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jaye_voyAck! "First Blood" is *not* supposed to turn into a tetralogy, even if the sequels showed up complete with characters, plots and spiffy titles (First Blood, Second Rising, Third Wave, Fourth Horseman).
Do you have *any* idea how many WIPs lurk on my hard drive? How can four vampire stories show up in a single week? (These three and the Hunter!Karl/Vampire!Sean one.) Four! I don't even read vampire stories!
Oh, dear...
Request from: Trin_chardin
Prompt: Sean/Karl post-“First Blood”
Disclaimer: The actors’ names and images are borrowed for this work of complete fiction.
Feedback: Always welcome, positive or negative.
Archiving: Not without permission.
***
Sean ignored the delicate embroidered silk adorning the walls in drifting cherry blossoms above still ponds, the changing textures of carpets and parquet under his feet. A prison was a prison, no matter how luxurious. Nor did it make one fucking bit of difference that Karl was a voluntary captive, his surrender a desperate bid to avert a war among the Houses.
All Sean cared about was that his Wolf did not roam free.
He barely managed a nod at Johnny and the guards before he burst through the door into a suite that offered him only black-lacquered furniture---the jade silk cushions of the couch distressingly empty---and the semi-darkness of heavy drapes closed against the growing daylight.
Ten long strides took him across the room and into the short hallway past the bath---also empty---and through the open door to the bedroom.
His glances grew darting, frantic...Karl *must* be here. That much Sean knew, despite the lack of a mate bond. He prowled around the bed, the smoothness of the crimson cover belying the wild beginning to the night past. He peered around the edges of bureau and dresser, a whine beginning to rise in his throat---
“Sean.” Karl’s voice was weak, but oh, so welcome.
Sean leapt toward the ornamental screen that paralleled one wall, barely managed not to fling it aside as he dropped to his knees. Karl was sitting with his back pressed to a corner of the room, knees raised and arms wrapped around them. When Karl’s face cleared the curtain of his unbound hair his skin was paler than Sean had ever seen, shining with sweat. And Karl’s eyes...Sean didn’t need to ask how bad the drift had been.
He couldn’t reach out...even now, he didn’t dare. But he didn’t need to. This time Karl came to *him*, unfolding enough to mirror Sean’s pose. Sean’s arms slid around Karl, gathering his lover close. Ignoring the slight coolness that reached him through the thin black silk of Karl’s pajamas and his own shirt, the minute tremors that still shook Karl’s frame.
And despite the horrors and the dangers of the last days, something within Sean rejoiced at the way Karl curled hands around his shoulders and relaxed into his embrace, the tiny shift that had him supporting a fraction of Karl’s weight. Sean closed his eyes and buried his face in the tangled waves clinging to Karl’s neck, breathed in the scent of his home...his heart.
“She did not die easily.” Karl’s whisper was barely louder than a breath.
“Aye.” Sean’s grip tightened. “But without your warning many more would have been lost.”
Karl nodded agreement but his sigh was full of sorrow...and guilt. Sean didn't point out that Karl was not to blame, realized words would not remove Karl’s undeserved burden, any more than they would silence the accusations he shouted at himself within his own mind. “At least some good has come from Lucy’s death: Crane and Tiger finally admit Wolf is innocent---and you’re not the sire of these rogues.”
Karl’s watery chuckle should not have lifted Sean’s spirits so, but he couldn’t help but smile as Karl murmured, “I’m not at all certain an *innocent* Wolf is even possible, lionheart.”
He withdrew enough to frame Sean’s face in his hands, and Sean felt his own tension finally ebb at the returning warmth of Karl’s skin, the clearing of eyes that sent Sean into each day’s sleep and welcomed him anew at the setting of the sun.
Sean let his own hands wrap around Karl’s wrists, let his lids drift closed as their lips met in a kiss.
THE END
Do you have *any* idea how many WIPs lurk on my hard drive? How can four vampire stories show up in a single week? (These three and the Hunter!Karl/Vampire!Sean one.) Four! I don't even read vampire stories!
Oh, dear...
Request from: Trin_chardin
Prompt: Sean/Karl post-“First Blood”
Disclaimer: The actors’ names and images are borrowed for this work of complete fiction.
Feedback: Always welcome, positive or negative.
Archiving: Not without permission.
***
Sean ignored the delicate embroidered silk adorning the walls in drifting cherry blossoms above still ponds, the changing textures of carpets and parquet under his feet. A prison was a prison, no matter how luxurious. Nor did it make one fucking bit of difference that Karl was a voluntary captive, his surrender a desperate bid to avert a war among the Houses.
All Sean cared about was that his Wolf did not roam free.
He barely managed a nod at Johnny and the guards before he burst through the door into a suite that offered him only black-lacquered furniture---the jade silk cushions of the couch distressingly empty---and the semi-darkness of heavy drapes closed against the growing daylight.
Ten long strides took him across the room and into the short hallway past the bath---also empty---and through the open door to the bedroom.
His glances grew darting, frantic...Karl *must* be here. That much Sean knew, despite the lack of a mate bond. He prowled around the bed, the smoothness of the crimson cover belying the wild beginning to the night past. He peered around the edges of bureau and dresser, a whine beginning to rise in his throat---
“Sean.” Karl’s voice was weak, but oh, so welcome.
Sean leapt toward the ornamental screen that paralleled one wall, barely managed not to fling it aside as he dropped to his knees. Karl was sitting with his back pressed to a corner of the room, knees raised and arms wrapped around them. When Karl’s face cleared the curtain of his unbound hair his skin was paler than Sean had ever seen, shining with sweat. And Karl’s eyes...Sean didn’t need to ask how bad the drift had been.
He couldn’t reach out...even now, he didn’t dare. But he didn’t need to. This time Karl came to *him*, unfolding enough to mirror Sean’s pose. Sean’s arms slid around Karl, gathering his lover close. Ignoring the slight coolness that reached him through the thin black silk of Karl’s pajamas and his own shirt, the minute tremors that still shook Karl’s frame.
And despite the horrors and the dangers of the last days, something within Sean rejoiced at the way Karl curled hands around his shoulders and relaxed into his embrace, the tiny shift that had him supporting a fraction of Karl’s weight. Sean closed his eyes and buried his face in the tangled waves clinging to Karl’s neck, breathed in the scent of his home...his heart.
“She did not die easily.” Karl’s whisper was barely louder than a breath.
“Aye.” Sean’s grip tightened. “But without your warning many more would have been lost.”
Karl nodded agreement but his sigh was full of sorrow...and guilt. Sean didn't point out that Karl was not to blame, realized words would not remove Karl’s undeserved burden, any more than they would silence the accusations he shouted at himself within his own mind. “At least some good has come from Lucy’s death: Crane and Tiger finally admit Wolf is innocent---and you’re not the sire of these rogues.”
Karl’s watery chuckle should not have lifted Sean’s spirits so, but he couldn’t help but smile as Karl murmured, “I’m not at all certain an *innocent* Wolf is even possible, lionheart.”
He withdrew enough to frame Sean’s face in his hands, and Sean felt his own tension finally ebb at the returning warmth of Karl’s skin, the clearing of eyes that sent Sean into each day’s sleep and welcomed him anew at the setting of the sun.
Sean let his own hands wrap around Karl’s wrists, let his lids drift closed as their lips met in a kiss.
THE END
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-23 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-24 03:16 am (UTC)If there is going to be more in this 'verse, it's going to be pretty far down on the list, since I've got mucho WIPs I'm determined to clear before I start anything new.
So, maybe...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-24 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-27 04:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-28 01:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-29 08:43 pm (UTC)i think i told you how much i adored First Blood, and the thought that there might be sequel upon sequel makes me squeee with happiness.
i always imagined Karl's drifts a bit like that film where Yul Brunner plays an android gone wild (Futureworld??). When he can't see at the end, everything's dark and blurred, he can only see heat, like a fire brand. i imagine Karl drifting in the dark, and maybe one day Sean can be a little golden firebrand showing him the way back out of the darkness.
you so inspire my daydreaming :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-09 01:05 pm (UTC)I've never seen Futureworld, but it does sound like an interesting way of seeing the world.
Thanks for your note.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-27 12:54 am (UTC)but a series under those titles would be great, even if the last one bodes all but well. i guess i'll just have to go back and re-read First Blood for the millionth time or so.
life's hard sometimes :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-28 01:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-31 09:19 pm (UTC)i know nothing about publishing, but several LJsters I follow have turned some of their stories into publications, by only 'filing the serial numbers off', as I think
but as I said, I'd hate to see them all leave :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 02:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-06 08:09 pm (UTC)saw this journal entry (http://vashtan.livejournal.com/546936.html) and thought you might want to know about it. it seems to pay a pittance only, and who knows what the risks involved (copyright, getting ripped off, etc.) are, but anyway.
as for the 'legit' thing, not sure why it didn't occur to me to suggest you have some pseudonym for your 'illicit' writings and reserve your good name for anything that you'd be happily known for to all and sundry.
First Blood is too long, i guess, but thought you might be interested to hear about this anyway.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-07 12:42 pm (UTC)I really appreciate you passing on the info, but I can't seem to access the entry. Would you mind paraphrasing?
I did look into pseudonyms, but apparently that's for the public, not the industry. (Basically people know who's writing what no matter what name is on the cover.) Some agents consider the first book published a real proving ground, so folks are supposed to be careful about their debut.
Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-19 02:39 pm (UTC)not sure why you can't access the entry. i'll check with
and doh, i should have realised what you meant, of course a pseudonym is only a public face.
soon more, i hope