Sink My Teeth Into This Nightmare

"Excuse me," Ashley demanded in shock.
"No. We will not allow you to be mated."
Ashley was bristling. "Why the fuck not?"
"You are not prepared to be bonded to him for life."
"He's my true mate, damnit! Anything that may come up I'll fucking figure out how to handle it!" The bassist was screaming - more to the gods above than the elders themselves.
"There is something important you do not know about your mate. We suggest you two have a nice long talk. If you can get yourselves sorted before the end of the weekend, we shall see about formally mating you. You know the council hours, Ashley. Until then, we suggest you not be seen anywhere near the council chamber. Dismissed."
Ashley turned on his mate, glaring. He grabbed the singer's arm and dragged him from the council room. Before Andy could give more than a protest of "Ash-" the two were out of the underground tunnels and in the woods of Deviant territory.
"Fucking explain," the older man growled.
"Ashley, please calm down."
"What the fuck haven't you told me?"
Andy was close to tears. "I didn't think-"
"Do you understand what just happened? The Deviant council just fucking denied an official bond between a true mate pair. That never fucking happens. Whatever it is you're not telling me, it's fucking huge."
Andy sighed and reached into his pocket for his cellphone.
"What are you doing?" Ashley demanded.
"I'm calling Jinxx."
Ashley was silent, but fuming.
"How soon can you be here," the younger man demanded into the phone. He was silent for a moment before responding. "They denied our mating." Silence again. "No." Silence. "Okay." Andy snapped the phone shut.
"Wanna tell me what the hell is going on," Ashley asked.
"Jinxx will be here in about ten minutes. He was in the middle of fucking Sammi when I called."
"Why do you need Jinxx here and what, exactly, gives you the power to demand him to come when you say?"
"I'll explain as soon as he gets here. Until then, have a drink." Andy pulled his shirt off over his head and offered his shoulder for the vampire.
"No, Andy."
"It'll calm you down."
"I can't. I'm too pissed off I might take too much on accident."
"Suit yourself," Andy responded, shrugging. He turned and sat down on a rock.
"I wouldn't sit there," Ashley started.
The human glanced down to see a set of shackles at his feet. "What the fuck?"
"This is sort of an execution lot. Vampires who aren't pure bread - they're not formed but rather born from a male vampire and a human female outside of a mating bond - are brought here to burn. They're-"
"Bastards. I know. You have to destroy them or they'll create a huge mess." The singer nudged the chains with his toe but was otherwise unfazed. "Ash, I'm sorry."
"Andy..."
"I'm here, asshole. If you would have done this several years ago like I told you to, I wouldn't have to be here. But I'm here," Jinxx announced, materializing from the trees.
"I see you took the root system. Cool. Ash-"
"Jinxx, what the hell you just-"
"It's okay. Andy knows I'm a Mystic."
Ashley was even more dumbfounded, glancing back and forth between his bandmates.
Andy turned his attention directly to Jinxx. "I have permission?"
"You've HAD permission, asshole."
"Just say the fucking words."
Jinxx crossed over to where the younger man was now standing in the middle of the clearing. He grasped Andy's forearm in a handshake and pulled him close to whisper in his ear. "Unbound." The Mystic then retreated back to the tree line.
"Ashley, I need you to listen to me. I'm going to start by apologizing. Jinxx told me I should have done this years ago but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I'm fucking stupid. I didn't know the effect it would have on our relationship. So, I'm sorry for keeping this secret." Andy made sure to look his boyfriend dead in the eyes. "I'm a prophet."
Ashley's features went through several stages of confusion, anger, frustration, acceptance and realization. "It makes sense...the nightmares...how you know things..."
Andy nodded. "My powers were awakened in March after my twelfth birthday. I had a lot of waking visions then because I didn't sleep much. Typical teenage boy shit. I know I just kinda shake my head and write it off as nightmares, but almost all of the dreams I have are vision-dreams."
"How much do you know, exactly," Ashley demanded. "And when did you find out..."
"Well, I knew Sandra was a Vampire about two months into her being in the band. I accidentally cut myself and she disappeared. It didn't take long for the rest of her behaviors to add up. Jake is a Mourner. Sandra actually dragged his ass out of one of those underground cults. You could call it her side job. I've known you were a Vampire since before we met. Sandra gave me a heads up. And as for Jinxx, well I've always known he was a Mystic. He's my Mystic."
"Would it have killed you to tell me this," Ashley demanded.
"No, but I could never really find the right time to bring it up. We were always busy on tour when it would have been easier to do so since Jinxx was always there. Then when we were off I wanted to spend time with you and I know Jinxx wanted to spend time with Sammi so I didn't want to disturb them. I just-"
"Andy, hush," Ashley interrupted, pulling the younger man into his arms.
"O-okay."
"I just need a few minutes to process things, and we need to have a long conversation about the details of all of this. But for right now, just hush and come here." Ashley was gently rubbing his hands up and down Andy's back. His face was tucked into the singer's neck, breathing his scent as his mind raced.
"I'm going back to my wife. You two should be able to handle things from here."
Andy looked up soon enough to see the Mystic fade into the tree he was leaning against.
Ashley tangled his hands into the younger man's hair and pulled his head down, tilting his own head to join their lips. It was only a matter of seconds before the vampire had worked his way into his boyfriend's mouth.
When the kiss finally broke, Andy pulled his face just slightly away from his lover's. "What was that for?"
"I fucking love you," Ashley responded.
"Oh?" Andy asked, raising an eyebrow.
The vampire relaxed his hold around Andy. "Well yes. Of course I love you. I'm just really fucking relieved right now. When the council denied us...I thought it was something bad. Like...really bad. You don't have any idea how relieved I am that you're a Prophet."
"So you really think you can handle all the extra shit that comes with it?"
"Andy," Ashley started, pulling slightly at the singer's waist. "I can handle anything if it means keeping you safe and close to me. That's all that matters," Ashley murmured, pressing a kiss to his mate's bare shoulder.
Andy let out a little hum of acknowledgement. "But you still need to know the details," he insisted without picking his head up off his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Mhh, alright. Let's find somewhere more comfortable to talk. My aunts are enjoying the, er, festivities that are a Deviant family reunion. I doubt they'll be home until later."
"A couch and hot tea does sound nice. And I'm sure you want some blood before you have to drink mine," Andy responded in an indirect agreement.
"Sure thing, baby." Ashley hooked his arm with his boyfriend's and lead him, slowly, back through the woods.
They finally made their way back to the quietly empty house. The old wood creaked with the wind, but the sounds were comforting in the semi-uncomfortable silence between the men.
"Goddamnit, Andy? Do you know if this is chamomile?"
Andy rolled his eyes and wandered through the kitchen out into the dimly lit green house just off the back porch. He took the fist full of leaves from his boyfriend and sniffed them. "Yes, but you use the flowers for tea," the human responded with a sigh.
Ashley let the remainder of the leaves in his hand fall to the ground. "Oh."
"How about you go start the water, and I pick the herbs?"
"Yeah, good idea," Ashley responded. He pressed a soft kiss to Andy's cheek on his way inside.
The younger man sighed again and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting cast by christmas lights strung along the inside of the greenhouse. Then he bent to examine the options of the different herbs, each in their own neat little planter on rows of tables.
"You're kidding me," he muttered to himself as he crossed over to a particularly peculiar plant. He plucked one of the deep red leaves and gave it a sniff. "You're joking," he muttered again. He plucked a few more leaves and moved on, collecting some more chamomile and a few leaves of spearmint.
"Water ready?" Andy asked as he entered the kitchen.
"Yeah, baby," Ashley responded, offhandedly, slowly stirring a small pot of thick red liquid.
Andy turned up his nose at the thick metallic smell. "What are you drinking?" he asked as he dropped his handful of leaves down into the mug his mate had set aside.
"Blood," Ashley responded in a "duh" voice.
"Obviously. I meant what animal," Andy clarified.
"Oh, yeah. Right. You've known...sorry. I'm still adjusting."
Andy placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Baby, look...I know I fucked up and I know this is going to take some getting used to. But I love you, no matter what. I knew what I was getting into when you joined the band. I knew what I was getting into that first time we slept together. That didn't make me leave. Nothing will. I just hope that-"
Ashely leaned forward and pressed his lips hard to the younger man's. His arms wound their way around Andy's small waist, pulling him tight into Ashley's muscled body. "If you're trying to explain yourself, you're doing it all wrong," he whispered against Andy's lips.
"I'm sorry," the younger man responded, gaze casting down.
The exchange was interrupted by the high whistling of the tea kettle. Andy turned his back to Ashley to pull the kettle off the hot eye.
"And it's leopard seal, by the way." Ashley gave a sheepish smile as he turned back to the blood on the stove.
"Interesting. Is it any good?" Andy poured the steaming water over the leaves in his mug.
Ashley took a slow sip, then scrunched up his nose. "It's a bit salty for my taste. Probably because leopard seals live in the ocean. But I can deal," he responded with a shrug.
Andy turned to lean against the counter, cupping the mug of steeping tea in his hands. "I don't know how to go about this..."
"From the beginning?" Ashley suggested.
"The beginning is complicated. How about I start with the simple stuff. Wait here." Andy set his cup down on the counter and took off upstairs.
Ashley started up after him, but sighed and slumped back against the counter when he saw Andy descending with an arm full of notebooks. "What's this?"
"My dream journals." The singer thumped them down on the counter, and Ashley instantly reached for one. "Don't even bother. You won't be able to read them."
The bassist couldn't resist. He reached forward and took one of the journals anyways. "What the fuck?"
"It's the prophet language. It has a name, also in the prophet language. It's complicated because it's not spoken, but the name translates to shared secret. It's how prophets communicate without interference. Prophets automatically write in it, and their - our - minds automatically translate it to our native language. Also, our minds automatically translate any language to our own. We can't speak or write other languages without intensive study, but we can understand them written or spoken."
"Oh my god, your mind is amazing," Ashley breathed, slowly flipping through the pages of illegible vision-dream records.
Andy blushed. "Anyways, there's a lot about Prophets you should be able to read, between my library and Jinxx's. Anything else you need to know, you can always ask."
"How many are there? Like, right now?" Ashley instantly asked.
"Uhm, last I checked, three. Me, a Kenyan man named Salehe, and some old man in Russia who doesn't really count anymore because he's literally just waiting for the last person in his generation to finally die off so he can too."
"That's harsh."
Andy shrugged. "There's one prophet per generation, and they live until the rest of their generation has died. When there's only a few left, we go inactive. We don't have as many visions, and the ones we do have tend to be things that will happen almost immediately, or long, long term ones left as precautions to the younger prophets."
Ashley sighed and settled down on a bar stool. "This is a lot. I just..."
Andy giggled and picked up his tea, slowly sipping the hot liquid. "You'll learn. It took me years to understand things, myself."
"So the teacher?" Ashley started.
"Yes," the singer began, smiling slightly. "My sixth grade English teacher, Mr. Kongts. He was my first Mystic. It was his job to discretely teach me the finer points of being a Prophet - what it all meant, how to handle the visions, etc. He leant me his library, book by book, as research material. I did special projects on different subjects. My sixth grade year, reports on the basics of vampires, Mystics and Luminescents, Mourners and Destroyers, and finally, Prophets. Every report required a source written by someone of that species, a source written by the Canidae, and a past Prophet's journal entry. Every year, things got more in depth. He had me focus two whole years on major vampire high lines alone, then another two years on Mystic and Luminescent customs, laws, culture, and influential families. The next year I focused on Destroyers and Mourners; how they came to be, why they were so persecuted. Then my final year, I was introduced to Angels and Demons."
"Wait, wait, wait," Ashley interrupted. "You actually learned about Angels and Demons?"
Andy sighed. "Yes, but Kongts didn't want me to. Unfortunately, he had no choice. I had started to have my first recurring prophesy."
"Started?"
"Ash...I still have this vision. It was occasional at first...maybe every few years. But it's become more frequent. I get it about monthly now."
"Oh my god..." Ashley set his mug of blood down and buried his hands in his face.
"Yeah, I know. Recurring visions are bad. Very, very bad. This one...well I haven't cracked it yet, but it terrifies me."
"What is it?" The vampire moved his hand to his boyfriend's knee, squeezing it gently.
"A fleet of Angels, maybe thirty? Fifty? I don't know. They're rocketing through the atmosphere, headed towards the earth. They're hissing 'child of the light,' over and over. Then they're crashing into houses, pulling boys from their beds, and discarding them, every time whispering 'not the one.' It goes on for a while, just the same thing over and over. I've been researching for years and I have no idea who this so called 'child of the light,' is, or why the Angels would fall for him."
"Hmm," Ashley mused, deep in thought.
"I know, it's a lot to process. But, I'm here if you have questions." Andy slowly sipped the last bit of his tea, then stood to dump the wilted leaves out the window into the compost pile.
"When will the next prophet be born?" Ashley asked.
Andy shrugged. "I can't answer that question. I don't know who the next prophet will be, much less when he'll be born. However, he will become active when we have our first child."
"He?"
"Most prophets are men," Andy commented. "There have been very few prophetesses. They're rare, and tend to only come along in the midst of major wars, though I don't know exactly why. There are theories, of course. Women are more likely to come into power during wars, because the men are fighting. Also, they're less likely to be killed as a male prophet who, in a major war, would most likely be drafted into the military."
"So you're assuming the next one will also be a guy?" Ashley's eyebrow was arched in his signature "you've got to be kidding me" look.
"Not assuming. Praying. Female prophets are incredibly talented, but they're not a good thing at all."
Ashley shook his head in disbelief.
"Look, it's not that I think a woman unworthy of the position. They just, traditionally, mean bad shit's gonna happen. Like, really bad shit."
The vampire sighed. "Very well."
Andy chuckled. "Come on, Ash. You know better."
"Yes. I do. It's just..."
"Going to take some getting used to. I know. It's a royal pain in the ass, honestly. This always happens. Every time I've gotten close enough to someone to tell them, they end up freaking out and leaving."
"Scout, you mean," Ashley said.
"Yes. Scout. I told her when I was planning on proposing and she got so pissed off at me for keeping it a secret. Then she left and it too Jinxx two months to track her down and force her to swear an oath of secrecy to avoid...problems."
"Problems?"
Andy sighed. "Ashes, why do you think I'm so worried about losing you? Not only do I love you more than anyone else in the world, you're also my best bet at survival. Prophets are persecuted more than any other supernatural minority, even more than Destroyers. Anyone who plans on starting some world changing shit wants us dead so we can't prevent them from doing it. Hitler, Al Qaida, they both fought to find and destroy the living Prophets of the time so that we couldn't hunt them down and find a way to prevent what they were trying to do. And it's not just those two cases, it's every generation that something major has completely changed the way the world functions. Ashley, you're Deviant. That means that I am the most protected Prophet of this timespan. The person I love, my soon to be blood mate, will never, ever let anything happen to me. He's bread to be the most protective creature on the planet. I'm in a healthy relationship where I am loved, supported, and protected. That's all I need in life."
"Got anything else to stroke my ego," Ashley joked.
The human giggled as he stood and climbed straddle his boyfriend's lap. "He also has a big cock and is extremely good in bed," the singer said, bumping Ashley's nose with his own before kissing him.
"Fuck, you're so damn sexy," the vampire whispered in the spare moment he had between kisses. He grabbed the singer's ass and pulled him further into his lap.
The kiss deepened, then Ashley's lips began to trail their way down his boyfriend's neck. Andy found himself quietly groaning and arching his back while grinding his hardening crotch against Ashley's. Andy finally gained enough of a thought process to reach down and push the vampire's shirt up over his head, revealing smooth, tanned skin and that gorgeous OUTLAW tattoo. Then the singer redirected his attention, reaching to pull Ashley's head back with a hand tangled in his hair so he could leave a trail of kisses and nips down his throat.
"Oh, god, you smell so good," Ashley moaned. Andy glanced up to see the vampire's fangs had extended.
Andy giggled. "Yeah, I found some bloodleaf in your aunt's garden."
Ashley shook his head in attempt to clear it. "What?"
"Bloodleaf. It's this plant with red leaves and stems and purple flowers and it heightens a vampire's sex drive, especially if it's in a mate's bloodstream. I was curious to see if it worked, since I've only ever read about it."
"You little devil," Ashley groaned. His hands were already at Andy's waist line, unbuckling his belt as his lips made contact with Andy's chest.
"Fuck, yes, Ash," Andy groaned. He ground his crotch into Ashley's hand as the vampire's teeth sunk into flesh. The singer shivered, groaning slightly as his back arched.
Ashley disconnected from his mate. "Oh, my god. What have I done?"
Andy rolled his shoulders, eyes slightly glazed over with lust. "What do you mean?"
"I bit you," the bassist muttered, backing away.
"Fuck, Ash, stop this. Call me sadistic, but I like it when you bite me. My whole body floods with these sparks, I just...fuck I can't get enough."
"But I could-"
"For the last fucking time, Ash, you won't. Now come back her so I can give you that blow job I was working towards. You've been under stress and it's time for you to purge."
"Andy-"
"No, Ashley. I'm sick of this. You're so damn worried about biting me and I actually like it. I don't know what you're so upset about! I'm your mate, your true mate. You're supposed to drink my blood regularly in order to establish a strong blood bond. It actually comes down to a safety measure. It's like a dog pissing on a fire hydrant to mark his territory. I'm your territory, so fucking mark me!"
"Andy, you're not my property."
"No, Ashley. I'm your mate. Which is even more reason for my blood, my smell, to be in your veins. I want everyone at this damn reunion to know that you are loyal to me, and that you shamelessly love me, even though I'm human."
Ashley sighed. "Then you should have my blood in your veins as well. Come on. We'll finish this in the council chamber." Ashley grabbed Andy's shirt from where it had been tossed on the table on their way in the door, and threw it at the human. Then he pulled his own shirt back over his head, grabbed his boyfriend by the arm, and dragged him out the door.
"Do we have time?" Andy asked, struggling to keep pace and breath as he chased after the vampire.
"I fucking hope so. I don't want to go another day without being bonded to you."

Notes

Yeah so shit got real pretty fast. Haha. Oops.