| 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*
Karl raised startled eyes from the book he'd been reading. Orlando saw him set it, and his glass of wine, down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. He stood, walked to Orlando and dropped to his haunches. "Are you alright?" He nodded, still trying to catch his breath. "Then why the rush?" "Because it's after dark, and I wasn't here, and..." "Sshh." Karl silenced his babbling with a brief kiss. "It's alright. I don't expect you to sit meekly in the corner and wait for me. You have a job. I respect that." Orlando nodded. He understood a little bit better now. Dom had been so patient, explaining some things. But still...Karl could change his mind. They hadn't truly bonded yet; there had been no ceremony. "Take a minute, catch your breath. Do you need a glass of water?" Orlando could only nod his head as he struggled with emotions -- relief, desire, need -- God, he needed so much. Needed Karl's approval, needed to know he was wanted. He wanted nothing less than the rapturous look that Dom had when he'd spoken of Sean. He wanted that bond. He greedily drank the water Karl handed him, throat moving in gulps as he drained the glass, handed it back to Karl. He stood, stretched, took deep breaths, and looked at Karl standing there, hands in faded jeans, chest covered in red silk. And wanted...just...wanted. Still couldn't believe all of this exotic beauty was for him. Still couldn't believe it was real and not some dream. Orlando reached out to Karl's jaw, dipped fingers into his mouth, touch barely grazing over a sharp canine. "Does it hurt?" he asked. Karl looked a bit puzzled at the sudden question. "What? My prey?" "No." Orlando shook his head, thinking of the binding ceremony. "Does it hurt you when you feed?" Karl had never been rendered speechless a night in his very long life, but he was pretty close at the moment. "No one has ever asked me that," he whispered, stroking a hand over Orlando's jaw. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." "Yes." "What?" "Yes, it hurts," Karl clarified. "But not very much and only for the first instant." "Oh." Orlando went very still, looked down at his boots, shuffled his feet a bit. Karl gazed at the top of his head, the mop of unruly curls, for a minute, watching, before tipping his head up with a finger. And the emotions he saw stunned him. "What's wrong, little one?" "I don't know if I can be what you want me to be," Orlando confessed. Karl captured Orlando's hand with his own. He placed their hands over his heart and circled Orlando's jaw with his other hand. "Listen to me, Orlando Bloom, and listen well. Everything that you are is exactly how I want you. I don't want a plaything. I don't want a toy. I don't want you for a handful of nights. I want a pet -- I want to cherish you." His gaze softened as he stroked the fine skin of Orlando's neck. "And I want it to be honest and real between us -- do you understand?" Orlando nodded, wrapping his arms around Karl, who hugged him back, held him close, kissed his hair. They stayed like that for a long time. "I just want to make you happy." Orlando's voice was muffled against Karl's shirt. "I know. And I want to make you happy. We'll work on everything together, alright?" Orlando nodded against Karl's chest, finally lifted his head. His cheeks were pink from embarrassment. He was altogether the most beautiful creature Karl had ever seen. He bent his head, captured Orlando's lips in a sweet kiss. With a sigh, Orlando parted his lips, allowed Karl's seeking tongue entrance. A kiss of homecoming, and Karl felt the visceral pull in his groin as his mouth feasted, took, stole breath and reason. Orlando's voice was beyond shaky when lips and tongues finally parted. "I would give you pleasure tonight, Karl. If you would like." Karl spread his hands out, bowed slightly. "My body is yours. Do with me as you will." Orlando gulped, licked dry lips, brought his calloused thumb up to his teeth, nervously chewing. Karl merely stared down at him, challenging him with clear eyes, even though he stood completely still. Orlando took another deep breath, closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, Karl's breath caught in his throat at the come-hither look in brown eyes. This was a new side of Orlando...this was a predator, a seducer. Orlando stepped forward, lissome body so close Karl could feel the heat of it, even though they weren't touching. Long, tapered fingers worked on the buttons of Karl's shirt with steady hands, pushing the soft material around his wrists as the shirt was drawn over his shoulders. "Shall I tell you what I thought when I first saw you, my Lord?" Orlando asked, voice now teasing, meant to entice, to incite. Karl didn't move, but his eyes flashed. "Please." Orlando reached out with trembling fingers, and his gentle touch made Karl shiver. "Well, it was your voice in my head that first seduced." Hands ran over the wide expanse of chest, hovered over strong shoulders, biceps, forearms, wrists still locked inside silk. "You have the most amazing voice, did you know that?" Karl raised an eyebrow, and a lock of dark hair fell across his forehead. Orlando brushed it back, running his fingers through the silky length of it. "I was lost in your eyes the second I saw them. They just..." Orlando stopped. "...they knew me." His voice took on a husky tone as he licked his lips, continued mapping Karl's skin with his hands. "You knew me. Knew all my secrets, all my desires, all my needs." He found the belt buckle of Karl's jeans, slid it off his waist. "I would have agreed to anything you suggested, gone anywhere you were going, as long as you continued to look at me." Soft words wrapped around them, drawing them intimately closer. Orlando's hands now moved to the buttons of Karl's jeans, loosening them one by one. "You were temptation incarnate...something out of my dreams." Nimble fingers sought, closed over the firm flesh of Karl's erection. Twin sighs filled the room. "God, you feel good." Orlando leaned up, brushed his chest against Karl's, filled his tongue with the whorls of Karl's ear. And laughed softly when Karl shuddered beneath him, jumped in his hand. "Shall I worship you, my dark angel? Would you like that?" Karl swallowed, cleared a locked throat. "Please," he managed to say, rigid with the strain of holding himself still. He wanted nothing more than to throw that slender body on the bed and pillage...but his mortal needed this, needed the control. But damned if he wasn't doing his best to shred all of Karl's. So much like Harry, so similar in the way Orlando made him feel... Wide eyes full of sin gazed up at him as Orlando slid to his knees. Christ... "Yes, I think I will worship you." Orlando's breath was moist on Karl's cock, heating it to unbearable hardness. Then soft lips closed around the head, and Karl found it was indeed possible to get even harder. His hands were still trapped in his shirt, and he debated with ripping the fabric so he could grab handfuls of dark hair. No. Orlando wanted him restrained. He would stand here. And take. Take more of the exquisite sensation as his hard cock was swallowed in moist velvet. Take more of the wildly erotic sight of hollowed cheeks sucking him in deeper, creating friction of unimaginable rapture. Take more of the sounds of his own harsh breathing, the humming in Orlando's throat that made him twitch, made him quake. Karl could only bend his head, try to keep his balance as his world was stripped from under him so the only thing left in it was Orlando's mouth, Orlando's breath, Orlando's tongue gliding on him, lavishing him with wet reverence. If Karl was a dark angel, then Orlando was in a tainted, wicked Heaven. He'd never known heat like this, never known it was possible to get off on another's pleasure so much. But then, he'd never known the taste of Karl, all seductive heat in his mouth. Never known the power of bringing a vampire to his knees with his tongue, with his love. He'd never known the true taste of sin, of vice, until Karl's taste filled him, leaving nothing except the essence of clove in his mouth and a need for more. No, it was beyond need. Beyond passion. Beyond love, beyond obsession. Orlando moved faster, desperate now for that final taste, to drown in carnal nirvana, got his wish when Karl stiffened, locked eyes with his and came down his throat. And Orlando got slammed once again with Karl's presence in his brain. Now he was Karl, bucking, shaking with the force of an orgasm so intense it was beyond thought. He was looking down at himself, he was both cock and mouth, invader and captive...it was too much. Orlando came himself in a shuddering moan, falling into his own oblivion. He blacked out for a second, coming to with Karl on his knees beside him, kissing him into awareness, eyes shining with some indefinable emotion. "Are you alright?" Karl stroked his cheek, his eyebrows, forehead with soothing hands. "I think so." Orlando tested his limbs, found that he could indeed feel them. That was good. For a minute, he hadn't been able to feel anything. "That was..." Hell, he didn't know what that was, actually. Except beyond incredible. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you." "Warned me of what?" "Vampires are especially sensitive everywhere." Karl was busy taking Orlando's shirt off of him as he spoke, pulling the thin material over his head. "And when I came...I should have asked permission, I'm sorry." "Are you out of your fucking mind?" Orlando couldn't help the incredulous tone in his voice as he looked up into the vampire's apologetic face. "You just gave me what is probably the most intensely erotic experience of my entire life, and you're apologizing?" Karl laughed, bent his head, placed a long kiss on Orlando's sweat-dampened forehead, brushed his hair behind his ears. "You continue to surprise me." "Good. Now we're even." Karl simply shook his head, still smiling, but the tenor of it changed. And Orlando was lost again, willing to give his entire soul over to the promise in those eyes. "No. We will never be even," Karl told him, and lowered him to the floor. + + + It was much later, after Karl and Orlando were snuggled together under silk sheets, sated and lethargic, that Orlando remembered his conversation with Dom. "Can I ask you something?" he asked, running his foot up Karl's leg, enjoying the feel of crisp hairs rubbing against him. Karl tightened his grip, enclosed him in strong arms. "Anything." "Exactly how old are you, anyway?" When Karl told him, Orlando's eyes went as round as saucers. "Wow. You're...wow. Bet you've seen a lot," he said. And wanted to kick himself with the stupidity of the statement. Of course he's seen a lot, dork, he's over 900 fucking years old. A soft chuckle greeted his inane comment. "A bit, yeah." "You must be pretty powerful, then." Boy, just wowing him with the witty repartee, aren't you? "Not quite as powerful as Vig, but I guess I am." More bits of his conversation with Dom slid into place. "Vig, as in Viggo, the Head of the Council?" "I see Dominic must have stopped by." Orlando nodded. "Yeah, he came by the store this morning." "And what did you think of Sean's young Dominic?" Karl asked, running lazy fingers up Orlando's back, causing slight tremors. What a lovely thought, to be thought of in the possessive. To always belong to someone. "I thought he was nice. I liked him." Karl smiled. "Funny, he said pretty much the same thing about you. I take it he explained a few things?" "Some, yeah. It's all...just..." Karl kissed the top of Orlando's head. "It's a bit much. And I'm not much help, I know. I'm not very forthcoming, even in the best of times." Orlando's fingers played with the soft trail of hair on Karl's abdomen. "So, um, how long've you known Harry?" Karl gave him a sharp look. "Harry? Dom told you about Harry?" Orlando shivered a bit at the steel in Karl's low voice. Fuck...he hadn't meant to get Dom into any trouble. He hastened to explain, wanting to erase the ice freezing Karl's eyes. "Yeah, he told me Harry was your best friend." The arms clamped around Orlando softened. "Oh." Karl paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was back to normal. "Well, he's definitely that." Orlando breathed an inward sigh of relief, and risked another question. "How long've you know him?" "God...let me think." Orlando watched Karl's lips move in silent calculation. "About 830 years, thereabouts," he finally said. Jesus fucking...Orlando tried to imagine knowing Elijah that long...couldn't even comprehend it. "Wow. You've been friends that long?" "Yes. We have." Karl kissed the top of Orlando's head, his voice soft with some emotion Orlando couldn't quite place. "I can't imagine not having him in my life." "And what about Sean?" "How long have I known him?" Orlando nodded, and Karl did some more calculations. "I met him right after he was turned. About 700 years ago." "So, um, what's it like to be turned? Mortal one day, immortal the next." Orlando could feel Karl shrug beneath him. "I don't know." He looked up, puzzled. "You don't?" "I was born a vampire." Oh. Wow. "My God..." Orlando breathed aloud. Even he knew born vampires were a rarity. "That means you can..." "Go out in direct sunlight, yes," Karl said, answering the unspoken question. "But not for too long. It hurts, but it's not fatal to me unless I stay out in it for any length of time." Born a vampire. Dom hadn't mentioned that particular piece of information. Another thought occurred to Orlando, and he clutched Karl to him, terrified, but needing to know the answer. "Why in the world do you need me then? If you can go out in the day?" Orlando could feel the heat of Karl's eyes on him, even though his head was still buried in the crook of Karl's shoulder. "You think I want you to be my errand boy?" "Well, Dom said..." Karl lifted Orlando's head, forced him to meet Karl's gaze. "I am dead certain young Dominic implied nothing of the kind. Managing my affairs is the least I require of you." "Oh." Orlando's voice sounded small, even to his own ears. Karl let go of his chin, returned Orlando's head to its previous position on Karl's chest. "You said you were closing the store tomorrow, correct?" Puzzled by the sudden shift in topic, Orlando simply nodded. "I was thinking I could meet you, and we could go and get your things." Orlando looked up again. "My things?" "Unless you'd rather start fresh. I thought it might help for you to have some familiar things around you. I want you to be comfortable here." "Are you...?" God, this was too good to be true, too insane to be real. "Are you asking me to move in with you?" Now the eyes were amused and the smile almost smug on that too-handsome face. "You're to be my pet, Orlando. My companion, my courtesan, my helpmeet, my partner, my equal. Where the fuck did you think you were going to live? To sleep?" "I, uh..." Actually, he hadn't allowed himself to think that far ahead. Karl rolled him over, trapped him under a lean body. "I'll tell you where you're sleeping. Right here, in this bed. With me. You will be the first thing I see when I wake and the last thing I see before I sleep. Mine, little one. Get used to it." Orlando knew for a fact that he wouldn't get used to being Karl's if he had several lifetimes. But, God he was willing to try. "Tomorrow's good," he managed to say, and was dragged back under Karl's spell by a fierce kiss. |