Time: Thursday morning, Oct. 31, about 2 A.M. A few hours after "Shamans in the Spirit Realm"
Detective James Ellison enters the loft apartment after his shift is up. He feels drained, more tired than usual, although he doesn't know why. The long commute home, perhaps... The headaches of the last two previous nights have not returned, giving way only to a dull ache in his temples, still bothersome.
Jim hangs up his coat and goes to the fridge for a cold soda. He hears the shower running, and sighs, wishing he felt like joining his partner, but... not tonight. Returning to the main room, he drops onto the sofa and stretches out at full length.
Blair sleepily scrubs himself clean. The hot water helps relax him, but he's a bit wiped out from his meditation session. It's odd... that sort of thing usually invigorates him. He rinses his hair, then shuts off the water. Toweling his mane dry, he steps out of the shower and begins to rub the water from his body. He pauses at the mirror... his image distorted by the fogged glass. Almost... dreamlike. Blair reaches up and touches the mirror... a fleeting memory passes through him and then is gone.
Blair wraps a towel around his waist and drapes one across his shoulders. Then he leaves the warm bathroom, heading for the living room. He shivers at slight change in temperature and humidity.
Seeing Jim on the sofa, Blair grins at the beautiful form stretched out there... a feast for the eyes.
Jim takes a swig of Coke and sets the can down, eyeing his roommate. "You're nice to come home to." He ignores the fact that his voice clearly reveals his discomfort. Jim rubs his temples and smiles gamely.
Concerned, Blair heads for the sofa. He kneels down to caress Jim's forehead. "Are you okay, babe? What can I do to help?"
The Sentinel grabs his lover's hand. "You don't have to do that, it's nothing." He sits up, gesturing for Blair to sit beside him. "Long drive home, that's all."
"Oh." Blair shrugs off the wet towel on his shoulders, lays it over the arm of the couch, and sits down next to Jim, still half-naked and a bit damp.
Jim drapes his arm around Blair and pulls him close to his side. "How was your evening, miss me?" He leans in and plants a little kiss on the damp curls.
Smiling, warmed by Jim's love, Blair hugs him back. "Miss you? Always. My evening was okay. I meditated a little, then had a shower." Blair decides not to mention what state he was in when he 'woke up' from his meditation exercises. He is still a bit embarrassed at himself, for some reason.
Always able to read his lover, Jim puts a finger to his chin and tilts Blair's face up to him. "Something you're not telling me, love... what kind of 'meditation'?" He gives him a bit of a smirk, wondering if Blair has been imagining erotic things about Kindred again.
To his dismay, Blair finds himself blushing furiously.
"Aha, I was right! You were meditating about Kindred perhaps?" Jim gives him a wink.
To his dismay, Blair finds himself blushing furiously. He laughs a little, in reaction to his embarrassment. "Uh... it's nothing, Jim. Really."
"You can tell me, Chief, really." Jim isn't going to let this one go.
Blair drops his gaze and mumbles, "Well, that's just it, Jim. I can't remember." He pauses, feeling that internal cringe again. "Damn..." He composes himself and tries again.
"You can't remember your meditation? Did you have a vision?" Jim frowns, wondering what's up.
Blair shakes his head. "That's the part I can't exactly remember. I was relaxed... going under... and when I woke up, I was lying on my side, feeling exhausted." Blair flushes again, and corrects himself. "No, actually... I felt good. Really good. Like..."
"Like?" Jim prompts him, slipping a hand to the back of Blair's head, spreading out his damp mane, threading his fingers into it.
Blair laughs a little. "Like I'd just had the most incredible sex... I felt really high on endorphins, but wiped out, y'know? And the... uh... evidence was right there, on my belly." Blair shakes his head. "Man, I never had THAT happen during a meditation session."
"You fell asleep, you were dreaming," Jim explains rationally. [Interesting!! So my Blair is having wet dreams about... I wonder!]
Blair chuckles. "Yeah, I guess so... I just wish I could remember some specifics!"
"Now, what could have sparked such... meditations?" Jim nuzzles him, whispering in his ear.
A delightful shiver of lust runs up Blair's spine as Jim begins to nuzzle him and then he remembers the earlier events of the day. "Oh!!" he exclaims, then laughs.
"Aha, I knew there was something!" Jim sits back enough to look at Blair, enjoying his discovery.
"I forgot to tell you! I met Thorne Severan today, on campus. We talked for awhile, and then, when I got home, he called me. I talked to him about Dr. Carr."
The Sentinel stares at his partner, stunned. "You MET Thorne? Our Golden Wolf? And why the hell would you talk to him about Dr. Carr? Back up here, Chief, tell me the whole thing!"
Thinking back, Blair begins to speak, his eyes far away. "Yeah, I met Thorne. I even got to talk to Dr. Carr myself today. He seemed very eager to warn me away from Thorne and his Clan. After I got home, Thorne called me, to continue our conversation. Apparently, he also had a little chat with Dr. Carr. That's when I told him about Carr's warnings." Blair shook his head. "But, he's not like that. Thorne is so... so amazing..."
"You're not making a hell of a lot of sense, Chief, slow down," Jim replies, turning Blair's face back to him. "Why is Carr warning you against Thorne Severan? And what did he say about that in defense?"
Sighing, Blair began again. "Dr. Carr seems almost... well... prejudiced... against Thorne and his Clan. He said they practice 'unspeakable arts' and told me not to trust the Tremere. I kind of got the impression that Carr would accuse ME of witchcraft or something for being able to go on these Spirit Visions of ours." Blair chuckled. "I guess the Ventrue don't go for that sort of mystical stuff."
Jim thinks of Julian Luna's comment in that vein, referring him gladly to Severan, more the expert. "I suppose not... until now. Julian's been pretty open about the visions. And what did Severan say?"
"Thorne was actually very cool about all of it. He didn't press me about how we met Dr. Carr or how it led us to the Kindred. I assured him the Masquerade wasn't deliberately broken. He left it at that. Then he told me that yes, the other Clans do distrust his Clan. But he stressed to me that we have nothing to fear from either him or his people here." Blair paused, then, smiling.
Nodding, Jim wonders about that distrust of the Tremere. But then it makes sense... people distrust and fear what they don't understand. [Like our visions... even Simon would have freaked if he'd known about the vision when Blair came back to life that time...]
Blair's voice was soft as he continued. "Jim.... I know Thorne's powerful, but... I also felt such a sense of connectedness between us... it was so right. It was almost familiar, in some way. Like a part of me I'd been missing..." Blair's face had a look of quiet joy. "I could learn so much from him, as a Shaman..."
Jim looks his Guide deep in the eyes. "He could become your guide like you are mine... but I'm sensing there's something more here..." He takes a deep breath. "Chief, I know how committed you and I are to each other... do you think we would be able to..." He pauses, not sure how to say this. "I mean, we're everything to each other... but what if there could be more... in including others? Thorne... Julian... just wondering how it might happen, how it could work."
"You mean... now? Or... after?"
"After we're Embraced?" Jim says aloud what he knows his lover is alluding to. "I don't know when that might be, Chief. I can't even be certain we... should go there. Hell, we could choose erasure and go back to Cascade, none the wiser." He strokes his lover's cheek. "But I think we both know we can't do that... not now."
"No..." whispers Blair. He knows that for him... the attraction is already too strong.
"God, Chief, I feel... such an attraction for Julian Luna... and now it's happening to you, too, isn't it? Yet we're still as deeply committed as ever to each other. Already our horizons have... expanded."
Blair nods. "Yes. What I feel for you is stronger than anything else, Jim. But this other... " he shakes his head. "It's so intense, man. It's lust, yeah... but it's more than that. I know that nothing I feel for Thorne will ever equal the bond I have with you, but it will be pretty strong."
Jim sighs, still cupping his lover's cheek. "Well, we talked about this a little bit before, about destiny... it appears to have found us both. So... you're all right if I'm with Julian?"
Blair nods. "Yeah, as long as you're all right if I'm with Thorne."
"Tell me about him... what's he look like?" Jim asks, wondering.
Blair grins. "Thorne? Gorgeous!" He laughs, "He's an inch taller than you... dressed all in black. He's... angular. And he's got these incredible violet-colored eyes... with long dark-blond hair. He's got a slight accent... British, I think.. And he wears an interesting amulet around his neck..." Blair grins, recalling the handsome Tremere.
"Taller than me, eh? Long hair?" Jim smiles, impressed. "Sounds deadly, and not in the lethal way, if you know what I mean. So, he's really okay, he's not just playing mind games with you?"
Blair looked into his partner's eyes. "Jim, I can hardly put it into words, but yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure I can trust Thorne completely. I felt it. In here..." he tapped his chest. "No mind games. None at all."
"I feel the same about Julian," Jim admitted. But deep in that dark, hidden area of his mind, there is the other, sinister attraction for Nick Knight... the one he can't bring up to conscious memory. Just a nameless ghost there, not even enough for him to notice.
Blair hugs Jim tightly. "I understand, man... this is uncharted territory here, for both of us. Kind of scary, I know."
"I love you so much, Chief," Jim whispers against his hair, his heart full. "My life is complete with just you... but it will be more with Julian, too. And it's going to be the same for you."
"I love you too, Jim. Nothing will ever change what I feel for you."
Jim moves his head back to look at Blair again. He looks in his lover's eyes long, then closes his own eyes as he bends to capture his Blair's mouth with his. As always, he marvels at the sweetness mixed with strength that is Blair Sandburg.
Wrapping his arms around his lover's strong shoulders, Blair gives himself over to the kiss, putting all his passion for Jim into it.
[Blair and I belong together,] Jim thinks with surety, losing himself for a moment in the taste of his lover, [But there is more for us here, more love and life that we can either accept wholeheartedly and together... or leave behind, go back to...] He sighs in the kiss, caressing Blair's back.
Pushing aside any thought of Thorne or Carr or what had happened today, Blair focuses on Jim's love... the strength and surety of it.
"Let's go to sleep, love," Jim murmurs, pulling his roommate up with him.
"Right," Blair sighs and wraps his arm around Jim's waist as they head for their bedroom. Time to... dream...
The End
