| Title: Cherished Authors: Jo & Brenda Series: Claimed Pairings: Karl Urban/Orlando Bloom/Harry Sinclair Rating: NC17 Summary: Vampires and pets and sex, oh my. Yeah, it's an AU. Disclaimer: As far as we know, vampires don't exist. Cha. Author's Notes: *Brenda points to Jo* It was all her fault. I just went along with it. *Jo points back at Brenda* Her Karl had designs on my Orli. She liked the idea so we let them play. This is what happened. *mwah* *Brenda & Jo look around, then whisper* But it's really *all* Harry's fault and if he says otherwise, it's a lie! For the other 1/2 of the Quartet. *mwah*
//I'm trying to protect your stupid ass.// Harry planted his feet, crossed his arms, grateful for the anger coursing through him. It blocked out everything else. //From what? Orlando?// Karl gestured with his hand at Orlando, who was still cowered, shaking, with Dom and Elijah's arms wrapped around him. //Harry...// Harry cut him off with a quick shake of his head. //No, you didn't see. He was all over the guy.// Karl's eyes now registered confusion. //What guy?// //Blue eyes, built like a pixie. Him.// Harry pointed his head at Elijah. //Elijah?// Karl was struggling with the urge to hit Harry again. Stupid fuck, Jesus. Harry rolled his eyes. //I didn't catch his goddamn name. They were all over each other.// Karl took a step closer to Harry. Yes, killing Harry was looking like a grand idea. //They're fucking best friends, you moron!// Harry matched Karl's step, so they were almost chest to chest. Amaretto eyes drilled into his, and Karl could see concern and anger on Harry's angular features. //Do you know that? Christ, how much do you really know about this kid?// Oh, Harry. Some of Karl's fury seeped out, to be replaced by compassion. //I know I love him. And I trust him. Harry, there's nothing between them. Orlando isn't going to betray me. How could you think I'd be that stupid? Do you think I'd choose someone for us who would do something like that?// //I don't, I just...// Harry closed his eyes, tightened his arms around his chest in an almost visible effort to keep his emotions in check. Karl could see the second when Harry realized what he'd done. //Christ. I thought I was...// Karl reached out, traced a bulging bicep with long fingers. He kept his eyes on Harry. //I can protect myself.// All of the anger left Harry's body in a dizzying rush, leaving him hollow. //I know. I just...I'm sorry. I should have trusted you.// Karl smiled. //Yeah. Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've fought over your stupidity.// //I just...I hate feeling helpless.// //I know.// Harry rubbed his hand over his face, took a deep breath. //I love you.// "I know," Karl replied aloud, voice choked. "I love you, too." He put his arms around the other vampire and hugged him tightly, clung to him. "I'm so sorry." "No, I'm sorry," Harry replied, voice choking a bit himself. He turned in Karl's arms, smiled sadly at Orlando. "I apologize. My...well...I'm...just...sorry. I need to leave." Orlando just watched in silence as Harry kissed Karl full on the lips, started walking down the hallway. What the fuck...was that it? Man terrified him beyond anything he'd ever experienced and that was it? He stood, helped up by Dom and Elijah. "Don't you even think about leaving." Orlando didn't raise his voice, didn't shout, but the command in it stopped Harry in his tracks. He pivoted, fixed Orlando with a waiting stare. "Was there something else?" Fuck yeah, there was something else. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" The rage building up in Orlando's body had him shaking, dizzy. He untangled his hand from Elijah's, stalked toward Harry with precise steps. "Waltz into a house that's supposedly mine and threaten me, threaten my friend, and you think all I need is a fucking apology?" "I..." Harry glanced helplessly at Karl. //Little one...// "Don't you fucking dare, Karl." Orlando didn't turn his head away from Harry. "I don't care how good of a friend he is. Friends do not act like that." "I thought I was protecting him." Harry's voice was soothing, gentle. Orlando didn't want soothing; he wanted a goddamn explanation. "From what? From me? From Lij? How dare you? I'm his pet." "I know that." "Sworn to him." "I know." Brown eyes flashed with fire. "No, you wouldn't, you weren't fucking there." "Orlando..." "Shut up, Karl. This is between myself and this so-called friend of yours. Why weren't you there yesterday? Why weren't you a witness?" "It's personal." Harry no longer sounded soothing. Or gentle. Which suited Orlando just fine. "He's your best friend, or so I've been told. And something was more important than watching him bind himself to a pet?" "Orlando, don't do this." Karl was all but biting the words out. Orlando ignored him. "Some fucking friend you are." Orlando turned to leave, was stopped by the large hand that shot out, encircled his arm. He gazed down at it, back up at Harry with contemptuous eyes. "Going to threaten me some more?" "Shut the fuck up." Harry's voice had dropped to a dangerous low. "You're in his life for a week, you think you know him? You think you know me? You think you know what he is to me?" Harry's eyes raked Orlando from head to toe in a swift glance, settled back on his face. And the pity in them was almost more than Orlando could take. "Creator. Friend. Lover. Partner." Harry made each word a caress. "Over 800 years, child. More lifetimes than you can count." "Harry..." It was Harry's turn to ignore Karl. "I have been by his side since I was practically a child. I have been with him through war and heartbreak and euphoria and joy and shared every single thing that I have with him and he with me. So don't fucking tell me I don't love him. Because love is too tame a word." He dropped his hand from Orlando's arm like he couldn't bear the touch. And looked past him, inclined his head. "I'll talk to you later, Karl." He didn't acknowledge anyone else in the hall as he swept down the steps. "Well, that was...enlightening," Dave observed. Viggo looked at Sean. "I'll take Harry, you take Karl." "Oh yeah, that's worked so well in the past," Sean remarked, but nodded his head, as Viggo walked swiftly after Harry. Orlando stood, staring after Harry's retreating back for a charged moment. All of the pieces of Harry's earlier words were filtering through exhaustion and anger...and the picture they painted scared the hell out of him. And made him fucking furious. He whirled around, fixed narrowed eyes on Karl, who was still standing in the same spot. "Lovers?" "Oh boy," Dom said to no one in particular. "Told ya so." "You didn't fucking tell me you were lovers." Orlando's voice had taken on a dangerous quality. And Karl had to throw more fuel to the fire. "Still are," he stated, meeting Orlando's gaze with steel in his eyes. "I think that's definitely our cue to leave," Sean said, turning a fascinated Dom toward the stairs. "Come on, Dave, grab young Elijah, let's go before it gets bloody." "Still...?" Orlando took a huge breath, exhaled, tried to see past the red currently behind his eyes. He never noticed Sean and Dave quietly and efficiently herding Dom and Elijah out of the hallway. All he saw was Karl. And his own inadequacies. "Were you ever planning on telling me?" "Of course I was," Karl snapped, looking thoroughly annoyed. "You just thought I'd try to keep it secret forever?" "Well you sure as hell managed to keep it a secret this fucking long." Of course Karl was going to tell him. Right. Probably right after he'd walked in on the two of them. "Did it ever occur to you that I might have wanted to know that before now?" "Fucking hell, you sound just like..." Karl stopped mid-sentence, raked his hands through his hair. "Just like...?" Orlando prompted. "Just like Harry," Karl bit out, practically growling. "Both of you obviously just don't fucking get it." Just like... "Maybe I'd 'get it' if you'd bothered to tell me about him before the damn ceremony," Orlando snapped, practically vibrating in his fury and hurt. Just like Harry. Fuck that. "Why the fuck do you even need me?" "What?" "Me?" Orlando thumped his chest, struggling with the effort to remain calm, dangerously close to tears. "Why me? You've got him, I don't fucking get it." "You're jealous." Karl said the words with awe in his voice. Jealous? No, he wasn't jealous, he was furious, he was tired, he was... "Of course I'm bloody jealous, you stupid twat!" he shouted, stalking forward until he was standing right in front of Karl. "He's fucking got everything! Poise, control, taste, immortality, you, your love, why the fuck do you need me?" "I love you, too." Orlando continued ranting, didn't even hear Karl's softly spoken words. "You don't tell me anything, and I can't do it. I can't be perfect for you. I can't be him, and if you're expecting that, then I'm sorry to disappoint you." "You're not disappointing me," Karl said, cupping Orlando's face. Orlando struggled not to lean into the touch. He needed to hang on to his anger. It was the only thing keeping him together. "Don't. I deserve more than this." "I know." "You talked to me about trust." Yeah, they'd talked about trust, alright. And apparently it had been just that...talk and nothing else. "But you don't trust me. He's your fucking lover...and I had to find that out from him?" He stared at Karl. Confusion, hurt, betrayal...they were all tangled in his head. "How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?" "You're not." Well, that was that then. "Okay." Jesus fucking Christ, it wasn't supposed to hurt this much. Orlando felt like someone was pressing a heavy weight on his chest. It hurt to move. "I'll um..." Breathe, Orli. Breathe. "I'll just send for my things later. We can, um..." He couldn't finish the sentence, just ducked under Karl's hands, started toward the steps. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Karl's sharply delivered question froze Orlando in his tracks. He turned, heart breaking again as his eyes roamed over that perfect face and lean body. "I'll probably stay at my old apartment tonight, I don't know." He hoped Elijah would take him in. And not say 'I told you so' too much. Karl's eyes narrowed to slits. He walked to Orlando, stood in front of him, and fury came from the vampire in an almost tangible wave. "Orlando Bloom, if you so much as take a fucking step toward the door, I will not be held accountable." And, just like that, his anger came back. Fucker thought he could break Orlando's heart into shattered pieces and still order him around? "Watch me." He took the step. And was immediately thrown back against the wall, pinned there by Karl's lean body pressed against his and Karl's hand on his jaw. This time though, Orlando refused to back down. "Let me make this crystal fucking clear to you," Karl stated, hazel eyes furious as they roamed over Orlando's face. "You are mine. We are bound. Got it?" He didn't give Orlando a chance to answer, just brought his mouth down in a violent kiss that sucked Orlando into a twisting tornado of tangled need and anger. Orlando returned the kiss with equal violence, bit down on Karl's tongue, dug nails into Karl's shoulders. And his brain was slammed with Karl's mind as Karl reached down Orlando's slacks, grabbing his cock with long fingers. //Mine.// Orlando was given no warning, no time to prepare. Karl's hand started moving over him in fast strokes and his brain was assaulted by white-hot need that gave new meaning to intense. It overwhelmed his every thought, slammed through him. Karl's mouth was still slanting over his, tongue down his throat, and the raw passion of it, of the thoughts bursting through his brain had him coming almost immediately all over Karl's fingers. Karl withdrew his hand, brought the kiss to a slow halt, then licked his hand clean. //Look at me.// Orlando opened glazed eyes, stared into Karl's. "Listen to me, and listen well," Karl said, eyes boring right into Orlando's soul. "You're my pet. I love you. You're not fucking going anywhere." Karl loved him? Karl... "Oh my God," Orlando breathed. "You...you love me?" "Of course I do." For the second time that night, the blood left Orlando's legs. Only this time, Karl held him up. Orlando looked deep into those amazing eyes...and saw the love reflected in them. God. He wrapped his arms around Karl's shoulders. "I love you too," he gasped, the words muffled against Karl's suit jacket. Karl held him tight, kissed the mop of curls on his head, rocked him in strong arms. "Now, no more talk of leaving, alright?" Orlando nodded, sniffled, lifted his head. The kiss he gave Karl was as gentle as a light mist, but still managed to be very thorough. "I'm sorry," he said, once he lifted his lips from Karl's. "I'm just tired, I guess." "My fault," Karl answered, smiling. He stroked a hand down the velvet of Orlando's cheek. "I pushed you too hard this week, and I'm sorry. We'll make our final rounds, spend the rest of the night in bed, okay?" Sounded like the best idea Orlando had heard all night. Karl loved him. The rest could wait. But Karl better not think they were finished discussing this. Because they weren't. |