Oikakeru Yume

Author’s Note: Yes, as promised, there is another “romantic interlude” in this chapter. After all, I DID say this was going to be a yaoi series, didn’t I? What can I do if my main characters just can’t keep their hands off one another (except write every little detail for all of us to gawk over)? Besides, after last month, I think they deserve some down time, don’t you? Have a good one!


May


Menumorout was destroyed and the attacks against Hide and Taki ceased; for the time being. They were able to get back to a semi-normal life. Unfortunately, the knowledge that he was now the master vampire didn’t sit well with the young vampire. The thought permeated every aspect of his being, even invading his sleep. He hadn’t dreamed in a hundred years, so the first dream took him completely by surprise. Now, they were a constant, vivid and violent... and thoroughly frightening.

“Vampires do NOT have nightmares,” he chided himself after waking up in a pool of sweat with no Taki in sight. Yet he continued to have the dreams, each one more dramatic than the last.

One particular morning, with the moon still high in the sky, Hide was awakened by Taki’s persistent shaking. “Wake up, Hide. C’mon, baby, wake up.”

His body still laden with sleep, Hide turned to face his lover, murmuring something unintelligible.

“Don’t just fall asleep again, damn it. Wake up!” Taki groused, shaking Hide harder.

Heavy-lidded eyes opened, slowly focusing on Taki’s image, fuzzy in the soft glow of the bedside lamp. “Hmm?”

“Don’t ‘hmm’ me,” the younger man complained. “You’ve been fighting the vamps in your sleep again and keeping me awake all night while you’re at it. You just started screaming when I woke you up.”

“Oh Taki… I’m sorry,” Hide apologized, softly, finally wakening enough to be coherent. Screaming in his sleep… now there was something new. Taki had never mentioned THAT before which led Hide to believe that he’d probably never done it before.

Taki sighed heavily as he fell back against the headboard of their bed. “You’ve got to get past this, Hide, because you’re killing me.” The comment was accented by a huge yawn as Taki’s exhausted eyes met Hide’s sleepy ones.

All was still for a moment, until Hide drew himself upright, leaning against the younger man. “I don’t want to do this,” he complained.

Taki shook his head in sympathy. “I know you don’t, Hide, but what other choice do you have?”

“I didn’t ask to be a vampire,” Hide lamented.

Taki pulled the vampire into the circle of his arms. “I know, baby… I know.” He stroked the titian hair, comfortingly. “We just have to figure out how to deal with this.”

“How?” Hide wailed.

“Calm, baby… calm. You got rid of the old master vamp, which made you the new master vamp. I know it sucks, but you have to look at it from a different perspective. YOU’RE in control now. They have to live by YOUR rules. They have to do what YOU tell them.”

Hide looked at Taki, not quite comprehending.

“Baby, don’t you get it? Your word is law. If you think about it, you got what you wanted, just not in the way you expected to. If you tell them to leave us alone, they HAVE to leave us alone.”

A spark of realization lit behind Hide’s eyes. “You’re right.”

“You really should say something to them,” Taki encouraged. “Tell them what you want… what you expect from them. Let them know who the boss is.”

Hide sighed heavily. “I will… but not right now. I still have to get used to this. I’ll talk to them when I’m ready.”

Taki chewed on his lower lip. “I wouldn’t wait too long, if I were you. They don’t exactly seem like the patient sort, you know.”

“I know. I’ll get to it.”

Unfortunately, the days turned to weeks as the vampires’ awaited word from their new master, but Hide had yet to acknowledge them, much less issue them any orders. In their anger and confusion, they began to fight amongst themselves, essentially splitting into two factions: the first faction, comprised of the younger vampires who saw Hide as the way of the future and wanted to keep him as the master, and the second faction, mostly the few surviving followers of Menumorout wanted to destroy Hide at all costs. The dissention between the two groups was escalating daily, threatening to become an all-out civil war.

Taki absorbed all of the information he could gather from the newspapers, television news reports and whatever he could find on their computer. The situation wasn’t getting any better. Even HE recognized the fact that most of the trouble brewing could be attributed to the older vampires, Menumorout’s brood. He knew that Hide needed to do something about those older vamps quickly before they succeeded in doing something to him. They were out to destroy Hide and hell would freeze before Taki would allow that to happen. But, if there was one thing he’d learned in his time with Hide it was that, although retribution felt great when you achieved it, plain avoidance always seemed to work out better in the long run.

They needed a plan.

Unfortunately, the older vampires weren’t willing to wait for Hide to get off his duff and confront them. They were busy wreaking havoc all over the country. The younger vampires tried to fight back, to defend themselves and what was rightfully theirs, but they were young and inexperienced. They were also disorganized, something that Hide should have considered before he’d decided to just ignore everything.

So, the skirmishes became battles, small territorial fights became all-out turf wars. And the streets of the country came to look much like the inner-cities of America, where gangs ran rampant and innocent people were forced to hide or become casualties.

Finally, Taki couldn’t take it any longer.

“Hide, you’ve got to do something,” he warned, as they sat watching the news one night.

Teal eyes turned to look at him.

“Don’t just sit there looking at me,” the younger man groused. He was angry at the vampire for letting things progress as far as they had. Hide had the power to stop it, but still he did nothing. And now things had gotten out-of-hand. Innocents were being caught in the cross-fire as vampires burned out other vampire lairs and general mayhem prevailed. “You have to do something. You have to stop this.”

“Do what?” Hide asked.

“You’re the damn master vampire, idiot!” Hide spat, his ire increasing with each word. “Tell them to stop. What’s so hard about that?” Taki had to keep telling himself to calm down because it always ended badly when he got too angry with Hide. It usually ended up with Hide getting physically hurt, as impossible as that seemed. “Damn, Hide, use your head. You HAVE to talk to them. You can’t keep ignoring them hoping the problem will go away. It won’t! It’s only getting worse. The longer you let this go on, the more people are going to suffer. Can’t you see that?”

Tears welled in the blue-green eyes… which only made Taki more furious.

“And quit your damn crying! You think your TEARS are going to solve anything? They’re not! Get off your ass and make a move. Menumorout’s vamps are tearing this country apart. And you’re letting them. Pretty soon there won’t be a much country left, just anarchy. Is THAT what you want? Just because you’re scared of what you’ve become doesn’t mean you have the right to screw up everyone else’s life. It’s your responsibility to make sure that things like this don’t happen. Damn it, Hide. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and DO SOMETHING!” By this time Taki was standing in front of Hide, gesturing wildly. He took two steps back, trying to place some distance between himself and the vampire, since he REALLY felt like smacking Hide at that moment, and that wouldn’t help matters any.

The tear-stained face studied his. “I need help, Taki,” Hide finally spoke, the words so soft that Taki could barely make them out. “I can’t do this by myself. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Who the hell said you were going to do this by yourself? What the hell am I?” Taki growled. At Hide’s confused reaction, Taki continued, “We’re partners, aren’t we? I’ve stuck with you this long, through all of this other crap. Did you think I was just going to say ‘screw it’ and walk away now?”

Hide was about to say something, but, intelligently, elected not to. Apparently, Taki had already given this a lot of thought. Better to let Taki have his say than get in his way. His ideas, though far-fetched at times, were usually pretty successful. “What should I do?” Hide finally asked.

The four most calming words Taki could have hoped to hear. It was about freakin’ time. Sitting on the floor in front of Hide, Taki gave the vampire a brief run-down of what he thought should be done to quell the mounting problem with the vampires in the country. Hide had been so afraid of becoming the master vampire, that he hadn’t given any thought to the rest of the vampires, though as Taki pointed out, they really WERE his responsibility.

Hide listened carefully, considering Taki’s ideas. They were plausible. “But how do we tell them?” he asked.

“Easy…” Taki replied. “Use the Web,” he said, referring to the computer. “We’ll post a message calling for a meeting. We’ll give them a time and a place. Then we’ll see who shows up.” At Hide’s panicked reaction, he placed a hand on the vampire’s knee and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. But… you’re going to have to get over this. You can’t be freaking out every time you have to do some ‘master vampire’ crap or all hell’s going to break loose. No more hiding in your nice house in the hills. You’re going to have to learn to lead them, Hide.”

It was a hell of a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who’d shunned almost all contact with the outside world for a hundred years. It would be a major obstacle to overcome. Hide scanned the earnest face of the man sitting on the floor before him and knew, all at once, that with Taki at his side, he could do it. Interesting, that a vampire should have to rely on a human to find strength, but, then again, Hide and Taki were about as far from normal as you could possibly get. If anything, they were a study in irony.

Taki did as he’d promised, renting a large conference room in Shinjuku and scheduling the meeting. Then he typed the message up and posted it to as many vamp message boards as he could find on the ‘Net, hoping they would reach enough of the vampires to work out a solution. In the meantime, he helped Hide practice what the vampire would say. The day of the meeting was fast approaching and Hide was getting more and more nervous by the second.

“You’ll be okay,” Taki assured him. “I’ll be with you the whole time. If you start getting claustrophobic, just look at me. Forget that there’s anyone else in the room except you and me.”

Hide would have to remember that, since he felt the walls closing in already and the meeting date hadn’t even arrived yet. It came up quickly, though.

On the day of the meeting, Taki uncharacteristically woke early to prepare breakfast, since he knew Hide would be too much of a wreck to do it. He was right. When he walked into their bathroom, he found the vampire sitting on the floor, head against the side of the furo, moaning. “Hide,” he cried, rushing to the vampire’s side. “Are you okay?”

“Stomach hurts… dizzy,” the vampire replied, softly, his body making retching movements as he pitched forward, toward the toilet.

Taki recognized the symptoms immediately and chuckled. “You’re not dying, Hide. It’s just nerves. Let’s get you some food. That should help.” Lifting the vampire, he helped Hide walk into the dining room, sitting him at the table and plying him with pancakes. “Eat,” he commanded, to which Hide reluctantly obeyed.

He had to admit, Taki was right, the food did make him feel better. He HATED when Taki was right about things like this. He’d hoped he really WAS too sick to face whatever vampires might show up for the meeting that night. No such luck.

The rest of the day was spent going over their plans for the vampires’ future. Taki kept the food and drinks’ coming to be certain they were both nourished enough to face the evening. The hours passed too quickly for Hide as the uneasy feeling he’d been fighting increased with each tick of the clock. “You’ll be fine,” Taki told him, placing a steady hand on the vampire’s shoulder. Tugging Taki to him, Hide hugged him, tightly. Tilting Hide’s head down, Taki pressed a kiss on the top of the vampire’s head. “C’mon. It’s time.”

They headed out the door and into the unknown.

Hide liked the way the conference room was set up, where he would be sitting among the other vampires instead of on a stage or pedestal. He was uncomfortable enough with the situation. Making him stand out now would have only made it worse. Then they started arriving, dozens of people, filing in to take their seats, all looking just as apprehensive at Hide as he was looking at them. They all knew who he was, either through first hand experience or from the multitude of stories that had been circulating recently. They came because they were worried, they came because they were curious and they came because they wanted to know what the master vampire was going to do, if anything, about their current situation.

The appointed time arrived and Hide found himself facing a room crammed full of people, some of which had to stand as they’d run out of chairs. He looked over at Taki, who nodded; then he took a deep breath and started. “I am Tadanori no Hideyasu. I defeated your old master vampire Menumorout and have acquired all of his knowledge and power.” The silence throughout the room was deafening. Hide took another breath and added, “I am your new master vampire.”

Shouts came from around the room, to which Hide held up a hand. “I realize that I have been lax in my responsibilities toward you all and I apologize. This is all very new and confusing to me and I was not prepared for all that came with becoming the master vampire. For this, I am truly sorry.” He bowed deeply to the crowd. The shouts faded to murmurs.

“I have called you here tonight to correct the wrongs I have grievously inflicted upon you in my ignorance. I am your new master vampire. You will no longer be without leadership. I am your leader. I acknowledge you and accept my responsibilities.”

Taki watched as the change settled over Hide. He’d known it would happen; he’d expected it. Still, it was a miracle to watch. He felt like a proud father watching his child become an adult. Hide’s voice was loud and clear, no longer timid and unsure. For the first time since he’d assumed the mantle, he WAS the master vampire. Charming and enigmatic, Hide transformed the crowd as well as himself, during the course of the meeting.

“You WILL stop this violence toward one another,” Hide demanded, to the cheers of the younger vampires and the snarls of the older ones. Scanning the crowd, he added, “You will ALL stop this.” The crowd surged forward, stopping when Hide glanced in their direction. He went on to explain the solution he and Taki had come up with, of having the vampires police themselves. There would be no need to involve anyone outside of the vampire community in their problems. They would set up their own justice system, unlike the tribunals Menumorout was known to have held. AND they would live within the guidelines dictated by the human world, following the human’s laws, regardless of their far superior vampire abilities.

The younger vampires cheered louder, their wish of integrating into the human populace about to become a reality with Hide’s proposed plans for their future. The older vampires’ displeasure, on the other hand, loomed like a dark cloud over the gathering. Who did this upstart, this self-proclaimed “master” think he was, coming in and telling them how they were going to live from now on? They began to circulate the rumor that Hide was NOT the “heir” Menumorout had chosen, but a fraud. Unfortunately for them, the younger vampires had them at a major disadvantage in this particular gathering, being outnumbered ten-to-one. Their outcry was quelled before it even had a chance to take root.

Hide asked if there were vampires among them who deserved to be recognized for rendering special services and a number of hands were raised, the vampires singling out others who they considered to be their own “elite”. One by one, the best of them were introduced, until there was a pool of thirty young vampires all the others considered the cream-of-the-crop. “You are my new lieutenants,” he addressed them, which stunned all in the crowd. “I will look to you thirty for your help and guidance. Together, we should all be able to live the lives we want.”

The gathering was a rousing success and Hide had Taki to thank for it. If it hadn’t been for the young man’s constant prodding, then his determination to settle things once-and-for-all, it would never have happened. Hide was ashamed that it had to be his human lover to bring an end to the conflict. It should have been Hide to do it. As the master vampire, it was Hide’s responsibility.

Taki read Hide’s thoughts just as plainly as if they were written on paper. “It’s over, baby. Let’s just put this behind us and move on.”

As Hide watched Taki, a new sense of appreciation filled him. Taki was amazing. Warmth flooded his body and he grabbed the young man, hugging him close, shocking him.

“Hey, what’s the deal?” Taki exclaimed, confused.

“You. How do you do it?”

Taki chuckled. “You’re going to have to get used to doing stuff like this, but I figured, this time, I’m more used to dealing with a whole bunch of people than you are. It’s no big deal.”

Hide shook his head with a curt laugh. “’No big deal’ he says. That WAS a big deal, Taki. You just saved countless people, human and vampire alike from being caught up in anymore of these disputes. THAT, my friend, is a very big deal.”

“Don’t make more out of it than it really was, Hide,” Taki warned. “We were just setting the groundwork here. The hard part will be to make sure that what we discussed today is actually implemented and maintained. It all looks pretty on paper, but if no one follows up on it, it will all turn out to be just a waste of a perfectly good tree.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The days following the meeting of the vampires were hectic ones. Hide consulted with his core group daily, together coming up with certain guidelines that everyone could follow to ensure the safety and happiness of all. He would have breakfast with Taki then they’d leave for work together, Taki being dropped off at his office and Hide continuing on to his meetings. The two would get together again for lunch then go back to their respective offices until sharing the taxi that would take them home again.

Because of this constant running around, weekends were particularly appreciated, since it was the only time the two could sit back and relax together, something they hadn’t been able to do in a very long time.

After an entire day spent just doing errands that hadn’t been tended to in months, Taki was practically bursting with nervous energy. He needed some way to work off this tension or he was just going to explode. At the moment he was sitting in the living room, staring blankly at the television screen, not even paying attention to whatever show was running. “What are we doing now?” he asked Hide, who’d come out from the kitchen to check on him for the fourth time.

“I’m trying to finish dinner. Why don’t you go and soak in the furo for a while? Maybe that will help you relax.” Hide suggested.

Oh yeah, that’s just what he needed… half-an-hour spent sitting in a bathtub, by himself. Uh-uh. He didn’t think so.

“How much more work do you have to do? When’s dinner?” Taki asked, as Hide retreated back into the kitchen.

“Well, the roast isn’t ready yet.” Hide looked at the timer. “I’d say we have about half-an-hour before dinner will be ready.”

“That thing can function without you hovering over it like this, can’t it?” Taki joked, referring to the oven.

Hide looked at him skeptically. “Yes. The timer will go off when the roast is done. Why?”

“We have some time, you say,” Taki repeated, a hint of naughtiness in his voice. “Well, then, whatever shall we do?” Grabbing Hide’s hand, he all but dragged the vampire up the hall to their bedroom.

“Taki…” Hide was about to protest. Until their confrontation with Menumorout, Taki’s seemingly insatiable appetite for sex had been making it rather difficult for the vampire to sit comfortably. But, ever since that day, they never seemed to find the time to be together anymore. They were always too busy or too tired; which is the reason the vampire’s protests died on his lips. He’d been missing Taki, too.

“I’ve been thinking about trying something different with you.” Taki stood the vampire next to the bed. “Wait right there.”

Hide waited, apprehensive as Taki dug through a tansu drawer. “Different” could mean pretty much anything where Taki was concerned. Hide shuddered, almost afraid to think about it. He would have said something; really he would have, if it weren’t for the fact that Taki always made him feel so damn good. It was worth not being able to sit comfortably to have Taki do the things to him that he always did.

Taki turned back to him with a scarf in his hands.

“What are you…?”

“It’ll be okay,” Hide reassured him, lifting the piece of cloth to cover Hide’s eyes. The darkness was encompassing, disconcerting and it made Hide more than a bit apprehensive. He back-pedaled just slightly.

Taki chuckled, leaning forward to brush the silky material over Hide’s cheek and place a soft kiss on Hide’s lips. “Don’t worry… if it gets too weird for you, tell me and we can take it off.” This time Hide remained still as Taki covered his eyes again.

Hide whimpered, unnerved at the sensation of being blinded. Taki knotted the scarf behind his head, whispering words of assurance. “It’s okay, Hide. Just relax. It’s just the two of us. You know I would never do anything to hurt you.” Hands smoothed his hair over the piece of material, drifting forward to cup his chin. Warm lips touched his and he shuddered. “It’ll be amazing… I promise.”

Taki’s fingers plucked at the buttons of Hide’s shirt, pushing the material aside when he was done. Sliding across Hide’s chest they stopped over each of Hide’s small pink nubs, toying with the little peaks until they were swollen and aching, as Taki’s tongue explored the hidden recesses of Hide’s mouth. Hide wrapped his arms around Taki’s middle, mainly to keep himself from falling over as the lightheadedness he was experiencing increased. He could feel the corners of Taki’s mouth tug upward as the younger man took a step forward, sending Hide sprawling backward onto the bed. Hide clung to him, frightened by the falling sensation. Turning in the vampire’s arms, Taki murmured, “Shh,” as he ran his fingers through the soft curtain of red hair that lay strewn across the pillows. Hide jumped when the hands returned to his chest, followed by the moist heat of Taki’s mouth.

Taki’s tongue laved around one of his nipples, then the other as Hide moaned, first in rapture, then in disappointment as the teasing lips disappeared. The hands returned, unbuckling his belt then undoing the front of his pants. He lifted his hips to aid Taki in their removal. The material was hastily tugged down his legs and tossed aside, as he heard the “thunk” of the belt buckle hitting the wooden floor. His legs fell back to the bed, parting, as warm hands caressed them. He could feel his erection, throbbing, jolting at every touch of Taki’s hands on his body. Then, a palm closed around the straining flesh, the pad of a finger swirling over the slick head, sending bolts of lightning searing through Hide’s brain. His rear clenched in anticipation and an evil chuckle came from Taki. Hide reached for him, but found nothing. Frustrated, he grabbed the bed sheets, fisting in the material. Taki stroked him slowly, torturously, as Hide’s hips began to quake. Then, a warm mouth closed over his shaft, drawing it in, sucking. Back and forth the mouth slid as Hide fought for control. It was a losing battle as the tip of a finger brushed over his rosy pucker and he exploded, sending ribbons of white down Taki’s throat with a shout. Taki licked him clean, rolling his tongue around Hide’s shaft, occasionally delving into the slit at the top. Hide’s fingers grabbed at his hair, tugging furiously to get Taki to stop.

Untangling Hide’s fingers from his hair, Taki sat back. Hide looked like a wet dream, his pale frame shuddering on the bed; legs spread wide, completely wrung out from his climax, his entire body glistening through a sheen of sweat. Taki licked his lips, eagerly. Reaching into the tansu, he brought out the small bottle. Hide heard the click of the top and his body gave a small jolt of anticipation, his flagging erection already starting to renew itself. Taki ran a hand along Hide’s side, gliding across the vampire’s buttocks as Hide moaned. “Hands and knees, Hide,” Taki commanded, the vampire immediately rolling over and rising into position.

A hand cupped his shaft and slid upward, fingers drifting through the crease of his buttocks, lightly touching the tight little pucker; the small opening flexing in impatience. Then, the hands were gone, but only briefly. When they returned, the fingers were ice cold and slick. Unwilling to wait, Hide pushed back into Taki’s hand, gripping the first finger and drawing it inside without pretense, surprising Taki. Hide rocked back and forth on the finger, begging, “Put them in, Taki. Put them ALL in.”

“In a minute. You need to learn patience, baby. Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘Good things come to those who wait’?” Taki laughed. Applying more pressure, he pushed the first finger in to the knuckle, earning a gratified moan from Hide. As Hide’s channel clenched, Taki wiggled the finger within him, trying to loosen the choke hold Hide had on the digit. The vampire’s hips bounced against Taki’s hand, making the young man chuckle. Holding Hide’s hips still, Taki slid the second, then the third finger in as Hide moaned ecstatically. One of Taki’s eyebrows shot up at the sexy show his lover was putting on. Now THIS was a first! Hide rocked back onto Taki’s hand, grinding his hips lasciviously. Reaching behind, Hide took hold of Taki’s hand, trying to press more of it into his body. “More,” he cried.

Always willing to please, Taki rotated his hand; fingertips brushing against the nerve bundle that sent Hide into paroxysms. “More?” he teased, as Hide’s limbs quaked uncontrollably. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” He brushed against the spot again as Hide cried out, body jerking. “How ‘bout one more time?” Hide was shaking his head, but Taki was on a roll. He hit the spot one final time and Hide screamed his name, the pale body going stiff as white fluid arced from him once more, painting the sheets. Taki snagged Hide around the waist before the vampire could fall head-first into his own mess. Carefully, Taki pulled his slick fingers out of the grasping hole, before yanking the sheet to one side and dropping Hide unceremoniously back onto the bed. As Hide recovered from the intensity of his orgasm, Taki took the opportunity to divest himself of his clothes.

“You okay,” he asked as Hide’s breathing slowed from choking to panting, the younger man wrapping his body around that of his trembling lover’s, protectively.

Hide nodded. “I can feel EVERYTHING,” he gasped, one hand reaching up to touch the blindfold, but not attempting to remove it.

“I know. I bet it’s even more intense for you since your senses are already sharper than most people’s.”

Hide’s breath was hot against the side of his neck. “Taki…”

“Hide…”

“I want you inside. I need to feel you in me.”

Quickly flipping Hide onto his back, Taki settled against his lover’s welcoming form, guiding himself into the clutching heat of Hide’s rear entry. The velvety tightness surrounding him was remarkable. Hide’s hands grabbed at his rear, trying to force him deeper. When he started to move, Hide’s hands fell away, leaving the pale white body completely open to him. Taki stroked deeply, driving in to the hilt, the wet sound of flesh hitting flesh filling the room.

Hide really COULD feel everything; from the crisp sheets beneath him, to Taki’s hard muscles rippling above him and the thick, throbbing, veined shaft sliding in and out of him. He sighed blissfully every time the intruder plunged in, filling him so completely, only to whine in disappointment every time it drew back, leaving him bereft. He reached for Taki, his hands gaining a hold on the younger man’s shoulders, only to be removed moments later.

Taki’s fingers threaded through his, pinning Hide’s hands on the bed over his head, as the younger man continued stroking into the trembling body. Hide’s head whipped from side to side, his hair flying in all directions, his upper body undulating beneath Taki’s chest. The younger man leaned down, closing his lips over the vampire’s, calming him somewhat. It was a very short-lived reprieve. On his next stroke, the head of Taki’s shaft ran into Hide’s prostate and Hide’s entire body arched off the bed convulsively, his chin hitting Taki’s lower lip, splitting it.

Pain flashed through him momentarily as Taki ran a tongue over his damaged lip. Then he got an absolutely wicked idea and his eyes gleamed as his mouth curved into a crooked grin. Pulling Hide’s head up, he sealed his mouth over the vampire’s, kissing him deeply. The slightly copper taste of blood assaulted Hide’s senses, causing him to panic. His arms flailed, trying to push Taki away. Then the head of Taki’s shaft hit the clutch of nerves again and all rational thought was obliterated. Spasms wracked Hide’s body as he clung to Taki desperately. Without thinking, he sucked at the younger man’s fractured lip, drinking in the few drops of blood the injury had to offer. His head spun.

Taki sensed what was happening, tightening his hold on the vampire, as Hide swayed back in his arms. Dipping his tongue into the older man’s mouth, he ran the tip of it across the point of one fang, producing a small cut. More blood slithered down Hide’s throat and he flew into Taki’s chest with a cry. The younger man’s smile broadened. “Hide…” he groaned, pushing the blindfold from the vampire’s eyes. Confused blue-green eyes opened, blinking rapidly to adjust to the light. A painted shoulder hovered in his line of vision, the picture leading up to a perilously beckoning neck. “Just take a little, Hide,” Taki prompted. The vampire jerked back at the words, but Taki’s arms around him prevented him from going too far. “A little, Hide; just try taking a little.”

Shaking his head, the vampire struggled against his lover.

Taki was adamant, his arms closed around Hide like a vise. “You’ve already had a taste and we’re both still okay. In fact, I think this could be interesting… for the both of us.” Frightened teal eyes stared at him hugely, as he continued moving within the warm, clutching body. “Come on, Hide. Just try it.”

The vampire hated when Taki used that tone on him. It was so soothing, so reassuring that Hide found it hard… no, impossible to deny the younger man anything when he asked like that. Tentatively, Hide’s lips closed over the pulsating artery in Taki’s neck, fangs gradually piercing the flesh as a gush of warm salty, copper-flavored liquid filled his mouth and Taki moaned joyously. Running his tongue over the puncture, Hide sealed it, preventing any further damage. Then he swallowed, cautiously.

The second Taki’s blood hit his system Hide’s senses were thrown into hyper-drive. Just when he had made up his mind that tasting a small bit of Taki’s blood hadn’t done any damage, everything went supernova. Taki was already in the throes of his orgasm, having been brought on by Hide’s bite, but Hide’s climax would eclipse everything they had ever encountered together, by far.

Hide’s experience was something entirely unique from anything he had ever felt before, as a liquid heat permeated every fiber of his being, leaving him tingling from his head to his toes. The sensation built, gaining momentum within his body until it felt like it would burst out through every pore. Hide fought to keep a handle on it, but it would not be denied. He shouted Taki’s name, his voice increasing in timbre with every pulsation, his arms and legs flailing wildly, as Taki held him. His hips continued to thrash against Taki’s, wrenching the younger man into his body and against that secret little bump until he’d gone numb from the pleasure. Then he collapsed to the bed in a sweaty, shaking heap, dragging Taki over him like a blanket.

Steady hands brushed lightly over his sweat-slick body, as Hide struggled to regain his composure, but every gentle touch of Taki’s hands sent him jolting, each nerve ending alive and singing. Tightening his arms around Taki’s back, he buried his face in the younger man’s chest, taking deep breaths to try to get a rein on his completely unforeseen reaction.

Taki marveled at the kind of control the vampire exerted. At any given moment Taki knew that Hide could snap him in two. He could have… but he didn’t. Instead he chose to relinquish whatever power he might have wielded to Taki, perfectly content to play the submissive. Every time they made love, it was Taki that dominated the vampire; his games, his rules. And Hide went along with it all, no questions, no complaints. Luckily, for them both, Taki’s strange ideas always seemed to produce some very positive results.

“Wow,” Taki gasped, his chin resting lightly atop Hide’s head. Propping himself up on one elbow, he looked down at his lover. “Did you know?”

Hide shook his head. “How could I? I can’t DRINK human blood.”

Taki snorted, “Well, then… either I’m not human or there’s something very weird going on here.” He ran a lazy hand through Hide’s hair, lifting an amused eyebrow when the vampire’s entire body quivered in response. “Kinda puts the whole ‘prostate’ thing to shame, though, doesn’t it?”

The vampire could only lay there, insensate, still shuddering through his aftershocks.

Closing his eyes, Taki breathed in Hide’s scent of musk and sweat, with just a hint of… tangerine? “Oh, yeah, it’s that citrus shampoo he likes so much,” Taki remembered. “Aishiteru,” he whispered into Hide’s ear, kissing the tip of it and feeling his emotions swell within the depths of his soul. Arms tightened around his back; Hide’s response. Taki smiled, knowing that the words would come in time. Hide needed to get through that barrier within him. When he did, Taki had no doubt that he would finally hear the words he made sure to tell the vampire at every opportunity. He already knew Hide loved him; it was evident in everything Hide did. He could wait a while longer to hear the vampire say it.

He held the trembling vampire cradled in his arms until every last bit of tension drifted away from the sated body and he could hear the soft breathing deepen. Sliding out of their bed, Taki left a drowsing Hide for the cleansing solitude of the furo, where he could just sit back in the warm water while he mulled over this newest development. He didn’t mind slipping into the furo alone AFTER he’d made love to Hide. The hot water always felt so much better after having worked off all that excess energy.

A little later, as he soaked in the tub, Taki would remember something he’d heard when he’d been kidnapped. The female vampire had tasted his blood and had to spit it out telling the other two vampires who held him not to drink because his blood was dangerous. How could Hide… who was basically allergic to human blood… be able to drink from him when other vampires apparently could not? It just didn’t make sense.

What the hell was going on?


~End of Chapter Ten~