Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 08:31:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bien Clar <bienclar@yahoo.com>
Subject: Council of Elders chapter 8

The follow story is fictional. Any resemblance between these characters and
persons alive or dead is purely coincidental.

This story will contain scenes of a sexual nature between consenting adult
men. Therefore, if you are under 18 (or whatever age is deemed as "adult"
in your country), if it is illegal to read this material in your country or
if you are offended by the idea of sex between two consenting adult men, DO
NOT READ ANY FURTHER.

The author cannot be held accountable for the decision you make after reading
this disclaimer and if you didn't read it then you don't deserve to be
reading porn. There, I said it, now bugger off. If none of the above applies
to you then feel free to enjoy and feel free to contact the author with
praise, criticism or just flames at bienclar@yahoo.com.  My decision to
continue the story will be based on the responses I get, if I get any at all.

Apologies for my apparent case of dropped-off-the-face-of-the-Earth-itis.
I had a momentary attack of self-pity and then Christmas happened and then
studying for exams happened, so I've been under the radar for a while.

The fact that comments keep coming is a real boost to me and I'm finally
back in action.

This thrilling instalment comes with a dedication to Mr. Waddie Greywolf,
whose ideas were helpful in writing this chapter. Sorry that "any day now"
became 5 months.

I'm now on Twitter. Feel free to twat me @BienClar

P.S. Anyone who finds the correct version of Caesar's translation gets a
character named after him or her in my next story. There are number of
clues hidden within this chapter. Email me with your response and I'll
either congratulate you or shatter your hopes and dreams. Only the first
three people will win the prize so get researching. Thinking about it, this
is ridiculously obscure and I would actually be surprised if someone got
this, but I hope you prove me wrong.

***

Owen hit the ground. Hard. At least it felt that way. In reality, he had
simply been returned to his mortal body with more force than was
technically necessary. The thwack was just an added bonus. He groaned,
rolled onto his side and vomited.

"Wonderful," he moaned, "just perfect."

After careful inspection of his own sick, he realised that the stuff was
tar black and bubbling menacingly. There was a small animal, more like a
snake than anything else that was squirming in the puddle. It cried out in
what seemed like abject rage and pain then stopped moving abruptly, as
though allergic to the air around it. Owen backed up quickly, but was
suddenly jerked off his knees by a strong pair of arms wrapping themselves
around his chest. He felt himself melting into the slightly furry embrace
of his beloved captor.

"You had me worried for a minute there." The deep voice rumbled, vibrating
soothingly. "I thought you were dead. Don't ever make me think that again."
The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but at the same time
it seemed to be inside him. He swivelled slowly and looked up into two blue
eyes that shone like stars. They were, thankfully, imbedded in the face of
a smiling man with rough stubble and a broad, lupine face.

Owen felt he was missing something. He groped himself briefly, reassuring
himself that - yes - all his prized organs were still in place.

The young Daemon was really starting to worry that they had forgotten
something. His memories were slowly pulling themselves together and a shape
was forming in his mind. Just as the realisation hit him, so did the
Widow. He was pushed onto his back as she barrelled into Fenris, knocking
the giant werewolf over.

She had reverted to her wing form, probably to provide an advantage over
the land-bound werewolf. She started rain fire down on the two, but Fenris
flexed his palms and the air shimmered, deflecting the fire. He started
blasting his own magical pot-shots into the sky, but none of them collided
successfully. Owen was hurled away roughly and landed face down in the
bushes, his face red.

"What the fuck Fen?" He cried, "You could have killed me." He had had quite
enough brushes with his own mortality for one day.

Fenris' attacks finally struck the flying creature, knocking her out of the
sky with a growl of triumph.

"You dare to attack that which is mine?" The feral giant roared at the
agonised creature. "You dare to cross that walls that separate our worlds?"
He spoke in a voice tinged with power that threatened to tear the Daemon
apart merely from the unrelenting force of his words. Indeed, it seemed as
though strips of the monster's flesh were being torn away as it cowered
beneath the werewolf.

"P-please!" The Widow begged, her voice cracking in fear. "Spare me! None
shall cross again, I swear it."

"Your pleas mean nothing foul creature." Caesar crooned at the dying
Daemon, a twisted mockery of joy on his lupine face. "The moment you
crossed, you were doomed. The moment you struck the Vessel, you were
damned."

"But perhaps if she can guarantee it..." Fenris began, his tone retaining
the inestimable rage it held before even as he turned his head.

"She would say anything to save her skin; she does not have the power to
prevent the others even if she were telling the truth. Besides, with the
Vessel dead no more will be able to cross after she is silenced." Owen
realised that, given what he had been told, he must be the Vessel they were
referring to so bitterly. He remembered what the old man had said to him
about the other worlds that coexisted with this one, finally understanding
what he had been saying.

Owen staggered to his feet and he dragged himself over to the three even as
his body screamed. He had to make them stop. Stop the werewolves from
killing the Widow. If he saw Fenris strike the final blow he would never be
able to forget the image no matter how hard he tried. There was something
about his movements that felt odd, he seemed to feel much more graceful as
he planted one foot in front of the other.

"STOP!" He cried and three faces turned to stare at him as he collapsed on
his side. "Don't kill her!" He rose again and forced himself to move
towards the trio. Sensing the momentary confusion of her enemy, the Widow
slashed at Fenris' torso and he was forced to jump back to escape the
jagged points. She leapt into the sky once more.

The Widow changed tactics, throwing spears of darkness that she conjured
from her hands. None of them landed on Fenris, but they fenced him
in. Before Owen could shout a warning, the ring of spears was struck by
bolts of lightning and a dome formed that stopped Fenris from moving. He
tried blasting the dome away but the magic was deflected back at him,
rebounding within the confines of the trap.

"With your protector immobilised, there's nothing left to stop me." The
Widow advanced, her face caked in blood but with a deranged grin etched
across it. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, a confused look on her
face. "Impossible... No, it's impossible. When the binding is complete,
nothing can reverse it. You shouldn't be able to..."

She cast her eyes heavenward and screamed. "You aren't supposed to
interfere!"

A familiar presence, like the touch of an old friend, settled over Owen and
he knew what he had to do. He placed one hand on the ground and one over
his heart. The instructions were fixed in his mind, though he didn't know
where they were coming from. He reached into the crackling earth beneath
him and drew out a single black arrow, tipped with a ruby head. He cast the
symbols in his mind and used the arrow to cut his skin and draw bloody
runes on his bare arms that danced and shifted as he watched. He wasn't
entirely sure what they meant, but at the same time, he knew it was a way
to help Fenris.

The blood-ink sank into the skin, etched onto the surface. A momentary
knife of pain coursed through him and then as he watched the skin darkened
to black, the fingers stretched and sharpened into furious talons.

With a bellowing roar, he charged forward and sank his new, terrible teeth,
into the neck of the stunned Widow. Fenris watched him attack, filled with
dread and awe at the power his lover possessed.

"You will NEVER hurt the ones I love again!" He placed his claws over her
stomach and in one swift movement sundered her body in two, slicing the
spine with the ferocity of his strike.

Her severed ends began to merge together even as soon as he had thrown them
apart. At the moment of joining, she tried to scramble away but he roared
and she was blown off her feet. She morphed into the spider-monster in a
last ditch attempt to escape but the balance of her legs was wrong and she
sprawled onto the ground once more.

The Widow struck out desperately with a barbed claw, but the blow was met
by a solid wall that hung invisibly between her and Owen. A high note rang
out at the contact and the Widow moaned as though the noise were harming
her. The Owen-creature spoke again and small symbols tumbled from its
mouth, hanging in the air before spinning in circles around the Widow's
head, forming a blazing arc that tightened and tightened until it touched
her skin. At the point of contact, black scales became white feathers that
fluttered in the breeze. The Widow screamed again, but as the
transformation racked her body, she began to quiet.

***

"Return to the arms of your Creator. Your pilgrimage is over." Caesar
intoned as he realised what was happening. He knew in that moment that the
creature was indeed still Owen.

Fenris could feel the power radiating from the monster, and he stepped
forward to touch its skin, but the same wall that protected it from the
Widow stopped his large fingers from making contact. Its head turned
slightly towards him but there was no apparent recognition. The beast
focused on the Widow once more as her extra legs changed to luminescent
white feathers and her many eyes drew together into a single pair that
shone like a rainbow. The damage to her body was slowly undone as she
reached out a delicate hand to stroke the Owen-creature's face.  "I am
sorry for my actions." She intoned in a light voice as she stared into
Owen's eyes. "My mind was clouded with anger. But now I see. I see that
Balance is the only way. My soul is now purified Brother. Please send me
on."

New symbols coursed through the air from Owen's mouth, forming a patch of
yellow light. The Widow walked forward on trembling legs, though her face
was void of fear or anxiety. She turned to Fenris with a smile on her
beautiful face.

"Love is the flower whose blossom never withers." She said as she stepped
through into the light. "Remember this always and the answer will come."
With that, she vanished from view, though a light giggle was left dancing
in the air behind her.

When she was gone, Owen turned on Fenris, his body still transformed, his
claws and teeth bloody and sharp.

"Look out!" cried Caesar and Fenris managed to move just in time to avoid
the swipe at his throat.

"Bloody hell! I thought we'd already done this bit!" The seal placed on
Owen was still there, glowing yellow and pulsating worryingly.

It became clear after a few minutes of dodging and parrying that this
Daemon-Owen was incapable of using magic due to the effects of Fenris'
seal. Using this as an advantage, Fenris blew the Daemon of its feet with a
powerful gust of wind and bent over to catch his breath.

"Caesar, what can we do?" he asked plaintively. He couldn't bear the
thought of killing Owen when he had only just got him back. The slim boy
was now turned into this monstrosity before him and there was nothing he
could think of to help.

"Ummmm.... uhhhhh....." Caesar seemed to be putting off telling the younger
werewolf, as though his reply would be distasteful.

"Hurry up! I can't keep him pinned forever!"

"Well the thing is... You know when Hunter werewolves take a mate... And
they uhhhhh... make love."

"You're shitting me right?" There was not a hope in hell of that happening.

"Nope. That's the only way to ensure that he becomes yours forever. The
only way to secure the seal for the rest of time. I'm not sure what the
effects of the mating will be on a non-werewolf, but it should all be
fine."

That was a lot of variables, but apparently, he had no choice.

Fenris got down on all fours and concentrated, try to avoid the agony of
the change to stop at the exact precise moment he needed to. The unique
gift of the Hunters, aside from prodigious strength and speed, was the
ability to stop their transformation part-way through and become what was
known as a Draugr. A creature with a human mind and a werewolf's strength.

Standing eight feet tall, the Draugr Fenris was an intimidating sight and
as he bore down on the Daemon, it seemed to cower. At this point, the
reader may be wondering why Fenris didn't just turn into a Draugr and
defeat the Widow in one attack. The answer to that is as follows: despite
having the mind of a human, that mind is fairly one-track.

"Oh bloody hell!" cried Caesar as he watched the Draugr approach the
Daemon, licking its lips as it stared at the firm figure that lay before
it. Despite the horrific change to its appearance the Daemon was still
objectively attractive with strong muscles and a steely jaw line, but the
main thing that drew the lumbering Draugr towards it was that it still
smelled of Owen.

The Draugr sank down in front of the Daemon and rolled over to expose its
belly. Caesar facepalmed and turned his back on the pair of them, although
with a direct link to Fenris' mind he could still tell what was going on
behind him. He should have guessed that the giant macho werewolf would be a
bottom, should have known it all along.

Fenris still had the body of a man, though it seemed to have been stretched
proportionally in each direction and was now covered in short fur that
covered every inch of his body apart from the weighty cock now laying
against his belly. He whined and moaned, begging the Daemon to lay down
with him, to mount him , to claim him.

It obliged, forced by the seal on its chest. It thrust in in one harsh
motion that drew a cry of exultation from the Draugr Fenris. The piercing
assault seemed to affect the Daemon as well for it raked Fenris' back with
claws that seemed to be receding.

In fact, the Daemon's whole body seemed to shrink until it was the same
size as Owen had been. As the Daemon's midnight black dick punched in and
out of Fenris' abused hole, the horns on its head fell away and
disintegrated to dust that blew in the wind. The sharpened talons turned
pink and soft, the mouth full of gnashing teeth becoming soft and
ruby-lipped.

As Owen began to emerge from the Daemon's form, so too did Fenris revert to
his natural state. Still mid-fuck, Owen's body became entirely his own and
he grabbed onto Fenris' rock hard cock and began to stroke it, feeling the
iron velvet beneath his hands and continuing to spear his lover with his
dick.

Fenris had diminished to his normal height and with it regained his senses
and batted Owen's away so that he could reach up and kiss him as they
fucked face to face. Owen's moans were complemented by Fenris' as the fire
that burned between them grew stronger.

The grass they lay on became scorched as Fenris' magic began to leak out
into the surroundings, the ardour of his lust given form by the power in
his core.

As Owen continued to rub ceaselessly against his prostate, Fenris groaned
and with one last thrust came in a fluid arc that splattered against Owen's
soft chest. The contractions within Fenris' hole became too much and the
friction drove Owen over the edge too. They both collapsed, exhausted and
totally at ease.

***

Apollo was furious. It didn't happen often; in fact, it had only occurred
once in the last three hundred years. His spies had just informed him of
the Council's decision to barricade themselves behind a shield of magic,
but he hadn't believed it until he had seen the dome with his own eyes. The
vampire was firing spell after spell at the enchanted wall, but not even a
dent. He could no longer smell the sulphurous tinge in the atmosphere that
indicated the presence of the toxic Chaos, which meant that there was no
reason to maintain the shield. But it was impossible without two other
sources of magic to form the new Triumvirate.

A snivelling acolyte waddled up to him and started to form words, but
Apollo cut him off with a decisive click of his fingers, sealing off the
insignificant whelp's air supply. He left the tunnel, leaving the
suffocating insect to clutch at its throat. It was Apollo's curse to be
surrounded by relative mediocrity, he knew, but this was just too much to
handle. He called for Lycia, his second in command, to approach. The
copper-haired vampiress swept forward and knelt before her lord. He rolled
his eyes at her pathetic display but didn't say anything. He coughed and
she rose again.

"M'lord, it would seem that another source of energy has been
detected. Until recently it was two energy signatures, but one of them has
disappeared."

"Species?"

"One was certainly lupine in origin, but the other is stumping our
scientists."

"How recently?"

"Literally moments ago. It appeared for the briefest of moments and nearly
broke our measuring equipment, then vanished."

"Do you know why? Is it the same type of power detected earlier?"

"No to both counts M'lord, but-"

Jesus Christ! He had come out of hiding specifically for the purpose of
pooling resources, but it seemed as though there was nothing to be gained
from working with the others of his kind. He had felt the two power sources
for the past week or so, sensed them drawing ever closer together until
they had collided. Neither had diminished in intensity until mere hours ago
when one had simply winked out like a broken bulb.

Apollo began to walk past the vampiress, ignoring her confused
expression. It was so typical of these modern vampires, all talk and no
action. In his day, they had been ferocious killers who had almost driven
the humans and werewolves to extinction, but now they were disorganised and
lazy. He had a mind to take each rotten one and gut them like a fish, just
as he had during the war. But he remembered that times had changed, he was
now the last of the older generation and all that remained were watered
down versions of his noble ancestors.

Apollo closed his eyes and shifted. The spatial magic sent him flying
through the air and he landed with a clang on a vinyl floor. Damn! He was
so unused to using his magic that even shifting was becoming difficult. It
was a shame that such powerful magic was now beyond the capabilities of all
of his modern descendants, but instantaneous relocation was a skill that
few had managed even in his own day. He looked around him with keen
interest as he stood up and brushed the accumulated dirt off his black
leather attire.

It seemed that he was in a bathroom, judging from the smell of urine and
disinfectant at least, but beyond that, he had no real idea of his
position. A new scent of sizzling bacon started to waft under the door to
the lavatory. His canines elongated with pleasure at the smell, but he
quickly retracted them as he stepped out. He was assaulted by a plethora of
aromas as he set foot in what appeared to be a public house of some
kind. There was a kitchen area that seemed to serve balls of paper or small
cardboard boxes, but the smell made Apollo think of the local butcher of
the small village he grew up in as a child. The air was filled with the
sounds of life, life that he had been kept away from for so many
years. There were crying children, yelling mothers, bored fathers and
dour-looking teenagers that sulked in corners. It was nice to see that,
despite the passage of centuries, some things never changed. His forked
tongue flicked out, as he tasted the air.

The energy source was very close by; he could almost feel the waves of
power. The night air was cold as he stepped out from the restaurant, but
the cool had no effect on his deathly pale skin. He stepped forward into
the road that ran past the restaurant and a car swerved to avoid him. An
angry voice yelled at him but he paid it no mind. Instead, he took another
step, this time wary of the approaching cars, and crossed to the other
side. His nose twitched as he drew even closer to the Lycanthropic energy
source.

***

'I wonder what his problem is?' thought Owen as he scratched behind one
ear.

There was a slim young man staring through the windshield of the car that
Fenris, with a little instruction from Caesar, had hotwired. He was smiling
in a way that made you think he hadn't done it for some time. He couldn't
have been more than thirty and he was the epitome of tall, dark and
handsome, but he exuded a kind of aloofness that made him seem much older
than his appearance suggested.

Fenris was too busy choking down his third double-cheeseburger to notice
the stranger, but Caesar's eyes were wide open in terror. This alone made
Owen very anxious.

"Fuck!" Caesar gasped. "Fuckity Fuck Fuck Fuck!"

Evidently the person outside was not someone he wanted to see. Fenris heard
Caesar and turned to look into the face of the stranger. Fenris did not
react at all, which if anything made Owen more nervous than if some flash
of horrified recognition had appeared.

"Uh... sorry to bothering you." The man started in broken English, muffled
by the windscreen. "I am having been lost - yes?" Caesar seemed to remember
that he couldn't be seen and sagged in relief. The man smiled vacantly and
tapped on the glass of the car door window, signalling for Fenris to wind
it down so they could speak.

"Don't let your guard down for a second. He's a vampire; don't be fooled by
the whole exotic foreigner routine. He's killed thousands of werewolves in
his time, and he may take the opportunity to wipe out one more." Caesar
whispered this, even though he knew he couldn't be heard. He wouldn't put
it past this particular vampire to overhear his very thoughts if they were
too loud.

"Can I help you?" Fenris' expression did nothing to convey any depth of
emotion, but Owen could sense the tension in his body.

"I am lost very much and I am thankings for you to help me? What is place
of nearest sleep?" The man projected an air of blandly pleasant ineptitude,
a disguise that seemed carefully crafted by years of practice. This,
combined with formidable good looks, made him a very successful predator.

"Well... the nearest hotel is about a quarter-mile that way." Fenris
pointed what he vaguely assumed was north, though in fact he had no idea
where he was pointing.

"You could am driving me?" The vampire gazed deeply into Fenris' eyes,
employing the mesmerising stare that made such easy prey of werewolves.

"Uh... sure, why not?" Caesar was frantically waving his arms to prevent
this from happening, but the vampire slid gracefully into the back seat
next to where Owen was huddled beneath a coat.

Content that he was no longer in need of a disguise; the vampire drew an
emerald-hilted dagger from his sleeve and laid it flat against Fenris'
neck.

"Drive." The command seemed to echo in the confines of the car, and Fenris
pulled away from the curb as instructed.

***

The drive took a lot longer than it would have taken for them to reach the
hotel. Instead, the car was bombing down the M4 at 70mph. Owen was still
hopelessly trapped and he couldn't work out a way to communicate that
wouldn't let the vampire know what he was saying.

He couldn't communicate with either Fenris or Caesar, but he was
desperately trying to. When he was certain that it wouldn't work, he turned
his attention to the vampire. He reached out with his mind and tentatively
poked at the vampire's mental defences. Surprised with the ease with which
he could walk the line of the vampire's mind, he shoved a little harder.

The car swerved dangerously as Apollo lost control of Fenris' mind. It was
hard enough to keep the boy under wraps as it was; only his excessive age
and skill was keeping the boy's mind at bay. Whatever had just attempted to
breach his defences had to be nearby. He scanned around the car, but there
was only himself, Fenris and that shapeless overcoat. He must have just
been imagining things. Just to be sure, he tasted the air with his
tongue. Nope. Nothing there.

Owen had taken note of the reaction to his probe and very carefully reached
out again. His mind was close enough to touch the vampire's and as though
he had been taught how to do it and had been practising all of his life, he
struck out. The whipcord of energy that smashed into Apollo's mind was
almost too painful to bear. He lost total domination of Fenris who,
suddenly finding himself awake and driving a car, promptly ran the vehicle
off the road.

The squeal of the tyres as they went 'off piste' sent a further lance of
confusion into the vehicles passengers. Owen braced for the impact and felt
his body change form again.

***

"Fucking HELL!" cried Caesar as he observed the wreckage. Part of the
benefit of having no physical presence was being able to simply drift
through the fabric of the car at will. Did that counteract never having a
rare steak again? No. But it was cool all the same. 'Cool?' He
thought. 'Damn, these youngsters are a bad influence on me.'

It was quite impressive that the humans could build something that burst
into flames so readily, but the smoke creeping out from under the hood
looked exceptionally dangerous. Cursing his luck, he lay down on the prone
form of Fenris and, after sliding into the young werewolf's body, did a
soft reset of his consciousness.

Fenris shot up in a fairly over-dramatic fashion and began to breathe
heavily. He'd always wanted to flip a car, though the effect was spoiled
somewhat by the throbbing pain in his skull. He stood up and searched for
his lover's body, but when all he could see was an empty overcoat and the
small pile of torn clothes that Owen had been relieved of by his
transformation, he began to be concerned.

As though sensing the worry, Owen descended into Fenris' arms from above,
his shadowy wings dissipating into the air as he landed.

"Don't worry." He cooed. The affectionate comment was somehow marred by the
scratchy rasp that made it audible, but Fenris blushed all the same, his
tanned skin becoming cutely splotchy rather than evenly rouge. "I'm not
going anywhere unless you're there too."

They snuggled a little, ignoring the burning car debris that smoked in
front of them. A tiny idyll away from the insanity of the world. Again,
Owen's brand spanking new talons dug into Fenris' arms and somewhat ruined
the moment, but Fenris didn't care one bit.

They were brought out of their personal paradise by a high, cold voice.

"How romantic. I'm positively touched." Sarcasm may be the lowest form of
wit, but it's still wit and the vampire Apollo had literally had millennia
to nail it.

Fenris snarled and bared his teeth at the vampire. Owen's new body seemed
incapable of exhibiting his mood so to observers he seemed unfazed by the
vampire's approach.

"Down boy. I'm not here to make trouble, heavens no." The patronising tone
was incredibly irritating, but as neither Owen not Fenris felt like
fighting at the moment, they swallowed their ire.

"Then why did you attempt to kidnap us?" Owen had some sixth sense that
told him that the vampire wasn't lying about hurting them, although the
spirit of Caesar was still quaking in fear. Apollo flinched imperceptibly
at the voice that uttered the words, but Owen's new eyes could see every
twitch.

"That was merely to ensure that you didn't say no to my request in a public
place. I had every intention of releasing you from my power when we were
far enough away from civilisation." He looked around briefly. "Now that I
think about it, this seems like a perfect place for a little rendezvous."

He scratched his chin. "Speaking of, how on earth did you manage to break
free? I'm very, very strong and very, very old, and no one's ever done it
before, so I'm genuinely intrigued with how you did it."

Fenris pulled Owen tighter, a dual display of pride and protectiveness that
the vampire saw straight away.

"Oh my, how touching. The big bad wolf wants to save the nasty Daemon. But
you're not one of them, are you." It wasn't a question. "I can smell
them. I can smell dog-breath over there. But-" His forked tongue tasted the
air again. "I just can't get a whiff of eau de Daemon."

Owen was as surprised as Apollo, but it didn't register on his emotionless
face. Instead, he asked, "So what am I?"

"That answer, only the Creator knows. I suppose that if we prodded and
poked you enough times with some scientific equipment we might learn your
true nature, but something tells me that fur-brain over yonder might
complain.

"Do you have to call me that?" Asked Fenris, visibly pissed off at the
insults.

"Yes." Apollo answered, simply.

He grinned then bowed gracefully. "On behalf of the Triumvirate of Blood,
the High Council of Elders and the Denizens of the Supernatural World, I
hereby congratulate you for your defeat of the Chaos. As reward for your
heroic deeds, I have a... business proposition for you."

***

'Why on Earth did I agree to this?' Fenris asked himself when he was
strapped into the Rome-bound chopper.

'I'll tell you why,' answered Caesar. 'You did it to protect him. You did
it so that you would no longer have to run.'

'But we could take on anyone who wanted to stop us. There's no limit to our
combined strength.' The younger werewolf mused. He had changed Owen back
into his human form with a kiss and he was thankful that they wouldn't need
to fuck every single time because his arse was incredibly sore from just
the one occasion.

'Eventually he would tire of battle. He would grow to resent you and the
life you would be forced to live. Humans do not love as we love. They are
fickle. "Gods weep at changing winds" and all that jazz.'

'That is an awful translation coming from someone who lived back then, but
I get the point." Fenris laughed, but then seemed to shrink in his seat. "I
can't feel his thoughts anymore and it scares me.'

'That's a good thing. Reading minds is invasive to the point of torture and
there's no guarantee that what you hear will make you feel better.'

'But I love him. I need him.'

'Yes. And the terrible truth is that you probably always will. That is part
of the curse of life mating and having such longevity as a species.'

'He won't leave me. Not ever. He feels the same way as I do.'

'You don't know that for sure my boy. This could just be a fling to him. It
could be, but something tells me that you're not wrong about him. He
is... different from any mortal I've met before.'

Fenris turned to Caesar and smiled, the lines around his eyes belying the
mirth in his face. It had been a difficult decision, but he honestly
believed that it had been the right one. This way there would be nothing to
keep them apart.

***

"There's no reason to look so glum." Apollo said as he and Owen sat side by
side in the other helicopter. "That mutt must love you dearly to give up
his freedom for you."

"Shut up!" Owen growled, his teeth bared angrily. He was incredibly
frustrated with the entire business. "Just shut up! If you hadn't come
along and attacked us then we could have been happy by now."

Instead, they were flying through the sky towards the very people who had
ordered his death so many years ago. Apollo had filled him in on the whole
story about his birth, the parts that his parents hadn't known.

Owen had tried to be angry with Caesar, but given the destruction that he
had caused whilst under the control of the Beast he had to accept that on
balance it was the right decision to make.

"So tell me again how you two met..." Apollo began, smiling broadly.

"Why on Earth do you need to know that?" Owen was disturbed by the
fascination that his relationship with Fenris seemed to cause in the
ancient vampire.

"I like to learn about love. Having never had it myself I have to get my
kicks vicariously."

Owen was taken aback by this. "But... you're thousands of years old. How
have you never been in a relationship with someone?"

"Oh I've been in plenty of relationships. But I don't have it in me to
love." Owen blinked and remembered what the old man had told him about the
vampire general who had gone into hiding to stop himself from hurting
others.

"So you're the one who waged war on the werewolves and golems!" Apollo
looked at him, mildly surprised.

"Where did you hear that? I doubt even your tail-wagging friend knows that
particular bit of history. It was removed from the records specifically to
prevent panic about the Chaos." Apollo wasn't angry, just curious.

"I must have picked it up somewhere. I don't know, maybe the Daemon knew
about it and it just transferred to me." Something told Owen that telling
the vampire about his brief stint in the afterlife would be a bad idea.

But years of experience had taught Apollo how to spot a lie when it was
being paraded under his nose and he wasn't fooled.

"Really? I suppose that makes sense." Owen sighed in relief. "Of course,
what would make more sense is that Caesar's ghost told you."

Owen spluttered in shock at the revelation that Apollo knew Caesar was
there.

"Don't worry boy, you didn't give it away. I felt him, briefly, when I
attacked your lover's mind in the car. Sloppy really." Apollo smiled
benignly and awaited a response from Owen. When it didn't come, he
continued. "You should be proud of your little stray, he fought me tooth
and nail, but in the end my personal experience in invading the minds of
others was superior to his brute power."

Owen clenched his fists again at the continued comments about Fenris'
lineage. But as he was, there was nothing he could do to punish the
vampire. Without Fenris' permission, he could not become the beast again
and without Fenris to stop him, he could do more harm than good. He decided
to sit in silence as they flew closer and closer to the Vatican City.