Time: Very early Wednesday morning, 2 am, October 30
The pain started up apparently sometime on the way home - Jim Ellison has no real idea when. Although his shift officially ended two hours ago at midnight, he seems to have wasted two hours getting to Berkeley, for it's now 2 am when he turns his key in the lock. His headache... and likely something else... keeps him from wondering about those lost hours. All he knows is that his head is killing him. Weary, forehead creased, he enters the apartment and leaves his keys and coat by the door.
Jim starts for the kitchen, but only gets as far as the spiral staircase. A wave of agony causes him to sag against it. For some reason he thinks going up to the meditation space will help clear his mind, so Jim drags himself up the stairs, not heeding the pain or dizziness. Once there however, he collapses, curling up into a ball, his head in his hands. The pain grows...
Blair opens the door and tosses his jacket onto the hook, shutting the door behind him. "Jim? Hey, Jim! I'm home!" Blair drops his keys and, bending to pick them up, feels something odd... a wave of dizziness and pain... but not his own... "Huh?" He winces, and picks up the keys, straightening slowly. "Oh, man! Where did THAT come from??" He senses something's not quite right and it has to do with his roommate. He winces again, and mutters, "Jim?"
Now Blair's head is pounding, but not from the inside. He stands still and tries to center himself. "Damn! I go out for a moonlight stroll and I come home to this??" he mutters to himself.
A soft groan escapes Jim, who senses his lover on a subconscious level. All he can think about is the pain.
Without thinking, Blair heads towards the sound of the groan, knowing that Jim is in pain. As he does so, the pain in his own head begins to lessen, as if finding the source of the problem was the cure. At least, for Blair.
Up in the meditation area, he finds Jim, curled into a fetal position, groaning in pain. Blair kneels down and begins to rub Jim's back. "Jim, what's wrong, man? Jim, it's me... it's Blair. Tell me what senses are working... can you hear me? Can you feel me?"
The Guide voice comes to Jim as if from very far away. "Chief..." he moans, the presence registering after about a minute.
Blair continues to speak to his partner, "Jim, take it easy, man... tell me what's wrong."
Jim's face is screwed up in a pained scowl. "Senses... ah..." He tries to check on them, doesn't get much response. "I... I can barely hear you, feel you. The pain..." Another wave hits him, and he moans again.
[Oh my God!] thinks Blair to himself, then he gets a grip. "Okay, Jim. It's gonna be okay. I'm here..." Blair thinks for a moment. "Jim, try this... concentrate on the sound of my voice... and try to focus on the pain. Try to dial down the pain you're feeling."
Hands reach out suddenly, grasping at the Guide's clothes. "Can't, too much... hurts..."
Blair holds onto Jim tightly. "It's okay, man... take it easy..." Blair closes his eyes, instinctively seeking the source of his lover's pain. He can almost feel it, almost "see" it... and he desperately wants to help heal it.
The touch of his lover's hands, Blair's soothing voice, begin to calm Jim, begin to ease the agony. "More," he whispers, clinging to the other like to a lifeline.
Running his hands over Jim's back, shoulders and head, caressing him, rubbing gently, Blair murmurs words of love and comfort, watching his friend's body with that "inner eye" with which Blair usually senses things during their Spirit-Walks. Something was... different... about Jim. Something had been changed... altered... that was causing this pain.
The continual touches have their effect on the Sentinel gradually, the voice penetrating in to his spirit. The pain lessens to a manageable level, and with Blair's help, Jim manages to sit up at last.
Never losing contact with his lover, Blair crouches next to Jim, still caressing him gently. He carefully studies his friend's body and face, trying to fathom what's wrong. There's something deep inside the Sentinel... something dark... unreachable. It worries Blair greatly.
"Thanks, Chief," Jim murmurs, patting Blair's cheek. "I thought my head was going to split open for a minute there." He manages a wan smile. "You do have this nice effect on me..."
Blair smiles warmly back at Jim. "Yeah, well... I'm worried about you, Jim. This isn't normal. There's something... different... something not right going on here."
Jim nods, still patting him absently, his hand fallen down to Blair's shoulder. "Yeah, you're right, something's wrong. And I know exactly what it is..." He glances away, thoughtful.
"What?" Blair asks, almost afraid to hear what Jim thinks.
"It's the visions," Jim explains with conviction. He believes this, absolutely. "I need to resist the visions, stay away from the spirit plane. It's causing me too much pain, Chief. It's been too much, too often. I need a break. Besides, how have they really helped us?" He sighs, rubbing his face with his other hand.
At a loss, Blair sits there, a feeling of dread washing over him. "How do you think you can prevent being drawn into the Spirit Plane, Jim? We haven't exactly figured out how to control these visions, y'know. And besides... I don't think it's that. Not at all."
Jim looks in Blair's direction, but not right at him. "Well, I do. I know that's it. Remember when I got angry with you last week? That was definitely the spirit plane pulling at me, making me a little crazy. This is no different than that."
Sadly, Blair nods his head, remembering. He says nothing, though, preferring to wait and see... and perhaps to find out what that 'darkness' that he saw inside the Sentinel meant.
The Sentinel rubs at his forehead again, his headache still pounding, though not incapacitating him as before. "This is too much like what happened with Alex, Sandburg, and that's what scares me. I had no control over that! And I don't seem to have control over this, either." He looks at his lover suddenly. "What have the visions done for us? Nothing has changed, except to draw us to the Kindred... and now our lives might be in danger." He sighs heavily.
"I know..." whispers Blair. "But... they also brought us closer to each other, Jim. In ways neither of us ever dreamed of."
Jim shrugs, a patented gesture of denial of his. "Well, I don't mean those visions..." Tenderly he reaches out again and cups Blair's face in his hand. "One of those, our first shared one, brought you back to life. I'll never forget that." Jim sighs again, tries to smile. "I'm sorry, Chief. *Some* visions seems to have had nothing good come of them. I guess I just have my doubts about this latest batch."
"I wish I knew what to say, Jim.... I wish there was some way I could help you with this..." Blair leans forward and gently kisses his lover on the lips. "You really scared me tonight, Jim. I've never seen you this kind of pain before... not this way..."
"Baby, you did help me," Jim murmurs, running his thumb over Blair's lips as they part for the moment. "I still have the headache, but I can bear it now, thanks to you. Now the aspirin might be able to handle it." He smiles genuinely, love in his eyes.
Blair swallows, his throat tight with emotion. He smiles again, blinking back tears. "Good. Let me get you some and a drink of water, now." He bounds up and returns quickly with two aspirin and a sipper-bottle full of cold water. He hands them to Jim.
"Thanks, love," Jim sighs, and takes the aspirin with water. Handing the bottle back, he rubs at his face again. "I think going to bed with you in my arms is going to help a lot, too. What do you say to that, Chief?"
Blair smiles. "That sounds perfect to me, Jim. I'm all yours."
Jim gets up slowly, then offers Blair a hand. "I'm not used to this schedule either, I'm afraid," he adds, helping him up.
Wrapping his arm around Jim, holding him close, Blair murmurs agreement.
A minute later, they have entered their bedroom. Jim already has his shirt open, and is working on Blair's. "Want you, baby," he breathes, already feeling arousal.
Taken aback by Jim's rapid recovery, Blair looks at his lover with a little surprise. "You sure you're up for this, Jim?"
"Oh, yeah," Jim smiles seductively, his hands roaming over his compact lover's firm body. He grabs Blair's hand, makes him feel how hard he is already. "This give you an idea?"
Still a bit worried about Jim's health, Blair smiles back, "Well, okay... it seems like you're recovered all right..." Blair begins to kiss Jim's throat while he strokes his lover's erection.
Jim suddenly has Blair's face in his hands, looking him deep in the eyes. "Just 'well, okay'? I think I'm quite recovered, or I wouldn't be thinking of sex, would I?" He grins, caressing his face. "Baby, I don't want this unless you do, too. Really, I'm fine now. Stop worrying, mother."
Blair chuckles, "Okay, baby... I believe you." Suddenly he pulls Jim's face down for a long deep kiss, continuing to stroke Jim's erection.
A bit of an eager growl escaping the Sentinel's throat, Jim kisses his Guide back ardently, tonguing him deep. He presses his groin into Blair's hand, pumping against him a little.
Moaning, Blair positions his own cock between their bodies so both their erections are sliding against each others', as their kiss deepens.
Jim's hands are everywhere, but mostly down holding Blair by the ass, squeezing as he presses him against himself.
Blair runs his hands up and down Jim's back, arching against his lover, his breath coming in gasps.
Releasing Blair's mouth with a gasp, Jim gets his lover's two layers of shirts off, then works his pants open, his eyes hungrily roving over him. "Need you, baby," he grunts, "Need to love you, have you..."
Clothes flying, Blair helps Jim access as much skin between them as possible.
In seconds they are naked, and Jim has Blair down on the bed, already ravishing his body with his mouth, tasting him everywhere.
Blair, moaning with rising passion, writhes beneath Jim's lips and tongue...panting with need.
Nipples are nibbled and sucked, Jim's tongue works on Blair's throat, earlobes, belly, and finally, a swipe along his hard cock.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!!" Blair exclaims in pleasurable reaction. Jim's exquisite non-stop ministrations are driving Blair wild and he's nearly delirious with lust.
Jim doesn't hesitate, his own lust fired by the relief from the pounding pain earlier. He lifts Blair's legs up and back against his chest, lifting his ass up so that when he scoots down there, he can work on Blair's anus with his tongue. Eagerly he tastes his lover there, softening him.
Panting hard, Blair wriggles a bit, feeling Jim's tongue work on him. Blair digs his fingers into the bed beneath him, his stiff cock throbbing in reaction to the pleasurable sensations.
Wetting his fingers, Jim prepares his lover carefully but none too slowly. By now he knows exactly what Blair needs to get ready for him.
Panting harder, Blair begs for more, begs for his lover to enter him.
Jim's other hand spreads pre-cum over the head of his cock, lubing him up, though he automatically reaches for the lube on the nightstand, adding to it. "Need to enter you, join with you, baby," he murmurs, breathing hard himself.
"Yeah, Jim... need you, baby... please..." Blair begs desperately.
Already Jim is pressing into his lover, not with his usual inching forward bit by bit, but smoothly in one long slow stroke. But Jim watches Blair's face acutely, his returned senses on high, watching his lover's every little reaction, ready to halt if needed.
Blair's face is radiant, the endorphins in his bloodstream making him feel like he's flying already... he pants and begs for more, for Jim to move faster...Blair grips his lover's hands, pulling Jim deeper inside.
As Blair is every bit as on fire as he is, Jim hesitates no longer, filling his lover completely. The sight of the joy on his face touches him deeply, in fact, it makes that pocket of darkness within him shiver, disturbing it, weakening it.
Feeling Jim in the deepest most personal way possible for two mortals to share, Blair's heart is filled with joy and a deep sense of completeness, being joined with his beloved this way.
A curious, temporary dichotomy occurs deep within the Sentinel's psyche, too deep for the Guide to detect. One side, the main one, focuses on making intense and thorough love to his beloved Blair, and the other, smaller, darker part just wants to expend energy in reaction to the wrongness placed there by Nick Knight. The vampire's controls are stronger than anything either mortal has ever faced before. Jim cannot see any of that side of himself, nor will Blair be able to see it. It will take a stronger mind by far to see that dark part for what it is. So, unaware of the dichotomy operating, Jim avidly thrusts in and out of his lover, using long, firm strokes deep within him.
Unaware of the psychic dichotomy within his lover, Blair moans and arches upwards into Jim's strokes, completely into their lovemaking.
Jim cradles the shorter body in his arms, fucking him with powerful pumps. His senses are filled gloriously with Blair, the feel of his body, inside and out, his scent, his moans in his ears, his erotic beauty as he writhes beneath him. But in the other side, startling flashes of vision start to emerge - the Jaguar, bleeding, the Stranger Wolf, then Nick Knight looking into his eyes, smiling seductively... but the images make no impression on his memory, tucked safely away.
Blair stretches his legs, sliding them up and over Jim's shoulders, loving the deepness of his lover's strokes within him. Blair clutches at the bedcovers beneath him as they fuck, panting and groaning with pleasure.
The dark half of Jim's brain tickles at his libido unexpectedly. Jim, deeply aroused, growls deep in his throat once then dives for Blair's neck, his teeth closing on a fold of skin just over his lover's collarbone. He bites hard, drawing out an exultant cry of pleasure from his partner. But there are whispers of a vampire in his darkest self, telling him secretly of a more erotic bite than this. All locked away from his awareness.
With a gasp, breathing hard, Jim pulls out and off of Blair and turns him over, drawing him up onto his knees. He sinks his cock back into him smoothly to resume his fucking. But he holds onto Blair's hip with one hand, reaches beneath to stroke his lover's cock in rhythm with the other.
This position is much more intense for Blair, and Jim's cock begins to hit his prostate, making him pant harder. Jim's hand on Blair's already sensitized cock nearly sends him over the edge.
Jim's heightened sense of touch feels every shudder within Blair's body, and he reads that his lover is getting close. "Come for me baby," he grunts, thrusting hard. Not too hard - he's too locked into Blair's sensations to hurt him, but it's at the very edge of the hardest he will allow with his lover.
Panting hard and begging for release, Blair thrusts back and forth, back against Jim's fucking, and forward into Jim's fist... feeling the pleasure build.
"Let go, baby, let go!" Jim practically commands his lover in a deep growl, fisting him hard just as his own orgasm begins to swell.
Blair's entire body is shuddering now, and he's gasping for breath as he feels his orgasm release, spilling himself over Jim's hand, his anal muscles contracting around Jim's cock as Blair cums hard.
Jim comes fiercely hard as well, shooting deep into Blair. For a moment, his dark half flashes again on Nick Knight, which only translates over to his main side as flashes of light. Jim shouts out, both in reaction to the lights and the force of his orgasm.
Blair's legs give out and he nearly collapses on Jim's arm. His head is spinning with the force of his ejaculation, and he feels positively boneless.
The Sentinel, too, collapses over on his side, pulling Blair over with him. He can't see for a few seconds, blinded by the bright lights he'd seen, even if they were psychic. Jim shudders, coming down, his forehead on Blair's shoulder.
Snuggled up against his lover, Blair relaxes, catching his breath.
"Oh, God," Jim gasps, holding Blair close, spooned up against him.
"You can say THAT again!" exclaims Blair, grinning widely.
"No, I mean..." There is a note of pain returned to Jim's voice. "Damn..."
"Huh?" Blair doesn't like the sound of that exclamation... "Jim? Are you okay, baby?" Blair tries to look at Jim behind him.
"Just..." Jim presses his forehead into the strong shoulder before him. "Oh, the headache's back. Not too bad, just back."
"Damn, damn, damn..." Blair mutters, trying to disentangle himself. "Can I help? Do you need more aspirin? Water? Zinc?"
"No, I don't need anything, I'll be fine." Jim has already forgotten about the flashing lights. "Really, it will go away. Come around here and kiss me, please."
Blair complies eagerly, wrapping his arms around Jim, covering his face with kisses before covering Jim's mouth with his own.
Sighing, Jim kisses Blair deeply, realizing as he does so that he's really tired... it's VERY early in the morning by now and their lovemaking was unusually energetic.
When they break the kiss, Jim disentangles himself a little bit to look at Blair's neck, examine where he bit him. Soberly he fingers the bright red-purple mark just off his collarbone. "Marked you good, I did," he murmurs in a low voice, not yet meeting his eyes.
Blair smiles a very seductive smile up at his lover and almost purrs, "Yeah... you sure did, man... God, did that ever feel good!! So intense!"
Jim brings away his finger, looking at it... and the minute red wetness there.
Blair kisses the Sentinel and whispers, "Thank you, Jim. I'm yours... and I'm so proud that you marked me."
But Jim hasn't heard him, fixed for a moment on the red. [Blair's blood... I wonder what it will taste like to a Kindred... what would it taste like if *I* were a Kindred... Or if I were...] His mind freezes momentarily, the controls within his dark half preventing the completion of that thought.
Blair reaches up, takes Jim's finger and sucks on it. "Mmmmmmmmm..."
Startled, Jim snaps out of the mini-zone. "Chief, did you say something?"
Chuckling, Blair grins up at Jim. "I said, thank you for marking me, baby."
"Oh... yeah," Jim murmurs. "Mmmmm..."
Pulling Jim's mouth down for another kiss, Blair murmurs, "Time for sleep, lover..."
Jim kisses Blair long and slowly, lovingly, the darkness falling far away.
THE END
