic of settings for tonight. He looked at them, and remembered the scrawnly candles stuck in bottles from their first ever meeting. What a long way they’d come since then.
As a finishing touch, he made sure he wore a very special necklace Uruha had gotten him awhile ago - two simple rings on a chain. “Our wedding rings,” Uruha had called them, and Kai had worn them constantly for awhile - until they’d shown up in enough photographs that fangirls started seriously questioning whether Kai was married.
There was no way in hell the fans could understand the bond between a vampire and a pet that he truly loved, which went far beyond human understanding of marriage - nobody could, not unless they were part of that bond.
Uruha was out doing a radio interview at the moment. Kai was just removing the last of the foods from the stove when the key turned in the lock.
The guitarist walked in to see his lover looking beautiful, standing by a table covered in delicious things to eat, soft candlelight illuminating his face.
“Welcome home,” Kai said, softly.
Uruha rushed over, throwing his arms around him, and they shared a soft, gentle kiss - punctuated by Kai nipping Uruha’s lips just a tiny bit, drawing a few drops of blood.
“You did that during our first kiss,” Uruha said, leaning back from his beloved.
“I wanted a taste,” Kai said. “A sample - to see if I really liked your blood.”
“And?” Uruha said.
“I kept you, of course,” Kai said. “And it was the best decision I ever made.”
They ate sitting across from each other, so they could see one another in the soft lighting. “I still can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” Uruha said. “It went by so fast.”
“You haven’t been back to a vampire party since, have you?” Kai said.
“God, no,” Uruha said. “The only reason I went was because my family made me.”
“You missed nothing,” Kai said. “I can’t stand being around them, either.” He reached out and put his hand over Uruha’s. “That’s the thing about vampires. They all have eternal life - but most of them have forgotten how to live.”
“What about you?” Uruha said. “Did you ever forget?”
“I was about to,” Kai said. “And then I found music, and you. And I never want to stop living again.”
Suddenly, looking at Uruha sitting there illuminated by candlelight, Kai felt an emotion he thought was peculiar to humans, that those who had eternal life wouldn’t experience - the notion of the fleeting moment in time, of something you wanted to grab onto with both hands and not let go.
* * *
They were shedding their clothes from the moment they left the table - shirts dropped in the living room, pants in the hallway, underwear at the threshold of their bedroom. By the time they tumbled to the sheets, arms around each other and lips locked, they were skin to skin.
“Mmmm,” Kai murmured as his hands moved over territory that was so familiar after a decade together, but which he always thrilled to discover anew. The flat, taut belly, the delicious little pink nipples, the slender, yet strong arms . . .
And those thighs. Oh, yes, those thighs.
Kai might have fetishized that particular body part even more than their fangirls did. Of course, it was with good reason, because they were perfect. Shapely, muscular yet graceful . . .
His hands lingered, tracing their shape with the tips of his fingers, as if he were an artist trying to memorize them, to capture their perfection later on in a painting or sculpture.
Uruha raised his head with a small smile. “Most guys focus on their lovers’ nipples or ass,” he said - but his tone conveyed he wasn’t minding this kind of attention at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“Most guys don’t have thighs like yours,” Kai replied, rubbing the palm of his hand over the smooth skin.
Uruha gave him an expression bordering on a smirk - or at least as close to a smirk as Uruha could come - and sat up, hitching himself to the side of the bed. He sat on the very edge, legs spread apart, an open invitation for Kai to come pay due homage to his favorite body part.
Kai did just that, kneeling on the floor between them, running his hands up and down. He leaned over and brushed his cheek over the skin - so deliciously smooth, not a trace of hair. (Kai had performed the most recent waxing himself, just yesterday).
And then, he touched his tongue to the skin right above his knee, running it along the sensitive inner part of the luscious thing, pausing to kiss, to suck a little. His hand squeezed the other thigh, massaging it a little.
“Oooh,” Uruha murmured. “Mmmm, yes, like that . . .”
Kai licked all the way to the top, then kept moving upward, tracing his tongue over his lover’s balls, making Uruha shudder. He went upward still, following the shaft, running around and around the tip, then moving back down.
“Kai,” the guitarist moaned as the tongue descended back to the sacs again. “Oh, Kai. . .” And down he went, to Uruha’s other thigh, starting to lick along the inner part . . .
Until he suddenly paused and raised his head, giving Uruha one of his famous smiles - seemingly innocent on the surface, but he caught a hint of something underneath, something naughty.
He leaned his head down again, kissing Uruha’s thigh . . .and then opened his mouth, elongating his fangs. He scraped them along the skin, creating that wonderfully wild, pain/pleasure sensation that usually drove Uruha crazy.
Of course, he usually felt it on his neck, not here.
Kai scraped, licked, kissed, raised his head, smiled at Uruha again . . .
And then sank those fangs into his thigh.
Uruha jumped up. “Oh!” he cried. There was a line of pain/pleasure shooting from the sensitive area (yes, yes, Kai had deliberately bit right along a nerve), throbbing all over his body, making him feel warm, and there was the pleasurable sensation of having blood drawn, and dear God, this was wild and sexy and somehow kinky and . . .
Kai drank - it wasn’t nearly as much as he’d get from Uruha’s neck or wrist, of course, not a true feeding (that would come later). But it was a thrill to him to suck on a sexy body part much more intimately than a mere mortal lover could. Plus, there was the added kink factor of this being something that vampires usually Just Didn’t Do.
Even among the living embodiments of sin, there existed the lure of the forbidden.
He lifted his head, putting his finger in his mouth - still containing a bit of Uruha’s blood - and drew it out, bright red. He made sure Uruha saw it.
“Lay back, and lift your hips,” he said, a small trickle of the blood running out of his mouth and down his face. Uruha had an urge to lick it off.
He moved backward on the bed, until he was lying on the mattress in the position Kai wanted - and then, he felt the blood-slicked finger pushing at him. Blood was not good as a regular lube, of course - it got thick and sticky too fast. But for the initial entrance of one finger, it would do.
And then, Uruha felt it push into him, fucking him with his own blood, something so wild and kinky and nasty and forbidden (by both human and vampire standards, he was sure) that it sent hot shudders through the guitarist, and he tilted his hips upward. “Kai . . .”
He fumbled for the nightstand, grabbed their bottle of actual lube and passed it down to the vampire. Kai pulled the finger out, wiped it off, coated it, and slid it back in again, preparing Uruha for real this time.
Uruha lay back, feeling those big, manly fingers penetrate him, stretch him, thrust into him - one, then two, then three. How wonderful that the size of his fingers matched the size of his cock - oh, yes, that cock. Uruha had to wonder how many men and women that huge thing had delighted over the past century-plus. No matter, it was his now (even though he wasn’t opposed to them sharing it with a mutual lover, either).
Kai finished preparing him, lubed his own cock, and lay on top of Uruha, kissing him. Uruha eagerly darted his tongue into Kai’s mouth, seeking the forbidden thrill of tasting his own blood - Kai had pulled the fangs back in so kissing could be safe.
“I love you so much,” Kai said before pressing forward, starting to fill Uruha’s body.
Uruha took a deep breath and relaxed, feeling the familiar stretching, the bit of pain. No matter. He knew that in a few moments, he would be feeling exquisite pleasure.
“Oh, yes,” he moaned when it happened, and he wrapped those thighs around Kai’s hips, trapping him in them, squeezing them together a bit so he was very much aware of them.
“After all this time,” Kai murmured, “you still feel so good. So tight. Like you were made for me, Uruha.”
“I was,” Uruha murmured, rolling his hips upward. “Now, fuck me.”
Kai started to thrust, gently at first, mindful of the man beneath him, and Uruha thrust back, hips moving gracefully along with Kai’s. His hands slid along the other man’s arms, tracing the delicious patterns of muscles (and, yes, Kai’s muscles had developed over the years from drumming, proving that even vampires could build stronger bodies).
Every thrust seemed to be deeper, harder, claiming Uruha little by little, and Uruha let himself be plundered, surrendering by choice, completely and utterly. And then, the warm sensations coming from his lower regions were suddenly spiked by prickles of pain, as Kai opened his mouth, elongating his fangs, and scraped them over his lover’s throat.
“Oh!” Uruha cried. “Yes, please!”
“Do you want me to bite you?” Kai murmured. “Do you want my fangs in your neck?”
“Yes!” Uruha cried.
“Do you want me to drink from you? Make you part of me?”
“Please!” Uruha cried. “Please, oh, Kai . . .”
He licked the spot, as if lubing him with his tongue, and Uruha felt the sharp, jarring sensation of the fangs breaking the skin, the blood rushing out of him, the wild and crazy explosion of hot pleasure that accompanied the stinging pain.
Double penetration. Cock in ass, fangs in neck.
Then the sucking the feeding, the flow from Uruha to Kai. . . and as the fangs pushed in a bit deeper, it set off a fresh wave of pleasure/pain, and Uruha thrust up against him, nearly screaming as an orgasm broke over his body.
And then, the ultimate intimacy, the merging of minds as Kai’s climax overtook him as well. Consciousness melded, blended, no barriers at all between them. They were one being, one blissful being - guitarist and drummer, young and ancient, human and vampire.
When they fell away from each other, back to their own bodies, it was like being split in two. They clung to each other, panting, kissing, unwilling to let the moment go.
“Happy Anniversary,” Uruha said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Kai said, pulling the other man closer. “So much, you have no idea.” He nuzzled Uruha. “I’ve never known anyone like you.”
The guitarist raised his head. “Never?” he said. That word was a lot weightier coming from a vampire than from a mortal.
“Never ever,” Kai said, “and I mean it.”
“Does this mean I’m your all-time favorite pet?” Uruha said, teasingly, giving him a kiss.
Kai wrapped his arms around him again. “More. So much more.”
* * *
Later, Kai lay beside Uruha, watching him sleep and thinking.
The vampire who coined the term “pet” for a regular food source was on to something, because the relationship really was like that between a human and a companion animal. You lavished love on this creature for years, had them at your side constantly . . . only to watch them age, and sicken, and die while you were still young.
It was vampire code, of course, to jettison a pet before they reached that stage. But most vampires hadn’t shared with their humans what he’d shared with Uruha. They had standard spouse or companion relationships. They shared most of life with the person, to be sure, but the vampire would always have a part of their life that was theirs alone - whether it be a career or another outside interest.
They didn’t share in a great artistic adventure with their pet, creating wonderful music, building bonds of strong friendship, watching dream after dream come true. Other vampires would know the strength of the bond at the moment of the mind meld - but they wouldn’t know what it was like to grasp the hand of your pet (your companion, your spouse, your soul mate) on the stage of Bukokan, or Tokyo Dome, or your band’s 10th anniversary celebration.
They were reaching a turning point in their relationship. Uruha was in his early 30s now. Kai would have to make a decision in a couple of years - to cut Uruha loose and let him build his own life while he still could, or turn him.
Making him a vampire would be risky. He wouldn’t let Uruha turn rogue, that was for sure - he’d be with him constantly through the crucial first few months of vampiric life. But therein lay the problem - GazettE would have to declare a hiatus, something PSC would not exactly be happy with. They’d have to fake a health issue in order to do it.
And then, there was the matter of whether Uruha truly wanted this life. For one thing, it wouldn’t be just Kai and Uruha anymore. They’d have to have pets of their own, regular blood sources for each of them. Was Uruha open to the idea of them bringing other people into their relationship, and then discarding them after a certain amount of time?
The other option was letting him go, which Kai didn’t like the sound of. Uruha really was his soul mate - but if it was in his best interest to stay human, and live a normal human life, Kai loved him enough to let him do it.
He’d still be young, vibrant and very beautiful at that stage, of course. He’d have no trouble attracting another mate. Hell, he had possibilities within their own band - he wasn’t sure how Reita would feel about that, being Uruha’s lifelong best friend, but Aoi and Ruki were both definitely prospects.
Of course, there was a third option - violating the vampire code, keeping Uruha around as a companion - though not a regular blood source - as he aged. But could he do that? Could he watch Uruha go through the normal human process of decline, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it?
He held the other man closer, burying his face in his neck, the neck he had drank from so lovingly so many times. He’d never expected to fall so completely and thoroughly in love, to feel so much a part of a human on every conceivable level. Yet, it had happened - and despite his current confusion, he was glad it did.
He lay his head on top of Uruha’s and closed his eyes. The decision was still a couple of years away. For now, he’d continue to enjoy what he had.
Never had a vampire felt so human.
* * *
The mind link between the two ran deeper than either thought it did. While their conscious minds were separate, a thread connected their subconscious minds to each other at all times.
The sleeping Uruha sensed Kai’s distress, his dilemma, over that link - and if Kai could care to look, he’d see Uruha was smiling.
You see, Uruha had figured out this was coming years ago. He knew about the vampire code, about the usual disposal of pets. And he’d already made up his mind how it was going to be resolved.
He was going to stay by Kai’s side. He’d endure any horrible transition period, bring other people into the relationship (why did that matter, anyway, when he and Kai were linked so deeply?), whatever it took.
Besides, he had to admit he found the idea of experiencing life as a vampire pretty fascinating. Heck, they might even let their bandmates in on their secret, and bring them in as part-time pets. (Nobody said a pet HAD to come from a Pledge family). Or maybe . . . just maybe . . . turn them as well, and become a vampiric family.
But in the end, it was all about Kai, and him, and something they had together that was once in a lifetime.
No, more like once in an eternity. Loving forever meant just that, forever.
Chapter: Standalone
Author: Boots
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Supernatural/fantasy, romance, smut
Warnings: Male/male sex, vampirism, thigh worship, some bloodplay
Pairing: Kai X Uruha
Disclaimer: Boys belong to PS Company, I own the story only.
Summary: Uruha has been pledged since birth to be a regular food source for a vampire. He doesn’t know what to expect from such a bond - until he meets a very special bloodsucker who will change his life in more ways than one.
Comments: Written for the uruai Valentine’s Day challenge, where my prompts were “candlelit dinner” and “pet.” Also fills this prompt on the GazettE Kink/Porn Meme: KaixUru, Kai is a vampire and Uru is a mortal. Uru is a addicted to the bite. . . and Kai. Kai is addicted to biting his thighs and neck. . . and Uru. And I’d like to say that this fic is all the fault of aleksiina_26, because I’d had an entirely different idea brewing in my head for the challenge prompt - until she began her fantastic series about Alice Nine being vampires, with the promise of GazettE showing up as a rival vampire clan. (Seems every time someone else writes a good vampire fic, I get inspired to write vampires as well. This is an entirely different vampireverse than the one I did where Ruki was a vampire, by the way).
When Uruha was a rebellious 16-year-old, he found out about his family’s unique calling. It was pretty much by accident, of course. He’d gotten into an argument with his parents about his need to go into music as a career, and was told that such things just weren’t fitting for someone like him.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Why is it not fitting? It’s not like we’re aristocrats or anything! We’re just another family!”
“We are NOT just another family,” his mother snapped back.
“What makes you say that?” the boy said. “We’re as ordinary as Japanese families get!”
“You have no idea,” his mother said.
“Idea of what?” This was getting ridiculous. He could just walk. Nobody was forcing him to stay here, right? He could get a job, have a life of his own . . .
“Of how special we are,” his mother said.
“Oh, yeah, we’re special,” the young musician retorted. “Everyone thinks their family is special! Well, let me tell you, we’re no different than any of the millions of other families whose sons have gone into . . .”
“They haven’t given their sons to the Brotherhood!” his mother cried - and his father glared at her. Not yet. He wasn’t supposed to know about that just yet.
Uruha blinked. “Brotherhood?” he said.
“No, never mind,” his mother said, waving her hand and sitting down. “Forget I said that.”
“No, I’m not going to forget it!” Uruha rushed over to his mother, planting himself in front of her. “What is this Brotherhood?” He looked from his father to his mother and back again. “Is it the Yakuza? Is that it? Have you pledged me to the Yakuza?”
His parents looked at each other and sighed. There was no avoiding the truth now.
“Not the Yakuza,” his mother said. “We’re . . . we’re pledged to offer one of our children as a food source to vampires.”
* * *
They were as old as Japan itself, the lineage of Pledge families. For generation after generation, they had offered at least one child to be the “pet” of a member of the Brotherhood. In return, they received protection, money, and, in some cases, power.
The children weren’t forced into it - at least to the extent where they were just handed over to a vampire as a present. No, when a child of a Pledge family came of age - 20, by Japanese standards - he or she was taken to a party to meet all the members of the Brotherhood who were currently between pets and were looking for a new one. They continued attending parties, continued meeting vampires, until a match was made.
It seemed simple on the surface - the pet provided blood, usually a half-pint or less at a time, to the vampire as needed. The vampire, in return, offered companionship and protection.
But, of course, it went a lot deeper than that - it was treated with the gravity of a marriage. Not all vampires and their pets ended up romantically or sexually involved, but s huge percentage of them did. Some male-female bonds even became marriages. Even those that weren’t sexual became deep friendships.
There was only so long that a vampire could hold onto a pet, however. It was a code of honor among them that they would stop using their bonded humans for blood once they got to middle age. And a lot of vampires - eternally young and beautiful - tired of their pets before that. It was pretty common knowledge that a lot of them would end up dumped as soon as they started looking older than their vampire pair-bonds.
There were cases, though, where a vampire fell so deeply in love with their bonded human that they took the relationship to a new level, one of very permanent commitment. And that was how many a pet ended up as a vampire.
* * *
It took quite awhile for Uruha to end up in a pet relationship. He met nobody who struck his fancy at the vampire parties his parents forced him to attend in exchange for not interfering with his musical dreams. Most of the people there were flat-out boorish. After centuries of life, they tended to become self-absorbed and egocentric.
When he did meet his destined pair-bond, it was another accident.
His band, the GazettE, had been together a year, give or take a few months, when their drummer suddenly quit. Nobody quite knew why, though Uruha suspected it was because he and their other guitarist, Aoi, had suffered a nasty breakup.
“Don’t worry,” their vocalist, Ruki, promised them. “I know a fucking awesome drummer. I’ll bring him in tomorrow.”
And so, a time was set up to meet with this person in their usual rehearsal space - the basement of an abandoned building in a quieter part of town. When you were a struggling VK band, you utilized any space you could find, legal or not.
But meanwhile, Uruha had to attend yet another party. Oh, joy. He wished sometimes that one of his siblings or cousins could take his place on the front lines of boredom every once in awhile - but, no, apparently he was his family’s chosen one. He figured it was because he was considered the best-looking member of their clan.
This event was like every other - having to listen to one story after another about me, me, me, my world travels, my fabulous homes in this country and that country, blah blah, yadda yadda . .
Uruha couldn’t imagine being bonded to one of them until he was in his 40s. Hell, he couldn’t imagine being bonded to one for four minutes.
He had determined that this was yet another evening where he wasn’t going to make a match (sorry, Kaa-san and Tou-san) and was headed out the door when he almost literally bumped into someone just entering the party. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the newcomer said, offering a deep bow.
Uruha sized him up. He sure as hell didn’t look like the vampires here. He had bright, carroty-to-flaming red hair, a cute, round little nose, and unpretentious clothes - black pants, a T-shirt with a stylized skull on it. Also, he was wearing a fair amount of makeup.
He looked to be about Uruha’s age. Obviously, this was another potential pet. Probably forced into it by his parents, too, Uruha thought.
“Not a problem,” Uruha said, bowing back. “And I’m glad to see you. You don’t look anything like most of the people here.”
“Oh, I know I don’t,” said the newcomer, rubbing the side of his head and flashing Uruha a smile that would light up the darkest pit of hell. “Let’s just say I kind of go my own way.”
“I hear you,” Uruha said. “I’m the same way. Though I don’t get to go my own way as much as I’d like.”
“Parents?” said the redhead with the smile. Damn, he did understand where he was coming from.
“Oh, hell, yes,” Uruha said. “So I guess you go through the same thing?”
The newcomer looked rather amused, and shook his head. “I haven’t had that problem in a long, long time.”
“You left home early?” Uruha said. “I’m surprised at that. Most Pledge families . . .”
“Oh, I’m not a pledge,” said the redhead. “You see . . .”
He opened his mouth wider, and suddenly, his canine teeth elongated, sharpened. The classic vampire fangs.
“You’re in the Brotherhood?” Uruha said. “Really?”
“I told you I go my own way,” said the vampire, letting his teeth settle back into human position. “I’m a musician. Visual kei. I just joined a new band, in fact.”
“Really?” Uruha said. “I’m a musician, too!” Holy crap. Holy CRAP. He’d actually met a vampire who was cool. Who was even in the same profession as him. This was too good to be true, wasn’t it?
“What do you play?” said the redheaded vampire.
“Guitar,” Uruha said. “I wanted to play guitar since I first heard Luna Sea.”
“Luna Sea is my favorite, too. When I first got hold of one of their CDs . . .” There was a far-off look in the vampire’s eyes, as if he were remembering something that had made a huge impact on him, a truly life-changing experience - the kind of thing that was rare when you were immortal.
He came back to reality and said, “Look, can we talk somewhere quieter? Like, at my place?”
Uruha gave him a toss of the head. “Is that a pickup line?”
“I don’t use pickup lines,” the vampire said, cheerfully. “I think life’s too short to make a fool out of yourself over someone you want to get to know better - don’t you?”
Uruha smiled at him. He liked this guy already. “Tell me your name, and I’ll go with you.”
“Kai,” said the vampire. “I’m called Kai.”
“Uruha,” he said, reaching out his hand.
He knew in his heart something had begun, something that was going to take him places on several levels.
* * *
They didn’t do anything but talk that first night, sitting around Kai’s little apartment. He said he could actually afford much more - a mansion, in fact - but if he was going to be an up-and-coming musician, he wanted to live like an up-and-coming musician.
They sat around his little table, illuminated with a couple of scrawny candles stuck into soda bottles. They split an order of convenience store noodles - which didn’t surprise Uruha, he’d seen vampires consume human food before, he just knew it had no nutritional value to them.
A candlelit dinner. What an appropriate way to start a romantic partnership.
As they sat there in the flickering light, Kai began to talk about himself. He was well over a hundred years old. He had worked in business when he was younger, running a small company, acquiring leadership skills. But as vampires always do, he had to abandon his venture after a certain number of years, lest people start wondering why the person never got any older.
He spent decades wandering around Japan after that, trying a variety of professions, never finding anything that suited him. He’d always had an interest in music, and had experimented with several different styles and genres - he’d spent several years hanging around jazz clubs at one point, which was when he decided to become a drummer.
“But then, I found Luna Sea,” he said. “And it was like I’d been born all over again. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a visual kei musician.”
They’d talked about their favorite Luna Sea songs, and other musicians they liked, and then the subject of pets came up. “I haven’t had a lot of them,” Kai said. “I usually feed the old-fashioned way - I hunt.”
“You mean, you kill?” Uruha said.
Kai shook his head. “I haven’t had to kill in a hundred years. Most vampires don’t, once they’re past their early stages. No, I mean I seduce an unsuspecting person, put them under hypnosis, and take what I need.” He gave Uruha one of those blinding smiles. “At least I try to make it pleasant for them.”
“And now?” Uruha said. “You must have changed your mind about that if you were at that party.”
Kai nodded. “Having my new life made me realize I was missing something. The music filled up most of my life, but it made me see what I didn’t have all the more.”
“You’re open to having a pet?” Uruha said.
Kai looked down, blushing a bit, sweetly. “If you’re open to having a vampire,” he said.
He looked up, and their eyes met. They held for a moment, and then they both burst out laughing.
Their first kiss was a few minutes later. Kai nipped him just the tiniest bit, saying he wanted a little taste of what was to come.
The next day, when Uruha reported to the basement as scheduled, he saw Kai there. “So, you finally showed up,” Ruki told their perpetually tardy guitarist. “Meet our new drummer.”
“Kai?” Uruha said. “You’re the new . . .”
And they looked at each other and started laughing again, just as they did the night before.
The other band members looked puzzled, looking from one to the other and back again. “You know each other?” said Aoi.
“Let’s say we’ve met,” Uruha said.
* * *
They took it slow, like the development of any other relationship, going on dates together after rehearsals, going to see other bands together. Rushing into things was as bad an idea for this as for any other bond.
Uruha’s family was thrilled, of course. They hadn’t cared if their son bonded with a male vampire or a female one, as long as a bond was made, and they immediately accepted Kai as part of their family - even though they were a bit baffled by the concept of a vampire being a rock musician.
Kai defied most of the human world’s perception of vampires, of course. He could go out in the daytime, although he often wore sunglasses because of his sensitive eyes. He slept in a normal bed or futon, not a coffin. He could see his reflection - he photographed very well, in fact - and could enter a room without being invited.
Just about the only thing that met the standard vampire stereotype was that Kai’s bite was usually on the neck.
It always happened during sex - not every lovemaking session of theirs resulted in a bite (Uruha would have no blood if that were the case), but all bites were during lovemaking sessions. Kai would tease Uruha during foreplay by lightly scraping his neck with his fangs, making him moan a little, the tiny bit of pain spicing the pleasure, offering the promise of more.
He’d continue to scrape the skin as the action between them got more and more intense, making Uruha writhe and moan beneath him, anxious for full consummation.
When Kai sensed Uruha was ready to come, he sank his teeth in the other man’s neck, drawing the blood into his mouth, moaning at the pleasure it created in his own body. Uruha came so hard he thought he was going to explode, the bite only enforcing the pleasure, amplifying it.
And then, there was the split second, during the orgasm and feeding, when Uruha could feel his mind open to Kai’s, the two of them suddenly linked mentally. It was a window into the other man, a point of ultimate connection. There was no Kai, no Uruha, just this shared consciousness.
Uruha could feel what it was to love the drums more than anything, and to feed off the energy of his new bandmates, feeling human in a way he hadn’t in years. He could experience years of sadness, loneliness, confusion, searching - and the joy he felt when he found music.
And then, as the orgasm faded, he was back in his own body, his own mind . . . but it was more intimate an experience than he thought possible. When he lay next to Kai panting, then leaned over for a final kiss, it was more than a standard gesture between lovers.
It was an acknowledgement that yes, I’ve seen you, every part of you, and I accept you. I want you in my life,
It was more intimate than any standard love relationship, and Uruha knew he craved it more than the sex itself.
* * *
On the band’s first anniversary, they moved in together, another little apartment, barely big enough for the two of them.
By their second, Kai had learned to cook. Most vampires only ate in front of humans, to keep up appearances of being normal. Not Kai. He was fascinated by food, the way people can only be fascinated by things they couldn’t really have.
Besides, he liked making Uruha happy, and cooking things that appealed to him.
They were able to move into a bigger place by their fourth anniversary, when the band’s career took off and gained momentum like a snowball rolling downhill. Before they knew it, they’d achieved the ultimate goal of any Japanese band: standing on the stage of Nippon Budokan. Kai and Uruha stood hand-in-hand after the final encore, wiping away tears.
Away from the stage, they lived in a cozy sort of rock and roll domesticity. Uruha would write songs in the bedroom while Kai worked on leader business in the living room. Sometimes friends visited them in their home; others, they went out with their friends.
And like any other couple, they had occasional fights. Reita would answer his door to find his longtime best friend there, fuming. “Who the hell does he think he is?” Uruha said. “That ‘I’m the leader’ stuff ends the moment he walks in our door! If he pulls that crap one more time . . .”
Like any best friend, Reita would offer Uruha drinks and a sympathetic ear until Kai would inevitably come knocking at the door, ready to talk it out, kiss and make up, and yes, apologize - as long as Uruha apologized as well.
They’d leave hand-in-hand, with Kai telling Reita, “I can’t stay away from him. He’s got what I need.”
* * *
“Why do families give their children to the Brotherhood?” Uruha said one night as they unloaded their dishwasher and stacked the contents back in the cabinets. Like many other young couples, they tended to just keep loading the dishwasher until they had no clean plates left, so there was quite a bit to stack.
“Why?” Kai thought a moment, staring into the teacup he was holding as if he expected to see the answer there. “There’s a lot of reasons. Some families think we can provide them with wealth and power. In the case of some of the older vampires, well, they can, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Most of us aren’t exactly politically connected. Then, there’s families who just like the idea of having a guaranteed mate for their child.” Never mond that the mating usually wasn’t for life, though the families were also aware that discarded pets were usually set for life financially.
“And my family?” Uruha said. “What do you think they were after?”
“They never discussed it with you?” Kai said, looking over his shoulder as he arranged silverware in the drawer.
Uruha shook his head. “They just wanted me to end up as a vampire’s pet. They didn’t say why.”
“Your family’s in the most common group of Pledge families,” Kai said. “They just want protection - mostly from Rogues.”
“Rogues? You mean, evil vampires?”
“I wouldn’t call them evil,” Kai said. “They’re, well, feral vampires. Someone turned them and then didn’t look after them very well, The first couple of months of a vampire’s life are pretty hard. They literally have to be watched like children, and their maker has to keep bringing them blood constantly - usually animals. If the maker abandons the fledgling too soon, well . .. “
Kai shut the drawer and said, matter-of-factly, “That’s where the reputation of vampires as mindless killers and monster comes from. Because that’s pretty much what Rogues are.”
Uruha frowned. “There’s a lot of them?” he said.
“Unfortunately,” Kai said. “There’s some vampires out there who consider it some kind of macho game to see how many people they can turn. Usually, they prey on people who are at the end of their rope - homeless people, teenagers who have run away or been thrown out . . .” It suddenly occurred to Kai that Ruki might have ended up an easy mark for these people. His extreme passion for music - having something to live for - had saved him.
“So . . . when families decide to have their children be pets . . . is it because they’ve had someone killed by a Rogue?”
Kai nodded. “We’ve always kept a watch on Rogue activity,” he said. “Whenever one of us heard of an attack, it was common practice to approach the family and offer our eternal protection, in return for . . .”
“One of their children being pledged to the Brotherhood,” Uruha said.
Kai nodded. “It’s not such a bad thing, is it? I mean, you’ve been happy?”
Uruha went over to Kai and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close. “Happy? Happy isn’t the word. I . . .” He leaned his head against Kai. “I love you so much it hurts.”
Kai snuggled closer, stroking Uruha’s hair. “Not from my teeth, I hope,” he said, jokingly.
“That hurts in a nice way,” Uruha said.
They laughed, and kissed, and headed for their bedroom. Another night of the unique passion that only they could share was ahead.
* * *
Single, single, single, tour, album, tour, tour final, start all over again. Life seemed to go by in an endless blur for the increasingly popular GazettE, who were now PSC’s marquee act. Uruha realized that it was probably a lucky thing that Kai had the pet arrangement with him, because if he had to live as a “traditional” vampire, he’d have no time to hunt.
Kai’s status was a secret from the rest of the band - even from Reita, Uruha’s closest friend since childhood. “Well, if anyone specifically asks me if I’m a vampire, I won’t deny it,” Kai told Uruha with one of his delicious smiles. “But I don’t think it’s going to come up that often.”
They flirted with and fantasized about the idea of telling a bandmate their secret and bringing him into bed with them for a threesome - complete with blood-drinking. During one such discussion - nestled together in their bed after lovemaking, comforter pulled up to their necks, covering the fresh marks on Uruha’s - the topic of what their bandmates’ blood would taste like came up.
“Ruki would be dark and intense,” Kai said. “A rich flavor. Very complex - a lot of subflavors in there.
“What about Aoi?” Uruha said.
“Wild and spicy,” Kai said. “Definitely kicky - and it grabs you right away and doesn’t let go. And Reita would be a straightforward taste, but very satisfying.”
“And what about me?” Uruha said. “What do I taste like to you?”
Kai leaned his head against his lover’s. “Sweet. But spicy, too. And warm. Always warm. Not just the temperature . . . it’s the kind of flavor that warms you up from the inside out. Like really good curry.” Then, with a kiss, he added, “Just without the risk of indigestion.”
“Do you even get indigestion?” Uruha said.
“No,” Kai replied. “But I’ve seen humans get it, and it makes me very glad I’m a vampire.”
They laughed, nuzzling each other. The truth was that Uruha’s flavor, his taste, the whole way his blood felt when it hit Kai’s body had become an addiction to him, just like the sensations of being fed from, the beyond-intense pleasure, had become an addiction to Uruha.
* * *
Every time they thought they’d hit the pinnacle of their career, there was another high. Suddenly, the band who thought that Budokan would be the experience of a lifetime for them found themselves about to play Tokyo Dome.
It was during the run-up to that momentous occsion, when they were starting to have rehearsals on a regular basis, that Uruha got a demonstration of just what being under the protection of a vampire meant.
The rehearsal studio’s back door opened onto a dark alley. Uruha was halfway through the rehearsal when he realized he’d forgotten to return a call from the band’s liaison at ESP, the guitar company. He figured he’d step outside, make the call - the ESP reps, like everyone else in their business, were available far into the night - and then get back to practice.
He was pulling out his phone and getting ready to dial when he became aware of . . . a sound. Like a scurrying. The kind of noise one associated with a mouse - except this sounded like one hell of a huge mouse.
Uruha glanced around, but saw nothing unusual. He shrugged and returned his attention to his recent calls list, trying to find the number he needed.
And then something came flying out of the darkness, springing like a panther, and crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. The phone fell from his hand, skittering across the ground.
“What the . . . “ he said, raising his head - only to find himself looking at a truly frightening human face. At least, it had been human at one point. The eyes were sunken, the skin pockmarked, the chin covered with a ragged beard, matching the long, matted hair . . .
And then, there were the fangs in the wide-open, slavering mouth. They looked not unlike Kai’s, but there was nothing erotic about them at all. These looked solely like instruments of death.
There was a horrifying moment when all Uruha could think was he was going to die, that this creature could probably drain him in a second, that . . .
But before he could complete the thought, something flew out of the back door of the rehearsal hall like a bullet, hitting the thing atop Uruha and knocking it off. The two of them rolled away, struggling, fighting with each other . . .
Kai. It was Kai. He’d come to Uruha’s rescue, like something out of a goddamn fairy tale.
The drummer raised his head and shouted, “Look away, Uruha. This is going to get ugly.”
He did what he was told, but he couldn’t shut out the horrific, animal-like screaming (thank God the walls inside were soundproofed), and the sounds of ripping, and the strange grunts that finally slowed, then stopped.
And then, Kai’s arms were around him and pulling him close. Uruha just melted against him, not caring that he reeked of a very foul-smelling blood, like meat that had been left out in the sun for a day.
“Uruha,” he said, “are you all right? The Rouge didn’t hurt you?”
Uruha nodded. “I’m all right. What happened to . . .”
“It was for the better,” Kai said. “When they become Rogues, they can’t be brought back. They’ll never have a real human thought again. They’re just animals, living on instinct. They’re killing machines.”
“How did you know . . .” Uruha said. Oh, damn, how long had he been cold and trembling? His hands reached up, grabbed Kai’s grimy shirt and held onto it for dear life.
“I felt it,” Kai said, softly.
Of course, he felt it. A vampire would have a psychic bond with his pet, wouldn't he? There’d be little point in the whole “protection” thing if he didn’t.
And, of all things, Uruha found himself saying, “You can’t go back into rehearsal like that.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kai said, laughing a little and rubbing the back of his head. “I look a mess, don’t I?”
So cute and sweet and boyish. One would never know that a few minutes ago, he was savagely destroying a monster.
“Maybe we should just call off practice for the rest of . . .” Uruha said.
“No, no, text the others and tell them we’ll be delayed,” Kai said. “We’ll explain later.”
As it turned out, there was a love hotel and a Don Quixote - a discount store roughly equivalent to Wal Mart, only a hell of a lot more chaotic - around the corner. They got a room and Kai took a shower while Uruha ran out quickly for a change of clothes - a plain pair of jeans and T-shirt. Within an hour, they were back at practice.
“Where the fuck were you?” Ruki said as they walked back in.
“I ran into somebody unpleasant,” Uruha said.
“Oh, an ex?” said Aoi, looking up for his guitar.
“Something like that,” Kai said.
Nobody questioned Kai’s change of clothes. Being in visual kei for as long as they had taught one that sometimes, well, strange things just happened.
Later, Uruha asked Kai if any traces of the Rogue were left. He didn’t want to say “anything that the police might find,” but the implication was there.
“Don’t worry,” Kai said. “I took care of it.”
And indeed, if anyone were to look in that alley after Kai and Uruha had left it, the only indication they’d have that anything was out of the ordinary was some fine black ash blowing in the wind.
* * *
Before they knew it, the band’s 10th anniversary was upon them. It felt strange to Kai, because it wasn’t his 10th - he’d joined the band when they’d been together almost a year. Still, he felt choked with emotion when they stood before the audience, thanking them for their massive success.
It really was as if he’d been with them from the very beginning. Maybe it was because he felt that GazettE had been his destiny since the moment he was “reborn” as a visual kei musician.
It was a path he wished he could walk for eternity, but he knew it was impossible. There was only so long a vampire could adopt one walk of life, one identity. Still, he was planning to hold onto this one as long as possible. Hell, he’d fake aging with makeup and become an elder statesman of the industry. Luna Sea - his old idols - were still performing, weren’t they? So were X Japan.
Kai really, really didn’t want to think about the harshest reality of a vampire’s eternal life - that these people around him that he had come to love so much were mortal, and he was not.
* * *
When Kai and Uruha had their personal 10th anniversary, Kai went out of his way to make it as special as possible. He dressed in the kind of clothes that Uruha said were most flattering to him - after all the items for dinner were on the stove and in the oven. All their mutual favorite foods, of course.
The table bore candles, long tapers in elegant holders, because he couldn’t imagine anything but the most romantic of settings for tonight. He looked at them, and remembered the scrawnly candles stuck in bottles from their first ever meeting. What a long way they’d come since then.
As a finishing touch, he made sure he wore a very special necklace Uruha had gotten him awhile ago - two simple rings on a chain. “Our wedding rings,” Uruha had called them, and Kai had worn them constantly for awhile - until they’d shown up in enough photographs that fangirls started seriously questioning whether Kai was married.
There was no way in hell the fans could understand the bond between a vampire and a pet that he truly loved, which went far beyond human understanding of marriage - nobody could, not unless they were part of that bond.
Uruha was out doing a radio interview at the moment. Kai was just removing the last of the foods from the stove when the key turned in the lock.
The guitarist walked in to see his lover looking beautiful, standing by a table covered in delicious things to eat, soft candlelight illuminating his face.
“Welcome home,” Kai said, softly.
Uruha rushed over, throwing his arms around him, and they shared a soft, gentle kiss - punctuated by Kai nipping Uruha’s lips just a tiny bit, drawing a few drops of blood.
“You did that during our first kiss,” Uruha said, leaning back from his beloved.
“I wanted a taste,” Kai said. “A sample - to see if I really liked your blood.”
“And?” Uruha said.
“I kept you, of course,” Kai said. “And it was the best decision I ever made.”
They ate sitting across from each other, so they could see one another in the soft lighting. “I still can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” Uruha said. “It went by so fast.”
“You haven’t been back to a vampire party since, have you?” Kai said.
“God, no,” Uruha said. “The only reason I went was because my family made me.”
“You missed nothing,” Kai said. “I can’t stand being around them, either.” He reached out and put his hand over Uruha’s. “That’s the thing about vampires. They all have eternal life - but most of them have forgotten how to live.”
“What about you?” Uruha said. “Did you ever forget?”
“I was about to,” Kai said. “And then I found music, and you. And I never want to stop living again.”
Suddenly, looking at Uruha sitting there illuminated by candlelight, Kai felt an emotion he thought was peculiar to humans, that those who had eternal life wouldn’t experience - the notion of the fleeting moment in time, of something you wanted to grab onto with both hands and not let go.
* * *
They were shedding their clothes from the moment they left the table - shirts dropped in the living room, pants in the hallway, underwear at the threshold of their bedroom. By the time they tumbled to the sheets, arms around each other and lips locked, they were skin to skin.
“Mmmm,” Kai murmured as his hands moved over territory that was so familiar after a decade together, but which he always thrilled to discover anew. The flat, taut belly, the delicious little pink nipples, the slender, yet strong arms . . .
And those thighs. Oh, yes, those thighs.
Kai might have fetishized that particular body part even more than their fangirls did. Of course, it was with good reason, because they were perfect. Shapely, muscular yet graceful . . .
His hands lingered, tracing their shape with the tips of his fingers, as if he were an artist trying to memorize them, to capture their perfection later on in a painting or sculpture.
Uruha raised his head with a small smile. “Most guys focus on their lovers’ nipples or ass,” he said - but his tone conveyed he wasn’t minding this kind of attention at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“Most guys don’t have thighs like yours,” Kai replied, rubbing the palm of his hand over the smooth skin.
Uruha gave him an expression bordering on a smirk - or at least as close to a smirk as Uruha could come - and sat up, hitching himself to the side of the bed. He sat on the very edge, legs spread apart, an open invitation for Kai to come pay due homage to his favorite body part.
Kai did just that, kneeling on the floor between them, running his hands up and down. He leaned over and brushed his cheek over the skin - so deliciously smooth, not a trace of hair. (Kai had performed the most recent waxing himself, just yesterday).
And then, he touched his tongue to the skin right above his knee, running it along the sensitive inner part of the luscious thing, pausing to kiss, to suck a little. His hand squeezed the other thigh, massaging it a little.
“Oooh,” Uruha murmured. “Mmmm, yes, like that . . .”
Kai licked all the way to the top, then kept moving upward, tracing his tongue over his lover’s balls, making Uruha shudder. He went upward still, following the shaft, running around and around the tip, then moving back down.
“Kai,” the guitarist moaned as the tongue descended back to the sacs again. “Oh, Kai. . .” And down he went, to Uruha’s other thigh, starting to lick along the inner part . . .
Until he suddenly paused and raised his head, giving Uruha one of his famous smiles - seemingly innocent on the surface, but he caught a hint of something underneath, something naughty.
He leaned his head down again, kissing Uruha’s thigh . . .and then opened his mouth, elongating his fangs. He scraped them along the skin, creating that wonderfully wild, pain/pleasure sensation that usually drove Uruha crazy.
Of course, he usually felt it on his neck, not here.
Kai scraped, licked, kissed, raised his head, smiled at Uruha again . . .
And then sank those fangs into his thigh.
Uruha jumped up. “Oh!” he cried. There was a line of pain/pleasure shooting from the sensitive area (yes, yes, Kai had deliberately bit right along a nerve), throbbing all over his body, making him feel warm, and there was the pleasurable sensation of having blood drawn, and dear God, this was wild and sexy and somehow kinky and . . .
Kai drank - it wasn’t nearly as much as he’d get from Uruha’s neck or wrist, of course, not a true feeding (that would come later). But it was a thrill to him to suck on a sexy body part much more intimately than a mere mortal lover could. Plus, there was the added kink factor of this being something that vampires usually Just Didn’t Do.
Even among the living embodiments of sin, there existed the lure of the forbidden.
He lifted his head, putting his finger in his mouth - still containing a bit of Uruha’s blood - and drew it out, bright red. He made sure Uruha saw it.
“Lay back, and lift your hips,” he said, a small trickle of the blood running out of his mouth and down his face. Uruha had an urge to lick it off.
He moved backward on the bed, until he was lying on the mattress in the position Kai wanted - and then, he felt the blood-slicked finger pushing at him. Blood was not good as a regular lube, of course - it got thick and sticky too fast. But for the initial entrance of one finger, it would do.
And then, Uruha felt it push into him, fucking him with his own blood, something so wild and kinky and nasty and forbidden (by both human and vampire standards, he was sure) that it sent hot shudders through the guitarist, and he tilted his hips upward. “Kai . . .”
He fumbled for the nightstand, grabbed their bottle of actual lube and passed it down to the vampire. Kai pulled the finger out, wiped it off, coated it, and slid it back in again, preparing Uruha for real this time.
Uruha lay back, feeling those big, manly fingers penetrate him, stretch him, thrust into him - one, then two, then three. How wonderful that the size of his fingers matched the size of his cock - oh, yes, that cock. Uruha had to wonder how many men and women that huge thing had delighted over the past century-plus. No matter, it was his now (even though he wasn’t opposed to them sharing it with a mutual lover, either).
Kai finished preparing him, lubed his own cock, and lay on top of Uruha, kissing him. Uruha eagerly darted his tongue into Kai’s mouth, seeking the forbidden thrill of tasting his own blood - Kai had pulled the fangs back in so kissing could be safe.
“I love you so much,” Kai said before pressing forward, starting to fill Uruha’s body.
Uruha took a deep breath and relaxed, feeling the familiar stretching, the bit of pain. No matter. He knew that in a few moments, he would be feeling exquisite pleasure.
“Oh, yes,” he moaned when it happened, and he wrapped those thighs around Kai’s hips, trapping him in them, squeezing them together a bit so he was very much aware of them.
“After all this time,” Kai murmured, “you still feel so good. So tight. Like you were made for me, Uruha.”
“I was,” Uruha murmured, rolling his hips upward. “Now, fuck me.”
Kai started to thrust, gently at first, mindful of the man beneath him, and Uruha thrust back, hips moving gracefully along with Kai’s. His hands slid along the other man’s arms, tracing the delicious patterns of muscles (and, yes, Kai’s muscles had developed over the years from drumming, proving that even vampires could build stronger bodies).
Every thrust seemed to be deeper, harder, claiming Uruha little by little, and Uruha let himself be plundered, surrendering by choice, completely and utterly. And then, the warm sensations coming from his lower regions were suddenly spiked by prickles of pain, as Kai opened his mouth, elongating his fangs, and scraped them over his lover’s throat.
“Oh!” Uruha cried. “Yes, please!”
“Do you want me to bite you?” Kai murmured. “Do you want my fangs in your neck?”
“Yes!” Uruha cried.
“Do you want me to drink from you? Make you part of me?”
“Please!” Uruha cried. “Please, oh, Kai . . .”
He licked the spot, as if lubing him with his tongue, and Uruha felt the sharp, jarring sensation of the fangs breaking the skin, the blood rushing out of him, the wild and crazy explosion of hot pleasure that accompanied the stinging pain.
Double penetration. Cock in ass, fangs in neck.
Then the sucking the feeding, the flow from Uruha to Kai. . . and as the fangs pushed in a bit deeper, it set off a fresh wave of pleasure/pain, and Uruha thrust up against him, nearly screaming as an orgasm broke over his body.
And then, the ultimate intimacy, the merging of minds as Kai’s climax overtook him as well. Consciousness melded, blended, no barriers at all between them. They were one being, one blissful being - guitarist and drummer, young and ancient, human and vampire.
When they fell away from each other, back to their own bodies, it was like being split in two. They clung to each other, panting, kissing, unwilling to let the moment go.
“Happy Anniversary,” Uruha said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Kai said, pulling the other man closer. “So much, you have no idea.” He nuzzled Uruha. “I’ve never known anyone like you.”
The guitarist raised his head. “Never?” he said. That word was a lot weightier coming from a vampire than from a mortal.
“Never ever,” Kai said, “and I mean it.”
“Does this mean I’m your all-time favorite pet?” Uruha said, teasingly, giving him a kiss.
Kai wrapped his arms around him again. “More. So much more.”
* * *
Later, Kai lay beside Uruha, watching him sleep and thinking.
The vampire who coined the term “pet” for a regular food source was on to something, because the relationship really was like that between a human and a companion animal. You lavished love on this creature for years, had them at your side constantly . . . only to watch them age, and sicken, and die while you were still young.
It was vampire code, of course, to jettison a pet before they reached that stage. But most vampires hadn’t shared with their humans what he’d shared with Uruha. They had standard spouse or companion relationships. They shared most of life with the person, to be sure, but the vampire would always have a part of their life that was theirs alone - whether it be a career or another outside interest.
They didn’t share in a great artistic adventure with their pet, creating wonderful music, building bonds of strong friendship, watching dream after dream come true. Other vampires would know the strength of the bond at the moment of the mind meld - but they wouldn’t know what it was like to grasp the hand of your pet (your companion, your spouse, your soul mate) on the stage of Bukokan, or Tokyo Dome, or your band’s 10th anniversary celebration.
They were reaching a turning point in their relationship. Uruha was in his early 30s now. Kai would have to make a decision in a couple of years - to cut Uruha loose and let him build his own life while he still could, or turn him.
Making him a vampire would be risky. He wouldn’t let Uruha turn rogue, that was for sure - he’d be with him constantly through the crucial first few months of vampiric life. But therein lay the problem - GazettE would have to declare a hiatus, something PSC would not exactly be happy with. They’d have to fake a health issue in order to do it.
And then, there was the matter of whether Uruha truly wanted this life. For one thing, it wouldn’t be just Kai and Uruha anymore. They’d have to have pets of their own, regular blood sources for each of them. Was Uruha open to the idea of them bringing other people into their relationship, and then discarding them after a certain amount of time?
The other option was letting him go, which Kai didn’t like the sound of. Uruha really was his soul mate - but if it was in his best interest to stay human, and live a normal human life, Kai loved him enough to let him do it.
He’d still be young, vibrant and very beautiful at that stage, of course. He’d have no trouble attracting another mate. Hell, he had possibilities within their own band - he wasn’t sure how Reita would feel about that, being Uruha’s lifelong best friend, but Aoi and Ruki were both definitely prospects.
Of course, there was a third option - violating the vampire code, keeping Uruha around as a companion - though not a regular blood source - as he aged. But could he do that? Could he watch Uruha go through the normal human process of decline, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it?
He held the other man closer, burying his face in his neck, the neck he had drank from so lovingly so many times. He’d never expected to fall so completely and thoroughly in love, to feel so much a part of a human on every conceivable level. Yet, it had happened - and despite his current confusion, he was glad it did.
He lay his head on top of Uruha’s and closed his eyes. The decision was still a couple of years away. For now, he’d continue to enjoy what he had.
Never had a vampire felt so human.
* * *
The mind link between the two ran deeper than either thought it did. While their conscious minds were separate, a thread connected their subconscious minds to each other at all times.
The sleeping Uruha sensed Kai’s distress, his dilemma, over that link - and if Kai could care to look, he’d see Uruha was smiling.
You see, Uruha had figured out this was coming years ago. He knew about the vampire code, about the usual disposal of pets. And he’d already made up his mind how it was going to be resolved.
He was going to stay by Kai’s side. He’d endure any horrible transition period, bring other people into the relationship (why did that matter, anyway, when he and Kai were linked so deeply?), whatever it took.
Besides, he had to admit he found the idea of experiencing life as a vampire pretty fascinating. Heck, they might even let their bandmates in on their secret, and bring them in as part-time pets. (Nobody said a pet HAD to come from a Pledge family). Or maybe . . . just maybe . . . turn them as well, and become a vampiric family.
But in the end, it was all about Kai, and him, and something they had together that was once in a lifetime.
No, more like once in an eternity. Loving forever meant just that, forever.