by Downs Jana
Alex’s face hardened. “Did they hurt you because of me?” he demanded, his voice taking on an inhuman note. The mental strength of his mind tightened around Dageus’s body. Dageus cried out in pain. Immediately the pressure lessened. “Sorry,” Alex muttered.
Dageus sighed in defeat, oddly aroused and breathless from being held down. “They didn’t hurt me because I like boys. They didn’t hurt me because I was with you,” he offered, relaxing into the power that swirled around him. Alex took a tentative hand and put it on his cheek.
“Then why, pet? Why did they hurt you? It was the Ravyns, wasn’t it?”
“It was my penance,” Dageus found himself saying, knowing that he didn’t need to offer the explanation but somehow feeling that he owed it to him. “I broke the loyalty of my brotherhood. I kept something from them that is an integral part of my soul. As Ravyns, we don’t have any secrets. We are one. Keeping something as important as my sexual preference from them indicated that I didn’t trust them.” He paused. “It was disloyal of me. You were just the physical indicator of my preference. I hurt them because I kept it secret. When you break a sacred law, you must offer yourself to the judgment of the brothers. Through the physical punishment we are drawn closer. It is a manifestation of the pain we have inflicted on each other. It was”—he struggled for a word—“intense. I’ll heal by tomorrow, though,” he added as if to justify the bruises. The power released him, but he was caught by the arms of the Master.
“Never again,” Alex whispered, kissing him on the lips. “Mine.” Dageus fought his attraction to the man with everything he was. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he would lose himself if he gave in to this man.
“No.” He gasped as Alex switched tactics and laid nipping, licking, bites to his neck instead. “Stop! I can’t think when you’re doing that!” Dageus moaned.
Alex caught his chin in his steady hands and proceeded to kiss him senseless. The kiss itself was a punishment. Hard. Demanding. His lips branded Dageus’s own with the strength of Alex’s will. Dageus was left gasping as his tongue was coaxed into a mating dance with the vampire’s. Sweet. His lips are so very sweet.
“I missed you so much,” Alex admitted against his lips. “My Kal, My Dageus. The name doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here.” Dageus felt his heart expand at the words. He’d never had anyone speak to him like he was the center of their world. The power in that admission was a heady thing. Alex allowed Dageus to regain control of his arms, and they snaked their way into his hair. Alex smirked, but Dageus couldn’t work up the energy to care. He was lost in his vampire again.
Take me, Dageus thought feverishly. Please, take me like before.
* * * *
Alex caught the thought as it crossed his companion’s mind, followed by a barrage of images from the “dreams” Dageus had been having. Memories, really. Fantasies, definitely. Alex got hot thinking about the image of him making love on this very stage. He remembered the tight depths of Kal’s body as if it was yesterday. The love had shown in his eyes as Alex had taken him hard for the first time.
Kal and Alex’s cell phones went off simultaneously. Both pulled back from the embrace with a curse. Alex released Dageus completely from his power, and they flipped open their phones in unison.
“Where the hell are you!?” Someone’s voice was audible from where Alex stood, the screech causing Dageus to wince and pull the cell away from his ear. Alex let him deal with the mess with the Ravyns and answered his own phone.
“Hello?” he asked softly, aware that his voice still held a faint note of desire.
“You took my Ravyn almost three hours early.” The voice on the other line was deadly.
Alex sighed. “Salvatore, so pleasant to hear from you,” he said sarcastically. “I took him early because you let some would-be hustler pick him up at my club, and I didn’t want him to have any distractions tonight when he dances.”
Alex said the half truth smoothly without a ripple of unease. Chess. Life was a game of strategy, and no one knew that better than the vampire.
“Your club?” Salvatore asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Alex murmured. “I own Daylight as well as several other properties in the city. You are surprised by this?”
Salvatore snorted. “And you just happened to be at the one club my Ravyns were visiting at the exact moment our Dageus decided to pick up a date?”
It was Alex’s turn to snort. “Think what you like. He’s at my theater. We’re starting his lessons. I’ll send him home when I’m finished with him. I trust your other Ravyns are fit to guard you until then?” He heard a murmur of inaudible voices as an almost silent argument was happening on the other end of the phone. Alex smiled. Check mate.
Chapter Eighteen
Tony insisted that Germany come watch the humiliation of his unwilling dance lesson. “Ravyns never go alone” was the excuse. Dageus sighed and tried not to think of the razzing he was going to get from his brothers when Germany brought word back that he was making an idiot of himself.
“You’re not paying attention, mon coeur. Feel the music, like before,” Alex reprimanded softly, sweat pooling on his chest and running in distracting rivulets down his taut form.
“Put a shirt on, and maybe I will,” Dageus muttered, watching the progress of one particularly large bead of sweat that raced toward the faint happy trail at the top of Alex’s loose dancing pants. I wonder if I look as ridiculous in these things as he does, Dageus muttered in his own mind. Alex looked at him sharply as if he could read his thoughts. Dageus shrugged.
“I can’t feel anything but my brother’s eyes on my back,” he said aloud, motioning toward Germany, who was sitting in the front row of the theater seats, acting as if he wasn’t paying attention. Alex turned Dageus’s eyes to his with one finger on his chin.
“Non. No one’s eyes but mine should hold you with this dance. This is a very active piece, a warrior’s dance. You will make the part.” Dageus blushed at the compliment, then again when he realized he was blushing. Alex smiled. “It is good that you are still innocent enough to blush at my pretty words, mon coeur.” Dageus cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“I don’t want to dance in front of anybody,” he said, staring at the floor. “I know the Prince will be stoked about it, and I know that it would be awesome to move like you but—” he paused. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” he finished awkwardly.
Alex smiled at his words. “Nonsense. You will be wonderful. You were made for this Ka—Dageus.” Alex stumbled over the name. Dageus glared at the vampire, catching the near slip of the tongue.
“You must’ve really loved him,” he said, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
Alex nodded. “I did. He was my world.” Dageus felt the first pangs of longing fill him. He didn’t want to admit how much it hurt to hear of Alex pining after another man.
“I see, as usual, when he is around, you get nothing productive accomplished,” a voice said from the right of the stage. Dageus let his eyes wander to the speaker and found himself looking at the same man who had been present at his “return” from the night before.
“Santiago, right?” he asked, not wanting to be rude.
“Bueno bello,” Santiago said, a smile on his face. “That is the name I call myself this century.”
The smile looked odd on his face. For some odd reason, it felt as if Dageus was looking at some sort of mask when Santiago expressed emotion.
“He is very old, mon coeur. That is why you feel his “otherness,” Alex offered.
Santiago nodded his head in agreement. “I am also the best dancer in the troupe, as well as the trainer for the entire Entertainer line,” Santiago added with more than the usual dose of arrogance in his voice. “I am the head of the line. The Maker, so to speak.”
Dageus shook his head in confusion. “I thought you were the Master of the line,” he said, pointing to Alex.
Santiago snorted. “He is Master
because his power lies more along the lines of battle and politics. Games I have no desire to play. I was the first of our line. In a physical battle he could best me. However, he couldn’t maintain the level of specialty that the line is known for without me. We are the entertainers of the vampire world. The council itself requests our presence at events.” The Ravyn nodded his understanding.
“Each person in the line has a specific job that allows you to function as a complete family unit. He’s the ‘muscle.’” Dageus pointed to Alex, who raised an eyebrow at his assumption.
Santiago laughed and nodded. “Yes. He is the ‘muscle.’ The other two of our little family are my sweet Maddeline and that one’s brother, Damian. She is the advertisement genius and he, the business man. We function quite well that way.”
Dageus found himself strangely at ease with this older vampire, and he found himself joking.
“So you’re the talent scout? Sounds very corporate.”
Santiago nodded again. “It is very practical.”
Alex cleared his throat to drag the two back to the present. “What do you want, Santiago, my sire’s sire? You were interrupting our practice for the newest play about the Romans.”
Santiago clapped his hands in amusement. “Excellent. I shall assist you. You may have written the part, my sire-child, however, I have written the dance.”
Twenty minutes later, Dageus decided that Tony could take lessons about physical endurance from Santiago. Three hours later, he decided Satan himself could take lessons from Santiago’s sadistic dedication. Both the Master of the City and the Ravyn were dripping with sweat and getting tired. Santiago snorted in disdain at their appearances.
“You obviously have not been training enough, my children. We will have to do this nightly until you are truly ready for this play. It is your best to date, Alex. Do you not wish it to be danced with the intensity in which you wrote it?” Alex started growling after that particular jab.
The dance itself was complicated and required a lot of lifts and movements that required the two dancers to counterbalance one another to keep the other from falling over. It was a battle and a love scene all in one. They were dancing the part of the first and second lieutenants in a Roman legion. The main part was to be played by another man, Marsilia, whom Dageus had never met, but they assured him that he and his wife, Angela, would give authenticity and passion to the main characters.
The lieutenants that Alex and he were going to play were the counter love affair to the one portrayed by Marsilia and Angela. They were to serve as demonstrators of lust in a world of love. It was an intense minor role, and one that had to be enacted with great care.
Dageus still couldn’t figure out why they’d wanted him to study with them so badly. He’d never danced before! He was a bodyguard, a warrior. He lived to serve the demon Prince and to take care of his brothers. Why then did he feel so free whirling around on stage with his dream lover? He comforted himself with the excuse that it was all for Salvatore’s love of La Petite Morte that drove him to such ecstasy on stage. That had to be it.
“Five, six, seven, eight.” Santiago counted the steps to the dance, and Dageus lost track of his wayward thoughts.
He flung himself at Alex at the same time the Master threw himself at him. They caught each other, rotating like a two-pronged top, stretching out their arms while locking their legs together so that they could land counterbalanced on the balls of their feet, holding each other up. They almost had it landed when Dageus’s grip on Alex faltered, and he was flung backward by his own momentum. Without the balance, Alex, too, crashed to the floor in a heap. Both of them heaved a sigh of frustration.
“Dageus, lock your damned hand around my wrist, not my bloody forearm! It’s too thick for you to maintain a grip,” Alex growled.
Dageus returned the tone. “No kidding, Sherlock! Maybe you should quit trying to plow through me and try to position yourself in a more accessible position.”
“Grab where you’re supposed to and it won’t matter!”
“Be in the position you’re supposed to, and I won’t have to search for your goddamned wrist mid leap!”
“You little imp! How dare you talk to me like that, after you landed us both flat on our backs, again!”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Mr. Master of Haven. I’m not from the freaking musical wonder children, so why don’t you get your old, experienced ass working the way it’s supposed to so that I can learn something!”
Santiago laughed aloud. The sound startled the two arguing men, who had still not gotten up off their backs.
Santiago tsked. “Now, now, children. Behave. Neither one of you are doing that lift right, and neither of you is solely to blame. Kiss and make up.” Grudgingly, Alex forced himself to his feet and offered Dageus a hand.
Santiago smiled. “Good. I think that’ll be enough for the night. I’m sure the young Ravyn must get back to his lord as the day approaches us, and we must get some sleep. Alex,” he commanded, “treat your lover to something sweet in the kitchen, and then come to rest. The family will be awaiting you for the debriefing before bed.” With a loud crack, Santiago vanished, the sound eerily like a bullwhip.
“When he teleports, it makes a noise because he has to force so much energy into it. My energy level is higher, and therefore it doesn’t create as much friction between the outer and inner selves to cause a sound,” Alex supplied, answering Dageus’s unspoken question. Dageus nodded, and his stomach gave a very loud growl of hunger.
Alex smiled. “Come, let me show you what used to be Kal’s favorite part of the house.” He extended his hand to the Ravyn. With a moment’s hesitation, Dageus put a reluctant hand in Alex’s own and smiled shyly. With a thought, they were gone. The last sound Dageus heard before the stage vanished was Germany cursing violently in demon tongue.
Chapter Nineteen
Desmond was furious. His enemy was completely out of his reach. His assassins and personal investigators had reported nothing of interest. Salvatore had vanished with his entire household. Supposedly Salvatore was out of Demontia completely. He’d sent his warriors to all known regions of the four universes. It was ridiculous. Salvatore couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.
“My lord, you look positively furious,” a soft feminine voice cooed from his bed.
“Of course I’m furious, you twit,” Desmond growled, looking at the blonde tresses that just a moment ago were spread across his thighs. “My cousin is still missing. I need him dead!”
For emphasis, he struck the column of wood to her right, splintering it and showering her in wood chips. She hissed in fear. Without ceremony, he gripped her by the arms and tossed her across the bed, following her up.
“My lord?” she squealed in fear. He ripped through the gauzy silk he had moments ago given her for pleasing him. He hardened against her struggles. He had to find his cousin to secure his kingdom, and like it or not, fucking this dumb bitch was not getting him anywhere.
Chapter Twenty
“So how long have you been Master of Haven, Alex?” Dageus asked, licking the last bit of ice cream from his spoon. Alex watched the movement with a burning desire that made Dageus blush. Even thought he hid the hard length of his erection with the counter top in front of him, Dageus could still feel the heat coming off the other man. Alex seemingly couldn’t take his eyes off the half-naked imp that sat perched on a bar stool at his front. Dageus was pleased as punch that he hadn’t bothered to request any more clothes when they’d gotten here.
Dageus smiled at Alex shyly. “Hello? You ignoring me?”Alex snapped out of his slow perusal.
“Sorry, mon coeur,” he said, embarrassed. “I have been Master here since the year seventeen hundred… but that is completely irrelevant. I was Master in Europe before that.”
“That’s interesting. So you met Kalel here in Haven?”
“My brother adopted him when he was a child. He was good friends with Kal’s parents. When they were kil
led by a rogue vampire, he took in the boy. I didn’t have much contact with him, but when he got older he joined the troupe, and one thing led to another…”
Alex reached out and wiped the corner of Dageus’s mouth where a drop of ice cream had collected. He brought his finger to his mouth and licked the sweetness away. Alex smiled as Dageus’s breath caught at his action. There was a pregnant pause, and the sexual tension in the room soared.
Neither knew who reached for who first, but Dageus ended up on his back, legs spread, Alex between them. He groaned at the sensation of Alex’s erection grinding against his own.
“Please,” he panted, a thousand sensations winding through his consciousness. With a thought, Alex disposed of their clothing, the material all but melting off their flesh. Naked skin met naked skin, and they both screamed with the sensation. Dageus wrapped his legs more firmly around Alex’s hips and arched against him.
“Mine!” Alex screamed, taking his cock in his hand and steadying it against the tight entrance of Dageus’s unused passage. Dageus strained against him, desiring something from Alex and not so innocent that he didn’t know what he was asking for. In theory anyway. “Easy, baby,” Alex whispered, barely able to restrain himself.
“Hurry,” Dageus replied desperately. Alex chuckled at his enthusiasm. Their eyes locked, and eyes of ice blue met eyes of deep forest green. “Oh, Alex. I waited so long to, ah, be here,” Dageus whispered. Alex simply smiled and slid the first inch of his erection into the tight ring of muscle. Dageus’s breath caught. It burned. Hurt just a little, but somehow he instinctively knew that it would only get better.
“It’s okay, Alex. Please. Move,” he begged.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Germany screeched, coming through the open doorway. It had obviously taken him a while to find the kitchen. Alex and Dageus froze on the bar. Germany’s eyes bulged, and he turned from the two and screamed at the wall instead.
