| Title: Consorted Authors: Jo & Brenda Series: Claimed, part 3 Pairings: Karl Urban/Orlando Bloom/Harry Sinclair/David Wenham; (Sean Bean/Dominic Monaghan; Viggo Mortensen/??) Rating: NC17 Summary: New vamps, new pets...and, yeah. All of the old fave vamps & pets, too. Plus, Elijah goes on a date. *grins* Disclaimer: Vampires still don't exist. And we doubt any of these things ever happened. But, you never know. Author's Notes: As ever, you guys all rock. We are humbled & thankful that so many of you love these guys as much as we do. We hope this last part entertains. *mwah*
Karl glanced over. "Relax. We're not going to let him do anything to you." "I know," Orlando replied with a soft sigh. "I just...I'll feel better when Harry and Dave are here." "So will I." Karl smiled just a little, the corners of his mouth curving up, when Orlando's hand found his as they walked towards the house. Without pausing, Karl opened the door, gave Orlando's hand a gentle squeeze, and walked in, pulling Orlando after him. //Get used to strolling right in, it'll be expected of you now.// He grinned at Orlando's startled look. //The arrogance comes with the fangs.// Viggo was on the phone when they walked in, speaking to someone in a language that sounded Greek or maybe Turkish, Orlando couldn't tell. He waved them toward the bar, stepped outside on the patio. "That's a bit anti-climactic," Orlando stated, staring after Viggo. "Business waits for no crisis. Want something?" "Whatever you're having is fine." Orlando began to walk around the room, studying things he'd missed on his first visit. "Speaking of business..." Karl looked up at him. "What about it?" "Can I still run things now? Or does all this change that?" Orlando shoved his hands in his pockets. "I mean, before... It was easy to be at the office during the day and all that, but now... It's going to be difficult for me to do my job, isn't it?" "I can't imagine why. I've managed to run things successfully my entire life. People will adjust their schedules to meet yours. Which is why you're the boss." Karl handed Orlando a glass of merlot, dropped to the sofa. "We can set up your new schedule tomorrow night, if you like." "Yeah, I'd like that." Orlando smiled as he sat beside Karl. "Gives me an excuse to have you all to myself for a bit." "You'll have a lot of opportunities for that now," Karl stated, grinning. "Part of the package deal you got last night. You're stuck with us." "Could be worse. I could be stuck with..." Orlando took a sip of wine instead of finishing his sentence, his eyes moving towards the patio. "Anyway, did I mention my mouth doesn't hurt tonight?" "Did you put the saltwater on it?" At Orlando's nod, Karl smiled. "It's a good trick." "Do I even want to know what you two are talking about?" Viggo asked, stepping back into the room. Karl glanced at Viggo over the rim of his glass. "We were discussing Orli's mouth." "Still a bit tender?" Viggo asked, going to the bar. "Surprisingly, no," Orlando replied. He watched Viggo for a moment, then looked down at his wineglass. "He's not going to eat you," Karl said as he patted Orlando's knee. "It's not the eating that worries me," Orlando mumbled, and sipped his wine. "At least you're taking this matter seriously. Unlike some I could name." Viggo's smile held no warmth. "I am taking this very fucking seriously. Don't think I'm not." "I hardly see how a spur of the moment decision is taking this seriously." Orlando watched the two other vampires with a growing sense of unease. This was so not going well. //Harry? Dave?// //Pulling up right now, little one.// Orlando allowed himself to relax just slightly at the soothing note in Harry's voice. "Harry, love, we missed the first round," Dave said as he walked through the door a few minutes later. "Looks like opening shots have already been fired." "You have no idea," Orlando muttered into his glass, trying not to be obvious as he slid closer to Karl. He was beyond glad that Karl was sitting between him and Viggo. //It's going to be okay.// Karl covered Orlando's hand with his, calmly watching Viggo the entire time. "Again, Vig...I'm taking this very seriously. We all are." "We all knew what we were doing," Harry replied, sitting next to Karl. "We know it's a serious matter." "Good to know." Viggo leaned against the bar, but no one was fooled by his casual stance. "Look, Vig..." "Don't, Dave. I don't want to hear it." Viggo cut him off with a sharp shake of his head. "I realize I'm not the easiest person to deal with, but fuck, when have I ever given any of you reason to think I wouldn't be there for you, that I wouldn't support you?" "If you support us, what the hell is the problem?" Dave moved to stand by the sofa, his leg brushing Orlando's knee. "If it's because we didn't ask permission --" "It didn't concern him," Karl pointed out. Dave just waved his hand. "The decision was made," Dave continued. "Orlando asked me for the Gift, and I gave it to him. Do you think I would have done that if I thought he didn't know what he was doing?" "You do not simply go around giving it to every single person that asks!" Viggo whirled and turned back, eyes still cold. "Don't you tell me that this wasn't my concern, Karl. He's a vampire now; that makes it my concern, or have you forgotten who I am?" "I know exactly who you are." Karl stood, shook off Orlando's hand. "And this was so important it couldn't have waited a day, or even an hour?" "We weren't thinking like that..." Harry began, only to be interrupted. "As usual, you weren't thinking," Viggo snapped. "He's your pet. He was already mostly immortal from the pet bond. You didn't need to do this to him, didn't need to change his entire life." "His entire life was changed the second he agreed to walk out of that club with me." Orlando curled up in the corner of the couch, wineglass was forgotten in his hand. It was going to be a long night. "And the keyword there is 'mostly'," Karl continued, shifting his body just enough to stand in front of Orlando. He noted absently that Dave's shoulder pressed against him barely a second later. "He would have died eventually. We would have lost him." "Now that won't happen," Harry added, still seated. "And I do not go around giving it to anyone who asks." Dave looked at Viggo, trying to remain calm. "I gave it to Orli. Tell me I made a mistake, and I'll tell you you're a fucking liar." "You know what, fine. It wasn't a mistake, rules that have been in place longer than I've been alive don't fucking matter because it's Harry and Karl, and the two of you can't be bothered to give any respect at all. Fuck it. You want to play by your own rules, then do it." Viggo paused, looked at the four of them. "I'll expect resignations tomorrow. As of now, you're officially banished." "Why wait? You can have it --" Orlando stopped Dave's words by standing up and pushing between him and Karl. Before anyone could stop him, Orlando walked to stand in front of Viggo. "Look, I'm the source of all the problems." He kept his head down, refused to look up at Viggo, ignored the voices in his head and behind him. "If you want to banish someone, banish me. Make me mortal again or whatever it is you have to do, and I'll just fucking leave. But don't punish them because of me." "Orli..." Viggo tipped his chin up, and Orlando was surprised to find his gaze was tender. "You are not the problem. They are. You weren't aware of the consequences. But I will not stand aside and let them continue to do whatever they fucking please because they couldn't be bothered with the simple courtesy of following our rules and our beliefs." He released Orlando's chin, stroked his cheek briefly, gaze going back to the other vampires. "It's about lack of respect. It always has been." "That's not..." "Spare me, Harry. We all know you don't respect me, you don't respect my office, you don't respect my age or my wisdom or my position or the rules that have held the fabric of our society together longer than time itself. Well, now you won't have to deal with it. I expect you all to be out of my house when I get back." He spared Orlando one last fleeting smile before walking out the back door, toward the beach. Orlando turned, finding an odd mixture of expressions on the faces of the three vampires facing him. He wasn't too sure he could put a name to any of the look, though. And he wasn't entirely sure he understood what had just happened. "That was...not what I expected," Dave said finally, his manner subdued. "Was that what any of you expected?" Orlando asked, his eyes moving from to another. "Well, no, not exactly." "Not exactly?" Orlando stared at Karl as if he'd grown a new head. "Let me ask you something...were you supposed to tell Viggo before Dave..y'know, did his thing?" Harry dropped his head, elbows resting on his knees. "Yeah," he admitted in a soft voice. "There's supposed to be a meeting at least of the senior Council members to get approval before anyone's given the Gift." "The only time there wasn't was when I gave it to Harry," Karl continued, staring out the glass door. "But I told Vig what I was doing and why right before I did it." "And no one bothered to tell him this time." Dave shook his head. "I should have, but I wasn't exactly thinking about him at the time." "And no one thought to tell me before I crawled into Dave's lap and asked him." Orlando sighed, raking hands through dark curls. His eyes were sad, haunted, when he looked at them again. "So what do we do now?" "I don't know." Harry locked eyes with Karl. "He's right, you know." "Yeah." Karl stood wearily, let out a slow breath. He walked to the bar, hand drifting across Orlando's back as he passed. "I should go talk to him." Dave took a step. "No, don't. This problem is much older than you, cariad." Harry pushed himself off the sofa. "I think I'll have a drink as well." "So we're all just going to have a drink and still be sitting here when he gets back?" Orlando shook his head, then dropped to the floor, pulling his knees up against his chest and resting his head on them. "Lovely. Don't even have my fangs in yet, and I've already been banished." Dave knelt beside Orlando, stroked the back of his head with a gentle hand. "You're not in this alone, Orli," he murmured, watching Harry and Karl. "I suppose it's too much to hope that one of you has any ideas here?" Harry pulled down the bottle of Scotch. "One of us is going to have to talk to him." "I'll do it. You're only going to piss him off more." Karl tried to smile, but it still looked flat. "I don't see how he could be any more pissed," Dave said. "But then, I haven't known him as long." "Has he got you blocked already?" Dave was silent for a minute. "Yeah," he nodded, frowning a bit at Karl. "Feels a bit odd, not having him there." "Believe me, we know." Harry circled the bar with his glass, sat down beside Orlando. "This isn't your fault. It's solely ours." Orlando turned his head, looked at Harry with liquid eyes. "I know," he sighed. "But I feel responsible. I should've waited 'til after dinner to ask." "I could have waited until after dinner to give it to you," Dave said, fingers still caressing Orlando's curls. "Hell, I knew better." "We all knew better," Karl pointed out, rubbing his eyes with one hand. Harry grabbed Karl's hand as he passed. "We'll be here when you get back." "I know." Karl trailed his hand along Harry's cheek, then Orlando's and Dave's before walking out the glass door, following Viggo's footprints. "Good luck, old man," Harry muttered, sipping his drink. Dave's reply was equally soft. "He's going to need it." Orlando shifted until he was curled up against Harry's side, Dave's hand still in his hair. "This isn't quite like I expected things to be," he mumbled. "It's not like any of us expected." Dave looked at Harry over Orlando's head. "No," Harry agreed, "it's not." |