Hunger
copyright
2003 b.a. tortuga
There was something inutterably
charming about the fog that hung about the street lamps like the wet,
heavy echo of ghosts to stubborn to find their graves. Still, the mists
clung to him as he moved, sliding over the black wool draped around
him, slipping in to tease the pale silk gracing his throat.
Ah, but hunger made him poetic. Fortunate that he didn't seek to live on his
scribblings. Xavier shook out his overcoat, stalking down the alley towards
the footbridge, feet not making as much as a splash on the cobblestones.
On his part, their outing was prompted by hunger. On the part of his silent
and every faithful companion, it was pure rage. Nico vibrated with it, fair
burned with it in the cold night air. Such furious anger made Nico all the
more beautiful, drew people to him rather that frightening them away, yet Nico
refused the first few.
'Twas the fight Nico wanted. The pitting of their strength against another.
He had left his anger behind what seemed millennia ago, existing on the fine
edge of hunger and saitiation, of passion and pain. Still, it was Nico's heat,
Nico's fire that drew him, entranced him.
Stopping so suddenly that Xavier nearly tripped upon him, Nico held up a hand
to forstall any exclamation and drew him into the shadows. Lips like the finest
silk brushed his ear. "What of that one, Xavier?"
"That one" was a strapping man, tall, imposing, with a many caped coat
and top hat, swaggering along the road.
His nostrils flared, scenting fine wine and meat, pomade and wool, sex and
smoke. "Most pleasurable, cheri. Most pleasurable indeed."
"Excellent." Nico leant new meanings to the word eager, but he was
learning. He did not simply leap after the man like a hound with a fox, waiting
instead for his nod. The tone of his voice when he used Nico's full name was
enough to make the young one cringe, and he no longer needed to use it to rein
him in.
Xavier leaned in, took a long lick of Nico's jawline, breathing in pure need,
before backing away. "Now, my Nico. Now."
A tiny caress of one hand against his cheek and Nico was away, as indistinct
the mist he so admired, a darker shadow against the gas lit street. Circling,
in order to put their prey between them.
He moved forward, slow and easy, this game as familiar and easy as breathing
once had been. The one Nico chose for them was unaware, utterly without care,
stopping in the pale dot of light cast by a weak lamp to pull out a flask and
drink with evident enjoyment.
He began swaying slightly, giving himself the impression of one in his cups,
humming an ancient song behind his breath. From so far down the road he would
swear it could not be Nico had be not known, an answering song, more modern,
bawdier, sounded out, Nico's tall figure stumbling into view with all the exuberance
of a man well sotted.
Moving faster, Xavier joined the game, watching the beauty of his Nico hunting.
"Lizzie, she was no lady, with her dress cut down to there..." Rich
and melodious, his Nico, as fine of voice as he was fair of face, and surely
only he could smell the white heat of Nico's need, of the urge that his young
one could not contain. The fine tremor of Nico's hands when he accosted their
prey could be excused as a drunken waver. "Good sir! How does this evening
find you?"
"Most fine, sir." Their prey chuckled, eyes blinking slow. "The
wine flows well this night."
"Indeed." The sorrowful cast of Nico's face gave him reason to chuckle,
'twas so well done. Nico put an arm about his new companion. "Terrible shame,
though."
Xavier drew closer, meeting his Nico's eyes, drowning in them. Beautiful boy.
"Shame, sir? What makes you say so?"
"I have yet to find a decent red tonight. Can you point me in the direction
of such a libation, sir?"
Xavier stepped in, catching the man's eyes. "I believe the best red might
be found close by, one full of spirit and satisfying to the palate, yes?"
Still, the fellow did not seem to understand, and Nico would only be happy
if the fear was there. The fight. He tilted the man's face and gave him a grin,
fangs and need glinting in the light. "Oh, yes, cheri, most satisfying."
The man began to struggle, and Nico's arm tightened, holding the man easily
in place as he cursed and struggled. Nico smiled at him, the look pure pleasure. "Shall
I let him run, amato?"
"Indeed, cheri. It makes the blood so smooth, so warm on the tongue."
A single hard shove sent their prey forward, into a stumbling, shambling run,
and Nico whirled on him, taking a wild kiss, flavored by the night air and
excitement. "I await your command, amato."
Xavier took another taste, nipping Nico's lips and making them both ache. "How
you fascinate me, cheri."
He let the man run, let the prey find speed and hope. "Now, Nico, beloved.
Now."
As if shot from a canon, his Nico leapt after their fleeing meal, a blur of
charcoal wool and shined black leather. In moments only Nico had the man again,
holding him easily, like a lover, his low voice reaching Xavier clearly despite
the distance. "Come and share with me."
"Such a giving one..." He moved more slowly, savoring the ache, the
sheer need. He showed his true face, all hunger and sharp edges, and he could
smell their prey's fear flooding the meat.
Nico answered his change with a low, eerie growl, teeth showing, making the
thing he held tremble and moan. "The first bite... we should share it."
"Oh, yes, cheri. Yes." He met their prey's eyes one last time. "Such
a generous lad, sharing yourself with us."
Those eyes pleaded with him, more dumb animal than man, but he payed them little
heed as Nico reached out to him, bringing him close so he could scent the rich
temptation of blood under the thin layer of the man's skin.
"Together, beloved." He pressed close, imagining he could feel his
Nico's lines through the flesh that separated them. Nico's eyes lit with a light
only for him as they struck, two hungers becoming one.
"Yes. Now." Their lips slid together in a kiss, meeting just above
the pulse in the beefy throat, holding back, anticipating, before Nico could
wait no more. The sudden sound of tearing flesh was unbearably loud, the taste
jumping into his mouth.
Bright and hot, the flavor of life flooded him, pouring into him like a promise,
a hymn to the god that had been forgotten by all but the most needy children.
Nico's moans made a soft counterpoint to the sharp fast beat of the muscle
that pumped life into him, into them, and Nico clutched him tightly.
His own hand tangled into the curls at Nico's throat, petting as his beloved
swallowed, fed, drank deep.
The fine rage he'd felt in Nico all night faded, banked by the heat and power
of the finest red there was.
They pulled away as the heat faded, the shell between them empty and chilled.
They let it fall to the stones and Xavier leaned to lap at his Nico's mouth.
Their mouths moved together, Nico's harder than his, lips thinner, bruising
his, pushing them wide as Nico pushed him back to the shadows of a wall, leaving
the bones of their meal beind.
His hands moved over his lover, his Nico, his own, bringing them together again
and again.
"Xavier." The urgency he felt now from Nico was something other than
anger. A whole different fire. "I need..."
"Yes." He moaned, the mists gathering around them, drawn to their heat,
their fire. "I hunger."
"Yes." Warmed by their meal, and their passion, Nico blazed against
him, hands moving on him, kissing hard and deep.
They sank into the shadows, clothes parting to expose skin to teeth and touch.
The scrape and darg of Nico's sharp teeth jolted him, making bothof them gasp.
The hunger grew, their moans low and feral, grating over raw, open nerves.
The world narrowed to heat and the deep, bright pain of teeth and nails and
the steam they created, pushing hard against one another. Nico growled against
him, begging through touch and sound for him.
"My Nico!" He found a bare curve of skin and bit, marking his lover,
sparking sensations through them both like a fire rushing through the vineyards.
The cry was high, almost musical, and Nico moved against him urgently, the
scent pure, animal need and completion as Nico relaxed against him, spent.
His own need answered, the scent darker, aged, his musk rich with the blood
of thousands.
"Amato..." Nico licked at his lips, catching the drops of blood that
rested in the corners.
"Cheri." He smiled into those beloved eyes, enjoying the silent peace
there.
"Home." Eating never failed to make Nico want to lie abed and listen
to him quote poetry. Such an amusing lad.
"Yes, beloved." He wrapped them in his coat, drawing the lost mists
around them tight.
After all, he and Nico were much warmer now than the gaslights.
end
