Amadeus Lazarus (sanguinemagic) wrote in nybynightic, @ 2021-05-05 17:30:00 |
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Instead it had just been one more thing on Amadeus’ plate while they struggled to bring the Kindred of New York back together in a way that might just see them through this yet. He had moved the chantry from the college to a building he had brought for the sole purpose of housing the chantry and any Tremere who wished to stay there. It was in fact the same old abandoned church he had found the hunters in. The same one that Julian had found the ghoul in.
It had been done of course because Amadeus found a bit of poetic irony in it. That and it just amused him to do so. Mainly the latter.
With Amadeus replacing Sethius, it had caused several of the more traditional Tremere to move on. Those who had a hope of one day rebuilding the pyramid. In their place though more freethinking Tremere came. To research, study and learn. Those who did not want to see the shackles of the pyramid return but to be free to practice their blood magic how they shall fit.
Currently to Liam, the buildinging would look as abandoned and run down as it ever did covered in wards and spells to keep kine—and even most Kindred—from ever looking at it twice let alone entering it.
“Welcome to the Chantry of the Five Boroughs. Please watch where you step and what you touch,” Amadeus informed him from where they stood outside of it on the sidewalk.
Liam's knowledge of the Tremere had once been rudimentary at best. It was not the clan he was born again into. And even amongst the Kindred the Tremere were not considered the most welcoming sort. Instead, they were commonly regarded with suspicion. Theirs was a clan with abilities vastly different from the rest in an entirely unique way. And when something wasn’t well understood, it was distrusted.
He took in the dilapidated building, the nondescript brick and grey concrete. It was a guise, he knew that much. And yet, he couldn’t help dismissing it entirely—a work of the charms of the Tremere, undoubtedly, to make their most sacred place completely obscure to the average person walking by.
Amadeus’ tone was positively cheery, which only confirmed Liam’s beliefs. “You’re going to tell me there’s a secret password next aren’t you? To reveal a special door.” Something to break the spell of the innocuous.
To which Amadeus leveled Liam with a look that said you’re kidding right. “Don’t be silly. It’s actually a secret decoder ring that you have to wear and then speak the secret password that lets you in.” Because of course that’s how these things worked. “But arrival time is six to eight weeks so I guess you’ll just have to pass through them the other way.
Which was as simple as Amadeus’ taking the Malkaivan’s hand and just stepping through. Because of course they’d be set to just allow the High Regent to walk through them. Considering the amount of rings he had on though it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that one could a secret decoder ring. One could never be sure with Amadeus.
Once they were through the difference was clear. Not too clear on the outside yet since fixing things up had been focused on the inside for the moment. It was clear there were signs of life though as there was soft light coming from the windows.
The moment they stepped inside they were beset upon by a female Tremere with mane flaming bright red hair. Mallory. She looked like a Mallory and it always made Amadeus wonder if she had chosen that name or if she had chosen it. If she had chosen then he couldn’t figure out why someone who looked like a Mallory would choose that name. In the end he had decided he didn’t care enough to ask.
“We got a request from the Sheriff for books on various clans and one book on blood cults. We’re not really going to start lending books out are we?”
“The answer to that is yes, we are. Right now we need to be sharing resources to help figure things And it’s not like the Toreador is requesting information on how to summon blood gods or demons so what does it hurt.”
“But—” And that was the moment the Elder Tremere knew that the other Tremere had realized that there was someone with him and that someone was not of their clan.
It was clear from the very moment that Liam laid eyes on the building that this was not the normal practice. All Kindred were not the sharing sort. But the Tremere more than others. The fact that Liam could not only enter the building uninterrupted but also without any difficulty at all was entirely due to Amadeus and his status--a fact that Liam was keenly aware of. Even if he liked playing it like he wasn't enjoying all the privilege that came with standing by Amadeus' side.
As he did now, plainly flashing the redhead staring at him his most charming and disarming smile. A smile that usually got him off all kinds of trouble--or into it. It all depended on how you looked at things. It said that yes, he didn't belong here, but also that you were going to allow it because this was Liam.
To say nothing even yet of the man he was standing next to.
He held out a hand, grin still fixed on his face. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms…?"
"Jameson." And it was clear that despite the charming smile on Liam’s face that she still wanted to protest his presence there. Bringing in outsiders simply wasn't done. Except this was Amadeus Lazarus they were talking about and everyone present knew he often broke the rules. On purpose.
"Who's going to see to it that the Sheriff gets those books personally. Oh and I want a couple of our Tremere assigned as Hounds to assist in research. I'll let you decide who to send," he informed her.
There was an opening of her mouth like she wanted to protest farther but stopped and nodded. She started to move along when Amadeus called out to add "we'll be in my study. See that we're not disturbed." A nod of that red-hair before she went to see that everything was done.
Amadeus lead the way deeper into the chantry. Gone where the trappings that had made the church what it once was. Instead it now found itself filled with books and areas of study. He stopped at a door that was closed. It wasn’t just warded but magically locked and he had to undo them before they could go inside. There were stakes of books and artifacts everywhere around the furniture that filled it.
"I finally got through the wards on Sethius' own study and have been slowly starting to sort through everything he had in there."
It was clear from the way that Amadeus led Liam around that he was in his element. This was Amadeus as Liam remembered him to be—vibrant, active, passionate—and like a moth to a flame, Liam was hopelessly drawn to it. Without a Primogen to answer to, Amadeus was even more of a character to answer to; absent the rules and ever present look of tried patience he wore when it came to authority, Amadeus was free to shape the Tremeres and indeed the whole Chantry into something he desired.
Liam followed Amadeus wordlessly into the room and scanned the contents within with some interest. Stacks and stacks of books were only to be expected, but the shelves full of dangerous looking artifacts were also something to behold, and Liam came to one of these shelves and stared unabashedly at one, scrutinizing it like he could figure out its meaning simply by looking.
“And have you found anything interesting?” Liam asked, still fixated on the artifact. Tremeres and their items of magical prowess—they hoarded those, and understandably so.
And it was one of those artifacts that had brought them here. It was just that it wasn't one from Sethius' collection but Amadeus' own.
"Not yet but I'm sure I will. I'd have someone else do it but I don't want anything of considerable power walking off and me none the wiser." No, he'd sort through it himself, decide what would go into his personal collection at home, what would go into his collection here, and what would be deemed safe enough to go into the chantry collective.
Amadeus moved a stalk of books out of his way before he cut the palm of his hand with his bladed ring and started to draw out several signals. When he was done they glowed for a moment before disappearing and revealing a hidden compartment in their wake. From within he pulled out an old grimoire and a decent sized stone made out what appeared to be polished obsidian.
Both were sat on his desk before he stepped back. "I did however find something long ago. Say, oh, a couple hundreds years ago." He looked up from the objects and to Liam, leaving the implications of just what he meant lay there between them.
Liam’s attention had been drawn to Amadeus the moment he smelt that blood. But even if he could ignore that little distraction, what Amadeus said next earned him a sharp look.
The issue of Amadeus leaving all those years ago had been momentarily assuaged by the olive branch he held out in the admittance of his wrong decision back then. But it was still a scar that had been left to fester for centuries. And in bringing it up now, it earned him Liam’s attention definitely, but also an instinctive distrust and skepticism. The hackles were back up, and Liam stared at the polished piece of obsidian with something akin to distaste. Though he would never admit it aloud. As if to say, ‘That’s what you left me for, a piece of rock?’
“I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Liam managed, injecting a healthy amount of salt and judgement into his tone.
Even if the words had not been spoken they might as well have been. "You've never asked and well—" It was quite easy to see how it did look as if Amadeus had left Liam for a rock.
"It's called an Oblivion Stone. I found out about it and I stole it from some other Tremere. Figured it had to be pretty powerful and seemed to be easy enough to take." And Amadeus being young and full enough of himself had helped himself to it. And it had been easy enough—
"What I had not counted on was though those Tremere being Sabbat also. Once I did it was a little too late to give it back with a note saying sorry."
And just like that, the pieces fell into place. Why Amadeus, young and arrogant and foolish, had taken something he had no idea what to expect of, and how he had suffered the consequences and ramifications far too late, unable to undo his actions and stuck with an artifact he knew would draw the likes of zealots like the Sabbat to him. Why he felt like he had to leave after all of that.
It was stupid. It was arrogant. It was so very Amadeus. It was probably apparent on Liam's face the kind of thoughts going through his head as he stared at the stone with a renewed dislike. But the anger now was directed not only at the stone. But at Amadeus and himself too. Why had they been so haughty and so foolish? Neglecting to keep each other closest and discuss and work things through together. Instead, they chose to hide from one another. And wasted centuries as a result.
Understanding didn't erase the centuries of hurt and longing. But it did help Liam understand. And that was important too.
Pushing aside the thick lump that had somehow formed in his throat, Liam looked up and found the words to ask, "So did you figure what it's meant to do?" After all that, he didn't add.
Amadeus came up beside Liam and slid his hand up on his shoulder and leaned his head up against his just needing that touch, that connection, for a moment. Even though he had been the one to cause it, he had also lived with that loss and longing everyday. And they had lived a long, long time.
"So that's the other thing," he started as they both stared at the stone. "I have no clue." He cringed as he admitted it because he knew just how bad that sounded.
"First there was the running with no time to study it. Then every time I looked at it or tried to translate the book I'd just feel regret and then guilty and would just tuck it away again. I'd tell myself if Sabbat Tremere had it then it was probably best not to mess with."
The last he probably wasn’t wrong about.
Liam stared at the iridescent surface of the innocuous black stone in front of him. So small, and yet, it had been the primary reason for Amadeus to run. That alone spoke of the power it held potentially. And of the kind of people it had belonged to prior to that of course.
"Can you sense if there's any magic you recognise from it?" Liam asked, even though he knew the answer already. Had Amadeus known the energy from the stone, he would have traced its origins and had his answer by now. But it was precisely because he hadn't found answers that they had been separated till now.
But if a Tremere could not sense its magic, perhaps there were other ways…
"Not yet but the arrival of the Lasombra got me thinking given what it's called and if I touch it too long it—"
Liam reached for the stone, and without a word, picked it up and held it in his hand.
"—starts whispering to me," Amadeus finished on a whisper of his own since the stone was now in Liam’s hand before he could finish his warning.
Amadeus could never make out the whispers himself and he could almost tell the moment the stone reached out and grabbed a hold of the Malkavian’s mind as if it could sense the hidden fragility there. The non distinct whispers came faster and faster as they pushed to crowd Liam’s mind along with visions of the lingering dead.
—a lone figure lying in an abandoned alley. Cold, dead fingers wrapped tight around a black iridiscent stone. A mountain of bodies piled up at the ChaoYang pass, arrows and heavy steel embedded in the thick of the flesh, the crimson of spilt blood dying the dirt beneath a red river. Cries. Screaming. An dismembered body hanging high atop a gate—
Afraid of what might be happening, the Tremere plucked the stone out of his hand and sat it back on the desk before sliding his hand up Liam’s cheek. "You still with me?"
It wasn’t so easy to slide back into focus. But the touch upon his cheek was an anchor. As was that voice. A voice he would recognise anywhere. His eyes slid back into focus once more, fixed on Amadeus in front of him, the brilliant brown eyes, the concern on his face. Finding his voice, Liam gave a nod and a vague sound in the affirmative, but the screams of the dead were ringing still in his ears.
He straightened, as if to shake off the last vestiges of their ghostly hold.
“The stone may actually link to Oblivion.” Liam told Amadeus. “Does your prince need to know this?”
That drew Amadeus' eyes back to the stone even as he continued keeping his hand on Liam’s cheek. Messing with the Oblivion —that place that drew in spirits on the other side and eventually devoured them—was probably not the best idea. It was something he was going to have to consider which meant he was going to have to try translating the grimoire he had stolen with it.
"Not just yet. If the Lasombra had brought it into the city then I would say yes. But since I did, not until I know more and if it could actually be useful." Micah had enough to worry about than what dangerous things Amadeus may or may not have in his possession. After all it wasn’t like it was the only one or that he wasn’t aware of the fact that as old a Tremere as Amadeus was that he wouldn't have such things laying around.
Although Amadeus had his own concerns. "Even if I figure it out, I'm not sure my tapping into would be the best idea," he admitted quietly. An admission he wouldn't be doing to anyone else but Liam.
Liam took that hand and grasped it firmly. It was comforting. But also, distracting. He brought it away from his hand but also kept his grip firm as he let their hands drop, not letting go quite just yet.
"I could do it," Liam offered, in a tone that let Amadeus know that he was serious about it. As a Malkavian, he wouldn't have the sort of considerations that a Tremere with as much power as Amadeus did had. But he could probably get a better and even more extensive read on the stone than the other. Just as that little glimpse had shown them.
He wouldn't do it for anyone else. That much was clear. Not for the prince. Not for all Kindred added together. It was only for Amadeus.
And he let the offer stand in the space between them, rubbing his thumb gently over Amadeus' back of his palm. His words quiet in all of its implications.
Instinctively Amadeus wanted to say no just because he didn’t want to endanger Liam. But he had already made that choice once when it came to this thing and it had cost them everything. To do so again didn't seem right. And if there were dangerous magics connected to it—
Amadeus had already slipped in his humanity twice recently, he didn't need to risk a third time and not with something potentially so dangerous.
He looked at Liam for a long moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Alright. But no more touching it until I can see if I can figure out some of the text in the book first. Then we'll do it. Together."
It was a lot easier this time, hearing what Amadeus said. That weight that had been on him lifted completely. He gave that hand in his own another squeeze. Then, in a move that was reminscent of the Liam of an earlier time--a Ling of an earlier time--the corners of Liam's lips lifted in a smile.
"Together," he agreed.
The last few days had been frustrating as Amadeus felt like he was on the verge of something but not quite sure just what yet. Without looking up from what he was reading, he held out a hand and another book went flying into it so that he could start flipping through it.
It was all reminiscent of long ago, of another time and place when they had been younger in Beijing and sat side by side like this. Of when they had started sharing the intimate details of their lives and how they each came to be.
Amadeus had absent-mindedly reached over and taken Liam’s hand in his and had been rubbing the back of it idly with his thumb as they flipped through things. Ancient text that normally no Malkavian would have been allowed to touch.
"Tell me about Boston," the Tremere spoke, breaking the silence in the room and needing the distraction. Besides, all this time and they had been so close to each other yet still worlds apart.
There was good reason for not touching texts as old as the ones that lay before him right then. Centuries worth of knowledge inscribed into its pages meant centuries worth of stories, centuries worth of memories encoded in each letter and each line of words. Everything simply poured into his consciousness, into his awareness, clamouring for attention. It was deathly easy to get lost in those individual threads of consciousness—and to lose himself in the process. It had always been and likely always will be the bane of abilities like his.
But the hand on his own was all the grounding presence he needed to seek his way back to reality. As were the words, soft and reminiscent of an earlier time, a more innocent time.
As much as the two of them could be innocent, anyway.
Liam read the text in front of him without touching the pages, an enigmatic curl of his lips forming at Amadeus’ question.
“Politics is the same everywhere.” Navigating the court in Boston was much the same as navigating the court in any other Kindred city in the world—full of intrigue and lies embedded in the coy smiles to one another. But it was the sort of environment that they had thrived in once. Liam had chosen to built his life around Boston and in the beginning it had been but for a simple reason. A whisper of a reason, a sighting of a Kindred that could possibly have resembled the Jiang he had known all those years ago.
Of course back then, the trail had run cold. But knowing for sure that Amadeus had been in New York’s vicinity all this time, he had to wonder if that trail hadn’t been as cold as he thought.
“But it’s where I’ve built a base of influence.” Of power and resources at his disposal. And these were kindred that he could count on and resources he had amassed over the years. “I’ve dipped my fingers in a bit of everything, in Boston. Hotels, nightclubs—both legal or otherwise.” Of course, he hadn’t been able to pocket the circulatory system for himself the way the New York prince had managed to. But Liam’s attention had admittedly been split too.
“And you? Why New York?”
"It was the first place I ended up when I came to this country and it just sort of stuck. After all who was going to look twice for me in a place like Chinatown." All those years of moving about and he had unwittingly settled so close.
Which it had obviously worked since Liam had been unable to find him. Of course at the time Amadeus had been worried about the Sabbat looking for him. He never figured that the lover he had left behind was out there looking as well.
"It was new enough here that building things up into what one wanted was simple enough. Kindred who thought the kine there were easy pickings soon learned otherwise and I eventually became named Marquess." And in true Amadeus fashion he had his hands in all that went on within the district.
Then there was the fact of being the second most powerful Tremere in the city. "There was also the matter of trying to unseat the Tremere Primogen and taking his spot as both Primogen and head of the Chantry."
Liam's lips curled into a familiar smirk. You could take the kindred out of politics, but you couldn't take the politics out of the kindred. And someone like Amadeus was bound to gravitate towards positions of power. It was the way he was built—the way they both were built.
He understood that urge very well. Less well, however, was something else.
"How did you get from that to—Sheriff?" Raising an eyebrow at that.
That was a question that Amadeus had seen coming.
"Boredom mostly. The idea of doing something different intrigued me. But mostly boredom." The former Sheriff gave a wry smile. "I had been letting myself because more and more closed off emotionally that at the time it seemed like the idea was a good one."
Considering everything that had started happening, it was clearly not one of his better ones. "It has been anything but boring certainly, I will give it that."
Boredom and ennui was commonplace when it came to Kindred their age. There was a point when Liam had been steepled in it too, allowing the humdrum of day to day wash over him. There had been nothing engaging, nothing he wanted to get involved in. But after a point, either you got over it or you succumbed.
Thankfully, Liam had done the former or there wouldn't have been this subsequent meeting with Amadeus now.
There was another question that Liam had burning in the back of his mind. He looked up at Amadeus' face, studying it for a moment.
"I understand why you left, now." He paused there, letting his words sink in for a second. "But why didn't you ever look back?" For me, he didn't say.
At that, Amadeus gave the hand that he held a squeeze because he heard that unspoken question as clearly as if it had been asked. "I should have. Especially after it became clear I had to turn off feeling anything in order to survive without you." And that was far too easy for a Tremere wasn’t it? Just let the blood and magic take over.
"I was afraid to. Afraid to see what my leaving might have done to you." It was after all far too easy to break a Malkavian at times. "And afraid that you'd be unable to forgive me and not want me back." To not love him anymore he didn't add out loud.
"More foolishness that in the end just cost us more time."
For such a long time, he had held all of these questions and animosity in him, believing that the Ling he had known had been nothing but a sham. Nothing but a person constructed to suit Amadeus' purposes. A part of him tried denying it, tried insisting that everything they shared in Beijing had been real--but it couldn't be reconciled with the fact that Amadeus had left in the end.
Right now, facing these questions head on for once, Liam found that piece by piece, the disconnect was getting closer—mending slowly. He couldn't understand fully, but it was still a far cry from where he came before this.
Amadeus moved his hand up so that he could slide it over Liam’s jaw and hold it there. "Leaving, not coming back, made me face the very worst parts of me." And he didn't mean those dark ugly corners either. They had both known those where there. "I never knew I could be so weak until then."
His hand moved to the back of Liam's neck and pulled him in closer even as Amadeus himself leaned in closer so that he could kiss him. "I never want to be that weak again."
The kiss was soft, gentle. Everything that the two of them were not. Theirs had never been a relationship one could describe as gentle. In Beijing it had been almost adversarial at first. Certainly not anything that was nurturing. And when Amadeus left, Liam had been stuck for the longest time in the destructive phase.
But perhaps now, things could change.
Looking into Amadeus' eyes, Liam wanted to believe that. He thought he could see it happening too. Maybe not right away. But perhaps in the future. Something to strive towards.
He leaned in, arm snaking around Amadeus' waist, pulling the other in, hungry for the taste of Amadeus on his lips. "You've never been weak." That simply wasn't a descriptor used for the Tremere. were both younger then." Stupid. Missing out on the things that truly mattered. But what was important was that they had found their way to each other again.
That’s all it took for the soft, almost apologetic kiss to disappear and be replaced with that spark of hunger that had Amadeus curling his fingers into the collar of Liam’s shirt as he moved to devour the other’s lips with his own. No, theirs had always been a passionate push and pull between them that was always fueled by the need for the other.
And perhaps Liam was right about Amadeus never being weak but he also knew he had never been an easy one to love either.
Yet Liam still did and it chased away the remaining soft edges that had tried forming in the years of closing off. Liam who still saw him the best above all others.
“Neither one of us has ever been weak,” the Tremere agreed as he purposely nicked his tongue before deepening the kiss and pulling the Malkavian in even closer.
The taste of Amadeus’ blood flooded his mouth in an instant. It had been centuries. And yet, nothing could erase this taste in his memory. It was heady, overpowering—it was like coming home. Liam gave a sound from somewhere deep in this throat. How long had it been? How much had changed and shifted since the last time they’d been together like this?
Too long.
The rush of Tremere magic flowed through him, stronger now than Liam could have recalled. It mingled with a different sort of heat in his blood—desire, passion, all of that elicited by the simple taste of Amadeus’ blood. Liam pressed closer, backing Amadeus up against the table, strong arms bracing against the Tremere elder’s back, framing him and trapping him in the same breath.
“You did that on purpose,” Liam accused, not sounding at all upset about it, licking the crimson off his lips as he pulled apart just briefly—long enough to catch the look on Amadeus’ face and impress his own amused smirk upon the other.
Well, if Amadeus did it purposely then he had to pay the consequences. Because no way was Liam letting him go back to his books after this.
Grabbing Amadeus by the waist, he hitched the other up onto the top of the table, hands everywhere at once, tugging at his waistband, the hem of his shirt in a quest for the fevered, bare skin under.
Of course Amadeus had done it on purpose. The Tremere never did anything without a reason. And whenever he did something on purpose with a result in mind, he usually got it to, just as he was now. He had wanted to stir that desire and passion between them even more and it had worked.
There was a couch in the room on the other side of the study but that was too far away at the moment. Amadeus didn’t even consider teleporting them over to it, too caught up in the feeling of Liam suddenly on him. He simply pushed some of the books off of the table, little thought given to the age and power of some of them as he settled into where Liam had planted him on the table.
Then Amadeus’ own hands where tugging and pulling at clothes to help in getting bare skin pressed against bare skin as quickly
He was pushing Liam’s shirt off of his shoulders when Amadeus leaned in and ran the tips of his fangs along the exposed flesh of that throat, causing just the faintest hiss in response from Liam. Just enough for now to make a simple cut and then run his tongue up over it to lap up the blood that welled up there while he pulled Liam in closer and his hands moved over each inch of flesh as it became exposed to his touch.
Which suited Liam just fine, if the heat in his eyes was anything to go by at all. He made short work of Amadeus’ shirt—far too many buttons, in his opinion, Amadeus always had a penchant for that—and then moved onto the pants, fingers fumbling with the zip, the buckle of Amadeus’ belt. Liam had never been clumsy, but haste made for eagerness and in turn prolonged a simple thing that felt like forever.
“No more buttons for you,” he proclaimed, just as he leaned in to claim Amadeus’ lips again, hungry for the enticing taste of the Tremere’s blood, for the rush that he got in his veins, for everything that spoke of the infuriating kindred before him.
And finally—fingers closing around the other’s flesh, in a slow, unhurried rhythm in stark contrast to their heat-fuelled kisses.
Amadeus probably should have been a bit more upset over the destruction of his clothes than he was but it was hard to care—or protest—when Liam was kissing him like that. Then the Tremere was moaning into his mouth as that hand closed in around him.
That was fine. He didn’t need words right this second. Instead he purposely bit at Liam’s bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and then was sliding his tongue back into his mouth so that the taste of their blood together mingled and filled both of their mouths as they kissed. It was a taste that only made him crave more of it and more of Liam in a way he hadn’t thought possible before.
Which was just in time for Amadeus to manage to push Liam’s pants down and grab a hold of his ass. He gave the firm muscle of it a squeeze as he pulled the Malkavian in closer, even as he couldn’t help but roll his hips up now and then into the stroking grip Liam had on him.
Liam dug his own hardness against Amadeus' thigh, stroking the other languidly. They had been apart for so long and there was a fire in his veins, but in this, Liam wasn't going to hurry. Not hardly.
He smirked into their kiss as he felt that corresponding urgency in Amadeus, the power running through him making him drunk almost--giddy with a headiness that he had come to associate uniquely with Amadeus. "Skiving on the clock, fucking on your office desk no less. What would your subordinates have to day if they knew?" Teasing, but absolutely not broken up about it.
“Who says they don’t know already,” Amadeus suggested though they both knew that he had up better wards than that. “And who says that I care if they did know and what they would say about it.” Because in that there was truth. Amadeus had absolutely no cares about anyone knowing what it was he was currently doing in his office. On or off of his desk.
Amadeus slid his hands up Liam’s back then back down his front taking in every inch of the other’s body before he reached down between them and caught that hardness pressing into his thigh in his own hand, returning each slow, lazy stroke with one of his own.
“Besides, they’d more than likely just be jealous,” he pointed out before capturing Liam’s mouth once more.
Liam's answering laughter was deep and rich. A sound of genuine amusement and happiness, unlike the guarded smirks and high walls he constantly kept up in the past.
He leaned in, voice dropping a notch lower, husky with desire.
"Well in that case," he told Amadeus, eyes twinkling with mirth, "Let's give them something to truly talk about shall we?" And he proceeded to press closer still.
"Let's see how loudly you can scream."
Amadeus had to smirk at that. “I think you already know the answer to that.” Still, he shifted on the desk, making better space for his lover between his thighs even as he hooked one foot against the back of Liam’s legs and urged him in closer.
He let go of his hold on the other only so he could reach up and grip Liam’s chin in hand to make sure he had Liam’s full attention. “Something I didn’t mention before now—the Tremere can no longer form bonds.” He let the implications of that sink in and what it opened up for them before he kissed Liam roughly, all fang and tongue as he let go of his chin.
A fact that Liam had known, of course. But knowing was one thing. Amadeus bringing it up was quite another altogether. Hands gripping the tight muscles of Amadeus’ thigh, digging into the firm flesh there, he positioned himself squarely in the pocket of space there, pressing upwards against the Amadeus, rocking forwards.
But not pushing in—not yet.
He plundered the hot depths of Amadeus’ mouth. A precursor perhaps, to what was to come. “Perfect,” he said, in a voice full of promise. And then, only then, did he allow himself to take Amadeus—forcefully, demandingly, in a way that was uniquely them.
Only with Liam was it ever like this. And even knowing it was coming, that sudden intrusion into his body drew out a hiss from Amadeus as Liam stretched and filled him, gave him no chance to escape. It was a pain that blossomed into a slow pleasure that he welcomed.
Even in this though, Amadeus didn’t give completely. Never did he just lay back and give over unless Liam fought for it. Instead, he wrapped his legs around the other's waist, depending more. Just like his fingers were snaking up into Liam’s hair and pulling him back in to devour his mouth, always craving that taste of him.
Liam rocked his hips forward in a rhythm that alternated between punishingly fast and tauntingly slow, reading every line of tension and pleasure in Amadeus’ body like an open book. It didn’t matter the number of years that had passed between them, it was still the body he remembered and played well—like an old glove fitting to his hand after all this time—responding to every touch, every movement of Liam’s own body, building both their pleasures until it all came to a tipping point.
And he gave a low growl, hand flying fast on Amadeus to bring them both to a climax as he emptied himself in the Tremere beneath him.
How many times had it been like this between them? Countless and none of it had changed.
Amadeus almost gave in. Almost gave Liam that shout that he had spoken of earlier as the Malkavian played his body and brought him over that edge with him. At the last second though he sunk his fangs into Liam’s shoulder, biting down, his own growl bubbling up into his throat as came. As he tightened around Liam, both their bodies humming with pleasure and the passion between them.
It was a moment before Amadeus let go of the hold he had on Liam’s shoulder and licked up the blood that dribbled down from his bite. Then he chuckled.
“I have a whole other office and study we can wreck as well.”
Liam’s only answer to that was a delighted, low rumble of a laugh, shaking with mirth as he shut that smart mouth of Amadeus’ with yet another heated kiss.