Dark Paths Ch. 08

His lover's sharp little fangs nicked his lower lip as they kissed softly. Rayne pulled away from him at once, still tense, his expression profoundly sorrowful.

"I don't want to hurt you," he muttered, shaking his head as if he could throw off the hunger like a dog shrugging off water. "We have got to get out of here, Xav before I kill you or he does. I think I've got an idea."

"Well… fill me in, hun." Xavier said, trying for a light tone, but he was tense too and still full of need.

Rayne touched his fingers to the silver crucifix delicately.

"Can I have this?"

"What are you going to do with it?" Xavier asked, even as he was handing it over. A fleeting thought went through his head about the pills it also contained. He had thought about them when he had wondered whether he would be confronted with a rotting corpse again. If whatever Rayne had planned didn't work, if Elian kept them and kept starving Rayne, he was giving up that last option.

"Let him think I drained you. When he comes in for a closer look I'm gonna cut his fuckin' ice-cold heart out," Rayne Wylde said vehemently. "Then I'm gonna fuckin' eat it."

Xavier looked dubious but said nothing. He did not want to put any doubt in his lover, but even at full strength Elian Iannopoulos was stronger. He was ancient, and someone did not survive that long without considerable power. Xavier was more then a little afraid of what might happen if Rayne tried to kill him and failed.

As the vampire moved to touch the blade to his lips he remembered something. "Wait, Dominic said there was some gunk on the blade."

"What's it tipped with?" Rayne asked, eyes widening as he lowered the crucifix automatically.

"Fuck, I don't know. Some shit he said would paralyse a vampire. Worm guts or something."

Rayne looked sceptically at the sharp little blade in his hands. He sniffed at it cautiously then sheathed it again and looped the chain over his head. With shaking hands he removed the collar that Lagrado had put around his neck. It took most of his strength to pull off the dogtags and snap one of them into two ragged halves.


"I'm not taking any chances," he said, wielding one of the jagged pieces of metal determinedly. "Don't look at me like that, it'll only be a surface scratch. It should heal itself in no time. I need to get your blood on me, then I want you to put the cuff back on, unlocked, and play dead."

Xavier was even more sceptical. The Elder vampire might, and that was a slim might, think he was dead when he walked in the room, but even a cursory examination was going to blow the ruse. Oh well, it was the only plan they had so he was going to have to go with it.

Xavier tried to hold his arm steady for Rayne to slice him. "Alright, just hurry and do it."

To his consternation, Rayne caught him gently by the hair, tugging his head sideways and jabbed his neck with the point of the broken tag, twice in quick succession.

It did not create the same shivery sensation being bitten did. It just fucking hurt.

"Ow… goddamn it!" He automatically reached up to cover the wound but Rayne grabbed his wrist before he could touch it. Twin trickles of bright scarlet were running in rivulets down his neck. Xavier watched Rayne staring at the trickles of blood and for the first time was uneasy with the vampire.

His lover's mouth was twisted in a painful rictus grin, lips pulled back and teeth clenched tightly. The pupils of his pale eyes looked like pin-pricks, they were so focused.

"Rayne..." Xavier implored softly. He tried to gently dislodge himself from Rayne's grasp. His lover made a sound that was almost a keen of anguish and pulled him closer, his grip tightening until it grew painful. "Rayne! Stop!" Xavier gasped and he was suddenly looking up at the ceiling, pressed down into the bed with Rayne on top of him breathing like a freight train. Xavier's heart was pounding in his chest, the pulse in his throat leaping like a small, terrified animal trying to get out of a cage. "Ray… stop! Please…"

Rayne's soft, cold mouth fastened onto the twin wounds and he began to suck gently, ignoring Xavier's protests as the blood washed over his tongue, into his mouth. He grappled for the wrist cuff and looped it back around the blond boy's wrist without closing it. One knee moved between Xavier's thighs, pressing higher, spreading him as he yielded to the call of his mate's blood.

"Ohhhh... Good!" the vampire panted, his body shuddering as he licked his young lover's neck with long slow strokes of his tongue. "Need you so much!"

Xavier shivered as Rayne's lips roamed across his cheek and down along the line of his jaw. As his tongue caressed over the twin marks on Xav's neck, a soft moan escaped him despite his fear that Rayne might lose control at any moment. He could feel the vampire's ravenous hunger like a beast just waiting to turn on its master and maul him. He feared the strength of that instinctive pull to bite and feed at will that he felt in Rayne, and at the same time he was seduced by it… longed for it. His own tenuous grasp on his self-control loosened and he pressed his hips harder against Rayne, rubbing his erection against the one barely contained behind Rayne's thin shorts. The tension in Xav's body seemed to drain out of him and he became more pliant under Rayne's hands.

"Mmm…" he hummed softly, "…alright then, if you insist."

Rayne was already nuzzling and licking ravenously on his neck and throat. The vampire could taste his lover's frantic pulse and it drove him on. The kissing and slow, insistent rub of Xavier's naked body only fanned the flames of need higher. At the same time he was conscious of what Elian had told him in the car. It was true, boys like Xavier returned time after time to men who would use them and hurt them for their own ends, just as he wanted to do right now. After the time they had spent together at PJ's house Rayne could hardly believe that Xavier didn't know what he was. And yet here he was, having been exposed utterly to the brutality of vampires at their worst, lying on his back and begging for more.

He felt sick with longing and with horror. Maybe, just maybe, Elian had been right. Boys like this were used to feeding the machine.

Boys like you! his subconscious reminded him and he felt the surge of nausea again.

Rayne curled into the seductive hollow of Xavier's slim neck and pale, golden shoulder, breathing him in, trying to keep the breaths slow and controlled. If he lost control then he would lose Xav. It was as simple as that. He would feed and he would fuck and he would not stop until the boy beneath him was dead.

"I want you," he whispered huskily. "I want to be in you. I want you so much."

Once Xavier stopped struggling, Rayne's grip on his wrist loosened and Xavier brought a hand up to cup his cheek tenderly, the fingers moving of their own volition into his hair to caress soothingly. He wanted Rayne too, but part of him was still trying desperately to tell him it was utter madness at the moment. They needed to get out of here! They needed a plan! Rayne did not need to have his willpower tested, weak as he was.

The hell of it was, Rayne had been ready to leave him a couple of days ago. Xavier had walked away first. There was no real reason they should both even be here, other than the impossible circumstances that had thrown them back together.

"I want you too." Xavier whispered, turning his head to softly kiss below Rayne's ear.

He could feel that Rayne's need was genuine. The way he rubbed insistently against Xavier over and over was a constant poke in the side (quite literally). He was hard and hungry both for blood and sex, his hands running seductively up and down his lover's warm, smooth flanks as if he could absorb Xavier's life force just by touching him. Rayne was caressing him like he was a delicious morsel just waiting to be gobbled up.

His cool, pale lips parted and Xavier felt the rapid huff of breath against his skin when Rayne's mouth stroked slowly down from his neck to his chest, roaming the flat, open spaces where it was harder to bite accidentally. His studded tongue flicked at Xavier's left nipple teasingly and he straddled the younger man, letting his crotch rub slowly over Xav's exposed groin as he lifted his lips (and his teeth) away from the temptation of that stiff, enticing bud of flesh.

Xavier shook off the manacle circled loosely around his other wrist and brought both hands up to caress and stroke over Rayne's soft cool skin. He knew without any doubt what Rayne had been through at Cole Lagrado's hands. The abuse and violence he had been put through himself would have been enough to make most people wonder how they could be so passionately entwined just then. Xavier couldn't have explained it, other than to say that he needed this connection right now almost as badly as Rayne did.

Though he did not hunger for blood, he craved this simple intimacy, and he understood with crystal clarity how much it was costing Rayne to be so very careful with him right now. His head practically ached with the weight of that knowledge.

Rayne's hands traced the curves of his delicious backside as Xavier writhed around him, touching him almost tentatively yet with a powerful desire that he could almost taste. The vampire swallowed, feeling his mouth start to water at the idea of losing himself in the boy's hot, abundant body. A gentle finger stroked down Xav's soft, warm channel and Rayne circled the tactile nub of his tightly puckered ring.

"Does it hurt?" he whispered, letting his lips move back to the boy's earlobe and lipping at him gently there. "Are you still sore?"

Xavier's face was turned in profile; his eyes shuddered behind long silky lashes.

"Only a little." He lied, because he didn't want Rayne to stop now. It was nothing he couldn't work through, and the tender concern was enough to make him melt inside.

"I'll try to be gentle," Rayne promised breathlessly, his lips describing silent words on Xavier's cheek as he nuzzled the fragrant softness of his lover's blond hair. "But I've missed this... missed you so much."

One hand snaked down between their colluding thighs and he tugged at the waistband of the tiny shorts that barely restrained him, freeing himself with a short, fervent sigh of delight. His cock was a heavy, silken weight on Xavier's bare belly, moist and restless, moving against him almost relentlessly as he sought Xav's mouth again, kissing him so hard that those sharp little fangs nicked the softness of his lips.

Xavier framed his face with his hands and yielded to the fierceness of that desire with languid sensual kisses. He lifted his knees higher, spreading his thighs invitingly. His fingers slid into Rayne's hair and his kisses took on a fierceness of their own. He could taste the bloody hint of copper on his lips and could no longer tell if it was his own or Rayne's blood. He supposed it didn't matter. Whether it was the blood or the passion he managed to convey how much he missed and wanted Rayne as well.

Steffen had taken him brutally, Elian had been less vicious but he had still taken what he wanted. Xavier hadn't given them anything. He gave to Rayne though, he gave himself wholly without barriers and that was something he'd never really done with any partner before.

Rayne moved up over him, planting his hands either side of Xavier's ribs as he stared down on his lover, aroused and amazed by the boy's indomitable willingness to be with him. He licked his lips, painfully conscious of the taste of Xavier's blood on his mouth. Redness glistened like a new coating of gloss on the younger man's soft lips and Rayne's pupils dilated hungrily at the sight.

"Ch-rist!" he exhaled forcefully. "I can't hold onto this, sweetheart. I'm gonna lose it. Do something for me, yeah?"

He reached for the discarded wrist cuffs, passing them to Xavier as he rolled off the blond and flopped down on his back on the bed, struggling to breathe normally when all he could smell was blood and cum. Turning his head so that those green eyes stared helplessly up at Xav, he groaned; "Cuff me to the bed. It might not be enough but I'm willing to chance it if you are."

Xavier shifted on the bed and, a tad reluctantly, took the cuffs. Reluctantly because he was going to have to work on the lock again to get him loose, and they had no way of knowing how long before they were interrupted. Ah well, they'd already risked this much this far…and he wanted Rayne so badly. He straddled Rayne's hips and clicked the cuffs in place above his head. He leaned in to kiss him again, soft and hungry, in a reversal of where they had been a moment before.

Xavier moved downward, kissing a slow line over Rayne's throat and the centre of his chest. His hands caressed down his body in a slow sliding motion. He took his time and he could feel the tension in Rayne the moment the cuffs were back in place. He knew his lover, unlike himself, did not care at all for being restrained. Maybe he could make Rayne forget about that for a little while, he hoped, as he let his lips stroke wetly over Rayne's taut quivering belly and stone-hard cock.

Rayne froze for a second as the manacles clicked back into place. He tugged on them experimentally but the exhaustion of the last few days meant that he would probably have to push himself to the limit to break free of the shackles. The sight of Xavier crouching over him, gently kissing and caressing his trembling body, was distraction enough. His fingers curled around the chain connecting his wrist cuffs and he writhed between his lover's slim thighs, crying out with a pleasure that was only slightly tempered by regret at not being able to touch Xav as they made love together.

"Oh Jesus! That feels so..." He lost the rest of the sentence as the touch of Xavier's mouth drew the air from his lungs in an ecstatic rush.

Xavier hummed his agreement as he worked his lips and tongue down Rayne's shaft. He moved slowly up and down, drawing on him with gentle suction as he fondled and caressed the heavy globes of his balls. Rayne's little sounds of pleasure and the way his hips rolled let him know how much his efforts were appreciated by the little vampire. So did the little salty bursts of fluid across his tongue as he continued to nod up and down on him.

Rayne turned his head into the crook of one pale, bare arm, biting himself to keep from crying out as Xav's soft mouth alternately drew on him and drenched him, giving him more joy with those simple, oral caresses than he had known in years. He ached to feel the young man's body moving in time with his own. When Xavier released his cock from the tender suction that held it captive and prowled like a hunting cat along the length of his caparisoned body, Rayne pulled on the cuffs for all he was worth. He was on fire, ravenous for the taste of his sweet, naked mate. The lust for blood was like an ache in his empty veins. Rayne wanted to throw him down and plunge into him like a diver into a clear, warm, welcoming pool.

When Xav had Rayne wet and slick with saliva and cum he moved back up his body, kissing a trail up his torso until he straddled his hips again. Teasing his tongue across Rayne's lips he reached back and angled that turgid cock between his cheeks. As hot and ready as he was he still felt the burn as he pushed down and the head of Rayne's dick pushed past his ring. He stopped, his limbs trembling slightly and his eyes closed. After a moment or two he moved again, breathing deep and going slow as he impaled himself inch by slow inch.

As he felt Xav begin to slowly slide down on his throbbing shaft Rayne bucked like an unbroken colt, working his hips eagerly between the younger man's legs, driving his bolt deep and hard into the receptive heat of his mate's enticing body.

"Oh... oh my... oh motherfuckin'god!" he groaned, in awe of the spell Xav's tight, sexy arsehole worked on his twitching cock.

Fingers gripped the chains tightly and he used them now to brace himself as he thrust upward hard from the gut, moving his body in unison with Xavier's slow, smooth descent and rise on his aching dick. Rayne caught his breath, so overwhelmed by temptation that he could have wept. His eyes closed and he bit down hard on the cool flesh of his own arm once again.

Xavier's eyes opened so he could watch his beautiful lover. He had no doubt the cuffs were a good idea now, he didn't think Rayne would have been able to resist feeding on him if he were free.

His hands swept over Rayne's bare chest in slow gentle caresses, fingers fanning out over his nipples as he rose and fell. He always felt like he was dancing in this position and he did so now, making each heated squeeze and thrust count for all he was worth. He slid a hand down his own torso, fingers lightly playing over the achingly hard rod jutting straight up from his groin. Any more and he was gonna cum too quick.

His lean thighs gripped Rayne's hips and rode him with consummate skill while he looked on with hungry eyes. After a while he picked up his pace, coming down harder to met Rayne's increasingly desperate thrusts. He leaned forward slightly, changing their angle and letting his lover get deeper still. Every thrust hit up against that sweet spot inside. Xavier's hands fisted into the sheets on either side of Rayne's heaving body, his toes curled and his head dropped between his shoulders bringing his lips close to Rayne's again.

"Uhhh… so-o-o close, I'm so close," he whispered, his lips just barely brushing over Rayne's. His lean young body tightened. "Ohh, I'm gonna come…uuhhhn!"

"Hold it! Hold it! Hold it, please!" Rayne was surging furiously against him, painfully close but also ravenously hungry. His eyes glittered through the sweat damp cascade of his heavy forelock as he stared up into Xavier's slightly unfocussed gaze. "I want you to cum in my mouth," he exhaled, as the glint of his tongue stud flickered like a shooting star between slightly parted lips. Xav heard it click against his extended fangs as he whisked it back into his mouth.

Xavier bit his bottom lip hard and squeezed his eyes shut, holding himself back by a thread. He ground against Rayne's thrusting cock harder and faster, his breath coming in short panting gasps until he felt Rayne's whole body go taut beneath him and he drove up so hard it made Xavier cry out. He barely managed to keep from blowing it as the warm pulses of Rayne's cum spurted deep inside him. He lifted off him far sooner then he normally would have, crawling two hurried paces on his knees until he straddled Rayne's heaving chest.

Three quick hard strokes over his lover's soft, cool lips was all it took. Xavier's head tipped back, his teeth clenched tightly together to hold back the ecstatic cries of relief that rose from his chest.

Rayne collapsed back into the soft caress of the mattress and pillows, his body quaking violently, hands shaking too much to grip the cuffs. He was spent and starving, thrown to the far extremes of hunger. When Xav shimmied up astride his chest he longed to run his hands slowly up the blond boy's thighs and pull him into an embrace that would end in ecstasy for both of them.

Almost clumsily Xav managed to manoeuvre himself into position; although nothing that boy did could ever truly be described as awkward or clumsy. Still, they tumbled together and Rayne's lips parted to receive and embrace him, drawing him in, sucking long and slow on the delicious, salty heat of his sex.

He could hardly refrain from whimpering with pleasure as he felt Xavier's gorgeous cock lurch and swell in his mouth. The waves of frantic relief emanating from his lover echoed his own as Xav spilled violently between his jaws, moving delicately between the pillars of his extended fangs. He was almost guided into the chasm of Rayne's throat by those two glistening, white dogteeth.