Lyer & Aluraios | Within the lion's den
The lamps lit patches of darkness with bright golden light, which were swallowed up by the shadows before they gained any purchase in the blackness. Instead raucous noise filled the place of light, an almost tangible undercurrent of sound, thruming throughout the vampire's city. And above it, the chaotic cacophony brushed between the stone walls and streets, echoing around him, wrapping him in an endless whirlwind. All around him, hidden traders, sellers and purveyors on the main streets added their own calls, whistles and squarks to the open air, the covered stalls doing little to damp the yells.
Ghovan. Lyer's 'home'. Home in name only. He knew the vampire hated the country where anything went, provided you could afford it. He snorted in derision. The queen of this unique city, however, wouldn't accept that the gentle, beautiful mage wasn't interesting in women and was at present involved with, of all things, a fireborn sunperson.
Aluraios looked upwards, feeling the sun high above him, even through the shields that rendered Her gifts useless to him. "It's not as if I'm keen on your idea of heaven either." the fireborn sunperson muttered, walking quickly into a patch of fire lit air in the deserted run, rubbing the pale blue silk across his shoulders for comfort. "Lyer, you owe me for this one." he added, fingering the silver hair clasp that held his long white hair back in a horsetail, purposely forgetting that his lover hadn't wanted him to come in the first place.
"Interested in anythin'?" a sighing feminine voice wove out of another run, followed by a too-thin body and a few even thinner scraps of fabric. "There's lots on offer, and for a man like yourself..."
If Aluraios hadn't been lifemated and perfectly happy with his partner, the figure would have recieved at least a lingering gaze before the inevitable refusal. As it was the scathing glance from the golden eyes caused her to duck back into the shadows in momentary fear before she recovered enough for her face to shift into the semi-familiar vampiric fangs. "Are you sure you don't want to tak' advantage?" the still breathy voice held a hint of danger, stemming from the woman's desperation.
"I'm sure." Aluraios replied curtly, groaning inwardly, Great, a vampire whore, just what I don't need. "I'm not interested in women." The small lie was justified to himself by the fact that for the past eight years he had been almost solidly devoted to a single male.
The woman drew closer, cocking her head on one side, her shoulder length muddy blonde locks falling in knots over her shoulder. "I could see if I can change that then." She lifted one of her scarfs casually, draping it over his shoulder, then pulling it off slowly, running it across his neck.
The fireborn closed his eyes for a moment, forcing himself to stay in check. The scarf's movement rubbed against where Lyer had fed a few nights ago, and the skin was still senitive to the touch. The slight pain only fuelled his annoyance. If he wanted female companionship, he didn't have to pay for it, a fact backed up by experience not arrogance. "Forgive me, lady, I fear that is impossible." he smiled, lapsing into the familiar Court language with pracised ease.
A rumble in the woman's throat caught his sensitive ears moments before desperation bloomed fully in the vampire's dusky-blue eyes, the pupils dark moons in the inky darkness.
Aluraios swore suddenly, only relexes from long sparring practises with his lover allowing him to dodge her first leap. Shit! My magic's practically useless in here! he thought angrily, even as he tested one of the lamps hopefully and found it warded against tampering. His own ability to call fire needed more than the seconds of concentration he could steal while avoiding the whore.
"Lady!" he yelped before giving up any attempt to reason with her, she was obviously hunger crazed. For a vampire who relied on blood to sustain their blood magic which in turn supported their lives, starvation was easily fatal to the almost immortal creatures.
Glancing to the side he avoided another rush, following the woman through with a push as she passed him. As soon as she hit the stone wall, bonelessly falling to the floor, he spread his arms as he turned to the lamp, a desperate prayer breathed from his lips that the Goddess would permit him to use it in place of Her light.
"Hey!" his concentration shattered into hundreds of flame-filled shards as footsteps rang along the street, and a hand abrubtly clasped his shoulder with a speed that screamed 'vampire', "What the hell is happening here?"
"She propositioned me, I refused, she attacked me." Aluraios answered tiredly with more than a hint of anger in his voice as he smoothed back his hair from his exertions, redoing the clasp with long practised gestures. With the vampire female lying injured on the floor, he just knew he'd get the blame. Darkness take me, Lyer's going to be furious... he sighed unhappily as he turned back to his captors, "She was hunger crazed."
The dark blonde who held him raised an eyebrow, before stating matter of factly "You reconise a hunger crazed vampire, but you're not one."
"State the obvious." Aluraios couldn't help the sarcasm as he ran his fingers in a nervous gesture through the flowing horsetail. "I don't have to be a vampire to be in Ghovan, or has Queen Shorsha changed the rules recently?"
The other man was kneeling by the woman who was now sitting up on the dusty ground, her thin hands clasped around a flask that had appeared as she gulped from it. Red streaks trickled down over her thin lips as she lifted sullen eyes to the sunperson. "She'll be fine." the man murmured in relief as he stood up, brushing shoulder-length brown hair over his black livery. Aluraios noted with a long suffering groan the silver and black emblem on his breast, winking innocently at him in the flickering light. The brunette moved to stand in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest authoratively. "You don't have to be a vampire, but you may not assault one of Her Majesty's subjects here."
"She attacked me." Aluraios repeated.
"What's your name?" the blonde interrupted, "Name and dwelling please." his brown eyes harsh and solid as he tightened his grip.
Aluraios turned to blink at him, his own hawken eyes going just as cold, "Why on the Goddess's way do you ask me that?"
"So we know where to find you."
"You invoke the Goddess's name?" the brown haired man murmured, lounging against one wall in a dangerously relaxed pose, "In Ghovan? What the hell are you?"
"Major Aluraios ~ Zephyr." the sunperson answered softly, drawing himself up under the mocking gazes. "I'm here with Minor Lyer Rewtren ~ Ghovan." he added, hoping his partner's legendary status would hold some sway with the vampires it had been gained among.
A sqeak from the floor caused his eyes to flicker over to the whore as she skidded backwards, dropping the flask as the desperation in her eyes fled in the wake of fear. Fear of Lyer. Satisfaction flooded through him, even as he hated causing it. He turned back to the guards, hoping to see identical expressions.
The brown-haired man's eyes reflected a hint of suprised fear, but a slim eyebrow just hiked up the smooth forehead. The blonde just raked his hand through his hair before shaking his head. "Lyer's in Ghovan, I'll give you that, he was called by Her Majesty earlier."
A twinge of irrational jealousy stung the fireborn and he shoved it away with the knowledge that Lyer only liked males, and after escaping from Shorsha all those years ago he wasn't about to go back willingly. That explains why he reacted so badly to that letter. he realised, thinking back to his lover's face as he took the bespelled letter and without even opening it, uncharacteristically kissed his cheek with thinned lips, whispered, "I'll be back later," and left their rooms with his face set in coldly determined mask, his feet clipped on the stone floor. He'd nearly missed the scared flash of the dark gold eyes.
He'd taken this walk to relax, to take his mind off worrying about Lyer, but now the panic returned abruptly. A corner of his mind calmly reasoned that that was precisely why the vampire hadn't told him where he was going, facing the woman who'd spent years attempting to bed you with your present lover was not a good idea. Especially when the woman was the seven hundred year old vampire queen. The reasoning wasn't helping.
The blonde's hazelnut eyes were wry as Aluraios blinked back to the present, the guard chuckled at his companion's look of suprise, "Weren't you listening to Guard Herry's brief, Merve? According to him, Lyer's been here at least a day already. Herry wanted us to keep an eye out for his wayward son." He shuddered delicately, "That freak's reputation precedes him."
"Son?" Aluraios asked, forcing the words around his strangling shock and anger, practising his seldom used restraint at the insult to his solar. He swallowed as the wooden eyes turned onto him.
"You claim to be with Lyer Rewtren ~ Ghovan, but he's never mentioned Evin Herry ~ Ghovan to you?" the blonde replied disbelievingly, finally dropping his hand from the fireborn's shoulder, and Aluraios resigned himself to his capture as he noted the same thing as the vampires, there was literally no way he could run.
Aluraios rubbed his shoulder distractedly for a few moments, his brain working furiously to prove itself wrong and find some way to get the hell out of the situation, "The vampire who changed him?" he asked absently, "That Evin?"
The casual backhand caught him sharply across his face, snapping his head round at a speed that caused miniature suns to explode across his vision, "Apprentice Herry to you," the vampire snarled as Aluraios shook his head to clear his eyes, his own dark gold eyes burning with the anger he didn't dare release. "Of the Queen's Guard. If you insist you belong to Lyer, I suppose you'll get to meet him personally," the snarl faded to a nasty smile, "after all, what belongs to the son, belongs to the father. What do you claim to be to Lyer anyway? Food?"
"If he's food, he's damn pretty food." Merve said casually, coming up by the sunperson's side, the flask dangling from his fingers. "If Her Majesty's busy with her pet project, Evin'll probably be around the Holm, he's the only hold she's got over him anyway."
"I'm food," Aluraios muttered, rubbing with delicate fingers at the blood that freckled across his face from his nose. "Just food." He winced inwardly at his flat monotone, but kept a calm face, reminding himself firmly that as Lyer's lover he'd be an unwanted hurdle to the Queen, and a tool to be used against the vampiric mage. All those years of Court politics came in useful, he thought wryly, before his mind cheerily reminded him, Lyer is going to kill me for this... That alone was incentive enough to keep his face bland and not give Shorsha any more of a hold over his solar.
The other incentive was a selfish desire to not give the vampire any reason to leave him. While Lyer wouldn't suffer any long-term problems from breaking off their relationship, he wouldn't be able to mate anyone until Lyer's death. Which, as a vampire with his unique abilities, wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The simple fact that he loved the other mage was another very large part in his descision to try and salvage the situation by silence.
He looked at the ground wretchedly, taking a small momental comfort in the fact Evin was an Apprentice, and therefore was a lot weaker than his own Major powers. Yes, and Evin won't know how to fight physically, and we're in the forsaken darkness! he berated himself sarcastically.
The blonde shrugged, "She didn't manage to get Lyer last time with his help, I doubt she'll improve her record this time." his hand moved up again to grip Aluraios's upper arm hard enough to bruise instantly, the hawk-shifter's fragile bones just strong enough to resist the pressure. "But, they do say some people become attached to their food, and I've heard rumours of Lyer having a pretty young partner recently," he let his gaze rake over the captive's body speculatively, appreciation in his eyes the made Aluraios look away in anger at the defiling of a look that Lyer so often bestowed on him. "But maybe this time, this one can help improve her record."
© Clare Selley 2009
Return to Lyer and Aluraios