Lyer & Aluraios | Our World
Lyer took a deep breath, pulling his partner away from the edge of the curb and the speeding cars with inhuman strength for what seemed like the hundreth time. Which wasn't suprising, really. Aluraios, for someone who detested the metal machines and refused to ride in them, seemed to have an amazing perchant for stepping in front of them.
As soon as he let go however, the magnetic attraction began again, and the slightly taller man started drifting back to the roadside. It took all Lyer's restraint to prevent his fingers clenching round the long blonde plait that drifted down Aluraios's back and leading him to the black and white crossing where they might succeed in not getting run over.
"'Rios, we cross over there." Lyer murmured, giving up, and taking his lover's hand, ignoring the new set of stares that landed on them. With his hooded cloak, 'Rios's long plait and now the hand-holding, they were a pretty unusual pair for the middle of this small city.
As Aluraios turned a golden stare on him, Lyer winced, seeing just /how/ pale Aluraios's hair was at his scalp, the light golden shade seeming dark against the pure silver roots. After the first fuss they'd had over dying the white waterfall Aluraios called his hair, he wasn't quite sure he wanted to bring up the idea of having to do it again. It had taken two packets of dye too. He had been immensly relieved to find his own black braid was of an 'acceptable' colour in this world. Not suprisingly, his partner had put his foot down on the subject of 'contact lenses'.
"I wish we could risk it." came the retort, the golden eyes flickering up to the clear sky, the sun resting on his bare arms, his free hand coming up to stroke the ray-kissed skin.
Lyer raised an eyebrow, but squeezed the slender fingers in reassurance. "You might, but black feathers in this heat?" he shuddered, "this cloak's hot enough. Not to mention the fact that mages don't technically exist in this world."
"Huh." But the hawken shapeshifter did subside into momentary silence. "How did work go today then?"
"You mean convincing Designs On that they should buy my work?" Lyer replied wryly, hefting the shoulder bag containing the precious silver jewellry futher onto his shoulder. "They haven't said no yet."
"But not yes either."
"But not yes ether." Lyer confirmed, checking both directions of the road before clasping his lover's hand firmly and practically leading him over the road.
When his glare of annoyance at being treated like a hatchling was ignored, the sunperson resorted to baser methods, one finger sneaking up inside the other's palm, and rubbing the skin at the joint of the thumb and first finger. turning the soft touch into a teasing massage that made his more serious partner grin and loosen his grip. "Lyer, solar, I'm not going to get run over."
Disbelieving bronze eyes turned sidewise, the teasing twinkle dismissing the potential hurt.
"I'm not!" the exclaimation was just as teasing.
Lyer shook his head, "Just be careful. I don't want you getting hurt." He returned a gentler caress to the other's palm, "You might survive horses running you over, but I don't think these cars are as picky over where they put their wheels. I'm not sure if even I'd survive a direct collision."
"Vampires." Aluraios muttered, but his tone admitted defeat. It wasn't as if holding his lover's hand was an onerous task after all.
He changed the subject as they started up the road to their apartment. "I haven't found any one interested in hiring me yet, either." The sunperson wasn't particularly suprised, his style of work, while fashionable in their world was, according to one woman, 'suitable for dressing-up and Ren faires only', and she recommended he talked to a theatre company. But so far, with no real examples of work to show, he was having difficulties.
"Well, if you finish that bodice tonight," the vampire replied comfortingly, "you'll have something to show off."
"I know. I'm just not too happy about showing it off." For Aluraios, who got comissions by word of mouth and from the Lords and Ladies of his world, starting business from scratch without his status or species to give him an edge was proving decidedly difficult.
"You do it all the time at market."
"I haven't needed to for the last six years, solar."
"Oh. Sorry." The smile was sheepish, apologetic and loving all rolled into one as Lyer unlocked the main door. "About time you got some practise in then."
Aluraios's sigh was audiable above the lock click.
The sun-worshipping hawk shifter enjoyed sunbathing, Lyer enjoyed watching the moon and the city, and two birds taking off from a roof top garden was a lot less obvious than two birds flying out a second storey window. Which was why they'd paid the little extra for the top floor apartment, with roof garden, which made their lives a little easier.
Hunting was easy in this city, much to their mutual relief, the local vermin being accustom to humans, but not to large wild intelligent hawks. Although said hawks were equally unused to cities. Lyer, with the rats, was gaining enough sustinance to rarely need actual pure blood, which also made Aluraios happier. And the number of 'blood bank' comments decrease. While Aluraios honestly didn't mind donating to his partner, when food was scarce for both of them, it did put a drain on his own body. But it was either donate or have a blood-starved vampire who couldn't control his own hunger on his hands. The former was infinately preferable.
After the long trek up the sunlit glass and metal stairwell, to the usual sound of Aluraios's complaints, and Lyer's easy running, they reached the polished door with the shiny number '17' on that marked the portal to their private domain.
Pushing open the door, Lyer let out a long sigh of relief as the brightness dimmed a little, moving to close the curtains on the large main window. "Sorry, love, I need to get this cloak off. And it's too damn sunny for my tastes and skin."
"S'okay." the sunperson said, coming up behind Lyer to undo the clasp at his neck, helping to draw the grey cotton off the slim body. "I'll go and work on the roof or in the bedroom if you want to do silverwork." The large forge and toolkit took up a whole corner of the room, warded by Aluraios's magic for extra safety.
Lyer smiled, turning to kiss his lover's cheek as he slipped off the cloak, shaking back his black plait from his shoulder, "Thank you, but at the moment, I just want to relax."
"Uh huh..."
"Not that way!" the vampire turned fully to nestle in his partner's arms, "I'm too tired at the moment, and we still need to put the shields up."
The gentle reminder made Aluraios roll his eyes, "I know, I know." It was almost, but not quite, a habit by now, to put up basic shields while they were in over the top of the semi-permanent ones that kept out intruders, probes and anything else they thought could possibly be thrown at them. It could withstand most of Aluraios's Major powers, and all of Lyer's combined human and vampiric magic, so they had deemed it reasonably secure.
Closing his eyes, Lyer brought up his part of the shielding, luckily it only took a small amount of energy to set in place, unlike the main shielding which had had them both exhausted for two days and longing for their Mage-Lord friend. He could feel Aluraios bring up his half of the wards, the fire energy binding his blood and human magic into the mesh.
"Quicker than last time." The exhaustion was evident in the black haired man's voice, causing Aluraios to blink his eyes open quickly in concern.
"Lyer..." Tightening his grasp around his partner's waist, the fireborn helped him over to the sofa, sitting him firmly down. His concern grew when the vampire's eyes blinked unsteadily open. "Solar, you're exhausted. Sit." The last came as Lyer tried to move upright, and was pushed firmly back down.
"Now who's being a mother hen?" Lyer murmured as the sofa sank down, marking Aluraios's descent.
The soft chuckle by his ear came moments before he was drawn into an embrace. "Now, why are you so tired?"
"Convincing people you're good is hard work when you have no credentials other than the word of Lady Isjah, Dak and various other people they don't know from an entirely different world they've never heard of. My work tools aren't exactly orthodox here either. Plus the sunlight today was draining."
"And?"
Lyer sighed, "It's a city, you know I don't do well in cities." Unlike most vampires, Lyer's nature was, by nature, gentle, and unlike the rest of his species he didn't enjoy hunting or killing, but in cities with the undercurrent of human darkness he could find himself having a hard time controling his vampire side which didn't share his opinions or beliefs on what constitued sociable behaviour.
Hugging the younger body to him, Aluraios smoothed back the strands of ebon-dark hair that had fallen loose around the pale temples. "You're alright up here though, aren't you?"
"Once the shields are up, yes." Lyer allowed, resting his head on the sunperson's shoulders. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be fine. I'll go hunting tonight, that'll help."
"You need to feed now." Aluraios's tone brooked no arguement, causing Lyer to look up into burning gold eyes in surprise. "Love, I'm not going to complain when it's so obvious you need it." He turned his head, presenting his neck to the now deep bronze gaze of his lover.
Placing a soft kiss on the throat, Lyer nipped and sucked the soft flesh for a moment, exerting all his self control in order not to just bite suddenly into the smooth flesh and hurt Aluraios. The soft skin seduced him quickly though, and he felt his face change subtly, the fangs extend from their sheath in his gums. He managed to murmur, "Thank you, love," before carefully biting into the vein and his source of energy.
Aluraios hissed at the slight pain, which faded almost instantly as Lyer suckled on the wound, before closing his eyes to relax in the quietness, wishing the telepathy that came with their hawk forms functioned in human form too, but at the same time enjoying the tranquility of the silence.
© Clare Selley 2009
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