London Loves Ch. 12

Dominic was crooning ecstatically, drowning in a sea of velvet cream. Mere moments after Xavier's heart-stopping climax, Rayne bucked into him fiercely, biting down on his shoulder as he burst deep inside the older man. The three of them melted slowly into a puddle of wordless, post orgasmic goo on the surface of the dining table.

From the doorway, where he had been observing quietly for about a minute, Gabriel Arden murmured; "We gotta eat off that tomorrow!"

Xavier didn't even lift his head to give his muffled reply, "You're welcome to lick it clean if you want."

Rayne lifted his head, only bristling slightly, he hadn't the fire in him for more. But Gabriel smoothed it over. He bent over the head of the table and kissed Dominic sweetly on the mouth, sliding his tongue between his mate's lips, lapping the nectar that Xavier had spilled there.

"You're a bad girl," he whispered huskily.

"You love it though, don't you?" Dom purred at him with a lazy smile.

Kneeling up now, Rayne eased out of him and his hands went right away to Xavier's hair and his body, still thrumming with the satisfaction of a good blow-job. Rayne kissed him long and slow, loving the soft, wet heat of his lover's cum-sticky mouth on his own. Xavier melted into the kiss, lifting his arms to loop them around Rayne's neck. He was still tangled up with his jeans halfway down his thighs but that didn't stop Rayne from pulling him closer so they curled around each other.

Xav hadn't even caught his breath yet but the way Rayne kissed him and the sensual stroke of his hands over his skin had him thinking he might not want to pull his pants up just yet after all. His cock twitched with interest as Rayne's tongue undulated against his own in a deeply passionate kiss.

"You are insatiable!" Rayne whispered, and not in a way that left him thinking that this was any kind of criticism.

"I just have a healthy appetite." Xavier said, grinning at him and kissing his lips more softly. "If I wear you out though, I may need to check into sexaholics anonymous!"

"I just never had anyone that could keep up with me before," Rayne grinned back at him wickedly. "Not even before I was Turned!"

Xav slid his fingers into Rayne's hair and pulled him in for another long slow kiss and for a moment it was like the rest of the world dropped away and it was only the two of them. The heat between them rolled up in waves and the sexual energy was almost a palpable thing.

Rayne wished he could believe that it would last, that they could always be like this. In that moment he was really, truly happy; happier than he had been in years. It came down to the delicate balance again, Xavier never pushed him too hard but at the same time he was not afraid to stand up for himself. At the moment their world was on fire with sensual passion but what if that could not last? He knew well enough that the initial spark rarely kept burning beyond the first few months of such an intense affair. But did he and Xavier have that compatibility out of bed that would keep the flame alive for longer?

Whilst they were in Italy, his old friend, Aldo, had suggested that Xavier was a potential soulmate. He had seen that spark between them before Rayne was really, properly aware of it himself. Now, lying curled around Xav on Dominic's kitchen table, looking into his mischievous blue eyes, Rayne thought he saw what Aldo had noticed weeks before. Xavier was always full of life, but there was an intensity to him when they were together like this. It was power and it was passion, but most of all it was a deep seam of 'Xavier-ness' that made him feel like a teenager again. Like this beautiful blond boy was the most important thing in his world.

"What have you done to me?" he whispered, huskily, touching his lips to that succulent mouth once more.

At the other end of the table, Gabriel nudged Dom and nodded towards the entwined pair with a knowing smile. Lord Warren grinned appreciatively, but Rayne saw none of it, his eyes were filled with Xavier.

Xav brushed Rayne's hair out of his eyes and kissed the tip of his nose. As far as Xavier was concerned he hadn't done anything exceptional, except love him. He noticed that Rayne looked better now that he'd fed properly. His eyes weren't as pale and his skin didn't look so chalk white and drawn.

"Even though I think we make a fabulous centrepiece, you think maybe we should get off the table?"

"Heh... c'mon," Rayne sat up and swung his legs down, turning to hold out his hand to Xavier as he hopped down.

Gabe drew himself up at the same time. He kissed Dominic's knuckles briefly then said; "If you ladies will excuse me, the sooner I get out and shifted, the faster I can heal these stripes Mizz Wylde put in me."

Xav pulled his jeans up when his feet were on the floor, although he'd lost track of his shirt somewhere. Then he spotted it under the table and snagged it.

"So, um, where do you go to shift?" he asked Gabe, as transparent as glass.

"You don't give up, do you?" Gabriel chuckled, shaking his rumpled mane.

"Once he's got his teeth in he doesn't let go," Rayne commented grimly.

The were reached out a hand and tousled Xavier's curls as if he was a child. "I go where no one's likely to get hurt, babes."

"Come on, you can't tell me that if..." Xav thought for a second and then gestured to Dom. "...that if Dominic told you he could sprout wings and fly, that you wouldn't want to see it?"

"'s diff'rent," Gabriel said with a little smile. "Lady Warren's seen me shift. We don't have no secrets."

"Not any more," Dominic said pointedly, but he smiled as he said it to show that it wasn't meant as a jibe.

"D'you normally watch lover boy feed?" Gabriel asked, nodding towards Rayne.

"I've watched him plenty times," Xavier countered. "He doesn't mind."

"Bet you've never seen 'im shape shift, 'ave you?" Gabe laughed and Rayne glared at him darkly for it.

Xavier was scowling too, but for a different reason. He was remembering something and it wasn't at all a pleasant memory; when Steffen dragged him off into the woods back in Frisco, and he had him pinned down on the ground... The vampire had been laughing cruelly in his ear as he raped him, his face was pushed down in the leaves and dirt and Xav thought he saw a bird; an enormous white owl. And then he thought the shock must have been making him hallucinate because a moment later Yannis was standing there and Steffen went lunging after him.

Maybe he hadn't been seeing things after all if what Gabriel seemed to be suggesting was true. Could vampires shift their forms?

Some of the energy went out of Xavier and the shadows that gathered in his eyes were like watching an eclipse come over the sun. He turned away, no longer so interested in Gabriel. He wasn't exactly upset though, not like he had been the night before when Gabriel had prodded him about Rayne hiding things from him.

He looked at Rayne curiously, and judging by the way he was bristling he guessed that it was indeed true, he could shape shift, like some of the legends said. He looked back at Gabe defensively. "Maybe he's got a reason he didn't want to."

"Yeah!" Gabriel laughed huskily. "Like, p'raps that turnin' into a little scrawny bird's not quite as impressive as shiftin' into a wolf."

Rayne went for him, without a second's warning and the two mortals in the room were not fast enough to intercept. The vampire slammed into Gabe and they bowled across the kitchen in a whirlwind of teeth and claws, crashing up against the cabinets as Dominic threw things at them and yelled for them to stop it.

"Please!" Lord Warren shouted over the snarling chaos in his beautiful kitchen. "Don't do this! Gabriel... make this stop! Rayne... please don't kill him. Please!"

The sudden fear in his eyes told Xavier that this last was a very real possibility. There was already blood on the floor tiles as the pair of them fought it out. Gabriel was on his back and Rayne was at his throat but the wolf lashed out with fists and feet and his attacker was thrown against the opposite wall for his pains. Now Rayne rolled groggily to his knees and Gabriel managed to get halfway sitting before he sagged back down again, growling softly.

The little vampire looked dazed though, too hurt and confused to fight. He blinked owlishly at Xavier, shaking his head.

"I wanted to come for you," he slurred, still not quite focussed. "Xav I really tried, but I wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry. I wasn't good enough. He's right. I wish I could... I wish I was better..."

He folded and wrapped his arms around his head, groaning low in his throat at the knowledge that he'd somehow let his lover down.

Xavier was already moving toward Rayne as he spoke and dropped down beside him to wrap his arms around him and hold him protectively.

"Shhh...none of that," Xav murmured in a soft whisper by his ear. "You came for me when it mattered, Rayne. You did everything you could to get me free, when you could have gotten on a plane and forgotten I existed." He stopped talking but pushed how he felt, as if Rayne could absorb it through the touch of their skin pressed together. There was nothing but love and understanding in him. There was no way he could not understand.

Xavier had been at the mercy of Steffen, who had been forced to hold his sadistic pleasures in check slightly with Xavier or risk damaging him beyond repair, and yet he had still been cruelly brutal. Rayne, knowing full well the type of treatment he could expect, had willingly taken Xavier's place in captivity to set him free, and with Rayne there had been no reason for Steffen to hold back. They had beaten and tortured him repeatedly and starved him so he could not heal and went nearly mad with it. Even at his weakest though Rayne had not turned on Xav, he had done everything in his power to keep him safe at very real risk to himself. In Xavier's eyes Rayne had far from let him down. On the contrary, he had done everything that was necessary to keep him alive.

Xavier kissed the back of Rayne's neck and smoothed his hand over his hair soothingly before he slowly unfolded from him and stood.

Gabriel was still in a defensive posture, fresh blood marking him. He could not have known what memories he would stir in Xav with his careless teasing, he could not have known how hot a button he was pushing, in either of them. He could not have known... and Xavier didn't give a flying fuck about that. The look he shot Gabriel was pure fury before he jabbed a hard fist right at the bigger man's jaw.

Gabe didn't flinch from the blow, but he caught Xavier's fist before he could land a second one.

"Okay," he said quietly. "Yeah, I guess I deserved that. I dunno quite what's goin' on with you two but I won't poke at him no more if you don' want me to. But you leave the shiftin' thing, okay? If I want you to see me shift, you will. End of."

He put Xavier down almost gently and touched a tentative hand to the gashes in his neck and shoulder. Honours were definitely even on the battle scars.

"Fine," Xavier said shortly as the were turned away, heading for the door that led out into the orangery.

Xavier waited until he was gone before he moved an inch and as soon as he slipped out the door he silently began to pick up the pieces in the room, righting a tipped over chair and grabbing a broom to sweep up the shards of a broken plate.

It was Dominic who stopped him. The older man looked shaken and upset by what had happened but he took the brush firmly from Xavier's hand and nodded towards Rayne now.

"Look after him," he said tenderly. "He needs you more than a few broken plates. I'll sort out the mess."

Rayne was still huddled on the ground with his head resting on his knees and his arms wrapped around them. Xavier went to him and gently coaxed him up after a few minutes. He took him upstairs and closed the door to their room, feeling what Rayne most needed right now was some privacy and a bit of sanctuary.

"Are you okay?" he asked now that they were alone. He got a wordless nod and Xavier didn't see any fresh wounds on him. "Why did you go after him like that?"

"I wanted to kill the mutt," Rayne said sullenly, curling up on the bed like a child. "He can't leave it alone, can he? Always having a jibe; poking at open sores like a son of a mangy cunt! I dunno what Dom sees in the bastard."

"Honestly, right now, I don't either." Xavier said, sliding onto the bed behind Rayne. He curled around his backside, spooning up to him and wrapping his warmth around him despite the sullen hostility his mate radiated.

"Maybe we should just go home." Xav suggested in a soft tone. "It seems every time either of us has any interaction with Gabriel it ends bad. I don't want to keep getting Dom upset."

"You need Dominic's help, Xavier."

"I can figure out how to deal with it on my own. I'd have to anyway if Dominic wasn't around."

Rayne was quiet for a moment or so. At last he murmured; "You've seen those people wandering around on the streets, not knowing who they are or what's going on around them? Or sitting somewhere rocking and talking to themselves? Most of those people just lost their mind on drugs or abuse or some other mental problem. Some of them though...some of them have something like what you got, and they can't handle the constant barrage of shit coming at them. It overwhelms them and drives them right outta their head. I don't want that to happen to you, Xav."

Now it was Xavier's turn to be quiet for a few moments as that sobering thought settled on him. Would he go nuts if he couldn't get a handle on this empathy thing? It wasn't so far fetched. He'd already felt like he was gonna go crazy with it a few times. Feeling what everyone else around him felt, picking up all their joy or anger or sorrow or disgust or whatever the fuck they were going through at that moment, made him feel totally out of control. Like he just wanted to hold his head and scream.

Being with Rayne helped, like having a buffer, but the farther away Rayne was the less it worked. He had to get a handle on this, and Dominic was his best bet.

Xavier sighed, his breath stirring the dark fronds of Rayne's hair across the back of his neck. "Okay, I guess we should stay. I'm a lot better now though, I feel stronger. Maybe we should do this ritual or whatever tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's the full moon." Rayne looked at him as if he was out of his mind.

Xav sighed again. "Ok, day after tomorrow."

"If we've not both gone crazy in the next 24 hours," Rayne mused, turning to plant a kiss on his nose as they snuggled closer. "Sometimes I wonder if that's his game plan. Make us crazy enough to try and kill him. He's a mental case, Xavier. And it's not just the moon that makes him loopy, I'm sure."

Xav brushed Rayne's lips with his own, a small smile tugging the corners of his mouth. "We could just hide in here for two days. I'm sure we could find something to keep us occupied."

He grinned and nuzzled at the nape of Rayne's neck, recapturing some of their earlier tenderness. Rayne's fanged smile said he wasn't entirely opposed to that idea, although for the moment they both seemed contented to lay there and snuggle.

After a little while Xavier remembered what had sent them retreating up here to begin with. "Can you really shapeshift?"

"Umm..." Rayne said, somewhat evasively. "Kind of."

He looked rather put out that Xavier had remembered to ask about it but was also stoically refusing to lie, in view of their earlier dispute about secrets and untruths. All his optimistic hopes that this week would be a relaxing break for the pair of them were beginning to dwindle to nothing.

"I'm not very good," he admitted when Xavier's curious expression refused to go away.

Half a dozen questions clamoured around in his head but Xavier reined back his curiosity because he could tell Rayne wasn't comfortable.

"You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," he said, laying his head back down on the pillow.

"Vampires don't have to shift, it's not like with Were-Mutt downstairs," his mate said dismissively. "Some of them like doing it. Some of them make a pretty big thing about it, like an ego trip, y'know? Woo!! Look at me, I'm a fuckin' leopard! Well whaddaya know?"

He lay back, shaking his head disdainfully.

Xavier made sure he didn't so much as twitch a smile at that disgruntled comment, but it was pretty easy for him to read that his lover's disdain came, at least partly, because he couldn't in fact turn himself into a leopard. He figured it was okay to ask a few questions now, since Rayne didn't seem to mind talking about it. Propping his head up on one hand he lay on his side next to his still naked lover.

"Can you change into more than one thing then? Does it hurt?"

Rayne studied him with his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, and yes," he murmured at last, rather guardedly. "It's... it's horrible. Hard to describe. Like turning yourself inside out. But that's not the worst bit. You see, you use up a lot of energy shifting. And it's shifting back that's the hard bit. It's so easy to get... to get stuck."

He winced painfully.

Xavier's eyes widened, his expression changing from curious to vaguely horrified. As much as he would like to see this transformation for himself he didn't want Rayne to do anything that was going to hurt, or worse, be permanent.

"Oh..." he said, not quite managing to hide his disappointment. "I was gonna ask if I could see you do it, but never mind that. Not if it hurts, and not if you could get stuck! I rather like you the way you are."

He smiled reassuringly but Rayne curled in on himself, actually a little deflated by Xavier's protective insistence that it didn't matter when he knew for a fact that it did.

"Ask Jabez to show you some time," he said in a monotone. "He loves showing off. And he's good at it. I must be a disappointment to him as well."

He wriggled onto his side and buried his face in the cool clean softness of the pillow, closing his eyes. Xavier put his hand on Rayne's shoulder and pulled him back over at once. He caught his lover's chin in his hand and made Rayne look at him.

"Don't do that. Don't put words in my mouth. I never said I was disappointed in you. I never even thought it. I was disappointed that it hurt to shift, because that would make me pretty much an asshole to ask you to do something that I knew was gonna hurt you just to satisfy my curiosity, wouldn't it? And speaking of... don't confuse my being curious about something with being impressed. I'm not that shallow, and it's pretty fuckin' insulting for you to think so. I'm not that easy to impress, and that you were still able to impress me never had anything to do with any vampire ability."

Rayne was just looking at him in speechless bewilderment and Xavier took advantage of it to lean in and kiss him, smoothing one thumb over his cheek tenderly. When he pulled back again he looked at Rayne steadily. Part of the reason they got on so well was that Xavier had almost a gift for knowing when not to push Rayne, but the opposite of that gift was knowing when it was okay to push, and more importantly knowing when he needed to push.

His lover had bristled slightly at the sudden offensive, but his feathers settled now and he leaned back against the pillows looking suddenly rather coy again once Xavier had broken the kiss and mellowed with him. It still confused Rayne that Xav was able to make him feel like this, but an awful lot of things about Xavier confused him so that was nothing new.

Xavier gave him a hesitant smile now. "So, you just had a good feed. You didn't say you couldn't do it, only that it was hard. Do you want to show me?"