Time: A few hours after "Wolf Vision", Sunday morning very early
Jim Ellison woke to find Guide wrapped snugly around his still-clothed body. Blair was sound asleep, naked but for Jim and the covers. [Mmm, nice way to wake up,] Jim thought drowsily, fingering his beloved's long, wavy hair. He pondered, as he often did, how utterly beautiful a sleeping Blair was, so masculine and perfect. [Love you so much, Mine.]
Then it all came rushing back to him, the other man he'd held in his arms last night. With a stifled groan, Jim lay back with a thud, his mind flooded with the memory of Julian Luna's 'Kiss', the Kindred biting his arm and drinking from him... and the orgasmic onslaught of pure sensation so powerful it tripped out his sense of sight for a few minutes. [Fuck, that was so incredible...] Indeed, his body was now reacting to that memory with eagerness, a raging hard-on developing. He'd pressed that firm erection against Julian's ass as he held him in his arms, his wrist to the Ventrue's mouth. [Oh, fuck, what am I going to do, I want him so bad...] Jim silently moaned, glancing at his life partner sleeping so peacefully in his arms.
With care, he disentangled himself from his lover. Blair merely sighed in his sleep, accepting a pillow to wrap around in place of Jim's body, never waking. Jim gave him a last, loving glance, then slipped out of the room and into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Groaning, Jim leaned back on the closed door and took his still-hard erection in hand again. [Julian...] he thought, picturing the Ventrue prince as he leaned back against his chest last night, feeling the cool, muscular body as Jim held him close. The prince wasn't but an inch taller than Blair, but where Blair was all finely developed, hard muscles, Julian had more bulk, a bit more broad-shouldered and stocky. Jim had felt very well developed pectorals... [Shit, he felt so good...]
His hand fisting his cock in a steady rhythm, Jim continued to relive the memory of the "Kiss". Julian had played his wrist like a fine violin, teasing, kissing, and licking the skin, driving Jim crazy with the shifting delicate sensations. He'd been tempted to open his sense of touch wide, get drunk on it, but he knew that it would risk a serious sensory spike when Julian would actually bite him. But even dialed down, the bite had been a blast of fire then... then the nova...
Soft moans escaped the Sentinel as he came hard, spurting up onto his chest as his body remembered the ecstasy of the Kindred Kiss. He knew, then, with dismay and yearning, that the next time Julian would taste him - and there WOULD be a next time, he was certain - that Jim would come like this, every time. Shuddering and gasping from his Kindred lover's bite, touch... and Jim knew with equal certainty that Julian Luna wasn't likely to be satisfied with only having Jim's blood the next time.
[Blair... what have I done...] Jim thought as he came down from his orgasm. But he knew with perfect clarity that Blair's first "Kiss" would hook him as surely as it did James Ellison. [I'm already changed forever,] he thought, then paradoxically felt peaceful, considering that. [I just have to reconcile the Sentinel in me with the Kindred to be,] he reasoned, sighing.
Hastily he cleaned up. [Julian has a committed relationship with Cash,] Jim considered, amazed. [Yet he wants me... Kindred morals are evidently pretty open.] He thought of his Blair, such an enthusiastic lover, knowing that Blair could never stop loving him but could happily enjoy others at the same time. It could work.
Jim sighed deeply. He had to talk to Blair about this.
He slipped back into bed, taking the pillow's place in Blair's arms. Tenderly Jim leaned over his lover and kissed him awake. In seconds, he had a happy Guide eagerly engaging in tongue-wrestling with him. "Mmmmm," Jim buzzed in his mouth, then rose from the kiss, grinning down at his partner. "Morning, mine," he greeted him.
Blair wriggled a little in Jim's arms, happy. "Oh, man, when you call me that, you make me so HORNY!" Playfully he nibbled on Jim's lip. "Ready whenever you are, lover!"
"You like being called 'mine'?" Jim asked, surprised. "You like it if I get a little...possessive?"
"Oh, yeah," Blair sighed, rubbing fingertips on the light stubble on Jim's chin. "I think I could get into belonging to you, big time."
[Don't go THERE, Ellison,] Jim told himself. [Not NOW!!] "Blair, sweet, I want to make love, but I gotta talk to you first."
Then Blair remembered. "You had a vision, didn't you? Listen, I can explain why I didn't come home to help you with it."
"Later," Jim countered, his expression growing serious. "You were aware of it?"
Blair nodded, his fingers trailing down to Jim's throat. "Uh-huh. Golden told me not to worry, that Silver would protect you."
Jim nodded. It was astonishing how Thorne Severan was so clued into their visions, but then he did refer to himself as a shaman. [Later...] "Blair, love, there's something I need to tell you... from last night," Jim whispered. "I...I talked to Luna about this, the vision of the seven wolves. After the vision I went to the Camera and met with him."
"Seven wolves, huh?" Blair replied, a hand rubbing against Jim's chest for comfort. Something about his lover bothered him. [Keep an open mind, Sandburg...]
"I need to tell you..." Jim took a deep breath. "I let Luna... I let him taste my blood."
Blair froze. [Breathe, Sandburg, that's it...] "You... what?"
Jim rushed on. "Blair, I feel so drawn to him, to the Kindred. I know you feel that too..."
[Drawn? You could say that!] "Oh, yeah..." he murmured quietly. "And?"
"Luna thinks we both could have a destiny to fulfill here, something beyond what we are as Sentinel and Guide. Beyond the visions, even. That we might someday... become Kindred." Jim watched his partner closely to gauge his reaction.
Blair shifted position, sliding his fingers up to touch Jim's neck. "I... I don't know about that yet, Jim," he said finally, looking into his eyes. "Yeah, I'm attracted to them and I find them absolutely fascinating. And I have to admit that the prospect of living longer and not aging sounds like a pretty good deal..."
"But there's a downside," Jim finished for him. He snorted at the irony. "Hell, it means leaving our friends in Cascade behind, our family members, to become... vampires. Well, essentially they *are* vampires..."
"I know, Jim." Blair closed his eyes for a moment, trying to process all of this. "But they aren't vampires, too, in the sense that our society has always thought of 'vampires'. Really, they're another race of people, possibly another species, even, although they reproduce by transforming humans, not... the usual way. It's still reproduction. I think they'd qualify..."
Jim smiled, stroking his lover's hair. "Back to the subject at hand, Dr. Sandburg... you're right, they're not at all 'vampires', they're not blood-sucking killers." [Is that what Nick Knight is really like?] "At least these aren't." He sighed, bringing a finger down to touch Blair on the lips. "I told Luna we would have to know a LOT more. That's when he said he could start showing me by tasting me."
Blair kissed the fingertips laying lightly against his lips. "Okay... and? How was it? Scary? Exciting?"
"Very... erotic," Jim admitted, closing his eyes. "He told me that something of a psychic connection opens up between Kindred and mortal in the 'Kindred Kiss', capital K, as he calls it. He can read my emotions when he tastes mortal blood, and the mortal..." Jim paused, going back there again in his mind to the ecstatic moment...
"Jim? JIM!" Blair's voice registered some time later, Jim's shoulder shaken by Guide. "Jim, come back!"
The Sentinel frowned and met his eyes finally. "Chief?"
"Jeez, Jim, don't DO that to me!" Blair protested, punching him hard on the shoulder. "Man! I really hate it when you flip into the Sentinel zone like that!"
"Ow! I... what?"
"Never mind, tell me what the hell happened when Julian tasted your blood? What was it like?" Blair wasn't going to mention that he saw how aroused these thoughts made his lover, feeling Jim's hardness move against him. [Will take care of that SOON, Jimbo!]
Jim drew in a deep breath. "It was a rush, like a full-body orgasm without an ejaculation, although I did get aroused..." He sighed and finally smiled. "It was great. Luna was great, telling me exactly what to expect. Now I'm sorry I didn't let you have that... with Cash."
Blair gulped, feeling a twinge of arousal himself at the retelling. "Whooo! That's okay about Cash, man, I know you were Blessed Protecting me and all that, and we didn't know anything about it." Then he got a wicked expression on his face. "But I want to experience that, too, first chance!" Then he poked Jim in the stomach lightly. "So, you got aroused, eh? Anything else happen you want to tell me about, Detective Ellison?" he teased.
"What? Oh, no, nothing for the tabloids, trust me, Chief," Jim replied, rolling his eyes at him. [No, that little kiss does NOT qualify!] "Just some touching, nothing more erotic, really. Even before that, I felt a closeness to him, felt I could trust him. I don't know exactly about becoming Kindred, Blair, but I do feel sure of one thing, and Luna does too..." He slid his hand up along Blair's cheek. "I will be Ventrue. Luna... will do it, Embrace me, if that is to be."
"Jim..." Blair began, then swallowed, his throat suddenly tight with emotion. "If you become Kindred, I will too..."
The Sentinel stared at his lover, then pulled his compact body hard against his. "I will allow nothing to take away from our relationship. I couldn't ever do it if it came to a choice. This... comes first. And Julian as much as said the same to me - he understands, Blair. He is deeply in love with Cash, yet he... could be with me. They're Kindred, this is usual for them. It doesn't take away from what he and Cash have. And this wouldn't have to affect us, either. I won't let it, and neither will Julian. And he said we don't even have to be in the same clan."
The relief in Blair was so palpable that Jim could feel it flood through their psychic bond. "Oh, gods, Jim!" He hugged his tall partner equally hard. Yet he noted that Jim had suddenly gone from calling the prince "Luna" to "Julian".
"I'm not ready for any decision anyway," Jim murmured to him, kissing his hair, his muscles tightening around the other man's body. "But I'm afraid that I agree with Julian - we do have some sort of destiny here to fulfill..."
They fell into quiet contemplation for a minute, each wondering about the future. But their futures were inexorably wrapped up in each other, and nothing was going to change that. It was the one thing they WERE sure of.
"One more thing, Chief," Jim whispered. He released Blair finally, laying back.
"What's one more thing, Jim?" Blair smiled at his lover, hoping it would have to do with sex with him within the hour or sooner. He turned into his side, propped up on an elbow, and lay a hand on his lover's chest, caressing the firm muscles.
Jim sighed, going back to playing with his lover's hair. "Golden Wolf. Julian had him call me when I got back here." He sighed again, heavily.
"Wait a minute, you talked to GOLDEN WOLF? The Kindred who is the golden wolf on the spirit plane?" Blair nearly bounced with excitement. "Who is he, man, tell me about it!" He couldn't care less that Jim forgot to tell him, excited with the thought of someday meeting the shaman who helped them on the spirit plane.
The Sentinel smiled, glad for his lover's enthusiasm. "Luna told me he's Dr. Thorne Severan, the primogen of the Tremere Clan here in San Francisco." Briefly he told Blair what Thorne had told him about himself and his reaction to the vision.
Blair felt his heart pounding. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew this Thorne Severan was going to become very important to them some day. "I think we can trust him, Jim. He's one of the good guys, I know it. As I said, I did sense your vision last night - and Golden Wolf came to me and told me you were all right. I trusted him then - otherwise I would have run home then to be with you. This vision tonight was different - no Kindred. More... sinister." He snuggled closer into his partner's side. "We can trust Severan. You might need to tell him about your powers, too."
"Not until I'm ready," Jim replied, sighing. He'd slipped his hand over onto Blair's front, absently feeling the dense chest hair, grounding himself. "I want to trust him... but I only feel comfortable with Luna."
Shrugging, Blair dipped his head to kiss the washboard stomach. "This whole vision thing is just too weird, man," he sighed. "You know, we did this to ourselves..."
"What are you talking about, Professor Sandburg?" Jim looked askance at him.
Blair couldn't help smiling, despite the potential darkness of the humor. "If we'd never had sex, Jim, we'd never have developed that psychic bond. And we wouldn't be having these visions." He smirked at him - no WAY could they have kept from having sex once they knew how they each felt about the other. "So the 'Kiss' was really that erotic, huh?"
Jim smiled, a fingertip to his lover's chin. "Yeah, Chief, it was. Blew my mind."
"Think Cash would still, ah, want to?" Blair grinned at his partner. [Have GOT to meet "Golden Wolf", perhaps he would give me the "Kiss"? Oh, man...]
Looking down at the gorgeous man beside him, Jim had to heave a very happy sigh. "They all will, Sandburg. They all will..."
The End
