Dark Paths Ch. 08

Rayne felt the vibrations run through every nerve and fibre. He was conscious of the change in light and atmosphere as they locked him down in the darkness. A sick wave of claustrophobia and fear ran through him and he retched uncontrollably, unable to swallow properly with the bit between his jaws.

As he lay there, struggling with the wrist restraints, thinking that if he could get them off then he might get loose, he heard faint voices and the car lurched; doors slammed and the engine was gunned into life. Rayne fought the wrists cuffs and the sheath around his lower arms even harder. The thought of Xav and Dominic suffering for him was a constant waking nightmare now. He could not just lie here and accept his fate - all of their fates - he had to do something.

They did not seem to have been driving long when the vehicle came to a halt and he felt movement as the occupants got out. He heard someone say; "That should do it, we're far enough from ABC now, get him out."

He panicked for a moment, suddenly convinced that they were just going to drag him from the car and execute him. Then the lid of the trunk opened and he was released from the restraints inside and lifted out. Firm, gentle hands untied the blind as he was set on his shackled feet and he blinked against the sudden incandescent flood of light.

It took him a few minutes to focus on the face of Elian Iannopoulos, who was observing him gravely.

"Put him in the back," he said smoothly and walked around the immaculate cream coloured limo to get in the other side. One of his thugs pushed Rayne towards the car and forced him in the rear passenger door then got in after him. There was another of Elian's goons at the wheel already.

"Take the gag off," Elian said impassively and was obeyed without question.

The vampire Cole Lagrado had addressed as Yiannis was tall but not overly muscular. Next to the two who accompanied him he looked slight, but it was clear from their body language who was in control. The two gorillas did his bidding without a moment's hesitation.

Rayne huffed for breath as the bit was removed from his mouth. He was shuddering with combined anger and terror, caught between the two older, stronger Vampires with no way of running.

"What do you want?" he croaked, struggling to speak with his fangs still fully extended. "What do you want... to let Xav go and leave the others alone?"

Elian reached out and touched his cheek, looking into his eyes, his dark grey gaze solemn and mesmerising. Somehow that was even more frightening than Cole's threats and hostility.

"You are so hungry, aren't you Rayne?" he whispered almost tremulously. "Don't worry, child. I will let you gorge yourself before I take you. I want you at full, beautiful strength in my bed. Our lovemaking will break all records for passion and longevity. Who knows, if the human boy survives your hunger I may even let him watch as you give yourself to me."

"You are sick!" Rayne hissed at him, struggling to breathe.

"It is our nature to feed," Elian purred in a soothing tone. "You should not fight it, Rayne Wylde. You will not be long for this world if you do. I am not the sadist that Coelho is, but he is correct when he states that humans are beneath us. They are fun to feed from and to mate with. Sometimes they even have other uses but they are not our equals, Rayne. The Everman must have told you this. Surely?"

The singer shuddered, his voice heavy with contempt as he snarled; "Well I've lasted long enough without using them as fodder the way you bastards do!"

"And you hurt when they are in pain, don't you?" Elian murmured, still stroking his neck and his body tenderly. "It hurts you so much to see them suffering. And when you let yourself feel that way it leaves you vulnerable to older, smarter vampires like Coelho. You have to cut yourself off from them, Rayne. If you want to survive there is little point in you binding yourself to a mortal. They will fade and die in the end and you will be alone. What use is that to you?"

He sounded so sane, so rational that for a moment Rayne just stared at him, unable to even draw a breath. When Elian said the words they made perfect sense. He had already watched beloved friends die, unable to do anything to save them. And it did hurt. Fuck it! It hurt so much that he wanted to die with them.

Rayne closed his eyes, fighting the tears that came with that release of emotion. He turned his head away, letting his lank, dark hair screen his face. He could feel the cool weight of Elian's hand on his belly, stroking lower and lower.

"Shhhh!" the Elder sighed in his ear. "Don't cry, sweetling. It will be all right. I will take good care of you, just wait and see. We will drain the pretty boy together and make gentle love to him so that his last moments are so sweet, so filled with tenderness. It will be a merciful ending to a sad young life, Rayne. A life filled with so much pain and fear. Boys like him, they have no idea how to escape that cycle of pain on their own, as well you know. Don't you, Rayne?" His hand slid down between Rayne's thighs, caressing him more intimately through the filmy material of his brief, tight shorts.

Rayne squirmed helplessly, his head falling back against the soft leather rest as Elian fondled him to full erection through the silkiness of the insubstantial garment. He felt hypnotised. The Elder's words sent a ripple of horror through him but at the same time he longed for that gentle touch to continue. He wanted the strength and security of those strong arms around him. If they let Xavier go, wouldn't he just stumble back into the clutches of men who would only abuse him?

"No!" he panted desperately. "I can't!"

"He will thank you for it, Rayne." Elian leaned over him, kissing his throat above the line of the collar. His deft fingers stroked the silk and lycra slowly up and down over Rayne's throbbing cock. "He will look into your eyes with such gratitude as you release him from the suffering he has known all his life. He will understand then, that although you have compassion for him, he is not worthy of your heart. That you are not like him, so much as you both might wish it was otherwise."

A slow tear ran down the younger vampire's cheek as he writhed under his captor's touch. It was horrible but so true. He could feel when they were together how much Xav's life mirrored his own. The boy had been used and abused so much. If they could not be together, how would he survive alone?

And something curious happened then. It was almost as if he could feel Xavier in his head. And being aware of him there helped. Until it happened he had not been able to explain the listlessness he had been feeling. Whilst he was trapped in Lagrado's cell he had felt so lonely, so hopeless. And suddenly that emptiness was filled as if a door had been opened into a dark chamber in his mind filling it with light.

"Stop that!" he exhaled, a little more forcefully, opening his eyes.

Elian sat back, looking at him curiously. The vamp bodyguard on his right was grinning from ear to ear, clearly enjoying watching his boss arouse Rayne Wylde.

"You don't like it?" the Elder purred. "Your body tells me otherwise."

"I won't help you to kill him. Xav's tough and he's brave and even if his life has been shit, he's come through it!" Rayne growled softly. "He's not complacent like some of you old bastards! And even if I'm going to lose him one day soon, I'd take Xavier to be by my side above a hundred of you!"

Elian looked stunned for a moment, then recovered quickly. He snorted softly through his nostrils, sitting back in his seat, his hand withdrawn from Rayne's trembling body.

"Well then..." he exhaled as if coming to a decision. "If you wish it to be so, you shall have your chance. I will give him back to you. You may be with him, once I - and a selection of my most trusted and best-endowed followers - have fucked you for a night. I promised your sweet boy after all that I would let him watch as I used you the way you and your movie-star friends used him."

The sarcastic edge in his voice was undisguised. Rayne rolled his eyes.

"Do whatever you want to me, but leave him alone," he retorted wearily.

"Oh I will leave him entirely to you," Elian laughed coldly. "But if you will not feed from him, Rayne Wylde, you will feed from no one. Do you understand? He can watch as you starve and soothe you with his sweet body until the day comes when he can no longer bear to look on you."

Rayne's eyes widened as the true horror of what the Elder was telling him hit home.

"You... you can't!" he protested.

But the car swung down into the subterranean parking lot under Elian's apartment building at that moment and the darkness swallowed the rest of his argument.

XAVIER:

Xavier heard movement in the outer rooms of the apartment. Some short time ago he had determined it was pretty much useless to continue the mental shielding. Elian had already taken what he wanted from his memories and it was only keeping him from feeling Rayne. He let it go and reached out, almost immediately touching the cool presence he knew was Rayne Wylde. It made him smile. At least he knew he wasn't dead. Well, not really dead anyway.

He sat up on the bed and the door opened. The relief he felt at seeing Rayne made him grin even though he knew they were still in trouble here. The relief that he wasn't bones and rotting flesh actually made him a little dizzy.

"Rayne!" There was a lot more happiness in that simple declaration then the situation warranted but Xavier couldn't help it.

It didn't even matter right now that Rayne appeared to be dressed as a stripper. The singer was chained and looked exhausted and a little grey around the edges but his smile came on automatically at the sight of Xavier alive and to all purposes unhurt.

"Alright sweetheart?" he asked huskily. "They're not treating you too bad are they?"

As Elian let him shuffle closer to the bed Xav could see other little differences. His pale eyes were bloodshot, almost colourless, and red-rimmed as if he had been crying his heart out. The normally smooth line of his jaw was unshaven, not a full two days worth of stubble but definitely a hint, and there was a peppering of silver in his shaggy black hair that had certainly not been there before. He looked almost twenty years older.

And the weary smile had fangs.


Xavier's smile faded around the edges with concern, but not fear.

"I'm alright," he answered breathlessly.

The changes in Rayne were disturbing, but not entirely unexpected. They had starved him, and Elian hadn't let him feed yet either. Xavier reached and traced his fingers lightly along Rayne's cheek. He had far more confidence in the vampire's control than Rayne himself did.

"I made a deal to get you out of there. He said he'd let us both go…" Xav trailed off, realising how stupidly naïve he sounded, but he had to offer the explanation anyway.

Rayne made a small hopeless sound that was part laugh, part sob and turned his head away. He looked imploringly at Elian even though he knew that it wouldn't wash with the older vampire. His new keeper chuckled softly, strolling to the bedside and kneeling on the edge of the mattress. He leaned across to stroke Xavier's hair.

"Now you be a good boy," he said in a mildly patronising tone. "Your poor little friend is exhausted and extremely hungry, Xavier. Because I'm an absolute angel I'm going to give you and loverboy a little time together and I want him in better shape by the time I come back here. Do you understand that?"

Xavier controlled the impulse to knock his hand away. Not yet. They just needed a little time and they would think of something. And Rayne needed to feed. Xavier nodded his head, keeping his eyes lowered; the very picture of submission. Actually he just didn't think he'd be able to hide the anger in his eyes.

When Elian left them, Xavier reached automatically for Rayne again. "I'm sorry! It wasn't supposed to go down like this. Dominic said I just needed to sit there and look pretty, I wasn't supposed to be part of the deal. Neither were you."

To his distress, Rayne pulled away from him. Although his arms had been released from the sheath his wrists were still cuffed in front and his ankles remained hobbled. He shuffled towards the full-length window at the far end of the room and sank down on the low, deep, cherry-wood sill there, resting his cheek against the cool glass. Rayne forced himself to concentrate on that and not the alluring warmth of Xavier's body or the quickening rate of his young heart. Even with half the width of the room between them he could smell his lover's blood and feel the urgent drumming of his pulse.

"Dom shouldn't have brought you here," the vampire said huskily, at last. "I thought... hoped he had more sense than that. Now we're all dead, Xav."

"Hey…" Xavier called softly, but was ignored. Desolation and desperate need emanated from his companion in waves so strong Xavier wouldn't have needed an empathic bone in his body to pick up on it. As it was he was having a hard time not getting sucked down into that resolute depression along with him. "Rayne, c'mon… don't give up. You just need to feed, and you'll feel better. Don't let that asshole get to you. You can control it, and just take a little at a time like before," he cajoled.

As Rayne turned his face back towards the boy the tears that rolled down his cheeks were tinged as red as his hungry gaze. Thin trickles of watery blood ran from his lips where he had bitten himself in his hunger and frustration. He shuddered like a caged animal, knees drawn up to his chest and his manacled arms hugged around them, fighting the impulse that raged at him to pounce and to bite and take all that he needed.

"What if I can't control it?" he panted, shaking his head slowly. "I can't do that to you, Xav. I can't take that risk. If I knew that I'd hurt you... Wouldn't be the first time..."

Words failed him and he lowered his forehead to his knees disconsolately.

"And you think it's going to be easier a day or two from now, is that it?" Xavier demanded dryly. He let out a slow breath. "I don't want to die Rayne." His throat felt dry and tight as he said it. "You think that bastard is going to be content to just wait until you break? He's not going to just let you stay curled up in a ball over there. When he comes back he'll up the stakes. He'll punish me… and push you until you can't take anymore."

For a long time it seemed that he would get no response at all. Rayne remained hunched like a bird of prey in the window refusing to look at him, much to Xavier's frustration. When he finally did lift his head however there was more control in his voice and the craziness in his eyes was quieter.

"If Dom comes back here for you he's a dead man," he said atonally.

"Oh, he'll come back alright, but not for me." Xavier laughed bitterly. "He's the one that made the deal with Elian. The Everman's gratitude and influence in San Fran, in exchange for getting you away from Cole Lagrado. And who is this Everman dude, anyway? I was just… icing." Xavier shrugged. "When I realised that, I tried for damage control. I got Elian to agree that he'd only keep us two nights. He's obviously reneging on that deal, but Dominic doesn't know that. He's got no reason to think Elian won't hand you over tomorrow."

Rayne sucked in a quick breath through his clenched teeth. Concern flickered across his exhausted face and was gone just as quickly.

"We have got to get out of here," he exhaled. "It's more than just you and me. Elian's promised to give Dominic to Lagrado in exchange for me. If he really has been in touch with my Sire then all hell's gonna break lose when Jabez Everman gets here. If he was bluffing and we can't help him then he's dead. I have to feed and from more than just you, sweetheart. I don't doubt that Elian's taken from you and I can't heal you from even a small bite. I can't even heal myself properly right now. If I bite you this minute I might have drained you by the time I'm strong enough to stop the bleeding."

Xavier looked for a moment like he wanted to argue the point a bit more, and then slowly let it go, looking defeated. Across the room from him Rayne rattled the wrist cuffs irritably. Even at full strength the restraints would have taken some breaking. Now his gaze roamed the room distractedly, searching for something...

Xavier watching him knew he was looking for a way to get out of the cuffs, just like he himself had. Only this time an idea occurred to him that hadn't before. He took the cross from around his neck and pressed the hidden catch that released the blade. "Can you use this?"

The gaze that fixed him was one combined hunger and profound admiration. Rayne was on his feet almost before he remembered that his ankles were virtually cuffed together. He crashed to his knees but crawled hurriedly across the floor to the bed and put his fettered hands in Xavier's lap.

"Can you pick a lock, sweetheart?" he asked hopefully.

"Maybe." Xavier murmured. "It's been a few years." He set to work on the lock. He had to wonder, even if he did get it undone, what good it would do? They were still stuck in this room, and they might be giving away their only weapon. Oh well, it felt better then doing nothing.

The cuffs may have been reinforced steel, but the lock was a simple one. After a few minutes and a lot of finesse and concentration Xavier had it. A few more minutes and he had the ones around Rayne's ankles released as well. It was harder to work on his own. Not only did he have to work one-handed but also it was a newer lock, harder to pick, and the longer it took the more nervous he got. He kept feeling that any second Elian would come through the door… and then he got it, the lock clicked open and the cuff fell free.

Rayne had been massaging the life back into his hands and feet as Xavier worked on the last cuff, his hungry gaze moving constantly to the door then back to the naked blond youth on the bed. As soon as he was free the vampire was on him, nuzzling his neck and throat and pressing him down onto the mattress. He licked his way almost tenderly to Xavier's ear. A hot bolt of desire flashed through Xavier instantly. He slid his arms around Rayne, a soft mewl of pleasure humming in his throat. Rayne's body, his touch, and his scent were all so familiar, and his own flesh responded with thrumming eagerness to be with him again. Xav's lean thighs parted to accommodate him and his right leg slid over Rayne's left almost automatically, his foot sliding down the back of Rayne's calf in an inviting caress. Xavier's face turned into his shoulder to kiss and nuzzle him in response as his hands caressed the length of Rayne's smooth back comfortingly. He could feel the hard knots of tension there as Rayne struggled to suppress the instinct to bite. His lover's skin felt like fine tissue paper, cold and slightly loose under his hands and lips.

Even so, the lean, exhausted Englishman answered his touch with lingering caresses of his own. His chilly hands slid eagerly over Xavier's heaving torso and down to his slender hips, his own pelvis moving in time with the slow undulations of Xavier's body. The thin, flexible material of his black shorts did nothing to hide the automatic response to this brief, sweet intimacy.

"Did you miss me, then?" he murmured hoarsely into Xavier's ear.

Xavier chuckled softly. "Oh yeah." He caught Rayne's eyes as he lifted his head to look at him and he swallowed, his own eyes becoming more serious. "Yes, I missed you." He kissed him, his soft warm lips feeling very hot against Rayne's cool mouth.