Hounds of Winter
Chapter 01
Author’s notes:
1) I have
created (not fully, I don’t have THAT much time on my hands) a “common”
language among the vampires since they must have a way to speak with
each other without having to learn a hundred different languages. I will
not get into that language but occasionally I will use terms when I lack
a better word for it. I will always post the meanings at the beginning
of each chapter
2) This fic,
like its predecessors is rated NC-17 and contains graphic sex and blood
sharing
Melmae – a
term used by the dominant member of a mated pair of vampires to refer to
his or her subordinate mate.
Avraire – a term used by the submissive vampire to refer to his or her
dominant mate.
The vampire
gasped, fangs snapping at air as he awoke to strong hands holding him to
the ground. Violet hair fanned against the grey concrete as he thrashed,
trying to dislodge the stronger creature above him. The other vampire
hissed, the sound of grease on water, and the weaker vampire cringed in
fear.
“Leave me be,
Cain!”
The blonde
laughed, resting easily above his prey’s trapped wrists. “Such
insolence. Only you dare make demands of me, Shido.” He dipped his head
to lick at the wounds on the slighter vampire’s chest.
He had felt
his mate's pain and come running only to find the vampire gasping to
force uneeded breath through his torn chest. And this was how his mate
repaid him? With orders and harsh words? He felt a sliver of annoyance
and drove his tongue into the wounds harder than he needed to but that
small bit of punishment helped make him feel better.
Shido gasped
and squirmed, straining his muscles but unable to slip free. “Stop it!”
He whispered, collapsing back to the ground and crying out as Cain’s
tongue delved into the deepest of the claw marks.
Cain chuckled
and pressed their lips together. Shido tasted his blood in the mouth of
the other and shuddered as the urge to bite at the invading tongue
surged through him. He resisted and the other vampire pulled back,
smiling slightly. “Good boy.” Cain said, his voice dripping with
sarcasm.
Shido flushed
and turned his head to stare at the crumbling safety wall that blocked
his view of the city lights. Lips touched his throat and he trembled but
though sharp teeth scraped lightly over his skin they did not break it.
“Why do you
fear this? You loved it once.”
Shido closed
his eyes against the tears. “I don’t like it . . . I never liked it.”
Cain hissed in
his ear and his jaws clamped over the exposed neck of the other,
exerting a painful pressure but still not drawing blood. Shido whimpered
despite himself. “Do not lie to me, child!” Cain snarled against
his skin.
“S . . .
sorry.” He whispered, turning his head so that he could rub his cheek
against the elder’s in supplication.
Cain pulled
away, frowning but the animal instinct that came with the blood of the
vampire satisfied that the other had acknowledged his dominance over
him. “Come back with me.”
Shido shook
his head. “I can’t.”
Cain tsked in
irritation. “You won’t.”
“I have others
who need me.”
A very slight
smile crossed his maker’s face. “Oh yes, I nearly forgot about them.”
Cain sat back, releasing Shido’s wrists but still keeping the man
trapped beneath him. He caught a long violet strand and twirled it about
his fingers.
Shido’s golden
eyes narrowed. “Don’t you touch them.” He hissed softly.
Cain laughed
and tugged on the trapped strand. “It appears I won’t have to bother.”
Shido peered
up at him in confusion and Cain smiled secretly. “What do you mean?” His
childe demanded.
“It seems your
darling daughter is missing, does it not? Or am I mistaken in
recognizing the nauseating smell of her?”
Cain hissed in
surprise as he was flung off his normally docile mate’s form and onto
the ground in Shido’s haste to climb to his feet and peer about.
“Riho?” He
called, his suddenly green eyes peering around frantically. After a
fruitless search his eyes came to rest on the damage left behind in the
breeds’ wake. “Riho.” He whispered.
Cain shook his
head as he stood, both annoyed and distraught at the emotion his mate’s
voice. “She is gone, melmae.” He said softly, reaching out to
take one pale hand.
Shido whirled
upon him and he shrank back warily at the anger he saw in his mate’s
eyes.
“This is your
fault!” Shido snarled, stalking towards him, “The breed are your
creatures! Return her to me!”
Cain stood his
ground, glaring at the younger vampire until his outward anger turned
into seething annoyance. “The breed are not solely my creatures,
Shido. Many obey me, that is true, but not all. Do you think one that I
controlled would be allowed to harm you thus? Do you think I would let
any but myself draw your sweet blood?” He reached out to touch one of
the still weeping wounds.
Shido
shuddered under his intense gaze, one hand going to rub his wrist where
only a month before they had shared blood. “No.” he whispered
dejectedly.
Cain took the
final step between them and cupped the pointed chin, urging his mate to
look up at him. “Do not let it bother you,” he whispered, “these things
happen. You must admit your foolishness in creating her, though I fear I
must take some responsibility for it as well. I was angry and did not
think you would take it so far.”
Shido pulled
away from him, turning to stare at the clawed concrete. “I must find
her.”
The older
vampire cocked his head. “She is gone Shido.”
“No.” His mate
murmured, circling the area, his sharp green eyes searching. “I can
still feel her. She lives, though I know not why. I must find her. It is
my duty.”
Cain crossed
his arms, frowning. “And now you choose to do what is required of you.”
Shido gave him
a sharp glare as he knelt, gathering something from the ground. He held
it up, staring at it closely before opening his fingers and letting the
hair blow free into the wind. “The Hounds of Winter.” He whispered to
himself.
Cain stiffened
and stalked towards where his mate knelt. “What of them?” He demanded.
“That is what
they seemed to me,” Shido said, “Two breed in a canine form. White.”
His maker
shook his head. “The Hounds of Winter are black, melmae. You
should remember that at least.”
Shido
shrugged. “Because you sent them after me when I left you? Did your
court not wonder at that? Did the Wild Hunt not balk at being sent out
after a single vampire?”
Cain growled
in anger. “It is not for them to wonder what I do and the Hunt does not
care as long as they are given a worthy prey.”
“And did they
find me a worthy prey?” Shido asked angrily.
Cain smiled
darkly. “Oh yes. Herne himself carried you back, did he not? A rare
honor.”
Shido shook
his head, standing. “An honor I could have done without.”
Cain shrugged
gracefully, watching his mate walk to the edge of the roof. “And what
will you do now, melmae?” He asked, “Have a hunt of your own?
Track down these creatures that two of you together could not defeat?
Leave it be, Shido. You will not find them. Indeed it would be best that
you did not for you are weak. They will finish what they could not
tonight.”
“It doesn’t
matter. I am responsible for her, Cain. I must follow them until she is
either back home or I have avenged her death. They took her. Like
hunting dogs trained to return a prize to their master.”
“And where
will you look for this master?” Cain inquired.
Shido
hesitated. “I do not know.” He admitted.
He sighed.
“There is no turning you from this course?”
Shido shook
his head.
“I will help
you on this foolish quest but you know what it will mean,” Cain said,
his golden eyes carefully trained on his mate’s back, “The breed only
listen to power and there is only one place to find a vampire with such
power,” He threw back his head and laughed as Shido’s hands tightened
into fists, “How delicious! They have taken your precious childe to the
very place you can not go!”
“I can go
there.” Shido hissed, turning to glare at him.
“True, but you
will never survive it. You wouldn’t survive in a private court and you
certainly wouldn’t survive in the public one. You have lost too much of
yourself, Shido. You have forgotten what it is to be vampire. Have you
even forgotten our rules? Our etiquette? How much have you lost? If you
misstep in that complicated dance you know they will descend on you in
your moment of weakness.”
Shido was
silent.
Cain moved
towards him slowly. “I could take you there,” he murmured, “I
could re-teach you those lessons that you have forgotten. Protect you
when you stumble. But you know what that will mean, melmae,” he
lowered his face to the bared neck, pausing a breath from the pale skin,
“You know what you would have to do.”
“Why?” Shido
asked, his voice barely a whisper, “Why would you help me to retrieve
someone you would rather see dead? What are you planning, Cain?”
Cain laughed,
his breath raising small bumps on his childe’s throat. “You would go
without my help. I know you. I know how foolish your emotions can cause
you to be. I do not want you destroyed, melmae. Not over such a
trivial being as that girl-child.”
“I don’t trust
you.” Shido stated.
Cain shrugged.
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Damn you.”
He laughed and
kissed the curve of his childe’s neck. “Now, now. Is that any way to
speak to your master, to your mate?”
Shido
shuddered and unconsciously leaned back against him, his breath picking
up ever so slightly.
Cain refrained
from pointing it out, knowing it would only serve to annoy the stubborn
creature. Instead he amused himself by wrapping his longs fingers around
his mate’s and crossing Shido’s arms across his chest, effectively
trapped him in the gentle hold.
“You
understand what this entails, melmae?” Cain asked, “You
understand that you must be the perfect consort if you are to save your
wayward childe?”
The violet
haired vampire nodded his understand.
“And you
understand that you must be my consort, not play at it? You know
what goes on in courts. You know that there will be times when your
loyalties will be tested. You must not hesitate. If you do . . .”
“They will
challenge me, I know.” Shido finished. “I will play . . . no I will
be my part, Cain. This is my fault and it is for me to right it.”
Cain pushed
back his annoyance at the reminder of the female as he skimmed his teeth
over his mate’s neck. Shido groaned, tilting his head to bare more of
his neck. Cain sank his teeth into his mate’s most vulnerable spot,
holding tight when Shido moved to escape. He held on, drinking slowly
but refusing to relent until the violet haired vampire shuddered and
submitted, hanging limply in his arms. When he felt his childe’s
complete surrender he relented, pulling back to lick the wound closed.
“That will get
you killed, Shido.” Cain murmured softly.
Shido sighed.
“I know.”
Cain frowned
and gave the man a slight shake. “I know, what, melmae?”
His mate
sighed softly. “I know . . . avraire.”
Cain bit back
the smile that the honorary brought to his face. “It would be best to
return to my court before traveling on to the popular one. There you may
make your mistakes but I can be sure they are . . . overlooked.”
He felt Shido
shudder in his arms at the mention of returning to Romania but he did
not care. His mind was wandering far into the future and building a
grand plan. A plan to remind his mate of all that he had left behind
when he had turned his back on his people.
His mate’s
voice drew him out of his reverie.
“What about
blood?” Shido asked softly, “I can’t kill.”
“I know a way
around that, do not fear.”
Shido fell
silent in his arms, unresisting as Cain lifted him up and carried him
away into the night. Already weak from the attack his childe fell asleep
in his arms and Cain allowed the smile he had resisted slip free. How
delicious to have his mate forced into the very role Cain had spent long
nights trying to urge him in to. And for it to be a simple twist of
fate! Shido could not blame this on him. His mate could not turn from
him and claim that he had been tricked. If the breed in question hadn’t
dared to draw his mate’s blood he’d be tempted to grant them a boon.
Shido showed
no signs of waking as their long journey ended and Cain was not inclined
to disturb the sleeping creature. The sun was painting the horizon as he
strode through the silent halls of his castle and he was glad for the
lack of servants. He did not wish Shido’s return to be known by his own
court just yet. They knew Shido had been away but that would only
forgive him the smallest of slips. Cain had no wish to have to wade
through the members of his court just to drag his mate to safety.
Vampires were
creatures of habit. They were outside of time and longed for things to
cling to in the world of change that marched on without them. So they
ordered their lives around a complicated web of rules and niceties. They
clung to honoraries and rituals that had long ago ceased to exist in the
world. The young vampires of this new world found them tedious and
boring. Cain, like so many of the old ones, found it soothing.
Once secure in
his own set of rooms he reverent placed his sleeping mate on the bed,
pausing for long minutes to just stare at a sight he had not seen for
far too long. Unable to resist the urge he reached out to fan the long
hair across the pillows, creating a violet halo around his mate’s face.
He felt the sun weighing down on him but there were things he must do.
Orders he must give. With a sigh of regret he forced himself away from
the sleeping vampire and out the door.
There was much
to do and he had a most complicated dance to construct.
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