Chapter 1 – Temptations Too Great

He looked beautiful in the early morning light. He stood out amongst the crowd of people, a gem in the usual milieu of the boring and mundane. And yet he appeared no different from anyone else, sitting there was he was, enjoying a simple coffee at a café like so many others in the city. it was only by pure chance that this beauty was found at this among a hundred other places that were no more unique.

The ebony hair that framed his face flowed down from a widow’s peak. It slid across his shoulders as if in slow motion before finally cascading free and swinging to catch the light.

Every now and again, the beautiful creature would glance around at the bustle of customers and servers that moved around him. Sometimes a sound from the busy street would cause his head to lift. In those moments, one could catch glimpses of the metallic color of his eye. But it was only the one eye, the other was a deep midnight blue that seemed to absorb light, rather than reflect it. The difference was striking.

In an elegant reach, the long black sleeve fell away from a slender wrist. His pale skin appeared to almost glow, though it seemed far more suited to moonlight than sunlight. The rest of his clothes were similarly black, and combined with his hair, served to hide just how pale he was.

And yet, he was at these cafes, sitting in the sunlight, every morning. He was never at the same café from day to day, but varied the places where he procured his morning caffeine. This one, however, seemed to be his favorite. It was more likely to find him here than at any other.

And so, he had been found.

~*~*~*~

The footfalls behind him were less than obvious, but he still managed to pick up on them. His red eyes slid slightly to the side, tracking exactly where the figure was behind him. He most certainly did not turn his head, however, that would give away that he was aware he was being hunted.

He turned himself off the street. The evening most certainly did not thin out the crowd upon the main streets of this city. Like most major cities, this was certainly one which was alive at any time of the night.

For one being hunted, it seemed contrary to logic to turn down a quieter street with less people, less witnesses in case something violent should happen. However, he was willing to take the risk, and took another turn to find a completely empty lane.

It took only another moment before he felt the heat of the approaching grab to the upper arm. He could have reacted then, moved out of reach, but instead he allowed himself to be captured. A split second later his back was slammed against the far wall, the brick grating at his skin through the delicate silk of his shirt.

Odd colored eyes glared at him from no more than inches away. Hot breath pushed against his face, contrasted sharply by the cool evening breeze having chilled his skin.

“Spider!” he hissed.

“Leliel,” Spider replied calmly, glancing to either side at the hands grabbing onto his shirt, “Do you mind? This was quite expensive.”

“Fuck your expensive fucking shirt!” Leliel snarled, pressing his entire body against Spider’s to pin him tighter against the wall.

Spider shoved down the moan that had gathered in his throat, attempting to grab control of his lust. But this was a beautiful creature, vibrant in his anger, and so very tempting. However, he was also forbidden. That just made him even more tempting.

“You’ve been watching me, fucking stalking me,” Leliel accused. “You were there this morning at the café, watching me from across the street!”

“Yes, I was,” Spider replied honestly. There was no point in denying the truth. “Aren’t you here hunting me?”

“Don’t fucking patronize me.”

The moan that Spider had suppressed finally broke free as Leliel asserted himself harder against him. Their hips ground together, the combined heat building between them.

“I’m starting to think you aren’t really trying to kill me,” Spider let his head roll back, but he refused to allow his eyes to close. This creature was far too beautiful to take his eyes off of him.

“Maybe I’m trying to kill you with sex.”

And that was the only warning Spider received. Leliel’s mouth pressed hotly against his, tongue shoved brutally into his mouth. For that brutality, the sweeping motion that followed was a slow and somewhat gentle exploration.

Spider brought his hands up to Leliel’s hips, gripping at the bony points that protruded beneath the leather. His thumbs brushed over the rippled metal of a studded belt. He wasted no time, tracking the length of the belt to find the clasp.

“You’re rushing,” Leliel chastised, letting his forehead rest against Spider’s as he panted for breath.

“You’re the one that pinned me up against a wall,” Spider quirked a grin at the taller male, just enough so the tip of his eye tooth emerged from between his lips.

“Ehnn,” Leliel half groaned and half growled, all of which was entirely lustful. “We shouldn’t do this here though… but fuck it.”

“No, fuck me,” Spider corrected, finally getting that troublesome belt undone.

The leather of Leliel’s pants parted to reveal more of that moonlight appropriate skin. His slightly rippled abdomen poured itself into too feminine to be male hips. For as many times as Spider had seen this, he was still impressed.

“So you want this quick?” Leliel’s breaths were quickened already.

“Obviously, or we’re going to get caught. Or do you want to get caught?” Spider arched his hips as he felt Leliel’s hands slide down his back, anticipating where they were headed.

“Well, I am trying to catch you.”

“I think I’m well caught by now. So shut up.”

“Ehn, shutting up,” Leliel smirked, closing the distance between them.

“That’s what I thought,” Spider started to reply, but it was cut off as Leliel’s mouth crushed against his, tongue shoved into his mouth harder this time.

Spider found his hands being removed from Leliel’s pants, wrists pressed up and back against the rough texture of brick behind him. Leliel pinned him there with one hand even as he was busy with the consuming kiss. His other hand slid up under Spider’s shirt, groping at the subtly rippling flesh of Spider’s abdomen.

“Ehn!” Spider protested, lifting his hips in a desperate attempt to get Leliel to touch lower.

Leliel grunted a somewhat amused noise, granting Spider’s unspoken request. His nimble fingers slid along Spider’s skin, diving beneath the waistband of Spider’s pants without undoing the clasp first. Spider found himself sucking in a breath and holding it, desperate for more. His hardening arousal was already so tightly confined in that fabric, the simple touch of Leliel’s hand sent shockwaves of pleasure racing up his spine.

“Oh God!” Spider called out before silencing himself, drawing in another breath that remained captive in his lungs.

“You’ve been there,” Leliel danced his fingers down over the hardened flesh with a teasing lack of pressure, “every single day, watching me, stringing me along.”

“You…” Spider groaned, needing to take several breaths to soothe the burning of his lungs at this point, “you were teasing me just as much these last few weeks… watching me… as I watched you. Tell me, who is hunting who?”

Leliel grunted, tossing his head up. The ebony cascade of his hair flew out behind him, spreading wide like delicately falling wings. His hand quickly undid Spider’s pants and jerked them down. A combination of Spider arching himself quickly back towards the heat and Leliel’s own quick grabbing brought them tightly back together.

Spider again uttered a noise of protest, angling his hips away from Leliel’s seeking fingers, “Don’t you fucking bother, hurry up!” he demanded.

The taller male grunted yet another amused noise. This was the usual pattern of their dances, as they had been many times before. Leliel slid his arm around behind Spider’s lower back, the hand holding his wrists against the wall pressing harder, hard enough to grate and break the skin.

Spider trusted his partner to support him, wrapping his legs around Leliel’s hips and positioning them together at just the right angle.

And then Leliel pushed forward, driving himself into the smaller male. The movement was slower, much slower, than Spider would have liked, but at least the growing pressure sliding up into him was something of a relief for that intense needing. This time when his head fell back, he allowed his eyes to close, as the bliss of Leliel coming into him fully washed over him.

His body felt as if on fire, spreading outward from that penetration. The pain was intense on its own, and not something he often indulged in, but this situation simply demanded it. Leliel often demanded it.

Spider released a groan as Leliel withdrew, the emptiness feeling almost consuming. There was peace of mind in knowing that Leliel seemed just as needy as he felt, and he was quickly pushing back into Spider’s tight passage. The motion repeated over and over again, each one faster and harder than the last.

Finally, Leliel released the wrists he had been holding captive, needing that hand to hold Spider into place his thrusts were becoming so forceful. Spider brought his hands down to grip at Leliel’s shoulders, using the extra leverage to drive himself down harder upon the invasion.

“Oh God! Oh God yes!” Spider hissed forcefully, arching his back hard as the spasms began traveling up his spine.

“You have no idea,” Leliel grunted, lowering his mouth to Spider’s shoulder and sucking hard there at the pulse point.

Leliel struck at just the right angle deep inside him, the pleasure hitting a fierce high and breaking into hundreds of shudders that coursed all through him. He could feel the other male shivering hard against him only a moment later, but at that point he couldn’t care less. The intense shivers gave way to that deep contentment, that calm that eased through his entire body and forced his muscles to relax completely.

Leliel pulled himself up to his full height, an impressive difference in comparison to Spider’s stature, and peered down at him. He almost appeared to be studying the smaller male, tilting his head so that his silver eye was closer and more focused.

“Who’s hunting who doesn’t matter,” Leliel finally answered Spider’s previous question, “It’s who gets caught.”

~*~*~*~

“You have the smell of him on you again,” the red-headed male grunted from where he was lounging on the couch.

“I don’t want to hear about it,” Spider slammed the door shut behind him and deposited his keys near the door.

His short legs strode quickly across the expansive apartment, passing by the other occupants to the bedroom. With a complete lack of modesty, Spider unbuttoned his silk shirt and draped it over the footboard of the bed. Even after having heard the other male follow him to lean in the doorway, Spider stripped off his pants and stepped out of them.

“You have the smell of his sex on you,” the red-head corrected his previous observation.

“And I said, I do not want to hear about it,” Spider glared daggers over his shoulder. “I will do as I please with him.”

“You keep doing as you please and you’re going to get more than a petite mort,” he attempted a very bad French accent that made Spider’s skin veritably crawl.

“Do not do that again. It is pronounced petite mort,” Spider corrected in a perfect French accent. After all, he had lived in Paris for a great many years and could speak the language fluently.

The much larger male prowled across the bedroom, forcefully turning Spider by the shoulders, gripping hard enough at them that Spider winced from the pain.

“Fire!” Spider scolded, glaring up at him.

“I’m fucking serious.”

“And I am serious about fucking him,” Spider tossed his head arrogantly, despite the fierce hold and Fire’s angry stare.

“Just proves that you’ll fuck anything, huh?” Fire snorted, giving Spider a small shove backwards as he let him go.

“I suppose it does,” Spider ran his hand back through his hair, hitting upon the hair tie and pulling it loose as he turned toward the bathroom with every intent to take a long hot bath before crawling into bed. Indeed, Leliel’s scent was still on him, as well as that content feeling that made him just want to crawl in between soft covers and sleep for a day.

“Surprised you didn’t tell me I have no room to talk, cos I’ve fucked him too, and yeah sure, he was a good lay,” Fire shrugged, folding his muscled arms across his broad chest, leaning against the post of the bed this time. “I just don’t see why you keep fucking him.”

“That is my own business,” Spider sniped back, padding into the bathroom.

Fire was not so easily deterred though. He substituted his post for yet another doorway, the bathroom’s this time. He watched as Spider drew the bath, eyes tracking every movement.

“Why can’t you just leave me to enjoy a bath?” Spider sighed as he slipped into the steaming water. The heat melted away even the stress of Fire continuing to badger him. He could lay there blissfully content and able to tolerate anything.

“You’re gonna get yourself killed, you know, keep fucking around with that guy, that… Leroy,” Fire grunted.

“Leliel,” Spider corrected, laying his head back and closing his eyes. His hair slid into the water and spread out around him.

“What the fuck ever,” Fire growled. “Point is, it’s his job to hunt down and kill us, I think we should be doing the same thing to him. Or are you seriously fucking delusional and think that fucking him will end up killing him?”

“Heh, I doubt that.”

“Well then what is up with this? You like… stalk coffee shops in the morning to find him, wander around the city trailing him during the day-“

“Only some days, I’ll take tomorrow off,” Spider waved a hand dismissively.

“Oh well, that makes it all better. You’ll take a day off from trying to chase down and fuck the guy who’s trying to chase you down and kill you.”

“Why can you not just be satisfied that, thus far, he’s only chased me down to fuck me?” Spider couldn’t help but smirk slightly.

“What if the next time is the time of the killing!?” Fire shouted, loudly enough that his voice bounced off the tile of the floor and walls, buffered only by the various tapestries and lush rugs. “You play this cat and mouse game long enough, eventually the mouse dies!”

“Can you please stop shouting?”

Spider slid his eyes open slowly, a slight irritation creeping into his sedation at the fact the light was far too bright for how relaxed he was.

“And can you please turn the light off?”

“Yeah sure,” Fire obeyed without much thinking about it, reaching over and flicking the light off. Spider was pleased that he also went a step further and lit a few candles scattered around the bathroom. “We need a plan for killing this guy.”

Spider sighed, thinking of how best to explain this. Preferably in simple terms, short sentences, with words of very few syllables. “If we kill him, we will have the wrath of all of his companions upon us. Also, it makes it even more unlikely that we’ll accomplish our mission. Is that clear?”

Fire ducked his head slightly, skulking back to the door, “Yeah… yeah sure. I guess big brother knows best, huh?” he muttered, making himself scarce and letting Spider alone to enjoy his bath.

“That’s right,” Spider closed his eyes again and slid down into the bath water.

~*~*~*~

“Fire informs me that you had sexual relations with Leliel?”

Spider paused just outside of the door, rolling his eyes, “Are you going to lecture me too? Because if you are, I’m going to back up three steps, shut the door, and wait twenty minutes before trying to come in again. Hopefully that’s enough time?”

“Hmm, do you actually delude yourself into thinking you are amusing?”

“Do you delude yourself into thinking you’re attractive?” Spider smirked, skirting around piles of books to drop himself into the chair opposite of his mentor. “Seriously, Draco, I’ve had enough lectures from my brothers.”

The corner of Draco’s mouth quirked up just slightly, but he dropped his attention back down to the book sprawled across his lap to hide the amusement. “I doubt very much that Serpent lectured you.”

“Oh no, I believe he was concerned about the incident two weeks ago.”

It was the tiniest snort, but Spider gained some measure of satisfaction at having amused his mentor.

“Yes well, I am far more concerned about your education than his.”

“And that’s Draco speak for beyond hope,” Spider wriggled slightly to find a comfortable spot in the chair that was twice his size.

“Indeed. So are you going to explain exactly what you were doing with this fellow, or are you going to insist I trust Fire’s word concerning the issue?” Draco slowly turned a worn page of his book.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was my business who I had… sexual relations with,” Spider mocked Draco’s formal tone.

“It is of concern to me when you have sexual relations who wish you bodily harm.”

“It wasn’t exactly bodily harm he was doing upon me,” Spider retorted.

“That method of retort is not precisely within the rules of debate,” Draco glanced up from his book, which in itself was a compliment, raising an eyebrow at his student.

“Well you wanted to hear about my sexual relations,” Spider purred smugly.

“I want to hear precisely what reasoning there is behind having sexual relations with someone who wishes you, your brothers, and myself dead.”

“Is someone worried?”

Draco lowered the one eyebrow and raised the other. With a soft snort, he turned his attention back to his book. Damn, he wasn’t at all impressed with that one.

“Is someone scared?” Spider persisted anyway. He honestly wanted to know why everyone else was so worried about this issue.

Draco snorted, louder this time, “Of course I am. If you upset this fellow or one of his compatriots, then we could find ourselves in a battle we would not be able to win.”

“And you honestly believe that? If it came down to it, if we were to fight them, that we wouldn’t win?” Spider crossed his legs elegantly, sitting up prim and proper. A shot of superiority had flowed through him and he just couldn’t resist it. That was a huge weakness of his, as Draco had often pointed out. So no doubt this would become a lesson of that nature.

“You speak as if you wish to fight them, and I find that very contrary to our goals.”

“And here I thought I was being accused of fucking around with them when we should be fighting them. Oh right, that was Fire’s thinking. No of course I don’t want to fight them, but if it were necessary, do you believe we would win?”

Draco inhaled deeply, as he did when he was attempting to put his often rambling thoughts into something that would not bore his poor student into leaving. And for this task he even pushed his book closed and slid it onto the massive antique desk that separated them.

He lounged back into his chair, its size far more suited to him than to Spider’s small frame. Draco formed his long fingers into a steeple in front of his mouth, tapping his lower lip as he continued to think on how to word himself.

One of the lessons Draco had taught Spider successfully was patience. Spider took the time to note Draco’s general state of dress and grooming. His clothes were several days unwashed, his hair falling in disarray around his lithe body, spilling into the spare corners of the oversized chair. It was obvious that he had lost himself in reading for several days and forgotten the very basics of hygiene for the sake of his intellectual pursuits.

“I believe that you, with your talents, combined with the lessons I have taught you over the centuries would make a formidable opponent for any one of them should you find yourself in that position. However, your brothers, though powerful, are not so disciplined. If you found yourself opposed by their entire group, your brothers would not make a unified enough counter force.”

“Mhm,” Spider turned that information over in his mind. For as much as he taunted Draco and loved to debate with him, his teacher was his teacher for a reason. “Well, you certainly have a point there.”

“Of course I do,” Draco’s green eyes watched Spider half-lidded, patiently waiting for a counter argument. No doubt he had a hundred other very good points just waiting in that brain of his.

“That has never been a strong point of my brothers, to actually cooperate with one another. Serpent just doesn’t seem to be all there half the time, and he is such a pacifist he most certainly would not agree to fighting anyone. Fire would love to fight right at this very moment, I’m sure Hellborn is already out somewhere attempting to kill one or more of them,” Spider sighed, curling his hand under his chin as he set his elbow on the arm of the chair.

“I should hope not. Have you not yet found a method which controls him?”

“Have you?” Spider retorted.

Draco nodded, conceding that point to his student. “Along that same line of thinking, have you heard from Topaz lately?”

“No I have not, and that also worries me. While Hellborn is impulsive enough, I doubt he would think anything through well enough to actually execute anything fatal. Topaz however, is of a dangerous level of intelligence and could easily sway him into some plans of hers. Hence, I’ve kept Fire well under watch. He seems to fall to Topaz’s temptations even more swiftly than Hellborn.”

“At least we have Serpent when it is necessary to control Fire,” Draco sighed with a measure of relief in his voice.

“Indeed. And what of Garnet?”

Draco cleared his throat, as if ashamed to admit what he was about to say, “She was last planning to go introduce herself to them, and likely take them cookies as well.”

Spider just had to laugh.

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