Ever Since You Kissed Me

Title: Ever Since You Kissed Me
Chapter: 3/3

WARNING: slash! (well duh! do i write ANYTHING else?) kind of dark. i beat on poor Nathaniel a lot, or so i've been told. oh, and... JC's a bit evil in this one... i don't know why. he just decided to be evil.

disclaimer: we all know its not mine... we all know how it would have turned out if it WAS mine... but OBVIOUSLY its not. so...yeah.

a timeline for you: (finally figured it out)

Of Reconciliation: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> just after Burnt Offerings
Of Parting: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> just before Blue Moon
Of Falling Apart: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Obsidian Butterfly to Narcissus in Chains

Okay... last part.

Now's your chance to review, and please do!

***

Damian crept through the Circus, trying to avoid all the other inhabitants. His heart fluttered in his chest, beating erratically. *beat beat stop beat beat beat stop*

He was afraid-he could feel a cold madness lurking in the back of his mind. Shuddering, he struggled to keep control. He supposed it was a lot like having a multiple personality: these disconcerting moments where he could not remember what had happened. He was afraid to discover what he did in these black moments; all he knew was that he came back to himself full and satisfied, but with no memory of feeding.

Damian entered his rooms, sighing with relief at making it undiscovered. He securely locked the door, and fell into his bed with bittersweet dreams of his love with shining golden hair and bright eyes. He hugged the pillow close to his chest, feeling tears on his cheeks.

Despairing that all he ever did was cry anymore, he dashed them away and buried his face in the dark warmth of his quilts, feeling like a child hiding from a nightmare.


***


Life was still tense at the Circus; everyone could feel the emotions that filled the air between Asher and Damian. //You can almost touch it, // Nathaniel mused. The young wereleopard wandered quietly through the halls, trailing his fingers along the brick wall like a child. Turning a corner, he nearly fell over backwards when he came upon Damian standing stock still in the middle of the hallway.

"Damian?" he ventured quietly. The ex-Viking had never been particularly forthcoming to him; in fact, Nathaniel was quite terrified of him. Nevertheless, he pursued. "Damian, are you alright?"

The other looked up at him with a startled expression. //Like a deer caught in the headlights, // Nathaniel thought. "Damian?" He asked again.

Seeming to look through the wereleopard, Damian answered. "No. I don't believe that anything will be alright ever again."

Nathaniel reached out and put a hand on the Viking's shoulder. "Can I help you to your rooms?"

Damian looked down, then up once more, to look Nathaniel in the eyes. Suddenly, his eyes changed, and Nathaniel tried to get away. Damian snarled once, and struck Nathaniel across the face, hard. He spun around and vanished down the corridor.


***


Jean-Claude called Asher into his office, and bade the other to sit. Asher glared and refused, asking only: "What do you want?"

Jean-Claude sighed. "I wish only to help you, mon ami. The tension between you and Damian is stifling. You have been snapping at everyone, and Damian is becoming increasingly violent. He hit Nathaniel the other day, did you know?"

"What?" Asher looked startled. "Damian? Hit...?"

Jean-Claude nodded, his black hair briefly obscuring his eyes. "What happened between you two, Asher? I thought you were happy."

Asher turned away and went to the window that overlooked the city. "We were." His whisper was barely loud enough for Jean-Claude to hear.

"What happened?" Jean-Claude came up behind the other, and wrapped his hands around the quivering torso, resting his cheek on his back.

Asher didn't answer, so Jean-Claude turned him around, looking across into the light eyes that's now held so much sorrow. Jean-Claude glanced at Asher's lips, still full and beautiful despite the scars.

Their eyes met, both remembering the others' lips. Jean-Claude closed the distance between them, and their mouths met hard. There was no hesitation, just an overwhelming deluge of memories that had them both gasping. Jean-Claude pushed closer to Asher, his hands sliding down to cup the vampire's rear and press them together.

Asher moaned into the kiss, and wrapped his legs around Jean-Claude's waist, his arms going around the dark-haired vampire's neck.

From behind the cloud of Jean-Claude's hair, Asher was vaguely aware of the open door, and it was with dawning horror that he saw Damian enter the room, watching the ground. He looked up, startled at Asher's gasp.

If it was possible for Damian to get paler, he did. His mouth fell open a bit and Asher watched paralyzed as confusion and betrayal warred on the Viking's face.

Asher struggled free of Jean-Claude's embrace and held a hand out to his lover. "Damian..."

The red-haired vampire shook his head slowly and fled the room; Asher ran after him, and they both missed the self-satisfied smile on Jean-Claude's face.


***


The scene replayed over and over in Damian's mind and he could not keep the red tears from falling. He turned a corner, and hit something solid and warm. Falling backwards. He landed flat on his back.

Coughing, he raised his head. Nathaniel. Rolling over, he crawled over to the boy, who had sat up and was holding his head. Damian put a hand on the wereleopard's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Nathaniel looked up in fear, "Please... don't hurt me."

"What?" Damian was bewildered. Nathaniel gave a small sob and shrank into himself.

Damian put his hand on Nathaniel's chin, making the other look up at him. "I am not going to hurt you... I could never do that."

Nathaniel shook. "You did... before. You hit me 2 days ago. You nearly broke my jaw, Damian."

Damian's eyes widened. "I...? I -- what?" He shook his head. "I don't remember... Oh God, Nathaniel, I swear I don't remember!"

Nathaniel finally realized that Damian's cheeks were tearstained. "What happened?" He asked shyly.

Damian looked about confusedly, registering that they were sitting on the floor in the middle of the hall. He heard Nathaniel's question and shook his head. "I don't know... I don't know what is happening..." He looked once more into the wereleopard's eyes, and then tried to smile. "I'm soror tor the pain I've caused you." He got to his feet and walked away, leaving a very confused wereleopard sitting on the floor.

Nathaniel leapt to his feet and raced for Jean-Claude's office. Something was very wrong with Damian.


***


Damian had been walking through the city streets for nearly 3 hours when he felt the first cold tendrils of madness enter his mind. He frantically tried to keep them at bay, but it was no use. He felt his consciousness disappear behind a fog of gray. He stumbled on the uneven ground, his eyesight gone. He felt pain abstractly as something large and heavy hit him and threw him forward.

Vaguely he smelled the man, and tried to warn him away, but it was too late. Damian was gone.


***


Through a vague haze of muted awareness, Damian felt himself swim up into consciousness. He caught the sense of Asher, and Jason. He also felt Jean-Claude somewhere nearby, and... Was that the Wolf King, Richard? And Willie McCoy? What were they doing?

Oh no... he caught scent of the blood. Blood all over himself. Nononononononono... not again... please not again...

Jean-Claude came up close to his face, and wrapped silver chains around his arms. Silver? Chains? Why were they doing this? Blood, once again. He could feel his body fighting them, fighting their holds. Realization slammed into him. He knew what he had done. Oh nonononononono...

//Stop!// he tried to order his body. //Stop or they'll put us in a coffin strapped with crosses! Nonononono... not again... I can't survive it again...//

He saw Asher come towards him, a blur against the cotton of his awareness. He calmed. Asher would make it all right. Asher kissed his forehead, murmuring sweet things into his ear. Damian relaxed completely, and didn't even struggle as they injected something in his bloodstream that made him feel sleepy and lethargic. His fingers were going numb, but that was all right, Asher was still murmuring in his ear.

He lost track of everything but Asher's voice until they entered the Coffin Prison. He saw the 6 coffins, one already strapped closed. There was one ready, open and waiting. Suddenly he understood again. Werewolves flooded into the room. They grabbed him, pulled him away from Asher. Screaming incomprehensively, he was torn away from his lover. He heard Asher speak to him as he was pressed into the wooden box. "I'm so sorry, Damian."

Just before the lid closed, he saw Jean-Claude come up behind the blonde vampire and wrap long arms around the lithe torso. He felt rather than heard Jean-Claude's parting words to him.

"Sweet dreams, Damae."

~fin.

(or at least until Anita rescues him, but we all know that THAT will take a while...)

please type nice things for me in the little "review this story" link. or even type mean things, i don't care. gibberish can be good too! PLEASE REVIEW!!!