A Binding fate: Chapter 4
Oct. 22nd, 2007 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tgrayfic
Title: A Binding Fate
Fandom: QAF
Chapter: 4/10
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Summary: Completely AU. He knew only one thing about vampires. They didn’t deserve to live. That was, until the night he met Brian.
Rating: Adults only!
Feedback: I’d love to know what you think!
Beta: The wonderful
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stephmck, whose words always sound so much better.Complete: Yes
Previous Chapters here
Brian’s POV
“I can assure you, you’d be dead before you have a chance to blink.”
Justin stared from a chair placed against the wall at the foot of my bed, a sharpened piece of wood sitting poised across his lap. He nodded, but remained silent. My attention was momentarily drawn toward the window, and even through the thick shade, I could see the sun setting, darkening the sky. When my eyes shifted back, he still hadn’t moved and still hadn’t said a word. I was perplexed that I hadn’t sensed him before now and wondered how long he’d been sitting there.
“Justin.” His gaze met mine but his expression was impossible to read. “Do you intend to use that?”
He glanced nervously down at the wood, twirling it in his hand, and then back up at me. With a sigh, he said, “I’ve been watching you for over an hour and my thoughts are no clearer now than they were when I stepped foot into this room.”
I made a movement to sit up and I watched the way he flinched, gripping the stake tighter. I felt a pang of regret that I could cause him that kind of fear. What had happened in the hours since I’d left him? And why had he not left this morning as he’d planned?
“So now you view me as a monster?”
His shoulders barely shrugged. “Isn’t that what you are?”
With a creased brow, I chose my words wisely and answered, “I could have taken your life several times over, yet you remain unharmed.”
“That proves nothing.”
“Is that so?” I snapped.
He stood suddenly, his nostrils flaring in anger, and moved closer toward the bed. “You are a vampire! A curse of nature! I should have…”
“Should have what?!”
He grit his teeth as his eyes narrowed. “I should have shoved this point into your dead heart while you slept.”
In the time it took me to cross the room, he hadn’t even managed another breath. I was behind him, my arms holding him in a grip so tight, my body pressed against every inch of his. When I spoke, it was through the razor sharp fangs of the monster he accused me of being.
“Why didn’t you?” As I tilted his head slowly, my teeth grazed his skin, running along his cheek, below his ear, stopping only when I’d reached the smooth curve of his neck. I could feel his trembling, his fear…
“I could end this now. Pull the life from your body… drain you and leave you to die.” His heartbeat grew wild, his blood rushing through his veins as he clenched his fingers around mine, his weapon long since dropped to the ground.
“Is that what you want?” I let my incisor break the surface, just barely, but enough. He winced as my tongue slid across his skin absorbing the sweet taste. Ambrosia. Pure and simple. I closed my eyes and willed for the strength to stop at a single drop.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
I sighed against his skin, taking in the scent. “Well then tell me, Justin, why should you be spared? You came into my home, took your pleasure and then threatened to end my existence. I could easily say that you are the monster.”
After a moment, I felt his resistance fade. In a voice soft and passive, he whispered, “I meant, don’t stop. I deserve this fate, for what I have done. I betrayed everything I am the moment I allowed you inside my body.”
I took a chance and loosened my hold, gently skimming my fingers down his arms until he was free. Free to run, free to fight… free to turn around and see me as I truly am.
He did none of these things.
Motionless, he held his position, even when I asked, “Why do you think you deserve death?”
He wrapped his arms around his body. His voice was shaky, full of emotion, but the previous fear and anger was gone. “I came with the intention of killing you. I knew what you were.”
I shifted, my face now the human mask he was accustomed to and stepped around him so I was able to see his expression. “You knew, yet you accepted my invitation to stay?”
He glanced up at me quickly and I could tell he was surprised not to see ridges and fangs. The last thing I wanted was to have him repulsed by my appearance. As if I should care what he thought about any of this. Oddly, I did.
“At first glance, I thought the stories I’d heard were lies. It was inconceivable that you were… what people whispered you to be. Yet now, to know the truth...” It was rather disconcerting to hear. I thought I’d hidden my presence well, having kept mostly to myself, only seeking company with others of my kind for quite some time. Unfortunately, this meant my time here in South Carolina would soon come to an end.
“Stories?”
“In passing…”
“Justin, you don’t just hear stories of vampires in passing. It’s not in one’s normal conversation unless you were to be considered mad.”
He looked up at me. Directly at me. His eyes narrowed and he held his head up as if to challenge me. “It is normal if you’re a hunter.”
My eyebrow rose in question, and then it all clicked. Snorting, I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “A hunter.” That I’d invited into my home. I opened my eyes to see him watching me. Examining me to be more precise.
“Nothing about you is as it should be. I find myself questioning my own sanity.” His skin blushed a luscious shade of crimson and I could only imagine what he was envisioning. I would not be exaggerating if I were to say he’d instigated a rather sweltering tryst with the enemy. His guilt must have been staggering.
“At least you are not alone in your ponderings.”
This surprised him.
I couldn’t help myself. I reached out to him, cupping his cheek lightly and felt immensely grateful when he didn’t pull away. “I have not taken a human lover since before you were born.” I waited for a reaction, but when nothing came, I continued. “Even then, those who were unfortunate enough to garner my attention meant nothing to me. Prey to be used and discarded.”
“Brian, I don’t…”
“You need to know, so that in telling you, I might understand what this power is that you hold over me.” He tried to speak, probably to argue, but I placed my finger over his lips. “It is real, Justin. I held you, tasted you… I could have drawn the blood from your body and you would have been helpless to stop it. But I wouldn’t. Not because I didn’t long for it, or worse yet, crave it even. Your scent is the sweetest, most alluring aroma I’ve ever encountered, but I couldn’t bear to see the life drain from your eyes. I would not be the cause of such a wasted death.”
Justin placed his hand over mine and slowly guided it down, laying my fingers flat against his chest. “I don’t understand. I’ve faced many of your kind, Brian. Why does your presence bring out such exhilaration when the others only stimulated my hatred? From your touch alone, my heart feels as if it might jump out of my skin.”
“When did you know? You said you didn’t believe what you’d been told, yet I find you here with no doubt in your mind as to what I am.”
He took a breath and let my hand go before placing his own against my skin. Firmly, he traced my shoulder, down along the curve of my neck before resting his palm against my motionless heart. “You realize, even now, that you sometimes forget to breathe? And cease to do so completely while you sleep?”
I glanced down at his fingers, his nails running circles along my bare chest. I’d only now taken in the state of my nakedness to his clothed body. “It’s not a need, but a habit. Or for show as to not be discovered. I’ll have to pay better attention to detail in the future.”
“While you can fake breath, some things you cannot pass for human. Our exertion was such that I was drenched, while you did not even break a sweat. And your stamina…” He blushed ferociously again.
“Was equal to yours.” I found myself smiling. “Though I may have been holding back… a bit.”
He reciprocated my smile and then took me by surprise when his body came forward and he rested his lips against my neck. “I’ve never actually been so close as to touch a vampire before. In the heat of the fight, it is all about keeping my distance.”
I let him explore for a moment, ghosting kisses along my skin, guiding his lips slowly down to my nipple. “Why are you colder now than I remember?”
“My body warms when I feed.”
He stepped back with an audible gasp.
“Animals, Justin. I feed on animals and have for quite some time. I’d been in the forest just before I came to you.”
He seemed to contemplate this a little too much. His brow furrowed in thought as he ran his hands through his hair. “Animals.”
“Yes. Only animals.”
Seemingly content for the moment, he stepped forward again, cautiously. “So I am safe with you?”
I traced his lips with a finger, desperately wanting to devour him. “As safe as I am with you and your pointy stick,” I teased. But then seriously, I answered, “Never think you are safe in the company of a vampire, no matter what he may tell you. I have a strong resolve, and when I say I am able to practice control, it is still always there, floating just beneath the surface.”
“What is?”
I finally allowed myself to replace my finger with my lips, kissing him with renewed desire. He accepted, pulling me to him, his hands wrapping around the back of my neck. We stayed that way for some time before it dawned on him that I’d failed to answer his question. He pulled away reluctantly and asked again, “What is always there beneath the surface?”
I gazed back, my eyes cold and serious. “The knowledge that your blood is the most compelling thing to me. As much as your appearance may please me, and the very pleasure I took in you exceeds most anything imaginable, your blood is the one thing I desire most of all.”
I’d swear his face went ashen. I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. I should have trusted my instincts. Why tell him something so frightening, when it is within my power to hold the temptation at bay? I stared down at him, waiting.
“I’d like to stay and learn more. All I know of vampires is what I’ve discovered on my own, and it seems that I do not know much. I should like you to teach me more than the anger of their existence.” He continued to astonish me.
“There’s no crying cousin awaiting your arrival?”
“A story made up to secure my way in. There’s no cousin, crying or otherwise. I have no place to be and no family to miss my absence.”
I nodded. “Well then, I see no reason for you to leave. Although, you’ll have to excuse me for a short while if I am to be around you for any length of time. Keeping my hunger satisfied will be a key factor in your safety.”
He cringed a bit, but I didn’t expect him to understand. Part of me hoped he never did.
As I dressed, he watched me, his eyes a dark and dangerous shade of blue. I knew the look well, but that would have to wait. He followed me into the common area and finally asked, “Do you have anything I might eat?”
Smiling, I led him to the pantry where human food was plenty. As I’d said earlier, as with breathing, it was all in keeping up appearances.
I left him to make his own meal as I took to the woods to find my own.
TBC
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2007-10-23 02:35 am (UTC)That made me laugh harder than I have in days!
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Date: 2007-10-23 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 03:25 am (UTC)ehehhe I knew justin is a hunter *.* eheheh
and what intrigued devellop!! now he stay with brian for "learn" about vampires x) eheh braaave justin?smaaart justin x)
at last he can became a vampire x) and stay with his vampire forever x)
Even if Mrs Anne Rice teach us eternity is so much time even for lover...but I think brian and justin are a special case and you? x)
mmm and the phrase "...but I didn’t expect him to understand. Part of me hoped he never did."
mmm...intersting *_______*
loveble,simple loveble :Q___
and hooooooooot!
you are good to describe sexual tension between them X)
you make me happy and smile like a fool x)
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Date: 2007-10-23 12:58 pm (UTC)Eternity is a really long time. Would they really be able to handle that? Hmmm...
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Date: 2007-10-23 09:35 am (UTC)As a hunter, he knows the danger, Brian has reminded him of it. Yet he wants to stay. My heart breaks, for both of them.
Another beautiful chapter, Teresa.
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Date: 2007-10-23 01:01 pm (UTC)Thank you, Lisa!
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Date: 2007-10-23 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 01:02 pm (UTC)I'm happy I was able to make you try something new! *grins* And even happier that you're enjoying it.
Thank you!!
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Date: 2007-10-23 12:20 pm (UTC)~Ellen
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Date: 2007-10-23 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-23 08:28 pm (UTC)Justin, a hunter, stays with Brian, a prey, that is a very dangerous prey in fact. And why? Because he wants to learn more about the vampires. Bravery?, Stupidity? Or a part of plan (at least at that moment)?
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Date: 2007-10-24 02:03 am (UTC)Vampire or not, I'd stay with brian! *grins*
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Date: 2007-10-23 10:56 pm (UTC)What a great paragraph!
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Date: 2007-10-24 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-24 01:57 am (UTC)Thanks for sharing.
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Date: 2007-10-24 02:07 am (UTC)And thank you for giving it a shot! I wasn't sure how many people would be interested, but I decided it was time to mix my love of vampire stories with my love of B/J. Hopefully, it won't disappoint!
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Date: 2007-10-24 04:37 am (UTC)