Sweet Memories: part 26
by Kayla
Anya groaned and flopped over onto her side. She smacked her lips, grimacing at the cottony, sour taste in her mouth. Not even close to being ready to get up, she burrowed her way back under the covers. One of her legs brushed against something soft and cool, and she pressed closer.
"Ugh. Who was playin' hockey with my eyeballs?"
Anya froze as the cool thing she was curled against began to move, limbs tangling with hers.
"Oh god, tell me I didn't pick up some loser freak at that bar." The covers were pulled back, and Harmony gaped at her rather frazzled looking bed companion.
"Um, hi?" Anya waggled her fingers at the vampire.
Harmony's brow furrowed. "Hey, aren't you--?" She smacked her forehead, then yelped and rubbed it tenderly. "Anya, right? Xander's girlfriend?"
"Ex-girlfriend," Anya clarified. She sat up gingerly, and the sheets pooled around her bare form.
Harmony stared at her, then looked down at her own unclad body. "Oh no. Way no."
Anya cleared her throat. "Um, did we...?" She waved a hand between them.
Sniffing delicately at the bed, Harmony nodded. "Smells like. Huh. Well, that's new."
"Damn it." Anya lurched from the bed and hobbled across the cold stone floor.
"What? It wasn't that bad...was it?" Harmony frowned, trying to piece together her hazy, scattered memories of the previous night.
"That's just it; I don't remember!" She growled in frustration. "I mean, that's my luck, isn't it? My first experience with lesbian sex, and I don't even remember it! It's not fair!" Hands on hips, Anya glared at the vampire who was still sprawled indolently on the messy bed.
"Oh." Harmony eyed Anya's heaving chest and let her eyes wander down across a trim belly to the swell of thighs and... "Um, we could always give it another go." She licked her lips.
Anya blinked. Oddly enough, her headache seemed to have become much less debilitating. Slowly, she studied Harmony's lush curves, noting the slim hand that had slid through golden curls and started a steady stroking. She nodded curtly. "Good idea."
Back in the sanctuary of their apartment, Alex and Wil settled next to each other on the couch, hands linked together. After a moment, Alex chuckled softly and peered up at Wil. "So...wanna get hitched?"
Wil gave him a tremulous grin and squeezed his hand. "Think I pretty much killed the mood for now, pet," he answered with quiet regret.
"Oh." Alex tried to hide his disappointment. "Well, how about some breakfast, then?"
Wil blinked at the change of subject. "Um, ok." He let Alex help him up, and they made their way into the kitchen.
While Wil busied himself scrubbing out the pans they'd never gotten around to washing the day before, Alex scrounged through the refrigerator. "Wil? We're out of milk. Did you use the last?"
Wil rolled his eyes. "I'm not much of a milk person, Alex. You finished up the last yesterday when you just had to have a glass of chocolate milk before we left for work."
"Oh yeah." Alex sighed. "I suppose I should go pick some up."
"How's the blood supply?"
Alex shifted a few things around. "Um, down to two packets. I can swing by Sophia's, see if she has any good stuff in."
"Ta. Here, let me make you a bagel to eat while you're out." Wil leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Wouldn't do to have you withering away from lack of proper food. You want cream cheese on it?"
"Oooh, yeah." Alex grabbed the container of cream cheese from the fridge and opened it. Shuddering, he held it at arms length as he walked to the trashcan. "On second thought, make that butter."
"What's wrong?"
"In case you ever wondered, cream cheese is not supposed to be green and fuzzy."
"This is ridiculous." Cordelia slammed her book shut. "How are we supposed to find out anything about this Sophie person if we don't even know what kind of demon we're looking for? Or if she even is a demon? Or if she even is a she?" She glared at the book as if to force it to give up its secrets.
"Well, we can't very well just give up, now can we?" Giles leveled his best authoritarian look at her, and she sighed and opened the book again.
In Cordelia's opinion, the day of researching had not gone well. Leafing through Giles' collection of books was like looking for a specific needle in a haystack-sized pile of other needles. She glanced around the room. "What's holding up Willow and her girlfriend? Weren't they supposed to be surfing the net to find stuff?" She wrinkled her nose. "On second thought, I don't really want to know what's holding them up."
Gunn looked up from his book with a wide grin. "I do!"
"Shut up, Gunn," chorused Cordelia and Wesley, and even Angel spared him a withering look.
Giles sighed. "I'm sure they--" The bell above the door jingled, interrupting him. Tara and Willow walked in, flushed and smiling.
"Bad mental images. Bad mental images." Cordelia thumped her temples repeatedly, refusing to look at the witches.
Willow blinked in confusion. "Did we miss something?"
"Ah, no," Giles answered quickly. "Did the two of you find anything?"
"Um, maybe?" Willow held up a small printout. "We looked through all the city records we could find, but nothing turned up. Then, we tried newspapers, magazines, stuff like that." She handed the paper to Giles.
"Interesting," he murmured as he scanned the article.
"What? What is it?" Cordelia waited impatiently for a response.
"Well, we didn't find any referenced to 'Sophie', but we did manage to turn up an article about the mysterious death and dismemberment of a prominent businessman." She reached around Giles and pointed. "See? One of the people questioned was a, um...Madame called Sophia."
Cordelia scowled. "Madame?"
"Proprietress," Wesley clarified.
"Pimp," Gunn offered, then wilted under the glares he received. "What?"
"What else does it say about her," Angel asked.
"Nothing. That's it. Well, it does mention that she was living in East End at the time."
"East End." Angel shook his head. "The demon side of town. It won't be easy to find her there."
"Excuse me?" Buffy stared at him, eyes narrowed. "The 'demon side of town'? As opposed to over here where we live blessedly demon-free?" She snorted. "I was over there not too long ago asking about Xander, and I didn't notice anything strange."
Angel stared at her in disbelief. "Buffy," he explained calmly, "just about everyone who lives there is non-human. Most of them look normal, but they're demons. And they're a very close-knit group."
Buffy gaped. "You're serious, aren't you?" At Angel's nod, she whirled to glare at Giles. "And why didn't I ever know about this? Aren't you supposed to tell me these crucial bits of information?"
Giles spluttered, trying to form a response, but Buffy had already turned away.
"But..." Buffy looked confused. "All of them? Demons?"
"The majority."
"But...she was so nice. And she gave me fudge!"
"Well, that was...interesting."
Wil glared at Alex, smacking him on the chest. "Shut up," he muttered.
"What?" Alex grinned. "It was! You practically have a cult following now, 'harem boy'." He leered at his boyfriend.
"Shut up!"
Laughing, Alex pulled Wil to him and spun him around the room in a brief dance. Wil resisted only briefly before giving in with a small chuckle.
Breathless, Alex led Wil into their bedroom and tumbled him onto the bed. He lay beside him and wrapped his arms around him. "I know you were a big hit filling in for Jon last night," he said, "but I don't think you should dance any more."
Wil frowned. "Why not? Liked it, didn't you?"
"That's the point!" Alex groaned. "I almost stripped you bare and-and humped you onstage! And everyone wanted to touch you." He shuddered. "They can't touch you, Wil. They can't."
"Git." Wil snorted in amusement, then grabbed one of Alex's wandering hands and kissed it. "Think I want them touching me? Undressin' me with their eyes like they did tonight?" He growled. "Don't know how Jon stands it."
"Well, for one, Jon isn't half as hot as you are." He kissed Wil's nose. "Then again, at least his hair is natural."
"Hey!" Wil shoved at Alex's chest, glaring.
"Mmm, I love the way you look, though." Alex nuzzled the sensitive spot behind Wil's ear. "Your roots are really showing, now," he commented offhandedly.
Eyes wide, Wil reached up and pulled at his hair in horror. "It looks that bad?" he asked.
Alex cocked his head. He shivered. "Looks damn sexy," he growled. "Dark at the roots, turns blonde, then almost white at the tips. Just a bit of a curl..." He growled again, then nibbled on Wil's earlobe.
Wil gasped. "Oh...oh, yeah..."
Releasing the bit of flesh with a slurping sound, Alex propped himself up on an elbow. "Wil? You wanna...you know, try that marking thing again?"
"I..." Wil toyed with the buttons on his shirt. "I s'pose we can try," he said softly.
"Ok," came Alex's equally soft response.
With trembling fingers, Wil reached over and pulled Alex's shirt off. He stared for a moment at the other man's chest, letting his gaze slowly move up to his exposed neck. He swallowed.
Alex arched his back and let out a tiny whimper when cool lips descended and began caressing his throat. Then teeth began to nibble, and he bit back a gasp.
Wil licked and nibbled at the salty skin, sucking at times until faint marks arose. Alex tasted delicious, and Wil never wanted to stop running his tongue over his boyfriend's quivering flesh.
Alex writhed under Wil for long minutes. A strangled cry escaped him when Wil finally pulled away.
"It's not working," Wil informed him dejectedly.
"Hmm?" Alex shook his head to clear it. "Oh. No biting?"
Wil shook his head.
"Well...that's ok. We can still cuddle." Again, Alex felt a slight sting of disappointment, but he knew how much Wil had been freaked by it happening the first time. He wasn't going to rush the vampire. It happened once, it was sure to happen again. Eventually. He hoped.
"Mmmmm, an' kiss?" Wil wiggled out of his own shirt, then spooned his body up beside Alex's.
"Kissing is of the good. And licking too. I like licking." To prove his point, Alex licked the sharp line of Wil's cheekbone.
"Oh yeah, I like licking."
"All over licking is a good thing, too." Alex snickered and licked the bridge of Wil's nose.
"A-All over?" Wil squeaked out.
"All over."
A cough wracked Velius' body, and he huddled deeper into the small cave, trying desperately to conserve some warmth. The tiny fire he'd managed to produce wasn't doing much to heat the area, but it was better than nothing. Barely.
Alone. Gods, it was so quiet. The sound of the blizzard outside should have been deafening, but all Velius could hear were his own raspy breaths and thumping heartbeat.
He'd had a feeling about this campaign. Something in him knew things would go wrong. Who needed an oracle to give tidings of impending doom? He'd been able to figure it out just fine for himself.
Velius let out a bitter laugh. Just his luck, though. Here he'd only come on this campaign to keep an eye on his younger brother, and what happens? He ended up being the one separated from the others, forced to hole up in this wretched crevice, sick and slowly freezing to death.
A twig snapped, the sharp sound echoing loudly through the enclosed space. Shivering, Velius stared wildly into the swirling whiteness outside. Something was coming.
A dark, bundled shape loomed in the opening. Velius gripped his short sword tightly, uncertain who -- or what -- would be about in weather like this.
The figure moved inside, shaking itself. A limb came up, pushing back the hood covering its face.
"By the gods, it's cold out there!"
Velius gaped, his sword slipping from nerveless fingers. "Aecus? How did you--? What are you doing here?"
Aecus grinned at his brother. "You thought I'd let you slip away from me that easily?"
Velius shook his head. "You fool," he muttered.
Offended, Aecus retorted, "Fool? Who's the one who got trapped in the middle of nowhere in the worst snowstorm I've ever seen?"
"Both of us, now!" Velius glared. "Why didn't you stay with the others? You were safe!"
"Yes, well, you're welcome." Aecus crept across the uneven floor and settled next to his brother. "Gods, you're cold. Here." He removed his coat and draped it over the two of them.
Against his will, Velius relaxed as his brother's body heat and the insulation of the coat warmed him slightly. "Thanks," he said softly. Another cough shook him, but it wasn't as severe as the previous one.
"You would have done it for me too, you know." Aecus moved his arm around Velius, pulling the other man closer."
"Of course I would have. That's what older brothers do." He twisted his head and tried to give Aecus another glare, but it was rather half-hearted. He sighed. "You do know we're both going to die now, right?"
Aecus shrugged. "Probably," he admitted softly. Then, in a lighter tone, "Well, at least the good senator doesn't have to worry about having someone to follow in his footsteps; he still has Primus and Quintus just waiting to fill his sandals."
"Don't talk about father that way," Velius admonished. "You know he cares for us."
"Ah, of course." In a mutter, he continued, "As much as the man can care about two sons who went against his wishes and became common soldiers."
"Stop it."
"Sorry Velius."
They huddled together in silence, shivering as the cold seemed to grow more intense.
"Do you really think we're going to die?"
Velius sighed. "Most likely. The snow isn't letting up, and we haven't got much fuel for the fire. Chances are, we'll freeze before too long."
"Oh." Aecus drew in a deep breath. "I love you, Velius."
Velius smiled. "I know. I love you as well, Aecus."
"Velius..." Aecus set cold fingers on his brother's face, turning it towards him. "I really...love you." Before he could change his mind, he pressed his lips to Velius'.
Velius held himself rigid. Then, with a low groan, he reached up a hand and brushed it along Aecus' face, moving back to tangle in his hair. "Ah, Aecus," he sighed. He returned the kiss with another, then pulled Aecus' head down to his chest, stroking his hair gently. "I love you too, Aecus," he murmured, staring again into the unforgiving wall of snow outside. "I love you, too."
Authors Note: Eh, don't do these much, do I? Well, just thought I'd let you know this one is nearing completion. I have 7 more parts mapped out, and then this WIP will officially be finished. And it feels really good to say that. :)
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