The Telling

Marcus let out a heavy sigh as he stood out in the hall, his hand resting on his closed door.

Coming from his talk with his mother had his mind buzzing.

A month? Was he crazy?

He knew the answer to that one.

The Vampire pushed open his bedroom door and padded inside, his hands moving to the clasp of his cloak.

"Sigil, I come bearing news."

Sigil had just come back from the pantry, one of the new Slaves had mouthed off to him, calling him rude and disobedient, so naturally Sigil proved the boy wrong by punching his pretty face in.

No doubt he would be scolded for that later, but the boy would heal up just fine.

When the door opened he grunted softly as he pulled himself up from his sit-up before laying back on the ground and pushing his torso up to his bent knees.

The Elf was panting softly and his skin was glistening with sweat.

"Oh, you're home."

He replied in surprise, he hadn't expected Marcus back so soon.

"What is it?"

His eyes flickered to his Elf as he made his way to the bed.

He did a double take, though, when he caught sight of that muscular sweaty naked chest. His tongue ran over his suddenly dry lips slowly.

Marcus' piercing blue eyes slid shut and he shook his head a little as he sat down on the large bed.

"I've just returned from the bitch's nest." Something they had both coined as the throne room.

Sigil gave a chuckle as he pushed himself to stand, padding over to the man and running a hand through his hair slowly.

"That's always a fun time, I hope she didn't leave fang marks when she sucked the life out of you."

Marcus very rarely came back from the throne room in good spirits, the woman always seemed to put him in a mood that was hard to shake.

The Elf leaned down, pressing a miss to Marcus' forehead.
"Welcome home."

"No blood letting this time."

Neither of them had shed blood this time. It was a real rarity that happened. Or didn't happen if you were to look at it that way.

The man gave another heavy sigh, leaning against Sigil when he laid a kiss to his forehead.

"I fucked up."

Sigil wasn't talking about blood, he was talking about the man's happiness, she seemed to suck even the smallest amount of it out of him.

Seeing Marcus happy was a very rare event.

The Elf wrapped him arms around the man was he was leaned against, his hand stroking through his dark hair soothingly.

"What did you do this time?"

"Got the two of us killed," he admitted as he pressed his face into the man's stomach.

He'd managed to drag himself and Sigil on a suicide mission.

His arms wrapped around the Elf's waist and he pressed kisses against the slick hard muscle he had his face buried against.

He'd seriously fucked up.

Sigil's mouth pressed into a hard line, he didn't like the sound of that at all.

Being forced to live inside these walls wasn't ideal, but it was better than being dead.

"What did you say to her that is going to get up killed?"
He asked as he continued to stroke the man's head and back, trying to comfort him as kissed were pressed against his stomach.

"You know I'll protect you, right?"

He muttered, his hand stroking against Marcus' jaw, lifting up his face so he could lean down and kiss him deeply.

He wouldn't let anyone hurt Marcus, not even the Queen.

Marcus sank into the deep kiss, letting himself relax a little in his Elf's hold.

His tongue pressed against Sigil's, stoking it slowly as his arms tightened around the man.

The prince pulled back after a few long moments, tongue laving over his lips.

He had to tell him. He just had to find words...

Sigil smiled softly as the man relaxed in his arms.

Marcus had been all he had for many years now, there had been a lot of times where he had protected the man, and just as many times where Marcus had protected him.

"You're not one to be silent, now I am worried."

He muttered, Marcus was never quiet like this, the vampire really had fucked up this time hadn't he?

"I made a deal with the Ice Queen."

Marcus bit his lip, his blue eyes flickering everywhere but Sigil's face.

"I have a month to find her Oracle or my life isn't worth living." He knew it was stupid now. But then it had been a perfect idea. A month was plenty of time to find a little blind child and bring him backto the castle.

Now he was kicking himself.

Sigil's eyes widened as he looked down at Marcus, disbelief written all over his face.

"You're going to find the Oracle in a month? She had been hunting that thing for years, you idiot!"

He replied as he scolded the man, he wanted to protect Marcus but he couldn't save the man from his own stupidity.

"We had a solid lead, she was riling me up, I got cocky."

It was stupid. Very stupid.

"She told me to take a Slave on the ride to feed from." That was when his eyes lifted to meet Sigil's. The man would know what that meant.

Sigil was in this for the long haul, too.

Sigil's lips parted as he gaped down at Marcus, she told him to bring a Slave and he was bringing him.

"And she is allowing this? What am I saying of course she is allowing it, she wants to see me dead more as she wants you dead!"

The Elf gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand over his face, this was bad, very bad.

"So we are both dead men..."

He replied staring down at the Vampire.

"If we succeed, you become part of my army," the man murmured, weakly trying to offer a silver lining to their dark storm cloud.

The prizes hardly seemed worth it now.

Marcus slid away from Sigil to lay across the bed with his back to the Elf.

Sigil gave a heavy sigh as he watched Marcus lay down.

He moved to lay over top of him, holding the man to his chest firmly and nuzzling in against his neck, pressing a kiss to it.

"I'd rather die out there with you than be stuck in here for the rest of my life and you know what I said before was true.

I'll protect you."

He would do his very best, if they succeeded then he would no longer have to be a slave.

Marcus' eyes slid shut when he felt the familiar weight of Sigil against him.

He shivered a little as the man kissed his neck, tipping it to the side to offer it to him.

"If we don't succeed..." If they didn't succeed they were fucked. Neither of them could come back here. Both would suffer in Kennedrick.

They really were fucked.

He pressed another kiss to the man's neck as it was offered, littering it with nips and kisses.

"If we don't succeed then we can go back to my village."

He replied, holding the man close as he nuzzled against him. His village couldn't compare to the grandness of the Castle, if it was still there it would probably be just as humble, but he hoped his family were still around, regardless of what had happened he knew they would welcome him back.

"But we don't need to worry about that, we will succeed, even if I have to hide you in a thick cloak and carry you around during the day, we will find them."

"It's been four hundred years." That was a long time to be away to believe you'd just be accepted back into a village you havent even thought about for hundreds of years.

And he was a Vampire.

Sooner or later the Wolves would start attacking their own Vampires. If he was living there, he'd be killed. Brutally.

"I'm not going to let you carry me around," the man snorted, sounding more like himself.

"You want me to just give in to despair like you have?"

He refused to just give up, he had survived four hundred years of being a slave to the Queen's son, he could survive this.

"And I'm not going to let you give up on us."

They wouldn't die, he refused to let that happen.

"I'm going t try my hardest. I just don't think it's enough time."

Easy for him to say. He was the one that set that time.

But he would damn well try. He would turn every stone and leaf in Kennedrick to find that little Oracle. He would do it. Somehow.

"Well don't get over excited when you feed and I should be fine to search each day."

Unlike Marcus he could search all day and night if he had to, while Marcus slept he could be out there, covering more ground and talking to people.

Elves were aligned with the Lycan, they would be more willing to offer up information to him.

"It'll be nice to see the sun again."

His once tanned skin had faded away and paled.

"I can't get excited about anything for the next month," he murmured softly, sounding almost like he was sulking.

All right, he was sulking. Quite a bit.

Marcus huffed softly.

"I can't say the same." He'd never seen the sun and doubted he would ever do so.

Sigil raised and eyebrow at the man, couldn't get excited about anything?
"What is that supposed to mean?"

Was Marcus just being over dramatic or was there something that he wasn't telling him?

"Maybe I'll curl up with you after sunning myself so you can feel it's warmth on my skin."
He teased with a chuckle.

"Cierra doesn't want you slowing me down," he grunted pointedly.

No sex until they had the boy back in the castle.

He really couldn't risk getting excited until they had the Oracle in their hands.

Marcus just huffed at the suggestion.