Serpent's Salvation Ch. 03

This work is copyrighted and is property of the author. If gay stories offend you or if they are illegal in your area, leave. Any resemblance to any people alive or dead, or any event is purely coincidental.

Chapter 3

He had been awake for almost an hour, carefully keeping his mind blank. The only sound to be heard was the ticking of a clock like a metronome.

Tick...tick...tick.

If he concentrated on the ticking he didn't have to think. If he didn't think he didn't have to...

Tick...tick...tick.

Time had no meaning. He could have lain there like that for hours. Days. Aurel would have gladly spent the rest of his life in bed. He wasn't quite sure when things began to change. A slightly discordant note at first. A small hiss of breath, a slight rustle of fabric. Each intrusion into his carefully crafted cocoon was resented, but he couldn't bring himself to confront the intruder and the emotional fallout that would erupt when he did. He pulled the jacquard bedcovers more tightly around him, clenching his eyes shut, praying for sleep and willing away whoever it was that had invaded his room. He wished they would go away. He wished them to hell.

He had just started to think that he had been left alone when he heard the strike of a match, smelt the acrid tang of the spicy, exotic blend of tobacco and felt the crackle of the cherry as the cigarette took light. Aurel cringed. There were only two people in the world he couldn't yell at, tell off, ignore or beat the daylights out of; and Misha didn't smoke. He held his own breath at the first inhalation, waiting for the exhale, knowing what would come after. He wasn't disappointed.

"I know you're awake Aurel. You have been for the past hour. I used to think that I had gained a modicum of patience, but I find myself tired of the wait."

Aurel just snorted in disbelief and curled in upon himself even tighter. Seth never lost patience unless someone was being abominably stupid.

"Aurel. You are being abominably stupid."

Aurel sat up in shock, his huge eyes seeking out Seth in the dim light. The click of a tablelamp and it's harsh light was another disconcertingly anticlimactic note. Seth gave him a little frown of distaste as he took in Aurel's rumpled appearance; the morning stubble, the slept in clothes.

"You look like I just kicked your puppy. It doesn't suit you at all. And close your mouth."

Aurel was amazed to find that his mouth was indeed open and shut it so quickly that there was an audible snap of teeth against teeth. He couldn't believe Seth. He had expected sympathy, commiseration perhaps, even condemnation. He hadn't counted on this. Whatever this was. Tears began to form in his eyes. He had expected Seth to understand.

Seth sighed as he extinguished his cigarette and got up from his chair. He seated himself next to Aurel on the huge bed and gently took one of his hands in his own. "Aurel, I would be lying if I said I understood."

Aurel heard a terrible sob and realized with horror that it had come from himself.

Seth gathered the bigger man in a fierce hug. "You misunderstand. I am not making myself clear enough and you have not given me the chance to do so." They both rocked while Aurel did his best to cry himself out and Seth did his best to explain. "I do not understand the modern anti-homosexual fixation at all."

Seth considered any date followed by an Anno Domini 'modern'.

"You forget. I was raised in a society that accepted almost any form of sexual expression. Relationships between men were an honored thing. The bias and bigotry that stigmatizes it now is a new concept and that is what I don't understand. You have nothing to be ashamed of. When I said that you were being stupid I just meant that you were blowing it all out of proportion."

"My father..."

"Your father was an asshole." If Aurel had thought that Seth was through with his surprises, he was dead wrong. Seth never cursed, at least not in any language that Aurel knew, and it wasn't like him to speak ill of the dead. "Vaclav was about his own affairs, his own agenda and maintaining the status quo. He has nothing to do with you, with the man you have become. He had little enough to say about your life when he was alive, why should you grant him the opportunity to hurt you when he is gone?" Seth smoothed Aurel's mane of bronze hair in a soothing gesture. " Besides, he would have considered this a mere hiccup compared to the changes you have been trying to bring about. If he is spinning in his grave it is because of that, not who you are and who you love."

"Oh god! The council," Aurel said. Seth's reminder brought the past night back and Aurel relived the evening's abrupt end in slow motion. The color drained from his face as he remembered what he had done, what he had jeopardized, but Seth was quick to reassure him.

"I made your excuses for you and gave them a good story as well. No one would dare question me. You were contacted about an unfortunate, but pressing family crisis and we tabled your recommendations for another time."

"That will only add to the rumors."

"Yes, but they will have nothing concrete."

"What about the guard? I can't remember at all. Did I hurt him?"

"No. Mychael said that he was shaken, but unharmed. He was worried about you in fact."

"Mych talked to you?" Aurel said.

"Of course. How do you think I am here? I did not give him a choice I am afraid. I told him that I could help you, and agitated as he was, he agreed; despite his reservations. He was frantic, even to the point of turning to me."

"It isn't as if Mych-"

"Please, do not tell an untruth on my account. I know that Mychael dislikes me. I also know that Mychael and I understand each other," Seth said, then reconsidered. "Perhaps that is stretching the truth a bit. Shall we say that I comprehend Mychael well and he would prefer to think that he understands me."

"How do you know? I didn't think that you had ever looked inside him. Frankly, I can't see him allowing it."

"What makes you think that I can only function with the Sight? You do very well without it," Seth said. "And it is not a question of him allowing it. I have not asked."

"I'm sorry Seth. I didn't mean to offend you."

Seth smiled slightly. "So quick with an apology. There was no offence taken."

"I just- I don't know what to do Seth. I can't do this. I can't be with a man."

Seth was beginning to get annoyed. He sat up, smoothing his fingers through his thick black hair.

"Aurel, the only ones on the council who will care are the same feeble-minded malcontents who are opposing you in the first place. You know as well as I that most of our kind are extremely elastic. We have learned to be as a matter of survival. Immortals with perpetual Victorian values don't win congeniality awards."

"No! It's not that. Well, not all of it," He admitted, not wanting to actually lie to Seth about the reservations he did have.

"Well what is it then?" Seth was definitely annoyed, his black eyes narrowing in his otherwise smooth face. "You have a mate. A Mate! You should be singing your praises to the gods for what they have given you," Seth said, gesturing towards the heavens. "Most live countless lifetimes without one and you have been singled out and blessed. Most of our kind would kill for that kind of bond, male or female. What does it take Aurel? What is it that will make you happy?"

"Seth, I...I don't know how tobe with a man."

If Aurel hadn't looked so anguished, so stricken by his admission of ignorance, Seth doubted that he could have stifled his laughter. As it was he had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide the small grin there. Aurel truly looked lost.

"Aurel, it is all just parts and feeling. There is no mystery to the male body. You possess one yourself." Seth let his smile show. "As Alex would put it, it is just tab A into slot B." Aurel began to smile as well, and then gave a start as he caught himself. Was he insane? This was serious.

But Seth had caught that ghost of a smile and pressed his advantage. "The beast with two backs, getting your dick wet, knocking boots." He was visibly relieved when Aurel finally did laugh at the incongruity of Seth; the elegant, sophisticated Seth, uttering such silliness. "I am glad that you laughed Aurel. I believe that I have exhausted my poor store of sexual euphemism. If you hadn't I would have been reduced to rude gestures of the Italian variety." Seth was reassured moments later when Aurel hesitatingly began to confide in him.

"I've never even been attracted to a man Seth. I know that you're considered a handsome man, but I look at you and feel nothing but affection and filial love. Men who in one way or another could be accounted attractive surround me, but I haven't felt even a small spark. There's nothing there.

"And this man?"

Aurel thought for a moment "I've never seen him Seth. I only know his name and his scent." Aurel toyed with the bound edge of the burgundy bedcover while he pondered what to say. "I've only been with women, and that was a long time ago. I'm sure you know how it is. Sex is interesting at first, but with our lifespans it eventually becomes mechanic and a bore without a mate. Honestly, I was never much interested in the first place. It was too much time and energy to invest in a woman with so little payoff." Aurel shrugged as if to shrug off all of those long ago trysts. "I thought perhaps that my true passions lay with politics, that I was unsuited for a relationship."

Aurel looked up, meeting Seth's eyes with his own unnaturally bright gold ones. "I was wrong Seth. There is something there, something I can't even put into words and I haven't even laid eyes on him."

"But..."

"I'm scared." Aurel's expression was as stark and blunt as his words. "I've never even thought of myself in this position. I don't know the rules of male courtship. I don't even know if he is...homosexual." He'd finally said it. He had expected to feel something when he uttered it for the first time. Distaste, relief, a biblical earthquake...something. But it was just another word.

"You have to find out then. You are a goal setter. Make a plan of action and go out there and do it. Wallowing in your own misery is not going to advance you in the least. You must find him and win him."

Aurel couldn't stomach the cajoling tone or the happy sentiment. "You don't understand Seth! I'm vulnerable like I've never been before. A goddamn stranger holds my life in his hands. A human. I thought I was close to Misha, close to you and Mych, but he can crush me with a word. Even if he does want me he might refuse the gift. Can you imagine being offered your every dream on a silver platter and then having it ripped away along with your heart? I can. I'm fucking terrified. You don't have a mate Seth. You don't know."

"I know." Seth's words were a quiet whisper, but they detonated like a nuclear bomb.

"What?" Aurel stopped his seething long enough to look, reallylook at Seth, and he immediately grew remorseful. Seth was...sad; his gaze pointed somewhere inward, a place no one else could hope to touch. He reached a tentative hand out to Seth, trying anyway, regretting his unthinking outburst.

"I must apologize again. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately."

"No, it's fine." Seth grasped Aurel's hand and squeezed it against his shoulder where it lay. "It is good to talk of it. My memories of that time should be celebrated, not mourned. I had a mate once, long ago. He was everything to me."

"Your mate was a man." It was a statement that didn't really hold any surprise.

"Yes. And we were very much in love. When he died," Seth stopped for a moment and shook his head, mentally reliving that awful time, "When he died, I died with him."

"Oh Seth, I didn't mean to..."

Now it was Seth's turn to comfort. "Now, now. Don't fret. I am consoled by the words he gifted me with before he died. He told me that we would meet yet again in this life. Though that may sound cliché by Hollywood standards, he was a powerful man with immense gifts; gifts much greater than my own. I knew he spoke the truth and I have waited for that day with joy in my heart."

Aurel's curiosity got the better of his polite tendencies. "How long has it been?"

"Over Seven thousand years."

Aurel couldn't wrap his brain around the magnitude of Seth's suffering. Seven thousand years. Seven thousand years alone. Aurel had barely managed three hundred and he was whining. He felt unworthy.

"Do not look so, Aurel. The years have been kind enough to bring me friends such as you. I have a purpose. My life, if not my soul, is full. And I do not think that the wait will be much longer."

For an instant Seth's eyes flamed, and Aurel knew that what he had always mistaken for black was really an intense midnight blue. "No, I think that the waiting has neared its end." Aurel knew better than to question Seth; his word was inviolate. If Seth believed it then it could be written in stone.

"Aurel, he was worth it. He was worth every second, every minute of waiting. I would wait until the end of time if it were required. I think that you will find that your mate is worth everything as well."

Aurel was grateful that Seth had shared so much of himself, but he had to know.

"Seth...I know that you may think that it's idle curiosity, but-"

"You want to know how he died."

"Yes," Aurel said, surprised at his own temerity.

"I understand your curiosity only too well my friend. If I were in your position I would want to know the truth of it." Seth took a deep breath.

"If you don't want to tell me, It's all right," Aurel said.

"It is not that I don't want to tell you, but even now the words are hard."

"Then-"

"He was murdered."

And that was when Aurel realized that he truly knew fear.

"Seth! Everyone I know is an assassin's target!"

***

Sebastian's day had gone from bad to worse. Rob didn't say much the rest of the day but the looks he kept slanting towards Seb made him want to plant his fist in Rob's pretty little face. The weasel.

Little things kept going wrong too, as if a gremlin was hot on his heels ready to throw a spanner into the works at a moment's notice. First that ruined length of film, then that female Professor that wouldn't take no for an answer, even when Rob came to his rescue by calling him sweety and giving him a peck on the cheek. She had barely blinked before inviting themboth out. Rob laughed himself flaccid at the look on Seb's face. Just who was that Murphy guy and what would be the best way to kill him?

By the end of the day Sebastian was beat. The lack of sleep had taken its toll and he couldn't even give himself an injection of caffeine as a jumpstart to the day. Bloody allergy. He had settled for root beer and a sugar high, but the effect just wasn't the same.

He had also managed to convince himself that the hunted feelings of the night before were figments of his overactive imagination and borscht-induced indigestion. Sure, Mr. Draco had scary security, but they wouldn't have followed him. Kept watch on him. Scared the bejeezus out of him at 3 AM. And they were just some regular guys, ya know?

He was still telling himself this as he made his sluggish way to the SUV, lugging his pack behind him. When he finally reached the vehicle he gave a dramatic sigh and then cursed. The carwould be covered in bird shit. Something in him almost reveled at the injustice of it all. See! God is out to get me. Solid proof. Well, not quite solid. A bit goopy and slimy, but proof nonetheless.

Sebastian was wrestling with his key in the lock and singing the first verse of 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park' when he was blindsided by sensation. He dropped his pack in surprise. So much for figments. He closed his eyes in resignation and tried to pinpoint the location of his watchers. Two...no, four.A slightly different vibe from the two that were almost out of his range, that's why he missed them at first. They were different from the ones last night.

The other two were closer, one on each side, holding their positions. Waiting. He was about to turn around and do something really stupid like confront one of them when he felt another.

A thrill of recognition went down his spine even though he instinctively knew that he had never met the person who inspired that reaction. His ring of keys joined his bag on the pavement with a clatter. Sebastian opened his eyes and whipped around to lock eyes with the man who had given him such a jolt, ignoring everyone else. He never knew what hit him.

Oh Lord. That was Sebastian's last cohesive thought for some time. The man standing in the quad was overwhelmingly gorgeous. He was one of the largest men Seb had ever seen; at least 6'7, perhaps more. His body was beautifully proportioned, perfectly muscled biceps melting into muscular, tanned forearms dusted with golden hair; amazing pectorals. Seb wanted to rip the casual pullover away from the stranger's body to bare his abdomen. It would be cut just a bit, with a delicious innie. Then maybe nibble down the length of his hip to the crease at the junction of leg and groin as he slowly uncovered what lay there. Wouldn't that be a hell of an introduction?Hi, I'm Sebastian. Can I suck your cock?

And his face...it was indescribable. Not pretty, not quite handsome, but solid, rugged, fierce and wonderful. His full lips were slightly parted as if on a gasp and Seb had the urge to trace his tongue along the corner and then plunge in.

The feel of this man was different from what he had felt with the others. Gone was the sullen menace, the aura of barely leashed violence. There were no slight whispers or stray thoughts clouding his head, making him wary, just a soul-deep longing. He wasn't like the others, but he wasn't quite like Seb either.

Sebastian was hyper-aware of every small movement the man made, however. Every rise and fall of his chest. The movement of his Adam's apple as he swallowed. The slow clenching of his hand. Beautiful hands, slightly callused, sinews flexing in a ballet of movement. Every motion was cataloged, memorized and stored; memories to be looked at later and wondered over.

He was so, so much more than Seb had ever dreamed a man could be. He wasn't even technically Sebastian's type, but Seb hadn't even known that this particular type existed. It was as if God himself had cobbled together a man from the deepest yearnings of his subconscious mind. One look at a complete stranger and Seb knew he would never be the same again.

He still felt threatened, but it wasn't his body that he now feared for; it was his soul.

He had no idea how long he stood there staring, drinking in the vision, but he grudgingly broke eye contact when a streak of dark grey entered his peripheral vision, kicking in his truant sense of self-preservation. He looked around for one of the absentee guards, finding no one. When he turned back to the man that had held him so captivated, he was gone. Vanished. Like a figment

Stupid figment.

Sebastian rubbed his face in his hands and sagged against his vehicle as he was swamped with a feeling of dejection. He really was going mad. The feeling of pursuit had left as quickly as it had come, leaving him alone and trembling in a car park with a painfully full erection and a heavy heart. Instead of the fear he should be feeling he was swamped with a trembling anticipation and a want that defied all logic. He hadn't even had the presence of mind to snap a picture. If that wasn't the definition of insane he didn't know what was.

"Hey Seb."

Sebastian's head snapped up to see his friend Rob getting into his own rental.

"You know you just sat in a bunch of bird shit, right?"