Safe From All Harm (section three)

[maderr]

By the time he reached the bar, his hands had mostly stopped shaking. Whether it was from anger or unhappiness or sheer frustration he didn't know – all he knew was that he was a dumbass.

Ordering a beer, he slumped over the bar and miserably contemplated all the things that were fucked in his life. He was running from people who wanted him dead. He was alive only because he'd forced someone to play bodyguard. He was lusting after said bodyguard and the bodyguard's dragon.

He'd stupidly thought, for one minute, that Alec was actually going to kiss him. As if. He was Thomas' twin, had forced Alec into this, and Alec and Blade had each other anyway. Why in the hell would he think Alec had actually been about to kiss him?

God, like he hadn't been having enough trouble trying to imagine what it would be like to be on the receiving end of the kisses he'd seen Alec give Blade countless times. Hell, he'd settle for more of Blade clinging to him, nuzzling and petting.

Fuck, who was he kidding? He'd take whatever he could get.

Except Alec had just made it crystal clear he wasn't interested in giving Edison anything. It hurt, because the time they'd spent playing – man, when was the last time he'd been silly just for the sake of being silly? – had made it feel like he belonged.

Stupid him for seeing what wasn't there. He hadn't even known them a week. What the hell was he thinking?

He gulped half the beer down in one go, noting in the back of his mind that it was stupid to drink on an empty stomach. Well, to hell with it.

Well, at least the problem was easy to solve. Alec had brought him here to dump him on Brennus, so all he had to do was say thanks for everything, have a safe trip back home. Easy as that. Edison finished his beer and ordered another.

He'd just begun to put a healthy dent in it when he was yanked out of his seat and dragged from the bar. Struggling to get free, he went abruptly still when Alec snarled at him to knock it the fuck off.

"What in the hell are you thinking?" Alec snapped, once they'd reached an empty stretch of hallway. "Are you fucking stupid?"

Edison glared right back. "Fuck you. I was thinking I wanted a drink. What the hell is wrong with that?"

Alec made a sound that was remarkably similar to Blade's growls, and suddenly Edison was being shaken hard enough he swore his teeth were rattling. "Knock. It. Off." He glared as Alec finally stopped. "Why the fuck do you do that?"

"Because I can't beat you," Alec snapped. "You don't go anywhere without me, dumbass. Christ, you really are your own worst enemy. How the hell did you live this long?"

Edison shook with anger. So what if he was just a little bit oblivious at times? That didn't mean he was stupid, and it sure as hell didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself. He had lived this long, after all, and so what if the demon probably would have killed him? The demon would have killed most people.

He almost wished it had killed him.

"Go to hell," he snapped, shoving Alec back – but he didn't even manage a step before Alec snatched him close again, holding tight enough Edison just knew he'd have finger-shaped bruises on his arms tomorrow. "Let me go."

"No," Alec said. "You're coming back to the room."

"When I fucking feel like it," Edison said. "I'm perfectly fucking safe here." He thrashed, shoving and kicking, but Alec only pinned him to the wall again. He glared, so mad he was shaking with it. "There's no need for you to keep protecting me, so just go the fuck away."

Alec's face turned red with anger, his eyes like blue fire. "You're the one who came to me for help. I vowed to protect you. Have I failed so far? I didn't—you know what? Never mind. If you'd rather have the demon lord do it, then fine." He roughly let Edison go. "I've got better things to do than stay where I'm not wanted. Good riddance."

With that he turned away, leaving Edison slumped against the wall, alone in an empty hallway. Edison reached up to touch his aching arms, wincing at the bruises he could already feel forming.

Good riddance.

He laughed bitterly. That said it all, really.

What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't go back to the room. Either Alec and Blade would be there, or it would be completely empty. He wasn't sure which was worse.

Fuck he was tired of it all.

The idea of sitting around for another three weeks made him suddenly sick to his stomach. He should just get it over with, once and for all. If the book really was the source of all the trouble, then getting the book to Sable as soon as possible would bring everything to an end that much faster.

So, the book it would be.

Magic would be the easiest way to get there, which meant he needed chalk and a large enough surface to draw out the necessary spell circle. Why couldn't this shit have happened after he'd eaten something?

Good riddance.

Choking back the pain that tried to surface as Alec's words throbbed like a raw wound in his head, Edison double checked he had the chalk he always carried, then went to find a usable surface.

Half an hour of wandering resulted in an open, empty meeting room. The large table was good…but the balcony was better. The open air was always good to have when casting a transportation spell, and the floor easier to draw on than a raised table.

It took another half hour to draw the spell circle and double check his work, but at last Edison was confident he had it. Stuffing the chalk back in his pocket, he stepped into the middle of the circle and knelt. The words came easily, flowed smoothly, and he brought his hands together in a sharp clap as he spoke the final word, closing his eyes at the same time.

When he opened them again, the air was thick and muggy, a yellow moon hanging fat and full in the sky. All around him was the buzzing of insects, a few scattered birds. A little ways off he could see the shadowy image of the family home.

He hadn't been exaggerating when he said it looked like something out of a civil war movie. Or maybe a movie about civil war ghosts.

Doing such a difficult transfer made him feel a bit dizzy, but it was nothing that wouldn’t fade so long as he took it easy. That would be another good thing about finally bringing all of this to an end – he could go back to his simple magics, and leave off all this fancy stuff that made him long to spend a week in bed.

Brushing off his jeans, Edison made his way toward the house. He frowned as he realized suddenly that not once had he felt the telltale thrum of magic as he passed through the barriers he'd erected. Had someone dismantled his spells? Why?

If they had, it confirmed that someone was looking for the book – and had thought to check here. Shit. He hoped they hadn't already taken it. Pushing open the front door, which was not only unlocked but ajar, Edison made his way inside.

Everything seemed quiet. Probably they'd taken the book and left already.

Stubbornly ignoring the voice of reason that said he should be leaving as well, he made his way up the wide, spiral staircase, bypassing the second floor and making his way steadily to the third.

The old servants' quarters, most of which were filled with junk his parents simply hadn't been able to part with – normal antiques, rather than abnormal, but his parents had been fond of old stuff whether it was magical or not.

If he recalled correctly, the book was stowed away in the farthest room, hidden away amongst junk.

At least the house seemed empty – he only hoped it was empty because thieves had failed to find the book.

Several minutes later, he gripped the book tight and let out a soft sigh of relief. Now to get the hell out of here. The ballroom would probably be the best place to cast the return spell.

Moving quickly, he made his way back downstairs and through the enormous house to the ballroom. He'd just knelt and begun to draw, book tucked into his jeans, when he heard the door creak open.

"Well, well, look at what we have here," said a voice Edison didn't recognize – though he recognized the tone well enough. "The sorcerer has our book."

Two men came toward him, guns cocked.

"Stand up," said the speaker. "Throw the book this way."

"Why?" Edison asked bitterly. "You'll shoot me anyway."

"Maybe, maybe not," said the second. "We were under orders to get the book first. Killing you is secondary. Give us the fucking—"

His words were drowned out by a sound that was like nothing Edison had ever heard. An animal roar, it seemed to shake the house.

"What the fuck was that?" The first man lowered his gun as he looked wildly around for the source of the sound.

Edison used their distraction to quickly draw more of his spell circle, trying not to let his own fear consume him as the unearthly sound came again.

His head jerked up at the sound of something breaking – the front door, but even as he realized that the ballroom doors flew completely open, and he saw the source of the terrible sound.

Yellow moonlight, filtering in thin shreds through the dusty ballroom windows, shone here and there on Blade's scales. Light flashed as the men fired, but the bullets only ricocheted off. Swearing loudly, the men turned to run – though Edison wasn't certain to where they were running, there was only one way in and out of the ballroom.

They didn't get far, and Blade's tail made quick work of them, the sound of the hard scales against flesh awful.

He didn't move as Blade padded toward him, heart beating a furious rhythm in his chest. With a deep growl Blade pushed him down, that fearsome face pushing against his own, against his throat, his chest, the dragon sniffing and rubbing and Edison realized Blade was making sure he was okay.

It was more than a little unnerving to be pawed at by something as fearsome looking as Blade, but Edison found he was more confused than anything. He pushed gently at Blade. "I'm okay. What in the hell are you—"

"I'm going to kill you myself," Alec said, appearing as suddenly as Blade had, stalking toward them looking as though he very much meant what he'd said. "What in the fuck were you thinking?" He bent and yanked Edison to his feet. "I'm going to thrash you within an inch of your life."

Edison bristled. "I didn't fucking tell you to come here – I'm pretty sure you quit. That's what good riddance usually means, last I checked."

"Quit? I didn't quit. You're the one who told me to go the hell away, that a fucking demon lord could do a better job—"

"You're the one who tried to dump me off on the demon lord!"

"I did no such—"

"Go to hell—"

They were both drowned out by one of Blade's deafening growls.

"Knock it off, dragon," Alec snapped.

Blade's eyes flashed, and he growled again, much lower this time – then turned sharply, tail catching the moonlight, and swept their feet out from under them.

Edison swore loudly, fumbling to find his feet, realizing suddenly that he'd landed on top of Alec this time. He froze as he caught Alec's eyes in the barely there light.

Tearing away with an effort, he glared at Blade for a moment, then directed it at Alec. "Why does your damn dragon keep—" He was cut off as Alec's mouth covered his, the gesture abrupt and awkward enough that teeth nicked his lip, and he could feel and taste the blood, but really didn't care because Alec was kissing him.

A hand sank into his hair, another arm sliding around his waist, and Edison moaned despite himself because fuck, Alec knew how to kiss. He didn't know what was going on, or if he'd knocked his head somewhere and was making this up, but damned if he wouldn't take what he could get. Channeling all of his anger from a moment ago into the kiss, he gave back for all he was worth, jerking away only long enough to get his damned glasses out of the way.

Distantly he heard an approving growl, and it was enough of a dose of reality that he jerked away from the kiss. Fumbling for his discarded glasses, he shoved them back on even as he scrambled to get off Alec and relocate his brain.

Except he'd only managed to get on his knees when he was bowled over by a dragon and treated to a second kiss that was just as devastating as the first.

When he was finally permitted to breathe, he was more confused than ever. "What the hell?"

"Magic not Katherine?" Blade said, cutting off whatever Alec had been about to say.

"Huh?" Edison managed.

Blade frowned at him. "Magic not Katherine, right?"

Was he crazy, or was there a bit of plaintive note to that question that still made absolutely no sense.

"He's not Katherine, Blade," Alec said with a sigh. "Look, we're not doing this here." He helped them both to their feet. "We really need to at least find somewhere to sit and talk."

Edison attempted to make his brain function. "My bedroom here should be good. What about those guys?"

"They won't be waking up," Alec said coldly.

Shivering, Edison turned and led the way out of the ballroom and up the stairs to his bedroom at the far south end of the second floor.

It was a bit dusty, but overall good to go. The bedroom was huge, half of it a sitting area, the rest of it devoted to a wide window seat and a massive bed. He was sorely tempted to collapse on it and ignore the world for an indefinite period of time, but instead he simply threw the damned book on it then stalked to plant himself on the window seat. "Why in the hell did you kiss me?" he asked.

"Because I was tired of Blade knocking us over," Alec said, then sighed softly. "And also because I've been trying not to kiss you for the past few days."

Edison stared, truly surprised. "Oh," he said weakly. He scrambled for something else to say, not certain how to deal with the revelation, not after good riddance. "Who the hell is Katherine?"

"My ex-wife," Alec replied, face going tight.

"Oh," Edison repeated, feeling stupid but unable to come up with anything better. Of all the things he'd expected to hear, that wasn't one of them. "I didn't know you were married."

"Five years," Alec said, sounding weary, "and then I came home early one day and found her fucking my brother."

Edison winced – and then felt a painful ache in his chest as something else fell into place. "You killed your brother."

Alec nodded.

"I’m sorry," Edison said softly, standing and moving without thought, reaching Alec the same time as Blade.

He immediately stopped, letting his hand fall, reminded abruptly it wasn't his place or right to comfort – that was Blade's role.

Which reminded him they'd both kissed him, and Alec saying he'd wanted to do it for awhile really didn't clear anything up. "Wait—I don't get it. You have Blade, but you were married?"

Alec frowned. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

Edison just looked at him. "What do you mean, why wouldn't you? So, what, threesomes are common in clans?"

"Hell, my wife had a dragon too, every once in a great while it was a foursome," Alec said, smirking now.

"You make no sense," Edison said, rubbing his forehead. "Never mind that for now. What are you even doing here? I was pretty sure you told me good riddance." Thinking about it still hurt.

Alec reached out and yanked him forward, and Edison made a note to talk about this whole yanking him around thing because—well, if yanking got him kisses, he could probably deal with it. Stubbornly ignoring the part of him screaming this was a bad idea, he wrapped his arms around Alec's neck and returned the kiss until a need to breathe finally forced a halt.

"I'm sorry," Alec said as they broke apart. "I didn't mean good riddance. I was pissed off you were trying to get rid of me."

Edison frowned. "You were the one who said Brennus should be the one keeping me alive – you were trying to get rid of me."

"No," Alec said with careful patience, "I said he could help ensure it. Staying in one secure location for the entire month makes a lot more sense than hopping around cheap motels. I had no intention of breaking my vow."

"Well, you could have been a bit more clear," Edison said after a moment. "It made a hell of a lot more sense that you'd want to be rid of me, what with the demons and being related to Thomas and –fuck!" He jerked at the sharp bite to the back of his neck, the hands that landed on his hips, Blade's rumbling growls thrumming through him, making it very, very difficult to think.

Blade licked the place he'd just nipped. "Talk too much. Magic good. Not Katherine. Alec not dumb?"

"Dragon," Alec snapped in warning.

"Alec not stubborn," Blade corrected, and Edison could not help but laugh at the tone of his voice, which said Blade very much believed dumb to be the correct word. He leaned past Edison's shoulder to kiss Alec.

Edison figured it he was going to be squished between them – oh god, he really liked that thought apparently – then he was allowed to watch. A moment later he was participating though, kissing first one and then the other, everything punctuated by Blade's rumbles and growls.

"Are we really doing this?" he managed to ask between kissing and touching.

Alec smiled. "If we don't, Blade's going to resume forcing the issue, and I don't know about you but I'm getting damned tired of being knocked to the floor."

"True," Edison said, laughing weakly, breaking off when the back of his legs hit the bed. He shivered as Blade's hands slipped beneath his shirt from behind, his own hands on Alec's chest. "So you're just protecting me from further harm, is that it?"

"Certainly one way to keep you safe," Alec agreed, and bent to kiss him, hard and deep and sure, tasting like beer and Blade. When the kiss finally ended, they were both panting for breath. "Unless Blade knocks you out of bed – he's done that to me before. Hurts like a son of a bitch."

Edison laughed. "He does seem to like knocking you over."

Blade growled, and moved to shut them both up.

*~*~*

Alec looked at the papers Edison had handed him, sitting in silence for several long moments. Finally he looked up. "You don't have to do this. It's more than enough you let him run amuck around here, Edison."

"Yes, I do," Edison said, smiling. They both turned to look as tons of birds abruptly took flight deep in the surrounding woods. He laughed and shook his head, pointing to the sign of chaos with a thumb. "If only because if someone has to explain to the cops that no, there is not a wild beast wreaking havoc somewhere on the property, I'd much rather it be you."

"I'm going to lock the wild beast in the cellar in about two minutes," Alec muttered, fighting a smile.

Edison shook his head. "Don't do that – he'll destroy the wine in his struggles to get out."

Alec winced. "Good point. No cellar, then. I suppose I'll have to think of something else." Like he'd do anything to stop Blade at this point. After too many months with nothing but a tiny apartment to lord it over, Blade was in heaven.

Though if he startled another gator, Alec wasn't going to feel sorry for him one little bit.

"At least he'll get rid of the gators," Edison said, echoing his thoughts. "Though I half think he'll keep them around as toys."

Laughing, Alec set the papers aside, putting his empty coffee cup on top of them so the wind wouldn't blow them away. Then he reached out and gently tugged, pulling Edison into his lap.

Edison blinked at him in that confused way he had, like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Alec kissed him, long and slow, savoring it. "So what do you want for your birthday?" he asked when they finally broke apart.

"Huh?" Edison asked.

"Your birthday," Alec repeated, smirking.

Edison rolled his eyes. "I'd settle for no longer being under threat of death. Not that I have any complaints about the very thorough protection you've offered, but it would be nice not to have death threats hanging over our head."

"Things have been quiet since we handed over the book," Alec said. "I'm sure at this point we're being overcautious, but I also think trouble tends to follow you."

"Oh, yeah, this from a man whose scaly cat picks on gators for fun," Edison retorted.

Alec turned to look at the latest evidence of ruckus. "I guess you have a point."

Blade really was happier than he'd been in a long time. If Alec were honest, so was he. The awful cold fear he'd felt when he'd realized his words had driven Edison to go off on his own… That wasn't something he'd forget for a long time.

He was drawn from his thoughts by fingers gently pinching his nose.

"You look so serious," Edison teased gently. "Trying to remember a recipe for gator gumbo?"

Alec grimaced. "Perish the thought. No, I was wondering…"

"What?"

"I wonder what we'll be good for once you no longer need a bodyguard," Alec replied.

Edison blinked. "What will I be good for once I no longer need protecting?"

Alec shook his head. "Babe, that's hardly the same thing. You're the one with the land and the money and the magic." He cupped Edison's chin and pulled him close for a soft kiss. "I'm just a tarnished knight with a crazy dragon."

"I was going to sell this house anyway," Edison replied. "I was going to go back to wandering aimlessly improving my magic and not much else. Having a reason to stay in one place is worth a hell of a lot. If you get that bored, you can take up gator baiting. Or help me with my magic." He snickered. "I could always use a guinea pig."

"I'll take the gators," Alec said. He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe you should explain what exactly it is you do, magic wise. I really would appreciate some warning if you're going to be blowing things up."

Edison shifted guilty in his lap – and in a horribly distracting way. Alec forced his attention back to the conversation. "I only blew something up once, and that was just because I accidentally switched two runes."

Alec shook his head. "I guess my first impression of you was right."

"And what was that?" Edison asked, rolling his eyes. "Who is this crazy person?"

"Well, besides that," Alec said, grinning. He looked out over the property, grin fading to a faint smile. "After you passed out. You made me want to protect you." He shrugged, still not quite able to look at Edison. "After Katherine, I thought I'd hung up my armor for good."

He went easily when Edison turned his head, holding tight and kissing Edison back for all he was worth. Edison was smiling when they broke apart, eyes the brightest Alec had seen them yet. "You may have to give up knight for game warden, but it's all good to me."

Laughing, Alec went back to kissing, this time adding touching, as the evening sun slowly set and they listened to Blade terrify the wildlife in his territory.

Comments

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love this addition to my favorite of your 'verses! Just a question though. The dragons seem to be pretty quick on the uptake so wouldn't Blade have sensed that something was going on with Katherine and the brother? and what about Katherine's dragon? I wouldn't think they would be too keen on adultery? See, you make me wonder about the inner workings of fictional characters' minds while I'm at work!
Thanks for that!