Soul Bound

A lot happens in this chapter, I decided to end it where it was because it was a sort of cleaner spot to stop than any other. Mel has set us all up for a problem with that last chapter or so, which I've run into about two chapters from here. For those who have read the other Two Lover works, you know and might be able to guess. I'll just be happy when I can sort it out and fix the darned thing.

This chapter runs about the same as how Mel feels. Just gets comfortable and it all goes to hell. Er. Hells. The next chapter might be up tomorrow morning...

Read, Review and Enjoy.

EDITED: See, this is one of the many mistakes I listed. Soooo I got an email containing some awesome pictures and a not attached saying "I know Lou is gray haired, green eyed..." but I thought I hadn't listed eye colour, couldn't find it when I went looking. So, thanks a million Surylee, and it's fixed here... I hope.

 

“If it’ll put you into a good mood, why the hells not?”



Mel climbed into his bed and tried not to growl as he recalled the smirk on Tanis’ face, the all too knowing look on Lou’s. He pulled the blankets up to his chest and tried not to think about the fact that his best friend was apparently wanting him to get laid. With a creature from another race. Who was also the same gender. Was it homosexuality if it was another race? Lou being Sidhe probably made it worse, much, much worse.



He tucked the blankets around himself and rolled to his side, a hand sliding up and under the pillow to support his head. Having been away for so long, being back in his bed should have meant the best night of sleep possible. But he couldn’t even seem to close his eyes, to get himself to fall asleep.



Sighing, he rolled to his other side, only to come face to face with the Sidhe. Who had somehow managed to climb into bed without its weight affecting the mattress. Mel made a strangled little sound as Lou’s weight suddenly took affect and he slid towards the Sidhe. There was no helping it, that was just how his mattress was made.



“Lou, what are you-” Mel squeaked as arms wrapped around him. The Sidhe drew him close, tucking Mel’s head just under his own, one leg draping over Mel’s hip. Being so tall, the creature managed such a feat easily.



Being so much shorter, Mel felt highly uncomfortable in that position. He felt as if he were nothing more than a child’s stuffed animal. The heat coming of Lou’s body didn’t help matters, the Sidhe was running hot. Mel was not used to being overly warm, let alone cuddled with as he slept. Sure, Tanis had snuck into his room a few times. A few of the others, who apparently went for male or female, had visited once or twice, but they hadn’t insisted on draping themselves over him possessively.



They lay like that, in the dark, for quite some time before Mel realised that this was going to be the way Lou slept all night. And that he was expected to stay like that. All. Night. It didn’t pull any muscles, wasn’t particularly uncomfortable for his body. But he didn’t want to wake up stiff. Tomorrow morning the other Deaths would visit and they would discuss duties and fill Mel, Tanis and Jarg in on village life. He didn’t want to be the one who fidgeted that one time too many and got paired with Jarg.



Jarg didn’t mind breaking bones or dislocating a joint. Mel was kind of attached to his bones.



“Lou,” Mel sighed out, into the Sidhe’s broad shoulder.



“Mel?” was Lou’s hopeful response. Mel winced at the tone, then winced again at the thought. His travel weary body was not ready for that kind of activity.



“I’m not comfortable sleeping like this.”



“Neh?”



Mel poked Lou’s chest and the Sidhe sighed, rolling away. The bed was small, so there wasn’t much room for Lou to roll to. Mel rolled to his other side and resumed his usual sleeping position. One hand up under the pillows, the other sitting on the pillow, legs sitting comfortably. It was moments before Lou draped himself over Mel once more, cold nose pushing against the back of Mel’s neck. He tried not to tense, tried not to notice how Lou angled himself so that his hips were not pressed against Mel’s backside. Tried so very hard not to think about the little, inviting lick that was applied to the back of his neck.



He lost track of time in the darkness that was his bedroom. There was no indication of how long he was up, staring at the black of his room, before he finally managed to fall asleep. No way to tell how long he had slept before he was awakened rudely by a bucket of freezing water being dumped on his face. Mel sputtered and sat up, coughing and going on as the other Deaths of his generation snickered.



Jarg stood with the bucket, eyes narrowed to pinpricks in the golden yellow light that always marked his entrance into a room. The Death Master said nothing, gave no indication of his mood as he tossed the bucket at Mel. Catching it, Mel looked down at the mess that was his bed as the others filtered out of the room.



He was screwed. Jarg had gone out on a limb to get Mel out of the village for the trip to the city and now he had awoken late for duties. Tanis was the only one who remained behind.



“The only reason he didn’t beat you as well is because the Sidhe came out. Prot speaks Norsh fairly fluently and had a nice chat with Lou. Seems he put you to sleep because you were having trouble. This is between Prot, Jarg, myself and you. He’s not going to beat you, but he is going to be riding your ass something awful.”



Ignoring the blistering question as to how Lou had put him to sleep, Mel sighed and slid out of bed. He changed into a dry pair of pants and then snatched up the bucket. No sense in making the bed, he’d have to air dry the whole thing and sleep on the floor. Later, though, after duties and chores and training and any extra work he earned that day.



“Put me to sleep?”



“Yes, said about that much and just went dead silent, glaring at Prot as if daring him to question. I don’t know how he did it, Sidhe should be like people, right? No power anymore, not for the highest noble or the lowest slave.”



“Those rules don’t apply to Sidhe, though,” Mel murmured, “we’ve always been told that Sidhe are magical, so why wouldn’t they retain the old powers when people were locked away from theirs? It was only the power of the people that was filtered out. Sidhe…” they stepped out of his room as one and met with the glaring looks of the other Deaths of their generation.



“Because of you, we’ve all got to weed the wilds,” snapped one.



“Silence that tongue of yours,” Mel growled, “one makes a mistake, all suffer. That’s the way it’s been for years. Or need I remind you that your ’love’ child got us all whipped?” the other looked away quickly. Mel met the eyes of each member of his generation in turn, forcing them to look away. He and Tanis had always come out on top, Tanis was the leader of the group and Mel the second. That was just the way it had been. Tanis could have chosen any of the others to be his second but he had decided on Mel, for his honesty, his hard work and his intolerance of stupidity.



They walked as one to the courtyard, where the older generation was waiting for them. Jarg had transferred from another village and had trained the older generation by himself. They had, in turn, chosen who would be trained for the new generation. When Mel and his group took on their trainees in ten years, the older generation would become Masters and Jarg, who would be lucky to still be alive, would be an elder. Before Jarg there had been no Deaths in the village. He and his group had built the Death Hall for the village, had brought order to the chaos that had been an Edge village.



Now the village was no longer on the Edge, it was in the wilds. A fact that few could easily forget.



“We have a Sidhe,” Jarg motioned to Lou, who was walking around and around a sapling that had taken root in the middle of the large courtyard, “in our midst, thanks to Mel’s quick eye. This is good, the gods favour those who care for such a creature. Prot can speak some of his language, but suddenly Lou isn’t feeling very chatty, are you Lou?”



Lou stuck his tongue out, at nothing particular, and continued to walk around the tree. The Sidhe’s eyes were pinpoints, then they expanded to that odd shape, not round, no, it almost looked as if the creature’s pupils were pointed just slightly. His eyes were so much brighter than his hair. Greens. Melded into one another in such a way that Mel couldn’t tell where one shade ended and another began.



“Any who mistreat a Sidhe are bound to bring the wrath of the gods down on themselves and their families, this much history has taught us. If he takes interest in you, be flattered, if he tries to bed your sisters, mothers, aunts or nieces, that’s when you can stop him. Sidhe or people, both agree on one thing, cross-breeding is not allowed.”



“But if he can’t have a woman…”



“He’ll likely choose a man to mount,” Jarg growled, “Sidhe are sexually active. Very active. We should respect his wishes.”



Was Jarg seriously saying that? Mel felt his face heat as each of his generation stole a glance at him. One snickered behind a hand. Jarg’s eyes were instantly on the young man.



“You think this is amusing? That having a god chosen creature chose you as his relief is amusing? If he wants you, you will give yourself over to him. All. Of you. And don’t be giving me that look, I know more than one of you has used Mel for relief. It’s high time you all got to know how he felt.”



Mel’s face heated as those around him shifted uncomfortably. Jarg had been one of the ones to visit him. Of them all, Mel preferred Jarg. The older man at least cared what Mel felt, Jarg made an effort.



Lou caught Mel’s attention from across the courtyard and arched an eyebrow. The Sidhe’s lips twitched upward, a hand motioned to the sapling eagerly. Mel ignored Lou and focused on Jarg, who met his eyes for the briefest moments, then looked away.



Jarg had a lot of stamina. Three times of the four that the Death Master had visited Mel, Mel had been late for duties the next morning. Beaten black and blue and given extra chores to boot because he had overslept. It wasn’t really his fault, those times, Jarg had kept him up all bloody night and then left to do early morning work before coming back an hour later to dump icy water on Mel’s head as if nothing at all had happened.



“We aren’t whores,” one of the others growled out finally, unable to contain his annoyance.



“You are what I tell you, you are. If I tell you that you’re whores, you’re whores. If I tell you that you’re a woman, you’d best spread those legs and be a good woman. The duty of a Death is not to accommodate his own pride. The duty of a Death is that which will benefit the village the most. It once benefited the village to not have Deaths and trainees randy as could be on visits back, that is no longer true. It is now beneficial to make a god chosen creature as comfortable, as happy as we can make him.



“Are you Deaths, or are you children?”



“We are Death,” they repeated as one.



“Could have fooled me,” Jarg growled out, “anything and everything he wants. Even if it’s to chew on your guts. What we do know is that he was being sold for food. That he was beaten and that, apparently, he’s taken some kind of liking to Mel. This does not mean snicker behind your hands, it means that Mel has sway over him. Let’s not cause Mel too much unnecessary harm, just in case.”



One of the older generations cleared their throats and stepped forward, “pair off. Tanis, did you take your medication this morning?”



“With breakfast,” Tanis said quietly, stepping across the ground between himself and the one who had spoken.



Tanis was one of many. The wilds did something to the people, changed them. It had started with newborns. Fewer males were born, more females. This was a sign that the village had known about thanks to Jarg and the information he had brought with him. Then came the blisters, that swept through the village and harassed all, claiming elderly and young alike. After all of this came the various diseases. Illnesses that affected the immunity or what the old world had called glands.



He was a lucky one, Tanis. His illness did not affect his bones or degenerate part of his body. It had started with a bout of spots across his skin and, had Tanis not taken the medications which the Deaths bought for the village, he would lose his ability to speak. Not that large of a problem, though if Tanis took ill with the wrong cold, the paralysation to his vocal cords would spread and he would eventually die.



But. He was still one of the lucky ones.





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