Black Roses 17

It was fortunate, Rhion thought, that he always had a gift for directions. Even in the vast decorated caverns the Shyle seemed to feel were barely adequate hallways and corridors, he wasn't overwhelmed or lost. A little irritated maybe, at all the twists and turns of the massive passageways! But he knew precisely how to get back to the suite of rooms they'd been allotted, rooms that were pretty much cavern-like in themselves. And though not to his taste, somehow now he was glad of the rather distant splendor of the apartments. He wasn't sure how cozy he wanted to get, with this strangely smiling creature who moved at his side like a dark dancer. This De who shot warm, amused looks at him from time to time, instead of suspicious or exasperated glances.

And yet, all he could think of was what it would be like to bed him. Nineteen or not, his mind was not usually so firmly in the gutter! If he'd had to think about how to retrace his steps to his rooms, though, he'd have been forced to shrug his shoulders helplessly. All he could think of was ---- dammit!!

He'd met Daniel, and had to admit he seemed someone wholly apart from Damian even though they shared a body. Such things were not unheard of in this world, and it wasn't so terrible a stretch for him to accept Daniel as a separate, distinct person. Especially as his responses in bed were utterly backwards from the way De behaved!

But this creature. He wasn't sure if it was separate from De, or merely a part of him that had bloomed prematurely, in answer to some unspoken call. The glimmering skin, the crackling aura of dark power---he supposed that could be vampire glamour though he knew in his heart it wasn't.

He had listened to Mish-shy's remarks about De's godhood half-disbelieving, even though he'd seen something powerful attack the demon in Damian's form. But that had been quick and harsh, protective but ultimately impersonal. It might have just been De in a battle-rage, though not a whit less impressive for that, knocking the demon king on his ass!

Instead of the questions he wanted to ask, the obvious ones, he said bluntly, "Why were you so calm with all the things those bastards were saying about you in there? You've jumped all over me for a tenth of the insult! It made me nervous for some reason, though I must admit you handle yourself well in such dubious company."

"There are a lot of different answers to that question, but the simplest is that it doesn't matter what 'they' think of me." De paused, smiled alluringly up at him and proceeded to wrap both his arms around Rhion's one. "It only matters what 'you' think of me." He suddenly smiled brighter then, even laughed a little as though something had tickled him profoundly. "So in many, very demented ways, I suppose it's a good thing that you merit such treatment---you should start to worry when you receive the same amicable handling that the others do."

Rhion stared down at the boy clinging to him with such eerie grace, and such unusual affection. A little smile touched his mouth, "Well, most days I think of you as a pain in the ass, so perhaps I deserve harsher treatment! But that's just part of the time. I----"

He paused, as if struggling a little with his feelings. "I don't know why I feel for you what I do. When I witnessed them breaking your bones on the cross, it was like---not just sympathy, I felt like I was dying too! And since then---I've only wanted to take away your pain, protect you---show you some happiness, if it were in my power. And sometimes---I'm not sure if it is."

He was a little embarrassed, at how serious his response had become. Especially, since he'd never intended to spout out a shred of all that to De. Except for the "pain in the ass" part, of course! But there was something about this darkling creature in Damian's form that pulled forth his deepest feelings, and even worse, made him want to confess his secrets.

De unraveled one arm, and reach up to curl his fingers over Rhion's shoulder comfortingly as they walked, his eyes drifting away as he began to speak. "When I was very little my father came to me and told me that I was a god and that one day the entire world would bend its knee to me. Less than a year later it was my mother who begged for my freedom on bended knee." De was silent for a few moments, his eyes following the twist and curl of Demon design as they walked. "She was such a strong woman, and so proud, but not too proud to beg for us---to cry for us and in truth totally humiliate herself in front of my father and his bloodhounds for us--- She'd have done anything to protect us and we loved her furiously for it, Daniel and I."

"But you see, it wasn't in her to deliver our salvation. No one, not even the gods can twist the arm of Lady Fate. With my mother's departure our future was set in motion, in the years that followed I came to know real darkness and I was scarred by it. It became quite natural for me to distrust all those who surrounded me---to expect the worst of people who offered their hand in support. I honestly can't remember a time before you came into my life when someone offered me something---anything, that wasn't accompanied by a mighty heavy price tag."

"On the rare occasion something pleasant happened to me, when the other person's intentions were actually good--- it was spoiled. Memories that should have been beautiful were made ugly by the things that followed. I learned early, that even the finest moments in life could be spoiled utterly by what came after---! I believed that nothing was mine and that everything could be taken from me---w-o-u-l-d---be taken from me eventually, through one vice or another"

"I know I'm difficult, Rhion, A 'pain in the ass' as you say but the truth is at seventeen I didn't have a clue what living was, or what freedom really meant. I was very much a slave to the misconceptions of my childhood"

"Over time this younger me will learn that life is not the way we first believed it to be. Happiness will come, you have my word on that but as with many times in this life the pain must come first so that we can appreciate the good times that come later."

They were nearing the rooms they had been allotted, and Rhion slowed automatically, staring down at the boy who walked beside him with such serenity. "You sound like an oracle!" he complained lightly, not sure if he wanted to continue such heavy talk. With a god, no less; there, he accepted it! Younger self? No, he wasn't gonna ask! But one question did haunt him. "Daniel? Is he part of you? Or separate? He seemed totally---himself, but it was a little---I was pretty confused!" Rhion finally admitted, a bit reproachfully. "In fact I still am, dammit, don't get the wrong idea because I seem so bloody smooth!" It was half a tease, half dead serious. Then he turned his eyes to the doorway, and asked almost too casually, "And by the way, why does *my* opinion matter, to one such as you?"

De smiled, his eyes darkening down to a jewel like sparkle. "Daniel is the boy who owned this body first, it was allotted to him from the tree of life---I am the creature or god if I can be called that--- almost an insult considering the truth of what I really am." De laughed softly but continued on without explaining his strange statement. "I am the one who joined with him in our mother's womb so that I could live again. He's not really the one I would have chosen if it'd been my decision but it worked out well in the end."

"He told me that you protect him. And so you care about him; even love him?" Rhion's voice softened. Something in De's tone had clued him in, forestalled his first bad feelings about a god---or whatever!---taking over another's body. Maybe this possession was beneficial to both of them?

Rhion couldn't stop thinking and trying to analyze the events of his life, even when strongly moved. He compensated for this by adding notes to a kind of mental log he kept. He had a log labeled "De." He'd had it since the age of twelve.

"Indeed I love him---! More than I was ever supposed to. More than some even thought possible." De answered, his conviction firm. He smiled at Rhion as if he not only knew of the man's inner diary front and back, but also approved of it totally. "And as for your second question, as the Dark One, I know everything that will ever happen in the space of my lifetime---and it's a very VERY long lifetime, as far as the lifetimes of gods go. So I can assure you." He was smiling again, wicked amusement dripping off his flawless features like warm honey. "That I know what you will come to mean to me in time---!" He reached up and curled his fingers around Rhion's cheek. "And you will mean everything to me---absolutely everything." He was almost too serious, his eyes glistening with emotion so rich and sultry Rhion could almost feel the warmth on his face.

Everything! Was he ready for that, ready to go from being a minor annoyance to such a position, such a---responsibility? And did he even believe it possible? Who was to say this shining creature told the whole truth, after all?

Before he could consider it fully, though, the boy laughed softly in a swift change of mood. "You're much thinner than I remember," he remarked. Not critically, almost with a kind of wonder. "And your eyes are so innocent---so soft, like sunlight on velvet---"

"Fat? No! Your chest---your muscles get bigger, over time. And your eyes become a little cynical---from the pain I mentioned. But you remind me, I haven't so much time here." He pushed Rhion gently, towards the door, his mouth curling into a seductive pout.

And then he paused, as Rhion winced slightly at the push. "Wanting to play with you made me forget! You're hurt. Come here." He grabbed Rhion's arms and dragged him into the main room with a strength that didn't match his slim body. "Take your clothes off!"

"Oh I wouldn't go that far!" De teased in response to Rhion's excited utterances. "You should be ashamed of yourself! I've come all this way, crossed time and space just for the likes of you and all you can think about is what it would be like to bed me---!" He clacked his tongue disapprovingly but at the same time his eyes held onto that mischievous twinkle that Rhion was quickly coming to associate with this version of De alone.

"What did you expect?" Rhion found himself answering without really thinking about his reply beforehand. "Look at how beautiful you are! How could you think I wouldn't wanta taste you? " Rhion's words accompanied his hand as it came up to cup the velvet soft skin of De's cheek.

"Beautiful humm----didn't I ever tell you that such sentiments are overrated, Rhion." Even without watching the shimmer of delight grow inside the inside the depths of those deliciously dark eyes Rhion instinctively understood that the darkling god said one thing but meant its opposite and for once he was not insulted by the subterfuge, far from it in fact!

Somehow this seemed right, hearing these gently teasing words fall from the lips of his once cynical companion, sharing in the knowledge that came from this creature's calm almost zen-like understanding of the universe.

THIS creature was De, but the De that was beneath all the layers the world had piled upon him. This was the person that Rhion had glimpsed from time to time---this was the person he was forever tied to. The reason he'd come. The reason he'd stayed. The reason he'd never leave.

"We'll love each other---in this future you already know?" Rhion's voice was a little less strong than he would have liked. His thoughts had shaken him. He'd mourned that he and Daniel---De---had never had a decent past together. Their present was decidedly chaotic and iffy. Did that really matter, if the future truly held such promise?

And how could he even worry about future or past, being touched so by this rich, dark dream at this very moment? Khalissa had been right. He made too much of a thing, of commitment!

"We have always loved each other." The boy answered simply. "And we always will." When Rhion tried to speak the dark one caught his lips with his own deliberately spilling that shimmering darkness into their kiss.

For a moment Rhion was caught off guard, as many things as he'd experienced in his youth, he'd never touched another's soul before. It was like being enveloped by all that this creature was and he was overwhelmed by the voracity of it. The passion, the very essence of this one's being was far beyond anything he could have ever imagined.

God? No, he wasn't a god. The Dark One was so much more than that! A extraordinary being, a one of a kind jewel imprisoned in a cell forged of flesh and blood. He was different! Unique! He was a creature on the verge of extinction. There would never be another like him. So lonely! So blasted lonely----until he'd found Rhion all those lifetimes ago. They'd both had different faces then, known different things then---were more innocent then--- before they were born into the breathing world.

The mad hammering of two hearts met, mingled and then settled into one sensuous rhythm. "Only you will remember this" De whispered. "Only you will know what I cannot!" The Darkling kissed him desperately as he pulled Rhion closer and ran his hands up his back pulling their bodies closer so that Rhion could feel just how hard De was for him. "I want you inside me, no more words----just us, you can sort out all this sharing later. Worry over it then. I don't have much time left and I won't miss the chance to have you!"

As if in a dream, Rhion nodded slowly, and drew De's mouth to his again for a long, drowning taste. His fingers caught in the silky cloth of De's upper clothing, and without fanfare or harshness, he pulled it free and off the smaller boy's body. He followed the movement with his own body, dropping almost gracefully to skate his mouth down De's chest, then quickly moving to catch the drawstring of his pants in his teeth and give one laughing, decisive yank. The pants fell around De's ankles, and Rhion looked up at him, nearly impish.

The boy drew in a quick breath, more like recovering a memory than being shocked. Then the darkling god stared down at Rhion warmly. "You always made me laugh even when I didn't want to. You made me *come* when I didn't want to! You are a perverse and powerful creature, Rhion! But now I want you inside me."

"I'm not teasing! You put a shard of glass in your pant leg! I'm getting it out." He stood up, ignoring De's erection, and put the shard of green glass carefully aside. De had mentioned it would work against demons, and that made it useful. He didn't want to think too much, about this delicious glory that claimed him. To think would spoil it.

"Rhion." De's voice muffled against his ribs, even as the boy bucked hungrily against him, the rigid cock throbbing but strangely cool. Vampire blood, Rhion thought. The idea was clinical, yet oddly excitingly.

He continued to ignore the erection pushing against him as he scooped De off his feet to carry him to the over-luxurious bed. He fell upon his lover like a warm hunting cat, dodging the reaching arms to kiss his way down the deceptively delicate, beautiful torso.

No one's ever touched this boy with love and respect. Including me, I've just gotten started. By the gods, I will make love to him now, not just jump on board and do what I like! The wild sex can come later, when he trusts me.

"I trust you now," Damian gasped. A little breathlessly, considering that Rhion gently snaked his head down to engulf his partner's cock in a very hot and expert mouth. "Rhion---"

De's cock jerked in his mouth. Fingers were tangled in his hair. He swirled his tongue, slipped a hand beneath De's balls to play with them gently. Somehow they'd moved fully to the bed, and he was kneeling between De's legs, sucking him avidly.

The boy---no, not. This dark being he'd just met cried out in rapture, pushed deeply into his throat. "Rhion," he choked out, even as his hips pushed forward. "I---don't have long here. I want you---inside me. Please! Before I have to go---I want to know you, THIS you! The bright golden creature of my youth! The person my younger self---didn't know how to appreciate. "

Rhion disengaged, stared at the panting creature with the hot, dark eyes that reminded him of melted stars and flame incarnate. "You know me in the future---and you wanna fuck my younger self." He began to laugh. "That's really sick, De! But so like you!" He added, in a lush and beckoning voice.

De moved towards him with a jerk, then pulled back, scowling a little. It was difficult suddenly to tell, if the younger, unsure De or the Dark creature who had overtaken him was in control. "Dammit, Rhion! Must you always play games!" he snapped "I asked you to fuck me---isn't that clear enough, you dumb human?"

Then like lightning his mood seemed to change, and before Rhion could move upright indignantly and jump him, the boy crawled atop him. Purring and growling in the same deep throaty sound, not bothering to explain himself or his previous remark, he settled himself on Rhion's erection. Shuddered. And lowered himself wantonly, shimmying his hips in a manner that left Rhion stunned by the sight. Then the feeling kicked in and he nearly screamed.

Rhion had always had more than fair control of his own body. Even in the very explosion of ultimate lust he retained a sense of who he was and what he was doing, and that had made him, unwittingly, an exceptional lover indeed. He never became too lost in his own pleasure to forget the needs of his partner.

He felt as if he spun through a hall of strange mirrors, staring at an image of himself that was too beautiful, too potent to be real. He filled an alien universe of smoke and velvet like a god himself, and a kind of greedy satisfaction flooded his senses, bloated with the sweet liquid of madness and nameless power. A soft growl was shocked from him as layers of electric silk ghosted his body from the inside out. His body jerked at the combination of pleasures both lewd and ethereal; his vision flickered to darkened night stitched with stars, and De's shape looming against them like a moving cloud.

Even in what must surely be delirium, his hands automatically slipped up to grasp his partner's hips and steady him---not that the brat needed steadying! He moved like a wanton dancer above Rhion, murmuring with pleasure as he bent forward with a snake's supple grace to touch the blond's lips with his own, very firmly. The undeniably real mouth on his was even more delicious than the rush of power.

He lay on his back, knees drawn up around the slim figure who straddled him. The silk and velvet richness of the demon bed, in their coldly elegant demon chambers, felt cool against his burning flesh. But now the air seemed darkened slightly, touched with the breath of moonlit crystal. De's face above his seemed not to reflect that eerie glimmer, but be the source of it---the source of all things he saw and felt. But that was a minor mystery, unimportant compared to the very human bliss of his throbbing cock sunk like aching iron into the tight satin body of his lover.

He moved involuntarily, thrusting yet deeper with a pleased groan, even before De whispered his command. "Fuck us, Rhion. Take us---we want you so much, need you even more. Even though the young fool can't admit it yet---we belong to you."

It was all Rhion needed to hear to send him crazy again, though he barely understood the totality of De's meaning. Truth, lies, or polite fiction to stir his desire, it succeeded beyond his ability to control.

He rose slightly with a feral growl to wind his arms around the boy's body. From this sitting position he could drive even deeper, and suddenly force was what he wanted. To command, lay claim, possess. Such things were not in his usual nature, but there was something dark and primal in the very air he breathed from De's soft lips that filled him with raw want.

De's head fell back as Rhion drove into him powerfully again and again, biting at his yielding throat in a frenzy of lust. The darkness-filled eyes, eerily rapt with pleasure, slid closed. And suddenly there was only the smooth, lovely face of the boy he knew. Paleso small!and just slightly exhausted. "Rhion?" he sighed, almost uncertainly. De's voice, not the god's. Oh, damn, he's coming back to himself and I'm damn near raping him?!

Rhion's whole body shuddered as he literally beat himself back from the climax of his life. He slowed his movements with a strangled gulp, tried to slow his galloping heartbeat as well.

He forced himself to raise one hand, gently brush the boy's hair from his face. Touching the soft ivory cheek made his balls tighten painfully. He'd automatically slowed his movements to a gentle rocking that though less primal was far more sensuous.

The boy's eyes fluttered open. Dark and rich, spangled with magical diamonds. Changing the small fragile face completely, as he reached to tangle his fingers in Rhion's sweat-dampened hair. His other arm wrapped decisively around Rhion's torso.

"Strong without cruelty," he whispered almost dreamily. "Kind without weakness. And beautiful---without question. You're perfect. How could I not have appreciated you, Rhion?"

"Pig stubbornness?" Rhion snapped, a little insulted at being called perfect. Even in lust, he'd always been prone to trade smart remarks with his partners---it added zest to sex, to his mind.

It wasn't something he'd thought De would relish, though. And the grin he got for his remark, too sweet for De but too evil for Daniel, made him realize that his strange dark visitor had not abandoned him quite yet.

"You seem to have learned---how to have fun!" he remarked softy, both playful and sarcastic, and on some level nearly afraid. He was lost in Darkness, buried in magic. His body was doing things to him that even he wasn't used to. When De touched his skin, he felt more than shock. He saw music; felt colors.

De was dark silver, and a violet so pure and full of diamond sparks it could have been used to paint a new galaxy. And he brushed the skin of Rhion's chest and ribs and stomach with the palms of his hands, eyes as rapt and amazed as a child's when presented with an unexpected gift.

For some reason, that remark stirred him, touched him, aroused him till he could barely see straight. De could have blathered till morning about Rhion's beauty, his sexiness, the size of his manhood. And it wouldn't have caused a tenth of the excitement brought forth by the strange idea that he, Rhion, had taught this boy the concept of "fun."

He shoved the flickering thoughts away like troublesome ghosts, and wrapped his arms firmly around the Dark One, pulling him closer with a possessive growl. To hell with futures, questions, esoteric dribble! What he held right now, this instant, deserved more attention than he was giving it.

He licked De's ear as he began to thrust again, steadily now and with both heat and purpose. When he pulled back a bit to study the boy's face, he was startled to find his gaze met serenely, with a half-smile of dazzling pleasure that De didn't even pretend to mask.

In fact, the dark shimmering eyes stayed proudly on his face, watchful and absurdly pleased when Rhion groaned and climaxed inside him; a long, shuddering process akin to falling in the ocean and learning to breathe water. Both frightening and splendid, the best sexual experience he could ever remember having and that included Kef and all his complicated games of lust and cruelty.

And to frost the cake, as Rhion recovered and pulled his lover closer, he was rewarded with a sharp clipped gasp and the feel of silken wetness against his skin. De lifted his face proudly as if to offer Rhion a gift of his expression rather than hiding it.

Hot lust, intense pleasure, mouth opening slightly to both drag in a gasp and release a low velvet moan very like a musical growl! Just watching De writhing wantonly in his arms made Rhion harden a bit inside the boy despite having literally nothing left to give.

Rhion touched his face briefly, just before De sighed and collapsed into his arms as if spent. Yet the look on his small delicate face was more at peace than Rhion could ever remember seeing.

Suddenly, inexplicably, Rhion was as exhausted as if he'd spent the morning bench-pressing a mountain rather than making love. He had just enough energy to wrap his arms around De and pull him close before falling asleep like a dead man never having seen the sudden and utterly sentimental look the Dark creature graced upon him.

Nor did he hear the softly whispered words that woulda only confused and stirred up more questions than were presently appropriate. "I miss you beloved, sooo very much. You'll come back to me soon---you'll chase away the loneliness and bring your light back to my darkness, as was promised so long ago."

He caressed Rhion's sleeping face, watched wistfully as the wounds from the past few days vanished beneath his healing presence. He couldn't help but smile at the memories he'd made so long ago, at the boy who still snored in his sleep.

Youth had graced Rhion with beauty, but age had given him a magnificence he was still yet to achieve. So much beauty could be found inside pain and yet the Dark One still mourned Rhion's suffering. He supposed that's what made him more than the sum of those ancient prophecies. What both weakened and strengthened him beyond any measure either of them could have guessed.

And that was as it should be, because no one should have to stand by and wait, knowing the suffering of those they loved lay just around the corner. To know without a doubt that their lovers pain was essential and totally unalterable.