17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Z en leapt up as Gaian's snarling visage appeared. He knew he didn't have the strength to even a tempt a failed uttering of Sunlight , so he scrambled back, hitting the wall of one of the abodes that had him too easily caged.

Gaian was going to tear him apart.

Only the snarl wasn't angry, Zen realized. It was there, fangs and eyes and all, but the expression was soaked in grief.

"My love, never fear me," Gaian said, reining in his vampire traits until he was Enki again. The side of his face where the dust of Zenos's bones had struck him still looked red, but it was healing.

Zen debated reaching for the powder now, but he didn't think he would be fast enough.

"Please," Gaian tried again, approaching slowly. "I would never strike you or harm you in my anger, as the priests that raised you did."

The fear in Zen gave way to sudden fury. "No? You'd merely sick your beasts on me and have them kill my friends? You promised no one would die!"

"And they haven't. That woman with you, her people are not dead, merely added to my horde. I meant the same for all of them."

"That's not good enough." Zen flattened himself to the stone as Gaian crept closer. "They're my friends!"

"They still will be. Don't you understand? I…" Gaian trailed off, the grief on his face deepening, as he stopped his advance. "I'm doing this all wrong, aren't I? I've missed you. I'm impatient. You want your friends spared, but the only way I know to ensure that is if they join us."

It was like dealing with a wounded viper, wanting to help it, but knowing that eventually, it would strike, simply because of its nature.

And yet, Zen believed Gaian meant what he said, however misguided he may be.

Zen tried to relax from the stone, seeing now that Gaian meant him no harm, even though Zen had harmed him. He reached for the sweet face he'd fallen for more than once and placed his palm on the red of Gaian's marred cheek.

Gaian pressed against it.

"Give me a reason to be with you," Zen said. "No tricks. No seduction. Be Enki again. Convince me that is who you are."

Gaian turned his head to kiss Zen's palm, dark eyes glittering with wetness. "The children here know me as all do. Shall we look in on them?" With a soft smile, Gaian stepped back, and his elegant clothes shimmered and changed into the simpler garb he'd worn as Enki.

Zen took Enki's hand.

Enki led them down the winding path that disappeared around the rocks. It connected with another path, behind the abodes but lit up with crystals to guide the way. There was a single stone abode at the bottom, a school, Zen guessed, since in the open area around it were children at play.

"Enki!" one of them cried when he saw them, and all the children ceased their frolicking to rush at Enki and hug him fiercely, forcing Zen and Enki's hands to part, so Enki could attend to them.

None of them feared the man they didn't yet know was their lord. They thought him a traveling magician, a friend.

Like in the first village, Enki dazzled them with sparks of light and simple illusions that thrilled them. Zen watched with the same fondness he'd felt the first time. He played as well for a time, but eventually, he sat to continue watching.

After a while, he noticed a puddle nearby, projecting back his reflection. Zen's dark bluish skin, his silvery eyes, his white hair—he'd lived with it twice now, and he remembered why he cut his hair so short in that other life.

He'd hated it.

He'd hated it until Enki told him it was beautifully.

"What's wrong?" Enki asked, coming over to sit beside Zen, as the children were called back into the school.

"You always look at me like… like I'm something radiant, but it's difficult for me to see these colors," Zen touched his cheek and a tuft of his hair that had fallen forward from being tied back, "and not wish they were different."

There was nothing of the vampire in Enki when he leaned against Zen's side and softly spoke, "Tell me, when you look at a sunset, are there any of its colors that you find ugly?"

"Of course not."

"Because all colors are beautiful. So, how could color, any color, on something as beautiful as you, ever be ugly?"

Tears pricked Zen's eyes, and he leaned against Enki in kind.

Enki took Zen's chin and pulled him into a gentle kiss. His lips were cool, his skin often cool to the touch, yet Zen remembered times when Enki felt warm. Were those times only because he had fed from someone?

The thought made Zen pull away, and Enki's brown eyes shone at him in worry.

"Promise me no more death," Zen said. "No more killing, of any kind, and not just my friends."

"And if I am defied?"

"Forgive."

"What of Aerie and their hatred of people like you? Of dark elves—"

" Forgive . Let them live with their hatred, and we can stay here."

"You would forgive that easily, after the boy you mentioned they killed? You said he wasn't even a darkling or a dark elf, just an elf in the wrong city."

It stung to be reminded of Jax, but it stung to be reminded of all the death Zen had seen. "Maybe we can change their minds if you show mercy. Your beasts could feed on animals. Your vampires too—"

"Drinking the blood of animals makes a vampire ill, and we cannot feed from the dead."

"Then… you, your brides, your spawn, surely there are people who would offer their blood willingly. A bite alone would not change them. And the werewolves don't need to harm anyone. Degnan was a family man. And the ghouls… you could free them. If they are mindless and can never be human again, let them die."

As quickly as hardness had taken Enki's face, it softened. "My kind-hearted Zenos, if I agree to all that, does it mean you will be mine again?"

It wasn't the life Zenos had planned on with his love, and it wasn't remotely close to what Zen had ever thought his life would be, but if all that were possible, and he got to have Enki…

"Yes," Zen said without pause or guile. "Forever."

Enki kissed him again with a passionate swoop, more heated than before, deeper and probing and promising of more, with an arm coiling tight around Zen's waist. "Then come, my love," he breathed hotly on Zen's lips. "Your injured friend is resting, the others bathing. Which gives me an idea." The smirk that alighted Enki's face was mischievous, but before Zen could ask what he meant, Enki rose and pulled Zen after him.

They found another path that took them deeper into the mountains and farther from the lights of the city. When Zen saw the underground hot spring that Enki had brought him to, all he could think of was the caked-on grime from days of traveling that he couldn't wait to wash clean.

Enki started to undress, and Zen realized he had yet to see him nude. Faintly in his dreams, even more faintly in his memories, but all their heated moments in this life had been messy fumbling through layers. Zen had never seen or touched Enki, as he had been touched.

And oh, Enki was beautiful. The redness of his injured cheek did nothing to dull his radiance. His cream skin, his lean muscle, the tuft of dark hair between his legs framing his impressive sex, already starting to harden, but though Enki grinned at Zen's staring, he turned away to slip into the water.

Zen hurried to do the same, even removing his amulet. Enki had had his mouth on Zen; it seemed silly for Zen to be bashful of being nude in his presence, and so he stripped without shame and dropped into the spring beside Enki.

The warmth felt incredible and instantly soothed Zen's aching body. He undid the ties of his hair to set it free and dipped his head beneath the surface in utter rapture. A bath had never felt so good.

Enki gazed at him fondly, also having wet his hair, slicked back from his face, and Zen swam over to sit on the rocks beside him, with the water up to their shoulders.

"The only thing I regret is how it'll feel putting those soiled clothes back on," Zen said.

"My love, you forget I am a gifted wizard. I can handle cleansing soiled clothes." Enki waved his hand toward the pile of Zen's belongings, and a silvery mist floated forth, enveloping Zen's clothes and causing them to glow.

Zen smiled in wonder. There was so much Enki could do that was good, miraculous, not cruel or malicious.

"I'm afraid I have more than one regret," Enki said softly, floating closer to Zen until their sides touched. "I have so many. I am sorry I allowed my beasts to cause you and your friends so much harm. I didn't intend—"

"I forgive you. If you swear—"

"No more death here, I swear. Will you be with me then, my Zenos? Completely?"

"As your bride?" Zen asked wistfully, intending the double meaning.

"As my equal. I will release you, so that you will be a lord at my side. You will have all your memories, vividly, without losing any of the man you are now, and we can finally be together again."

That sounded perfect. Zen didn't know what it would be like to be a vampire, but if he didn't have to hurt people, he could handle drinking blood. If he had Enki, he could handle living forever. And the sun was hardly something he'd mourn losing, when it pained him so, beautiful though it may be.

Enki took Zen's face in both hands and kissed him. "Well?"

"Yes," Zen said, breathless and heartfelt. "I am yours. Always."

Their renewed kiss was deeper still, as Enki's arms slid around Zen's waist. Zen knew Enki's hands would stray, but this time, having Enki beside him, naked, made Zen want to touch too.

He pressed one hand to Enki's chest, and unlike Zen, who had removed his amulet, Enki still wore the red soul gem, which Zen gripped reverently. His grip was even more reverent when his other hand slid lower to close around Enki's sex.

Enki bucked into his touch, swiftly reaching between Zen's legs to grasp him in kind. It was fumbling and desperate, like two virgins madly seeking passion. Only Zen was the true virgin between them, though the part of him that was Zenos remembered what it felt like to be filled by the pulsing flesh in his palm.

"I am yours…" Zen panted between harried kisses he couldn't seem to stop peppering to Enki's lips. "But make love to me properly this time. Please."

"With pleasure."

Enki lifted them out of the bath like Zen weighed nothing, and suddenly, Zen was laid out on the stone at the edge of the spring. He was on his back, with Enki between his legs, slithering low to tuck his head in the gap of Zen's thighs and swallow him in one swift motion.

Despite the heat and wetness already present, the addition of Enki's mouth made Zen moan and thrust upward. While Enki sucked Zen's length, long, slender fingers prodded at the bud of Zen's entrance beneath his sack.

The first finger breached Zen, slick from the spring, as well as from Enki adding spit and Zen's own fluids to ease the way. Enki kept sucking while stretching Zen, which quickly started to make Zen squirm.

" Please ," he pleaded, and Enki must have read Zen's mind that he meant reprieve rather than to finish, for Enki slid off with a pop and licked more lightly up the underside of Zen's sex. He continued his attentions but with less fervid haste, allowing the stretch of his finger to become two.

The welcome intrusion made Zen feel full in a way no other completeness ever had, yet the press of those fingers stretching him and teasing at a bundle of explosive nerves inside him was but a preview to connecting with Enki as Zen wanted.

He'd never been so possessed by someone because no one had ever wanted to possess him. Enki wanted him. Enki loved him. And he was superior to any god who may or may not exist.

Enki raked his free hand up Zen's chest to trace feathering fingers across each nipple. Then he reached higher to gently hold Zen's neck, tipping his head back as though the pulse of Zen's veins enraptured him as much as his body.

Zen didn't mind. He enjoyed the graze of a thumb down his jugular, while a talented tongue flitted at his leaking tip, and two firm fingers thrust inside him, finally becoming the start of three and making Zen cry out enough to echo across the stone.

"Are you ready, my love?" Enki asked, so unfairly even-voiced for how Zen was wheezing.

"Y-yes," Zen pleaded, locking eyes with Enki, ruddy-brown and beautiful. "Bring me back to you."

The appeal seemed to touch something in Enki that triggered the pinnacle of his passions, and he removed his fingers to align his hips. His sex was searing hot and dripping wet as it pushed inside Zen, making Zen fuller than he ever thought possible. Whenever he thought the stretch might be too much, bordering on painful, the discomfort eased, replaced with searing satisfaction, until his mouth fell open in a silent scream.

Enki pulled back to thrust forward again, bringing him deeper and making Zen's insides burn for want of more.

" More ," Zen pleaded aloud, and Enki obliged, thrusting harder and faster inside him.

The smoothness of the rock meant it wasn't as uncomfortable as Zen would have feared, but it was still stone beneath him. Enki must have noticed him grimace, for he grabbed Zen by his lower back and lifted him off the ground, bringing Enki in even deeper and rendering Zen incapable of spouting anything more than whines and gasps for breath.

Every part of Zen was ignited, bathed in sunlight without any of the pain. Enki had him so wholly supported that, when Zen dropped his head back in ecstasy, he still didn't touch stone.

The desire for more still gripped Zen, and he strained his stomach muscles to sit up, squashing his length between them as Enki continued to thrust. He grabbed both sides of Enki's face and kissed him, and for the first time, Zen felt Enki stutter in his rhythm.

They slowed, almost stilled, to allow their tongues to entwine, and when they parted, Enki breathed a quiet, "I love you. I've missed you."

"Me too." Zen shuddered. "I love you. I love you." He kissed Enki again, fiercer and claiming, like he wanted to bruise Enki's lips to mark him as his.

Enki bucked into him, and Zen's head fell back like before. Enki had him lifted, no threat of dropping him given his superior strength, but Zen still gripped Enki's back, and then lower, and lower, until he felt the firm mounds of Enki's backside and squeezed.

It was Enki's turn to moan, and the insistency in Zen's act urged him to thrust harder.

Even without direct contact on Zen's sex, the slide of it pressed between their stomachs combined with the building heat of Enki inside him, had Zen certain he would not last much longer. He could feel the precipice nearing, that marvelous build of tingling heat, so much stronger than any touch of his own hand, or that even Enki's mouth or hands on him before could compare to.

This, finally, was what Zen had always wanted— love , unconditionally given.

He choked back a cry as his release built, awaiting that glorious climax, when Enki swung his head down to sink fangs into Zen's neck. It didn't hurt. To the contrary, it caused an even louder cry to spill from Zen's lips and spiked his end to such a massive crescendo that his vision went black as he spilled.

Zen went limp, completely at Enki's mercy to hold him up, and Enki did, still thrusting into him, until he too, spilled, and Zen felt added warmth fill him.

Enki still drank, and Zen surrendered to it without fighting, enjoying the aftershocks, as well as the glow of the crystal Enki wore—the gem holding the last of Zenos's memories.

Just a little farther. Zenos could see the gates. He'd already urged the refugees he'd saved to go ahead of him. They were long since through, and it was only Zenos left, guarding the rear.

Gaian was probably waiting for him inside—his sweet Enki, his intense, passionate love, who would fell mountains for Zenos's sake.

What Zenos loved most about Gaian, however, was his kindness toward others, especially those persecuted, when no one else had the heart to care.

Gaian loved Zenos. A human loved a darkling. And disaster hadn't resulted from their union yet.

"Halt!" Zenos heard before he dodged the zip of an arrow, then another, then—ah! One struck him, square in the spine, and he fell, so close to the gates that he could see how they remained open, waiting for him to cross into safety.

All too soon, an unfamiliar face wrenched Zenos's head up by his short white hair, and an axe was held to Zenos's throat.

"You're his dirty darkling lover, aren't you? Then you'll make a fine trophy to hurl at his feet for defying the laws of Aerie."

No , Zenos thought, not for his own life, but for how Gaian would surely shake the heavens in his wrath.

Gaian did. He still was . Zen could see it through the connection between them as the crystal finished its transfer at last and its light dimmed.

As Gaian pulled up from feeding on Zen to offer him the last of the blood needed to turn him, Zen realized that what had connected them in his dreams, what connected them now, went both ways, and Zen could see what Gaian had planned once this was over.

And it was full of blood and vengeance.

Zen shoved Gaian away, scrambling to his feet to lurch toward his belongings, unsteady but determined.

"My love! What are you doing?"

"You're lying." Zen hurried to put his trousers and robes back on—and his amulet, without tucking it away this time. It didn't need to have its own power to be a defiance against Gaian.

"I am not lying." Gaian followed him. "I will spare whomever you wish—but not Aerie itself. They must pay for what they did to us and what they continue to do to others. And your friends merely need to join us, join our horde, or they will never stop trying to defeat me."

"That is not what you promised." Zen whirled on Gaian, fumbling to secure his belt.

"But it is. I said no more death here , and there won't be." Gaian reached for Zen, still so beautiful, naked and slick with water and sweat—and the stains of their releases that Zen could feel on his skin too. "I love you—"

"And I loved you." Zen staggered out of his reach. "Once. But you're not Enki."

Without waiting for Gaian's response, Zen turned and sprinted back the way they had come from. He knew he only managed to get away because Gaian let him go. Gaian could be dressed and give pursuit in a blink, so Zen took advantage of the quarter he'd been given and rushed back to find his friends.