Myrddin 'Merlin' Emrys. (![]() ![]() @ 2008-09-26 17:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | gellert grindelwald, myrddin emrys |
who; Gellert Grindelwald, Sanguini, and eventually Emrys.
where; A.. random street, actually.
when; This was like.. last Friday or something? But Lonestar sucks, so this is the first time I've had the opportunity to post it. D:
summary; Gellert is officially a vampire-slayer. And a tasty morsel. And a naughty teenager. And insanely protective. Sanguini is amused. Emrys is annoyed. .. What else is new.
rating; Maybe PG-13?
status; Finished.
Gellert had fought Dark Creatures before. After all, he was a Grindelwald! The Grindelwald estate, especially its woods, were full of Dark Creatures. If you couldn't survive on the grounds, you obviously weren't worthy of being a Grindelwald!
Lorcan d'Eath, however, had been Gellert's first vampire hunt. He'd gone prepared, of course. He had the wand that Scorpius had found for him, and chewed down several cloves of garlic. Not enough was known about vampires and their fighting styles, but Gellert did know that they were shapeshifters and tricky beasts in general.
At least, he'd known they could shift into bats. He hadn't known they could shift into wolves until a maddened burning beast had lunged for his throat only to have a firebird shot right into its gaping mouth and down into its stomach.
Gellert had the feeling that wasn't what Emrys had taught him that spell for -- not with all the labor that went into it -- but what was he supposed to do, get his throat ripped out? And after all the time he'd spent practicing wandless magic Emrys' way, it had been pure instinct to pull out a firebird instead of resorting to one of the more traditional curses that he'd been taught as he grew up.
Knowing that vampires healed quickly, but disliked sunlight (or so the stories said!), Gellert had piled the ashes onto a small raft, and set it afloat by the ocean side. Hopefully, by the time that Lorcan managed to pull himself together again, he'd be out of sight of shore. Or eaten by a shark.
Gellert really liked the idea of Lorcan being eaten by a shark.
Smelling of ashes, robes slightly burnt at the edges (so his repairing spells weren't the best, so what? That's what House Elves were for!) and absolutely pleased with himself, Gellert strolled towards the edges of the villages, humming to himself. He'd bought Emrys a sunhat to keep the rays off him while he gardened -- a glittery band of blue sequins was tied into a big bow over the straw hat, and plenty of ribbons decorated the hat band. That, and the fact that he could tell Emrys that he had managed to kick vampire ass put an extra spring into Gellert's step.
Oh yeah. It was good to be fifteen and a vanquisher of vampires. It was very good indeed.
"Well, now," came a voice, seemingly out of nowhere, "I see you had issue with the young one." Abruptly, there was a flutter of cloth from above, and a dark figure dropped down by Gellert's side. It straightened into a tall, thin man dressed in black, with shoulder-length hair that fell in loose curls around his face, and with surprisingly warm brown eyes for all the white, marble-like skin that surrounded them.
He smiled, friendly and charming and utterly unthreatening, offering a brief, polite bow before falling into step with the teenager. "Sanguini, at your service. You are Gellert Grindelwald, yes?" Introductions done (and my, how young this future Dark Lord was, and how pretty), he moved on, then. "I wonder what he might have done to annoy you so?" Another smile, this one tinged with amusement. "Besides his rather bothersome habit of declaring existence woeful."
Another vampire! Gellert was momentarily alarmed before deciding with all the arrogance of youth that if he had handled one vampire, he could surely handle another. Lorcan's half-vampire nature hadn't been made clear to him, so he wasn't aware of the fact that his victory hadn't been quite as amazing as it might have been otherwise.
Nobody had ever told Gellert not to talk to strangers -- or, for that matter, vampires -- so Gellert canted his head up at Sanguini, studying him with unabashed curiosity, "I'm Gellert of the Line of Grindelwald, yes. Are you the vampire that has been following Emrys about?"
Because Lorcan had said it wasn't him and Gellert had believed him. Lorcan didn't seem to have a long enough attention span to stalk anyone, and Sanguini had dropped out of nowhere and known Gellert's name, which he could've easily gotten if he'd been following Emrys about.
He didn't look scary, though. But then again, Gellert knew that he didn't look scary either! And he still scared people anyway when he got angry. Like now.
"Lorcan was bothering Emrys. I don't like people that bother Emrys." Gellert stated very plainly and clearly, both answering Sanguini's question and making his stance on Emrys' vampire stalker very clear.
"Emrys." For several moments, Sanguini pretended to consider the name, fingers tapping his lower lip thoughtfully. At last, however, he made a little sound of pleasure and smiled down at Gellert-- a smug, heavy-lidded expression. "Merlin. Yes, I've been following him. He's a rather curious little thing, isn't he?" He reached out, curling long, cool fingers around Gellert's hand and lifting it, letting the robes fall away from his wrist and forearm. "Rather pretty. Quite a temper. Rather like you. Dark where you're golden." He purred out a laugh. "Such a sunny colour." He bent, then, tongue scraping like a cat's over the scratches, drawing away the blood and leaving them clean.
And abruptly, before Gellert really had a chance to fight the touch, he released him, reaching up instead to push his hair from his face. "You're quite protective of him. It's charming."
Sanguini was being very physically forwards. Gellert didn't like it -- or the look on Sanguini's face when he spoke of Emrys. He refused to show any fear when the vampire laced his cool (his eyes were warm but there was no warmth in his skin_ fingers around Gellert's hand, letting the touch occur as if it didn't bother him one bit.
And then suddenly there was a tongue over his wounds (Lorcan had slashed with his teeth, with his talons, with his claws) and Gellert's own fingers curled into a fist around a wand he wasn't holding. But Emrys had taught him wandless magic. The firebird spell (could he cast it twice within one day without passing out?) lurked at the back of his mind, lighting up his eyes from the inside when Sanguini brushed Gellert's hair away from his face. The vampire's skin was so cold as to make Gellert feel fevered by comparison; too hot, too alive, too quick to act (but not quick enough because he'd let Sanguini just draw blood from him without fighting).
So he fought now, taking a step back and tasting the power on his tongue, the curse he could cast as he tilted his chin defiantly up at Sanguini. "Emrys isn't a thing. He's my friend. And I'm protective of him because I like him, not because he needs it. Emrys could face down anyone on the island and win."
If he had been seven, Gellert would've added 'even you'. Since he was fifteen, Gellert merely thought it. Loudly. And it showed in his eyes and it showed in his face and underneath his dark robes, Gellert's body was tense with the anticipation of a fight, lean, shallow muscles poised to shield himself from attacks like those that Lorcan had launched, not of magic proper but of muscle and some sort of strange mind-hazing charm.
"Stop following him. He doesn't like it."
"He doesn't like it because he doesn't like the way I affect him," was the smooth reply, Sanguini moving along at Gellert's side as if they were close friends having a casual conversation. The flavour of the boy's blood was still in the forefront of his mind, the predator in him curious about another taste--for now, he had a hold on it. "He doesn't like the decay and the pain and the chaos." He chuckled then, shaking his head, amusement in the curve of his mouth. "He doesn't like temptation, and he doesn't like that I could take him--his blood, his body--and he'd enjoy it."
He paused a moment, glancing down at Gellert with a look that was almost fond. "Little sun-god. You're so young. You don't know anything at all about him, do you?" Brown eyes, still warm and good-humoured, turned just a touch pitying. "I'm certain he tells you that it's something you'll understand when you're older, or that he'll explain later."
"The reasons he doesn't like it don't matter. What matters is that he doesn't want you to do it." Gellert argued, mouth set in a firm line for a change instead of its usual laughing curve. He didn't have a problem with anything that Sanguini had mentioned -- decay was natural, pain a part of life and chaos amusing to create. But if Emrys didn't want Sanguini around, that was what was important, not if Gellert agreed with his tastes or not.
Besides, it was strange having someone able to move so fast around him. Gellert wasn't used to being outclassed (except by Emrys and Emrys was wholly unthreatening despite what he'd done to the Crazy Blonde Sex Maniac). But did Sanguini even realize Gellert was angry, or was he just ignoring it for the sake of being able to keep talking to Gellert?
Gellert watched Sanguini, refusing to move another step. Every step he'd take down the path would take them further from the village, closer to Emrys. Gellert wasn't going to lead Sanguini to Emrys' home, even if Sanguini already knew where it was!
The pity made Gellert toss his curls away from his face, faith in his friend resolute. "I know he likes me, and he's nice to me. That's all that's important."
Childish stubbornness manifesting as loyalty, unshakeable and true. "And I'm fifteen." Gellert had to add that, pride stung a little, "I'm not that young. And I'm not a sun-god either."
His smile was a slice of pure pride, "I'm a Grindelwald. That's better."
"Ah yes," the vampire breathed, pleasure lacing his words, "a Grindelwald. The Grindelwald." He glanced back, eyes half-lidded and glittering beneath his lashes. "Death-dealer. Bane of life, of liberty. Murderer of the innocent, the infirm, and the elderly." The smile that slid across his face, then, held nothing of warmth--- indeed, it looked hungry and sadistic. "You could almost be one of us." A pause, and he laughed, the sound whisper-soft and eerie. "But then I'd have to kill you, wouldn't I? You'd be in my hunting grounds. So it's just as well that you're not."
He spun to fully face Gellert, then, arms spread, teeth terribly white and fangs suddenly visible--still not descended, but horrifying all the same.
"Ah! And Gellert-- how do you know that I haven't already taken what I wanted from him?" He lifted a hand, wagging a finger as if to admonish him. "While you were occupied with the little half-breed, after all, I had all that time to visit."
That idea scared Gellert in a way that Sanguini's bared fangs didn't. He'd faced down one vampire -- a half-breed still counted! -- today and would face Sanguini if he had to.
But the idea that he'd left Emrys alone, unguarded, and Sanguini had got to him...
His heartbeat picked up, adrenaline pumping through his body and Gellert shifted, ready to break into the loping run that covered ground in Atlantis nowhere near fast enough to make up for the impossibility of Apparating. Except Emrys had to be safe! Had to be! Emrys was better than everyone on Atlantis. Gellert just needed to have faith in him!
But vampires messed with Emrys' abilities, and Emrys had admitted that himself, and it wasn't as if Gellert had the same abilities that Emrys did so that he'd know if Emrys was hurt.
He hadn't cared about the names that Sanguini had called him, the descriptions that had rung true as something that he could (would) be. Those were distractions. Emrys' safety was the important thing.
And now...
The firebird that roared out of his skin was shaped like a merlin, small and sharp-beaked, and Gellert didn't attack it with but instead, sent it to Emrys with instructions to see that he was safe. And he stayed where he was, feeling the drag of gravity more keenly than his own heartbeat, fighting to stay wary of the threat that was so keenly posed before him. "If you hurt him..."
Gellert had no fangs, but his smile was terrible, too sharp, too vicious for a boy of fifteen. "I will hurt you."
A simple promise, leaving Gellert plenty of room to get creative.
"I'll look forward to it," was the smiled reply, and Sanguini blurred--one moment there, and the next.. The next, he had wrapped one slender arm around Gellert's waist, his other hand in a vicelike grip around the fragile bones of the boy's wrists. He pulled them up, then, over Gellert's head, still smiling. "Tell me, Gellert," he breathed, head slowly ducking, tongue darting out as if scenting the air, breathing in the warmth of the teenager's skin. "What will you do to me, I wonder? Will you burn me, as you burned the half-breed?"
One moment, he'd been facing Sanguini, ready for a fight. The next, his wrists were jerked above his head, and there was pressure on the fresh wounds, the wounds that Sanguini had just licked. Pain licked down his arms, travelling through his veins, and hatred was a throbbing heat inside Gellert, low in the pit of his stomach.
In answer to Sanguini's question (too close, the vampire was too close to him), Gellert didn't say anything.
Instead, he spat fire directly at the vampire's face.
Sanguini moved, but it still caught the right side of his face--burning and blistering and even charring the flesh and muscle and bone beneath. A sharp breath was his only reaction to the pain, though; the arm around Gellert's waist moved, brushing away damaged skin and leaving behind raw, sluggishly-bleeding flesh.
"Now that wasn't very nice," he murmured, one brown eye exposed entirely, and teeth very visible with that side of his mouth and cheek so damaged. "And here I was going to visit Zola tonight. I suppose I shall have to wait until it's healed up again, won't I?"
He licked the blood off his fingers, then abruptly released Gellert, shaking dark curls down over the burns to mask the worst of the damage. "You really should be less uptight-- I'm not going to hurt your beloved Emrys, and I don't plan on hurting you." He arched brows, waving a hand dismissively. "I've watched him because I'm curious, not because I want to make him a snack." At any other time, the glance he gave Gellert then might have been sensual--with the burns, it simply seemed appraising. "After all, it's much better to have willing lovers, don't you think?"
"Licking my blood wasn't nice. Pulling my arms above my head isn't nice. Following Emrys around isn't nice. If you aren't playing nice, why should I?" Gellert retorted, the world spinning a little dizzily around him. He'd used up too much power, first fighting Lorcan and then on the firebird which had yet to reach Emrys and tell himm how Emrys was.
He refused to let any sign of that show in his eyes, or to even rub his wrists where Sanguini had gripped them so tightly as to make Gellert think that the blood circulation might've stopped entirely. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets, curling the fingers of his left hand around his wand.
Sanguini looked awful. And he stank like charred meat, but worse -- charred maggots and dead flesh, rotting and spoilt. Gellert didn't care. It meant that he'd managed to hurt Sanguini; mark him back, show him he wasn't a target.
A toss of his curls and he told Sanguni boldly, "I'm not uptight. You are making my friend unhappy. And you're like one of the Blond Sex Maniacs, except not blond."
Which meant Gellert really didn't like him very much at the moment. Though he liked himself quite well for having managed to handle two vampires within one night.
Curses raced through his mind, and Gellert wondered what exactly he could do to convince Sanguini to stay away from his Emrys.
Mouth quirking at the title, Sanguini smoothed fingers over damaged flesh again, and blood and tissue came away with it, revealing fresh muscle beneath-- he was already healing. "Sex maniac, you say?" he tutted, and turned then, moving toward the end of town again, and far beyond, countryside and Emrys' little cottage. "I'll have you know that I'm very choosy with my lovers. Not just any silly little human will do." He waved a hand dismissively, not looking at Gellert as he strolled down the street--apparently not caring what Gellert did. "I prefer the exotic, the unusual--hence Zola, and hence your Emrys." He paused, then, glancing back curiously. "Though I wonder if you come as a pair. You treat him a bit as if he's your wife."
Argh! Sanguini was heading towards Emrys' cottage. Gellert had to keep up. He couldn't just let Sanguini possibly confront Emrys if he had a chance to stop it.
Where was that firebird!
And Sanguini had healed fast. If Gellert wanted to keep him away from Emrys permanently, he'd have to use a blitz attack. Fire and lightning and impact, something with enough strength behind it that Sanguini's healing abiilities wouldn't just kick in and save him.
Except he couldn't. He was already dizzy with fatigue from the fire spells and the battle with Lorcan.
Gellert gritted his teeth and stepped in front of Sanguini, more than willing to block him physically by constantly moving in front of him like a little child would. "Stick to Zola. He likes you. Emrys doesn't -- and if you can't tell the difference between a friend and a wife, you've obviously never had either."
Laughing, Sanguini reached out, poking the boy gently in the brow with one long-nailed, elegant hand. "I know what friendship looks like between mortal men. A long time ago, I was mortal, too, you know." His smile became sly, muscle reattaching itself and reforming his mouth properly, skin creeping back up over his face slowly. "But then, it isn't so unusual that your younger self would be so attached to him, either-- I'm given to understand that the two of you were quite close when you were an adult."
He leaned in briefly, flicking the boy on the nose, tone turning teasing. "In fact.. I'd even venture to say that you were a touch obsessively protective, from what Zola tells me. Perhaps you were in love, hm?"
He chuckled, stepping around Gellert. "Wouldn't that be charming?"
Gellert stepped in front of Sanguini again, resolute and fearless. "You must've been mortal a long, long time ago then, if you've forgotten the difference between loving someone and being in love with them."
Gellert didn't believe that his older self was in love with Emrys. Emrys hadn't said anything about it. He'd talked about Hestia! And Albus. Besides, Emrys was celibate and Not A Threat. Gellert was sure of that.
The creeping health that spread over Sanguini and hid his bones from sight was unnerving on a tactical level. It only furthered Gellert's conviction that he'd need to strike hard and fast if he wanted to cripple Sanguini's ability to heal.
For a moment, he caught his lower lip between his teeth, biting down until it flushed red and then letting go, "I like people who are nice to me. Emrys falls under that category. And I protect people I like. Is it really so complicated for an immortal like you to understand?"
He made his tone a little mocking on the word 'immortal', then smiled suddenly, as bright as the sun at the height of noon, "And in Atlantis, everyone is immortal. You're nothing special anymore."
Smiling serenely, Sanguini finally simply.. picked the boy up, nails sharp and dangerous and strangely gentle against young skin as he rested the teenager in one preternaturally strong arm. "Don't be silly, Gellert," he chided, setting off toward the city's exit again, "I'm a vampire. That will never be common. Not enough of us survive for it to be normal, and those few of us who do.. well. Not all of my kind enjoy people being aware of what we are."
And then, abruptly, he lifted his free hand, offering up the back of it and the slender line of his wrist--for a real merlin, the firebird that Gellert had released circling slowly overhead. The flesh-and-blood bird stared unblinkingly at Gellert for several moments, then tilted its head curiously toward Sanguini. Clawed feet pricked marble-like skin before it spread its wings and hopped off, its proportions stretching out, feathers melting back into skin and clothing, dark waves spilling down its back-- leaving a highly annoyed looking Emrys behind.
He glared up at Sanguini, looking very much like a mouse confronting a lion, before jabbing a finger in the pale man's chest. "Now, see here-- you stop tormenting Gellert, it's rude." And then he glanced sharply toward the blond, pale eyes fierce. "And you-- young man, we have a lot to talk about. Most notably your tendency toward confronting people who currently outclass you." He helped as Sanguini slowly lowered the boy back to the ground, brows still drawn together (the only sign that he'd actually been worried). "Now what would you have done if this one had simply ripped you in two? You'd be a gods-damned mess."
Over their heads, Sanguini chuckled lightly, smoothing a hand over his hair-- the very picture of a charmer. "Sweet Emrys, you can't blame me for finding him rather.. cute."
Gellert had more sense than to kick Sanguini when he was picked up. He was tempted to. Very, very tempted to. However, Gellert was not stupid enough to try hitting someone who felt like they were made of solid marble.
That didn't stop him from mentally running through all the curses that he thought he'd still be capable of working in his weakened state.
When Emrys arrived, though -- and who else could be the merlin except Emrys? -- Gellert dropped all thoughts of that. He had to protect Emrys! Emrys had been lured into a trap because of him! He was bait! He was--
Being scolded?!
Okay, that was just unfair.
Pouting, he defended himself to Emrys, "I would be a gods-damned mess that eventually healed and tracked him down for revenge! And I was just trying to tell him to stop following you everywhere, that's all. He struck first!"
Gellert looked as innocent as he could, which wasn't very convincing even though in this case, he was actually telling the truth, "I was just defending myself. Enthusiastically."
He tried to step between Emrys and Sanguini even though he'd just had a display of the vampire's strength. His firebird soared back into him, and Gellert took strength from it, the effort of having to maintain it no longer draining his stores of magic. Steadying himself, the young blond looked up at Sanguini with narrowed eyes, his sky blue gaze vividly alive in a way that no walking corpse could mirror. "Cute or not, Emrys is under my protection."
"Gellert," Emrys sighed, and curled fingers in the back of the boy's shirt, tugging him back gently. "He isn't going to hurt me. And even if he did, don't you think I could handle him? You don't have to protect me from everyone, you know. I did it quite well on my own in my lifetime." Not that he expected such reasoning to work-- it hadn't with Gellert's older self, and thus far, it hadn't on his teenage self, either.
"Besides," Sanguini added in a purr, leaning closer and over Gellert to trace a finger delicately over one long, tangled lock of Emrys' hair, winding it around his nail and tugging gently, "this is an adult's game your Emrys and I are playing, little one." He waited for the delicate hitch of the smaller man's breath before releasing him, straightening again and casting a smile down at Gellert. "You don't understand the rules, yet."
This was ridiculous. Sanguini could just reach right over him, like he didn't even exist!
Gellert's hurt teenage pride made him tug away from Emrys, hands out of his pockets now, his wand curled loosely in the fingers of his left hand. It wasn't the Elder Wand; Gellert didn't even know that the Elder Wand was his to possess, nor where he had hidden it. But it was his wand, birch and Veela tendon, and it had served him well as long as Gellert had owned it.
It knew the spells that Gellert prefered; wood had long memories. Gellert held it like a surgeon held a scalpel or a Beater a club, with confidence and the ease that made it seem like an extension of one of his fingers.
His middle finger, perhaps. It was easy to imagine Gellert flipping off the world with his wand instead of his middle finger. It'd make a good poster for the rebellion of youth: Gellert, golden and laughing, flipping the world the bird with his wand, with his weapon, silhouetted against a dying sun so that the shadows curled around his feet like familiar pets, cats of black with tongues that tasted the magic which clung so thickly to him.
"I. Don't. Care." Gellert repeated, staring up at Sanguini unflinchingly, "He doesn't want you around. You're annoying him. I understand that and that's what's important."
If he had to duel Sanguini in front of Emrys to protect Emrys, he'd do it.
Even if he'd lose -- and weakened as he was, already tired, how could he win? But he was Gellert Grindelwald, so how could he lose?
"Gellert," Emrys began sharply, and thinned his mouth, giving Sanguini a sharp glance before stepping back and tugging Gellert with him. "It's fine, Gellert, honestly. I don't like being followed, and I'm not terribly fond of the way his aura affects me, but I don't dislike him personally." He curled his hands gently around Gellert's, gaze softening, turning a bit searching. "I'm okay. I'll be fine. Don't worry so."
Gellert twisted around a little so that he could look at Emrys but still keep a wary eye on Sanguini. "Well, I dislike him on your account because he's been told that you don't like it and he's continuing with it anyway and if he had any sense -- or any common courtesy -- he'd quit following you and get another hobby!"
Cue an aggravated look over his shoulder at Sanguini, even as Gellert moved closer to Emrys, still trying to block the other male with his body so that if Sanguini wanted to get to Emrys, he'd have to reach through Gellert.
Or, more likely and much easier, over Gellert.
Being a teenager really sucked at times.
"Take up woodwork!" Or Gellert would. Casting curses with his wand counted as woodwork, right?
Attention on Emrys again, he smiled at him, undamaged and not thinking about the wounds that were gouged into his wrists, so close to Emrys' hands, "Do you listen to me when I say not to worry about me? No. So I don't have to listen to you either! Hypocrite."
"I'm considerably older than you are, Gellert," Emrys pointed out dryly, though his eyes were beginning to look a touch unfocused. As if realising his own state, he made a tiny sound that seemed like a sigh, shaking his head. "Let's get home, shall we? I need to get you patched up, and then scold you properly for going after that rather silly young vampire you turned into ash." Another glance, this one knowing and not at all approving. "Yes, I know precisely what you did to him, Gellert. You should know that you can't hide anything from me by now." He wasn't his adult self, after all. The adult Gellert had hidden all sorts of things.
He stepped around the blond, then, offering Sanguini a polite bow, which the vampire responded to by grasping one of Emrys' work-roughened hands and tugging him in closer. He bent, then, murmuring something close to his ear, before pressing a brief, hungry kiss to the smaller man's mouth. Abruptly, he released Emrys and straightened, shooting Gellert a challenging glance. "I'm certain I'll see you soon, Gellert." And with a flutter of cloth, he was gone, darting away.
Sanguini was very, very lucky that he had disappeared so quickly.
For that matter, so was Gellert, because if Sanguini hadn't disappeared so quickly, Gellert would've surely attacked him for sexually assaulting Emrys. Because it was sexual assault, because Emrys was celibate, and Emrys wasn't like that, and -- and --
Gellert wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him and drag him into a Celtic temple and press him down against an altar and tear out his heart and kill him again. Cut him into pieces, stake those pieces on skewers and set them into pots of sand, like sticks of incense. Burn him and burn him and burn him.
Heat his hands over the fire that Sanguini's corpse would be.
He couldn't even say anything to Emrys. He couldn't find the capacity in him for words.
The anger in him -- it would've terrified him at any other time. It would've made him think of that woman and her babblings about the Dresden Massacre.
But it wasn't scary now. Gellert understood it.
He understood how you could love someone so well and so truly that when they were hurt, all that love was the wellspring for anger.
As you love, so shall you hate.
Gellert loved Emrys well indeed. And all that passion, all that trust and loyalty and protectiveness, twisted and turned around itself, a whirlwind maelstorm of rage unchecked and vicious-wild, seeking its target.
He'd never desired another's death so much before. When Gellert killed, he killed the same casualness that he cut apart corpses for dissection. There was no real emotion behind it.
But this...
This was anger.
His eyes were flat, focused on something no longer within his line of sight and they burned with the blue at the heart of a candle flame.
Sanguini had hurt Emrys.
Gellert's world narrowed to that fact.
Stunned for a few moments, Gellert's anger nevertheless snapped him very quickly out of his shock, and Emrys spun to face the youth. "Gellert," he breathed, and hurried forward, cupping his hands against the blond's face. "Gellert, look at me. Look at me. I'm okay. It was just a kiss, Gellert." Just a kiss, and certainly not one so unpleasant as some he'd experienced.
For a brief moment, he thought of Vortigern, and had to banish that thought to keep his own anger down. Mithras, how he'd hated that bastard and his smug self-assurance.
He released Gellert abruptly, then, as if realising his touch might not be appreciated, sun-darkened hands falling loose and open at his sides, as if uncertain what to do with them now. "He didn't hurt me. Please don't be upset."
Anger scorched through Gellert's skin like it had replaced his blood, a second layer of protection between him and the world. He was barely aware of the hands that touched him, Emrys' long fingers and delicate palm not registering except as being not-Sanguini. Not his target.
Other, different, vulnerable, weak -- his friend. His to protect.
But not Sanguini.
And there were words and they didn't make any sense. They sounded like static. buzzing around his ears, and Gellert couldn't focus on them. He wanted to kill Sanguini. He wanted to kill Sanguini.
And Sanguni wasn't there so obviously, he'd have to hunt him down.
Gellert could do that.
Anger had a power all of its own. Gellert didn't feel any fatigue, rage coursing through him and strengthening him with a single-minded obsessive power.
Emrys knew how to get through to Gellert. It probably wasn't a good idea-- in fact, it was probably an awful idea, and Gellert would probably feel guilty afterward. But it was a better alternative than letting him go after a vampire in the state he was currently in. It was with that thought that he stepped directly into Gellert's aura again. He lifted his hands, pain registering somewhere in the back of his mind as he watched the acidic flaring of the youth's anger eat away at the skin of his palms, fingers, forearms.
"Gellert," he said calmly, "you have to calm down. You're hurting me."
"No." That was wrong. Gellert couldn't be hurting Emrys. He was protecting him. He was--
The red wash of rage hued the landscape a single color, but the white bone of Emrys' fingers showed as lines of snow against all the red, something clean in a blood-soaked world.
He was hurting Emrys.
The shock killed his anger, cold water splashing over him and through him. He stumbled back a step, instinct pushing him to get away from Emrys so that Emrys wouldn't be within the range of Gellert's poisonous aura.
As soon as the anger died, Emrys grabbed Gellert, not allowing him to escape from him. He curled his arms around the boy's shoulders, pulling him in against his chest in a hug. "Gellert, shh-- I'm sorry, I didn't know how else to get through to you." He couldn't feel his fingers anymore; it would probably take a while for everything to grow back. He supposed that he could go see Scorpius or Teddy about them. "I'm okay. It's okay." He reached up, brushing his knuckles (the undamaged ones) across Gellert's cheek. "Are you okay?"
"Me?! I'm fine." Scratches on his wrist and throat. Sanguini's saliva an intrustion inside the wounds. Bruises forming where Sanguini had held him too tightly. Disippated energy stores from using so much magic all at once.
And none of that mattered because he had hurt Emrys.
He had hurt him.
That mattered more than the fact that Emrys was suddenly touching him (Gellert hated touch, hated being trapped in hugs, hated any sort of physical contact he didn't initiate -- but this was new, this wasn't something he'd had before Rissa had dragged herself all over him). Because Emrys was hurt and Sanguini had hurt him and then Gellert had hurt him more.
Gellert didn't know what had happened to Emrys when he was twelve. He didn't remember the startling anger on Emrys' behalf.
This was worse. He'd seen it happen and hadn't been able to do anything.
"You--" A frustrated sound, and Gellert wrapped his arms around Emrys' shoulders as well, pulling him close in the tightest, most protective hug he had to offer, "You're the one he hurt. I'm sorry."
He'd promised to defend Emrys. He hadn't. He hurt him instead.
Sighing softly, Emrys smoothed blond curls back from the young face, offering a quiet, affectionate smile. "He didn't hurt me, Bratling," he reassured the teenager. "It was a kiss. If it had offended or harmed me, I would've turned him to ash, myself." He shook his head, flattening his palms against Gellert's shoulders and pushing away just enough for the boy to really see him, and know he was telling the truth. "I'm okay, I promise. I was just worried about you."
"You said vampires mess with your abilities." Gellert reminded Emrys, guilt and foiled protectiveness twisting low in his stomach, almost painfully reminding him that despite his words, he hadn't carried through with them. "And he was saying all sorts of weird things about temptation and --"
What had Sanguini said? Gellert couldn't even properly remember, and that was frightening in a way because his memory was usually perfect.
"Stuff." He finished vaguely.
Eyes a little dark, he unwrapped one arm and reached up to Emrys' mouth, dragging the back of his hand over the other male's mouth, wiping the kiss away for him. "He shouldn't have kissed you. You already said that you don't like him hanging around."
Startling a bit at the surprisingly intimate contact, Emrys blinked, then pressed his lips together into a thin line. "He's just.. doing what's in his nature. I don't hold that against him. But--" He held up a finger, brows arching. "Gellert, whatever arguments he and I may have with one another, they're between the two of us. I can handle myself. I have against kings, generals, and gods. One nightwalker isn't going to ruin me." His mouth quirked again, then, into a quiet smile. "Now-- stop feeling guilty and let's get you home."
"It's not just between the two of you." Gellert shook his head, convinced of that, and took Emrys' hand. He laced his fingers with Emrys', trying to make a point, then leaned in and twisted their wrists around so that the back of Emrys' hand rested against Gellert's robes, and Gellert could feel Emrys' heartbeat against the back of his own hand. "I'm your friend. If he's bothering you, he's bothering me. And you step in when I get into fights, so of course I'm going to do the same."
One of his typical, mischevious grins and Gellert deadpannned, "It's all your fault for being such a bad influence, Emrys. I'm just imitating you. Monkey see, monkey do."
Which reminded him... "Everyone else is getting pets! Can we get a monkey?"
Silent for several moments as he stared down at their hands--young and unmarred against sun-dark, scarred and burned--Emrys finally sighed and glanced up again. "Gellert, it isn't so--"
The mention of pets cut him off, though, and he was caught off-guard by the desire for a monkey. "We already have a kneazle, an elephant, and a feathered snake, Gellert, you can't possibly want a monkey." 'We'. It came so easily. But then, it was no surprise, really--after all, Gellert had all but lived with Emrys even when he'd been adult. Emrys' home was as much the blond's as it was his own.
"What would you do with one, anyway?"
"I'd name it after you!" Gellert's response was instant and blithe, the boy not even thinking about the fact that Emrys was acting like a parent or possibly a slightly bemused older brother. They shared a home and Emrys took care of him and Gellert tried to protect him in exchange. "And then I could dress it up and let it play with my wand until it figured out how to use it and do magic and stuff! It could be an attack monkey!"
He didn't let go of Emrys' hand. The feel of Emrys' heartbeat was somehow reassuring.
Gellert still didn't like knowing that Sanguini had so easily evaded him to kiss Emrys; he didn't like that he had been so useless.
Rolling his eyes, Emrys stepped away, tugging Gellert gently along with him. "No monkeys," he stated, finality in the tone of his voice. "You're monkey enough for anyone." Oh, how true that was. Gellert was constantly getting himself into trouble, off adventuring, and talking to people he probably shouldn't have. Sometimes, Emrys was hard-pressed to keep up.
"But I don't have fur or a prehensile tail or chatter endearingly!" Gellert argued, following after Emrys willingly enough. He paused for a moment to consider his statement, then amended it, "Well, maybe I chatter. Endearingly and annoying. But I'm not covered in fur and I don't have a tail either! And I'm much bigger than a monkey!"
He tried to think of any other differences between himself and monkey. Hm. What else did he know about monkeys? Oh!
"And I don't masturbate in public!"
Choking a bit as he tried not to laugh, Emrys rolled his eyes. "Sweet Lady, Gellert-- I know you like to shock people, but I would hope you'd never go quite that far." A pause, and he glanced back. "No monkey."
Awww, Emrys hadn't laughed! Gellert had wanted to make Emrys laugh and cheer him up a little to make up for Sanguini's -- attack? Assault?
Something.
A toss of his curls and Gellert widened his eyes, putting his hands together under his chin and poking his lower lip out just a little, making it tremble artfully, "Please, Emrys? I'll love you forever and ever and never ever make fun of you for being smaller than a sand grain again."
Squawking indignantly, Emrys punched the boy gently in the shoulder, mock-sulking. "Now you're really not getting a monkey."
"You are the meanest person on the whole island, Emrys." Gellert mock-sulked as well, making up his mind to get a monkey anyway. Emrys wouldn't actually make him give it back once Emrys saw it! Who could resist a fluffy bundle of fur with a tail and tiny cute paws?
"Yes, I am," the dark-haired man admitted serenely, "and I know how your mind works, so don't even think about it." He turned, then, patting the blond's cheek. "All right, off to home with you. You apparated here, so apparate back and I'll be along shortly."