Fic: Hunting the Prey, Short Track RPS, Apolo Ohno/J.R. Celski, R
Merry Month of Masturbation - Day 25
My MMOM Master List 2010
Title: Hunting the Prey
Author: Beren
Fandom: Short Track RPS
Pairing: Apolo Ohno/J.R. Celski
Rating: R
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, the real people in it are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: vampires
Summary: Apolo finds JR collapsed on his doorstep and has to turn vampire hunter to save him.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: 3,431
My Fanfic Listings (LJ) | My Fanfic Listings (DreamW)
Staying in hotels was second nature these days and Apolo was just getting ready to order room service after the late meeting he had had when there was a knock on his door. He couldn't help hoping it was just the hotel needing to tell him something and not one of the other guys from the US short track team, because he was really looking forward to eating and then sleeping. It had been a long few days, what with being asked along to the publicity spot the team were doing to raise their image again and having one of the coaches all but beg him to stop keeping his options open and finally come back to the team. That had been what the meeting had been about.
A little reluctantly, he put the menu down and went to the door, opening it with a smile. What he found was no one at head height to talk to, but at knee height J.R. fell through the door from where he had to have been leaning against it and just lay there. At first all Apolo saw was blood and he was dragged back in his mind rather horribly to J.R.'s leg injury, only the blood was not on J.R.'s leg, it was on his neck.
He heard someone laugh somewhere in the corridor, a man's laugh, but he was far more worried about J.R.. There were two wound's on J.R.'s neck, two little punctures just over an inch apart and the problem was, Apolo knew just what they were. It was something he had never encountered before, but he knew all about it, because his dad had taught him. The marks were from the fangs of a vampire and since J.R. was still breathing that meant only one thing: the vampire intended J.R. to turn.
Dragging J.R. into his room, he slammed the door and then hauled his young friend up and over to the bed. J.R. was woozy and uncoordinated, but that was because, even now, the vampire bite would be changing him, turning him into a monster and Apolo knew he had to stop it.
"J.R.," he said, holding J.R.'s face so his friend would look at him after he put him on the bed, "you need to listen to me."
"So tired," J.R. mumbled back.
"I know," he replied, shaking J.R. a little to make him pay attention, "but you mustn't go to sleep. You need to fight J.R., do you hear me? Just like you did when they said you wouldn't skate again you need to fight, understand?"
J.R.'s face screwed up in concentration.
"Why?" was the confused question.
"You've been bitten," Apolo told him, "do you remember?"
That caused J.R. to frown even more.
"Japanese guy," J.R. mumbled just audibly; "wanted an autograph, then grabbed me."
"Yeah," Apolo replied, knowing that what he was about to say was going to sound crazy, but that J.R. had to know what he was fighting against; "well he wasn't a man. J.R. you have to trust me when I tell you he was a vampire."
Disbelief went across J.R.'s features.
"That's stupid," was the not unexpected response.
"I know what it sounds like," he said, shaking J.R. awake again, "but you have to believe me. You have to fight or you'll become like him. He left you on my doorstep, because he expects me to kill you."
That caused the frown to come back.
"Why?" J.R. asked, clearly barely holding on.
"Revenge," Apolo explained, since he had no choice. "My dad, before he left Japan, he was a vampire hunter; it's what he did for a living, but it got to him, so he left. He changed his name, came to the U.S. and tried to forget it all, but he taught me everything, just in case. One of the clans must have realised who my dad is; you're a warning that they're coming and a punishment, because you're my friend."
He hadn't thought about vampires in years; when he was younger his dad had insisted on him learning everything there was to know, but then skating had happened and he had never really considered them a real threat. Vampires weren't stupid, they kept themselves hidden and their kills never made the papers; you had to really be in the wrong place at the wrong time to end up prey. There had been no reason for him to worry, until now.
"Can you stop it?" J.R. asked, sounding more than a little lost.
"Yes," he assured his friend, "if I kill him before you feed or dawn comes you'll recover, but you have to fight it. Soon you'll want blood; it'll be worse than anything you've ever felt, but you have to resist. Can you do that?"
J.R. nodded and he looked determined; if there was anyone who could do it, it was J.R..
"Good," Apolo said, relieved to know that J.R. would hold up his end of the bargain; now he had to fulfil his, "I have to ring my dad, then I'm going to find this bastard."
"'k," was all J.R. said and Apolo finally released his young friend.
He left J.R. on the bed and delved through his jacket pocket to find his phone. It was possible there was only one vampire after them, but it was also possible there was more, so he had to warn his dad. After using the quick dial he waited, heart in his throat until his father picked up.
"Dad," he said very rapidly, "vampires."
"What has happened?" was the immediate response.
"One of them got J.R.," he said as quickly as he could; "left him on my doorstep. He's alive, so I have to go and kill the bastard before dawn. According to J.R. he's Japanese."
"Do you have your charms?" his father asked.
"Yes," he replied; they were in the bottom of his bag, but his father had drilled him well, he never went anywhere without them.
"Then I wish you good luck," was the next response, "and I will prepare here. I would come, but it would be too late."
"Yeah," he replied, "I know, thanks, Dad."
"Remember what I taught you," were his father's parting words.
His father had always been a practical man, but he knew the sentiment behind the words: they said don't get killed, I love you, I know you can do this, all at the same time.
Dumping the contents of his suitcase on the floor, he found the small pouch he always took with him and tipped it out onto his hand. There were three charms on leather chords: two for protection and one for vampire hunting. He had never had to use any of them, but he pulled one over his head, slipped another in his pocket and took the third over to J.R..
"This should help," he said, assisting J.R. to sit up and placing the last chord over J.R.'s head.
The weak cry that came from J.R. was not good.
"It hurts," J.R. said, pulling it away from himself.
"I'm sorry," Apolo replied, not wishing to cause J.R. pain, but knowing it had to be done; "it's attacking the part of you that is becoming a vampire. It will help you fight it off."
J.R. looked torn, but then he took a deep breath, wrapped his right hand around the charm and lay back down. It was more than Apolo could have asked for.
"I'm going to look for him," he said simply; "you stay here and concentrate on not dying."
All he received was a hum in reply, but he took it as agreement. He hadn't expected to do any skating on this trip, but he'd packed his skates anyway and he picked up the carry bag. There were two ways to kill a vampire: sunlight and beheading and it was the middle of the night, which just left the second option. His skates were the only sharp thing he had, but he was pretty sure they could do the job.
He really had no idea what he was going to do when he found the vampire; it wasn't like he took after Buffy or anything, but he had to try. Taking his key, he stalked out of his hotel room and began to search. An hour later he had found nothing. There had been traces of the vampire around, things that made his charm glow just a little, but no real trail and no way to find one. Reluctantly he returned to his room: he needed more to go on and his only source of information was J.R..
When he walked in, J.R. was still on the bed exactly where Apolo had left him and he wasn't moving. The charm was clasped in J.R.'s hand, but, if he was honest, Apolo had no idea how much that would actually help. The only sure way of helping a vampire victim was killing the source of their infection before they properly turned.
"J.R.," he said urgently, walking over to his young friend, but the only response when he tried to wake him was a low groan.
It was all too clear J.R. was losing the battle. Something like this was not like only allowing yourself to eat healthy food, or training until you dropped, this was far more fundamental. That will power would help J.R., but unless Apolo could find the vampire and deal with him, the outcome was inevitable. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands: as a vampire hunter, he sucked. He honestly had no idea what to do next. When they weren't feeding vampires looked just like humans; J.R.'s attacker could have been anywhere. For all Apolo knew, the vampire had gone back to a room and was sitting there calmly just waiting for the revenge to be complete. His dad had always told him that the only advantage humans had over vampires was that humans were far more logical about things. Vampires could be goaded into action, because they were ruled much more by their emotions.
"Dammit all to hell!" he said and punched the side of the bed.
He froze when a hand touched his shoulder.
"Why so sad?" J.R. asked, only he barely sounded like J.R. at all.
Apolo stood rapidly, turning and facing his friend and his heart sank at what he saw. J.R.'s skin was pale, his eyes were bright and glinting in the light and Apolo just knew there would be fangs inside that delicate mouth.
"J.R., this isn't you," he said, feeling the danger in the room.
J.R. actually laughed at him and then he did see the fangs.
"Oh, but it is," J.R. said, sitting back on his haunches and smiling; "it's quite liberating actually."
Almost casually J.R. ripped off the charm Apolo had put round his friend's neck and threw it into the corner of the room.
"Human sensibilities can be so limiting," J.R. told him, closing his eyes and running a hand over his chest as if experiencing it for the first time. "I think I like being this way."
When J.R.'s eyes opened again they pinned him down and Apolo could feel his will being sucked out of him.
"We could be bad together, Apolo," J.R. told him with what could only be described as a seductive smile; "doesn't that sound like fun?"
His breath came a little shorter then.
"I know you want me," J.R. said and fluttered his eyelashes at him in an almost coy way.
This was definitely not the conversation he wanted to be having.
"Don't look shocked," J.R. continued and laughed at him again, "I've known for ages, I just wasn't sure what to do about it. You have hungry eyes, y'know; it always made me shiver when you looked at me in practice. Ironic that on the ice was the only place no one would notice and they all thought you were just pushing me, wanting me to do well. Wonder what they'd do if they realised just how much you wanted to fuck me?"
Apolo was frozen. If it hadn't been true it would have been easier to deny, but his life was never that simple. J.R. was his forbidden fruit, the thing he could never have.
"Fight it," was about all he could manage to say.
The only response to that was a smile and then J.R. closed his eyes and put his head back again, touching himself in a way that could not be disguised. Apolo couldn't help it; the way J.R. moved his hands over his own chest, sighing lightly as he ran fingers over nipples, that were clearly hard under the white t-shirt, made his body react. There was something so decadent about the way J.R. moved; innocent J.R. who probably hadn't been as innocent as he was in Apolo's head for years. It was intoxicating.
"I know you want to touch me," J.R. said, opening his eyes again and looking at him; "I can sense it; I can smell it. All you have to do is take off that charm and come over here and you can have anything you want."
Apolo knew that the moment he came anywhere near J.R. he would be bitten. He might be killed if he was lucky and J.R. was too hungry to stop, or he might end up like J.R.; either way it was unacceptable. That knowledge kept him still, but it did not help him look away. J.R. palmed himself through his jeans, moaning low and seductive in the back of his throat and then he popped the button and fly.
"I know you want this," J.R. said, sliding his hand inside his pants; "come and get it, Apolo."
It was so hard not to move. The back of Apolo's mind told him that this was no longer J.R.; this was a vampire using influence on him to make his desire for J.R. into a weapon, but he still looked like J.R.; he even still sounded like J.R. mostly. He was caught and he knew it.
J.R. looked amazing, kneeling there, pleasuring himself with the most incredible come on expression on his face. It was so very difficult to resist and Apolo would have lost, but at that moment the door burst in. J.R. turned and snarled.
"You are an incompetent moron," the man in the doorway said with disdain; "I left a trail, you were supposed to find me."
Apolo couldn't move; the power this vampire wielded was far greater than what he had felt coming from J.R.. It seemed everything had been a game.
"He's mine," J.R. growled, all seductive signs gone from him now.
"Cower, pet," the vampire said throwing his hand up in J.R.'s direction, "and learn your place."
J.R. actually cried out, collapsing to the bed whimpering.
"Better," the vampire said, stepping into the room, "and now for more fun. I think you'll make a nice toy to throw at your father."
Apolo had absolutely no time to move or to defend himself; it was as if one second he was standing in the middle of the room and the next he was against the wall, held at the throat so he could barely breathe.
"Imagine my surprise when I saw the great vampire hunter on television this evening," the vampire told him, "proudly standing next to his son."
The publicity tour had included TV coverage and Apolo realised there had probably been stock footage in it.
"My clan would never believe it," the vampire said, standing so close Apolo could count the lashes on his eyes; "not without proof, but I looked into those eyes once and I will never forget them. I will have my revenge."
Apolo could not speak; he could barely breathe and when he tried to swing at his enemy his arm was caught easily and pinned against the wall.
"Just a little taste," the vampire told him, slowly turning his head to the side to expose his neck, "and then we wait a little and then all three of us can go and call on your teammates. Mass murder of US Short Track team makes for an interesting headline, don't you think?"
He wanted to fight, really he did, but Apolo couldn't move. The charm that was hot against his chest didn't seem to be stopping the vampire at all and he could only assume the creature attacking him was far older than he looked. He could see out of the corner of his eye two long, sharp fangs growing inside the vampire's mouth and he knew he was about to lose.
There was just no escape.
Praying that his father would be able to end him, he closed his eyes and that's when he heard it: the scream and the sound of something moving through the air very, very fast. The vampire appeared incredibly shocked and then the grip on his throat went soft as the vampire gurgled just once and then began to fall. Behind it was J.R., eyes still glittering, fangs still extended, but holding Apolo's skate in his hand. As the vampire fell, his head separated from his body and he burst into cold flames, going up literally in a puff of smoke.
"Mine," J.R. muttered and then stared at him.
For a moment J.R. looked at him, grinning like he had the prize and appearing very, very hungry and then J.R's eyes rolled back into his head and he folded as quickly as the vampire who had made him. Apolo was too busy trying to remember how to breathe to catch him, but he did kneel down almost instantly and touched J.R.'s face very gently. Even as he watched, the deathly pale colour of an unfed vampire began to fade and J.R. slowly began to look human again. Apolo almost sobbed with relief and he looped his arms under J.R. and picked him up, taking him to the bed and laying him down as gently as he could.
There was a pile of ash on his carpet and his throat hurt like hell, but Apolo didn't care about any of that as he checked J.R. over carefully to make sure there were no lasting injuries. He could not bear it if his family history had caused any lasting damage to his friend.
"Apolo?" J.R. sounded tired and confused, but it was the best sound Apolo had heard all day.
"Just relax," he said, smiling as J.R. opened his eyes and squinted at him, "you're going to be fine."
"Did I just kill a vampire?" J.R. asked as if he thought it might have been a dream.
He could have lied, but J.R. had been touched by the supernatural now, there was no going back, so he could not just pretend it was all a dream.
"Yeah," he said, checking J.R. over again, just in case; "you did. Thanks; he was about to eat me."
J.R. blinked at that.
"Don't thank me," was the eventual reply; "I only did it because I wanted to eat you too."
A short bark of a laugh escaped Apolo then; he wasn't overly surprised, but he was so relieved he didn't care. Sitting down on the floor beside the bed, he leant against the bedside table and ran his fingers through his hair.
"I don't think motives matter," he said, feeling just a little light headed as his mind finally began to process what had almost happened.
He heard J.R. move, but he just took a moment to gather his thoughts and did not look up.
"I don't know," J.R. said and he finally glanced at his friend who as leaning up on one elbow; "I think motives might be kind of important."
He had been managing not to think about the whole episode with J.R. on the bed, but he could clearly see that was at the forefront of his friend's mind.
"J.R.," he said, trying to think of something helpful and mature to say and not coming up with much.
"Apolo," J.R. said, making him shut up.
There was something in J.R.'s eyes that was very earnest.
"Life's too short," was what J.R. said and then reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
He did not resist being pulled in and then he was kissing J.R. and it was all kinds of wonderful and it could have all kinds of consequences, but thinking was really overrated, so he stopped.
The End
My MMOM Master List 2010
Title: Hunting the Prey
Author: Beren
Fandom: Short Track RPS
Pairing: Apolo Ohno/J.R. Celski
Rating: R
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, the real people in it are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: vampires
Summary: Apolo finds JR collapsed on his doorstep and has to turn vampire hunter to save him.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: 3,431
My Fanfic Listings (LJ) | My Fanfic Listings (DreamW)
Staying in hotels was second nature these days and Apolo was just getting ready to order room service after the late meeting he had had when there was a knock on his door. He couldn't help hoping it was just the hotel needing to tell him something and not one of the other guys from the US short track team, because he was really looking forward to eating and then sleeping. It had been a long few days, what with being asked along to the publicity spot the team were doing to raise their image again and having one of the coaches all but beg him to stop keeping his options open and finally come back to the team. That had been what the meeting had been about.
A little reluctantly, he put the menu down and went to the door, opening it with a smile. What he found was no one at head height to talk to, but at knee height J.R. fell through the door from where he had to have been leaning against it and just lay there. At first all Apolo saw was blood and he was dragged back in his mind rather horribly to J.R.'s leg injury, only the blood was not on J.R.'s leg, it was on his neck.
He heard someone laugh somewhere in the corridor, a man's laugh, but he was far more worried about J.R.. There were two wound's on J.R.'s neck, two little punctures just over an inch apart and the problem was, Apolo knew just what they were. It was something he had never encountered before, but he knew all about it, because his dad had taught him. The marks were from the fangs of a vampire and since J.R. was still breathing that meant only one thing: the vampire intended J.R. to turn.
Dragging J.R. into his room, he slammed the door and then hauled his young friend up and over to the bed. J.R. was woozy and uncoordinated, but that was because, even now, the vampire bite would be changing him, turning him into a monster and Apolo knew he had to stop it.
"J.R.," he said, holding J.R.'s face so his friend would look at him after he put him on the bed, "you need to listen to me."
"So tired," J.R. mumbled back.
"I know," he replied, shaking J.R. a little to make him pay attention, "but you mustn't go to sleep. You need to fight J.R., do you hear me? Just like you did when they said you wouldn't skate again you need to fight, understand?"
J.R.'s face screwed up in concentration.
"Why?" was the confused question.
"You've been bitten," Apolo told him, "do you remember?"
That caused J.R. to frown even more.
"Japanese guy," J.R. mumbled just audibly; "wanted an autograph, then grabbed me."
"Yeah," Apolo replied, knowing that what he was about to say was going to sound crazy, but that J.R. had to know what he was fighting against; "well he wasn't a man. J.R. you have to trust me when I tell you he was a vampire."
Disbelief went across J.R.'s features.
"That's stupid," was the not unexpected response.
"I know what it sounds like," he said, shaking J.R. awake again, "but you have to believe me. You have to fight or you'll become like him. He left you on my doorstep, because he expects me to kill you."
That caused the frown to come back.
"Why?" J.R. asked, clearly barely holding on.
"Revenge," Apolo explained, since he had no choice. "My dad, before he left Japan, he was a vampire hunter; it's what he did for a living, but it got to him, so he left. He changed his name, came to the U.S. and tried to forget it all, but he taught me everything, just in case. One of the clans must have realised who my dad is; you're a warning that they're coming and a punishment, because you're my friend."
He hadn't thought about vampires in years; when he was younger his dad had insisted on him learning everything there was to know, but then skating had happened and he had never really considered them a real threat. Vampires weren't stupid, they kept themselves hidden and their kills never made the papers; you had to really be in the wrong place at the wrong time to end up prey. There had been no reason for him to worry, until now.
"Can you stop it?" J.R. asked, sounding more than a little lost.
"Yes," he assured his friend, "if I kill him before you feed or dawn comes you'll recover, but you have to fight it. Soon you'll want blood; it'll be worse than anything you've ever felt, but you have to resist. Can you do that?"
J.R. nodded and he looked determined; if there was anyone who could do it, it was J.R..
"Good," Apolo said, relieved to know that J.R. would hold up his end of the bargain; now he had to fulfil his, "I have to ring my dad, then I'm going to find this bastard."
"'k," was all J.R. said and Apolo finally released his young friend.
He left J.R. on the bed and delved through his jacket pocket to find his phone. It was possible there was only one vampire after them, but it was also possible there was more, so he had to warn his dad. After using the quick dial he waited, heart in his throat until his father picked up.
"Dad," he said very rapidly, "vampires."
"What has happened?" was the immediate response.
"One of them got J.R.," he said as quickly as he could; "left him on my doorstep. He's alive, so I have to go and kill the bastard before dawn. According to J.R. he's Japanese."
"Do you have your charms?" his father asked.
"Yes," he replied; they were in the bottom of his bag, but his father had drilled him well, he never went anywhere without them.
"Then I wish you good luck," was the next response, "and I will prepare here. I would come, but it would be too late."
"Yeah," he replied, "I know, thanks, Dad."
"Remember what I taught you," were his father's parting words.
His father had always been a practical man, but he knew the sentiment behind the words: they said don't get killed, I love you, I know you can do this, all at the same time.
Dumping the contents of his suitcase on the floor, he found the small pouch he always took with him and tipped it out onto his hand. There were three charms on leather chords: two for protection and one for vampire hunting. He had never had to use any of them, but he pulled one over his head, slipped another in his pocket and took the third over to J.R..
"This should help," he said, assisting J.R. to sit up and placing the last chord over J.R.'s head.
The weak cry that came from J.R. was not good.
"It hurts," J.R. said, pulling it away from himself.
"I'm sorry," Apolo replied, not wishing to cause J.R. pain, but knowing it had to be done; "it's attacking the part of you that is becoming a vampire. It will help you fight it off."
J.R. looked torn, but then he took a deep breath, wrapped his right hand around the charm and lay back down. It was more than Apolo could have asked for.
"I'm going to look for him," he said simply; "you stay here and concentrate on not dying."
All he received was a hum in reply, but he took it as agreement. He hadn't expected to do any skating on this trip, but he'd packed his skates anyway and he picked up the carry bag. There were two ways to kill a vampire: sunlight and beheading and it was the middle of the night, which just left the second option. His skates were the only sharp thing he had, but he was pretty sure they could do the job.
He really had no idea what he was going to do when he found the vampire; it wasn't like he took after Buffy or anything, but he had to try. Taking his key, he stalked out of his hotel room and began to search. An hour later he had found nothing. There had been traces of the vampire around, things that made his charm glow just a little, but no real trail and no way to find one. Reluctantly he returned to his room: he needed more to go on and his only source of information was J.R..
When he walked in, J.R. was still on the bed exactly where Apolo had left him and he wasn't moving. The charm was clasped in J.R.'s hand, but, if he was honest, Apolo had no idea how much that would actually help. The only sure way of helping a vampire victim was killing the source of their infection before they properly turned.
"J.R.," he said urgently, walking over to his young friend, but the only response when he tried to wake him was a low groan.
It was all too clear J.R. was losing the battle. Something like this was not like only allowing yourself to eat healthy food, or training until you dropped, this was far more fundamental. That will power would help J.R., but unless Apolo could find the vampire and deal with him, the outcome was inevitable. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands: as a vampire hunter, he sucked. He honestly had no idea what to do next. When they weren't feeding vampires looked just like humans; J.R.'s attacker could have been anywhere. For all Apolo knew, the vampire had gone back to a room and was sitting there calmly just waiting for the revenge to be complete. His dad had always told him that the only advantage humans had over vampires was that humans were far more logical about things. Vampires could be goaded into action, because they were ruled much more by their emotions.
"Dammit all to hell!" he said and punched the side of the bed.
He froze when a hand touched his shoulder.
"Why so sad?" J.R. asked, only he barely sounded like J.R. at all.
Apolo stood rapidly, turning and facing his friend and his heart sank at what he saw. J.R.'s skin was pale, his eyes were bright and glinting in the light and Apolo just knew there would be fangs inside that delicate mouth.
"J.R., this isn't you," he said, feeling the danger in the room.
J.R. actually laughed at him and then he did see the fangs.
"Oh, but it is," J.R. said, sitting back on his haunches and smiling; "it's quite liberating actually."
Almost casually J.R. ripped off the charm Apolo had put round his friend's neck and threw it into the corner of the room.
"Human sensibilities can be so limiting," J.R. told him, closing his eyes and running a hand over his chest as if experiencing it for the first time. "I think I like being this way."
When J.R.'s eyes opened again they pinned him down and Apolo could feel his will being sucked out of him.
"We could be bad together, Apolo," J.R. told him with what could only be described as a seductive smile; "doesn't that sound like fun?"
His breath came a little shorter then.
"I know you want me," J.R. said and fluttered his eyelashes at him in an almost coy way.
This was definitely not the conversation he wanted to be having.
"Don't look shocked," J.R. continued and laughed at him again, "I've known for ages, I just wasn't sure what to do about it. You have hungry eyes, y'know; it always made me shiver when you looked at me in practice. Ironic that on the ice was the only place no one would notice and they all thought you were just pushing me, wanting me to do well. Wonder what they'd do if they realised just how much you wanted to fuck me?"
Apolo was frozen. If it hadn't been true it would have been easier to deny, but his life was never that simple. J.R. was his forbidden fruit, the thing he could never have.
"Fight it," was about all he could manage to say.
The only response to that was a smile and then J.R. closed his eyes and put his head back again, touching himself in a way that could not be disguised. Apolo couldn't help it; the way J.R. moved his hands over his own chest, sighing lightly as he ran fingers over nipples, that were clearly hard under the white t-shirt, made his body react. There was something so decadent about the way J.R. moved; innocent J.R. who probably hadn't been as innocent as he was in Apolo's head for years. It was intoxicating.
"I know you want to touch me," J.R. said, opening his eyes again and looking at him; "I can sense it; I can smell it. All you have to do is take off that charm and come over here and you can have anything you want."
Apolo knew that the moment he came anywhere near J.R. he would be bitten. He might be killed if he was lucky and J.R. was too hungry to stop, or he might end up like J.R.; either way it was unacceptable. That knowledge kept him still, but it did not help him look away. J.R. palmed himself through his jeans, moaning low and seductive in the back of his throat and then he popped the button and fly.
"I know you want this," J.R. said, sliding his hand inside his pants; "come and get it, Apolo."
It was so hard not to move. The back of Apolo's mind told him that this was no longer J.R.; this was a vampire using influence on him to make his desire for J.R. into a weapon, but he still looked like J.R.; he even still sounded like J.R. mostly. He was caught and he knew it.
J.R. looked amazing, kneeling there, pleasuring himself with the most incredible come on expression on his face. It was so very difficult to resist and Apolo would have lost, but at that moment the door burst in. J.R. turned and snarled.
"You are an incompetent moron," the man in the doorway said with disdain; "I left a trail, you were supposed to find me."
Apolo couldn't move; the power this vampire wielded was far greater than what he had felt coming from J.R.. It seemed everything had been a game.
"He's mine," J.R. growled, all seductive signs gone from him now.
"Cower, pet," the vampire said throwing his hand up in J.R.'s direction, "and learn your place."
J.R. actually cried out, collapsing to the bed whimpering.
"Better," the vampire said, stepping into the room, "and now for more fun. I think you'll make a nice toy to throw at your father."
Apolo had absolutely no time to move or to defend himself; it was as if one second he was standing in the middle of the room and the next he was against the wall, held at the throat so he could barely breathe.
"Imagine my surprise when I saw the great vampire hunter on television this evening," the vampire told him, "proudly standing next to his son."
The publicity tour had included TV coverage and Apolo realised there had probably been stock footage in it.
"My clan would never believe it," the vampire said, standing so close Apolo could count the lashes on his eyes; "not without proof, but I looked into those eyes once and I will never forget them. I will have my revenge."
Apolo could not speak; he could barely breathe and when he tried to swing at his enemy his arm was caught easily and pinned against the wall.
"Just a little taste," the vampire told him, slowly turning his head to the side to expose his neck, "and then we wait a little and then all three of us can go and call on your teammates. Mass murder of US Short Track team makes for an interesting headline, don't you think?"
He wanted to fight, really he did, but Apolo couldn't move. The charm that was hot against his chest didn't seem to be stopping the vampire at all and he could only assume the creature attacking him was far older than he looked. He could see out of the corner of his eye two long, sharp fangs growing inside the vampire's mouth and he knew he was about to lose.
There was just no escape.
Praying that his father would be able to end him, he closed his eyes and that's when he heard it: the scream and the sound of something moving through the air very, very fast. The vampire appeared incredibly shocked and then the grip on his throat went soft as the vampire gurgled just once and then began to fall. Behind it was J.R., eyes still glittering, fangs still extended, but holding Apolo's skate in his hand. As the vampire fell, his head separated from his body and he burst into cold flames, going up literally in a puff of smoke.
"Mine," J.R. muttered and then stared at him.
For a moment J.R. looked at him, grinning like he had the prize and appearing very, very hungry and then J.R's eyes rolled back into his head and he folded as quickly as the vampire who had made him. Apolo was too busy trying to remember how to breathe to catch him, but he did kneel down almost instantly and touched J.R.'s face very gently. Even as he watched, the deathly pale colour of an unfed vampire began to fade and J.R. slowly began to look human again. Apolo almost sobbed with relief and he looped his arms under J.R. and picked him up, taking him to the bed and laying him down as gently as he could.
There was a pile of ash on his carpet and his throat hurt like hell, but Apolo didn't care about any of that as he checked J.R. over carefully to make sure there were no lasting injuries. He could not bear it if his family history had caused any lasting damage to his friend.
"Apolo?" J.R. sounded tired and confused, but it was the best sound Apolo had heard all day.
"Just relax," he said, smiling as J.R. opened his eyes and squinted at him, "you're going to be fine."
"Did I just kill a vampire?" J.R. asked as if he thought it might have been a dream.
He could have lied, but J.R. had been touched by the supernatural now, there was no going back, so he could not just pretend it was all a dream.
"Yeah," he said, checking J.R. over again, just in case; "you did. Thanks; he was about to eat me."
J.R. blinked at that.
"Don't thank me," was the eventual reply; "I only did it because I wanted to eat you too."
A short bark of a laugh escaped Apolo then; he wasn't overly surprised, but he was so relieved he didn't care. Sitting down on the floor beside the bed, he leant against the bedside table and ran his fingers through his hair.
"I don't think motives matter," he said, feeling just a little light headed as his mind finally began to process what had almost happened.
He heard J.R. move, but he just took a moment to gather his thoughts and did not look up.
"I don't know," J.R. said and he finally glanced at his friend who as leaning up on one elbow; "I think motives might be kind of important."
He had been managing not to think about the whole episode with J.R. on the bed, but he could clearly see that was at the forefront of his friend's mind.
"J.R.," he said, trying to think of something helpful and mature to say and not coming up with much.
"Apolo," J.R. said, making him shut up.
There was something in J.R.'s eyes that was very earnest.
"Life's too short," was what J.R. said and then reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
He did not resist being pulled in and then he was kissing J.R. and it was all kinds of wonderful and it could have all kinds of consequences, but thinking was really overrated, so he stopped.
The End