Somewhere In Between

Title: Somewhere In Between
Author: MakaiKitty
Rating: (this chapter) R/soft NC-17
Category: Original Fantasy, "Fate" storyline
Pairing: Victor/Blaine, Victor/Caspian, North/Victor, Victor/Tamara, Sorrel/Tamara, Telen/Caspian
Warnings: Slash, Het, and Yuri, M/M, M/F, F/F, Violence, Language, Catbois, Vampire Sex, Werewolf Sex, Daemon Sex, Anal, Rimming, Death, Angst
Distribution: My website, My LJ and any LJs I choose to post at, AFF.net, FicWad, and DeviantArt. All of my accounts are under the user name MakaiKitty. If you'd like to use it just let me know.
Disclaimer: The characters, daemon realms, and situations in this story are all original and belong solely to MakaiKitty. Please don't steal, borrow, take, or otherwise use anything from my fics.
Updates: Just join my YahooGroup to be informed of any updates to this or any of my other fics - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/makaikittyfics
Status: Complete
Story Notes: This story contains characters that were first introduced in "Fate". However, it is not really necessary to have read "Fate" to understand this story. In fact, you may like Victor better if you haven't read "Fate". As for those of you who have read "Fate"? No, Shayne and Lexi will not be showing up in this fic. Maybe in later stories (Victor has a long back story), but not this one. Also, I have a general outline for this story, but everything isn't set in stone yet. Just like with "Perceived Perceptions", I'm sure that some things will not go as planned. So, the warning lable above is just a general guide, I really don't know for sure where this fic will go. Just a warning, if you're squicky about some stuff (don't worry, there won't be beastiality or scat or anything too extreme) then read the warnings at the start of each chapter. However, I know from experiance, that most of my regular readers can handle anything that I throw at them, so I'm not too worried about any of you. Either way, I hope you enjoy the fic...

Somewhere In Between

Chapter Eighteen: Silence the Nightingale Forever

"So, want to fool around?" Caspian asked an hour and a half later, after beating Victor in six straight hands. "I'm kind of bored with this game. Too easy."

"Hmmm, why not." Victor shrugged. This had been an old game of theirs, something that they'd played at for years, teasing each other as much to shock those around them as to find mutual pleasures in each other. But, now that he hand come into adulthood at long last, the vampire suspected that things would be very different from those childish games. And that sounded like a very good thing to Victor.

Although, since his mind was not entirely in the room with Caspian and had not been all night, he couldn't resist the urge to ask one last time, "Unless you plan on letting me out of this room any time tonight?"

"Not likely."

Victor just shrugged again. It had been worth a try.

"I suspected as much." The older vampire had risen from his place at the table, his dark blue eyes surveying the man before him with intent, but otherwise he didn't move again. Victor found the almost predatory gaze to be more than a little arousing. That look, more than anything, made up his mind and he decided that if he couldn't leave the room then he might as well enjoy the company provided within it. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Caspian drawled slowly, taking a few carefully measured steps forward until he came to rest directly in front of Victor, his knees brushing the other man's through the fabric of their clothing, "We could always start with losing a few of these clothes." For emphasis, Caspian slid his hands down his own chest, delicate fingers deftly working off the tiny brass buttons of his tight fitting vest while he moved.

His eyes never left Victor's as he undid the last button, removing the vest and dropping the garment onto the ground, a playful smirk playing on his full lips. "It seems like it's been forever since I've seen your body." His sudden smile allowed the firelight to catch on his fangs, giving him an almost menacing look. "Can't let North have all of the fun."

"All you had to do was ask." Victor teased, his own hands moving to pull his bloodstained shirt up and over his head. The shirt had certainly seen better days, so it went flying into a darkened corner of the room with little concern for where it landed, probably never to be seen again. At least until one of the maids rescued it. "You know that I have never been able to say no to you."

"Yes, true that may be, but up until now you've acquiesced to my requests but have failed to show much interest otherwise." So far Victor was being even more compliant than Caspian had hoped for. He'd feared that the younger vampire would be too worried over his sister to accept his advances, but he knew that he had been proven wrong when Victor reached for the clasp of his own pants, undoing the buttons but otherwise leaving the pants closed in favor of leering at his friend with intent written clear across the features of his coldly handsome face. It reminded Caspian just how much his best friend hated to be bored and idle. "Now you've come of age. And, according to a certain infuriating wolf, you have developed a healthy interest in entertainments of a more adult nature. So I expect that to have changed."

Caspian received his answer in the form of a hand on his wrist, a harsh tug that brought him tumbling down into Victor's lap, and a pair of demanding lips on his that swiftly swallowed his gasp of excited surprise. The kiss was playful, yet demanding at the same time, light nips to his lips interspersed with long, deep invasions into his mouth. It stole his breath away and left Caspian panting by the time Victor had released him.

"Is that proof enough that things have changed?"

Caspian nodded, fighting to catch is breath after being caught unawares, squirming all the while as knowing hands slid along his spine and tickled at his ribs in a way designed to unbalance the normally cocksure young vampire. "Are you sure that you wouldn't rather be doing this with your little lamb?"

Victor pulled back from his tormenting long enough to look his friend in the eye, letting him see the sincerity in his expression, long years at each other's sides letting Caspian read him easily. "My darling Tamara is sweet indeed, I will give you that. But she is not you. And, right now, tonight, there is no other that I would rather have in my bed." Victor brought his face close until their foreheads were touching, never once breaking eye contact. "Only you, Cass." He leaned in for another deep kiss, speaking against Caspian's lips before sealing their mouths together once again, "Only you."

***

"I've been looking for you, human."

Tamara spun around instantly at the sound of an unpleasantly familiar voice, her gauzy white dress dancing about her slight form like wisps of smoke as she moved, her pale eyes wide with surprise as she came face to face with a smirking vampire in the previously deserted hallway.

She had heard from one of the servants that there had been some sort of confrontation between Victor and Talfryn, that Sorrel and North had been forced to physically separate the two vampires, and she had immediately wanted to rush to her lover's side. Her sons fighting with each other couldn't be easy for the sorceress. And, as cold as Sorrel may appear to most, Tamara knew that she was actually a very sensitive soul and that her lover would most certainly need someone to be there for her after such a difficult ordeal. Finding Talfryn while alone in a hallway put an unexpected crimp in her plans, though. Tamara wouldn't admit it, especially to Sorrel, but the beautiful gray vampire scared her. It was the way that he looked at people. His storm cloud eyes either completely empty or filled with a cruel fire that gave the young human the impression that he was picturing her death. Perhaps at his hands.

"Master Talfryn." She tried to keep her voice neutral, not to let him know what she was thinking or feeling, not letting him know just how uneasy and confused she was by his sudden interest in her whereabouts. It was never wise to give Talfryn the advantage. He would always find a way to use it against you.

"Always so respectful." Talfryn took a single step forward, the corners of his lips turning up when Tamara responded by taking a step back, her eyes going wider when she felt cold stone at her back. He could tell that she was trying to mask her discomfort, acting as though she wasn't intimidated by his presence, but there was no mistaking the stench of fear that now wafted off of the petite human. And I've only just begun. "You really do have my mother fooled, don't you, human. Forever playing the perfect pet."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Her voice was only a little breathless. Tamara was proud of herself for that. "I am always honest with Lady Sorrel."

"Of course you are." Talfryn dismissed her with a wave of one long fingered hand, looking down his nose at her as he lorded his height advantage over her. He liked the fact that she had to crane her neck up to even look at him. It made him feel superior. Which, of course, I am. "And you're not afraid of me, either."

Tamara squared her shoulders and attempted to glare up at the vampire. "I am not afraid of you. Why would I be?"

Talfryn just smirked, as if to ask, why indeed? "I think that defiance must be Victor's doing. Building up his little lamb, letting you think that you're more important than you really are, that you're more than you really are." He looked down at the human again, his gaze appraising. The disdain in his voice said that he didn't like what he saw. "You're not, you know." The puzzled look on her face did, however, seem to please Talfryn. "More than you are. More than a simple little human who should know when to keep her mouth shut. A simple little human who should know that her place is as a bed warmer and nothing more."

"Your mother certainly seems to think that I'm more than just a bed warmer." Tamara knew that she was taking a gamble by talking back, by arguing, by challenging Talfryn. It was a well known fact in the castle that no one did that. Not if they wanted to survive for very long. She thought that maybe Victor had inflated her sense of self-worth, but as she looked up at Talfryn, a smug look on his harshly handsome features, she just couldn't hold her tongue.

"Yes, well, my mother always has had a very big heart and that has led her to have a soft spot for strays. It's a habit that I hope she will some day overcome." The expression in Talfryn's gray eyes left little doubt as to what he thought of his mother's strays. Or what he would do with them, given the chance. "Are you loyal to my mother?"

"Always." She was a little taken aback by the sudden shift in the conversation, but her answer was imediate. It was a question easily answered, in Tamara's opinion.

"Are you devoted to my mother?"

"Yes." Tamara's shoulders squared, she raised her chin a bit higher, and her blue eyes became much more sharply focused. She wasn't sure what Talfryn was getting at, but this was a conversation that she felt much more comfortable with. Her loyalty to Sorrel was unwavering and Talfryn was a fool if he thought that he could rattle her by questioning her devotion to her lover and mentor.

"Do you love my mother?"

"Completely." There was no hesitation in her words. "Your mother is everything to me. She's my world."

Talfryn took another step forward before asking his next question, his body pressing the smaller woman into the coldness of the wall, his breath a whisper in her ear as he spoke. "Would you die for my mother?"

"In a heartbeat." Tamara stuttered, resisting the urge to put her hands against Talfryn's chest and push. He's just toying with you, Tamara told herself, Sorrel would never tolerate him doing anything more. She would deny him the satisfaction of seeing her fear and he would grow bored with this game. She was certain of it.

"Good." Talfryn's hand moved with lightening speed, his movements too fast for the human to follow, his fingers suddenly cold against her throat. "Because I bring a message from the Lady's very own lips."

Tamara could only gasp, both of her hands wrapping around Talfryn's wrist, her voice a choked shuddering of breath as she felt the vampire's grip tighten around her neck.

Talfryn took a moment to smile down at the small blonde, the female seeming even smaller as she began to flail against his immovable strength. Then he began to raise his arm. Slowly. Tamara had no choice but to move with him, until at last she was left balancing precariously on the very tips of her toes, her eyes wide as she fought both for breath and release.

"Mother is very disappointed in you, human."

The sound of bone snapping under unimaginable pressure was the only sound to be heard in the deserted hallway. That was, until the laughter started.

***

"This isn't working, is it?" Caspian asked as he looked up from between Victor's spread legs.

"Not really." Victor answered in a voice that was only slightly breathy. Which, considering there was a beautiful and talented red head between his legs attempting to swallow his manhood whole, was not the state that he should have found himself in. "It's just..."

"Well," Caspian straightened up, wiping his mouth with the back of one dainty hand, and stretched his body out so that he could lie on top of his friend while resting his head on the pillow of Victor's naked chest, "I know that it's not my technique."

"Of course not." Victor answered dryly, the twinkle in his dark eyes the only thing that gave his lack of seriousness away. "You are most certainly a natural born cock-sucker."

"Actually, I think that it's all of the candy. Especially the lollipops." Caspian answered just as seriously. "Keeps me in practice."

Victor laughed at this comment, bringing his arms around the smaller man and pulling him closer, kissing the top of his fiery head as he let his own rest back against the pillows. "I guess we will have to find a new game to play from now on, my beloved."

"It was fun while it lasted."

Victor agreed.

They both lay in quiet contemplation for a moment after Caspian's words. They had teased each other, with both talk and action, for years. But, since of the two only Caspian had reached adulthood and thus had true sexual desires, it had only been that. A game. Nothing more. Now that Victor had desires, and lovers, of his own, it didn't seem like the same light hearted play anymore.

"I love you." Victor felt compelled to say, his train of thought telling him that at least a part of their relationship would need to be redefined from this point forward. They would survive, of course, for he spoke the truth when he so often called the other vampire his soul mate. But things would have to change. Just not their hearts. Victor needed this much to be crystal clear. "I will always love you."

"I love you too." Caspian assured him.

He'd known for a long time that he would have to give Victor up one day. Or at least, the Victor that allowed him to tease and tempt his body as the whim struck him. He'd always known. Their's was simply not that sort of love. "Nothing's going to change."

"Except this." Victor corrected.

"Except this." Caspian agreed. Then, shrugging awkwardly from his prone position, "Your loss."

Victor just chuckled and ran his hand through silky crimson tresses.

"Maybe it should be Talfryn's gain." Caspian joked, loving the way that Victor tensed at the suggestion. He may not care for him as a lover, but he was far from indifferent. "I could tell him that it's your way of apologizing."

"Over my dead body."

The growl should have been frightening, but Caspian just laughed and squeezed his would-be-lover tighter. "Come on, it's the perfect plan. I'd get some release with an attractive, if stuck-up and worthless, vampire and you'd get to smooth things over with him without actually being out anything. And, after I was done with him, Talfryn wouldn't even remember why he was angry with you in the first place. We'd all win."

"You're insane."

Innocent midnight blue eyes looked up at Victor from under a dark fringe of lashes. "Who, me?"

"Yes, you." Victor couldn't resist placing a series of butterfly kisses on the cherubic face that rested only inches from his own, tightening his arms so that the smaller man couldn't retreat. He may not want to have sex with his friend, but it didn't mean that he had stopped finding pleasure in touching him. Only death could cause that particular reaction. And Victor was only the near-dead. "You're mad if you think that Talfryn would fall for that plan or that I would allow it."

"Like you could stop me." A dark brow arched high and a slight gleam of fang from the corner of a smirking mouth told him that Victor felt that he was more than up to the challenge. And, although he would certainly have had fun testing that assumption, Caspian wasn't exactly in the mood for a good fight at the moment. "And here I was, out of the kindness of my black little heart, trying to help you fix your newest family disfunction."

"You have my thanks." Victor answered with a snort that told the other man that he wasn't buying his story in the least. "But I will have to take care of this thing with Talfryn myself. After he has calmed down I'm sure that he will be more likely to listen to reason. Then I will apologize."

"Apologize!?!?" Caspian's head shot up at these words, his expression clearly showing both disbelief and shock. "You can't be serious about that, Victor! Apologizing to that prick? He should be the one apologizing to you!"

"Probably." Victor conceded. "But Sorrel really does not need the two of us at each other's throats all of the time, and if my apologizing to him will placate Talfryn for a while, then I suppose that I will have to swallow my pride and give him the satisfaction of hearing me apologize."

Caspian's mouth was hanging open, unable to even find the words to argue with his friend. He couldn't be serious! "You do remember what he said about your sister, right?"

"I do." The darkness in his voice said that it would have taken more than an apology to ever make him forget what Talfryn had said. "But he only said it to get a reaction out of me. He doesn't have the balls to so much as touch Lass, let alone bring harm to her. He knows that it would be tantamount to signing his death warrant."

Caspian still didn't seem convinced.

"Besides," there was a hint of mischief in Victor's dark eyes, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips as he watched his friend still gaping at him like a landed fish, "It will surely piss him off to no end to see me being the bigger man. He would rather have me worked into a lather than acting like an adult in front of Sorrel. It will make swallowing my pride more than worth it."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but then Caspian's eyes lit up and he began to laugh so hard that Victor had to hold him tighter to keep him from rolling right off of him and out of the bed. "He'll hate you forever if you make him lose face in front of his mother. Again."

Victor just shrugged it off, already having made up his mind on the subject. "He'll get over it."

"Aren't you worried that he might just use your good nature to start another fight?"

"Not really." Victor dismissed the idea quickly. "He may have gotten a little carried away today," both of us, maybe, "but there's not really much to worry about as far as Talfryn is concerned. He's mostly harmless."

TBC ...