Fic: Breaking the Curse ~ Part II [NC-17] Bill/Draco

[gfeather]

Bill let out a soft sigh as fangs retracted from his neck and a gentle, healing lick swiped across the puncture wounds. After a week, Draco’s developing feeding instincts had made the process more pleasurable than painful, though Bill still felt a little tender. Draco retreated from the close, almost intimate, embrace he used while feeding with a formal, “Thank you, Wolf.”

A moment passed as Bill pulled his t-shirt back over his head and Draco shook himself slightly. “Damn it! I did it again.”

Bill poked out of his shirt, long, red, sleep tousled hair falling in a riot around his face. He shrugged his shoulders. “The journal did mention that it took Ivan nearly six months before he came into full control of himself. If a little disorientation before and just after feeding is the worst of your difficulties after only a week, you’re doing quite well.”

“Which might be true, however, we haven’t exactly tested my control beyond the confines of this room either,” he replied sarcastically.

Running his fingers through the messy long tresses, Bill pulled his hair back and tied it, not without noticing, however, the small sigh Draco made. After a week, he had begun noticing small little sighs and odd looks from the new vampire, particularly just after feeding. He wondered if this was normal behaviour, or perhaps a syndrome of the limited food sources available. The Rothschild journal, which was the closest thing they had to a set of instructions, was somewhat selective in the things it mentioned. Wurthur wrote quite a bit about his friend Ivan’s change, but not always the things he and Draco really wanted to know. The journal mentioned how Ivan had fed from a different donor ever night for over two months, unlike the older vampires who had a couple preferred individuals, but there was no mention as to whether this had an effect on the overall condition of the new vampire or if it was just a way of sampling until a preference had been found. There were constant references to the development of Ivan’s control, but once again the details of precisely what that control was or how it was encouraged to develop was very limited. Elsewhere in the journal it mentioned that some vampires supplemented their feedings with normal food, but there was no record of the purpose or effects of the practice and certainly no mention of how a new vampire would react to it. There were so many unknowns, and neither he, nor Draco liked that.

Bill watched Draco for a few moments longer, and then gently stated, “You are going to have to tell your mother soon.”

The slightly out of focus look disappeared and his companion looked back at him sharply. “No. She can’t know. If she doesn’t know, she has deniability.”

“If you don’t tell her, or let me tell her, how exactly am I supposed to explain to her how you’re fine, but that I need to stay here?” Bill queried. “It’s going to take months for you to be able to interact with others normally. I’m not going to be able to cover for you forever.”

“Then why did you even suggest this in the first place! A week ago I was perfectly content to die!” Draco shouted angrily.

“Liar.”

“NO! I would have died and that would have been the end of it. There’d have been none of this hiding in the basement, not knowing what I’m going to do next. I would have happily died a week ago.”

“Liar. You’d have died a week ago because it would have been simple and required no effort on your part. It would have meant you didn’t have to live with the fact that you fucked up and you wouldn’t have had to admit it to anyone.”

Draco slumped back onto the pillows on the rumpled bed on the floor and dragged his hands over his face. His voice came out muffled and pained. “I fucked up. I fucked up big time, and the worst part is, I’m never going to be able to forget it.”

Lifting the hands off the young vampire’s face, Bill held them and said confidently, “It will get better.”

“How? I just don’t see it,” Draco said morosely.

“Well, to start, if we tell your mother, you can start moving around the house. She is beside herself with worry and it would do her good to see that you are well. Besides, you never know what she might be able to do that can help,” Bill said encouragingly.

“Like flay me alive? Or dead, I suppose.” He drawled.

Bill laughed. “You seem to be mistaking your mother for mine. I’m certain your mother will want to dote on you in any way possible.”

“I do something colossally stupid, and you think my mother is going to be at my bedside serving me blood in her best crystal goblets?”

“I got rare steak in bed for a week after my first full moon.”

“Need I remind you that your mother and mine are two vastly different people,” Draco observed dryly, but without malice.

“Need I remind you that your mother was so desperately concerned for you that she pulled me from work a week ago, and yet has still received no word as to your current condition,” Bill returned, with equal dryness in his tone.

Draco sighed deeply. “What, precisely, do you think I should tell her?”

“You could start with the truth,” Bill stated blandly.

“The truth?” he asked sceptically.

Bill shrugged. “Why not? I’m not suggesting you tell her everything, just that what you tell her is truthful. Gloss over the details of your attack, she won’t really want to imagine it anyway, and play up your gratitude for her quick thinking in bringing in such excellent assistance. Add something about not wanting to upset her with the less pleasant aspects of becoming a vampire and I’m sure she will be all loving concern.”

“You really know how to work your mother over, don’t you?” Draco asked, chuckling.

“It’s a survival skill. Both Charlie and I chose dangerous professions and spent more that our fair share of time recovering from work related incidents. Mum didn’t find out about many of them, but when she did I had to be good at backpedalling and making my lack of information sound like a kind and thoughtful response on my part. It didn’t always work, but most of the time after a reassuring letter or long-distance floo call I would get a package full of homemade biscuits and sweets in the post a week later. Mothers are surprisingly forgiving of their children’s escapades with a bit of appropriately applied honesty.”

“I’m still not sure this is a good idea.”

“It might not be, but we can’t hide down here forever. If nothing else, my mother will blast down the door and demand to know why I stopped coming to family dinners.” At Draco’s slightly horrified expression, Bill placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “Relax. She doesn’t know where I am and won’t be looking for me anytime soon. When I realized this was more than a simple breaking job, I sent an owl letting her know I was doing an on location assignment that could take upwards of a month. She knows I can’t send details about those and so long as I keep sending a weekly owl reassuring her that I’m alive, she won’t be hunting me down anytime soon.”

“What happens after a month?” Draco asked, his question exposing his insecurity.

“Well, I’m hoping we’ll have figured out a way for me to go back to work while still keeping you fed, perhaps even find you another donor. If nothing else, we can coordinate ourselves enough to allow me to go to Sunday dinner once a week. We’ve got time. I’m not worried about it,” Bill said casually, moving to retrieve his wand from where he had discarded it when Draco had woken. If they were going to speak to Mrs. Malfoy today, he had a long way to go to look presentable.

Gathering his housecoat and slippers, Bill lowered the wards and slipped out of the cell, leaving Draco to bother Tizzy for a bath and fresh clothing. As he shuffled out of the room, his sharp hearing almost missed Draco’s quiet whisper. “I don’t want another donor.”
***

Telling Mrs. Malfoy went much as Bill had predicted it would. Overjoyed at the sight of her son, she flung her arms around him and peppered his face with kisses. Draco endured her affection stoically, tension evident in his body from the contact, then they all sat while he gave a highly edited version of his attack and transformation. Narcissa Malfoy wept softly throughout the story, then, surprisingly, stood and pulled Bill into a motherly embrace.

With her back to her son, she didn’t notice the peculiar glint in Draco’s eyes at the gesture, but Bill did. He thought he recognized it too. It was much like his look of jealousy, though it was unclear as to whom it was directed at. The look disappeared quickly when the hug ended, and Narcissa returned to her seat. She, apparently, had ideas of her own regarding how best to aid in her son’s recovery and mentioned warding off an entire wing of the manor for their use and her son’s rehabilitation.

Bill stretched out in one of the large armchairs by the fireplace and propped his feet up on the cushy footstool. Draco was busy luxuriating in the bath while he sat in one wing’s large sitting rooms and flipped absently through the Rothschild journal again, feeling like he had read the cramped script a thousand times over in the past week. It was helpful, to be sure, but he felt it ended abruptly. Reading through the last entry, he tried to find something, anything, hidden in the last words that might explain something he had missed.

It has been nine months to the night since Ivan joined the kiss as a vampire. Tonight there will be a large celebration. It takes about nine months for a new vampire to fully settle into the change, particularly for those who have no experience with magic beforehand. Ivan was born a squib, but he seemed to have adapted faster than that. It was only six months before Ivan was able to execute difficult transformations like reshaping his body and deep trance feedings. Some of the more highly ranked vampires have become closer to me recently. When I asked about the celebration, they explained that magically gifted vampires take only a couple months to mature fully, but very few members in this kiss had been born as wizards. A squib has less resistance to magical development from experiences as a young child, but the learning curve is still great. This kiss has chosen nine months as the mark of maturity as recognition of the social equality of the group. Not that all members are equal, but ranking within the group is based on power and skills, not individual origins.

Natalia, the highest ranking of the few female vampires, mentioned that the presence of a mortal bondmate often hastens the development of skills, particularly if the individual is acting as a main food source. I asked her more about mortal bondmates, but she simply smiled and said it was rare for any vampire to find a mortal bondmate, even after searching for a hundred years or more. In stationary kisses such as this community it was scarcely worth mentioning. She looked wistful for a long moment, but refused to say anything more on the subject.

I am unsure what to make of her words. This is the first in nearly two years that I have heard of the existence of mortal bondmates. Something tells me, too, that it was an unintentional slip on her part. After living completely immersed in their society for so long, I had thought I knew most of the fundamentals of society. Now I see there is more, but I do not know how I am to find a mortal bondmate, nor determine their place in the social structure of a kiss. Though it is conjecture, I suspect from Natalia’s comments that a bondmate is more likely to be part of the solitary, wandering vampire tradition, rather than the community based one I am in. Perhaps it is more important to those who travel alone, or just easier to find. Unfortunately, I have no realistic means of finding out for the time being. I learned some time ago that patience and opportunity are better for gathering information than direct questioning.

The entry ended there, in the middle of the page. It was very unlike Rothschild to leave an entry even somewhat incomplete. It seemed like there should be more, or a second, related entry detailing the celebrations. Bill, himself, was curious just what a maturity celebration for a vampire would entail, and was deeply curious about what a mortal bondmate was. It seemed an odd term, seeing as vampires weren’t quite as immortal as the wizarding world seemed to think. Not that a vampire passing naturally at the age of five hundred seventy three, still looking thirty-five was anything to sniff at. There were many things within vampire society that seemed to exist to perpetuate the beliefs of outsiders. The insular nature of a kiss certainly did not promote communication and understanding between communities.

Running his fingers across the empty portion of the page, Bill wondered if there wasn’t more written, but carefully concealed. He picked up his wand and tried a few revealing spells, but wasn’t surprised when nothing appeared. There were countless ways of disguising the written word. His work with Gringotts had taught him that. A tricky enchantment exposing spell caused the page to pulse blue and confirmed that there was in fact more to the journal than met the eye. He turned the book upside down and tried a number of more complex revelatory spells, to no effect. Running through the myriad of spells he knew to no effect, Bill began to wonder what sorts of blocking conditions might be on the page. If he were trying to hide information he had written about vampires from a potential vampire reader, it stood to reason that one of the blocking conditions would be something a vampire could not tolerate... like sunlight. Deciding against a false daylight spell, he set aside the journal and resolved to wake early to examine it further. It was very late, or rather early and he was looking forward to sleeping in a proper bedroom and not in the confines of a cell in the basement.

Bill rose and left for his own set of rooms. Draco may wish to be up and about for an hour or so longer, but he was past exhausted. They were figuring on trying the new vampire’s capabilities with a wand the following evening and perhaps starting to investigate some of the potential transformational magics they had read about. After a week of relatively controlled feedings, it seemed highly unlikely that Draco was going to go on a blood lusting rampage. It wasn’t out of the question, which was why the wing they were in was well warded against potential exit, but neither expected anything to happen. Tonight had been the first big step in allowing Draco to return to his life, but Bill knew there were bound to be some unexpected bumps along the way.

In his large suite of rooms, Bill quickly made ready for sleep and flopped down gracefully on the massive bed, enjoying the way his body sank into the feather mattress. The room was more than a little ostentatious, but he wasn’t about to complain. Sleeping in a bed where his feet weren’t poking out the end halfway through the night when his transfiguration ended was an uncommon pleasure. He had excelled in a wide variety of spell work, but never mastered the art of creating longevity in his transfigurations. Flicking the candles out with his wand, he settled into the soft pillows and closed his eyes, feeling like a pampered prince.

Which lasted about two minutes before there was a knock at his door.

Lighting the few candles closest to him, Bill saw Draco’s head peering around the edge of the ornately carved door. The blond came fully into the room and closed the door behind him before approaching with a poor attempt at his normal swagger. When he reached the end of the bed and they would no longer have to shout across the large room, Bill asked, “Is there something you need?”

Draco shook his head. “No... well... uh... perhaps...”

Bill sat up and looked at the younger man more closely. He was already dressed for bed in midnight blue silk pyjamas with a matching velvet robe belted over top. Draco looked more suitably attired to sleep in this ostentatious room than Bill was himself, but the eyes that looked back at him looked at him almost longingly. Bill’s curiosity was peeked. “What is it, then?”

The pale cheeks flushed slightly. Very slightly. Since his change, very little in the way of blushing could be seen on the vampire’s face, but there was a definite rise of colour. His voice was barely a whisper when he spoke. “I lay down in bed, and I was so cold.”

“The warming charm on the sheets didn’t work, then?” Bill asked, but already knew the answer.

“No. I couldn’t lie down and sleep like that. It was too cold.”

Bill shrugged amiably and shifted more towards the middle of the huge bed. “At least my abnormally high metabolism is good for something. Don’t hog all the sheets.”

Draco snorted in amusement, despite his embarrassment. “You’re sleeping in the Minister’s suite. It’s not like the bed wouldn’t expand to accommodate any number of companions you might wish to take to bed with you. I’m certain we’ll manage.”

“The Minister’s suite?!”

“Yes. I think it says a great deal about my mother’s feelings towards you that she put you in here. Aside from the Master suite, it’s the best appointed set of rooms in the manor. We don’t exactly host the Minister of Magic or foreign dignitaries much these days, but she has the house elves keep these rooms ready for use at a moment’s notice. Old habits die hard.”

“I guess,” Bill said, a bit overwhelmed. “I hadn’t thought that this was...”

Draco chuckled. “You didn’t think the whole manor was like this, did you?”

“Well, actually...”

“You did, then. I grant you that most of what you’ve seen is fairly grand, basement cells excluded, but most of the rooms in my wing of the manor aren’t nearly this fancy.”

“Your wing? Sorry Draco, but that does sound just about as ostentatious as these rooms are.”

Draco shook his head. “My rooms are the same ones I had as a child. I may be head of the household now, but I’m not about to kick my mother out of her rooms. I had been thinking about choosing an adult’s suite before my travels, but hadn’t settled on one before I left. The wing my rooms are in is the nursery wing. They’re all children’s rooms.”

“I shared a room not much bigger than the size of this bed with my brother Charlie until I left for Egypt. The bedroom itself is bigger than the whole of my London flat. The very idea of an entire wing devoted to children’s rooms boggles my mind,” Bill told Draco with complete honesty.

Draco shifted in the bed, searching for a more comfortable position in the cocoon of Bill’s heat. Pulling the edge of the blanket close, he sighed and closed his eyes. “I suspect you could get used to it. You seemed pretty comfortable when I came in.”

“No feet sticking out the end of the bed tonight,” he joked lightly.

“Mm-hm,” the blond mumbled sleepily.

“Goodnight Draco.”

There was no reply. Draco had settled in pressed against Bill’s body and was already asleep. Once again flicking out the lights, Bill felt the now familiar sensation of the vampire’s systems slowing for sleep. The breathing became intermittent, the heart rate slowed and the body temperature dropped. The early morning was silent and dark, and Bill soon fell asleep.
***

Bill woke in the early afternoon, a cool body pressed firmly against his side and an arm draped heavily across his chest. It was an intimate position to find oneself in upon waking and one he had not experienced for a year. Actually it was likely much longer when considered the last year of his marriage. The fact that his body still had a well ingrained response to such a position was somewhat embarrassing, though the individual who was draped across his body was still sleeping like the dead. Literally.

Extricating himself from the embrace, Bill donned a robe over his pyjamas, grabbed his wand and the journal from the nightstand and quietly slipped from the bedroom. Upon entering the sitting room, he was nearly blinded by the bright afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows. After spending a week in the dim light of candles, lanterns and fireplaces, it seemed inordinately bright, but was no less appreciated. Standing in the floor to ceiling window, he bathed in the warm light, feeling cheered. It was certainly to be hoped that Draco would be able to daywalk. The thought of never seeing the sun again was certainly too depressing for Bill to even contemplate.

Sealing the door to the bedroom with a moderate strength locking spell, just in case his vampire companion did wake up without realizing it was still daylight and not take any precautions, Bill settled in a chair by the window and opened the journal to where the last visible entry was written. Once again he tried several of the more common revealing spells, more out of hopeful curiosity than any real expectation they would work. Naturally they didn’t, and he had to rely upon his considerable repertoire of advanced cursebreaking charms. He tried charm after charm on the book, varying its position and page, open and closed, to no effect. He even tried a little known Egyptian hieroglyph descrambler which wasn’t even a revelatory spell. Surprisingly, the journal seemed to double in thickness and an odd jumbled script appeared on the pages. He tried several translation spells on the untidy script, but not a line of the script budged.

Ready to scream in aggravation, Bill slammed the book down on the windowsill and paced across the room several times. On the fifth circuit, he snatched up the journal, flipping through the pages to make certain the marks hadn’t been his imagination. They were still there, as incomprehensible as when they had first appeared. He was clearly missing something. Tucking the journal under his arm, he turned his footsteps towards the room where he did some of his best thinking.

A prolonged contemplation in the loo didn’t do much to jolt him into finding a solution, and he was once again flipping through the pages as he stood in front of the sink. He set the book down on the counter in front of the mirror while he washed his hands distractedly. Whatever he was missing, wasn’t coming to him. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Bill noticed his hair was still sleep dishevelled. Removing the hair tie, he finger combed the long, red strands into some semblance of order once again. He was very glad his hair wasn’t too fine or curly, or he would have long ago caved to his mother’s urgings to cut his hair. As it was, his fingers certainly weren’t sufficient to remove the snarls and he reached past the open journal for his comb to make a proper job of it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something that made him drop the comb on the floor with a clatter.

Hebrew. The writing in the journal was in Hebrew script. Picking up the book, he scanned through several lines and frowned. He had been certain he had seen sensible writing, but it was nothing but nonsense when he leafed through the pages again. Setting it down again, Bill bent to pick up his comb and gave himself a more appraising look in the mirror. Perhaps he should check to see if he needed another blood replenisher. Lack of blood was definitely something that could make you see things.

He glanced down at the book once again, and the jolt of recognition hit him again. Picking up the book more carefully, he turned it upside down, sideways and right side up again, only to see the same incomprehensible scrawl. Looking directly into the mirror, Bill slowly tipped the journal so the pages could be clearly seen in the reflection.

Jackpot!

Glancing back and forth between the book and the mirror, Bill gave a wide grin. He always did do his best thinking in the bathroom.
***

Several hours later, Bill lay wide awake in the darkness of his bedroom. When he had returned, Draco had not woken, but had sought out his body heat and shifted close once again. Though he had planned to grab an extra hour or two of sleep in anticipation of the long night ahead of them, he found it difficult to slow his racing thoughts enough to drift off. During the past week, he had found himself frustrated at times by the lack of detailed information they had about the needs and limitations of a new vampire.

Bill now had more information than he could realistically process in an afternoon. Snippets of it raced through his mind, each vying for his attention.

I must renounce my life as a wizard... A partner in all things... Chapters of my research need to be rewritten... Ivan knew from his first feeding... A bondmate is a rare and precious gift... A partner in all things... I cannot return home... My work must be done in secret... He has been prevented from claiming me by the Master... Natalia wanted to tell me... I have upset the balance in the community... A partner in all things... A power boost to rival that of the Master... A union forged by blood and sweat and sexual fluids... A partner in all things... I was not to be told... Ivan hid his rapidly developing skills from the Master... Natalia knew... A rift has already formed... It is not a matter of choice and choosing... A partner in all things...

Three hours of reading the newly revealed text had led Bill to one inescapable conclusion; life as he knew it was about to change drastically.

Draco was already exhibiting all the signs of a vampire who had found his bondmate. It was only his lack of knowledge about vampires and their society that left him ignorant to what was happening. If he remained unawares, the developing instincts would soon overwhelm him and lead Draco to forge the bond. With knowledge and forethought it could be held off for a time, but eventually the pull would become too great and instinct would take over, especially with Bill as his only donor. Though Draco had complained several times that there was no ‘vampire instinct’ that conferred upon him instant knowledge of his needs, abilities and limitations, Bill had already found that to be untrue. If the rapid development of his skills at feeding with a pleasurable bite and his desire for closeness were anything to go by, Bill guessed that Draco would instinctively forge the bond within less than two weeks.

Bill continued to stare into the utter darkness created by the spell enhanced drapery, considering the future and his options. If he told Draco what was happening, they could likely hold off the inevitable for many months and give them both time to get used to the idea. He wasn’t sure about Draco, but Bill himself had at times considered a relationship with another man beyond the hormone filled fantasies of his teenage years.

Initially, no one had considered that the attack by Greyback would affect more than his appetite and behaviour near the full moon, but the more time passed, the more Bill knew this wasn’t true. Tender lovemaking and sweet passion were not enough to satisfy him completely. It had suited him well enough at first, but for all Fleur had been adventurous in location and flexible in position, her tastes did not run to the rougher side of sexual gratification. The one time he had tried a very mild, to his mind, spanking game, he had spent nearly two weeks sleeping in the living room. That had been after the war, well over a year into their marriage. His wife had been horror struck that ‘gentle Beel’ could want such a thing from her. He wanted sharp nails breaking the skin and drawing blood as they raked down his back. He wanted to rut with her like a wild animal, biting at her neck and shoulder hard enough to leave a mark or bruise for days. The wolf clawing at his insides wanted to mark and be marked by his mate. It wanted to claim and be claimed. He wanted ownership. His wife wanted companionship. It wasn’t enough for him. And that had concerned him.

During those nights alone, he thought a great deal about what it would be like to let that wild part of him free. Though he felt the niggling unsatisfied itch, when he considered what might happen to Fleur if he scratched it, he discounted the notion of ever asking her again. She was a strong and capable witch, but no one, save Remus, knew he had gained a great deal of additional strength after his initial recovery. When his thoughts turned to rough play in a sexual encounter, he knew a man might be strong enough if he lost control or misjudged his strength, but he daren’t try such things with a woman. Once his mind had turned to thoughts of sharing a sexual encounter with another man, he found himself rather fixated on the idea. He still made love to his wife, even though it became less and less often, but on nights when he lay awake feeling unsatisfied or times when he was alone and horny, he jerked off to fantasies of fucking another man with wild abandon.

He hadn’t thought much on his improved physical strength in some time. It was, after all, simply a part of who he was now. Since his divorce, he hadn’t actively searched for a partner. He had many excuses for anyone who asked, including his mother who had recently started pestering him to start dating again, but ultimately it came down to not being ready to face that part of himself again. It wasn’t until Draco had mentioned his own recently gained physical prowess that it had been called to the forefront again. In all his dealings with the new vampire, he had not once been concerned about being physically overpowered. It was possible, but it would be a reasonably fair fight.

The idea that he was essentially already chosen to be Draco’s partner, even though the vampire was not aware of it, wasn’t particularly distressing to Bill. Reading the hidden portions of the journal had been, and still was, very overwhelming, but there was nothing evil or manipulative to the bondmate relationship. One was not a slave to the other or stripped of free will. It was a partnership, in all things. It would be certain to take his life in a different direction that he had been planning, but it wasn’t unpleasant to contemplate. Despite being more than a touch arrogant, Draco was a pleasant enough companion. They both shared an interest in history and the development of foreign magics and had spent long hours during the nights discussing the wonders and idiosyncrasies of the different magical cultures of the world. Physically, Draco even resembled his ‘type’ if he considered himself actually having one, though Bill didn’t much want to contemplate the physical similarities between his vampire companion and his ex-wife. It was enough that he found Draco attractive in his own right.

His mind was still busy whirling through ideas and information, but Bill yawned deeply and settled deeper into the pillows. He hoped he would be ready to face the challenges tonight would bring.
***

In the end, Bill didn’t even get a chance to explain that he had uncovered the rest of the writing in the journal.

After dozing restlessly for a couple hours, Bill woke to the sensation of movement at his side. The curtains had already been drawn back, and the bright light of the waxing moon was spilling into the room. It was now only a few days until the full moon, and the wolf inside him twitched anxiously. Braced on his elbow, bathed in the moonlight, was Draco. Though Bill was much taller, Draco’s presence seemed far more imposing than usual. His angular features looked sharper, his shoulders seemed broader and his pale blond hair reflected the light in a way that gave him an almost unearthly appearance. He was studying Bill slowly, his gaze moving from head to toe and sliding back up again, almost tangibly. It was then Bill noticed that not only were the covers were gone, but his pyjamas as well.

Draco shifted onto his hands and knees and leaned over Bill, inhaling deeply from jaw line to collarbone then tracing back up his neck with a broad swipe of his tongue. Lingering at his ear, Draco spoke softly, but his tone was one of absolute authority. “You shall be mine, Wolf, and my partner in all things.”

For a moment, Bill was utterly gobsmacked, but quickly recovered. “And you shall be mine, Vampire, and my partner in all things.”

Normally dull grey eyes lit with the glow of shining silver as their gazes locked with a powerful intensity. A profound understanding passed between them in the uncounted minutes their eyes remained fixed, unblinkingly upon each other. Slowly, almost painfully, Draco tore his gaze away and shifted into a feeding position. Sharp incisors glinted in the moonlight as Draco lowered them to the pulsing artery at Bill’s neck. His eyes closed and Draco let out a throaty groan as he sliced through the soft tissue and the sensation of hot blood, his bondmate’s blood, cascaded over his tongue.

Bill answered with a deep, reverberating groan of his own. His cock had sprung to life quickly and was aching with need, pressing against Draco where their bodies met. He couldn’t think of a time in his life when he had become so painfully aroused so quickly. Actually, he could scarcely think at all. Draco’s tongue was moving sensuously along his neck, collecting the tricking blood and tracing the edges of the puncture marks. It should have been uncomfortable, if not painful, but instead it felt as though that tongue was sliding along and dipping into the slit of his penis. The transfer of sensation was powerful and Bill bucked and thrust in response.

Draco gave the bite wound a slow, lingering swipe of his tongue and stopped the flow of blood almost completely, but did not seal the wound. Sliding down Bill’s body, Draco paused briefly to nip at the flat discs of his nipples before descending further. Bill’s cock was throbbing and leaking from the tip and twitched as the vampire’s cool breath ghosted over the sensitive flesh. He gasped loudly as Draco’s mouth descended on him, tongue swirling around the head before engulfing more of his shaft than a mouth should be capable of.

Bill groaned at the sensation of silky hair grazing his thighs and reflexively twined his hands through the shimmering strands of blond hair. Draco pulled back and the delicious suction pulled another moan from his throat. Grasping the hair in his fingers harder, he guided that talented mouth down on him firmly, not worrying that his hips thrust up instinctively, nor concerned his grip was too strong. A growl formed deep in his chest as he threw caution to the wind and fucked Draco’s face. Draco gagged slightly each time Bill’s cock hit the back of his throat, but the reflex only heightened the experience. It was a heady experience to be able to let go completely and Bill didn’t last long thrusting into his bondmate’s mouth. With a cry that was more of a howl than a scream, Bill came, back bowing with the force of it. Draco drank deeply, making the same deep moan of pleasure he had when blood first spilled across his tongue.

After a moment to catch his breath, Draco crawled slowly up Bill’s body, licking a broad path from his cock to the hollow at the base of his throat. Blood and sweat and semen on his tongue, Draco laved the puncture wounds, causing sparks of magic to race across both their bodies. Hands pulled desperately at each other and they kissed savagely nipping and clawing as if trying to crawl into each other. Despite having just come with blinding force, the spill of magic on his skin was enough to cause him to harden once again.

The vampire pulled back from the kiss, and smirked with satisfaction. “You are mine now, Wolf.”

His muscles tensed, and in an instant, Bill had reversed their positions. Leaning in close, he whispered, “And you shall be mine.”

With very little effort, Bill flipped Draco onto his front and gazed at the pale, flawless expanse of back. Leaning down, he set his teeth at Draco’s left shoulder and gave him a firm, wide-mouthed bite. Draco cried out in a mixture of pain and pleasure, and squirmed beneath him. Pulling back slightly, Bill saw he hadn’t broken the skin but had left behind a set of deep, tooth shaped indentations. Deep in his very core, he found the mark, temporary though it was, more satisfying than he had ever imagined.

Shifting his weight, he moved down the smooth expanse of back placing wide-mouthed bites from nape to tailbone. Reaching Draco’s smooth, round buttocks, Bill couldn’t help but place and especially firm bite on the delicious curve, watching the indentations purple as he pulled back. The rapidly bruising crescents looked so perfect, he couldn’t help but bend down to create a matching pair on the other cheek. Draco shouted and writhed and bucked beneath him, trying to get closer and pull away at the same time.

When he backed off, Bill grabbed at Draco’s hips, urging his partner to his knees. Spreading the newly marked cheeks, Bill stared for a moment at the tight pucker of muscle. Though his mind was hazy with desire and driven by newly freed instincts, part of him knew he needed more than brute force to make this enjoyable. Lunging for the bedside table, he found his wand and fumbled for a moment to remember how to conjure lubricant. The sensation of cool gel filled his hand, and Bill tossed his wand back at the table before returning to the pert arse still held high and presented for him. Slicking his fingers, he pressed one past the clenching hole, sliding it back and forth only a couple times before pressing another of his thick fingers into the resistant passage. Draco whined and moaned at the sensation, wriggling his backside onto the welcome intrusion as Bill pumped his fingers in and out.

This broke what little restraint Bill still had. Abandoning any further preparations, he slicked his twitching cock with the remainder of the lubricant and pressed himself into the tight hole. Once barely lodged inside, he took Draco’s hips in his hands and thrust himself fully inside. Draco screamed with sensation, both burning pain and growing pleasure, and gripped the sheets under his fingers, twisting them in his hands. Bill’s own hands remained vice like at Draco’s hips and would leave a mark as surely as his teeth had. Giving only a small moment to adjust, Bill pulled back until he nearly fell out, and then slammed back in fully. Closing his eyes, Bill fucked Draco in a blur of pounding thrusts, pleasure filled grunts and groans and primal screams. Reaching a hand around, he fisted the vampire’s cock, pulling at it violently in time with each powerful thrust. Draco came with an unearthly wail, tensing and shuddering beneath him. With a few more frantic thrusts, Bill found his own release, but did not howl. Instead, he gripped the previously marked shoulder between his teeth and bit down with a ferocious and triumphant growl. The sensation was so powerful; he collapsed on top of Draco and blacked out.
***
Bill groaned in discomfort as he opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. His body ached. It was a pleasant sort of ache, but uncomfortable all the same. Staring at the gilded ceiling, he blinked several times, trying to regain his bearings. The man beside him flopped onto his back, moaned in pain, then shifted onto his side and looked at Bill.

“Bill..?”

“Yeah?”

“We missed something important, didn’t we?”

“Sort of.”

Draco sat up suddenly, grunted in pain, and flopped back down on his side. “What do you mean, ‘sort of’?”

“Well,” Bill started, wincing at the tone in Draco’s voice, “I only just found out about it this afternoon.”

“Found out about what?”

“The rare and unusual phenomena of vampire bondmates.”

“Bondmates? Wasn’t there something about that in the Rothschild journal? Near the end?”

“The very last entry, in fact. Or, what looks like the very last entry. I was poking through the journal last night and I got to thinking that the last entry ends rather abruptly and that unless he died, Rothschild wasn’t the sort of wizard to leave his work unfinished. So I cast a bunch of revelatory spells on the book, and sure enough there was something there, but it wouldn’t reveal itself. When I thought about it, if Rothschild was really trying to keep some of his writing hidden while living with a bunch of vampires, there were certain conditions he could place on the text that would make it difficult for a vampire to try to break.”

“Like sunlight.”

“Exactly. It was a bit more complicated than that, but I’ve cracked enough extremely secure tombs to have a knack for these sorts of things. Ultimately it was restricted to exposure under sunlight, scrambled with a very old and obscure scrambling charm, written in Hebrew and only readable in a mirror.”

“Merlin, that’s a touch paranoid. What was hidden?”

“The journal’s about double the size. There were as many, if not more, entries hidden as there were plainly visable.”

“Old Wurthur must have spent another three years or more living with them. But why hide his work?”

“The first several entries are about bondmates. The night of the celebration mentioned in the last visible entry, Ivan gained his maturity and right to status as a vampire in the kiss. He challenged the Master for the right to claim his bondmate... Rothschild.”

“You’re having me on.”

Bill shook his head. “According to the journal, Ivan had known since the first time he had fed from Rothschild, but repressed the urge. The Master was hacked off because to forge the bond would give Ivan a power boost big enough that he could challenge the Master without even attaining full rank in the kiss.”

Draco stared at Bill for a long moment. “So, what just happened... We... You’re my...”

“Against all odds, I am your bondmate. The reason you had control over your feedings so quickly, your need to remain close; especially in sleep... they were signs you had found your partner and needed to bond. I only learned about it this afternoon, but as soon as I read it, I realised what was going on. Though, I had thought it would take another week or two for the instinct to overpower you. That was a misjudgement on my part,” Bill explained.

“I think I’d like to read those entries,” Draco said, stunned, but trying to hide it. “Is it possible for me to read them?”

Bill nodded. “I copied down the first bit of the revealed entries. I’ll work at getting the rest of it copied out over the next few days.”

He pulled a roll of parchment out of the drawer in the nightstand and passed it to Draco. The blond snatched it and sat up against the headboard, wincing, but ignoring his discomfort. It was oppressively quiet for several minutes while Draco read. Bill looked at the bed, noticing the many blood and semen stains on the sheets. He searched the floor around the nightstand for his wand and cast cleaning spells on the bed. He glanced at Draco as he read, noting the many deep bruises marring the normally perfect alabaster skin and winced internally. He had really let his inhibitions loose, and though it had been satisfying, he felt a twinge of regret now, even as his inner wolf preened at the vivid marks of possession.

When Draco finished reading the initial and most pertinent entry, he set the parchment on his lap and turned to look at Bill. His tone was very matter of fact when he spoke. “You’re alright with this, aren’t you? I mean, you don’t seem bothered at all. Not like our dear Wurthur here.”

He shrugged. “No. I don’t suppose I am bothered by the situation. It isn’t anything I expected when I offered to help, but it isn’t something that can be changed, and it isn’t manipulative or distasteful. I must admit, though, I am a bit bothered by the number I managed to do on you. I should heal those marks and get you something for the bruises.”

Draco shook his head in open-mouthed astonishment. “No, you won’t, Wolf. My partner in all things. I quite like the rough stuff. Perhaps not all the time, but if you are to be my sexual partner, I’d rather you weren’t the kind that lays back and thinks of England.”

“I’ve never let the wolf out. Not like that,” Bill confessed.

Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise, thought for a moment, then nodded in understanding. “Neither of you knew it would be different, did you? You hadn’t expected your tastes to change.”

He nodded. “She was appalled the first time I tried a little spanking game. I never asked again, which is probably just as well. I wouldn’t have wanted to really hurt her, but I probably would have.”

Draco rose from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Bill followed. Draco stood with his back to the mirror and glanced over his shoulder to get a look at the teeth marks that dotted his back. Reaching with his right arm, he traced the large, swollen and bloody mark on his shoulder, then slid both his hands down his body to run his fingers over the matching crescents on his arse. Bill was about to say something, though he wasn’t sure what it was because Draco gave an amused snort and looked at him with a smirk that was very nearly a grin. Anything he had to say about the marks vanished from his head.

The vampire walked over and traced his hands up Bill’s arms before reaching for his face and tracing the old scars with fingers splayed as claws. Bill held his breath, unsettled by the action. Draco’s smirking grin became a genuine smile. “I’ll bear your marks proudly, even if they aren’t the kind that can be displayed for the general public.”

“Are you alright with this?”

Draco nodded. “As alright as I can be. I’m still getting used to the transition itself, but somehow, this makes it easier. I feel more in control of myself.”

Bill leaned down and captured Draco’s lips in an easy, comfortable kiss. He knew the frantic, feral urgency of before still lurked below the surface, just as he felt the powerful, dominating presence moving within his partner. He supposed it would take time to find the right balance, but for now the part of him that was solely human wanted nothing more than to soak in a hot bath and recover.

Breaking apart, he said confidently. “We will sort the rest of it out, but for now I think I need a good long soak.”

“Agreed,” Draco said with a nod and pulled Bill with him into the bath.

Together, they carefully soaped and cleaned each other before relaxing back in the steaming water. The many candles in the crystal chandelier reflected soft light off the polished marble surfaces and reflected in the glass of the floor to ceiling windows. For a long time they were silent, lost in their own thoughts. Draco did a few leisurely laps of the pool before drifting back to brush against Bill. Their hands twined together comfortably as they leaned back and gazed at the chandelier.

When Bill spoke, his voice seemed to reverberate through the entire room. “If we are able to sort out your sunlight issues, would you be interested in travelling to Egypt with me?”

“You want to go back.”

“Ever since I returned to England.”

“It’s a possibility. Egypt does intrigue me.”

“I was going to put in for a transfer back the same day as the letter from your mother arrived.”

“You don’t want to go there to work, do you?”

“What else would I do? Egypt is a fascinating place to work.”

“Why not research, explore, experiment?”

“All things I do as a curse breaker.”

“At someone else’s whim.”

“And get paid handsomely for.”

“Money is not an issue.”

“I won’t be a kept man,” Bill said with a loud splash as he sat up.

Draco also moved to an upright position and raised a supercilious eyebrow at his companion. “Being a kept man implies you wouldn’t have a life beyond the house. Not working doesn’t mean never leaving the house; it only means you go about your business on your own terms. That is one of the perks of begin wealthy.”

“And your legacy? How will that fair if you don’t do anything to earn money over the next five hundred plus years?” Bill asked seriously.

Draco shook his head. “Just because I do not work, does not mean there is not income. The Malfoy fortune does the work for me through investments and such. It’s taken me a few years to sort through them all and make the necessary modifications. Surely working for Gringotts as long as you have this isn’t such a foreign concept.”

Bill shrugged. “I never worked on the investment side of things. That’s mostly goblin matters.”

“I’m sure with your knowledge and familiarity we could find some lucrative business opportunities to keep ourselves, while still leaving most of our time free to enjoy what the country has to offer,” Draco offered sensibly.

“I suppose so,” Bill agreed eventually.

Again they were quiet for a long time, considering the words that had just passed between them.

“I want to go to China,” Draco said abruptly, breaking the silence.

Bill nodded. “We could do that instead.”

“We could do it as well,” Draco pointed out simply.

They both chuckled softly. Bill grinned and ran a hand across the large purpling bruise marring Draco’s shoulder. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true. There are all kinds of places, all kinds of things we can do and never be rushed. It’s a lot to wrap my head around.”

Draco slid around and straddled Bill’s legs on the underwater ledge. An elegant finger traced around the already healed, but scarred, bite mark on the freckled expanse of neck. “It’s almost too much, at least at first. I think that’s part of why I was in such a state when you arrived. I just couldn’t quite comprehend the entirety of the situation. It’s getting easier, but it’s still overwhelming. I’m actually quite glad to have a partner in this.”

They embraced, water slick skin sliding sensuously against each other. When they parted, Bill rose to leave, catching Draco’s hand and guiding him out of the tub. Draco looked at him quizzically and Bill smiled broadly.

“We may have all the time in the world, but my curiosity won’t stand for it. The night’s not half over, and we were going to test you with your wand. Let’s go.”

Bill felt a deep sense of contentment when Draco followed him; his new companion, friend, lover and partner in all things.
***