Progeny
By: Delilah deSora

Chapter 7

He buried his face in against his father’s shoulder, trying to sleep. He longed to have his father’s arms about him but it had been years since arms had held him lovingly. The chains that clinked and jingled every second of every day stole that comfort from him. It was up to him to embrace his father, to wrap his arms about the frail form and try to ignore the sharp angles of his father’s emancipated body.

It was dark and it was wet but there were memories of a time when it had not been so, when there had been arms to hold him and easy laughter under the starry mountain sky.  He could remember the taste of the wind and the feeling of being lifted up high so that he imagined he was flying as strong hands held him.

Things had changed, he had changed. When they’d been brought to the dark place his arms had not been long enough to wrap so easily about his father’s neck but now they were long and strong and he clung to the only vestige of the other life left to him. The smell of rotting wood and mold obscured the scent of the man he lay against and he shivered in the imagined cold.

And then they were no longer alone.

A human, though he had not known what that was when he’d first been brought here, was thrown to them. He captured the weak creature, dragging it to his father who could not go to it. Together they fed, biting over a myriad of other wounds, tasting others who had fed from the human before them. 

The door opened again suddenly and the other came, the one who hit and demanded obedience. The man kicked at the helpless velassi, laughing at the show of fangs and snarled curses. He hid in the corner, side pressed against the stone wall and head bowed as the man taunted his father, calling him things he did not understand.

The sound of fragile bone crushing under a boot made him whimper and turned the other’s attention to him. He rose, knowing that it was useless to disobey. The one that called himself their master studied him, reaching out to tear off the frayed garment that he wore. It made him tremble for it reminded him of when they had first come here, when the other studied him intently, cutting him to make him bleed and breaking bones to watch them heal. The man’s interest in him had changed, however, and it had been a long time since he’d been the subject of such scrutiny.

His father hissed and fought against his bonds, struggling to be free as the other pulled him close, rubbing his hands over his body. It frightened him but there was little he could do. He closed his eyes and all that was left was possessive hands and his father’s cries.

Darkness came and went and he felt as though many years had passed.

He woke upon a soft bed, his body aching and stained. Fingers grown long and slender brushed away the heavy fall of hair as he huddled at the side of the bed, trying not to disturb the other that slept there. Long legs atrophied from disuse were bruised and torn, the result of his continued inability to give his master the child that he demanded from him.

He was hungry and restless but he was forbidden anything that distracted him from his master’s chosen purpose, so he lay awake, listening to the sounds of the court beyond. Memories came and went, tormenting him with things he no longer believed real.

Finally his master stirred, dragging him by the hair back to the center of the bed where the vampire fed him, long talons stroking the wounds upon his back.

“Mine.” His master hissed, fangs tearing at his lower lip as the vampire kissed him, rending the tender flesh until blood spilled upon the bed. His master rose and left him, closing the door and stranding him in the darkness.

He lay upon the bed, too far gone to even suffer from the boredom as he awaited his master’s return. He could feel him, the blood bond forged between them allowing him to know his master’s mood. He lay upon the remnants of pain and forced passion, waiting.

And then the first strange sounds reached him. Screams he’d heard aplenty in his master’s company but never in such a loud chorus. There were other sounds too, sounds he’d never heard before. He pushed himself up onto his arms, cocking his head to listen. After awhile he grew bored with listening and lay back upon the bed, closing his eyes to sleep.

He felt the moment his master’s presence was torn from his mind and he shrieked, struggling to resist the sudden pull upon his very soul. It felt as though the vampire was pulling him, struggling to take him to wherever it was the dead went. He was frightened and in pain and pulled back, fighting for life even as his mind fractured and shut down from the trauma.

His master was dead and he was slowly being dragged into hell with him.

He screamed and clawed, drawing his own blood as he fought. Hands closed about him, shaking him, tearing him away from the place where he belonged. Even in such mental pain he felt fear for he had been forbidden from leaving his master’s bed. Desperately he struggled to get back to it, to pull himself up upon the altar where his body was sacrificed for the vampire’s pleasure every night.

Black sheets melted to gold under his hands and taunting calls turned to ones of worry and he collapsed, staring blankly at the wall.

Hands brushed the hair away from his face and a calm voice murmured in his ear, soothing away the pain and the fear. He felt the lucid memories shift and fit into the blank areas of his mind, his fragmented consciousness slowly rebuilding itself. He tasted blood in his mouth and swallowed, his tongue probing where he had bitten through his own lip.

A kiss was pressed to his temple and he shuddered and pulled away, grateful when the hands released him. Violet hair slid through loose fingers as Shido stood, turning away from his mate’s worried gaze. His arms were bloody and he brushed his hand over his stomach, staring at the haunted creature that looked out at him from the mirror. Upon the bed Cain watched him, face dark with worry as he sat.

Silence hung between them for a long while as, with shaking hands, Shido struggled to remove the tangles his struggles had left in his hair. Finally Cain stood, taking the comb from his hand.

“These are not memories you need.” He growled.

Shido shuddered and shook his head. “They are mine and I want them.”

“Why?” Cain shouted, flinging the comb from him to shatter against the wall. “So that you can remember people long dead and what that bastard Dorin did? Why would you want that? Let us take the memories forever, Shido. My father is adept at such things. If we allowed him he could erase the memories so that it would be as though they never existed!”

Shido stood, studying the other man for a long while. “No.” He said, his voice deep with seriousness. “I will remember these things. I will remember the family I was born to and the few years of happiness given to us. Even if it means I must remember . . . him.”

Cain’s lips thinned and he looked away, scowling at the wall. “I remember when you were brought with the others. They drug you to my sire’s hall because you could not walk on your own. You were filthy and broken and one of my enemy but . . . I wanted to take away the look of fear on your face. I thought I would never see it again but now . . . now I see it every night!”

Shido smiled softly, reaching out to bury his hands in the golden mane. “Give me a little more time.” He murmured, brushing a kiss over his mate’s cheek before laying his lips over the curve of the other man’s shoulder in a more intimate kiss between mates. “Just a little longer. When the memories of Dorin pass I believe the older memories will come.”

He pulled back, allowing Cain to draw him down onto his lap. “I want to remember more about what it felt like to be a child, to have a sire and father. I want to remember my father without chains and not full of burning anger and pain. I want to know so I can tell Cayle about his namesake when he asks without having to shrug and explain to him why I do not remember my own father. Just a little more time, Cain. When they come these nightmares will pass. I believe that.”

Cain continued to scowl but he nodded all the same. Smiling Shido allowed his mate to push him back upon the bed, urging him to rest though he was not so far along yet that he needed the constant babying. Reaching up he drew his mate down to him, burying his face in the golden fall of hair.

“I want to go out into the city tomorrow,” he said, aware of the sudden tensing of his mate’s body, “Cayle’s been on and on about it and I want to see where he goes.”

Cain sighed against his neck but Shido knew, even without words, that he would be given what he desired.

He always was.

“Hey, Dorian! Este’s gonna have a fit if you don’t get back here!” Cayle shouted, jarring the boy from his trance.

Shaking his head to clear it Dorian turned just in time to see a blond head peer around the sharp corner of the maze. Reaching up he rubbed his neck, moving towards his companion even as a larger form came up behind Cayle. Este scowled at them, herding both of them back towards the open part of the garden where they couldn’t escape from the older father’s sight.

Renzo spared them a quick glance as they approached, breaking off his conversation long enough to growl, “Don’t wander off.”, before turning back to his brother.

Cayle’s face twisted slightly but even he wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the sire’s warning. Dorian shook off his sudden lethargy enough to settle upon the ground with the older velassi, listening intently as Este and Halian showed them how to play a game with the round river stones. It didn’t take either of them long to realize that Halian, Renzo’s brother Valerik’s mate, seemed unable to visually focus upon the stones. Instead he either felt around for them, though his eyes looked right at them, or Este gently placed the pieces in his hands.

A sudden group of velassi came from the maze and they sat obediently as the young adults studied them with great interest. Cayle preened at the attention but Dorian shrank back from them, relieved when Este took his hand and led him back to a set of benches by the river. He rubbed his hands over his bare arms watching as Cayle pandered to one of the men who had knelt before him and was showing him a bracelet made of colorful stones.

Halian knelt off to the side, receiving a few courteous words but otherwise ignored. One of the men, however, scowled visibly at him before wiping the look from his face when Renzo and Valerik rose to join the group.

“Why don’t they like Halian?” He asked, glancing up at the dark haired father.

Este smiled sadly. “He is mostly blind. Since his birth his eyes do not focus upon things and as the years go on his sight is slowly fading. It will not be long before he cannot even see the light.”

Dorian shrugged. “So?”

“Well, we are predators. We cannot afford such disabilities for they affect our ability to hunt. Also, there are so few of us that everyone fears that such defects will be passed from parent to child. Because our kind interbreed so often it would not take long for an entire generation to carry the inherited defect. When Halian was born there were many who argued his should not have been raised but his parents ignored these words. It was argued that no one would want to take him as a mate so the matter was dropped. However Valerik loved him and claimed him as his own. Since then he’s had three children and none have had problems with their sight.”

Este paused and shook his head. “Still there are many who envy that Halian paired with a sire from such a strong blood line and are jealous of him.”

Dorian cocked his head. “There are such things that pass from parent to child?”

The father nodded. “Yes. Hair and eye color. Height,” Cayle brazenly coaxed the velassi before him out of the colored bracelet, sliding it over his own wrist with a grin that made Este laugh, “Even personality. Cayle is much like his sire.”

Dorian frowned and was silent a long while before speaking again. “And me?” He asked softly, “Am I like my sire?”

Este reached out and stroked his dark hair. “You are like your father, though your mind is more your sire’s gift then my son’s.”

The child’s face took on a look of deep inner thought and Este shrugged, leaving the young velassi to his wonderings.

Shido laughed softly as fingers played over his stomach, squirming as a tongue followed in their path. Cain’s eyes peered up at him from under golden lashes, glinting with good humor. He tried to push his mate off of him but Cain refused to be put off, sliding up behind him to press kisses between his shoulders as he rolled onto his side. Arms slid around his waist and he wrapped his own arms around them, holding his mate to him as Cain’s kisses lingered on his neck.

He closed his eyes enjoying the slight pressure of Cain’s kisses and the occasional gentle brush of fangs against his skin. He buried his face in the pillow, rolling slightly onto his stomach until Cain’s weight rested against his back.

“Hungry?” His mate asked, shifting slightly above him.

Smiling sleepily he shook his head.

Cain shrugged and lay back down, resting his chin against his lover’s shoulder. Just beneath Shido’s distinctive scent he could detect the first hints of spilled blood. Though still encased within his body Cain could smell it flowing where it should not have been, one of the first signs that their bodies had managed to create life between them.

The scent of the blood turned him, made his body hard and needy but he drove the urge back. To create a child the father needed to bleed freely inside for his blood was needed to combine with the sire’s seed and then be drawn into father’s stomach. It was why they were so crazed during sex, for only a certain degree of roughness would cause the necessary tearing.

Shido pushed back against him slightly, rubbing him against his body. Cain grit his teeth and pulled away, putting distance between them lest he lose control of himself. He rose from the bed, reaching for his robe and missing the sudden sharp glance his actions received from his mate.

Shido watched Cain pulled the heavy fall of hair from under the scarlet robe, feeling hurt and angry at the rejection. Though rationally he knew it was not true he felt as though that now he had accomplished his duty to his mate there was no more use for him until he’d given birth. With the belt wrapped firmly about his waist Cain retreated to the chair in the corner, reaching up to scan through the texts upon the bookcase and left by some former resident.

“You should rest,” Cain said conversationally, “I’ll go hunt down our son.”

Shido lowered himself to the bed, glaring angrily at his mate’s retreating form.

Cayle grinned as his sire jerked back, narrowly avoiding what would have been a somewhat serious bite from his mate. His father’s golden eyes narrowed, glaring at his sire in annoyance. With a sigh his sire pulled back, moving away from the couch upon which his father laid, practically drowning in the pillows and blankets his sire keep bringing in from the other room.

His father snorted and watched his sire move away with slitted eyes until the golden haired velassi sat upon his designated chair in the far corner, the extra pillow sliding to the floor. His grin deepening into a smirk, Cayle abandoned his small army and made his way to his father’s side, burying his face in his father’s hair as he was welcomed. He peeked over the top of the couch and received an unhappy scowl from his sire as he was given the affection his moody father refused to give to his mate.

Shido plucked curiously at the round stones chained together about his son’s wrist. “Where did you get this?”  He asked.

Cayle shrugged. “Someone gave it to me.”

Across the room Adrian laughed. “Ah, so young and already receiving gifts from admirers hmm?”

Cain scowled. “They might as well keep their gifts, we all know what my son will grow up to be.”

On the couch Shido spared his mate another narrow eyed glare. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Cain blinked in honest confusion.

“Are you saying fathers can’t be . . .”

“Ah good, everyone’s here.” Renzo interrupted, stepping between the irritated father and his mate. “There are a few things we should all be aware of.”

On his heels Valerik nodded seriously. “It is best to stay away from the northern bounds of the city. All parts of the city have ever been open to everyone but of late there have been an influx of new, younger velassi who have gathered there. They . . .” Valerik paused, glancing back at his mate a moment, “they have been troublesome. They are full of energy and are looking for mates. There have been occasions when a refusal has done little to dissuade them.”

“And the council allows this?” Cain asked, frowning.

Valerik shrugged. “They have attempted to calm the new comers but for the most part they’re just ecstatic that so many of our young have returned to us, even if the sudden influx of sires puts a strain on our population balance.”

“They are all sires?” Alexandru inquired, startling them with his sudden interest.

Valerik shook his head negatively. “No. A few have brought mates with them but all the single velassi that have returned have been sires.”

“I wonder why they have come so suddenly.” Este murmured, reaching up to touch his mate’s hand as Renzo moved behind the chair he occupied.

Renzo shrugged. “Perhaps to find mates of their own. The human population grows large and, as it always does, the vampire population reflects that. It is difficult to tell one of us from another vampire and it makes the search for a mate even more difficult if all one finds are vampires rather than the hidden families.”

Valerik nodded. “Yes. Also, they look for the old ways of our kind. They tire of the independence and loneliness that the new ways breed. When our kind fled from the city and scattered over the world they were frightened and angry. The fathers went first, driven away by our elders’ rules and the sires followed, as we always must.”

Cain growled softly, unable to contain his annoyance. “I thought this was supposed to be a safe place.”

“There are some that see this new influx as worrisome but I do not think so,” Valerik admitted, “Fathers are slow to forget but they will return too, I think, looking for mates and the safety only this place can give us. It is just a matter of time.

“Still, until things balance out and these excitable sires find new mates to distract themselves with it is best to stay away from their chosen living quarters.” He warned.

Shido rose, Cayle clinging to his neck as he stretched. He ignored his suddenly very focused mate and shifted his son to his hip. Breezing through the room he scowled at the knowledge that his mate was just a step behind him. He stopped, turning to glare at the golden haired velassi on his heel.

“Would you like me to take him?” Cain asked, reaching out to pluck the growing child from his mate’s arms.

Shido, however, growled and wrenched their son from his grip, making the startled child cry out. “No. But I would like you to sleep somewhere else today.” He hissed loudly, whirling and stalking away.

Cain frowned, turning slightly and catching sight of everyone in the other room suddenly very interested in the floor. With a frustrated sigh he glared at his mate’s departing back. “Just bring those sires here, they will rethink the need to find a mate.” He growled.

This time his family couldn’t repress their laughter at his expense.

Alexandru reached for his son but Dorian shrank back, clinging to his father and burying his face in his chest. Adrian shrugged, trying to mask his worry at the look of confused hurt that crossed his mate’s face. Reluctantly Alexandru straightened, allowing his mate to stand and carry their son to their room for the night. Dorian kept his face averted, not meeting his sire’s gaze.

Gently Adrian lowered their son to the floor and the child fled to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“Is he angry with me?” Alexandru asked, staring at the closed door.

Shaking his head Adrian stripped off his shirt. “I can’t think why. Just leave him be. It’s probably been hard for him to come to this new place. Este said he wandered off a bit earlier in the maze garden. Maybe he got a bit lost and it made him nervous. Besides, it’s late and you know he can get moody when he’s tired.”

Reluctantly Alexandru withdrew, pulling off his shirt. Adrian grinned slyly at the bared back and ran his hands over broad shoulders, pressing himself up against his mate’s back. “You can still hold me.” He purred.

Alexandru glanced over his should and smiled slightly but it did not reach his eyes and Adrian relented, sighing silently as he did. He wondered if removing his mate’s memories of the years he’d been imprisoned wouldn’t be the best thing. He’d offered to do so and Alexandru had shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, as he was wont to do since his capture. He seemed incapable of making his own choices anymore, concerned only with whether or not others were angry with him.

It was frustrating to keep having all of their work reduced to nothing when a difficult encounter caused his once strong mate to revert back to the passive creature the humans had made of him.

Dorian finally peered around the door, climbing onto the bed on the opposite side of his sire. Shaking his head at the child’s sudden shift in loyalties Adrian stroked his son’s hair, frowning when he noticed a fading mark upon the pale neck.

“Were you and Cayle fighting again?” He asked.

After a slight hesitation his son nodded, shivering as he touched the mark.

“Did you bite him back?”

Dorian shook his head negatively and Adrian laughed, holding his son tighter. “You’ll get him next time.”

Miron sat alone, not really seeing his companions as they laughed and boasted to one another. They knew his moods well enough to leave him be, taking their amusements to the other side of the room and leaving him undisturbed in his corner. Just on the edge of his vision the young father he’d been courting flittered about, unsure of what he wanted or needed.

He ignored the fey man, focused instead on another that he’d nearly given up on. He’d known all along that he’d have but one chance to claim his brother’s mate as his own. Though raised by old world parents Adrian had never absorbed the proper manners of an old world father. He fought and raged and refused to relent to a sire’s superior leadership.

A child would have been the only real way to bond the dark haired man to him but their kind were truly only one step up from being infertile. He knew he would have needed a lot of time to see his seed come to fruition within the father’s body. With his brother’s son distracted in his search for his lost mate and son he had thought to buy himself that time and with the humans’ drugs he’d hoped to lessen the time it took.

To discover his seed had taken root so quickly changed things.

It worried him to discover his brother still alive. He’d expected the humans to use him and kill him. At the time he hadn’t had the stomach to deliver the killing blow himself, just as he hadn’t been able to destroy their parents, though they stood in his way and his father had chased him away during his last return to them, angry with his greediness.

He’d given up hope of claiming the dark haired father that he’d been infatuated with since he’d first laid eyes upon him. Adrian had been the first non-human he’d laid eyes upon since his birth, greeting them upon their return to their court once he had stopped physically aging.

They’d been friends in those early days, companions in a court of vampires and night breed. It was because of Adrian he’d discovered his orientation as a sire. It angered him to see the dark haired man on his brother’s arm, sharing intimacies when they thought themselves alone. He hated seeing his brother’s mark on the graceful neck, hated seeing the dark blotches marring the pale skin.

When Adrian had confessed his pregnancy to him he’d been shocked. He’d tried to urge the father to abandon his brother for him, had tried to show him that he too could inflame his body but his companion had turned against him, driving him away with fangs and claws. Adrian had left that night and when they met the next time it was as strangers. Though he rejoiced in the death of the child even as he comforted his brother who was eaten with the pain of it, he could not rekindle the friendship he and Adrian had once had.

If Alexandru knew anything of what had happened that night between he and Adrian, he did not show it. Personally Miron believed Adrian had kept the knowledge from his mate. Why, he did not know, but it allowed him the leverage he needed to wrest power from their parents who had realized his obsession and struggled to reform him. By the time Adrian began to warn his brother against him again it was too late. He had made sure his beloved brother turned a deaf ear upon his mate’s claims.

Even when he’d removed his brother from the equation Adrian refused his offers, clinging stubbornly to the power base that should have rightfully belonged to him until Cain had grown strong enough to hold it on his own.

After his latest failure he had fled, knowing he could not face the anger of his chosen’s sire but still he couldn’t keep away from the dark haired father. When he heard of the closing of Ilazu Numae he’d known where Adrian had fled. He’d gone there, haunting the mainland until he’d discovered his brother’s continued existence.

Realizing all was lost he’d fled, focusing instead on taking the power he craved from their own people. The world was full of sires that were easily captivated by the thought of obedient mates who pandered to them. They craved to have a mate to protect, one who would bear them children and welcome them to bed with open arms. To have a mate who catered to the needs of a sire was a heady drug and it was one he used to lure them back to the city with him, to pressure elders also tired of suppressing a sire’s instinctive protectiveness so that they could treat their mates as equals. He played upon their fears of their kind’s eventual demise as the human and population increased and their father’s played at independence rather than breeding as they should have.

He’d even found a young father who fulfilled his physical needs and obeyed him properly. Jorian feared him more than loved him but he did not care. He didn’t particularly want the father for love anyway. As the son of one of the elders Jorian was a useful piece in capturing the respect of an elder and assuring the council’s continued silence on his whereabouts when Renzo or Cain had come demanding his head.

But the discovery of the dark haired child that bore his eyes and Adrian’s angled face offered him a chance to reclaim something he’d thought taken out of his reach.

And to have that child brought to the very place he’d retreated to without even having to go looking for his son made him rethink his previous plans.

He glanced at the father, smiling slightly as Jorian straightened, blinking at him steadily. The copper haired youth was well trained and unobtrusive but boring beyond words. He wasn’t the one who had made him burn since the moment he’d realized his preference as a sire. With a child he could claim as his own he had a strong case to tie Adrian to him, at least until his son was an adult. As the child’s sire he had the right to claim the father as his mate, even though he already had one. Adrian would be his as long as their son was a child. Once their son was an adult Adrian could return to his original mate but it still gave him a century to try to sire another child with him.

Or figure out how to get rid of his brother permanently.

But he couldn’t just turn down the young father for another without angering the boy’s sire. That would lose him a powerful ally in the council.

Tapping his finger against the wooden chair he beckoned Jorian to him. The man stood, coming to him obediently and kneeling at his side. Gathering a handful of copper hair Miron allowed it to slid through his fingers, making the obsidian hair clip he’d gifted Jorian with glitter in the candle light.

“Go fetch your sire for me,” he ordered sitting back in the chair and releasing the young father, “Tell him I wish to speak with him privately.”

Bowing his head slightly the youth rose and slipped away.