Primeval fic: Born By Blood

[knitekat]

Title: Born By Blood

Author: knitekat

Word Count: ~4320

Characters: Samuel Becker (OC), John Hunter (OC), Christiana Lester (OC), James Lester, Tom Ryan

Pairings: James Lester/Tom Ryan.

Rating: 18

Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.

A/N: Prequel to Bound By Blood (dark!fic), and set in my Bloodverse. Angst, non-permanent death, possible dark themes. Thanks to Fred for the beta and advice. Cheers m'dear.

I attended one of the many boring but necessary balls, watching the rich and powerful dance around the room as they made contacts and subtly flirted.

The fine form of a soldier, an officer of course, caught my eye. He was much more to my taste, far more than the pompous idiots parading about in front of me in all of their finery.

“Seen someone, James, dear.” Christiana asked, her voice low, amused and for my ears only.

I turned and smiled, holding out my hand for hers. “My dear Christiana, shall we?”

Christiana smiled as she took my hand and we moved out onto the dance floor. “I believe we will have to host a ball this year.” When I sighed softly, she added, “It is good form, my dear.”

I nodded. “I'll have Becker check my appointments for a suitable date.”

Christiana glanced over towards the officer. “I'm sure you could invite your new interest, James.”

“And you will be inviting yours, my dear?” I smiled as we gracefully crossed the floor. “It is still Sir George?”

“No, Georgie is on his way to Kabul. Seeking glory for Queen and Empire.”

“I'll keep an eye on the despatches, dear.”

Christiana smiled, “Thank you, James.”

***

Several months later, the night of our ball beckoned. I began to pace my room and heard Christiana's sigh followed by the clink of glass. I turned around and smiled as I smelt the rich red liquid she was swirling around. “From my estate? Thank you, my dear.”

I savoured the rich, sweet nectar in my mouth for several moments before I swallowed it with a satisfied sigh. “An excellent choice.”

“Is your new beau going to be attending.”

I smiled. “Captain Ryan? Yes...” I took another mouthful before offering the glass to my wife.

Christiana savoured the liquid as much as I had. “Stop worrying James, this Ryan of yours won't be able to turn you down.”

“And, as you know, I do not force my attentions on anyone.”

Christiana leaned in to kiss my cheek. “I'll leave you to finish getting ready.”

I smiled softly as I watched Christiana leave. Marrying her had been a sensible move. After all, a man of my age and position could not afford to remain unmarried without raising questions that I most certainly did not wish to answer.

***

I was relieved to discover that Ryan had a sharp mind and a quick wit to go with his perfect body. Not that it would have stopped my interest if he had been dull, but the spark would have quickly died. I also noticed that he was subtly paying me attention and rewarded his discretion by a barely-felt touch to his hand.

Remembering the papers I had read on Ryan, I decided on my course of action and promptly executed it. “I understand you have recently returned from Afghanistan, Captain Ryan.”

“I have, Sir James.”

“I would be interested in hearing a first hand account of our efforts in that most difficult of regions.”

“It would be my pleasure, Sir James.”

“Excellent.”

***

In the end, I invited Captain Ryan to a dinner party of carefully selected individuals. Apart from the good captain, myself and my wife, also in attendance was my personal physician, Dr John Hunter, a number of my fellows from the government and their wives, and Miss Helena Morgan, my ward.

The talk was light until the women retired and we men could smoke our expensive and imported cigars. The conversation then turned to the state of the Empire in general and the fighting in Afghanistan in particular.

It was quite late when the conversation died down, although I asked Captain Ryan to remain as I had a few points I wish to have clarified.

I carried on the conversation until I was sure we were alone, my senses straining as I listened to the last clip-clop of hooves down my drive.

I allowed my words to die as I let my heated gaze linger on Ryan's face. I licked my lips and moved towards him. I kissed Ryan on the lips, my tongue licking along them. He sighed into my mouth as he allowed my tongue to enter. I spent several moments just enjoying the taste of him.

Slowly pulling free of his enticing mouth, I smiled as I ran a hand over his back. “I assume you are not a stranger to Greek love?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, sir.”

“Call me James.” After all, it seemed officious to stand on ceremony with what I had in mind. I took his hand and led him to my rooms. I was careful not to encounter anyone on the way, more for the appearance of propriety than actual need for it. Once inside, I turned to face him. “I want you, Ryan.”

“Then take me, sir.” He smiled as he corrected himself, “James.” He kept that smile on his face as he removed and folded his clothes, careful not to crease them.

I moaned softly as he revealed sculptured muscles to my gaze, his body firm and so lovely. He was soon revealed in his full glory to me, his large member engorged and leaking, and I so wanted to touch it.

I watched the appreciative look on Ryan's face as I swiftly stripped and folded my clothes as neatly as he had done. I stepped close to him, pressing our bodies together and heard Ryan's matching moan as our cocks rubbed against each other. I subtly pushed Ryan backwards until he sat on the bed with an oomph. “Make yourself comfortable, Ryan.”

Ryan took little time to scramble up the bed and lay his head on my pillow. His hands caressed my sheets and he grinned up at me. “Silk?”

“Only the best for my bed,” I murmured as I clambered onto it. My hands stroked up his legs and Ryan obeyed my unspoken request to spread them for me. I ran a fingertip down Ryan's leaking member before grinning up at him. A moment later I swooped down upon him.

I heard Ryan's cry of surprise and felt his hips jerk as I took his cock deep into my mouth. I took my time to tease and taunt Ryan as I swallowed around him, listening to him come apart underneath me as I swallowed all he had to give me.

I gave him one last lick before I moved up Ryan's body and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

“Dear God, James. I have never...”

I smiled as I was pleased to know that my centuries of practice had not been wasted. I eased my lover's knees to his chest and Ryan held himself open for me. I quickly prepared him before easing inside the promised heat. It felt so good to finally be inside him, to rock gently backwards and forwards as I took us both to our release.

***

After that night, Ryan and I met several more times, both at balls and at dinner parties. We often took what time we could to share our bodies with each other. It was an extremely satisfying time.

Christiana smiled over breakfast one day and asked me the question that had been on my own mind for some time. “Well, James, are you planning on turning your Captain Ryan?”

I smiled. “I haven't decided... I'd like to, but I will not force him.” I quirked an eyebrow at her. “And what about you? Young Georgie has been back for the last three months...”

“He is simply a dalliance.”

“Not suitable for joining our kind?”

“God, no.” Christiana shook her head. “He'd be a frightful bore after a few decades. Unlike your Captain Ryan.” She quirked her eyebrow at me.

“It is too soon to ask him.”

“But you will.”

I smiled as I sipped my cup of tea.

***

After another private dinner party, I climbed the stairs holding Ryan's hand and smiled as I heard the near-silent gasps coming from Christiana's rooms. Obviously, she and Sir George were engaged in some discreet activities of their own.

I tugged Ryan towards my own rooms and soon found myself laying belly-down on the finest silk sheets and moaning as Ryan moved inside me. The gentle thrusts of his hips slowly took us both to a sweet release. I felt his kisses against my neck as I gradually came back to myself.

I sighed as he pulled free and I rolled onto my back. The candlelight flickered across his sweat-sheened skin, highlighting his muscles while casting his private parts into deepest shadow. I pulled him down for a kiss, hard and demanding. ““Will you stay with me tonight?”

Ryan shook his head. “I can't.”

“Can't or won't, Ryan?” My voice was soft. “Are you ashamed of us? Of what we do?”

“No!” Ryan sounded vehement. “No, I love you.” He sighed bitterly. “I don't want to cause you any problems. Your political enemies would use our relationship to harm you.”

“Always thinking about me, Ryan, never about yourself.” I sighed softly as I caressed his face. “I have power and influence, they couldn't do anything to me. You, however, they could jail, if not worse.”

Ryan nodded, “I knew the risk when I got involved with you and I still choose to take that risk .”

“As do I.” I pulled him in for a kiss. “Will you at least consider staying with me the next time we dine?”

Ryan smiled. “I promise I will consider it.”

But I knew he wouldn't, too concerned he would place my position in society in danger.

***

I watched Ryan settle the stiff collar around his neck and smooth his uniform to remove any wrinkles. He looked the perfect officer as he stood before me, no one would ever know from looking at him that we had just spent several hours making love. I couldn't resist leaning in to kiss him goodnight.

Ryan pulled free with a smile and snapped a salute just as my butler arrived. “Sir. Thank you for a pleasant evening.”

I smiled as I watched Ryan turn from passionate lover to controlled soldier in a heartbeat. It was good practice for him, even if Becker was loyal to me. His family had been in my employee for over three centuries and had been raised on loyalty to my kind. “It has indeed been an instructive evening, Captain Ryan.”

“I was glad to be of assistance, Sir James, with what small knowledge I have of our war in Afghanistan.” Ryan accepted his coat from Becker before he snapped me another salute. “Sir.”

I smiled as Becker opened the door for Ryan to leave and I moved to stand behind him as I watched Ryan walk down the street, only turning around when Becker cleared his throat. “Shall I prepare your nightcap, sir?”

“Yes. I think I'll have an eighteen-year-old from my estate, Becker.”

“Very good, sir.”

I turned to go into my study. I had a few papers I should go through before the morning. I had just begun to read when a dreadful hammering on the front door broke the silence.

I moved to the study door. This time of night it had to be something important. When Becker opened it, the sweet smell of blood filled my nostrils. I took a step closer and my heart twisted at the sight of Ryan, held in the arms of two cabdrivers.

“Bring him in. Becker, take them to a guest room and call for my doctor.” I watched with distaste as blood dripped onto my rugs.

***

I waited for the cabdrivers to leave before I entered the room Ryan was lying in. I could see his body was mangled beyond all hope, at least, beyond all human hope.

I could save him, turn him to become like myself, but it had to be his choice. Even if it broke my heart, I could not – would not – force Ryan. I caressed Ryan's face and made him look at me, using my powers to clear the fog from his brain.

“James?” Ryan's voice was barely there, hoarse and painful as if each word was a supreme effort.

“Shh.” I stroked a hand through his hair. “Listen to me, Tom. You're dying.”

Ryan managed a smiled. “Not supposed to tell me that.”

“I know. But I can save you.” I let my fangs drop and allowed Ryan to see who – what - I truly was. “I can make you like me.”

Ryan's eyes widened. “James, you're...?”

“A vampire.” I could hear the wheeze in Ryan's chest, he didn't have long and I felt tears run down my face. “It's your choice, my love.”

“You're crying.” Ryan sounded amazed, probably at seeing the first real emotion from me. He took a painful breath and asked, “Does it hurt?”

I shook my head, I wouldn't risk speaking and using my powers to influence Ryan. It had to be his choice, his own free-will, if he became like me.

Ryan looked at me, really looked at me. I felt stripped to my very soul, if I still had one. He slowly nodded, “Do it.”

“Ryan?”

“I don't want to die.” Ryan managed to raise a hand to my face. “I want to be with you.”

I gathered Ryan in my arms and gently sank my teeth into his jugular, the sweet nectar of his blood filling my mouth for the first time. I held him close as I sucked deep, pulling his life blood from his veins as I drained him dry. As I swallowed mouthful after sweet mouthful, I pressed a sharp nail into my wrist and held it against his lips, my blood dripping between his parted lips. It didn't take long before Ryan was lying lifeless in my arms and I just held him as tears dripped down my face.

I licked my wrist closed as I sat back to wait for Ryan's return. I hadn't turned anyone before and I could only hope that I had followed the correct method.

My mind wandered back to when I had been turned.

I lay in the blood and mud, gasping for breath as my hands clasped my belly, the smell was nauseating and I knew it was the end. I smiled. I had died fighting to protect my wife's virtue from that brute, striking a killing blow even though he had gutted me with a wickedly-sharp knife.

I felt soft hands on my face and blinked as I struggled to focus on the horror-filled face of my wife. “Go. Run.” I barely managed to speak, but I needed her to obey. As I heard her run, I could only hope that she reached our home and the safety of our retainers. I knew I could protect her no longer.

I believed I would not be long in this world, and I actually hoped it would soon be over. The pain in my belly was growing and I managed to lift my head to look at the damage. I let it fall with a groan, I really wished I hadn't looked. It was little wonder that my dear wife had looked so horrified at the sight. Coils of my innards were slowly slithering out of the gash in my belly. I knew it would do no good, but I still pressed my hands over the wound, desperate to keep them inside me, even though I knew it wouldn't make any difference to the outcome. I was dying, slowly but surely.

I heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see the man who had been following my wife and I. No, not quite following. He had merely been wherever we had been, and, truthfully, I hadn't really resisted his advances. Even though I had been taught that such things were wrong, evil, the feel of him inside me, of being inside him, was heavenly. I couldn't believe that what we did was wrong. Nothing that felt so good could be wrong.

He crouched beside me, his hand caressing my hair before he pressed it against my belly. He lifted his blood-smeared hand to his mouth and licked my blood. My eyes widened as his teeth extended and I knew he was a creature of darkness. Oh God, what had I done to my soul when I had willingly lain with this monster? He had seduced me from the path of righteousness and now I was damned.

I tried to escape but my limbs refused to respond. He smiled softly, “I was waiting for the right moment.” He sighed softly as he stroked my hair again. “I had planned on a slow seduction before I turned you, but I can see it is too late for that.”

My eyes widened in fear as I shook my head. I might be damned but I would not become a monster like him.

“I won't turn you unwillingly, James.” He pressed a kiss against my forehead. “But do you really want to die?”

I didn't, but I didn't want to be a creature of darkness either. It hurt so much and I knew I didn't have long. I closed my eyes, I couldn't think clearly as my mind began to dull.

“Even now, your wife is meeting with her lover. They planned for you to be waylaid tonight and murdered. Their hearts are full of greed as they plot to take your land, disinheriting your children.”

“No!”

“I wouldn't lie to you, James. Not about this, not about your wife. You have little time to decide.”

I couldn't believe my wife would betray me like that... except that several incidents came to mind. Her longing looks at Peter, his own looks back. The time I had caught them alone in a room but I had been too busy to think the worse. How could I have been so stupid?

I would have my revenge on them both, and so I made a deal with the beast in front of me. I cried out with pleasure as his teeth sunk into my neck and felt sweet hot nectar fall into my mouth. I remembered the cold darkness that had swept up to take me had been turned to warmth and peace.

Ryan's gasp interrupted my memories and I held him tight as the craving took hold. I held my wrist to his mouth as he sank his teeth into my flesh and drank. I would have to find him food soon, but a few swallows of my blood would sustain him for now.

I could not leave him as his body purged itself of his humanity, I remembered all to well the pain and fear as the body fights to remain human, a fight it can not win but is reluctant to surrender.

Ryan shuddered in my arms through the throes of waking to his new existence. Once he quieted, I cleaned him up and settled him into my bed, my arms wrapped around his chest as I waited for him to wake.

A soft knock sounded and Becker entered with a bottle of my special wine and a glass. “I thought you would require this, sir. Sally is stripping the guest bed and will wash the bedding.” We both started when the doorbell rang, “That will be Doctor Hunter, sir.”

“Thank you, Becker. Send the doctor up and I'll ring if I require anything else tonight.”

“Yes, sir. I'll bring another bottle and glass and then retire for the night.”

I nodded and turned my attention back to Ryan, until the creak of the door opening drew my attention away from him.

Doctor Hunter quickly examined Ryan before accepting a glass of my special wine. He savoured the taste and licked his teeth, “A fine vintage, James.”

I nodded absent-mindedly as my attention wandered back to Ryan.

Hunter smiled as he clapped my shoulder. “He'll be fine.” He walked towards the door, “I'll prepare the death certificate for you, James.”

“Thank you, John.” I smiled in gratitude. “Take the bottle with you, it's from a healthy 20-year-old on my estate.”

“It's delicious.”

***

Once we were alone, my mind wandered once more to the past.

I woke to gnawing pain and a fierce itch in my belly. I ripped the bandages off and gaped, the jagged gaping hole was gone. I ran a hand across my belly, not even a scar remained under my calloused fingertips.

But the pain remained and I stumbled to my feet. I needed... something. I only noticed the door when I walked into it, my hands shaky as I opened it.

I screamed. It burnt. I was burning.

I felt myself grabbed and thrown unceremoniously across the room to land on the bed with a grunt.

“Damned fool.” My lover, my sire muttered. “Sunlight burns our kind.”

I winced as I looked at my hands, burnt and bleeding and I could swear I saw bone poking through. “But... but you?”

My sire smiled. “I am over 200 years old.”

I swallowed, I would miss the warmth of the sun. “So, I won't see the sun for 200 years?”

He pressed his lips against mine and I felt his blood – that sweet, hot nectar – flow into my mouth. My bloodied and burnt hand caressed his face and he pulled free of my lips to suck my damaged fingers one-by-one before licking over the rest of my hand. My eyes widened as my flesh began to heal before my eyes where my sire's lips had touched.

“That depends on how fast you learn. But, I will not lie, it will be years.”

I smiled as I stroked Ryan's sleeping face, I'd have to remember to tell Ryan that the sun was his enemy. I didn't want him to go through the pain I had suffered those first days of my turning, when I had forgotten I couldn't go out in the sun. I would also need to start his training as soon as I could, government-work willing. I was sure that he'd be a fast study, but, as my sire had told me, it would be long years before he could walk once more in the sun.

I could remember that day as if it was yesterday.

I was nervous as my sire beckoned to me to follow him into the street. I bulked at the doorway, even backing away from the beam of sunlight that seemed to seek my flesh out.

In the end, my sire had yanked me outside and I had to bite back a scream as I expected agony to hit me. When all I felt was the warmth of the sun's rays, I slowly opened my eyes and met those of my laughing sire.

The warmth filled me and I laughed too, it felt so bloody good to be in the sun once more. I had spent too many years in the darkness and the night.

On course, that had been long years ago. My sire had disappeared some time ago. I wondered if he had truly died in one of the many conflicts of that time. I had been involved in my fair share, all across Europe and even the Americas, even on the soil of my homeland, England. I had lost contact with my sire when I had remained in England rather than travel with him to yet another conflict zone, my taste for warfare diminished by the horrors I had witnessed.

So, instead of hunting the battlefield and drinking my fill from the dead and dying, I began to haunt the corridors of power in London and became a man of influence and became part of the society of my kind instead of a wanderer. I proved an asset to my kind, by proving my expertise with handling difficult cases. I was given the mandate of investigating those involving the occult. It was so easy to re-direct investigations to disprove the existence of the supernatural.

I sighed softly as I slid my fingers through Ryan's hair, what path would he choose for his new life? Returning to the battlefield would be impossible, and not only because he might be recognised, he could not do so until he could stand the light of the sun. Like myself, he'd have to exist in the darkness and the night, although that still left plenty of professions open to him.

I just hoped that he would still want to remain at my side, as my lover, at least for a few decades, hopefully for longer. I knew too well that love died in the end, as my own love for my sire had faded.

But that was a worry for another day. For now, I would be happy to lie in my bed, my arms wrapped around my lover. The future was not now, and worrying about it was useless. Instead I needed to worry about how Ryan would adapt to his existence as a vampire. He was a soldier, not unfamiliar with the blood and gore of fighting, I was sure he'd be fine when it came to feeding. Until he was, I had a plentiful supply of blood in my special cellar.