London Loves Ch. 07

"Ohyeah! Ohyeahyeahyeah!" Rayne sighed against his neck, letting the quickening pulse and clench around his eager sex milk him hard. It took every ounce of will that he had not to sink down on top of Xavier as the climax built and built and finally burst out of him.

Biting down on the two little marks, he used the taste of Xavier's hot blood to focus him as he shuddered above the younger man, enjoying the pleasure of his lover's orgasm from within and without. He was sharing Xavier's pleasure through the blood even as he filled the beautiful young man with his own love and lust, coming down onto his elbows and knees, bracing himself over Xavier's cruelly battered body.

He did not feed. As soon as he could control his own breathing he lapped tenderly at the bites, healing them as he rocked himself slowly out of Xav's delicious passage.

Panting and nearly dizzy with pleasure Xav still whimpered longingly as Rayne withdrew both his teeth and his cock. He felt both incredibly contented and at the same time wished Rayne wouldn't have stopped so soon. It had been far too long since Rayne had feed deeply from him, and although Xavier understood why, he longed for that sinking drowning intimate connection. He also knew that if he hadn't been in such bad shape Rayne probably would have fed from him longer. Ah well, patience never had been his strong point.

He rolled to his back carefully as Rayne shifted off him, a drowsy contented smile on his face. He just lay there peacefully, not feeling like moving. It wasn't long though before the aches of his exertions settled into a dull throbbing in every muscle. With less reluctance this time he took one of the painkillers and let Rayne tuck the duvet around him, curling up blissfully with his lover until sleep tugged him down.

Rayne lay snuggled against him for a long time afterwards. He felt such a heavy sense of contentment lying here with his arms around Xavier, listening to him breathing and inhaling the sweet, hot, sensual aroma of his naked body.

I wish I could tell you, he thought dejectedly. I wish to god I could tell you the truth, but I don't always get it myself. You've been so good to me, Xavier. And good FOR me as well. And I know you've been through some shit and you've seen just about everything... I wish I could tell you and know that you wouldn't laugh at me. Everything would be okay then. I could let it all go.

He cuddled up close until he was sure that Xavier was sound asleep, then tenderly kissed the mussed golden nest of his hair and tucked him in a little tighter.

Rayne showered and dressed, pulling on neutral, tight, dark jeans and a fitted top then sliding a lightweight hooded cardigan over it and a mid-length jacket. There were pockets in the jacket for money and his phone and a knife, even though he did not need weapons. Sometimes the currency of a blade was more valid than the baring of teeth.

He bent over Xav and kissed the boy's hair again, smiling as his lover wriggled and moaned sleepily in response then settled into a deeper layer of dreams. He would be safe behind the wards that protected the apartment and Rayne felt only the reluctance of a thwarted lover as he slipped silently out into the night in search of his prey.

It was cold outside, the sharper edges of autumn crisping the nighttime air and drawing little clouds of breath from passers by. Rayne ignored them, he was focussed and quiet inside as he walked the darkened streets, enjoying the relative stillness of London at night. He felt his way, but followed the information he had been given as well. Xavier had talked to him of the day he spent with Clint before he was attacked and related what he remembered, that Clint had taken him to places where Rayne had once lived.

It took about three quarters of an hour to walk up to Kilburn and he wandered the old familiar streets there for about an hour more before he sensed it. He had been walking in circles deliberately and the traces were definitely following his own. The boy was stalking him, for sure.

Rayne doubled back and pulled into a deeply recessed doorway, lighting a cigarette and waiting. He was far enough off the street to be invisible and sure enough a dark shadow hurried past moments later, then came back more slowly, less certainly than before. The vampire pinched out his smoke and pushed away from the wall, making himself still and silent as Clint moved into the shadows, briefly blocking out the street beyond.

He moved fast then, a hand reaching for the boy's throat, slamming him back against the reinforced glass of the shop window. The whole unit shuddered and Clint made a strangled, frightened sound as he thrashed and kicked, trying to get free. Rayne's fingers loosened and he let the boy down to his feet but didn't release him.

"You and me, we need to have a little talk," he said huskily.

"I didn't hurt him!" Clint protested at once. "I dunno what that lanky shite, Matt's been telling you but I never touched him, on my life! I went back to look for him and I found him like that, on the floor. He'd have died if I hadn't gone back for him."

"And why did you go back for him then? Conscience pinching you was it?" Rayne gripped him fiercely under the chin and shook him like a dog shaking a rat.

"Nnnnn..." Clint threw his head from side to side desperately. "Please...! Lemme go... please! Don't kill me. Xav told me... he told me to be careful. I know now... I know what you are."

The vampire let go of him as if he was suddenly too hot and Clint staggered back against the glass wall, putting a hand to his throat and gasping for breath. He did not try to run though. Perhaps it was beyond him, but Rayne did not think so.

"What did he tell you?" he asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"He..." Clint swallowed. "He told me that if I met anyone else that felt the way you did, I was s'posed to run like fuck. Just get the fuck away."

Rayne blinked at him, trying to see past the plain facts of that admission. He kept his tone neutral as he asked; "What am I then, kiddo? C'mon, you're the fuckin' expert here. What is it you're meant to be running away from?"

Clint was still panting rapidly but he breathed deep enough to whisper; "You're a Vampire. You drank my blood. You let me stab you but there's no scar on you. You're not human."

Now Rayne sank back against the opposite window, just staring at his living shadow as he weighed up his options. Dominic had once warned him that it might come to this. His half-vampire son would inevitably work out the truth; would come to understand what it was that drew him to his father like a magnet draws a pin. He had hoped that it would take Clint longer, that's all.

"So what does that make you, huh?" he asked softly, shaking his head.

"I..." Clint swallowed again, looking suddenly very small, very young. "I dunno."

"Why did you go after Xavier the other night?" Rayne quizzed him, still leaning back against the window, a paler shade in the deep shadows. "Why not leave him if you just wanted to punish me?"

"I didn't set him up! I swear on my life," Clint protested, more vehemently. "I like him, Ray. He's all right."

"Why go after him then?" The vampire was still curious.

"He... he left his phone," Clint said warily, perhaps sensing that it wouldn't do him any good to tell the whole truth. "I found it after he'd gone and ran after him to give it back. Ask him. He'll tell you it's true. I was following his traces the way I follow you. I can feel him in my head the same way, but he's not like you. I don't know how, but I can just feel him. And I could feel that he was in trouble. I started to run but I couldn't find him at first. Then I saw these guys walk out of a side street, one of them was wearing his jacket. I didn't take them on, they'd 'ave pasted me. But when they'd gone I went up the street and I found him. I helped him to get home and I waited til Matt came with the key then I cleared off. I know that gobshite doesn't like me."

"You've not exactly given him any reason to like you, Clint," Rayne reminded him tersely.

"He's like you. He's one of them," the boy announced, narrowing his eyes.

Rayne contemplated his next response.

"Yeah," he sighed at last. "He's a vampire. I made him that way."

"But I'm not and Xavier's not," Clint reasoned.

"No. It doesn't work like that." Rayne pushed himself upright and Clint backed self-consciously towards the street, putting distance between them. "I'm not going to touch you. I probably couldn't Turn you, but you've got some of my DNA so you're half vamp already. You've probably figured you're hard to hurt and you know that you see and feel stuff other guys can't. That's because of what you are."

"What about Xav?" Clint wanted to know. "He's not your kid. But he heals good. I've seen blokes die after getting a kicking like that. He made me walk him home. I wanted him to let me ring for an ambulance but he wouldn't."

Rayne felt a little spike of pain inside at the thought of Xavier struggling against the pain, still probably bleeding inside, but desperate to get back to the apartment and just rest; too scared to go to hospital. He bent his head letting his long, dark forelock hide the expression on his face for a moment. When he looked up Clint was watching him warily.

"No, he's not a vampire either," he said huskily. "It's something to do with the bites I've given him. It makes him... stronger I guess."

"And he can feel other vamps, like I do," Clint said seriously. He hesitated. "You believe me, don't you? I wouldn't hurt him. I never meant him to get hurt. I figured he'd stay the night up at the State with us but he wanted to get back."

"You're squatting at the old picture house?" Rayne asked, his lips quirking slightly at the thought of it.

"Yeah." Clint nodded, slightly wary now. He'd not meant to give away his location but it was done now. "Is he okay? Xavier, I mean?"

"Took you long enough to ask," Rayne said a little bit sharply, but when Clint's eyes widened he sighed and nodded his head. "He's going to be okay, yeah. He's pretty sore right now, but he'll live. I suppose I ought to thank you for that."

Clint's face almost cracked a smile so he quickly added; "Of course, if he'd not been trailed all the way up to bloody Kilburn and left to walk home on his own in the dark he'd not be black and blue and living on fuckin' painkillers."

"I'm sorry," the boy choked at once. "I'm really, really sorry. Tell him... please. Tell him I was asking about him. Some of the guys from the State want to know when he's gonna come back and show them more dance moves."

Rayne shook his head slowly. In spite of his anger and his concern, the thought of Xavier mixing it with a bunch of dossers who wanted to know how he worked the moves he did on stage amused him.

"Would you recognise the blokes that you saw come out of the street afterwards if you saw them again?" he asked, determined not to lose sight of the reasons for coming out here tonight.

"I dunno, it was dark," Clint said awkwardly. "I sort of remember how they felt though. I think I'd know the one that took his jacket, he had a kind of shark-face. I didn't like the vibe he was giving off much."

Rayne moved smoothly towards him, coming level with his son as they reached the street. Clint still backed away, his eyes nervous and mistrustful. He touched his throat again, defensively.

"If you see them again, ring me, or come and find me," Rayne told him. "You know how to get hold of me?"

"I can come to the house?" Clint asked speculatively.

"Don't push your luck." Rayne laughed, his tone slightly harsher. "Do you need anything?"

Clint shrugged, a universal gesture of teenage dismissal. He shoved his hands into the deep pockets of his baggy coat. Rayne hesitated for a second then dipped into his breast pocket and pulled out a couple of fairly high denomination notes. He held them out and Clint looked at them as if he'd served the boy an eviction notice.

"Well... if you don't need it..." the vampire sighed, making a move to put them back.

Clint's hand flashed from his coat and snatched the money before it disappeared again. He rammed it back down into his own pocket determinedly, his cheeks slightly flushed.

"You're welcome!" Rayne said sarcastically, when it was clear that no form of appreciation was going to be forthcoming. He turned on his heel and walked back down the High Road the way he had come.

Clint watched him until he was out of sight then sat down heavily on the pavement outside the shop doorway, his limbs still shaking furiously for a long while after Rayne Wylde had disappeared.

~*~

The painkillers had him doped pretty good and Xavier slept deeply and thankfully without any nightmares. He only stirred slightly when Rayne's cool body slipped back into bed beside him and he settled back down without waking. He radiated heat like a little furnace with his lover wrapped lightly around him.

When he woke up the next morning he stretched sleepily and noticed he was slightly less stiff and sore then he had been the day before. Although 'slightly less' than terrible pain meant he still ached from head to toe and was not moving too fast.

Rayne wasn't in bed with him so he got up and went to take a shower, stopping to look in the mirror on the way. The bruises were still a dark purple-black in the centres but when he studied them closely he saw the very edges were beginning to get a feathery lighter look to them. That was pretty amazing really. It'd only been two days and Xav knew from experience that bruises like these usually got worse for a few days before they started getting any better. These looked like he'd maybe been wearing them a week already!

Dominic's herbs must have really worked, he thought. His ribs still ached like a bitch though and he carefully got into the shower.

When he got back out he wrapped a towel around his waist and wandered toward the heavenly smell of fresh brewed coffee drifting through the apartment. His lover was in the kitchen when Xavier found him, as was Matty Greening, but the younger vampire was mutedly polite this morning. He wore as serious an expression as Xav had ever seen on his sharp, piercing modified features. Matt was inhaling the steam from a mug of black coffee and Rayne poured another for Xavier without being asked. He was perched on the edge of the kitchen counter like a teenager, bare feet swinging lightly.

"You look better than the last time I clocked you," Matty commented, flashing a fanged grin at Xav.

Xav took the mug from Rayne gratefully, kissing his cheek lightly before going for the cream and sugar. He gave Matty a slightly lopsided grin as he slid onto a bar stool. The last time he'd wandered into the kitchen in nothing but a towel to find Matt Greening in there, Rayne's ex hadn't been nearly as pleasant. Xav sipped almost delicately at the coffee before he answered, "I feel a bit better."

Actually he still felt like he'd been hit by a truck and was a little fuzzy headed from the trace of narcotic still in his system.

"What time is it? When do we have to go?" Xav asked, taking a deeper sip of coffee.

"There's no rush, we can go whenever you're comfortable. If we fly up today I need to confirm the seats by mid-day though," Rayne said levelly, stroking his hair.

"So how long are you gonna be up there?" Matty wanted to know.

His Sire shrugged one shoulder casually. "Not sure, until Lady W gets sick of us I guess. When he was trying to teach me to use protection spells I was up and down from there all the time."

"We were on tour as well, though," Matt reminded him, as much for Xavier's benefit. He winked at the young mortal. "Imagine that? On the fuckin' road for three months with a neurotic baby vampire! How much fuckin' fun was that!"

Matty laughed and shook his ragged blond dreads incredulously at the memory.

Xavier did try and imagine it and had to shake his own head. Thinking of how it felt when he was being bombarded by everyone else's emotions and then thinking what it would be like to then be dropped into a concert setting, not only that but having to be on stage and perform? Holy shit, he didn't think he could've done it. He would've gone totally batshit.

Staring contemplatively into his mug he was reminded keenly of his own problems right now with control and keeping people out of his head, whether they were trying to get in or not. Dominic had suspected that if there was distance between him and Rayne that he might have more trouble, and he'd been right. While Rayne had been in Manchester Xav could hardly walk down the street without his mood shifting with each person he passed. He couldn't always be tied to Rayne's side (as appealing as that sounded) and unless he wanted to become a recluse he needed to get a handle on this.

"I think we should go today." Xavier said, a hint of determination in his tone. "Picking up everyone else's emotional shit every time I go out the door is making me crazy. I mean, it's gotten better since Italy... but when you were gone it was a lot harder to block things out. I wanna figure out why and Dom seems pretty sure he can help."

"He's a good teacher," Matty said cheerfully. "Nice house as well. Mental as anything, but he's fairly harmless."

"It's his taste in sidekicks that I always question," Rayne commented in a rather more sour tone.

"Awrr..." Matt chuckled at him and winked at Xavier over his mug. "Gabe's a pussycat! He's gorgeous, Ray's just jealous."

"All I'm saying is, if you're gonna have your host's lapdog try to hump your fuckin' leg you don't want him to be six foot plus with fangs that could rip the throat out of a rhino!" Rayne argued.

"He's cute though," Matty said, still grinning at Rayne's obvious agitation. "And he understands the wizardy stuff. Sometimes he explains it better too."

"He's got a magic wand to die for!" Rayne mimicked Matty's coy tone nastily and made kissy faces at him.

Matt calmly flicked him the bird in response. "Like I said; jealous!"

Xavier long lashes were at half mast as he looked from one to the other off them. Privately he thought Matty was being foolish if he thought Dominic was harmless, but he wasn't going to enlighten him. Besides, something more important had grabbed his attention. "What're you talking about?"

Both Rayne and Matt looked at him but it was Matt that finally spoke up. "Didn't anyone tell you DW's lover is a werewolf?"

Xav blinked slowly at him. "A... like, a real werewolf?" Xav asked slowly, not sure if they were teasing him.

"Would there be any point in pretending to be a werewolf?" Rayne asked, almost rhetorically.

"What other kind of werewolf is there?" Matty grinned. "Course he's real, sugar tits. Are you scared now?"

Xav gave him a narrow look. "No, I'm not scared," he answered flatly.

Rayne stretched out one foot and gave his Fledge a little shove that almost knocked him off the chair. "Okay, stop fucking about with him now."

Matt sulked for a millisecond, then looked slyly at Xavier. "He's hung like a werebull!"

"I said, stop it!" Rayne threw a teaspoon at him which clipped the side of Matt's head and made him yelp.

Xav couldn't help the little smile that curled his lips but he hid it behind his mug as he took another sip of his coffee. He supposed he should be irritated that yet again he'd been left in the dark about something kind of important, but at least he'd found out this time before he'd really stepped in it so he wasn't too worked up. He glanced at Rayne speculatively now though, and it didn't take much to guess with all the innuendo and Rayne's desire to shut Matty up that he'd probably fucked this guy...er, werewolf.