Turning of the Tide ::Hayaki::

[aubrey]

Aubrey leaned back into the cold sand and watched the stars. Her entire being ached from her own eternal conflict. She should have been off somewhere with Shaden. But she was finding it more and more unbearable to be around him. She wasn't alive anymore. She was dead.

You would have thought this information would have already sunk in. The harsh reality of her existence was just now settling over her. Like a dark cloud that refused to rain. She was tired of all of it and she was angry.

Aubrey should have never left New Orleans. She should have insisted on staying. If she had never came to London she would still be alive and happy. She would have been something. Now she was nothing. She had nothing.

She dug her toes into the cool sand. She wanted to sink into it and disappear forever. Maybe she could swim into the sea and let herself be carried away by the currents.

[hayaki]

Hayaki was wandering, aimlessly, his face still wet with tears. He had no idea where he was, what time it was...anything. He was lost in a cloud of darkness, crying from the tears in his soul.

The man he loved was...

what?

A monster. A vampire. A figment of Hayaki's imagination. Everything he'd believed about him was wrong. He wasn't what Hayaki had thought he was. He was a monstermurdererkillertakeroflives and Hayaki was in love with him and everything was so dark...

He stumbled and fell to his knees. Sand. He ran his fingers through it, absently, uncaring. Everything hurt right now. The cool sand reminded him of Oliver's skin. Pyewacket's tongue. He tipped his head to the stars and then closed his eyes; too bright, too much.

He wondered what was going to happen. Would Oliver have to kill him to protect his secret? Could he ever look at him again without seeing those blood-red fangs? Where was he going to go? All of his things were at the hotel still he was going to get me an apartment across the way from him... I wonder if he likes the painting? He's allergic to sunlight..hah. I wonder if the old stories are true...

Hayaki put his hand on his ears, trying to stop the inner monologue. "Stop, please, just stop...I can't. Not right now..." he whispered, his voice cracking. "Just leave me alone..."

[aubrey]

Aubrey's attention was suddenly pulled away from herself. She rose up slowly, out of the sand. Her body curled and adjusted, and was now resting it's weight on her knees. A set of honey eyes watched the young man throw himself about in misery.

Aubrey cocked her head to the side as she watched him. What right did he have, being so sad? He had was alive and breathing. The blood flowed through his veins and his heart beat steadily. She could hear it, she could almost fill it. He had everything she wanted. Humans could be so selfish.

Aubrey crawled to him on her knees. She didn't want to startle him by standing. His utter helplessness poured over him and Aubrey wrapped herself in his aura. She was too close to him, leaning into him with an awkward grace. She smiled, softly and traced his cheek, her fingertips trailing a line of sand across his cheek. "Why are you so sad?"

[hayaki]

The voice snapped Hayaki's attention back to...well, not really reality. He hadn't been in anything resembling reality since he'd seen Oliver crouched over the

corpsecorpsedeadbloodlesscorpse

body. She seemed nothing more than another figment of his mind; a sprite sent to torment him more. BLinking up at her, he smiled brokenly, a tear slipping down his cheek. "Do you believe in vampires?" he asked softly, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the water close by.

He waited, like a child for her answer, his hand still absently rubbing his cheek like he'd forgotten what the motion was for. Disjointed; he seemed to have withdrawn from sanity for the moment, a defense mechanism of a helpless victim.

[aubrey]

Oh how interesting. A slow grin curled across her pale features as she watched him. This was too new for her. Two raw. She had never seen this reaction in a human before. It was pitiful and wonderful all on its own. She drew back slightly, still close, but it was no longer an awkward position. He didn't even seem to notice though.

"Vampires? As in Night walkers. Creatures of the damned?" She laughed softly. Where humans really so naive? So delicate in their own little ignorant security. This one looked and acted as if had just seen the most horrifying thing on earth. She couldn't remember being so fragile.

Her voice rolled from her mouth like warm honey. It was soothing and intoxicating. It held promise. She watched him carefully, savoring in his emotion and pain. A year ago she wasn't as demented. Five minutes ago she wanted to be different. Now, the blackness consumed her.

How easily it came now. She used to be able to fight it, but not anymore. Xavier wanted her as a monster and now he had her. She breathed in deeply and pulled the man down into her lap. She cradled him against her, running her hands through his hair as if he was a child who had just had a nightmare. The nightmare was only beginning.

[hayaki]

"Creatures of the Damned" Hayaki said softly, echoing her. He barely noticed when she moved him, wrapped in his own thoughts, but the warmth of her tone and the soothing motion of her hands registered on some level. He relaxed; like a child safe in his mother's arms, into her false security and poisoned sweetness.

"His name is Oliver." He said softly, smiling even as another tear rolled down his face. "I fell in love with him so fast...I never suspected...expected...it was all so crazy, and yet so wonderful...Oliver the tailor. So beautiful. So sweet. But I found him holding a dead person in his arms, blood on his fangs. Blood on his soul. I should have known...I should have seen. The signs...they were there. All there. My Oliver..."

He closed his eyes, tears slipping down his cheeks again. "Vampires don't exist." He said, suddenly stubborn. "They're just stories. I must have dreamed...a nightmare. This is just a nightmare. I'll wake up in Oliver's bed and laugh. Just a nightmare..."

His voice choked off abruptly. Even in his dazed state, he knew. This was not a dream, and he wasn't going to wake up.

[aubrey]

Aubrey rocked him softly. She tried not to laugh, tried not to smile. Oliver the little tailor. How he did get around. Naughty little vampire. She shook her head. Careless little dove. Whatever was she going to do with him.

"I know your Oliver, sweet love." She cupped his face and looked him over. So much pain from someone so weak and helpless. So much torment and for what? An incline of an emotion that would pass in due time anyway. Poor little love. How naive and beautiful was the bundle in her arms.

She leaned over and pressed her cheek against his. So warm. She felt his heart beating against her body. She sighed. She would have destroyed a thousand souls to feel one in her own shallow chest. "Life is you nightmare. You are forever trapped in it. You will never wake up and you will never be free."

Aubrey was fighting the urge to rip him apart. He was too special to be causally thrown about and wasted. He was too beautiful. She wrapped herself in his pain, filling herself with it. It was exquisite and charming and so seductive.

"Vampires are just as real as you are love. Was Oliver not real for you. Touching him, the feel of him? Was it all a fantasy so carefully played out in your head." She curled him tighter to her. "Oh you lovely little trinket. There is so much of the work that you are blind too. Is believing in the monster so hard?"

[hayaki]

Hayaki laughed; bitterly, sadly, his eyes opening again. "I believe." he said softly, his voice soft and lost. "I believe, and that's why it's so hard. He was real. I touched him, kissed him...we made love." He closed his eyes again, a sigh torn from his lips. "So sweet...that's the real dream."

He laughed again. "My dream. To be held, to be loved. To be touched as if I'm precious. He gave it to me. One beautiful, wonderous night. I didn't know it would hurt so much..."

He suddenly turned, pressing into her, his hands grasping her. "You're a nightmare." He said, almost soundlessly. "You're a dream too. Everything in my life that is good is a dream. Only the pain is real. That's life. Pain is life. Hurt me." He begged her softly, twisting in the broken shards of his dreams. "Hurt me. Make it real. I don't want to wake up. I need to wake up. I can't...this is..." he broke off, panting. "I can't. Please..."

He didn't know what he was asking. He didn't know what he wanted, needed. All he knew was that it hurt, and he was tired of hurting. He'd thought...he'd almost had it. It had been there, in his hands, in the touch of Oliver's lips. He'd had it, but it was drifting away like smoke and he was shattering into a million pieces and he just couldn't do it anymore.

He thought, suddenly, longingly, of the ocean just a few steps away. To drift endlessly. To sink into the cool blue depths and dissapear. To stop breathing, to stop hurting. To stop being.

"Float away..." he whispered, stilling.

[aubrey]

Aubrey's breath caught in her throat. Did he have to beg her in such a way. She felt her breath grow ragged. How easily she could just end his life. How easily she could end all of his suffering and allow him his inky dark oblivion.

She suddenly didn't hate Xavier so fiercely. Is this what he had felt as he carried her in his arms. Did he struggle so hard with his decision to create her. Was this the pleasure that seduced his mind. Oh God. She felt the urge open in her lower abdomen. It grew and swelled like a fire and she had to push him away to keep from destroying him. Her honey orbs pooled liquid black and she shuttered.

Her fangs slid over her lips and she reached out and pulled his face to her. She pressed her forehead against his. Her limbs stiffened. "Oh what a nightmare I am my lovely. Look at me." She locked into his eyes. Urging him silently to become lost in hers. "Tell me what you would have of me. I can take you pain and give you your oblivion."

Her body wanted to sag against him and just take him. God, the control that she had obtained. "Or I can give you pain. I could give you such pain, but the pleasure." Her eyes rolled shut and she sighed against him. "The pleasure will be irreplaceable.
You could have eternity. I could give you eternity. I could give you Oliver."

She opened her eyes. Absorbing him into the inky blackness. "Let my kiss take you to the depths of hell."

[hayaki]

"Eternity..."

Hayaki stared into her eyes, losing himself in her depths, feeling himself dissolving and floating away. It was effortless; he was searching for an outlet, a reason, a path, and she was offering it to him. There was a catch someplace. There was always a catch. But right now, he didn't care.

" I could give you Oliver."

Suddenly, in his mind, he saw a vision of Oliver as he'd been that night, sweet and loving and oh so damn beautiful. The burning fire in his eyes, the tenderness of his lips. The way his hands trembled as they touched. An eternity of this; there was no pain that could be weighed as greater than that thought.

A breif, almost sane shred of his soul screamed at him, nearly lost in the maelstrom of his sorrow. She's the devil, the spawn of darkness, and she offers you nothing but damnation! To have the monster means becoming the monster! Think of the corpse! Think of the bloody fangs! Do you want this? To never see the sun again? To kill? To live an eternity as a soulless creature, devoid of warmth, devoid of hope?

Oliver smiled at him, holding his hands out, and Hayaki surrendered to the vision.

Yes

"Take me." he whispered, clinging to her, his eyes on hers but seeing only Oliver's smile. "Take me...hurt me, save me..." He smiled wider, a child's smile, sweet and innocent. "Please."

[aubrey]

A delicious chill trailed up her spine. She understood. She understood completely the power that took over the best of characters. How could she turn down something that was so willing? So...Eager. Aubrey's eye slid closed as she leaned down to press her lips against his.

She had no idea desperation could taste so wonderful. Her kiss was soft against his lips. He was not kissing her, she knew that. She knew he was thinking of his precious tailor. She cradled his face. His skin burned and that made her yearn for him even more.

"Precious trinket." She held his face firmly against her own. What if he tried to resist at the last moment? She could make this so wonderful for him. She could make him think that it was Oliver and not herself. he would like that. That would please him, and then make her own pleasure increase."

Aubrey forced her aura into him, clouding his mind. When he looked at her, he would no longer see her. Oliver would be doing this for him. She could at least give him that luxury. Aubrey pressed her forehead against his.

"Oh pet. Beautiful pet." She traced her fingers down his face. "Sweet pet. I will become your sun. I will take your pain and swallow it away." Aubrey kissed him again. "I will shelter you. I will be your demon and great angel all in one." I can give you eternity. I am eternity." Aubrey trailed kissed down his neck. "My body will be your body. Your blood shall be my blood."

Aubrey sank her fangs into his skin. Her eyes fluttered as his blood rushed her mouth. It was warm and sweet and she dare not take it all, but god how could she stop. She felt his body react against hers she pressed him closer. There would have been pain. But it would have only lasted a second before the euphoria would have taken over and filled his being." Aubrey pulled away and a soft moan escaped her lips. The willing had always been so much sweeter.

Her breath was ragged and her voice was breathy. "Come now Mr. Hawk. My beloved light." Aubrey ran a nail across the skin of her neck. Blood began creeping out from it. She took her hand and pulled him toward her. "Let my blood be our blood. Allow me to be your last shining light." Aubrey arched herself toward him. "Take me now, my precious pet."

[hayaki]

Hayaki smiled as his vision strengthened. Oliver, leaning over him, that sweet smile on his lips as he crooned the words. The words...eternity. Hayaki's eyes fluttered half-shut, his body arching subconsiously, begging, desperate...Oliver's lips on his, his sweet taste on his lips. The pain was nothing; over in an instant, lost in the flood of desire and pleasure and joy and love...

Hayaki clung to Oliver, moaning softly, his back arching. So good. So sweet. He'd never believed that falling into the darkness could be this bright. When 'Oliver' pulled away, he whimpered softly, his lips parting to beg, to protest.

He felt so strange. So heavy. Floating. There was no pain here, no saddness. No time. Every breath was heavy and taken with an effort, but he felt no panic or fear. Oliver would never hurt him.

Oliver would never, ever hurt him. That belief stayed with him, in the deepest part of his heart, even after all he'd seen.

He heard Oliver's words as if through a great soft cloud. The blood..he stared at the blood on Oliver's neck. It meant something. He had to do something. It was hard to think, hard to remember. Finally, he licked his lips and sat up, reaching eagerly, fumbling in his haste and this strange lethargy that threatened to overwhelm him.

One last shred of sanity tugged at him, but it dissapeared into th blaze of dark light that filled Hayaki's being. His lips touched Oliver's neck, hesitantly, tenderly. The blood tasted strange; he almost recoiled, but something woke inside of him. A hunger, a need. He sucked it in, clinging to Oliver's frame, his body twisting. He couldn't stop; everything narrowed to this one second in time.

And so easily, he fell.

[aubrey]

It was almost to wonderful and exquisite to handle at once. The love that entrapped in his being was overwhelming. The full rush of it hitting her made her want to stagger back and pull away. Instead she crushed him against her.

For a moment it slipped her mind that he pictured her as being someone else. She forgot that he would have preferred her to be someone else. His emotions poured into her and she felt the pale need in him. Her body shuttered against him as she softly cried out against the newness.

Aubrey could feel his body slowly dying in her arms. His life, his beautiful light was slowly seeping out form his body and into her own. She was taking him. She would own apart of him for all eternity. He was hers to love, to keep. Or to give away.

Aubrey, not being able to take the open honesty that he was pouring into her pushed him away. She cried out again with the release and held him against her body. She cradled him. Feeling the love that he had poured into her rush through her body.She trembled as tears fell down her cheeks.

Sleep would take him soon. It was only a matter of moments. He would sink into oblivion and awake in three days to his new life. She wanted to keep him. She wanted to cradle himself to her forever and bask in his love, but he would never belong to her. Just as she would never fully belong to Xavier.

She sobbed softly as she cradled him against her. She would take him to Oliver. That was were he belonged. She would never be able to taste the love that they shared. Nothing like that would even belong to her.

[hayaki]

In the last, final moments, just as the darkness rose to claim him, Hayaki saw her clearly. Saw her for herself, for what she was...

For the pain she was crying in.

Smiling gently, he struggled a moment to bring his arm up. HIs fingers, growing clumsy in his lethargy, brushed her face, feeling the tears. Vampires could cry...it gave him hope.

"Don't...cry." he whispered softly. "Pl..please. It's alright. It will be alright."

He didn't know why she cried so passionately, or what her pain was, but it pierced him. "Everything...ends...as it...should." he sighed, one last time, then closed his eyes, letting himself fall into the welcoming, warm darkness.

He didn't know if he was coming up again, or if he did, what he would become. It didn't seem to matter anymore.


One last breath. His last breath. Then stillness, his eyes open to the star-studded sky.
Oliver...