He sighed as he legged it up the stairs, the Inn closed and quiet, and he creapt down the hall into his room and collapsed on his bed.

“You awake, J?”

“Mhmm,” Jack answered, propping himself up on his elbow and grinning at him in the dark. He was so not admitting that after sleeping in this room for so long now, it was very hard to sleep without being able to hear Teague breathing across the room.

“Where’d you go?”

“Went and saw Miriam James, see where Sahri is…” He sighed, sitting up and going over to Jack’s bed, pulling him into his lap where he could stroke his fingers through his chaotic hair.

“It’s pretty messed up. Sahri won’t be back for a while I think.”

Jack hummed contentedly, rubbing his cheek against Teague’s shoulder and enjoying the snuggling and the fingers in his hair.

“Feels good,” he murmured absently as he considered the vague and cryptic explanation. “So…where is he?” he asked finally when Teague said nothing more. Honestly, some people just had no respect for curiosity and need to know.

“Um…well…” Teague rubbed the back of his neck, feeling tired and stiff and really, how did you explain that to anyone? It sounded insane.

“Apparently Sahriel’s really evil brother came and kidnapped him and has taken him back to France. Then his other not as evil brother turned up looking for Connor with one of Sahriel’s friends and they’ve all gone off to look for him or something.” That about summed it up, right?

“Huh.” Jack looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, well aware that he was leaving out significant details. “So the one who beat me up and Sahriel had a fight with a couple months back is kidnapping him now? I thought Sahri kicked his arse…” He frowned a little, thinking that Sahriel could take care of himself, but it was strange that he’d allowed himself to be taken at all.

“No, that’s the one dragging Connor off to help rescue Sahri from the other one…I think.” It was all a bit confusing, really. Demons, to begin with, were not supposed to be real, they were supposed to be something you threatened little kids with so they would behave. And they definitely weren’t supposed to be related to each other, and plan to take over the world and stuff. They were just supposed to cause mischief and be a pain in the butt, rather like Sahriel really.

“I don’t know, Miriam seemed worried. Connor was definitely gone…”

Jack snorted. “Connor James is not a man who lets anyone take what’s his without a serious fight,” he noted wryly. “So yeah, ‘f Sahri’s gone an’ someone did take him, his brother or whoever, you betcha James went after ‘em.” He looked amused. “Guess it’s good he ‘as some demon help, ‘f it’s demons ‘e’s huntin’.”

He frowned again then, still puzzling over the whole thing. “What I ain’t get is how could Sahri get kidnapped in th’ first place? Seemed pretty damn capable of defendin’ hisself when his brother came after ‘im before.”

“Brat hasn’t been sleeping, far as I can tell. Looked about ready to keel over dead when I sent him home and covered his shift, then he just didn’t show up again. Bet his powers or whatever the hell he’s got aren’t working great right now. And…they’ve got these seals or something? Sahri talked about it in his sleep, didn’t seem like they were good. I think you can control them or something if you’ve got it. Maybe his brother got it?”

“Mmm,” Jack murmured, burrowing further into Teague’s lap as he mused over the possibility. It was nice to feel safe and warm in someone’s arms and say, not be in danger of kidnapping. Not that anyone would want to kidnap him, at least not anymore.

“Guess that’d do it,” he agreed, wondering about the seals, his inveterate curiosity sparked again by just what they were, what they looked like, how they worked and where did they come from and just…questions. Always questions. At any rate, that did make a little more sense.

“Wonder why ‘e hasn’t been sleepin’,” he mused, finding Sahri strange and rather fascinating, once he’d gotten over being jealous. Sahriel was obviously not interested in anyone who wasn’t Connor James, and therefore, not competition. He sighed. Thank god for that. Teague was hard enough to win over even without any.

Looking down at the heavy sigh, Teague lay down and pulled Jack in against him, wondering what had prompted it.

“You okay? You cold?” Jack was usually cold, and rarely even noticed, used to having to sleep out in the stables. Teague pulled the blankets up over them both and tried to keep the heat in, kissing Jack’s temple because he was such a curious little rat.

“Mmm not anymore,” Jack mumbled, face buried against his chest as he curled up in Teague’s lap, savoring the warmth, both literal and figurative. Teague was just so…perfect sometimes. He wanted to say I love you, but he wasn’t sure what would happen if he did, and he didn’t want to risk it.

Oblvious to the sentiment, Teague just hugged his skinny bundle and contemplated Sahriel’s predicament.

“I just can’t imagine anything getting the better of him, you know? I mean…he trashed the town in one fight. He always seems pretty invincible, but just lately, it was like something sucked all the energy out of him. And I don’t mean Connor James!”

Jack snorted softly, amused. “Not like that, mebbe,” he agreed, “but…Sahri ain’t been sleepin’,” he noted, returning to the earlier topic. “An’ that’s gotta be coz of Connor. Sahri works nights mostly an’ Connor’s gotta tend to his own durin’ the day, which mean they ain’t gonna see each other much, ‘less one or both of ‘em barely sleep. Connor’s ain’t got the luxury of shortin’ hisself much on sleep, he gotta work too hard ever’ day. Sahri on the other ‘and…” He shrugged, looking wry.

“God knows how much sleep demons even need, if any, but he’s definitely cuttin’ it down to the bone t’spend more time with ‘is boyfriend. An’ I’ll lay odds he’s been feelin’…” He paused, falling silent while he worked out what he was trying to say. “Desperate,” he said softly at last. Something he could relate to all too well. “Like ‘e’s runnin’ outta time, craving an’ hoardin’ ever’ last second he can get, an’ it’s ain’t never enough.” God, did he know what that felt like.

“After all,” he added after a minute, “humans on’y live so long, right, an’ I reckon demons live a hell of a lot longer. Never die at all, mebbe. Anyhoo, stress an’ desperation, heartache an’ fear an’ lack of rest’ll sap the life outta anyone afore long if they keeps on like that.” Which was why he was, personally, making sure he did not short himself on sleep – much – because being that obvious would be pathetic, and probably backfire anyway.

Teague was silent, just listening, realising Jack was right and wondering when Sahriel had realised it, that he would lose Connor one day. That James would grow old and die, while Sahriel, he suspected, would stay exactly the same. He thought Sahriel had probably realised it from the beginning. That maybe that was the reason for the sadness always lurking behind his eyes. It amused and concerned him that Jack had seen, and known and noticed.

“Jack…you…” He frowned, trying to think of what he wanted to say, knowing that Jack wasn’t just talking about Sahriel. “You can get as much sleep as you want.” He didn’t have to worry that Teague wouldn’t be there when he woke up.

Jack turned to look up at him, eyeing him curiously, not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean.

“I get enough,” he noted mildly, which wasn’t really saying anything. “I don’t look run down or anything, do I?” he asked, but he doubted it. He’d been careful. “Why,” he teased, “are you worried about me?”

Laughing softly at the mischievous look on Jack’s face, Teague caught his chin and leaned down to kiss him, soft and slow and not at all the way Jack usually liked things, but the way Teague felt like doing it right now.

“I meant, little imp, that you don’t need to go skipping sleep because you think I’m going to suddenly change my mind about things and run off with Eleanor Smith or something!”

Jack blinked at him. “Oh.” He looked down, color staining his cheeks as he fiddled with the blanket. “Well,” he shrugged, “I wasn’t sure.” He looked back up with a small, embarrassed smile, not sure how he felt about being caught out – but slightly more inclined to actually believe Teague when he kissed him like that.

“Goof,” Teague grinned, kissing him again, amused as all hell by the dark blush and the sudden innocence in Jack’s features. He acted so tough, but deep down he was just a scared, lonely kid.

“Well, now you’re sure.” Teague was far less sure about the outcome of Sahriel’s little predicament but there wasn’t really anything he could do about that for the moment.

Jack wasn’t entirely sure about anything, but he did feel better, sighing comfortably and settling in against Teague, curling into the warmth and murmuring contentedly. That just felt good.

“I can hear you thinking,” he mumbled after a minute. “You think we should go after ‘em an’ try to help Sahri too?” That sounded kind of insane, really, but if Teague wanted to then he was coming along; at least it would be interesting as hell.

“Honestly, we’d never catch them. A bunch of demons, and no one knows these woods better than James, they’re all long gone by now. Just worried. Sahri’s been a real good friend to me.” And he was just freakishly adorable, Teague always wanted to make him smile. But he suspected he just had a weakness of cute things, and hugged Jack closer, smiling.

“They’ll be okay.”

“Sure they will,” Jack agreed absently, but he was thinking now. He shifted a little uneasily, troubled by his thoughts and not sure he wanted to voice them.

“So…you’re gonna stay with me, huh?” he murmured finally.

“Mmm,” Teague just hummed, smiling as he stroked Jack’s jaw, wondering how anyone could be so brazenly open and so closed off at the same time.

“I’m not going anywhere, Jack. Sahri…he’s my friend. He’s an incredible friend, and he helped me figure things out, for myself. But I wasn’t kidding when I said we were just fooling around. I think he needs human contact, it’s what keeps him more like us. And in return he knocked some sense into my head. Doesn’t mean I can run around telling the world the things I like, but behind a closed door, why the hell not?”

Jack’s mouth tilted in wry amusement. “Why the hell not,” he agreed softly. He wasn’t entirely convinced that was the answer he wanted – at some point in the future, things might change, and Teague might decide he had better options, but it would do for now.

“I never had anyone else,” he admitted. “Not like this.”

“I figured,” Teague noted wryly, because he’d figured that out pretty quick. Jack hoarded the few things he owned as if they were made from gold, when they were anything but, and he got jealous at the smallest slight, angry at the first sign of something amiss…he jumped to hellishly amusing conclusions and wanted everything to stay exactly as it was, despite his insufferable curiosity when something was out of place. He was, in short, a pack rat.

“Don’t worry about it, J.”

Jack frowned, because he wasn’t worrying about it, exactly, and that hadn’t been what he meant anyway. He reached up and pulled Teague down for a quick, hard kiss, still frowning at him when he pulled away.

“I mean,” he said fiercely, “you’re important to me, okay?” Which was as much as he was going to say, because he wasn’t stupid – or maybe because he was a coward, whatever. Disgusted with the both of them and the conversation in general, he rolled over onto his back and flopped down with disgruntled sigh.

“We should totally go after Sahriel,” he grumbled. “It’d be fun.”

“Not quite so fun when we lose our jobs over it, I would imagine,” Teague pointed out softly, though he shared the sentiment, perhaps not for the same reasons, though he thought it might be a little fun. Scary as hell too, but Jack likely thought that was hot or something, weird kid.

“Connor will bring him back.” If he survived what they were planning.

“Don’t matter,” Jack answered stubbornly. “He’s been kidnapped, an’ we’re his friends.” He didn’t make friends easily – it took him a while to trust people, and with Sahriel it had taken longer than most, thanks to their rather rocky start, but once Jack decided he was your friend, you didn’t get out of it that easily either.

“Matter of fact, we’re the only friends he got. We oughta be there.”

“Well…I guess…if you really want to, we could ask the innkeep if it’s okay if we go? I mean, he loves Sahri, coz he brings in so many customers, so he’ll maybe let us go if we can find someone to fill in for us, and I think I know someone who can…” At least, Miriam had offered.

Jack leaned up on his elbow, looking at him with cautious excitement. “Really?” he asked hopefully. While he did want to help Sahriel, it also sounded like a grand adventure to him, going to strange places and seeing new things, fighting demons and who knew what else. He hadn’t thought Teague would really agree to it, but his eyes lit up at the possibility.

Teague took one look at the eager look on Jack’s face and burtst out laughing, collapsing down beside him and sighing heavily, because he guessed that decided it.

“Well…I guess you pack, I’ll go talk to the Innkeep, and I’ll meet you out front?” This was insane, but he had to admit…it sounded fun, too.

“You’re the best!” Jack told him, kissing him enthusiastically and jumping up to start packing, determined to be ready in no time flat, so they could leave immediately once they got permission. It didn’t take long anyway to grab a couple changes of clothes and a few other necessities – the lighter they traveled, the faster they could go, and obviously they had some catching up to do.

Sighing softly, amused despite everything and more than pleased he was going after Sahriel after all, Teague went down to speak to the innkeep and get things sorted and while the man wasn’t happy, when Teague told him, vaguely, what had happened to Sahriel and what they were doing he was all for it, and agreed to ask Miriam James for some help in the kitchen and behind the bar.

By the time Teague got out the front, Jack was already there with a pack on his back, another at his feet and Teague hoisted it easily, reaching out to ruffle Jack’s messy hair.

“Alright. Let’s get this adventure started, hmm?” How could he not grin? Jack looked ready to burst with enthusiasm, and really…who could complain about an adventure of demonic proportions?

Not Teague.

He knocked nervously on the door, seeing the small light on inside but hearing no voices.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

Miriam looked up, surprised by the knock, and put down her knitting to go answer the door, blinking at Teague on the other side. People rarely came to visit out here, normally she went into the village to see anyone.

“Sure an’ you’re a surprise,” she told him, looking curiously at him. “What is’t I can help you with?”

“Ah, sorry to call on you so late and all Miriam, it’s just Sahri didn’t turn up for work and we was all wondering if he was sick or something?” He figeted with the hem of his shirt, suddenly nervous about calling on a single lady after dark without family permission.

“You be the second person today as come lookin’ for ‘im,” she told him wryly, holding the door open and motioning him inside. “Come in, have some tea an’ I’ll tell you what I can.” Which wasn’t much, but she knew that Sahriel considered Teague safe enough to be told the truth, such as it was.

She went to the kitchen to make two cups of tea, carrying them back in and handing one to him she sat back down in her rocking chair by the fire.

That wasn’t great news, but at least she seemed to know where he was, or something…Sighing, Teague followed her in and took the offered tea and chair, watching her curiously because he really knew very little about it. Her brother was damn scary and most men in the village ignored her because of it, which was a shame because she was a pretty thing.

“So, he’s not here then?”

Miriam shook her head. “No, he been missin’ since yesterday, Connor been out lookin’ for ‘im all day today but he be clean gone.” She took a sip of her tea, sighing happily as it warmed her inside.

“Had some visitors, earlier by, they come lookin’ for Connor. Some of Sahri’s friends, I think – they be his kind, anyway. Kenti, do y’know her? An’ a tall, scary one, Sahri’s brother or so he say.” She looked a bit doubtful. “He do look some like ‘im, but they ain’t much alike. They said he been kidnapped, by his other brother, the evil one? Don’t know ’bout him, apparently he think he’s goin’ to take over the world,” she noted dryly.

“Guess Sahri’s sposed to help ‘im, or some such, but as he don’t want to ‘is brother jus’ took him, ‘thout so much as a by your leave!” Miriam looked indignant, highly disapproving of any such behavior. “Connor gone with ‘em to try an’ get ‘im back,” or so she assumed when he hadn’t come back.

Teague just stared, then decided tea was a damn good idea and tried to sort his thoughts out while he attempted to sip the hot liquid. In the end, he just looked rather dumb struck as he sat there staring at her.

“Sahri’s brothers?” Sahriel had mentioned them, but in such off hand ways that Teague had never really paid attention. “And…taking over the world?” That all sounded a little too dramatic. So did kidnapping now that he thought about it.

“So…Sahriel’s gone?” That did seem to be the crux of it. And it sucked, though Jack would likely be happy to hear it.

“I be hopin’ they manage to rescue him,” Miriam noted, a trace of worry crossing her face as she took another sip of her tea. “Two demons an’ Connor against one seem like a pretty fair fight, don’t it, no matter how big an’ strong an’ evil he be?” She sighed. “I jus’ don’t know, demons be a bit outside my realm of experience,” she admitted ruefully. And weren’t they for everyone.

“At any rate,” she added soberly, “f they ain’t manage to rescue ‘im, I be fairly certain Connor won’t be comin’ back. He’ll get Sahri back or die tryin’, an’ that be the plain truth of it.”

Gaping, Teague demolished the rest of his tea before gasping for breath, not sure what to think. Who the hell said anything about demons? Of course they weren’t inside her realm of experience, he was pretty sure they weren’t anyside anyone’s anything, they were freaking demons! Still, Sahriel clearly trusted Miriam, and why wouldn’t he? As far as he could tell, Sahriel was sleeping with her brother.

“I can’t see anyone dying, I mean…Sahri wouldn’t let that happen.” He didn’t think. “Someone really kidnapped him?” He hadn’t that was possible. “And now two others plan to rescue him? Man…demons are nuts.”

Miriam chuckled softly, setting her own teacup aside to pick up her knitting again. “They do be a bit odd,” she agreed, but Sahriel himself was plain adorable and would never hurt anyone, and his sister Akenti seemed nice enough as well. Miriam was very fond of them both, and while Nefertem seemed dangerous and made her wary, the fact that Kenti wasn’t scared of him at all reassured her somewhat.

“Sahri might not have a choice in the matter,” she murmured softly after a minute. “Being gone a’tall, they’m got him bound somehow, else he’d never stay so long away from home. From Connor,” she clarified with a wry smile, giving him a knowing look. Neither one of them were quite sane about the other.

“He might’nt be able t’do anythin’, even if someone were to die.” There was no getting around that fact; whatever had Sahriel was strong enough to keep him from Connor, which Sahriel would die to prevent, so he was clearly outmatched.

“I bet its got something to do with that Seal or whatever,” Teague muttered darkly. “Sahriel talks about it in his sleep sometimes…mutters about it with the maddest look on his face.” He sighed, because Miriam was right and Sahriel might have as little choice in it all as the rest of them. But honestly, Teague couldn’t see Connor James failing at anything, the man was like a brick wall.

“I feel sort of…useless.” He got left behind and it left a faintly sour, but amused taste in his mouth. “Well, that’s annoying.”

Miriam nodded sympathetically. “Know what you mean, I do,” she agreed. “Waiting home’s hard on the nerves,” she sighed, getting up to get another cup of tea.

“Y’want another?” she asked, holding out her hand for his as well. There wasn’t really anything they could do, it was true, but Miriam was a firm believer in the fact that tea made everything better.

Teague immediately handed the cup over before he even realised what she was doing and then he just smiled and relaxed back into the couch. Yeah, tea was good.

“No wonder Sahriel loves spending time here, if you make him tea all the time.” The demon’s tea obsession was rather hilarious to Teague. Watching him make tea by adding a tea bag to boiled vodka was plain scary, but still amusing.

Laughing, Miriam shook her head as she made another cup for both of them. “He do love his tea,” she agreed, and then she sighed, her expression turning sad as she brought the tea back over and sat down again.

“I hope he be alright, an’ Connor find him safe an’ bring ‘im back home. I miss them both, truth be told,” she admitted.

“He’ll be fine,” Teague grinned, recalling the various ‘accidents’ Sahriel had had in his time in their village. “It’s hard to hurt Sahriel…at least, physically. Not so hard to hurt his feelings, but maybe if his brother hurts them bad enough he’ll just want to come home for good.” That would definitely be for the better. He was curious though, what Sahriel was like here compared to what he was like in the village.

“So…he spends a lot of time here. He’s really interested in your brother.”

Miriam chuckled softly. Interested was hardly the word for it. “He lives here,” she said frankly. “He’s in love,” she added with a faint, wryly amused smile. “They both are, not that Connor’d admit it if the sky itself were like to cave in an’ fall on ‘im. Don’t know as he even knows it ‘imself, bless him.” And it sure was something, the way they both simply melted around each other, Connor’s gruffness and Sahriel’s usual snark softening or simply fading away under the influence of each other’s presence.

“It do be a sight to behold,” she admitted ruefully, though Teague had gotten a taste of that himself when he’d been here last.

“Never thought I’d see Connor like that,” Teague admitted softly. “Definitely not with…well, with Sahriel’s type.” The demon could be downright slutty when the mood took him, and then cold as ice and furious the next. He’d always imagined Connor would fall for some housewife, homey sort of girl; the kind that took your shit and then fed it back to you. He supposed Sahriel could be like that…sometimes.

“I were a bit surprised,” Miriam agreed. “I been had suspicion Connor might be…well, that way inclined, but I never did think he might let ‘imself give in to it thataway. I’m guessin’ s’why he were so harsh with Sahri at first, afraid to let ‘im get close because…well, ’cause of this.” She smiled to herself.

“Never thought I see him like that either,” she murmured. “Sahri been real good for ‘im, I think. Soften ‘im up some, made him happy. Don’t think he ever been happy afore, not like that. Never seen him smile that way, but for Sahri.”

“It’s weird,” Teague complained softly but he was smiling and it was only because Connor had always been such a bastard; cold and distant and making them all look bad with the amount of work he did. Seeing him soften up was damn odd, but a good sort of odd. Not that he could blame Connor; he thought Sahriel’s kisses could turn anyone that way.

“Sahri’s good at convincing people.”

Miriam chuckled again as she sipped her tea, staring into the fire as she remembered when Sahriel had first started hanging around, ‘stalking’ as Connor had put it.

“Stubborn as the devil an’ persistent, more like,” she noted affectionately, but he was too adorable to resist for long. She tilted her head and gave Teague a curious look, wondering if he was having to cover all of Sahriel’s shifts now.

“How you doin’ at the Inn, then? You be shorthanded now that Sahri’s gone?” she asked sympathetically. True, they’d done well enough without him before Sahriel had come, but he’d been here for a good while now, and no doubt they’d gotten used to having him.

“Just have no one to cover, you know? If someone gets sick, or if it’s a busy night. Extra hands were good, and I suspect he was working for a cheaper rate, or something. Maybe just for food and board even. He don’t seem to need much else.” He shrugged, not sure what deal Sahriel had worked out with the Innkeep.

“It’s okay, I’ve been sharing his shifts with the others and we’ve filled most of it.”

Miriam nodded, figuring Sahriel probably didn’t even draw a wage, or if he did, it was a very small one. He seemed to enjoy working just to have something to do, and because he’d felt useful and needed somehow. Still, it probably wasn’t going to be too hard for them to cover his absence.

“If you do be needin’ extra hands,” she offered, “jus’ let me know. I’m like to have some hours free time on my hands now, I’m thinkin’,” she sighed, her brow furrowing with worry again. Not having to cook for them or clean up after them, worry about where they were…her workday was probably going to be cut in half unless she found busywork that didn’t really need to be done, such as yet more knitting of things that weren’t needed yet, cleaning things that had already been cleaned… she might as well help out where it was more useful and maybe actually needed.

“That would be great! People would love to see you at the Inn, and the cook would be delighted to have help!” He beamed at her, carefully not thinking of what he might have to say to Connor so the man didn’t kill him when he found out he encouraged his sweet little sister to work at the Inn, but really if it was good enough for Sahriel it was good enough for Miriam, in Teague’s mind.

“Do you want to come help tomorrow evening? Sahriel was always great on the dinner shift, that’s when we’re real busy.”

“O’ course I will,” Miriam agreed, beaming at him. She gathered the empty cups as she rose again, giving him an apologetic smile as she tilted her head toward the village.

“You’d best be gettin’ back, I think, an’ I need to get me some sleep, but I will indeed come down tomorrow night an’ help out, don’t you worry none.” She went over to put the empty cups aside for washing up, and came back to show him out, smiling warmly at him. “You take care walking back, now!”

“I will, and thank you Miri! I’ll even walk you home after.” Because that was what gentlemen did, right? He grinned and went out, waiting for her to close the door before heading down the little path, wondering how Sahriel did it, because it was damn hard to see. He was sure he was going to walk into every hole along the way.

“Goodnight! And tell that young scamp I said hi!” she called after him, her soft laughter following him into the dark as she closed the door. She knew Jack had taken Sahriel’s place as his roommate for awhile, and she doubted that had changed since, but even if it had, she knew the message would get passed on anyway.

Nefertem was fascinated, and now free to explore that fascination, and there was one place where he could find a great deal many of the answers he needed. Only when he got there, he found he wasn’t as alone as he would have liked, and really…he should have known he wouldn’t be.

Akhenti was clever, like most birds of prey, but Nefertem was old enough and knew her well enough to sneak up on her. He leant casually against a tree, watching her storming up and down the bank of the little creek before he grew bored of just watching.

“You seem agitated, little bird.”

She whirled around and glared at him, annoyed by him sneaking up on her even though she half expected it when it came to him.

“It’s about time you got here!” she hissed at him, though really she hadn’t been entirely sure he would come here first, and if he hadn’t then she didn’t know what she would do, because she wasn’t nearly strong enough to do anything to help Shezmu by herself.

“WHY must you always screech like a damned banshee?” Nefertem glowered, stepping away from her and looking around, a little curious because this place really was sort of…pretty. And there was a cute little cottage nearby and all. Quaint was the word for it, he thought.

“Is this where he’s been living?” It was unheard of, such a poor man’s hut in comparison to the gandeur even Sahriel had usually sought for himself. Though he supposed, after how his stint in France had ended, he might be a little dubious about entering the richer world again.

“Mostly,” Akhenti muttered, glowering right back at him and sighing when it had no effect, turning to survey the little house with a critical eye, but her expression softened in spite of herself when she remembered spending time there soaking up warmth by the fire and drinking rather awesome tea with Shezmu.

“He’s happy there,” she observed, sighing, not noticing the faintly wistful note in her own voice.

Happy, in all the ways Shezmu had never been happy with them, despite Seth’s efforts to force him to be so, and Nefertem’s quieter coaxing. And all because of a human. Nefertem still couldn’t make sense of the human part of it all, but he could see why the little cottage in the woods had been ideal for Shezmu’s crushed soul after being released from the seal.

“Seth took him.”

“Yeah,” she agreed unhappily. “The wind told me. I was just…well. There’s not much I can do for him, so I hope you have some ideas,” she grumbled at him. “Don’t think the humans know yet, though.” Obviously, because she would be willing to bet that if Shezmu’s lover already knew he would be tearing the place up or something equally loud and destructive, and it was still…very quiet. Almost like Shezmu had never been there at all.

Sighing heavily, Nefertem nodded, still not sure he wanted to do this, but also certain he had to, otherwise Shezmu was going to kick his ass when he finally got free again. If nothing else, Shezza knew how to hold a grudge.

“I want to take the human to Paris…Seth’s going to have his hands full getting Shezmu there, seal or no seal. If we get there ahead of him, we can give the human Seth’s seal.”

She blinked at him, not entirely sure if that idea was genius or…completely insane. Maybe it was both. But give a seal to a human – Seth’s seal, no less? She shivered.

“Are…are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked worriedly. “The human will want Shezmu’s seal back after he’s free, and Seth will be furious with all of us then…” Seth was not the kind of demon you wanted to piss off if you were going to sleep at night.

“It’s a crap idea, but leaving Shezmu under Seth’s control is a worse one. We don’t have much time and this was the best I could come up with. Besides, Shezza…he trusts this human of his. I like to think he’s a good judge of character, despite things that have happened in the past.” Shezmu had got himself caught up in some damn weird shit over the years, but this was different. He was changing, not as demonic as the old days…humanized, just a little.

“He’s not a good demon, Kenti. Seth is…he’s just becoming worse. Shezza can’t match him, not anymore.” Nefertem himself had been under Seth’s control for years.

Akhenti frowned at him, but she couldn’t really argue. Shezmu had never really been a good demon, and Seth was definitely getting crazier and weirder and well…scarier as time went on, and she didn’t like the idea of Shezmu going up against him any better than Nefertem did, but still… giving seals to humans.

“What is the world coming to,” she muttered. “Well, in that case, you can go tell the scary human that Shessa’s gone.” She didn’t know that Connor James was all that scary, personally, but then again, she didn’t really care to get raged at either.

“Scary?” Nefertem raised a lean brow at her, wondering now just what Shezmu had gotten involved in. “Shezza’s little human is…scary?” It was unthinkable really; Shezmu just didn’t associate with scary, mainly because Shezmu was scared of scary things…at least, as scared as a demon could be. He sighed and started heading for the little cottage, then paused and pointed.

“The human is in there, right?”

“Well…usually…” Akhenti thought about it and then shrugged a little. “If he’s not, she’ll know where he is. She’s nice,” she added randomly, remembering the way Miriam helped her brush her hair and made her tea and told her stories about her brother which she could trade for things about Shezmu and that they could both laugh about. It had been fun.

“Maybe you should let me go first,” she said, having second thoughts about Miriam’s reaction on being faced with someone as intimidating as Nefertem if she was by herself. She headed over to peek in the little window near the cottage door which would give her a view of most of the house.

Finding that Miriam was, in fact, alone inside, she sighed and went on in, forgetting that she hadn’t told Nefertem who the woman actually was or why there was a woman living with Shessa’s human at all.

It all made Nefetem frown and he stormed after Akhenti, following her in and staring in the middle of the living room, feeling frustrated. Who the hell was the woman and why did she make Akhenti smile like that and what was she doing living in the house Shezmu had been sharing with his lover? Why did nothing at all that Shezmu did make sense?

It didn’t occurr to him that he might look odd, standing in his best French finery in a woodsmans cottage, his long hair loose and streaming, immaculate despite how far he had travelled, trying to hide none of his demonic traits, ears fully pointed and sticking out of his hair, teeth sharp, skin too pale by far.

“Kenti, WHO is this?” He demanded, not quietly.

She jumped and scowled at him, moving protectively in front of Miriam who kind of gasped in shock, staring wide-eyed as she shrank back against her kitchen counter.

“W-what’s going on?” Miriam asked worriedly, keeping a wary eye on the both of them and wondering if she should reach for a knife.

“Do you know where Sahri is?” she added, giving the girl she was at least familiar with a hopeful look. “Connor couldn’t find him last night, he’s a little upset.” Understatement, but Miriam had figured out that Sahriel’s odd friends didn’t understand human emotions very well.

Akhenti muttered a curse under her breath and scowled at Nefertem as if it was all his fault. “I knew we were too late!” she grumbled. “And don’t hurt Miri, she’s my friend and she’s one of Shessa’s humans so he won’t be happy with you either. Connor’s her brother,” she added as an afterthought, smirking a little as she realised he’d misunderstood.

“….oh.” So the human wasn’t cheating on Shezmu, at least. That was a start…sort of. But Nefertem didn’t like it, anyway. “Of course we’re too late, I knew that days ago!” When Seth left Paris, really. That was totally not the point. He glared at them both a moment longer before it seemed to just be too much of an effort to keep glaring.

Then he sighed and bowed low, rolling his eyes a little at the ridiculousness of the situation. Akhenti, of all the Demons, was helping him. He was having to accept her help! And he was giving his brother’s seal, one of the most powerful beings alive, to a Human. His little brother’s pet human, to be exact, only said pet was being a pain in the ass and hiding somewhere so he was having to ask directions from a measly human woman. Life was just…unfair.

“I’m Nefertem. I need your brother’s help.”

Akhenti had meant too late in the sense that if they’d gotten there before Connor realised Shezmu was gone, they could have done some damage control, but now… well, now she was definitely letting Nefertem deal with it all.

“Do you know where Sahriel is?” Miriam asked him again, slowly straightening with a bewildered look. She really had no idea what was going on here. “Is he in some kind of trouble? What’s going on?”

“Ah…we’re having a family reunion,” Nefertem shrugged, not really sure what the woman knew or didn’t know. He hated dealing with humans, he really did. “Shez…Sahriel didn’t want to go, but his brother was very…demanding. His other brother. I mean, I’m his brother too, but Seth, his other brother is…” He sighed, because he was stumbling over words like a…well, like a human and that was just wrong.

“Where is your brother?”

“Seth kidnapped him,” Akhenti put in helpfully. “He’s evil and trying to take over the world and we need Connor to stop him.”

Miriam stared at them both. Then she raised an eyebrow. “Connor be going to kill all of you,” she noted dryly, shaking her head. She didn’t really want details, or need them. “Gone to search the woods, he did, so he’s out there somewheres.” She shrugged. “You welcome to wait here if y’like, or go look for ‘im, it’s all the same t’me.”

“We can’t die!” Nefertem scoffed, thoroughly taken aback by the dry, almost amused way she suggested Demons could die. That a Human, of all things, could kill them. Though he had sadistically often wondered what would happen if a Human in possession of a Seal ordered a Demon to die. That, he thought rather clinically, would be interesting, if not amusing.

“We’ll find him, I suppose. But I do want to take him on a short sojourn to Paris, so if you need him for anything…well, you should tell us now? Or I can leave Akhenti here to take care of it? She may not look it, but she is actually very good at anything you might need of her.”

Akhenti growled softly, glaring at him. “I am not staying here!” she informed him in their own tongue. “I’m coming with you whether you like it or not. Don’t worry about her, she’ll be fine, and once Connor knows we’re taking him where Shezmu is, he won’t argue. Let’s go!” she insisted, throwing an apologetic glance at Miriam as she headed for the door.

Shaking her head, although she looked slightly worried again, Miriam merely waved them both away. “Anything I need I can get from the Lord of this place, and Connor’d not stay here even if I wanted him to.” She looked amused, knowing that Sahriel was the one thing that would make him lose all sense and reason. “If your hearin’s good as Sahri’s, y’won’t have trouble findin’ him – he’s a bit upset, as I said afore.” And Connor tended to get loud when he got upset.

“As good? My hearing is a thousand times better than that pip-squeak little….” Nefertem sighed when he realised he’d immediately switched back to their own tongue and rolled his eyes at Akhenti. The woman drove him half mad, really. But he followed and paused outside to listen, laughing faintly when he realised the human was right and he could hear Sahriel’s little pet bellowing off in the woods.

“Race you,” he called to Akhenti and didn’t hesitate, rushing into the trees at an inhuman speed and laughing at her screech in his wake.

Glaring after him, she didn’t bother trying to catch him, knowing he was faster, but she had another advantage. She was an air demon, and she took to the winds, catching a breeze and zooming ahead, catching him easily, swooping around his head just to annoy him, then darting off in search of the shouts of the human.

Connor was extremely unhappy. Sahriel had been gone when he got to the cave, so he had thought that he was simply wrong about his schedule, and he was working or something. However after it had become clear that Sahriel was nowhere to be found in the village OR at the cottage with Miriam, and the cave remained empty, Connor had gotten seriously disturbed.

His first thought was that something was wrong, but that seemed absurd, they were a quiet little place on the edge of nowhere and Sahriel was a demon – he could take care of himself! He might have gotten distracted by something, playing at something somewhere and lost track of time, Connor thought when he’d first gone to look for him. However, the more he looked and found no trace of him the less he liked it, and he was becoming more and more convinced that something bad had, in fact, happened somehow.

“Sahriel!” he shouted over and over as he searched every square foot of his woods. “If this is some kind of game I am going to kill you, because it is not funny!” But he sounded more worried than threatening, and the only reason he hadn’t resorted to shaking his fists at the trees and raving at them to give his Sahriel back to him, goddammit, and how dare whoever had taken him even touch him, was because if he got as far as doing that and nothing happened, which it wasn’t likely to, then he was going to break.

The grief of losing Sahriel and having no trace or possible way to find or help him was going to break him in pieces, crumple him to the ground, and possibly make him cry, and that was so. not. happening. It wouldn’t do Sahriel any good either way, and anger was a much more comfortable emotion.

Nefertem was immediately drawn to the human, fascinated and then a little…well, not. Affronted, maybe. He stood in front of the human and just stared, taking in every last detail and then frowning as he looked up at Akhenti.

“This can’t be him…” Surely this was not what his brother had grown so obsessed with. “What the hell is so special about that?”

“What the hell’s so special about you is what I’d like to know,” Ahkenti muttered, snorting at him. She’d long ago decided that obsession wasn’t very rational. And Shezmu had always been strange. Unpredictable.

Ignoring Nefertem for the moment, she caught another breeze and swooped out to flutter around the human’s head, staying carefully out of reach of his fists for the moment since she didn’t really fancy being knocked out of the air.

“Hey!” she yelled at him, after taking a minute to make sure she was remembering to use human words again. “Stop shouting at him, he needs your help! Shut up and come with us, you moron.”

Connor did swing at her in sheer frustration, trying to knock her down but failing entirely to even connect. It took a few minutes for her words to sink in, and then he froze, staring at her breathing hard and feeling weak-kneed with relief even as he scowled in disturbed annoyance.

“Where the hell is he?” he snarled. “I want to see him right now!”

“Well. He’ll do, I suppose.” Though really, Shezmu had odd taste. The man was huge for a human, he would rival some of their own kind, and he was…well, ripped. Nefertem preferred his men nice and slender, much like his women, though he imagined Seth would be more tempted by the human. But Shezmu had never really shown interest in much at all, especially when Nefertem had met up with him after that incident with the Tartars, and he had assumed nothing had changed. To find him interested in this creature was just…weird. But Shezmu had always been odd.

“Our brother took him. I’m afraid it will be a while until you see him, but I do have a plan and I don’t really feel inclined to allow you not to participate in it.”

Briefly startled by the appearance of yet another demon and a rather intimidating looking one at that, Connor took a step backwards, glaring at the creep as he tried to process that.

“Brother?” he muttered. Their brother? Sahriel had two brothers, and he’d had that fight with one of them…. “You! You’re the one–” He growled, starting forward with clenched fists and then stopping himself, seething but remembering Sahriel had said something about the seals, and one of his brothers controlling the other so he hadn’t had a choice, or something. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d get far against a demon anyway.

“You don’t feel inclined?” he rasped finally, the bitter edge to his voice sharp and savage. “Fuck you. I don’t see how I could be any help to you great and glorious demons,” he sneered, “but I don’t fucking care. If you have a fucking plan then you bet your ass I’m in on it and supposing you ‘didn’t feel inclined’ to include me I couldn’t give less of a goddamned shit what you feel inclined about. I would follow you to hell and back if need be and you can kiss my fucking ass if you think you could stop me.”

He stared grimly at the creature that somehow wasn’t nearly as beautiful as Sahriel, family resemblance or no, chest heaving as he tried to keep a grip on his fury. If there was the slightest chance he could find Sahriel, whether he could help or not, if he could just get to him there had to be something and either way he didn’t care.

“If he’s out there,” he stated in the flat, hard tones of icy rage, “I will find him and I will get to him and if I can’t get him back, then I will die trying. So pardon me if I’m not impressed – you don’t feel inclined to allow me to what? Not do what I would do anyway with or without your fucking permission? Go to hell.” He turned away before he lost his grip and took a swing at the bastard regardless, shooting the still hovering girl thing a disbelieving look. The fucking idiots Sahriel hung out with.

“….alright. So, we’re going to Paris and getting you Seth’s seal then.” Nefertem just nodded like everything was decided and started heading in the direction Seth had taken Sahriel. They would have to overtake them at some point, but he was sure Akhenti could manage that; she always had been quick and devious, popping up wherever she was least wanted. He looked up at her then, frowning.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Last I heard you had some African tribe worshipping you.”

Akhenti rolled her eyes, dropping down to walk beside them now that there was no need to exceed their pace. She glanced sideways to arch an eyebrow at him, mildly surprised he’d even heard about that, but shrugged dismissively.

“That was awhile ago,” she noted, waving it away. “Besides, Shessa needed me.” She had always kept closer tabs on Nefertem than she did on Shezmu, however, and had failed to help Shezmu when he had no doubt needed it several times in the past, but that was her guilty secret.

Following them silently, Connor tuned them out, uninterested in their conversation and not caring if they were even speaking his language or not, brooding to himself as he wondered exactly how much trouble Sahriel was in, where he was and what had happened to him. If he were frightened, hurt, or… it was not a pleasant line of thought, but he could not avoid it.

Nefertem was always incessantly annoyed by Akhenti, though he didn’t really know why. She was so airy and screechy and just…not what he wanted to want and it annoyed him that he did a little. Want her. He looked everywhere but at her, in that ridiculously revealing shift, though he had to admit even he preferred the clothes they had worn in Ancient times instead of the stodgy nonsense that was fashionable now. But she had made no effort at all to adjust her clothing to suit the times and even that annoyed him. So he focussed on something else. Namely, Sahriel’s little pet. The expression on the human’s face was odd.

“You care about my brother.” That was weird. “You know he’s a demon…right?”

Connor gave him a scathing look. “Of course I know that, how could I miss it?” He knew every inch of Sahriel’s body very well indeed, and found his demonic aspects rather erotic if the truth were told, not that he would ever say as much to anyone other than, possibly, Sahriel himself. Certainly not to his brother.

“He’s mine, I know everything about him.” Or as much as it was possible for a human to know, he was fairly sure. There was always more and deeper mysteries in Sahriel’s nature, leaving him endlessly fascinated, but on the whole Connor was certain he knew as much or more about Sahriel than his stupid brothers did.

Not the details of his past, because they just hadn’t had time to cover however many thousand years of it there was, and Sahriel was often reluctant to talk about what seemed to be largely unpleasant memories. But Connor felt that these things were unimportant next to the things that he did know – the things that mattered.

“…uhuh.” Yeah right he knew everything. Nefertem was certain he didn’t know even the tip of the iceburg, but he wasn’t in the mood for arguing either. Instead, it was just interesting that the human clearly cared, and deeply. Humans lusted after demons, they didn’t love them, always aware that they were dangerous and likely going to be the death of them. They tried to control them, or they ran away screaming. But this one seemed to act as if Sahriel were just another person, and one highly valued.

“Yours?” He didn’t like that at all, though he had to admit that Sahriel had given the man his Seal, so really he was the human’s, but that was not the point. “Who are you, anyway?”

Connor smirked at him, and the smirk had an edge to it, his eyes still cold and unfriendly, but it was still a smirk.

“I’m his,” he stated flatly. And that was really all the bastard needed to know, but he figured the question had meant something more mundane, and after a moment he shrugged. “Connor James, forester to the Earl of Kethcombe, at your service,” he noted with a mocking bow.

It sank in slowly, and Nefertem just stared for a long while before it clicked and he snapped, bursting into near-hysterical laughter. He had to stop walking, his stomach ached so badly from the laughter, but he just laughed more.

“A forester. My little brother, and…a forester!” It was a hoot. One of the most dangerous creatures on the planet was in love with a forester. “How the Hell.”

Eyeing him with distaste, Connor moved away from him, walking ahead and ignoring both the damn demons again. Really, Sahriel was a miracle, if all the rest of his race were like this. Connor missed him with a dull, throbbing ache, flashing briefly hot and sharp as he thought about it. Someone seriously needed to pay for stealing him away like this, and he hoped fervently that was part of whatever mad plan the demon had come up with.

Nefertem watched him while he struggled to control his laughing fit, finally pulling himself together and hurrying to catch up, smirking across at him, curious still.

“How did you meet my brother? You found him didn’t you? Sealed? Didn’t that frighten you?” Most humans had run screaming upon finding a bound Demon. Why this one had done anything different was as curious as everything else.

Were all demons so annoyingly inquisitive? Kenta or whatever her name was hadn’t been, though, and really it didn’t sound like a demonic trait in general. Connor decided grumpily that this must be just the one family resemblance, the only thing Sahriel had in common with his brothers, just his luck.

“Didn’t know what he was then, did I?” he pointed out scornfully, rather amused at the idea of  being scared of the pitiful little scrap of a thing Sahriel had been when he found him. He had recovered mighty quick, it was true, but at the time he hadn’t really had any reason to suspect he wasn’t human.

“Didn’t figure he’d been snared up a-purpose until I got to know him better. Infuriating little brat,” he muttered to himself, remembering those first days with grudging affection, grateful now for Sahriel’s stubbornness even though it had been frustrating as hell at the time. He sighed, an unconscious sound of wistfulness escaping him.

That was not a sound Nefertem had expected to come out of the man’s face, nor had he expected to see the look on his face. It made him pause and he spent a good hour as they walked just watching him, learning him in the way Shezmu would have, trying to see what he had seen. Why he was so determined to stay with a human.

“I’m Nefertem. The Demon of Knowledge.”

Startled from his own thoughts, Connor shot him a skeptical glance, about to point out that he hadn’t asked, then settling for grunting instead.

“So,” he asked finally, realising there was at least one thing about the guy he was curious about. “If your big bad brother has your seal and makes you do stuff, what’re you doing here wanting my help? Helping Sahri? Ain’t that against the rules for you, or somethin’?”

“Well, he didn’t order me not to come here. In fact, the last order he gave was to come here and find Sahriel and drag him home. He said nothing about dragging you…or Akhenti, for that matter. So I can do that. And he hasn’t told me to protect his Seal either. He’s overconfident right now. Things have been going his way for quite some time. If he succeeds in his current plan he’ll take France, and if he manages that Spain and England will follow…Suffice to say there would be many upset powerful demons if that were to happen. I love my brothers…and I don’t want to see them get hurt.” He took a deep breath, just tasting the air and catching their scent, far to the north now, heading hard for the coast but Sahriel was giving Seth trouble, he could feel it in the grumbling of the earth.

“You’re going to take Seth’s Seal.”

Connor stopped and stared at him, baffled and stunned. He didn’t really know that much about the seals, still, but Sahriel’s explanations and Akhenti’s reaction when she’d learned he’d given it to him had given him the idea that it was kind of a major thing for them, and that humans weren’t generally involved.

“Really,” he said cautiously, wondering if this was some kind of trap. “Isn’t that pretty likely to, I dunno, get me killed?” Besides the fact that he didn’t really want any seal other than Sahriel’s to begin with.

“Well, not if you do it right. I’m not going to let you keep it for very long, of course, just long enough to make Seth give Shezmu back his Seal. Then if you want Shezmu’s Seal back, you’re going to have to give Seth’s to someone else, otherwise as soon as you take Shezmu’s, Seth will be free and yes…he will definitely kill you. He’ll try to kill me, but that just won’t work, fool kid.”

Connor just blinked at him for a moment, assimilating that rather doubtfully and then narrowing his eyes as he considered it.

“His name is Sahriel,” he said flatly, automatically and rather absently as he thought about the rest of it. It was annoying how none of the other demons would respect what Sahriel preferred to be called. He most definitely wanted Sahriel’s seal back and he just bet Seth would want to kill him, though he’d prefer to be the one killing Seth, if that were possible. However, that wasn’t the most interesting thing at the moment.

“What kid?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. It didn’t sound like he meant Sahriel, it almost sounded like he meant Seth, but Seth was supposedly the ‘oldest’ of Sahriel’s brothers, or so he had gathered from what little Sahriel had said about them. “Isn’t he older than you?”

“In body, yes,” Nefertem smirked. “In mind? They are all children.” He was, after all, the Demon of Knowledge and Wisdom and whatever the fuck else he felt like being. The others had all gone for braun, except Thoth and Seshat and they didn’t count. Thoth was apparently sleeping down in Antarctica, ignoring them all, and Seshat had disappeared completely with rumours he’d run turn coat and changed to God’s side. As if there was a God. Whatever.

“Shezmu will always be Shezmu. He can’t change the name written on the Seal, no matter what he might like.”

Connor scowled at him. “I don’t bloody care what’s on his seal, his name is Sahriel. It was given to him and he chose it and it’s his choice what he should be called. As long as I hold his seal, that will be his name and if there’s any way to change it for good, believe me I will. But in the meantime, if you love him as much as you say,” he noted with a skeptical curl of his lip, “you’ll respect his own choice in it.”

Nefertem just shrugged because the point was moot anyway. Every demon on the Earth had called Shezmu by that name since his creation and would continue to do so. If the little humans wanted to call him Sahriel then so be it. It was cute, really, almost like they had a pet name for him.

“Whatever. You won’t live that long anyway.” Unless Sahriel was really serious and went and found some of the more unsavoury humans that existed, then maybe he would live a long, long time. That would sort of suck, really. He’d have to almost respect the oaf.

“You wish,” Connor shot back grimly. “I said he’s mine forever and I meant it. No matter what I have to do to make it happen. There are ways, and I will find one and I will keep him until the end of time,” he growled, almost snarling at him, “and there’s not a damn thing you or anyone one else can do about it. He is mine, no matter what, and I will find a way.”

Akhenti stood watching their little face off with some fascination, rather amused but also intrigued, knowing that Nefertem really had no idea of the depth of what Shezmu – Sahriel – had gotten himself into, and it was going to be interesting when he finally figured it out.

Not having expected that sort of vehemence at all, Nefertem found himself pausing again and really looking at the human. He looked so determined, so completely sunk in whatever emotion he was feeling that it actually shocked Nefertem. Not that humans could feel like that, but that one could feel that way about one of their kind.

“Well, if Seth doesn’t kill you I suppose I could help you with that. But you would owe me. Or rather, the favour I owe would become yours.” He’d had a vampire help him out, a long time ago now, and maybe the bastard didn’t even remember but Nefertem did and he always paid his debts. He just hadn’t gotten around to this one yet…and if he was honest, he was avoiding it because the bastard was freaky scary.

Connor studied him warily for a minute, not entirely sure he could trust that; Sahriel did seem to trust this particular brother, but to Connor’s way of thinking he’d been wrong about that before, and in any case ‘help’ from a demon didn’t necessarily mean anything he’d want to consider. Then again, he was definitely going to have to do something he didn’t really want to consider in order to pull off some kind of immortality, so…he’d consider it.

He nodded slowly, acknowledging the offer, if not accepting it for the moment. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he noted dryly, aware that it would be a moot point if things did go badly wrong here – not that he intended to let them, but it was possible.

He would keep it in mind. The human was batshit insane, but that was fine. Most demons were, and if he was really going to stay with Shezmu for all time he was going to have to be insane. There weren’t a whole lot of options for immortality and most of them were very unsavoury. Nefertem very much doubted he had it in him, but then he had doubted some before that were still around today, or so he had heard.

“Good, good,” he said instead of the many things that came to mind. “Keep moving, we have a lot of catching up to do if we’re going to overtake them. At least Shezmu is being a pain in his ass.”
Connor nodded and fell into step behind them, watching the ground again with determination as his feet carried him closer and closer to Sahriel. Closer to getting his soul back. Sahriel was almost the only thing that mattered to him in the world, anymore, and he knew he couldn’t live without him. He really, really needed this to work.

So he promised himself it was going to, and he kept walking. Getting Sahriel back.

I’m coming.

But the city was quiet, strangely devoid of demonic presense, familial or otherwise and Nefertem stood in cold silence, realising he was alone. Abandoned, only not really. He knew Seth would never truly abandon him, but the feeling was there anyway. Because Seth hadn’t confided in him; had not trusted him with where he was going or what he was going to do, which could mean only one thing.

Seth knew Nefertem wasn’t going to like it.

Scowling, Nefertem stormed back upstairs, searching for a note he knew was not there. He raided the entire house, and when he came up empty handed he locked himself in the library, seeking out old lore and information, trying to find something nagging at the back of his conciousness, but not sure why it was important at all, just filling his head with something other than anger, letting the knowledge cool his ire until he could think straight again. Then he started to develop his own plan, knowing Seth well enough to be sure of where he was going and what he intended to do.

Once, Nefertem might have hurried after him, intent on helping him, but not this time. Because this time, Nefertem had been faced with Hell, literally, and he hadn’t liked it. Worse, he understood why he had been sent there, and he didn’t like that either. He’d seen something in Shezmu that didn’t belong in a demon, but if it was in Shezmu it could be in any of them. Seth had, after all, grown wings! No one knew what to make of the older ones and their recent transformations, each developing to a new level, but none having any idea why or how. Their lack of knowledge concerning how they came to be was crippling them and Nefertem hated it. He wanted answers to the questions he considered so important.

Answers Shezmu seemed content to either ignore, or intent on discovering himself, without sharing that knowledge with anyone else. But Shezmu had always been odd, so perhaps what he had seen and what Shezmu had said were just side effects of some sort of contamination from being among the humans too long? Or perhaps half a century trapped alone in the dark had made him a little mad? Maybe he was changing like the older ones, only instead of progressing as a demon he could be devolving into a human?

Nefertem’s head was pounding, but he made his way upstairs and carefully packed a bag. Light weight, easy to carry, simple basic necessities that would last the journey; things he hadn’t bothered with when he’d gone last time, knowing he was at his full strength. It would not be like that this time. This time he would need to bring a human to Paris, and that was going to be annoying, but perhaps also enlightening, because Shezmu seemed to like them so much. Nefertem wanted to know what made them so fantastic, that his little brother would choose their company continuously over his.

He returned to the basement and stroked the lid of the cabinet over his seal, but his gaze was on Seth’s. If he followed through with the plan in his head, his older brother could change his mind about Nefertem’s place at his side. He might consider him tainted and as outcast as Shezmu. He might try to have him sealed, like they had sealed Shezmu for centuries in the temple at Tikal. But if Seth followed through with his plan, then Nefertem would ensure Seth would not be sealing anyone anywhere for quite some time. If only his brother had left a note, he wouldn’t have to resort to such wild plans!

Still quietly fuming, Nefertem hired a coach to take him as far south as he had money on him to afford, before stepping out onto the road. It felt good to stretch his legs and fill his lungs with fresh air, even if the air was chill. Winter couldn’t be far away and he wondered how the little townsfolk were dealing with whatever damage had been done to their homes, the cold creeping into their houses. No doubt they had banded together like humans did, helping each other. It always made Nefertem amused and curious, as no such thing would ever happen between demons. He couldn’t fathom asking one of the others, outside the family, to assist him in repairing a house. They would wonder what he wanted a house for to begin with, and then try and figure out what plans he could possibly be hatching from there.

He entertained himself with these sorts of musings until he managed to get passage from France to England, landing on the small island and sending out his probes once again, unsurprised when at last he felt the first quiet echos of Seth’s presence, far off, days ahead of him, but it confirmed all of Nefertem’s suspicions. He could hurry ahead, but in the end the outcome would be the same. Seth would command him to do as he was told; it would change nothing. And he had no intention of being sealed for defiance.

No, Seth would take Shezmu’s seal and drag him kicking and screaming back to France. Shezmu would not disobey, terrified of being sealed once again where his lover would never find him. But Nefertem would take his time, arrive late, and have a heart to heart all of his own with this mysterious lover. If Seth could make deals without consulting him, then Nefertem could certainly do the same.

Besides, it was about time Seth understood that strength did not always make you more powerful; that there were other ways to win a war. All this time and Seth still hadn’t managed to take France; one puny little country in the middle of europe, surrounded by parties just as large, if not even bigger players, but he was so hell bent on achieving this one goal he had long ago lost sight of the larger picture. He hadn’t seen Thoth in the ear of England’s King. He hadn’t noticed that Amun was in Russia, causing chaos. He hadn’t seen one of the other families take Spain and decimate their old stomping grounds in South America.

All of these things, Seth had missed in his crusade to take France and supposedly free Shezmu, who had been taken from the mainland decades ago, not that they’d had any confirmation of that until he was unsealed. But they’d suspected, and yet Seth had persisted. Nefertem had simply watched, amused by the small obsession, but equally concerned.

His concerns, he now felt, were justified.

*

Seth took many wrong turns in his travels, frustrated by Shezmu’s complete lack of power. He didn’t seem to be using any at all, and Seth had trouble finding any trace of him at all. In the end he’d had to search for Nefertem, finding traces of their battle and heading in that direction. It was well over a week before he wandered through the moors, a little stunned by the severity of the ruin. He knew, of course, what happened when two demons fought; he was one of the worst after all, starting fights constantly, whenever anyone dared question him.

But he’d never seen Shezmu fight, and the few times Nefertem had fought where he would see it he had been controlled and cold. Calculating. This was complete madness, driven by a desire that was not Nefertem’s own. It was more than a little frightening, and made Seth reconsider some rumours he’d heard after the battle for Constantinople. He’d thought the others had exaggerated Nefertem’s actions in those weeks, but now…he wasn’t so sure. It was unnerving to think there could possibly be anything he didn’t know about his right hand.

The town was badly damaged, but in repair, and Seth waited until nightfall before searching through it, but there was no sign of Shezmu, so he receded into the trees to watch, waiting paitently and as the days wore on he got to know the town better than he wanted.

Worse, he got to know Nefertem was right and Shezmu had himself a human lover. That wasn’t the truly grotesque part though, most demons took humans to bed to toy with for a time, but this was different. Shezmu treated the human like an equal, and then some. He almost treated him like a master. As though the man held his seal.

He followed them at night to their secret cave, and he sat in the opening and listened to Shezmu cry out a human name in ecstasy, and he heard the human call him Sahriel, over and over, whispering nonsense in his ear and Shezmu lapped it up like a dog brought to heel. Seth actually went and threw up one night he was so revolted. But he waited, as he thought Nefertem might wait had their roles been reversed, and sure enough, Shezmu grew tired, the endless days in the sun wearing him down until he didn’t come out one morning after his lover, and Seth wandered in to find him curled up in a nest, completely naked, the scent of the human reeking in his skin.

And there, on the blankets like an offering left in thanks, was Shezmu’s seal.

Shezmu’s eyes were wide as he jerked awake, mouth dark red where the blood seeped over his open lips, sharp teeth slicing open the delicate flesh as he came to. What little colour had been in his face drained away as he looked up at him, too stunned for words.

Seth’s smile was feral as he flipped the seal in his hand, almost like a coin.

“Heads or tails, little Shu?”

He was also extremely, irrevocably tired. Every day he felt more compelled to follow Connor to work, just to watch him and be at his side, but the days in the sun wore on him. Dark circles smudged their way under his eyes, which lost their inhuman lustre. His skin grew increasingly pale, almost translucent, his teeth sharper than usual, desperately hungry for blood and power. But he was safe, there was no need to be strong…or so he kept trying to convince himself. But that was a hard thing to do when he wrapped his hands around a teacup and could no longer make the water boil.

After his fifth attempt, Sahriel gave up trying to boil his cup of water and wearily went to put the kettle on the stove.

Connor was aware that Sahriel was wearing himself out, but he had no idea what to do about it. He had to do his work in daylight, and there was basically nothing he could do about it. So he watched and he worried, and to make things a little easier on all of them, he started working on the extra room that Miriam had suggested for the house.

It wasn’t quite finished, yet, so they still had to come back and forth every morning, and Miriam worried, too. She thought they were both under a little too much stress, and Sahriel’s obvious weariness brought out all her motherly instincts.

She frowned as she watched him, not entirely sure what had just happened, but he looked so tired and disappointed it nearly broke her heart.

“Sweetheart, I can make you tea, you want to just sit for a bit here?” she offered, coming over and taking the kettle out of his hand. “Are you alright, Connor’s okay, the two of you…?” she asked, shooting him a concerned glance as she went about making his tea.

“Yes?” Sahriel just blinked at her, not sure what she was thinking, but more than happy to let her make the tea. He hovered nearby, not sure what he should say, wondering if there was a reason she thought he and Connor might not be okay. As far as he knew everything was better than fine, it was absolutely amazing.

“We’re fine. At least…he hasn’t said anything to you, has he?” He asked worriedly, wondering what he might have done wrong. “He hasn’t said anything to me.”

“Of course not,” she answered in some relief, giving him a sympathetic smile. “Not to me, and I didn’t think so, but you looked so sad just now. I been worried, I have. Is there anything I can do?” She wanted desperately to help, but she had a feeling there simply wasn’t anything anyone could do, and that worried her even more.

“It should be better once the other room is done, yes?” she said hopefully as she finished making the cup of tea and handed it to him.

“Yes! I mean, there’s nothing wrong, I’m really happy. I’ve never been so happy. Guess I’m just overdoing it, I just want to spend all my time with him and you and everyone, all the time. I don’t want to waste any of it…” Human lives were so short, he couldn’t sleep away Connor’s lifetime. What a waste that would be. “I’m just tired…maybe I’m coming down with something.” He shrugged, smiling wryly, knowing he wasn’t capable of catching any disease. He was worn out, almost completely. He hadn’t had a chance to recover after his binding, and now he’d traded what little strength he had left for more time with Connor. He thought it was a fair trade.

Miriam hummed thoughtfully as she made her own cup of tea with a troubled look, shaking her head a little. They needed a break, both of them, but really she couldn’t think of a way to give them one. And Connor wasn’t the kind of person who took breaks, anyway.

It was Sahriel who really needed one, though.

“He worries about you,” she noted gently as she motioned for him to follow her over to the rocking chair in front of the fire.

Sahriel dodged the chair and sat down directly in front of the fire instead, sighing in pleasure as the heat reached his cold skin. But the words sank in soon after and he rubbed his head, not sure what to make of what Miriam was saying. Connor, worried? About him? Sahriel hadn’t noticed, and he couldn’t think of any reason Connor would get worried, because he wasn’t in love with him. Not in the way Sahriel was in love with Connor, which was the only reason Sahriel could think of that someone might worry. Only Miriam seemed concerned too.

“He doesn’t need to, I’m fine.” He just couldn’t control…anything, right now. If a demon did happen to find him now, he would be screwed. The upside was he was so depleted there was no trace of him to find. “Is he still working on the extension? It’s past sundown…” He didn’t have to work tonight, for which he was more than grateful. He thought he might just pass out if he had to work tonight.

“I think so,” she agreed, reaching out to pet his hair. “He is worried about you,” she insisted softly. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you aren’t looking.” Her own forehead creased in a worried frown, and she sipped her tea with a soft sigh.

“You two,” she murmured, “you don’t talk much, hm?” And she really didn’t want to know the details of what they did instead.

“Are we supposed to?” Sahriel had no idea what people were supposed to do in proper relationships. He’d only ever been a slave, treated like a prince, true, but a slave nonetheless. He didn’t get to choose what he did when someone had his seal, he just obeyed blindly. He’d hated it, but it was not the worst situation he’d found himself in. Still, his masters hadn’t bothered doing much talking and Sahriel had assumed that was normal. Demons weren’t huge on chatting either, they preferred to just run around doing whatever took their fancy at a given moment.

“I’m not…I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

Miriam rubbed his head with gentle fingers, feeling sympathetic but not sure what to say. “Connor don’t know what he’s doing either,” she pointed out finally. “He’s not even figured out he’s in love yet, I reckon.” She laughed and then she sighed, leaning down to kiss the top of Sahriel’s head apologetically.

“Maybe you haven’t either, hmm?”

“I know I’m in love,” Sahriel snorted softly, but then he frowned, looking over at Miriam as if she was being stupidly sentimental and seeing something that wasn’t there. As if she was being a typical human woman, which it was far too easy to forget she was.

“Connor doesn’t…he doesn’t feel like that.”

Miriam snorted right back at him, unimpressed. “Oh really,” she said drily, raising her eyebrow in amusement and then ruffling his hair. “I know my brother way better than you do,” she pointed out. “Trust me, he’s never felt like this in his life before, but he’s in love with you. He don’t know what it is because he’s an idiot – and a boy,” she added, musingly, “but he’ll figure it out. Maybe.”

Maybe not, in which case she might have to do some sisterly meddling, but she was confident that Connor did in fact feel like that and simply didn’t know what the hell to do with it.

“Silly,” she told Sahriel gently, stroking his hair flat again in apology. “Look at him. He’s changed. He’s all soft and goofy about you – you don’t change for people you don’t love. Not like that.”

“Well…he has changed, I’ll give you that. He’s not trying to throw me out of the house anymore, or being a grouch every time I go within a yard of him…” He smirked at that, sipping a little more happily at his tea, because even if he wasn’t in love with him, he definitely didn’t hate him anymore. Sahriel yawned then, startled because he was almost sure he had never yawned in his life; it was so un-demon-like! Nefertem would have been disgusted and sent him to the cellar for a week. That made him sigh glumly, because Nefertem probably hated his guts now, and was no doubt in a lot of pain from dragging himself back from Hell, never a nice experience. And what if he came back for more? Sahriel couldn’t stop him right now, he couldn’t even boil his tea.

“I’m really tired.”

“You need to rest more,” Miriam said worriedly, looking down at him in concern. “Connor won’t be happy if you kill yourself just to stay with him more. He knows you have to sleep in the daytime, you work at night. He won’t mind if you sleep when you need to. He’s worried,” she insisted. “We both are.”

“But then I don’t get to see him, except for just a few hours in between…It’s not worth it if I don’t get to see him that much.” It was being up in the day that was doing his head in; he needed to be out of the sunlight, completely, for a good length of time. Maybe there was a vampire nearby with a good coffin or something, they had to have a good place to hide…Only there had only been one vampire who liked to hang out in London and he was downright insane and very unlikely to help.

“I just want to spend as much time with him as I can.” He’d be gone before Sahriel could think to blink.

“He understands that,” Miriam told him, shaking her head. “As much time as you can is going to be a lot shorter if you kill yourself doing it. Get some rest. He’s not going anywhere, believe me.” She knew Connor was one of those people who only fall in love once, if they do at all. Connor wasn’t going to get over it or move on, whether Sahriel stayed or not.

Sahriel knew she didn’t understand; couldn’t understand, really. No human could really comprehend waiting more than four thousand years for someone, and then only getting one frail human lifetime with them. It just wasn’t fair, and Sahriel had no idea what to do about it other than try, desperately, to have what he could. But she was right, he was tired and he nodded, getting up and going to the couch, curling up under the blanket and almost immediately dropping off to sleep. It wasn’t anything like his nest, not comfortable at all really, but beggars could not be choosers.

When Connor came in about half an hour later, Miriam gave him a very smug look and handed him a fresh mug of tea with a kiss on the cheek.

“He’s sleeping~” she trilled at him, very pleased with herself.

“Yeah?” Connor looked relieved, and didn’t even frown about the gloating, merely taking the tea in an absentminded hand and going over to look down at Sahriel, his face softening as he saw the demon curled up adorably in as much of a nest as he could make with the few blankets. He sighed faintly, wrapping both hands around his cup of tea and gazing down at his lover with a troubled look.

He wasn’t entirely sure why Sahriel was wearing himself out the way he was, but something had to be done, because this was just ridiculous.

“Did he…say anything to you?” he asked his sister warily, knowing Miriam and the way she poked at people when she was worried or wanted to know something, but also not entirely sure he wanted to know all the details of her interrogation.

“Mmm,” she murmured, settling back into her rocker with a fresh cup of tea and picking up her knitting, shrugging a little as she debated what to tell him, if anything. Sometimes Connor just had to find things out the hard way.

“Seems he’s afraid of losing you,” she said finally, glancing up at him curiously. “Sit down,” she added in some irritation, annoyed that he was still just standing there beside Sahriel, towering over her, looking lost and restless and a few other things she couldn’t define.

Connor grumbled but he dropped to the floor, sitting with his back against the couch, legs stretched out before him as he fiddled with the half empty teacup in his lap.

“Losing me?” he muttered, frowning. How many times did he have to tell Sahriel that he was never leaving, never letting go, never never never?

“Ach, he’s a fool then,” he muttered, sighing as he ran a tired hand through his hair.

Miriam rolled her eyes. “Oh, and you’re the one,” she snorted, half to herself. “You ain’t a fool at all, not you.”

Scowling at her, Connor finished his tea in one swig and set the cup aside with an impatient, restless movement. “What’s wrong with me then?” he demanded. Women. Always thinking they were smarter than everyone else. He sighed and leaned his head back against the curled up bundle on the couch, closing his eyes and setting his jaw grimly. Somehow, he was running out of time, and he didn’t know why.

“You’re an idiot, o’ course,” Miriam told him complacently, but she didn’t bother to elaborate. “What’s he so afeard of, hm?”

Connor shrugged without opening his eyes. “Dunno,” he muttered, though that wasn’t precisely truth. They were going to have to talk about some things again, clearly. He hated talking.

Sahriel was wakened by Connor’s voice, the low grumble that went straight through him, and the extra heat coming from Connor’s body so close to his own. But he was still asleep enough that he wasn’t aware of anything other than the fact Connor was there and he abruptly rolled off the couch and into Connor’s lap, curling up there and sighing in relief.

“You work too hard,” he complained softly. That was the problem, really. Connor worked from sun up to sun down, and Sahriel worked sundown until everyone went to bed. That left very few hours to work with. “You only get one life, why waste it working,” he complained.

Connor wrapped around him automatically, soothing and murmuring gently to him, kissing his hair and holding him close. Something fierce and possessive rose inside him as it always did, making him tighten his grip and press his cheek to Sahriel’s hair, closing his eyes with an expression that was half frustration and half pain. He understood how Sahriel felt, the fear of losing what they had, but he was also determined that there was a way to prevent it.

“I’m keeping you,” he reminded Sahriel in a low, fierce voice. “Forever, so don’t complain to me about life. You are mine for way, way longer than that.”

That just made Sahriel frown and wake more, blinking up at him in consternation because this was not something to joke about! He sighed and traced the lines of Connor’s face with his fingertips, as if trying to memorize each one for future reference, and he couldn’t convince himself that wasn’t what he was doing.

“Did you get all your work done?”

Connor grunted, not finding that a relevant issue at the moment, but also not wanting to continue the conversation in front of Miriam.

“Did that before I started working on the house,” he pointed out. He wouldn’t leave work undone just so he could work on a personal project – although he had bent that rule more than once in the past weeks, as he grew more worried about Sahriel. Looked like it was time to outright break it.

“You working tonight?” he sighed, knowing the answer already. “I’ll come with you.” Might as well sit in the inn and watch Sahriel work as toss and turn and sleep badly in his bed alone.

“Nah, they gave me the night off. Teague said he would cover my shift for me.” He’d said a lot more than that, and threatened to lock Sahriel in his room for days if he didn’t go home and get some rest. Sahriel hadn’t argued; had taken the offer and run off back to Miriam’s immediately. He wanted to sleep with Connor, no way was he turning down that opportunity.

“You’re not allowed to work either.”

Connor relaxed visibly, though he snorted at the final admonition. “I don’t work at night,” he reminded Sahriel, but he was feeling too relieved and comfortable at the moment to sound anything other than mildly amused. “C’mon, baby, say goodnight to Miri and let’s go,” he added, getting to his feet with Sahriel still in his arms and carrying him over to Miriam, bending down so Sahriel could give her a hug – Miriam dropped her knitting and reached up to hug them both, giving them sisterly smacking kisses on the cheek and petting Sahriel’s hair with a fond look.

“Goodnight, boys. Stay safe, now, and mind your step in those woods!” she warned, regardless of the fact that they’d been heading out to sleep in Sahriel’s cave at night for ages now and had never had a problem getting there in the dark.

Sahriel just grinned, because he could see better than anything else that might be out there in the woods. But it was cute, that Miriam worried, and he supposed at the moment there was reason to. He couldn’t fight off anything in his current state, but he didn’t think he would need to either; Connor knew his woods damn well. He sighed in relief once they were out and on their way, wriggling out of Connor’s hold and taking his hand, walking close in against Connor’s side, half dozing even as he walked.

“You know you’re not immortal….right?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Connor asked, frowning at him, and not entirely happy about Sahriel insisting on walking when Connor had been carrying him just fine. He wanted to scoop him back up and maybe scold him a bit until he stayed put, but Sahriel was unpredictable enough that Connor wasn’t entirely sure it would work. He settled for grumbling under his breath as he made sure his grip on Sahriel’s hand was as tight as it could get.

“I will be,” he promised grimly. There were ways, and while many of them were a great deal less than pleasant, and none of them were easy, the fact remained that there were ways, if you didn’t care what you had to do to get it, and Connor meant to try every one of them until something worked.

“Uhuh…you don’t even know how, and if you did you wouldn’t want to. It’s icky.” Or Sahriel thought it was. Alchemy, Vampires, Dark Science, Witchcraft…there were so many ways, but he only knew two that worked for certain and he didn’t like either of them. Not that he would mind if Connor needed to bite him all the time to survive, he thought he might like that actually, but that was so not the point.

“You’re not going to be here forever. I want to be with you for as long as I can. Stop worrying about it.”

Connor shut his mouth and kept it shut, all the way to the cave, and when they reached it he dragged Sahriel inside and pushed him over to the cozy little nest on the floor, tackling him flat on his back and pinning him there to look him in the eye from very, very close up.

“You aren’t listening,” he growled, frowning in annoyance. “You are mine, for always, and I am not letting go of you. Ever. Nobody else gets to have you, and I don’t care what I have to do, I am going to be there to make sure of it. Believe me, I know enough about becoming immortal to know that I don’t want to do it, but I don’t give a damn about that. You’re mine and I want you and I’m going to keep you, and that’s the end of it. If I have to become immortal to do that, you bet your pretty little ass I will,” he snarled.

“So I don’t want to hear another word about this crap, and you better start fucking sleeping when you need to, or I will see to it that you do. And I’m not going to need your damn seal to do it, either,” he added grimly.

Sahriel blinked, stunned because while Connor was always a stubborn ass, he was rarely so in your face about it. It sent a shiver down Sahriel’s spine, of desire and want and desperate need. He needed Connor to be immortal; needed him to be a solid, constant presence for eternity or he was almost certain he was going to go insane, and then the other demons would have to seal him, and he would be their slave for always. He couldn’t stand the thought of it, but there was no alternative, not for him. Demons didn’t get to die.

“I need you. I need you for always,” he whispered, letting the terror of it enter his voice for the first time. “I’m so tired, I can’t do anything, I can’t even boil water! But I don’t care, because I get to be with you, I just want you. I need you to be with me!”

Connor grinned, sharp and full of teeth. “Good,” he growled, settling himself more comfortably on top of Sahriel and kissing his way up Sahriel’s jawline to his ear, nipping it with his teeth and then sucking hungrily on the sweet spot just below it.

“Mine,” he growled under his breath, snarling to himself while he left a series of marks down Sahriel’s neck. “Mine, mine, mine!”

Sahriel gasped as pleasure sparked through him and he untangled his legs enough to wrap them around Connor’s waist, rubbing up against his weight hungrily.

“You’re such a pain,” he complained softly. “So sexy, love watching you build stuff, I just want to push you up against the wall and take your clothes off but Miriam might see…you’re always teasing.” Just breathing was teasing to Sahriel, but that wasn’t the point. “You’re mine! I don’t like it when I can’t have you all to myself, you’re supposed to be mine!”

Connor kissed him hard, partly to shut him up and partly because the writhing and squirming beneath him was turning him on like crazy and he needed to taste the deep, hot addiction that was Sahriel’s mouth before he went insane.

“I need you too,” he gasped out, low and rough and breathless. “Need you more than anything, can’t let you go. And I’m all yours, baby, all of me belongs to you. I promise you one day it will just be you and me, nobody else forever.” He had to take care of Miriam, first, or at least make sure she was set up with someone else who would, but more and more lately he was wishing he was free to just take off with Sahriel and start hunting down immortality in whatever dark and nasty corner it was hiding in.

It would happen, he would make sure it would happen, but he wished it could happen sooner.

God yes, that was exactly what Sahriel wanted, to be together forever, but also those deep kisses that threatened to break whatever part of him was demonic and didn’t care and make him somehow human and desperately bound by his heart. He whimpered into it, hands clawing at Connor’s clothing, pushing it aside and tugging his shirt loose from his trousers so he could toss it aside, licking at one hard nipple.

“Love you,” he mumbled even as he shoved Connor’s trousers down over his hips. “Not supposed to be possible but I do. Love you.”

“I know,” Connor rumbled back, and oddly the unfamiliar words made something ache inside him – they still didn’t make sense to him, but somehow he wanted them to. “I know….I want you to,” he admitted in a soft, hissing breath, arching his back as Sahriel’s hands caressed his skin. His own hands gripped Sahriel’s hips hard enough to leave bruises, holding on as tight as he could in sheer desperation because he needed so badly and couldn’t express to Sahriel in any other way how badly he wanted and was determined to keep this.

Whatever that means to you, I want it.

That wasn’t the same thing at all, I want you to was not I love you and Sahriel sighed, because Miriam was wrong but he was fine with that. As long as he got to keep Connor he didn’t care what Connor called it. As long as those hands didn’t let go.

“Need you, want you inside me!” He kicked his own pants off, not caring where they ended up, just wanting skin against skin and for Connor to give in completely. “Now, Connor. I want you now.”

Now sounded good to Connor, too, and at this point he was practiced in the quick gestures of dipping his fingers in the smooth cream they kept nearby in a little jar and slicking himself up before sliding in, one long smooth thrust that drew a groan from his throat, heartfelt warmth and appreciation.

“Ahhhh, Sahri,” he sighed gratefully. “God, you feel so good.”

Sahriel just nodded because damn straight that felt good. He shifted around until he could sit up in Connor’s lap, hungry for more, determined to get as much of this as he could, while he could. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt a sudden sense of urgency, as if everything were about to change, but he couldn’t begin to say why. His arms wrapped tight around Connor’s shoulders, using them as a support to pull himself up so he could drop down on Connor’s cock, moaning in pleasure at the friction and heat and the sound of flesh against flesh.

“More. I want more.”

For some reason this time, that demand didn’t make Connor feel like he immediately wanted it faster and harder, the more that he wanted wasn’t that easy, somehow.

“Shh,” he murmured, tangling his fingers in Sahriel’s hair and rubbing his neck with strong, gentle fingers. “I got you…” He began kissing Sahriel’s face, little feathery kisses across his cheekbones and forehead and lips, soft affectionate touches as his free hand rubbed smoothly up and down Sahriel’s slender, graceful spine.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, smiling faintly as he nuzzled against Sahriel’s neck, licking savouringly across the marks he’d left earlier, swirling his tongue around for a slow, lingering taste.

It was not something Sahriel was unused to hearing, but somehow it sounded very different coming from Connor. It meant something, while it never had before; he craved the words because he wanted Connor to think of him that way and want him for it all the more.

“Sexy. You’re sexy. Want you, all the stupid time!” It really was annoying.

Connor chuckled, soft and low as he nudged Sahriel back down against the soft nest beneath them, putting his hands and mouth to use as a means of distraction until he had Sahriel right where he wanted him, pliant and breathless and pinned gently but firmly down so that Connor was the one controlling the pace, and he moved in slow, even, long and smooth strokes, in and out with just enough force to cause gasps of pleasure when he struck the most sensitive spots.

He wasn’t sure what love meant to Sahriel, or in general for that matter, but he wanted something deeper here than just feeling good, he wanted something ‘more’ that didn’t have anything to do with force, and this slow, luxurious worship of Sahriel’s body felt like a good place to start.

“You are the most incredible, amazing thing in the world,” he whispered, leaning up for a deep, hot kiss. Feel me, hear me, this is how I feel about you. Whatever the word for it actually was, Connor didn’t care a whole lot. It was this, it was them, and it was the only thing he ever wanted.

Something in Sahriel finally calmed, soothed by every touch until it settled deep inside and he wondered if maybe Miriam was right and Connor maybe loved him and just didn’t know what the word meant. Or maybe he thought the word was too shallow or something. It was hard to say.

“I hear you,” he whispered softly, letting the pace calm to what Connor seemed to want. “I hear you, Connor.”

It was enough to settle something in Connor as well, feeling that Sahriel was finally ‘listening’, allowing him to relax into it and just enjoy it, slowly bringing them both higher and closer to the edge, treasuring each sound and look from Sahriel that told him this was more, he’d gotten through somehow, they were connecting on a level deeper than just physical, deeper than what they’d had before. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but it made everything feel more intense, a kind of ecstasy flooding his veins even before he got close to an orgasm like he’d never had before.

Sahriel let it build, driven mad by the slow rise through whatever soul he had, burning alive with the heat of it until he finally came, struggling for air until he remembered he didn’t need to breathe and then he just focussed on the pleasure, letting it wash through him, rejuvenating in a sense, drawing on the energy between them both to refill his own depleted stores. He hadn’t felt so alive in a long time, and it had never felt so good.

“Connor.” That was the word for whatever this was. Not love, not mine, not anything, just Connor.

“Mmm,” Connor agreed, rolling onto his back and pulling Sahriel on top of him, lazily stroking his hair. “Mine, mine, mine,” he reminded Sahriel, not because he thought Sahriel needed reminding at this particular point in time, but simply because he wanted to say it again.

“All mine.”

Completely his, and wasn’t that just hilarious. Sahriel snorted softly at himself, lolling around in a cave with a human, perfectly content to be owned by someone. It made him rummage around for his seal, holding it in his palm and reminding himself that he wasn’t bound; that Connor wouldn’t do that to him. Connor wanted to keep him, but not like that. Connor wasn’t like the others through time who needed to possess by controlling.

“All mine,” he echoed, smiling because that was how it was. Every part of himself that Connor claimed, he gave back the same part of himself to Sahriel. That was the difference.

Connor chuckled and nodded his agreement, stroking Sahriel’s hair back from his face and just looking at him for a minute, smiling faintly to himself at how perfect Sahriel’s features were, how beautiful and insanely attractive he was, because he was a demon, Sahriel would say, but Connor thought there was a lot more to Sahriel’s beauty than that. Sahriel was just gorgeous inside and out, and Connor thought that made a difference. He wasn’t just beautiful, he was adorable, and Connor had never needed anything so much in his life.

“All yours,” he echoed softly, admitting it with a wry smile. Sahriel didn’t even know how true it was, Connor was pretty sure.

Sahriel had no idea how true it was, but he suspected he was going to find out sooner rather than later. There was something nagging at him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was and he just sighed, happy where he was, warm and sated and curled up with Connor James.

“Sleep now,” he murmered, because he was still ridiculously tired. “Otherwise you’ll worry. Sleep is important.”

“Mhmm,” Connor agreed, curling up around him and burying his face in Sahriel’s hair, sighing contentedly. “Sleep good. You should sleep more.” And he wasn’t kidding about making sure that Sahriel did. At the moment, however, it didn’t look like being a problem.

The repairs were almost done, to the point where the Inn was fully functional again and Sahriel had to return to work later that night. He was annoyed, because it meant he couldn’t go to bed with Connor, but he wasn’t too fussed. He could stalk Connor in the woods again soon, and that would definitely make up for it.

Akhenti had dropped in for a random visit as she had done several times over the last few weeks, just a few days here and there; she never stayed long, but she liked seeing Sahriel happy. Just at the moment she was frowning because little as it was, using power the way he was doing could attract attention that he simply didn’t need. If she could find him, so could others, and there were very few demons that would be as nice to him as she was.

“Are you done playing with your food yet?” she complained.

Looking up at her, Sahriel only grinned and pointed through the steam.

“You look like a Djinn. You should wear those floofy pants like they do sometimes…” But Akenti would never trade in her short shift dresses. It was an Egypt thing, he knew, and he couldn’t blame her. Women hadn’t been in the best position since then, just look at Miriam who should have been running a damn restaurant or something and instead was stuck in the cottage like a ‘good’ woman. He sighed and stopped making the water boil, looking seriously at his friend.

“Do you think the world’s getting worse? I mean, what if the others are right and people are just screwing up all the time. Maybe we should take charge again?”

Snorting at the suggestion that she should dress up like a djinn, Akhenti shrugged and took a sip of her own drink. It was one of those questions that really had no answer, and not one she really had an opinion on anyway. She never thought much about humans other than to stay out of their way.

“Humans have always been screwing up,” she stated. “No offense,” she added with a wary look at Miriam. “But it has never been our problem, and the ones who think otherwise only say it because they want an excuse to take over.” She shrugged again, looking amused. “You know they’d get bored if we really did run everything. They love their plotting and intrigues – what would they do if they didn’t have humans to set things up so we can knock them down?”

“I guess,” Sahriel agreed half heartedly, Nefertem’s face as he was being sent back to hell still playing on his mind. He’d never been on his brother’s bad side, but he had heard stories about demons that fell that way. It was apparently…unpleasant. He couldn’t fathom Nefertem losing his temper, but if he was ever going to, now would be it. And worse, Sahriel couldn’t blame him; he’d be pissed if someone sent him to hell too, especially his brothers.

“Do you think Temmi will be mad at me?”

Akhenti was silent, thinking about it. In her mind it was nearly impossible to be mad at Shezmu, but then she was little biased. Nefertem had a soft spot for him as well, but whether it extended to forgiving him for sending him to hell was hard to say.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, Shessa.” She felt sorry for him, getting himself in such a spot, but she was a little bit envious too, of how happy he obviously was with his human lover.

“It’s not your fault,” he pointed out softly, going back to playing glumly with his steam, recalling just how gruesome the fates were of people who had crossed Nefertem in all those stories. He didn’t even think he would mind dying like that, if he could die. It was Nefertem being mad at him that he couldn’t stand the thought of. But there was nothing to be done about it now and he looked over his shoulder at Miriam, sniffing at the air and the delicious scent of dinner. He could eat to make himself feel better, surely?

“Is it ready soon?”

“Soon,” Miriam agreed, giving him a sympathetic smile. She only half understood their conversation, but she knew Sahriel was worried, and it made her want to hug him comfortingly. She wasn’t entirely sure he’d want it, though.

“When Connor gets here it should be ready.”

When Connor got there Sahriel wanted a damn hug. He sighed and slumped down in his chair, not even the tea succeeding in pulling him out of his slump. He wasn’t sure why, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling something was very wrong and he should be doing something about it. Instead, he was going to go work in the bar and sneak home to crawl into Connor’s bed for a few hours rest in the early hours, and wish that humans could love demons, since apparently demons could fall horrendously in love with humans.

“How long does it take to bathe anyways.”

Not very long, and Connor walked in a few minutes later, sniffing appreciatively even as his eyes went straight to Sahriel, having eyes for nothing else as he went straight to him and bent down for a thorough, heartfelt kiss, tasting him lingeringly and slow, aching with the spicy sweetness of him.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” he sighed.

Startled that Connor had just done it, right in front of Miriam and Akhenti, it took Sahriel a minute to recover, then he just grinned and sprung up, wrapping his arms tight around Connor’s neck to get the hug he wanted so badly, feeling relief wash though him as soon as he was pressed tight against all that warmth.

“Missed you.”

Connor hugged him tight, both arms wrapped completely around him, luxuriating in the relief of having Sahriel in his arms again, pressed so close against him and belonging so perfectly in his arms.

“Missed you too,” he murmured, feeling a little silly admitting it, especiallly in front of the girls, but the fact remained that it was true. He sighed and took Sahriel’s seat, pulling him into his lap as he sat down.

Miriam looked amused as she carried dinner over to the table, setting out the hot dishes and waiting for everyone to help themselves.

“Time to eat,” she informed them all unnecessarily.

Now that Connor was back, the farce of eating when he didn’t need to wasn’t quite as appealing to Sahriel and he shared a knowing look with Akhenti. Without the need to eat, the habit just became…a chore. It felt like work to have to lift the fork and chew and swallow and digest. But he had to admit Miriam’s cooking always tasted amazing and he obediently slid into the chair beside Connor, shifting it closer so their knees could touch before examining the hot meal before him.

“It smells amazing,” he noted, because that at least he could enjoy more than any human.

Not bothering to pretend she wanted food, Akhenti contented herself with enjoying her tea and watching Sahriel, which was entertaining enough to make up for sitting around while the humans stuffed their faces.

“Smells good,” she agreed half-heartedly, not feeling any more inclined to taste it than she ever had.

Sticking his tongue out, Sahriel went about slowly devouring the meal, studying the way Connor and Miriam ate, deciding Miriam did it with much more class and copying her, learning her table manners for future use. The more he watched, the more fascinated he was with the way she held things, moved things, kept her elbows off the table…

“Why do you do that?”

Miriam blinked at him, puzzled, pausing in her hearty consumption of the meal to give him a bemused look. “Do what?” she asked in bewilderment, not entirely sure what he was talking about. Sahriel was strange, you never knew if he was talking about something normal or something that really was odd.

“You don’t put your elbows on the table. But wouldn’t it be easier if you did? Why don’t you? Don’t you get bruises leaning them like that, you’ve got little arms…” He frowned, leaning closer to get a better look at the way her arms were resting against the table’s edge, then he looked sternly at Connor.

“You should sand the table edge round so it doesn’t hurt Miriam.”

Connor stared at him, rather blankly, and Miriam smothered her laughter at the look on his face. “I don’t think it’s hurting her,” he said finally, looking rather doubtful. Sahriel picked the strangest things to obsess about. Not that he wouldn’t sand it down, probably the first chance he got, but it still amused him.

“It’s alright,” Miriam told Sahriel, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “I’m fine, see?” She lifted her arms, letting her sleeves fall back to show them smooth and unmarked.

Sahriel inspected her arms but still frowned, even when he found them flawlessly whole and unmarked. Miriam was not allowed to be damaged, not just because it would make Connor sad, but because she was…He paused, thinking it through and then smirked, feeling much more satisfied with his current predicament. She was his pet, just like the many pets he’d had through time; his to scold and pet and protect. He was still a demon after all, not a failure.

“As long as it’s not hurting you, you can do it then. You’re not allowed to do things that hurt you.”

Shaking her head, Miriam gave him a bemused smile. “I’m not in the habit of doing things that hurt me,” she pointed out rather amusedly as she went back to her meal.

“She’s not allowed?” Connor muttered, giving Sahriel a sideways glance as he finished up his own dinner, wondering what the hell that meant.

Akhenti merely sipped her tea and smiled to herself, feeling rather entertained. Shezmu was going to have his hands full with these humans, quite obviously.

“She’s not allowed,” Sahriel agreed stubbornly, glaring at them all over his dinner and deciding he’d had enough, pushing the plate away a little and snatching up his tea, sipping at it and watching them through the steam again.

“You look smug,” he warned Akhenti. “You better not be thinking bad things about me.”

Akhenti just smirked at him a little more. Bad things were relative, though Sahriel would no doubt think that her thoughts counted.

Feeling mostly amused, Connor just shrugged as he sat back in his chair, having finished eating. He leaned sideways enough to rest his arm over the back of Sahriel’s chair and play with his hair. Sahriel’s hair was endlessly tempting to him, especially when they were at home and it didn’t matter who was looking, or if he reached out and touched it as much as he wanted to.

Immediately distracted by the touch, Sahriel turned to stare at Connor, drawn immediately to his mouth, his own lips parting slightly with desire, wanting to lean in and kiss, and to reach out and touch but he controlled himself and sat quietly, satisfying himself with staring.

“That’s not fair when I have to work tonight,” he complained softly.

Connor raised his eyebrows at him. “Isn’t it?” he murmured, rather absently, still distracted by the glossy silken strands he was twining around and through his fingers. So sexy, somehow – he’d never noticed anyone’s hair all that much before, but Sahriel’s was irresistible to him.

Laughing, Miriam got up to begin clearing the table, feeling as usual a bit amazed but mostly glad for the odd… softening effect Sahriel had on her brother.

“No, it’s not!” Sahriel assereted stubbornly, but there was no heat to the words and he shifted from his chair and back into Connor’s lap, of the opinion he deserved cuddles since he wasn’t going to get any tonight. His hands reached out without thought to pick up his teacup, but it was empty and he stared into it mournfully before looking over at Miriam with a hopeful look.

“Is there more tea?”

“Of course,” Miriam answered, smiling warmly at him as she came over to refill his teacup. She always made sure to have plenty of tea for Sahriel, it was an easy enough thing to do and he enjoyed it so much that it was a pleasure to be able to make him smile with something so simple.

“Mine too!” Akhenti demanded, holding up her mostly empty cup, and Miriam filled hers as well, raising an eyebrow at Connor to see if he wanted some too, but he shook his head, being fully occupied at the moment with wrapping Sahriel up in his lap and nuzzling his hair. Miriam hid her smile as she turned away to put the teakettle back on the stove to stay hot.

Sharing a knowing grin with Akhenti, Sahriel sipped at the new cup of hot tea and sighed in pleasure at the fruity taste of it on his tongue. Tea was awesome, plain and simple.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” He looked at Connor questioningly, eyes wide and deceptively innocent. “Have you still got work to do in town?”

“There’s a bit to finish up yet,” Connor told him as he stroked Sahriel’s hair back yet again and kissed his temple. “I’ll get to it later in the week, need to catch up on some other things tomorrow.” Getting buildings and homes repaired had been top priority, but what was left wasn’t terribly urgent, and he’d been neglecting his other, more usual duties.

“So you’ll be in the forest?” Sahriel perked up immediately. Stalking Connor all day sounded like an awesome plan, and maybe Akhenti would come and play in the stream with him. He looked over excitedly and grinned at her.

“You wanna come play in the forest tomorrow? I have a cloak you can borrow if you need one.”

Connor eyed her dubiously over top of Sahriel’s head, not at all sure that this was a good plan. The fact that she was here at all was, he felt, rather risky, considering how she refused to do anything that made her even remotely look like fitting in or being somewhat normal. In the forest at least they were unlikely to run into anyone other than himself, so he said nothing for the moment.

“Is it you’re staying the night then?” Miriam asked her, pausing beside the table with a towel in her hand. “Connor, as I were meanin’ to ask you, might you have time before long to see about building us another room, over against the house there?” she noted, pointing where she thought an addition would best be placed.

“It’s terrible inconvenient to have you an’ Sahri always gone of nights, wherever tis that you’re sleepin’. If we’d another room here you’d have your own, and it’d be easier to make a place for Kenti when she’s here.” Miriam found the demon girl’s name very difficult to pronounce, and had settled on something simpler in approximation. Akhenti didn’t seem to mind much; she found it amusing, and she was fond of Miriam.

At the moment, however, she was blinking at the suggestion, and studying Sahriel with intense curiosity. If Connor was going to build a room onto his house just for Sahriel, that was kind of… permanent. Akhenti found the idea of settling down with a human for any length of time, much less such a significant settledness, to be rather astounding.

Sahriel found it equally unsettling, though he couldn’t begin to say why. Still, he turned to once again stare at Connor, not sure what he could make of it and curious to see his expression while he thought it over himself. But after a minute he still wasn’t sure he liked it. The cave had special meaning for him now, and it was safe and comfortable. But it was inconvenient and really, they could go have a cave romp any time, and a permanent, soft bed would be awesome.

“Can I watch you build it?”

“Mmm,” Connor muttered, considering the idea a bit doubtfully. Not that it wasn’t a good idea, it was just… sooner or later people would find out he was building it, and there was no good reason he could give them as to why it was suddenly necessary to make a house bigger when only two people were living in it. He could probably come up with something, but it still made him uneasy.

Still, it would be nice to be able to stay here with Sahriel instead of always going out to the cave, not that the cave wasn’t comfortable and somehow special, it was just a long way to go.

“I could maybe do that,” he agreed finally. “I’ll have to see when I have time. Of course you can watch,” he added to Sahriel, assuming he wanted to be out in daylight that much. The thought amused him, and he brushed an affectionate kiss across Sahriel’s cheekbone.

Delighted that Connor would allow him to watch, Sahriel immediately decided he was fine with the idea. Connor, he had learned in the last few weeks, liked to take his shirt off when he was building things, and he got hot and sweaty and it drove Sahriel half mad with lust, in the best possible way. He sighed at the memory of the various times he’d caught a glimpse over the past few weeks and was immediately horny. It made him annoyed that the add-on wasn’t already built, and that he had to work that night.

“I like watching.”

Akhenti burst out laughing, shaking her head at him, completely entertained by it all. “You are so far gone, Shessa,” she told him in their own language, giving him a rather wicked teasing look.

Connor gave her a look of only mild curiosity, not much interested in whatever she had said, and went back to stroking his fingers through Sahriel’s hair. Miriam had already gone to fetch some blankets to make up a bed on the couch for Akhenti to sleep on, and missed the exchange entirely.

Akhenti just smirked at him, thinking he was cute but not at all inclined to stop teasing him about it.  It was a sister’s job, after all.

“But he’s sexy,” Sahriel argued in their own tongue. “And he’s mine and I’m going to keep him, and he likes it!” He wasn’t in love with him, but Sahriel could handle that; he was still a demon, after all, and Miriam was his pet. Maybe his wires were just crossed and he was just too attached to his Connor-pet. That made more sense.

“You just wish you had one.” Only not really, because Akhenti had never really been the type to take on pets; she considered them too much work, or something.

“A human?” Akhenti wrinkled her pretty little nose. “No thanks, you can keep them.” She tucked her hands around her cup of tea and hummed in pleasure as she sipped at it. Sahriel was right about one thing, Miriam made very good tea.

“So you don’t wish you had one just so they could make you tea on demand? It’s good, right, you like it?” Sahriel grinned at her, his teeth nicking his lower lip, smearing blood on the already red flesh. He smelt it and his tongue slid out to lick it up, pleased by the bitter taste of it on his tongue but only more turned on, looking at Connor with hungry eyes.

“If I want tea I’ll just come have some of yours,” Akhenti told him loftily, sipping at hers.

Miriam came back with an armful of blankets and pillows, going over to arrange them on the couch and make it into a comfortable sleeping place, fussing with them until it was as good as it was going to get, really.

“There you go,” she noted in satisfaction as she came back to sit at the table with a contented sigh. She knew Akhenti and Sahriel both preferred to sleep during the day, but she never felt comfortable leaving a guest without a place to sleep at night, and when Sahriel was working Connor slept in his own bed.

Sahriel looked over at the couch and wrinkled his nose, because that just didn’t look comfortable. There were not enough pillows and blankets and soft, fluffy things to curl up around. He remembered the good old days when they had entire rooms filled with cushions to sprawl all over in thin tunics, tucked away in the cool shade, away from the sun. He missed those days, especially lying with Nefertem and listening to him read. It seemed unlikely Nefertem would be reading him stories any time soon.

“I guess I should be getting ready for work.”

Connor made a reluctant sound in his throat, knowing Sahriel was right but not wanting to let go of him yet, resting his cheek against the soft dark hair and tightening his arms around him, closing his eyes to just feel the security of holding him safe and close like this, all his for always, or so he had promised.

He wished he had his own secret language he could say things in that only Sahriel would understand, too. “Mine,” he whispered anyway, though that was nowhere near all of what he would have wanted to say.

The word, whispered against his ear in the soft, gentle tone that Connor so rarely used on anything, made Sahriel shiver. He was close to saying to hell with it, quitting his job and just curling up where he could watch Connor all the time, any time he wanted. But then he wouldn’t get to see Teague much, and he cuoldn’t tease people in the bar or meet the new folks who came through town and that was just too much fun to pass up on.

“Mine.” If that was the only word he was allowed to use, then he would use it all the damn time.

Connor sighed, half agreement half contentment, and kissed his hair before reluctantly letting go, straightening and pushing his chair back to give Sahriel room to get up.

“Don’t work too hard,” he said half heartedly, feeling guilty for the selfish wish to keep Sahriel home all to himself, to not let him go back to work and just keep him always with him.

Reluctant to move, but knowing when he’d outlived his welcome, Sahriel got up and brushed his trousers off in case he’d spilt any crumbs, which he hadn’t, then turned to fetch his coat from the rack by the door, pulling his hair out to fall around his shoulders, clinging like black spider silk to everything it touched. He grinned at them all sitting around the table, his little family of sweetness.

“Mmm…I’ll be back in the morning. Don’t get up to mischief while I’m gone!”

Not that it would matter, Sahriel could see just fine, but he didn’t want Connor to let go; to shake him off as if he didn’t want him. Now, more than ever, he needed Connor to want him. He’d sent Nefertem to Hell to stay with Connor. He’d certainly never risked that much before.

Connor held on just as tightly, linking their fingers securely together and squeezing his hand. He was relieved to finally have a whole night they could spend together, something which had happened too rarely in the last week. He needed Sahriel as badly as Sahriel needed him, and it was exhausting, soul-wearying to work day after day without any real time to spend with him. He was grateful for this night like an oasis in the desert.

“I missed you,” he noted quietly after awhile, and it seemed like such an understatement and yet incredibly silly that he felt such a need to say it, to express the ache of Sahriel not being there as often as Connor could wish.

“Missed you too,” Sahriel noted softly, walking closer to Connor’s side and rubbing his cheek against his shoulder. He felt bad for being relieved to be out of the house, leaving Miriam alone, but at the same time he needed time alone with Connor; needed to be able to touch him and breathe in the scent of him, taste him if he wanted to.

“I need just you time.”

Connor nodded silently, knowing exactly what he meant. Time just together to kiss and touch and not worry about anyone seeing, or making Miriam uncomfortable, or anything at all except each other. To get fully naked and skin to skin, lying together and rubbing sensually against each other, whether having sex or just enjoying the simple pleasure of touch.

“I know,” he said finally. “I need it too.” The walk to the cave entrance seemed longer than usual tonight, and he tugged Sahriel inside, stopping to kiss him once they were well and truly out of sight, enclosed in the rock walls. He took a little time to just hold him close, wrapping his arms around Sahriel’s slender frame and kissing him slowly, thoroughly caressing and exploring his mouth.

“You taste good,” he murmured.

Something in Sahriel had started to feel strange the last few days, somehow foreboding and unsettled. Every time Connor kissed him the feeling subsided and he was filled with relief that almost swept him away. He felt it now, reaching up to tangle his fingers in Connor’s hair, kissing back in complete abandon, the rest of the world disappearing as he sank into it.

“Need you so bad, Connor.”

“Good,” Connor murmured with a faint smile, kissing him again and then tucking Sahriel under his chin, holding him tight and rocking him a little. “Just like this,” he said softly, not even sure what he meant except that just this was incredibly soothing, peaceful and relaxing like nothing he’d ever known, just holding each other tight. “Just like this.”

After a minute he sighed, letting Sahriel go to retrieve his hand again and walk the rest of the short distance to their little hideaway, eager to get to the soft warm nest of blankets they’d made to curl up in.

Sahriel led the way, making sure they didn’t trip over anything, pulling Connor over to the nest he had made; a swirling mess of blankets and pillows woven together to make a strong base, then covered with more blankets and pillows. It was comfortable and big enough to hold them both with room to spare. Sahriel was in love with it already and hurried over to snuggle into the soft mass, making odd little happy sounds, reaching out with his senses to light the oil burner so Connor could see.

While Connor appreciated the gesture, he almost didn’t need it, having developed a sort of sixth sense for feeling his way around in the caves, particularly this one he knew so well. Still, the soft light made it easier to move quickly, and he followed Sahriel over to the blankets and dropped down beside him, reaching for him hungrily, needing to touch again.

“I want you,” he sighed, almost a moan as he pressed Sahriel back into the cushiony softness, half covering him and kissing him hard, thrusting a knee between his legs to rock hard against his hip, groaning at the sparks of pleasure that shot through his groin. It was something more nebulous than sex that he meant, though that was certainly included, but there was a terrible need for possession that gripped him when he’d been away from Sahriel too much for too long, when the want was all-consuming and covered so much more than physical, something fierce that burned in his very soul. “Want you so bad…”

“Yours,” Sahriel reaplied softly, and his head fell back as he moaned, exposing his throat as his teeth dug into his lower lip, blood sliding to fillt he fresh wounds, the scent in the air arousing. There was need in the word; the raw desire for Connor to possess him that went contrary to his nature, which screamed to be free at all times. Sahriel didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he didn’t care; he wanted Connor to own him, and to own Connor in return, not as a pet but as an equal.

“Naked,” he managed to demand. “I want you naked.”

Connor had trailed kisses down the side of his neck when his head fell back, and paused to leave a lovely mark on his shoulder, but the husky demand made him shiver, moaning a little as he nodded, moving back just far enough to strip out of his clothes, hot eyes still fixed on his lover. Sahriel was the most incredibly sexy, beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and there was nothing he wanted more.

“You too,” he insisted in a deep, darkly intense voice that promised he would do it himself if Sahriel didn’t.

Transfixed by the sight of Connor’s skin being revealed, it took a minute for Sahriel to comply, slowly shifting so he could push his trousers down his legs, kicking his boots off and tossing it all aside in a heap before reaching for the hem of his shirt, tossing it aside, apparently oblivious to his own nudity or the chill bite to the air, hands reaching out to stroke Connor’s stomach, leaning in to dip his tongue into Connor’s belly button, sucking gently on the flesh around it, loving the way his muscles shifted around his mouth, just beneath the surface. His teeth grazed Connor’s skin in his wake and nicked him just below the navel, blood trickling and Sahriel watched it wantonly before licking it up.

“Mine.”

“Yours,” Connor agreed readily, suddenly breathless as Sahriel’s tongue swept across his skin. “All yours… God, you’re so sexy.” It nearly drove him mad, just looking at Sahriel and feeling the hunger eat him alive like nothing ever had, the sheer aching sense of need so sharp it was almost pain. His hands reached blindly to tangle in Sahriel’s hair, needing an anchor, needing to touch even as Sahriel continued his teasing licks and nips on his skin.

The touch distracted Sahriel and he looked up curiously, meeting Connor’s gaze and smirking at the heat there. He let his hands settle on Connor’s hips and licked his lips, smearing the blood still oozing there before very deliberately kissing the end of Connor’s cock. He didn’t bother pointing out that he was pretty sure demons were supposed to be sexy.

“You’re the sexiest thing I ever saw,” he noted softly, and it was true. The other demons were what humans desired from partners, but Connor was pure, raw, human male and Sahriel was somehow designed to want it. He was convinced Connor was the epitome of what something had created him to lust after, and he certainly wasn’t complaining.

Connor didn’t think there was anything particularly sexy about himself, certainly nothing that a demon would find so attractive, but as long as Sahriel thought so it didn’t matter.

“Where did you come from?” he murmured wonderingly as he stroked Sahriel’s cheek with the back of one finger, then tugging him up and onto his lap until Sahriel was straddling him, pulled tight against him. “Somebody made you just for me,” he added with conviction, kissing him deeply and licking at the traces of blood on Sahriel’s lip, sucking lightly at it and soothing it with his tongue.

“God you taste so good,” he groaned, the flavor sending an erotic thrill running through him.

Sahriel paused at that, a little stumpled, licking his lips after the kiss but otherwise preoccupied, thinking, which in and of itself was something a little remarkable. Sahriel wasn’t known for doing a lot of thinking. But Connor’s words made him wonder, because sometimes humans seemed to know something demons didn’t.

“Do you really think someone made me just for you?” They made him a bit early, if they did, but he wasn’t going to complain about waiting a few thousand years, it wasn’t like he hadn’t had fun most of the time anyway. “We don’t know where we came from.”

“You for me, me for you, it’s the same thing really,” Connor answered disinterestedly, shrugging. He nuzzled the corner of Sahriel’s mouth, licking and nibbling his way down his jawline to the sensitive spot right beneath his ear, sucking there with interest to see what kind of reaction he got.

Sahriel felt something melt inside himself, liking Connor’s theory on his creation much more than any of the demonic ones he’d heard. The result of Connor’s sucking was more exaggerated, flamed by Sahriel’s pleasure and his back arched, hips thrusting up against his lover’s, legs wrapping tight around Connor to pull him down and in against him with a wanton moan.

“Connor…Want you now, Connor, stop teasing me!”

Connor gave him an inscrutable, if smoldering look. “But I’m not done teasing you,” he pointed out, having entirely too much fun playing with Sahriel’s so responsive body. It was time to relax, time to enjoy himself, and they had a whole night to be together. He meant to make the most of it.

“Shh now,” he murmured, “just enjoy it…” He got down to a more serious business of finding every one of Sahriel’s sensitive spots with his tongue, licking and sucking here and there, leaving adoring kisses and stroking elsewhere with his hands as he slowly and carefully and thoroughly worshiped his slender beautiful lover, wanting to make him feel incredible before they even got past the foreplay.

Incredible was dependant on one’s definition, in Sahriel’s opinion. There was no denying it was amazing; that his whole body was begging for it just as loudly as his voice, pleading desperately, his words ignored as Connor continued to drive him half mad. It was tormenting, his whole body hungry for more, his silly human toying with him the way a demon would toy with a human, under normal circumstances. It was embarrassing, but Sahriel reasoned none of the others would know, and even if they were right there in the room with them he knew he wouldn’t put a stop to it. Nefertem was right to be incredulous, but it didn’t change the raw fact of it.

Sahriel was in love. And as if that wasn’t already impossible enough, he was in love with a human.

“Oh God.”

Connor liked the sound and tone of that particular exclamation, and he was grinning as he stretched up and pinned Sahriel down to kiss him hard, raw passion and joy and fierce desire all present in his kiss.

“Come on then,” he said in a rough, husky voice. “Where’s your slippery stuff?” He pulled back a little to rub his fingers together, miming to show what meant since he had no idea what the stuff was or what it was called.

“Idiot,” Sahriel grumbled, but he reluctantly crawled out of the nest and went the grab the small pot, lingering over the slightly fragrant scent of it before taking it back over and handing it to Connor, flopping back down and spreading his legs, arching one slender brow and smirking up at him, letting his sharper teeth show, for once looking every inch the demon, laid out naked with faintly glowing skin, slightly pointed ears, sharp teeth and eyes that shone impossibly in the dark.

“Are you done playing yet?”

Connor had been, but now he perversely decided he was not, giving him back a sardonic grin every bit as toothy, if not as sharp, and taking his time about scooping a generous dab of the cream out of the jar and slowly applying it, fingers circling teasingly before they pushed in and playing as they stroked inside and out, thoroughly slicking up Sahriel’s entrance before he smeared the rest of it on himself, smirking all the while at Sahriel’s impatience.

“You rat!” Sahriel whined softly, throwing an arm over his face and groaning as his hips shifted hungrily, thrusting up against Connor until he decided humans were just stupid. Then he smirked and reached down to grab Connor’s wrist and deftly shoved Connor’s fingers all the way inside, controlling Connor’s hand skillfully and slowly stroking it over his prostate, fucking himself on the long, calloused digits, letting his pleasure show in a deliberate torrent of lustful moans.

Connor growled at the interruption of his teasing, trying to frown at him but not really succeeding. “Oh no, I don’t think so,” he said dryly, pulling his hand free and grabbing Sahriel’s wrists, pinning them on either side of his head as he finally gave them what they both wanted, moving forward and thrusting in more deeply than his fingers could reach, quick and hard and his smirk disappeared almost immediately as he began to move and the pleasure overwhelmed him, making him groan and pant for breath.

“Oh God, Sahri…” he moaned.

“Connor,” Sahriel whispered in response, eyes hazing over as his body thrummed, heat sending a faint flush over his skin, goosbumps pebbling his flesh. He reached up to wrap his arms around Connor’s neck and pulled them both up into a sitting position, sitting down on Connor’s cock and crying out as it slid in further, lifting himself up just to feel it again as he slid down the thick length.

“Oh…so good, Connor!” He bit down on Connor’s throat, not quite slicing through the delicate skin, but hard enough to bruise.

So good, god yes it was good, and Connor only managed a gutteral, wordless cry, his grip tightening enough to leave bruises as he tried to hold on hard enough to keep himself anchored. The firestorm of heat and pleasure was sweeping him away, scattering his senses until he was nearly dizzy with it. Good wasn’t even hardly the word for it. It was mind-blowing.

“You,” he managed to groan, not even sure what he was trying to say. “You.”

Laughing softly, Sahriel kissed him in pure delight. Every reaction Connor had was perfect; always exactly what Sahriel wanted to hear and it only made the fire inside hotter as he moved faster against Connor, meeting his thrusts, loving the sound of skin on skin echoing in the cave.

“Close,” he whispered against Connor’s ear, licking at the soft lobe and nuzzling his temple. “Come with me, want to feel it.”

“Want you,” Connor agreed, or thought he did, hazily felt it like agreement at any rate. Really it was a wonder he managed to say anything at all, with his senses shattered into tiny, glittering fragments as the waves of pleasure built and built in his system, sweeping through him in a crescendo that was all too close already.

“Sahri…el…” he breathed finally, soft and aching and desperate, mouth seeking for another kiss as his body finally reached its peak and tensed and shuddered with release on a long, low groan.

Sahriel gave in immediately, tongue sliding in against Connor’s, mouth sealing them together as he came hard, body clinging hungrily to Connor as the pleasure rocked through him. His eyes slid closed and he rocked lazily against Connor, humming softly as he shivered, sparks of pleasure shooting up his spine.

“Connor. Mine…you’re Mine.”

“Yours,” Connor echoed, feeling something oddly like relief ripple through him in the aftermath as he eased back until he was lying down, tugging Sahriel down on top of him and hugging him fiercely, feeling both deeply possessive and an aching need to be owned, to belong to his lover as much as Sahriel belonged to him.

“Yours, I need you.”

Smiling softly, Sahriel sprawled out on top of him, stroking Connor’s chest and shoulder with long, lazy planes of his hand, soaking up the aftermath; the taste and scent in the air, the loud drumming of Connor’s pulse against his own, the heavy breathing, the heat in the skin against his own. They were all things that made his demonic senses sharper and he licked his lips in pleasure.

“Need you too,” he agreed softly, before falling quiet, just listening and absorbing the night.

“Do you want tea? I’m gonna make some.”

“Mmmm,” Connor answered after a minute, feeling too lethargic to imagine sitting up and drinking tea, let alone making some. Still, it sounded good, something warm and soothing to drink. “Sure,” he agreed, but he didn’t intend to move for it.

Laughing softly at the pure laziness evident in the vague agreement, Sahriel crawled free of the nest and went over to find the teapot, filling it up from their water bucket and taking it back over with two mugs and the small container of tea. He settled back in against Connor before focussin on the teapot, forcing the water to boil. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be using his abilities but he didn’t think it mattered right now. Nefertem wouldn’t be back for quite some time and boiling water wasn’t exactly strenuous. He usually did it accidentally, not even thinking about it.

Connor roused himself enough to watch with a bit of wonder, always amazed at this odd ability of Sahriel’s to make things hot, make water boil or lamps light or, he was sure, much larger things, though he’d never seen it demonstrated. It was sexy, somehow, though there was little about Sahriel that wasn’t, one way or another.

“You’re so hot,” Connor noted to himself, reaching out to stroke his arm, a little amused at the correlating thought that Sahriel could make water boil from pure hotness alone.

Smiling softly, Sahriel leaned into the touch, but his attention was on the teapot, waiting for the moment when it was boiling and then pouring out two mugs of tea, grinning as he presented one to Connor and then curled up with his own, sipping it and moaning in delight, the sound eerily similar to those he made when he had sex.

“I love tea!”

Connor just shook his head in amusement, holding his own mug carefully and waiting for it to cool before taking a sip, not wanting to burn himself and a little amazed that Sahriel could drink near boiling water with no apparent discomfort.

“It’s good,” he agreed lazily, feeling content and sated and not at all like moving.

The heat was the part Sahriel liked the most; he liked it so hot it burned inside his stomach like a small fire, warming otherwise cold skin and muscle from the inside out. He shifted to curl up against Connor’s side, careful not to bump him, very much aware humans didn’t heal anywhere near as quickly as demons. It reminded him that Connor was fragile, and one day would die, leaving Sahriel alone. It wasn’t something he liked to think about, but it was a thought coming to mind more and more often as the days went on and he only fell further into whatever the emotion was that attached him to Connor. Love, or something worse. He fell quiet, lost in his own small melancholy.

It made him heartbreakingly lovely, and Connor tilted his head to just watch him, entranced by the beauty of that very same quiet sadness, the faint wistfulness about him. It was gorgeous but also tugged at his heart, and he didn’t feel up to dealing with whatever it was at the moment, so he didn’t ask but merely reached out to play with the long, silky fall of midnight hair. God, he loved Sahriel’s hair, it was amazing.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Startled, Sahriel just smiled, all shining white teeth and he leaned closer to kiss Connor, soft and chaste, lips hot from the tea. He was still amazed that Connor thought he was beautiful; that a human could think so, even if he was supposedly designed to appeal. But Connor thought he was and it was the best kind of tea.

“I love you,” he whispered softly, almost afraid to say it and make it true.

Connor blinked at him, the words not making sense at first, and then his eyebrow lifted slightly as he gave Sahriel a faintly puzzled, quizzical look. No one had ever said that to him before, and hearing it first from a demon was just… weird. Need, lust, hunger, possession, obsession, those things made sense coming from a demon, or supposedly a demon, but love? Love was strange.

In fact he wasn’t sure even he knew what love meant, and how the hell could a demon know that better than he would? In the end he decided that Sahriel was telling him what he thought a human would want to hear, or trying to express what he really meant in words a human would understand, and he shrugged it off. It was a nice gesture, he supposed, but it made him a little uncomfortable as even if he was human he had no idea what you were supposed to say to that.

He ended up smiling bemusedly and tugging Sahriel closer, holding him possessively and kissing his hair. “Mine,” he agreed, or figured it was close enough. “Mine for always.”

Sighing softly, not having expected anything from Connor, Sahriel put aside his empty cup and curled up in Connor’s lap. He knew a human couldn’t love a demon; that it had to be impossible, but somehow it still hurt in ways he didn’t fully understand, so he just took what he had, that he was Connor’s, and let that be enough.

“Mhm, mine,” he agreed, because he had that much of Connor and it was more than enough. More than he had thought he would get a month ago.

The sigh bothered him and a frown creased Connor’s forehead as he absently wrapped one arm around Sahriel to cuddle him closer, stroking his hair while he slowly drank his tea. He wished Sahriel hadn’t said it, for whatever reason, because now everything felt odd and it made him uneasy.

“All yours,” he insisted, because he felt that just as strongly and it felt somehow as if Sahriel were doubting it.

Sahriel wasn’t doubting that Connor was his; in all the ways it was possible to own a human, Sahriel owned Connor. But Connor didn’t love him and humans were supposed to love. Love other people, and there was the crux of the matter. Sahriel knew a human couldn’t love a demon, even if Connor had wanted to, which he clearly didn’t. It made Sahriel’s mood plummet and he remained curled up in Connor’s lap, wondering where the warmth all went.

Connor sighed too when he didn’t get an answer, and his arms tightened around Sahriel with an unhappy feeling that he wasn’t holding on tight enough, somehow.

“Shh,” he murmured, wanting to soothe even if he didn’t know what the problem was, stroking Sahriel’s hair and hugging him close. “I won’t let go,” he murmured, kissing his hair, not sure if it was a threat or a promise.

“One day you will,” Sahriel whispered darkly. “You’ll let go because you want to, or one day you’ll die and have to…either way.” And he’d be alone, the laughing stock of all the demons, because he’d fallen for a human and let it die, and he would be by himself for eternity, or worse.

“I will not,” Connor told him grimly, tightening his grip until it might be painful and not caring. “I’m not letting go of you, not ever. I don’t care what I have to do, I will find a way.” It wasn’t that it didn’t scare him, the idea of what he might have to do to be able to stay with Sahriel as long as Sahriel lived, but leaving Sahriel to someone else was not acceptable, and going into whatever there was after death, without him, scared him more.

Frowning, Sahriel sat up and stared at him, his expression clearly stumped. He scratched his nose when it itched and then thought some more, but couldn’t come up with a response. It made no sense. Why did Connor want to follow him if he didn’t love him? Was he just that possessive? Humans only did stupid things for people they loved, generally. They definitely didn’t do stupid things for demons.Thousands of years of being hunted had proven that.

“Why?”

Connor pulled him back in close, tucking him against his chest and rocking him back and forth, pressing his cheek to Sahriel’s hair. “I don’t know,” he whispered finally. “I don’t know.” He couldn’t even begin to tell why he needed Sahriel so badly, why he was so fiercely determined to keep him, to stay with him, to never let anyone else have him.

More than anything, he didn’t know why it hurt. It hurt to think he couldn’t do it, it hurt to think Sahriel would go on without him, it hurt to think of losing him in any way, shape or form.

“I need you,” he blurted, and that was the closest he could come to explaining it, even if it wasn’t an explanation at all. “I need you forever.”

Whatever that meant to a human, who had no idea what forever even was. Sahriel forced a smile and wrapped his arms tight around Connor, clinging harder than he meant to but unable to let go. So he couldn’t keep him forever; he could damn well hold on for as long as they got. And even if Connor didn’t love him, Sahriel could still try to make him understand by loving him even more to make up for it.

“Okay.”

Connor snorted softly, not thinking that okay meant Sahriel understood anything at all, but knowing that neither of them really knew what they were doing here.

“I know what you meant,” he said finally, pretty sure that whatever Sahriel had really meant when he said he loved him, it was the same thing he was feeling. They needed each other, they were meant for each other, made for each other… the words didn’t matter. They belonged, and he wasn’t going to let the fact that he was human break them apart, now or fifty years from now when most humans died.

“Can you… ” He hesitated, not sure he wanted to ask, but sure that he would rather this than any other options. “Can you make me like you? If… if you bite me or something?” he asked awkwardly, not wanting to offend him but hell, who knew anything about demons really? “Can you make me… a demon?” He shivered because the very idea was a bit scary, but he’d meant it when he said he didn’t care what he had to do.

“Bite you? I’m not a vampire!” Sahriel whined softly, but his frown was genuinely puzzled. “I don’t think so, I never heard of anyone being made into a demon, demons just are. We just…come into being, like we are now.” None of them had ever been little, and none had grown old, they just were and while some knew they were related others appeared to have no relations at all.

“I can’t make you a demon. But…there’s other ways. We can talk about them one day, later, if you still want to.”

Connor shivered again, uneasy about the whole idea, but he still held as tightly as he could to Sahriel’s slight frame. The discussion made him tired, and he nudged Sahriel down into their soft nest, ready to lay down and curl up with him and let all the uneasy questions go for the moment.

“We will,” he promised softly, because he wasn’t letting go. Not for any reason, not ever.

Lying down was the best idea ever. As soon as his head touched the pillows, Sahriel sighed in relif and turned to curl up amongst the blankets, pressing in tight against Connor’s side, relieved to once again be skin to skin.

“Will you dream about me?”

Connor snorted a soft sound of amusement, tucking Sahriel beneath his chin and stroking his hair in the obsessive way that was so soothing to him.

“When do you think I don’t?” he noted dryly, because even before he’d given in and admitted it, Sahriel had been haunting his dreams since he met him. He couldn’t really remember the last time he had slept without a dream of Sahriel in there somewhere.

Delighted by the reminder, Sahriel finally relaxed, nuzzling Connor’s throat and letting the warm blankets soothe the last of the hurt away, leaving him once again sated and comfortable. He let the lamps burn out of existence and loved the way Connor’s breaths seemed louder in the dark.

“I’ll dream of you,” he promised. “I’ll have the best dreams ever.”

They usually still would stick around for dinner, which was nice, but then they would leave together, and she wouldn’t see either of them again until the next day. It was a strange feeling, watching them go, leaving her alone in a cottage that had always seemed cozy and almost too small, but suddenly echoed with empty space. She wasn’t used to sleeping in a silent house, knowing that it was empty, unable to even hear another person breathing. It was a little hard to get used to, and she didn’t think she altogether liked it.

She was pondering some solutions, but they would have to wait until the work in town was finished, and it wasn’t that urgent anyway, she told herself. In the meantime she kept her smile bright and her hearth and kitchen open and welcoming, making sure that whenever she did have them at her disposal, they were well fed and warm and cared for.

She had somehow begun to think of them as a unit, which she knew was dangerous, but it was so clear that they were when they were together in private. Neither of them was fooling around or taking the…relationship, or whatever it was, lightly. They were both dead serious, and it kind of amazed her to see it in Connor – to see the passion and devotion and emotion that he hadn’t had about anything in a long time. She had never expected to see him so involved with another person, so attached and… affectionate.

In fact it amused her a great deal to watch them together when she was able to coax them to stay after dinner to sit by the fire and visit for awhile, talking or just quietly being together while she worked on crochet or knitting or some other small task. It was quite adorable to see her big, gruff and grumpy brother cave so easily and soften so much with his slender, almost fragile looking little lover, suffering all kinds of touching and affection and even returning it in a way he had never done even with her, although she usually was able to get a hug and a smile out of him.

But this was… well, it was quite frankly entertaining is what it was, and sometimes she would just let them sit there and quietly murmur back and forth to themselves, keeping quiet until they forgot her and became so completely absorbed in each other, Connor looking more open and relaxed than she thought he’d ever been in his life, and while he made an occasional attempt at stern or gruff responses, it was the open affection, gentleness and even tenderness that made her watch in wonder, enthralled and rather grateful to Sahriel for having come along when he did, to rescue her brother’s heart.

It occurred to her eventually that she should tell him so, and as he usually returned from town sooner than Connor did each day, she enjoyed the times to chat and talk with him alone, getting to know him better since it seemed he was part of her family now.

She greeted him with a warm smile and a cup of tea, always, setting it on the table for him just as he sat down, perfectly timed so she could brush his hair back and kiss his forehead as he reached for it.

“How was your day then, luv?” she asked him as she moved away to pour another cup and take a seat across from him, snatching a few minutes of rest to just visit with him, enjoying the company.

“I fixed a window!” Sahriel announced excitedly, holding up his hands smothered in small bandaids from his various attempts at fitting the glass before Teague had come to help and rescue the poor frame Sahriel had built. “It was loads of fun!” He wrapped his hands around the tea and sighed in pure delight, sniffing at the steam and sipping at it slowly, savouring the taste.

“You’re the best Miriam!”

Chuckling at him, Miriam sipped her own tea, pleased that he was so delighted with it. “No, now, it’s me should be tellin you that,” she answered, cocking her head with a bright, saucy little smile. “You been a real good thing for us, Sahri,” she added more seriously, nodding warmly at him.

“Good for Connor. He’s spent too long closed off and angry and hurting,” she noted softly, shrugging a little. “Never thought I would see him let anyone in again, not like he does with you. I never seen him that happy,” she told him wistfully. She wasn’t sure Sahriel knew that Connor was happy, since it wasn’t like he did a lot of smiling or laughed or teased much more than he used to, and she doubted he’d actually said as much, but he was at peace and content in a way he hadn’t been before.

Sahriel didn’t know, though he’d wondered sometimes. But he figured Miriam would know and sat gaping quietly, cheeks flushed red as he looked at her serious face. Not many people had ever said nice things to him, over the centuries, but it meant the world to him when they did.

“Really?” he asked, unable to keep the note of pleading from his voice. “He’s really happy?” It was almost the only thing Sahriel wanted in the world anymore.

“Really,” Miriam assured him, smiling bright and warm and reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. “He likes you, an’ you’re doing good for him – easin’ something I haven’t known how to go about soothin’, healin some hurts he’s carried so long they make him like he was, just grumpin, angry all the time. Tired and hurt and alone he’s been, far too long. I been worried about him, what’d become of him if I was to marry and move on from here.”

“You’re getting married?” Sahriel gaped at her, stunned by this news before it sank in that she’d said ‘if’. “I mean…it would be really cool if you got married. I could come to the wedding, right? Connor would have to give you away…hmm, I hope the groom doesn’t do a runner!” He grinned, already able to picture it all in his head and hoping it happened soon, though he was still a little worried.

“So…you don’t mind? I mean, I know it’s not normal here, me and Connor…”

Miriam shook her head, a new worry settling lightly on her face. “It’s not, no, and you both must needs always be careful, as to who if any be findin out, an’ the less as know the better I’m afraid,” she told him gently with a sympathetic look. “It do be against the law, but some folks is like that, and he’s my brother. I want for him to be happy, however he needs to do that. I know you ain’t toyin with him or going to do him wrong, you care about him too. I can see that,” she noted with a flicker of humor, amused at the thought that they were damn near to falling in love and most likely neither had a clue what it was.

Sahriel sighed, knowing that all too well. He hated taking his seal back and going into town each day, having to ignore Connor and not talk to him and not touch or kiss or even just hold his hand. But getting to curl up with Connor at the end of the day and touch and kiss and lick and tease as much as he wanted nearly made up for it. He was still amazed Connor let him touch as often as he did.

“Thanks Miri,” he murmered softly, focussing on the tea again, relaxing into the chair and wondering how long it would be before Connor got home. “What are we having for dinner? Can I help?”

“Sure, you could,” she agreed, tilting her head and nodding as something occurred to her. “Might be I should start teachin’ you some cookin’ you can do on your own then, hm? Do you know any?” She wasn’t entirely sure what exactly he’d done for the French family that had given him his name – sometimes he said adopted, and other times it sounded as if he’d been in service to them, but he never said anything specific about where he’d been or what he’d done before now. She wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to know.

Sahriel grinned excitedly, because he loved learning new things, but more because he could help her. He shrugged, thinking about it and really he had never cooked often, only for friends if he’d really felt like it, since eating wasn’t really a necessity.

“Uh…I can make an okay soup…and I can cook meat over a fire? And fry or boil vegetables. That’s about it.”

Miriam laughed, softly amused. “Well, you wouldn’t starve then, but I’m sure we can do better than that. We’ll make dinner together then, an’ I’ll show you how to make the best venison stew as ever been made, for today. You come home this early every day, and we’ll have lessons, hm?”

She liked the thought of that, teaching her new little brother to cook, bossing him around and spoiling him at the same time as she got to watch him learn new things, and since it looked like it would end up being him, she was determined to teach him everything he’d need to know to be the best little housewife ever. Not that she would ever say as much to him, not in those words – but Connor needed taking care of, and she knew that was what Sahriel wanted most. She didn’t mind training him for the job.

Sahriel would likely have screamed murder and gone to hide in the cave for life had he known what she was thinking. As it was, he had no clue and so just grinned in delight, nodding in agreement. He definitely wanted to learn to cook new things.

“Does Connor like venison stew?” Because really that was the only thing that mattered. There was no point learning to cook something Connor didn’t like.

Miriam gave him a slightly bemused smile. “Do you know anyone who doesn’t?” she asked, never having heard of it herself. Something as basic as rich, hearty stew was surely to everyone’s taste, wasn’t it? She shrugged, going on. “Connor isn’t picky – I don’t know as there is anything he really dislikes. You’d have to ask him, luv.” And likely Sahriel would have better luck than she’d had with the same questions – if he had a favorite meal, if there were things he didn’t like. She’d gotten a shrug, and a vague assurance that whatever she made was fine. It made her sigh even as it amused her.

“I guess so,” Sahriel agreed quietly, not sure if everyone had liked venison stew over the years. Certainly some people hadn’t had venison, but they likely would have liked it if they had so it was impossible to say really. He got up and went about getting the pot out, rinsing it and putting it on the stove, finding the materials to light the fire in some amusement, definitely not needing more than a thought to start the stove but enjoying keeping up the appearance.

“What was Connor like when you were little?”

Miriam settled back with her cup of tea as soon as she saw that he was familiar at least with the basics of the kitchen, figuring that he would learn faster if he was doing it himself, and she would simply direct him until he needed help.

“Hmmm,” she mused thoughtfully at the question. “I don’t know… he used to be a bit of a scamp is what I’m told, but that was before I was born. I’m almost five years younger, you know, and Mother died soon after I was born. A lot changed then, and I don’t remember him or Father being anything but serious and stubborn and growly for most of my life. When I was very young, Connor used to play with me a bit, keeping me amused, but I don’t know as he ever had much fun for himself. He would laugh with me, a little, but he was always sad, and as we got older, he grew to be as angry as Father was; neither of them knows how to deal with hurt, and grief very well,” she noted sadly.

“A scamp?” Sahriel could not imagine it and laughed hard as a result, though he felt his chest grow tight when he realised how early their mum had died and in these parts that explained a lot. Fathers didn’t often had time or social inclination to dote on their children when there was work to be done, unfortunately. He hated thinking of the two of them growing up hurting and alone and he looked at Miriam seriously, hoping she didn’t hate him for mentioning it.

“I’m really sorry about your parents.”

Miriam shrugged, giving him a wry smile. There wasn’t much to say about it; life was hard, and everyone had their own miseries. People made the best of what they had, and she thought it was important to focus on the good things, and get as much joy out of life as there was to be found.

“It was a long time ago,” she said softly. “It was harder for Connor, I think… I don’t really remember anything before. He’s the one that lost things… and he was there, at the accident my father died in. Connor took over his place because there was no one else to do it, and he’d been helping father since he was old enough to swing a hatchet anyway.”

Startled by that little piece of information, Sahriel had assumed Connor did his job just because he was obsessively in love with it. But that didn’t seem to be it, not exactly, maybe not at all and he worked hard on getting the venison prepared to put it in the pot.

“How did he die?”

Miriam shook her head, refilling her cup from the teapot and cradling it between her hands, taking a deep breath of the fragrant steam and letting it out with a long sigh.

“There was an accident,” she murmured. “One year in the spring when they were felling trees for building and repairing things after winter wore everything down, there was a big tree with a double trunk, and they were going to cut them one at a time, making them fall in opposite directions. But something happened, I don’t know what, and they didn’t fall where they were supposed to. My father was caught under one of them, and once they were able to move it they carried him back to town unconscious with crushed ribs, badly broken bones and bleeding inside. The doctor said nearly every bone in his body was broken, and he never regained consciousness.” And some, a lot of people said it had been at least partly Connor’s fault. Miriam didn’t believe that, but Connor did.

“….oh.” Sahriel had seen people die that way. In the days when people had still known who he was, or at least what, they’d let him do those things; the sorts of things that could get mortal men killed and he’d enjoyed the work much as he’d enjoyed showing off just a little and felling that tree in the woods with Connor weeks ago. But now he knew better, he wished he hadn’t. Or he wished someone had freed him earlier. If Connor’s father had found him instead, Sahriel could have watched Connor and Miriam grow up, and could have helped them in the woods and no one would have needed to die.

“I’m sorry.”

Miriam smiled at him, watching his clever, competent hands making the stew. He wasn’t really needing much help at all, and really it was pretty simple until it came time to add the seasoning, which was her secret.

“It’s alright,” she assured him. “You’re making it better. You’re making everything better.” Connor had something that mattered to him now besides herself, besides guilt and duty and anger and grief. He had a soulmate, unless she missed her guess, and it was impossible to overestimate the value of that.

Sahriel beamed at her, delighted that she thought him capable of making anything better. It was such a change to have someone believe in him; to think him capable of doing a good thing. It wasn’t something that happened very often.

“Okay, so I have everything ready here….what do I do next?” He looked over at her expectantly, stepping back to let her come help.

She got up and went over, smoothing his hair down as she peered over his shoulder to make sure it was all ready to add the seasoning.

“Now we make it awesome!” Miriam told him, grinning as she reached for salt and spices, showing him the measurements she used for each – salt and basil and rosemary, bay leaves and oregano, black pepper and garlic, paprika, celery seed and onions mixed into the broth to flavor the meat, potatoes, carrots, peas and beans already in the pot.

Sahriel watched her in awe, of the opinion she was a mad machine. Her hands flew over the pot, dropping in all sorts of things until the cottage filled with the most sensational aroma Sahriel had smelt in years. He hovered over the pot, face in the steam, inhaling deeply and nearly dancing on the spot in pure joy.

“Oh my god, it smells so good! This is amazing! You’re so amazing! Oh god, this is the best smell ever! I’m going to remember this for eternity!”

She chuckled at him, ruffling his hair and leaning over to kiss his cheek. “Think you remember the right amounts and such?” she asked him with a merry twinkle. “Next time I let you to do it yourself, and see how well you remember.” She was teasing, of course, because she would stop him before he put in too much or let him know when he needed more of something.

Sahriel eyed her nervously, not sure he remembered it all perfectly but more than willing to give it a go so he nodded enthusiastically, knowing if he got it completely wrong she would at least know a way to fix it. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, thrilled to have been able to help out, of the opinion Miriam should be spoiled and have someone cooking for her for a change. She definitely needed to find a good man!

“You know, I heard the old Lord Earl or whatever died in that storm? And some young Earl’s son guy is coming to replace him…you should go say hi sometime!”

Miriam stared at him, completely bewildered. “Whyever would I do that?” she asked, genuinely puzzled. The townfolk and the Lord generally had little enough to do with each other, and she doubted that the accession of a new Lord would change things.

“I reckon I’ll see him at some point,” she pointed out, “he’ll probably want to meet the staff.”

“Mmm but he’s not married, right? And he’s supposed to be young which by town standards means he’s gotta be at least under…what, forty?” He grinned rougishly at her, completely unrepentant for trying to think of a way to set her up with the man.

“And if he’s an ass you tell me and I’ll take care of it!”

Miriam rolled her eyes, planting her hands on her hips and looking sternly at him. “You just keep your mind on your own man, now! I ain’t need you making plans for the likes o’ me, I’ll help my own self when I’m ready. You got your hands full enough with yourn, I’m thinkin, an’ what a mercy that be, to be sure.” But she was unable to keep the amusement entirely out of her expression, eyes still sparkling with laughter in the stern facade.

Sahriel just grinned at her before he heard someone stomping over the bridge and the fish pond and he let out a startled gasp, his attention immediately focussed outside the cottage and he rushed to the door, swinging it open just in time and grinning up at Connor, taking in his weary expression and the scent of sweat on him, reaching out immediately to take his tools and putting them on the floor inside the door before tugging him in for a warm hug.

“You should wash before dinner.”

Connor grunted, not caring that he was dirty for the moment, hugging Sahriel back just as tightly and slowly relaxing, sighing as the fatigue of a long hard day rolled over him, but it was over now and he was home, with Sahriel, and everything was okay.

“I will,” he said finally, his voice soft and rough as he absently rubbed his cheek against Sahriel’s gorgeous hair. It was hard to force himself to let go, but eventually he did and headed for the sink to wash his face and hands, as much as he could be bothered with at the moment.

Sahriel watched in wry amusement because that was totally not what he’d meant but he would go drag him down to the creek or something later before they went to bed, sure Connor would be more open to the idea if he wasn’t going to be doing it alone.

“Was your day okay?” He asked cautiously, because Connor really did look tired.

Shrugging, Connor pulled out a chair and dropped into it, giving him a faint almost-smile. “Sure, it was fine,” he agreed absently, not knowing any other way to describe a day as he rarely thought about it, whether one day was better than another. They were very nearly all the same, and while there were undeniably things he enjoyed doing more than others, the general fact of the matter was that he worked long and hard each day, coming home to eat and sleep and do it all over again.

“Dinner smells good,” he noted, sniffing appreciatively and smiling at Mriam.

“Sahriel made it,” she told him, and Connor looked at him in surprise.

“You did?”

“MIriam taught me,” Sahriel grinned at him, going over to sit in his lap, melting in against him and sighing in relief, fishing his seal out of his pocket and carefully putting it back in Connor’s hand, closing his fingers around it and then kissing his fist.

“I missed you.”

“I know,” Connor told him gently, wrapping his arms around him and cradling him in his lap, watching as Miriam dished out the soup into sturdy bowls, setting one before each of them and then taking her own seat.

“I missed you too.”

Sahriel felt something click back inside him as Connor took hold of the seal and sighed in relief, staying where he was for a minute and just enjoying the closeness and warmth before forcing himself to get up and move to the chair beside Connor’s so they could both eat their soup. He couldn’t resist inhaling the scent again, sighing in pleasure and feeling proud that he hadn’t stuffed it up; that he’d managed to help Miriam.

“Miriam taught me her secret!” He grinned at her, loving that she trusted him that much.

Miriam chuckled at him, finding him almost as adorable as Connor did. “Mmm, I did,” she agreed, her eyes twinkling at him. It wasn’t actually that big of a secret – most people had their own personal seasoning recipes, often handed down through families, and while Miriam felt that hers was actually better than most and no one else knew it, still it wasn’t state secrets or anything.

Still, Sahriel was so transparently delighted by it that she didn’t have the heart to tell him that. “He’s a very good student,” she told Connor. “I’m teaching him to cook.”

Sahriel felt proud and thought it was a weird feeling considering it was due to praise from a human, but he didn’t question it, liking the feeling and loving that it was Miriam and Connor. He wielded his spoon dubiously, as if unsure it would live up to her standard, dipping it in and taking a large mouthful.

“Oh my god, it’s so good! It’s so awesome! Connor, try it, I helped cook it and it’s really really good!”

Connor laughed, an open, affectionate sound, reaching over to squeeze Sahriel’s shoulder and kiss his temple. “I’m sure it is if you helped,” he told Sahriel solemnly, eyes still twinkling with amusement, and he was teasing but he meant it, too.

Miriam eyed him a little wonderingly, trying to remember if she’d ever heard him laugh like that before. He did so rarely, and that open, delighted warmth was something she hadn’t ever heard from him.

He caught her looking, and poked his tongue out at her – Miriam put down her spoon and just stared.

“Sahri, where is my brother and what did you do to him?” she asked, half laughing, but genuinely stunned.

Sahriel paused with the spoon halfway out of his mouth, looking from one to the other and just shrugging because he didn’t see anything different. Well, it was true Connor wasn’t growling or frowning or shoving him off his chair because he was sitting too close or anything, but Connor hadn’t done that stuff for a while now! So he just grinned and reached across to hook Connor’s leg with his, running his foot up the inside.

“I would reply, but you would scold me for being impolite.”

Miriam snorted softly, vaguely amused but not wanting details, well able to guess what he was referring to. She wrinkled her nose at him and went back to eating, humming in contentment at the hot, savoury taste of the excellent stew. Sahriel really had done a great job of it.

Connor just shrugged her off and picked up his own spoon, taking a bite and making approving noises, nodding at Sahriel.

“S’good!” he agreed, grinning. “Just like Miri’s.”

“Told you it was good!” Sahriel beamed, thrilled that Connor thought it was good, even as good as Miriam’s, knowing that was the equivolent of saying it was just about the best possible, coming from Connor. He hurriedly ate as much as he felt comfortable eating before getting up and going to pour more tea, passing out the small cups before curling up in his seat with his own cup, cradling it close and inhaling the scent happily.

Connor ate hungrily, feeling half starved after the day’s hard work – they were still busy rebuilding the damage from the storm, repairing houses, and while most of the actual debris had been cleared away and the fallen trees chopped into building material, they still had a ways to go on the repairs.

There had been at least two houses completely demolished that had to be entirely rebuilt, and nearly every place in town had some kind of damage. About half of the most severely damaged homes had been unliveable until the repairs were finished, and the families had been staying either at the Inn or the church, with a few being squeezed into the rooms over the Red Lion tavern and the remainder doubled up with friends and family in the houses that were complete or not too damaged.

It was a lot of work, and Connor wouldn’t normally mind at all, but it left him with very little time to see Sahriel, and that was starting to wear him down. Long days seemed even longer without Sahriel, and even when he did see him in town, he couldn’t talk to him without a good excuse, and even if he had one, he couldn’t get the hug he wanted, or a kiss or anything really.

“Do you have to work tonight?” he asked now.

“Nope!” Sahriel put down his mug and held up his hands excitedly, showing off his many little bandaged coverings scattered over his fingers.”I fixed windows today! I even made the frame and everything for one of them! And Teague helped me fit the glass! But yeah, they counted that as work and gave us the night off. The Inn’s full but the bar’s not open anyway, they don’t want anyone roughhousing or anything and trashing what they just fixed.”

Connor sagged a little in relief, relaxing considerably more as he went back to eating, nodding at Sahriel’s words. He hated nights when Sahriel had to work and he had to go to bed cold and alone, especially when he was already exhausted.

“Yeah, everything’s kind of on hold until the repairs are finished,” he agreed. “But I’m glad you’re off tonight.” He glanced over with a little smile, and Miriam sighed.

“I take it that means you two won’t be staying after supper?” she asked wryly, tilting her head to study them. Well, they deserved to be happy, and soon enough she was going to take it up with Connor about adding on an extra room to the cottage so they would have their own place to sleep closer to home.

“Sorry, Miri,” Sahriel apologised seriously. “It must be really lonely here by yourself, I’m sorry I keep taking him away.” Even if he knew that should she see or hear any of the things he liked doing with Connor she would likely have a heart attack. He still felt bad about taking her big brother off her.

“It’s okay if you wanna stay here or whatever, Connor.”

Miriam waved this away amusedly, shaking her head. “Don’t be silly,” she told him, “I’m perfectly happy for you two, and I certainly don’t want you staying here doing whatever it is you do; it’s just nice when you stay and visit for a bit after dinner, but you’re both tired and you need rest. I’ll see you both tomorrow,” she pointed out, smiling warmly at them.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind,” Connor agreed hesitantly. All he wanted to do was go back to the cave and curl up with Sahriel in his warm little nest and let him soothe all the stress and weariness of the day.

“I don’t mind,” Miriam insisted brightly. “Just don’t forget to come home tomorrow,” she told them both sternly.

Connor smiled faintly, nodding in agreement. “We won’t,” he promised softly. They wouldn’t leave Miriam alone too much – she was part of the family, after all, and Connor liked the feeling that Sahriel was as much a part of it now as she was. The three of them were a family. It was a good feeling.

So he trudged obediently back to the cave, felt his way along the wall and into the corner where the blankets were and just curled up amongst them, not sleeping but closing his eyes and just resting, giving his body some time to recover. He missed Connor like he might miss his heart if someone ripped it out of his chest, and that was just as strange a feeling as everything else. Demons were not supposed to miss people.

Connor followed as soon as he could, only stopping briefly at the cottage to let Miriam know he wouldn’t be home that night. He went straight on to the cave and didn’t bother with a light, feeling his way straight over to the blankets and curling up with Sahriel’s warm body, wrapping completely around him and hugging him tight, kissing everywhere he could reach until he found his mouth for a long, satisfying kiss.

“Hey, beautiful,” he murmured finally, a tired smile audible in his voice. “Missed you,” he admitted, because even for just a few hours, it had been hard to be in town and not have Sahriel with him, to act like they were strangers and meant nothing to each other.

Sahriel turned into him immediately, hugging him close and taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

“I missed you more,” he whispered, fishing in his pocke for his seal and searching for Connor’s hand in the dark, pressing the seal into it and sighing in relief. “I wanted to give this back all day. I’m so sorry! I didn’t know the storm was that bad…I didn’t mean to make so much work for everyone, or hurt anyone, I really didn’t! Please…I’m so sorry!”

Connor hushed him and kissed him hard, stroking the inside of his mouth with his tongue, licking and reassuring him that the earlier kiss had been noted, that he was free again as he slipped the seal into his pocket and wrapped both arms around Sahriel, blind in the dark and yet having no trouble at all finding where to touch and hold and kiss.

“My Sahriel,” he whispered, stroking his hair and holding him tight, finally loosening his grip just enough to allow Sahriel to slip out of the shirt he was wearing. “Need you more than anything.”

Sahriel smiled, all white teeth visible even in the dark as he tossed his shirt aside and got to work pulling off Connor’s. He wasn’t as handicapped in the dark, able to see, better in pure dark than in raw desert sunlight. It made him smile, stroking his fingers over Connor’s jaw, fascinated by the growth of hair, even since yesterday.

“You’re all scratchy…I like it.”

Connor chuckled wryly, rubbing his cheek against Sahriel’s to let him feel it. “Sorry, didn’t have time to shave today,” he apologized, even though Sahriel seemed to like it. “I’ll do it tomorrow.” God, it felt good just to hold him, to feel Sahriel alive and real in his arms, to be able to kiss him like he wanted to. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he whispered. “The town’s kind of a mess,” he admitted, “but you’re safe and I’m safe and nobody’s hurt, it’s all okay. I was looking forward to this the whole time.”

“Me too. I just wanted to give my seal back to you and know you were going to keep me with you,” he whispered, pulling him close again and nuzzling against Connor’s throat. “I wanted to take a bowl of soup up to you but I had to wait for you to come and get it and then I wasn’t even allowed to talk to you and I kept cutting my fingers on all the glass, it was so annyoing! I just wanted to go kiss you.”

Connor chuckled softly. “I know,” he murmured. “You did good, Blue Eyes, it was good. I know it’s hard, but you did good. Don’t worry, baby, it’s just as hard for me. I keep wanting to go hold you and make sure you’re okay… I know you are, but it feels better when I can see it for myself, and feel you in my arms. You’re so gorgeous,” he whispered, stroking Sahriel’s cheek. “Love looking at you, beautiful.”

“Is that a good thing?” Sahriel looked at him curiously, wondering about it again now that Connor had said it again. “I mean, men aren’t supposed to be beautiful are they? But…can demons even be beautiful to humans? Most demons don’t like humans very much, but I do. I think you’re amazing and fascinating and no demon could ever compare…but what do humans think? Do you really think I look okay? Even if I have funny ears?”

Connor shook his head, amused and a little amazed. “I like your ears,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss them, nibbling on the tip of one and licking around the edge, sucking lightly on the pointed tip. “Sexy,” he decided, smirking at the gasp he got. “You look fine, darling. You’re the damn sexiest thing I ever seen in my life.”

Well, they were supposed to be tempting, but with the way humans condemned every stupid little thing that was different he had figured that these days in particular he certainly wouldn’t meet their desired aesthetic. It was nice to know he still did, even if it was just Connor. He was the only one who mattered anyway.

“Good,” he purred softly, tugging Connor close again for heated kisses, taking his time and playing inside Connor’s mouth. “Because you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever wanted.”

Connor snorted softly. “I’m just human,” he pointed out, because really why would a demon find that so attractive? But really as long as Sahriel wanted him and wanted to stay with him he didn’t care if he was attractive or not, especially not to anyone else. Sahriel was the only one that mattered, and if he said he though Connor was sexy then Connor wasn’t going to argue with him.

Kissing him again and again and again was much more fun.

Sahriel kissed back, delighted with the fact Connor was human, and had his seal, and thought he was gorgeous even though he was a demon. Maybe even because he was a demon. He felt warm clear through and relaxed at last, squirming happily against Connor’s body, rubbing against him and sighing in pleasure, slipping out of his trousers and moaning, thrilled to be skin to skin again.

“I missed this so much. Kept seeing you working all day and you were so sweaty and sexy and I just wanted to lick you.”

Connor laughed, soft and husky, quickly skinning out of his own pants and settling against Sahriel skin to skin, loving the intoxicating feeling of freedom and absolute connection, the way they simply seemed to belong together.

“God, I want you so bad,” he whispered. “Need you, my Sahri. You feel so good,” he groaned. God, so good, just to lay together and soak up the skin to skin contact, even that was better than anything he’d ever felt before, but he wanted so much more. “You’re so amazing, Sahri. I want all of you, everything.” He didn’t even know what everything was, but he wanted it.

Humming sofly, Sahriel just stroked and kissed and licked to his heart’s content, enjoying watching Connor and just being with him. He thought he would be happy for all eternity even if all he ever did was play with Connor James. It was an obsession, he was aware of that, but he just didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that Connor wanted him.

“I just want to be with you.”

“You can have me,” Connor told him softly. “You can have everything. Everything is yours, and you’re mine… everything. I want it all, you and me together.” He slid his knee between Sahriel’s legs and rocked up against him, loving the thrill of pleasure that came from rubbing against each other. Their bodies seemed made for each other, fitting perfectly and feeling so good with just the least bit of friction, Connor couldn’t imagine anything better than this.

“I want you more than anything.”

“You’re the only one who can have me,” Sahriel pointed out softly, smiling wickedly, pleased as ever that Connor had his seal now, just the way it should be. He couldn’t do anything to hurt Connor like this, and he didn’t want to, sliding a hand down between them to stroke their cocks together, biting his lip at the spike of pleasure that thrummed through him.

“I’m your demon.”

“You’re my lover,” Connor corrected in a husky voice, leaning in to kiss him again, thrilled by the feeling of it, the freedom to just lean in and taste and take and savor it whenever he wanted. Sahriel was his, only his always forever, and Connor felt like he would never need anything else ever again.

“You’re mine. Nobody else’s, nothing ever. Just mine. Mine.”

“Mmhmm…” His lover went without saying, Sahriel thought. He wouldn’t give up those kisses and those hands and that body for anything. He wouldn’t give up Connor at all. He loved the ownership in Connor’s voice though; that special something that screamed he meant it and Sahriel was His. It made him smile like little else could, wrapping his hand tighter around them both, determined to show Connor just how rewarding wanting a demon could be. Giving in to temptation was definitely better than fighting it, in Sahriel’s not so humble opinion.

“Touch me,” he murmered softly, taking Connor’s hand and leading it down to his own between their bodies.

Connor followed readily, as eager to touch as he was to feel, wanting to run his hands all over Sahriel’s body, touching and stroking and kissing everything that was only his alone, that would never belong to anyone else ever again, he swore to God it wouldn’t. Anything he had to do, he would, to keep Sahriel only his forever.

“I will never let anyone else touch you,” he promised. “Never, ever, anyone again. You are mine.” And he wasn’t good at sharing, definitely didn’t intend to share Sahriel, any of him, ever at all. “I want all of you forever. Forever, you hear?” he demanded, wanting Sahriel to agree with him.

Sahriel looked at him curiously, because monogamy was not exactly a demonic trait, but he wanted it anyway. He thought of Teague’s kisses and grinned, laughing softly because those weren’t hard to give up at all. He just nodded and leaned in to kiss Connor again, thrilled with the taste and feel and the all consuming heat but mostly just happy, genuinely delightfully happy, because someone wanted him.

“I won’t share either,” he warned softly, just to be sure.

“Damn right,” Connor assured him, because he didn’t want anyone else, no one if he could have Sahriel. He’d never really wanted anyone else before, not like this. He’d never felt this incredible, consuming need to be with and belong to someone, to have all and be all and never want anything else.

“I only want you,” he murmured, kissing Sahriel fiercely again. “I only want you forever. Stay with me… promise you’ll stay with me.”

“I promise,” Sahriel agreed immediately, without hesitation. “I’ll be with you forever…just you.” What was a human lifetime compared to eternity anyway? But Sahriel knew if there was a way he would find it, to make sure he kept his promise to stay for good. “I’ll always be with Connor James.”

Connor sighed, because hearing it put that way reminded him just how far apart they were in some ways, how ancient Sahriel was and how impossible it was for him to live as long. But he was going to find a way, because if demons existed then other things did too and there had to be a way.

“I’m going to keep you,” he swore, no matter what he had to do. He kissed Sahriel again, hard, slipping between his legs and sliding into him, filling him, forgetting the cream Sahriel had used to ease the way before, only knowing he had to be closer and deeper and now.

Sahriel winced, but didn’t complain, wanting it just as badly, shifting into a more comfortable position, relaxing into it and sighing as his body adapted, fast and easy…demonic. He didn’t want to remember what he was just then and wrapped his arms tight around Connor, dragging him closer and further inside, hooking his knees over Connor’s hips to give him more room but also to control his thrusts, holding him firmly and controlling it as his body heated through, spiralling higher with pleasure and want and need all warring inside him.

“Mine. My Connor James. You’re mine!” He had never been so completely blinded by something, nor so determined to keep it.

“Yours,” Connor agreed in a low, heated tone, just as determined, feeling as intensely that he wanted to belong to Sahriel as much as he wanted Sahriel to be his. He needed them to belong to each other, only each other, for the rest of his life, for eternity if he could manage it. He melted easily into the rhythm Sahriel demanded, moving with him and surging deeper, thrusting in as Sahriel allowed, needing to be completely joined and closer than close, connected on the deepest level there was.

“All yours,” he promised, and he was. He’d never wanted to give himself to anyone before, had never felt this need to offer and accept, to meet gift for gift and let himself be taken down to his soul, owned as much as he was owner. “Always.”

No one had ever offered such a thing to Sahriel, people coming and going and always using the seal to get what they wanted, never asking him what he wanted and he wouldn’t have known what to say if they had. But he knew the answer now; he just wanted Connor, to be his and to own him, equally, and he had it. He had the one thing he wanted.

“Always,” he agreed softly, drawing Connor in and rubbing against him, groaning as his cock rubbed against Connor’s stomach, loving the feel of hot, slick skin trapping him from all sides. “You feel so good…you make me feel so good!”

Connor hummed with silent amusement, leaning down to kiss him softly as he moved, slowly, reaching down to wrap his hand around Sahriel and stroking him in the same rhythm, drawing it out as much as he could, wanting the incredible feeling to last forever. Good didn’t even begin to cover it. He felt like heaven, like a god, like the entire universe was his to command, all because Sahriel was his, was with him, wanting this from him.

“I’ll give you anything,” he whispered. “Anything… I just want this forever.”

That was cheating, Sahriel was sure. You couldn’t promise things like that and expect someone to be able to consider it coherantly when you were jerking them off and having awesome sex! He panted desperately, struggling to understand but succeeding only in wrapping his arms tighter around Connor’s shoulders and biting down gently on his ear, sucking on the soft flesh before trailing kisses down the side of Connor’s neck and biting down on his shoulder instead.

“This,” he agreed, not caring what else Connor might have been talking about. “Just want this…Us.”

Connor groaned and tried desperately to hold just a little bit longer, but Sahriel biting him was somehow always electrifyingly erotic and he moaned in pleasure and dismay as he came, shuddering and breathing out Sahriel’s name.

“Just you,” he murmured as he tried to stay coordinated enough to keep his hand moving when the rest of him was feeling limp and lazy and boneless, completely sated. “Everything is you.”

Sahriel felt the wet heat inside himself and came immediately, body clenching down on Connor, limbs locking him into place as he shivered and cried out, speaking nonsense even in the tongue of demons, clinging until he collapsed back against the blankets, satiated and humming softly, almost a purr as he pulled Connor to him.

“Don’t go away. You promised to stay with me.”

“Yeah,” Connor told him softly. “I’m staying with you.” Couldn’t do anything else really, he’d found he couldn’t sleep if he wasn’t here with Sahriel, spent the whole night thinking about him and where he was instead. He had to stay here, where he could hold him as he fell asleep, wrapped up in him and completely given over to him, loving the feeling of Sahriel’s body twined with his own.

“I can’t sleep without you,” he admitted in a whisper, brushing a kiss on Sahriel’s temple. “I need to be with you.”

Sahriel beamed, thrilled to hear it, even if he thought he shouldn’t be. It wasn’t healthy to be that reliant on someone, let alone a demon. But he liked that Connor was, or even just that he said he was.

“I like you so much,” Sahriel admitted softly, then blinked because he felt suddenly strange. But it was impossible, so he shrugged it aside and just snuggled closer in against Connor, pulling him on top of him a little, wanting the weight of him pinning him down, even if he knew he could easily shove him away.

“I like you more than anyone.”

“You’re the only thing I want,” Connor told him softly. “If I have to choose…. I’d choose you. I have to, I… I need you. I want you so much I can’t even… I need you,” he finished, unable to explain the frightening degree of what he was willing to give up to have him. When he’d met Sahriel, he’d known he was trouble, known that Sahriel presented a threat to everything he knew he should be… and now that he had him, he couldn’t give him up, even for the sake of those things he’d previously thought were more important than anything.

“You’re mine,” he said fiercely, because at this point if he didn’t have Sahriel, he didn’t have anything. “Always mine. I’m going to keep you.”

“Good,” Sahriel yawned softly, stroking Connor’s hair like a pet, smiling and kissing the top of his head. “Now shhh, you have to work again tomorrow, so sleep now.” He would have to work too, during the day which was completely annoying but he could put up with it, if it meant he got to stay with Connor.

Eventually, however, even Akhenti had had enough sleep, and sat up yawning and blinking, cringing from the sun. “Owww ow ow ow,” she complained, hopping up and pulling the blanket over her head like a shelter as she dashed for the bedroom.

Inside it was still cool and dark, and she sighed with relief, letting the blanket fall and searching for her clothes, not wanting to wear the kind of thing Miriam was wearing. Great gods, was that what women were forced to wear in this time? It was insane, she thought. Akhenti simply couldn’t imagine being able to move and breathe in all those layers. The issue of modesty didn’t even occur to her.

Finding her things where they had been laid out to dry, she pulled them on and smoothed them out, shrugging at the wrinkles because there was nothing she could do about it, not that it really bothered her to begin with. The front of her hair was pulled back into many small braids that hung down her back, keeping it out of her face, but underneath the rest of it was loose and rather tangled after the night she’d spent buried in blankets.

She stood for a long minute, debating, and then picked up the comb that lay on the bed she’d slept in, guessing correctly that Sahriel had used it on his own hair, and hesitantly carried it out to where Miriam was working. If Sahriel was as much in love as it appeared, then these humans were his family now. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know them and try to get along.

“Would you… help me?” she asked finally, holding out the comb, not sure if she was being a bother or not. She could take care of it herself, but it would be so much easier if she held up the top layer of tiny braids and let Miriam brush the tangles out of the underneath part.

Miriam look at her in surprise, smiling involuntarily because she looked so much like Sahriel just then, especially with that look on her face.

“Of course I will, luv,” she said warmly, putting away the mending she’d been working on and taking the comb, gesturing toward the kitchen table. “Sit right down there and I’ll get you some tea, and we’ll get you all fixed up.”

Akhenti did as she was told, feeling shy for some reason, but the tea warmed her considerably and Miriam went and closed the shutters on most of the windows, cutting down on the painful light. Akhenti gave her a grateful look, and sipped her tea cautiously, as Miriam began to work on her hair.

By the time she was finished, they had both relaxed a little, and were chatting like old friends in a way that should have alarmed Sahriel a great deal, if he could see them. Connor too, for that matter. Miriam wanted to hear all about Sahriel, where he’d come from and what he was like, and Akhenti had a few questions of her own about what kind of human her brother had gotten himself hooked up with.

They were having a wonderful time swapping stories and laughing about the things that seemed to be universal to men of every kind, and had started on fourth cups of tea when Connor and Sahriel came back several hours later.

“Connor!” Miriam’s face lit with a welcoming smile as they came in, and she waved them both over, pouring more tea. “We were just talking about you,” she said to both of them, and Connor gave her a wary look, and then eyed the demon girl with even more doubt and distrust.

“Oh, really?” he murmured, keeping a hand on Sahriel’s back and not moving to take a seat just yet. In fact, he thought he might want to run back out the door and go to work in town immediately. Anything would be less taxing and potentially traumatizing then facing two women with those innocent looks who had been talking about him. Them. Whatever.

Sahriel frowned at Akhenti because she had better not be telling weird stories about him to Miriam and get him in trouble. But then he realised she was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and he snuck closer to Connor and looked apologetically at Miriam.

“I swear, I told her to put more clothes on before I left! I did!” He scowled at her, because really if he could wear boots she could too!

Akhenti shrugged and gave him a smug look. “Miriam combed my hair,” she told him, feeling rather superior about it. He wasn’t the only one who could get along with humans!

Connor eyed them both and finally pulled out a chair, sitting down and pulling Sahriel down into his lap, which had quickly become his favorite way to sit. It felt weird and empty now to sit alone without a lapful of sexy demon.

Sahriel glared at her, then looked up at Miriam before looking back at her, leaning closer to hiss at her.

“She is not your pet! Do not make her work for you, she’s not a slave! She’s Miriam and she’s really nice and…” He was leaning over the cup of tea Miriam had made him and looked down at it, leaning closer to sniff at the steam, eyes going wide and he immediately grabbed it and curled back up in Connor’s lap, entirely content.

“My favourite one!”

Miriam laughed softly, watching the two of them affectionately. It was good to see Connor so comfortable with someone, so close, so… loving, though she doubted he would use that word. Still, Sahriel was clearly gone on him and Connor held him like something precious, like a lover would.

“Aren’t they cute?” she whispered to Akhenti, who laughed heartily. Well, they were, but to hear that word applied to a demon, even if it was Sahriel, was impossibly entertaining.

“Not cute,” Sahriel grumbled, hearing them just fine, ears twitching irritably, but he couldn’t stay mad for more than a few seconds, warmed by the tea and very aware of Connor’s steady pulse thrumming against his back. He tilted his head back onto Connor’s shoulder to see his face.

“You wanna go into town and help in a bit? I want to make sure Teague’s okay.”

“Yeah, guess we better,” Connor sighed, not really wanting to go in where he wouldn’t be able to keep Sahriel at his side or touch him whenever he wanted, when he would have to act as if Sahriel meant nothing to him, as if they were still as much at odds as they had been before.

“You said they were asking for me?” he asked Miriam.

“Mhmm,” she agreed, nodding a little. “There are some trees down and fallen on houses, they need you to help move and get them taken away. You two going now then?”

Sahriel thought about it before looking at Akhenti, willing her to just keep her mouth shut because he knew he was an idiot for giving Connor the seal but he wanted it more than anything.

“Connor…you need to…tell me that you don’t mean anything you’re going to say, and to go back to the cave and wait tonight.” This was exactly what he’d been talking about; a situation where Connor would off handedly tell him to get lost, and he would have to obey.

Connor studied him, a little bemused. “You already know I’m not going to mean anything I’m going to say,” he pointed out, not sure what the difference was. “Why do you want me to tell you again?”

Akhenti watched them wide-eyed, with just a suspicion of what Sahriel meant, but unable to believe it. He hadn’t… seriously… but then, if Connor had found him he would have found the seal, so maybe that was where he had gotten it.

“You have to order me, Connor!” Sahriel snapped, feeling embarrassed and frustrated at having to spell it out that clearly. “You have to spell it out. I have to know all the rules; every one. You have to tell me exactly what you want, and exactly what you don’t.” He looked at Akhenti sternly, silently willing her to keep her mouth shut and just leave it alone.

That look only told her that more was going on here than Connor having found the seal and kept it. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut, too shocked and awed, and a little bit horrified.

“You let a human have your seal?” she asked in a hushed voice, staring back and forth between them.

Connor frowned, not liking the way she made it sound like such an unheard of, probably bad thing. “He gave it to me,” he corrected, “but what does that have to do with this? You know what I want,” he told Sahriel, looking back at him in confusion. “I want you to act like we’re not doing anything together, and I want you to always come back here or to the cave at the end of the day. What else do you want me to say?”

Akhenti interrupted again. “You gave it to him?” she repeated, well and truly shocked now. “You gave him your seal?” She had never heard of any demon who would risk such a thing. Giving it to another demon was rare enough, and doubtful. Giving it to a human? That was insane!

“Yes, I gave it to him,” Sahriel snapped at her. “I gave it to him because I want him to have it and I want to stay with him, and it’s better if he has it. It makes me feel better.” Less worried, unconcerned, knowing that he just had to do what he was told. He smiled then, kissing Connor’s cheek in thanks.

“That’s all I needed; just a clear instruction. I’ll act like I’m not doing anything with you, and I’ll always come back to the cave at the end of the day.” Though that would get annoying if Connor wasn’t at the cave at the end of the day and he had to go there anyway, but for now it would do. “That’s all I needed.”

Connor hesitated, wanting to question more, surprised by the shock in the girl’s voice, but they should probably get going. “Are you sure?” he asked finally, looking at Sahriel, pulling him closer and resting their foreheads together. “It’s okay if… if you… ” He really didn’t want to be having this conversation with an audience.

“We’ll be back later,” he told Miriam, tugging Sahriel out the door and stopping him on the other side of the footbridge. “Do you want to keep it while we’re in town?” he asked uncertainly. “Would that make it easier, if I give it to you for now and you can give it back to me later?”

The idea hadn’t occurred to Sahriel, still not used to being able to ask for it back, but that was part of what made it better with Connor. He nodded slowly, holding out his hand.

“Just…just for now. I’ll give it back tonight, and maybe I won’t even need it next time but just…just for now, I want to be able to say no when you tell me to go away, or whatever.” It was a smart thing to do, and maybe if Akhenti saw Connor willingly give it back she might understand a little better. Connor was different. Connor was the type of person who was supposed to hold their seals for them.

Connor fished it out of his pocket, weighing it in his hand for a minute, and then put it in Sahriel’s outstretched hand, folding his fingers over it. “Just for now,” he assured him, because it seemed to make Sahriel feel as good as it did him when he was the one keeping it. He would take it back later, because Sahriel wanted him to have it and he wanted to keep it. Just for now, this would make it easier on them both, so he wouldn’t be worrying about Sahriel taking things the wrong way or doing things he didn’t want to do.

He leaned in for a quick kiss and then nudged Sahriel ahead of him up the path. “Better go on ahead,” he murmured. “If we come in together, it’ll be strange that we’re pretending we’re not friends or anything.”

“Well we’re not,” Sahriel snapped snidely, waving him off with a superior flick of his wrist. “As if I’d lower myself to being friends with you. I’d have more luck talking to my reflection in a mirror.” He ran off ahead, shoving his hands in his pockets and singing softly, in the tongue of demons, aware no one would know what the hell it was anyway. He cast one sly glance over his shoulder and smirked, blowing a kiss before disappearing into the treeline hurriedly, sure that if he looked at Connor even one more time he would run back and kiss him and just not stop and then they would never get any work done.

Connor snorted softly, amused, and sighed a little as he trudged on up the path, following Sahriel as he headed toward the town. He would probably be able to see exactly where he was needed as soon as he got into town. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t looking forward to the work and the effort. He wanted to go home, or better yet go to the cave and curl up with Sahriel for a couple of days. Maybe forever.

Sahriel slowed when he got into the town, a little stunned. He had known the storm was bad of course, but he hadn’t really stopped to think about the fact most things here were wood and simply made, not designed to last like the stone buildings he was used to. He wandered slowly through the main street, staring in silence at the collapsed houses where trees had caved in roofs and the walls had crumbled and he felt worse with every step. This was why demons shouldn’t control their own seals, or each other’s. This was why they needed Connor James, and people like him…to keep them calm and in control. He was walking slouched and looking extremely dejected by the time he reached the Inn, fingering his seal in his pocket and wanting to run back to Connor and give it back right away.

“Sahri!” Arms picked him up and turned him around, putting him down on a pile of sacks and checking him over, stroking his cheek just briefly but it was enough to win a wan smile as Sahriel looked up at Teague.

“It’s all a mess, Tegs…”

“I know! That brother of yours sure is a doozy!” He shook his head, but he was smiling and laughing and Sahriel couldn’t comprehend it, just staring at him, stunned.

“But…people are hurt! It’s not funny!”

“There ain’t nothing you can do about that, kiddo. What’s done is done, now we just have to clean up this mess and try and get things back to normal, yeah?”

Sahriel couldn’t believe it and just sat there, stumped, for quite a while, watching Teague rush around the Inn, carting out broken beams and after a while, Sahriel slowly got up and fetched a broom, getting started on the glass. A hand brushed the back of his neck lightly.

“It’s okay, Sahriel. You’re okay.”

Connor was immediately put to work helping haul away the fallen trees, getting them to a clear area where he could chop them into smaller logs and then cart them off to the usual woodpiles and work areas. Many of them would be used immediately to begin rebuilding the damaged houses, but they needed to be sawn down and planed first, which was going to keep Connor busy for days on end.

He didn’t even have time to worry about running into Sahriel, working straight through until the light failed and dusk began to fall, and then he headed wearily for the Inn, figuring Sahriel would be there and he could at least see him, and get a beer to wash down the dust and dirt of the workday.

Sahriel was helping hand out soup to people who now had no cooking facilities of their own. He spotted Connor up the road and barely restrained himself from grabbing a bowl and running over to him, making sure he ate. But he wasn’t supposed to do that in town, so he waited, watching and fiddling with the tape wrapped around his fingers where he’d foolishly cut them on glass at various times throughout the afternoon, the sun making him dizzy and tired and clumsy. Most of the cuts would heal by tomorrow but he’d have to wear the tape so it wouldn’t look weird, which was just annoying.

He had a bowl ready when Connor reached them and shoved it in his direction, trying to act as if he was anyone else, but watching him quietly from the corner of his eye. He looked tired…exhausted even, and Sahriel just wanted to hug him and apologise and make up for it all somehow.

Connor took the bowl and only barely remembered not to smile at him, simply nodding in acknowledgement instead. It was a relief to see Sahriel again after the long afternoon of work, and he took a seat with his bowl and pretended not to be watching Sahriel as he ate, looking down and watching through his lashes as Sahriel served soup and helped with cleanup. God, he was beautiful.

Something deep inside of him seemed to click and settle into a warm, peaceful feeling of right, almost contentment but more than that, some kind of strain easing with a wave of deep assurance. Sahriel was his, and he was perfect, and Connor didn’t think he’d ever want anything more out of life.