Prince Charming

Note: Bwahahaha....*cough* This chapter, I hope, should answer some questions that most everyone\'s been having about Teige\'s \'vampire\' tendencies. Hope it all came out right and makes sense...xD ^^;

Chapter Ten

Teige withdrew his hand, and this time, Drake let him, their gazes never wavering: brown to blue, earth to sky. He wanted to speak, but could barely manage to breath, his heart pounding so hard, he felt he had to swallow every beat so it didn’t leap from his throat. He knew what his body wanted, pulse elevated and blood burning hot with the need to be crushed, forced into the bedding beneath them and taken. But, he also knew Drake to an extent, and if he let the other have his way, even for the moment, gave in to his selfish desires and allowed the situation to proceed, he would most definitely befall a far worse fate in the morning. At best, he’d survive and never see the man again. Cursing fluently, he detoured his gaze, pulling away before the choice to withdraw no longer remained open to him.

“You’ll regret it in the morning if you don’t sleep now.” He stated plainly, implying far more than either his tone or words suggested. “You can have the tent. I think I’ll…watch the sun rise.”

From there, he stood, as much as one can stand in a tent, and moved out, aware the entire time of the other’s eyes on him and swallowing down his gut desire to turn around, change his mind, and give in while he still could. Finally, though, he pulled the tent flap shut behind him, closing his eyes and letting loose a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. As it left him, he collapsed to his knees in front of the tent.

“Good god, I’m going to get myself killed…” He muttered sourly, cursing himself with a variety of profane language that would have made a sailor proud. When the first few shards of daylight began making their way through the trees, he felt fatigue grip him like a vice and winced. “But of course…” Shielding his eyes with a hand, he stood again, stumbling almost blindly back from the tent and far enough out to move free of the clearing, safely behind the shade of trees. Once there, he let his energy drain completely, crumpling into the grass and ignoring all else as he fell asleep without worry, safe in the shadow of the dawn.

Six hours later, he woke with his back to a tree and a knife at his throat.

“Take it off!” The words slammed against his skull like a hammer against dry papier-mâché, crumbling his defenses instantly and causing the smaller man to let loose a dull groan.

“What? My clothes?” It came out barely audible, a rough grip currently crushing nearly every spare inch of air from his chest, but he felt sure Drake had caught the comment considering the vice on his chest and throat instantly tightened to a painfully life-threatening degree.

“NO! Dammit, that’s the last thing I need…” Teige’s brow furrowed as his sluggish brain struggled to comprehend the new information. “The spell, the spell, goddammit! Take it off!”

“Spell?” The smaller man mumbled wearily, his expression dazed and incomprehensive; it only seemed to infuriate the other further, not a good thing under the circumstances.

“Yes the spell! Get rid of it! Whatever the hell you did to me-“

“What is it with people and spells these days? First that Archy lady…” Some distant corner of his mind provided the name ‘Arachne’ to his subconscious, but he ignored it. “…now you…I must have really done something amazing or-“ The cold press of sharp steel against his bare neck brought him to at least a momentary silence.

“Destroy it.”

Instead of quaking in fear however, as Drake might have preferred, Teige only appeared to grow agitated by the other’s persistence, his less than fully awake state of mind likely having something to do with it, though most people would have found themselves completely alert the moment they realized they had a knife to their throat. “I’m not a mage, dammit! I’m not a mage, or a princess in a tower, or a warrior…I’m nothing, nothing! I already gave you permission to kill me. So if you want to go back to the ‘grr, I’m mad, let’s slit Teige’s throat’ idea, then fine. But don’t just lollygag around debating on which or what to do with a blade at my neck while you decide whether to follow your ideals or your dick, because-“

“Woman, I have never in my life heard ‘nothing’ say so much in one breath.” Drake sheathed his dagger, giving up for the second time on trying to kill the blabbering young man beneath his blade. He’d almost given up on the idea permanently. Almost. “Come on, shut your mouth and pack the tent. We have a long way to go today…”

Just the fact that he had said ‘we’ made Teige’s hope soar, and though he felt starved, brain-dead, and exhausted, he knew then he’d follow the man anywhere, just for the privilege of keeping his company. He helped pack without qualm, glad to get out of the forest regardless of how his body ached and his eyes stung in the sunlight; he wanted as much distance between them and the salcidae as possible.


For three days, they slept, ate, and traveled, stopping for nothing but the occasional stock up on supplies and saying rarely over a few sentences a day between them, most relating to the weather, food supply, or location of their next campsite. On the fourth day, Teige nearly fainted while bringing the horse to water; they set camp early that night. Now, they sat across from each other on separate logs, a bristling fire between them and the usual silence hanging thick in the air like a wall just waiting to be breeched.

Silently, Drake prodded the flame with a loose stick, though it needed no encouragement, and Teige’s eyes followed the movement, but instead of focusing on the fire, or even the man across from him, he found his thoughts lingering on the village they’d recently passed through. Over the course of time, his strength had diminished daily, and considering he hadn’t had a great amount to spare in the first place, the situation wore heavy on his capability to be anything but a burden to the other man. He ate as much food as he could stomach, slept when he could, and yet, though the each day exhausted him to the point of collapse, he felt alive, up, and aware as soon as darkness fell, his body restless and itching to move no matter how he struggled to sleep.

Frustrated, he ran his tongue along the underside of his teeth, not an exaggerated movement, but a testy display that betrayed his agitation, as if, in his state, he suddenly expected to find fangs there, sprouting so he could unleash his anxieties on the rest of the world instead of bottling them up and letting them eat him from the inside out. Finally, he stood, unable to sit and do nothing with his nerves screaming at him to run, move, hunt, breathe.

“Do we need anything?” It came out snappier than he meant it and Drake glanced up, his russet gaze curious and suspicious, but he answered without infliction.

“No. We’re stocked for at least a week.”

Teige wanted to either cry or rip his hair out, but did neither, blue eyes dancing between the trees the logs, the shadows, and finally Drake’s face. “I-…” He almost said he needed to go to the village, couldn’t stand just sitting there, needed to do something, but he bit his tongue. “I need some fresh air…I’ll be only for a short while.” With that, he turned, not bothering to see if Drake distrusted him or challenged his statement, not daring to see if the man saw through his deception, however mild it was. He hadn’t really lied, had he? No. He’d merely failed to mention the exact location, not a lie, just a lack of detail.

As soon as the firelight flickered from view, his senses came alive. He saw everything, heard everything, felt everything: the rustle of bird feathers high in the trees, the slither of a snake far off in the grass, the tunneling of termites. His heart slammed awkwardly in his chest as he became conscious of this newfound awareness: the impossibility of it, the reality of it, the beauty of it.

“Good God…” His words came out in a whispered prayer, a flutter of breath as he drew in the world around him. “…I’m going insane…” With that last promise to himself, he took off into the woods, a full out run regardless of his previous days fatigue, letting everything pass him by in a whirl and feeling only exhilaration in the movement. How long he ran he couldn’t tell, but he knew when he came to the village, its heartbeat drawing him in and luring him like a magnet.

Warily, he lingered near the edge, watching its man-made glow from a distance with all-seeing eyes until he spotted his victim. Before he’d arrived, he hadn’t realized what he’d come for, had barely known why he’d needed to leave camp in the first place, but now, as he watched the woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties, lingering near the edge, just enough in the shadows not to be seen by the villagers, he knew exactly what he’d come for.

From a safe distance, four eyes watched in silence as Teige led the woman deeper into the forest, even his neutral voice weaving a spell as he spoke with her until she gave no restraint when he eventually lead her off slightly farther before his fangs sank long and deep into her willing throat. The owner of one pair swore silently when he left her dazed, but alive and breathing before turning back towards his camp. Once he’d made it out of earshot, Raspel studied Cyprien’s scowl with a look of honest curiosity.

“Shouldn’t you be happy? The boy has turned, he’s taken blood…that was your plan, was it not?”

“No, no, no…curse it.” Cyprien brought a hand to his forehead, scowl still in place, but kept talking regardless. “He hasn’t turned, that’s the problem…or not fully.”

“We just saw him-“

“But he left her alive…” The silver-haired immortal shook his head, ebony gaze scouring over the unconscious female left lying at the base of a nearby tree. “She’ll wake without much more than a foggy memory in the morning…if the townsmen don’t find her first.”

“It’s not necessary to kill one’s victims…”

“Not every time, no, but in his case…” Cyprien frowned slightly in consideration. “He was with me for too long… When I originally decided not to turn him, never taking enough to engage the transformation, he, over time, began to build…an immunity of sorts.” His fellow vampire looked skeptical. “I should have known the first time I came back hungry after a lousy kill…took too much from him, but he barely grew faint, let alone start the switch. After that, I paid more attention, but it was too late…even when I took a fondness to him, deciding that I did not want to keep him mortal…I realized he’d grown too much of a resistance, and the amount of transfer that it would take to turn him…would kill him. So…”

“You let him go.”

“For a time. I wagered that eventually, the blood already present in his system would give him enough of an incentive that eventually, he wouldn’t be able to ignore it. But, because of this built up resistance, he’d have to deal a killing bite to engage the turn…much like the bite I would have had to deal upon him.”

“And you think he’ll take well to killing his victims?”

“If he doesn’t soon, no amount of transfer will be potent enough to make the switch. After taking blood tonight…it will probably affect him like a sort of drug, and he’ll appear normal again for several days before he returns for more… In the end I suppose you’re right in a way. He likely hasn’t got it in him to kill…” Cyprien shook his head. “But it won’t matter. Time will take its toll, and eventually…with a small nudge from our end…he won’t have a choice.”

~

Back at the camp, Drake sat scowling at a crackling fire, prodding it repeatedly though it needed no tending and occasionally adding small twigs though it already burned bright. His thoughts, as they had begun doing more and more frequently over the past days, had turned to Teige. He wondered over his strange behavior, his sudden fatigue, and recent near-fainting spells, frustrated over them, and, most uncharacteristically, worried about them. At first, he told himself that he didn’t, that he was only curious and frustrated over the events because they made no logical sense, but as time wore on, he knew he worried, and above all, that frustrated him the most.

Before he could dig himself into a deep hole of brooding however, a sudden scrambling in the woods caught his attention, and he looked up just in time to see the very cause of his emotional turmoil stumbling into the camp. Standing abruptly, he prepared to question exactly where they other’d been, but when he caught sight of blood on the man’s lip and saw him waver, he thought better of it. Hastily moving forward, he made it just in time to break the other’s fall, catching the limp form in his arms like a hammock, and frowning in discontent as he lifted the weightless body.

First, he considered trying to set him back on his feet, wake him and ask him what had happened, but then, taking in the man’s exceedingly pale features and exhausted form, he decided against it, carrying him instead safely back into the tent and lying him amidst the furs. That was when he first realized the seriousness of his problems.

With Teige awake and bouncing about, mouth moving at a million miles an hour and mind refusing to take any form of tutoring, Drake could easily convince himself of his hatred for the smaller annoyance, think of the slighter man as a bother, a pest. Now, however, with the more petite figure laid out on his sheets, body still and chest barely rising and falling for breath, his fingers itched to reach out, brush back gently at the all-too-dark hair marring the man’s nearly-white features, and he didn’t know what he wouldn’t give to lean down and softly catch the usually peach lips that now looked as crimson as the dark blood staining them.

Instead of giving in to either temptation however, he simply scowled, mostly at himself, and wiped the small scattering of blood from the other’s lips, catching it with his thumb and praying he hadn’t let the man do himself serious injury.

“You had better wake up healthy in the morning, princess…or someone’s going to have some serious regrets…” When he said it to the empty tent, he didn’t think of it as heroic, overprotective, or blustery, he didn’t even think of it as possessive, just a simple truth. Whether he accepted it in his mind that way or not, he knew that if Teige came out seriously hurt, the causer of his pain would end up very unhappy. Dead if they got out lucky.

As it turned out, Teige woke up with little more than a hazy memory and the appetite of a bear. After consuming five rolls, two meat squares (each made specially for traveling and theoretically filling enough to keep a grown man satiated for two days), and a canteen of goat’s milk (purchased at the nearby village store for one of the silver pieces he’d received from the dress merchant), they went on the move again. Apparently, Drake had a destination in mind, though, regardless of how many times Teige could question him with his newfound energy, he refused to reveal the location.

About half a day’s ride from their camping spot, a skillful display of bowmanship on Drake’s part brought down a pheasant, which they exchanged for a hot meal and room and board at the next inn they came across later that evening. Much to Davinoff’s distaste, the inn came attached to a bustling town, not huge, but alive with people coming in and out on various business. Because of this, he resigned himself to remaining in their room until the night ended. Teige wasn’t pleased.

“It’s no wonder you always have a scowl on your face…you don’t TALK to people!” The smaller man shouted from the doorway, his clothes changed from the usual brown drab of Drake’s wardrobe to a more fitting, dark tunic that more closely defined his lean figure.

“Nice to see you pay attention.” The other muttered in reply, not giving him so much as a sideways glance from his laid-back position on the bed, hands laced over his eyes and body fully dressed save for the mud brown boots laying haphazardly at the foot of the cot.

“Come on, Drake…” Teige whined. “You’re overworked, undersexed, uptight, and unhappy! What are you afraid of? Actually enjoying yourself?”

‘Afraid of? Getting drunk and waking up in bed with you.’ He said nothing out loud.

After a drawn out silence, Teige heaved an annoyed sigh, folding his arms tight across his chest with a look of frustration that made Davinoff’s stomach knot and do flips at the same time. “Fine,” he huffed eventually, sending the man on the bed a last glare for emphasis. “but don’t come looking for me when the second cot in this room stays empty tonight.”

It took a moment for Drake to comprehend, then his eyes shot wide, and he sat up directly. “You can’t possibly expect to-“

“Find someone with a higher sex drive than you? Not hard.” With that, Teige turned from the room, and Drake sat alone in mild shock and silence as he listened to the smaller man’s footsteps echo down the hallway. It took him a full half-minute to make up his mind to follow. Quietly.

Note: Short chapter, yes I know. Five pages. Exactly. The next chapter\'s longer. Promise. xD

Review Replies

Falcon Bertille: Ooooh! Bondage and a kiss! You do know the way to my wicked little heart, don\'t you? The image of Teige in shackles, blindfolded, and being kissed by Drake...very sexy! And that was only a stage kiss. I can only imagine how absolutely luscious you\'ll make the real thing.

The elf queen really made me want to slap her. What a bitch. I hope Cyprien eats her. But I know that the evil aren\'t always punished -- not in fiction, not in real life.

The scene with the two of them taking shelter in the tent while Teige tends to Drake\'s leg wound was a lovely mixture of intimacy and eroticism. Nice to see big, tough Drake finally forced to let the \"princess\" rescue him for once. And now Teige knows how Drake feels about him! Will he move away? Or will he become the solution? To be honest, I could imagine it going either way. Guess I\'ll just have to wait for your next update. (Oh, I am SO bad at waiting...)

I loved the line where Teige speculated about being attacked by a turkey. More of that fantastic dry humor.

Love,
Falcon

xD I didn\'t even think of it...but yes, I do suppose that is bondage, isn\'t it? I rarely get that in my stories...the personalities just...don\'t match up...but I\'m glad the moment pleased you. xD Sorry it wasn\'t a proper kiss. It was a proper kiss originally, believe it or not, but I ended up editing it out for one reason which...won\'t become apparent for a couple more chapters. o_O ^^;

Poor Arachne...everyone hates her. xD Don\'t hate her too much, she\'s not evil, really. Or...she might not be. I think I have plans for her in the future though I\'m not positive they\'ll actually turn out. I feel kind of guilty actually...I rarely have female characters, considering I always write slash and that immediately takes up the two main character positions...and then when I do have a female character...I make her bitchy and evil so everyone hates her...really...just so everyone knows...it\'s nothing I have agains the female gender... :gonk: It\'s just...how it happened. o_O

xD I felt guilty about that too...but in a different way. I just HAD to make it rain...I couldn\'t help it...I think darkness and two people and then...out of nowhere...rain. Rain, rain, rain...absolutely LOVE it in real life...and it has now had this evil sneaky way of working itself into my stories at all the...interesting...parts. :gonk: As for Teige\'s choice, you must know I had to have at least ONE tease before they got anywhere. xD Actually, before I got up to that chapter, I had the tent/healing scene in my head...and he didn\'t pull away... By the time I got to it in the story though, I didn\'t think Drake was ready to wake up in the morning with those kind of memories and still leave Teige alive. Probably what Teige thought too. o_O My appologies. :gonk: xD ^^;

Glad you continue to appreciate the humor. I do try. xD Anyway though...yeah, hope the chapter wasn\'t too bad, next one should be...Thursday? Friday? Somewhere \'round there. *nod nod* Thanks for your lovely reviews as always!

Corenn: Aaaah, maybe trisomic and machiavelic don\'t exist, that\'s true... But... \'just too lazy to seek for a translation of these word ^^\'\'\'\'\'
Kyaaaaah !! Drake... RAPE HIM !!! NOW !!
... I soooo love this story^^

Actually, trisomic is a word. I looked it up. *feels proud of self*

tri-so\'mic adj. The condition of having three copies of a given chromosome in each somatic cell rather than the normal number of two.

What exactly that MEANS...I have little to no idea...after reading the definition I say science and throw my hands up. I\'m a literary arts person if you haven\'t guessed. But...I\'m still proud I found it. (\'Bout as hard as looking up \'trisomic\' at dictionary dot com...but whatever. xD) Machiavelic doesn\'t exist though...still...you get a cookie for the effort. It sounds cool. *hands you cookie*

As for the raping...very, very sorry it didn\'t go through. xD But...it won\'t be much longer. Really. Promise. I have a reputation for making people wait that I have to hold out on....that and I wanted Teige to live when Drake woke up in the morning. :gonk: ^^; Thanks so much for the lovely encouragement!

rukia82: Well it looks like someone is finally through being in denial... so much for subtelty *he he* This is shaping up to be one of the best fics I\'ve ever read. Teige, especially, is turning into one of my all-time favourite characters -- glad to know he\'s not developing a fatal allergy to sunshine btw ^_~ I love when a seemingly weaker character turns out to be more than expected and Teige is doing exactly that. It\'s great that he has strengths and skills of his own, instead of just looking pretty for Drake (which, clearly, he isn\'t too shabby at either *grins*). Can\'t wait to see how Teige reacts to old Drakie\'s bull-in-a-china-shop way of handling his new found attraction. Did I mention how glad I am that you apdate so regularly ^_~

Hehe...^^; xD Yeah, Drake is not one for subtelty...at least not when his mind is being messed with at three in the morning after a horrific near-rape attempt by the opposite sex... Still, it DOES mean that his mind\'s not fully on track...and so...tada...denial back on course. :gonk: But I promise, promise it won\'t last much longer! Really! Few more chapters, that\'s all they need.

I\'m uber glad for the compliment on Teige...after my last story (in which I had a sub male character with the personality of...well...I\'m not sure what...but he certainly wasn\'t the type to lay back and be rescued), I worried a bit about Teige. At the very beginning, I was set on turning him INTO that very character...the laid back come-rescue-me kind of \'princess\' theme persona...but...as time went on, I found those characters oh-so-boring...and, frankly, difficult to write. I LIKE having a sub-male with spirit...with Drake hanging around all dark and gloomy...the story needs a SOMEONE for comic relief...and he came in quite handy. A nice mix and match. Glad that you like it annnnd....hope Teige\'s less than sweaty-sex-on-the-tent-floor approach wasn\'t too disappointing. :gonk:

As for the updating, I think you have...but it\'s always nice to hear. It encourages me to keep to my schedules. xD ^^ Hope you\'re still enjoying it!


Evil Saint: Another great chapter, just like the rest. Pretty mean cliffie though. I can\'t wait to see what Teige chooses -- know where I\'d put my money though... grins salaciously...

xD Another person who I hope Teige\'s abstinance didn\'t disappoint. Salaciously...nice word. Sowwy, sowwy that things didn\'t go quite so smutty as they might have...they almost did! I swear, they almost did...but plans changed. o_O Don\'t worry though...it won\'t be tooooo much longer...


MakaiKitty: You. Are. EVIL! How could you end it like that! That\'s beyond the usual cruelty of your cliffhangers. More. Now. ... Please? ^-^

-Kitty

BTW, I updated my fic too. You said in your review you wanted to know when I would be updating. Well, now would be when *LOL*

-cackling maniacle laughter- Whahahahahhaha!! *cough, ahem* ANYway...^^; *grin* Sorry \'bout that...beyond my usual cruelty? Nice...I\'ve outdone myself. *smirk* xD More, more, as you wish! Oi, and thank you for the update note. *nod nod*