Crushed Rubies 4/?

[konishi-zen.livejournal.com]

I apologize for the weird posting, I'm not quite proficient at this just yet.

I also want to state that the New York mentioned here is the one in my head. I live in Deadmonton, elouisa's in the UK and we've  never been to New York, so it's gonna be the one in my and elouisa's head that you read about, okay? Besides, we think it's funner.

Crushed Rubies, Part 4

Authors: elouisa and konishi_zen

Warnings: AU, Supernatural beasties, RPS, references to violence and drug-use. I'd also say the rating's like 14M.

Disclaimer: Only the prose is mine. I don't make claims on these people. Or the songs.

Pairing: Daisy/Billy (slightly..look. Just read it) hints of past Seanb/Billy, hints of Dom/Lij.

Summary: Part 4: Billy and Dom come home to separate lives...and problems.

Archiving/Feedback: Sure thing on both counts, let us know though, ok?

Posted: on monaboyd and x-posted to fellow_shippers

Previous parts can be found here:

Prologue

1

2

3

After wiping the tears away roughly, Billy took a deep breath and pushed everything in, not acknowledging either his physical or mental pain. There would be time to deal with both. For now, survival was the order of the day.

 Having made up his mind, Billy forced himself to walk, despite feeling like he was going to curl up and die.

“You will if you don’t move!” the pragmatic voice in his head hissed when he contemplated just falling on the ground and staying there until the sun went down.

It was a foolish idea, he knew that all too well. Maybe if he didn’t have that tight ache in his chest after seeing Dom leave, he probably wouldn’t have even contemplated just dropping down on the sidewalk and consequences be damned.

He moved slowly and painfully, his walk occasionally punctuated with stumbles; making him look as if he was just coming home from the bars after having had one too many.

Although he hated being so unco-ordinated, he had to admit that it was a perfect disguise and would keep people from paying too much attention to him lest he got even worse before he made it to the building.

After much stumbling about, and occasionally crashing into several people, he finally reached his destination.

Normally, he would take his time outside of the building, since it was a pretty impressive structure, with architecture dating from the 1930's Art Deco movement.

He loved to study the way that the pieces fit together and could almost imagine the way that the city must have been in those years.

But today, he literally flew into the building and up the stairs, not stopping until he had reached his door.

He fumbled about for the keys, nearly bent over double as the pain moved from his head down to his stomach. Luckily, he got the right one right away and practically fell into his flat.

He lay there for several minutes, panting heavily; until the paroxysms of pain wracking his body subsided somewhat to allow him to drag himself into the foyer and shut the door with his foot.

He closed his eyes and kneaded the rug under his over-heated cheek with his fingers as he debated whether it would be worth the effort to crawl to his bedroom; or to simply sleep in his foyer until dusk fell.

He raised his hand in a weak attempt at crawling, but knew he wasn’t going to get very far when it just fell back on the rug.

“Fuck it.” he mumbled, closing his eyes and settling in for the day.
He was just drifting off into the edges of sleep when the door flew open and hit his left foot.

“Bills?” Billy opened one eye looked over his shoulder at Dave, who was standing in the doorway looking down at him with a confused look on his face.

“What the hell are you doing there?”

“I’ve slept on practically every other available horizontal surface in the flat. So I figured I should give the foyer a try this time around. Tomorrow I may try the counter and see how I like it.”

“Ha fucken ha. Seriously. What’s the deal?” Dave asked, kneeling down to look in Billy’s eyes.

“Timing got fucked up.” Billy replied, wincing when a sharp pain shot through his temple.

Dave’s eyes darkened at this.

“When was the last time you fed?” he asked before hauling Billy to a sitting position as carefully as he could. He hadn’t ever mistimed his trips, but he had heard how painful those times could be, hence his gentleness.

“Last evening.” Billy whispered, clinging to Dave as more waves of pain wracked his body.

Dave bit his lip. This was not the answer that he was expecting from Billy.

“You have any in the fridge?” he asked as he fluidly hauled both of them to their feet and held Billy against his chest to ease the shakes currently running their course.

“I forgot to get any...I thought I would be in early enough.”

Dave hissed through his teeth.

“What the hell does it matter anyways? I’m gonna go to sleep anyways. It’ll be over when I wake up again.”

Billy slurred, while his hand absently traced circles in the slippery fabric of Dave’s black shirt.

Dave sighed at Billy’s words.

“No Bills.”

Billy’s brow wrinkled.

“Why the bloody fuck not?”

“Sean wants to see you.” Dave replied quietly.

Billy pulled away from him, his eyes blinking owlishly at his friend.

“What? Why? I just got back! Can’t he let me sleep?”

Dave grimaced as Billy’s Glaswegian accent got thicker with each word he spoke, nearly making him unintelligible.

“‘M sorry, Bills. He told me to fetch you as soon as you got in. He’s been waiting for you.”

Billy swore a couple of times in Gaelic before he looked away from Dave.

He couldn’t blame Dave. It wasn’t as if he could go against Sean.

Everyone knew that it was akin to suicide to disregard one of their de-facto leader’s orders.

He was allowed to occasionally push the envelope, but even he was careful not to over-step his boundaries and piss him off. Sure they were friends, kinsmen and occasional lovers, but Sean was a leader before anything else and he didn’t tolerate insubordination in any measure.

He was sorely tempted to tell Sean where to go and bury himself, but by the slightly frantic tinge in Dave’s voice; he knew his friend would be the one to pay for his childish behaviour.

“Why me?” He muttered, rubbing fiercely at his reddened eyes to ease the prickling sting of the morning.

“Awright. Awright.”he muttered as he walked up to a visibly relieved Dave.

“Do you have anything at your flat?”

Dave shook his head and instead pulled up the sleeve of his leather jacket and shirt up to reveal a delicately veined wrist.

Billy’s teeth started to elongate as soon as he saw the veins under Dave’s skin, but he refused to taste them.

“You don’t have to do this, Dave. Can’t you get anything from Karl or Miranda?”

Dave shook his head and a frantic glint appeared in his silvery blue eyes.

“It’d take too much time to wake them to get it. Bills, just take it. It’s not gonna hurt me any. Besides, I can feed later on.”

Dave assured him before bringing his wrist up to his mouth and ripping it open.

“Are we hunting tonight then?”

Billy whispered as he delicately took a hold of Dave’s bleeding arm and brought it to his lips.

“I don’t know about us, but I know they are.”

Billy wasn’t listening by that point. Dave’s blood was calling to every single atom of his being. The scent of it filled his nostrils and his body became still at the advent of nourishment.

“Ah.” he let out a small sight of contentment before clamping his mouth over the wound with such savage ferocity that Dave was brought down to his knees.

~*~*~*~*~*
“You don’t have to come with me, Dave. I do know where Sean lives.”

Billy told the other man as they walked down the stairs to the second floor where Sean chose to live.

“Mmm.” was all the reply Dave gave him, making Billy grind his teeth in frustration before stopping sharply on the stairs, making the taller man stumble into his back and nearly fall over him.

Billy grabbed him quickly and pulled him down to so that they were at the same eye-level.

“What did he say to you Dave?” Billy asked in a low voice.

Dave’s eyes darted back and forth as if looking for an escape, a gesture left over from the time he had been their target.

Seeing that nervous gesture made Billy want to howl in frustration. If Dave was acting this neurotic, something extremely important must have happened.

Dave didn’t answer and his eyes continued their frantic search.

“Dave. Look at me. Dave. Look at me.”

He infused a growl in his voice, knowing from experience that was the only way to make Dave calm down enough to get some sense out of him.

Or into him.

It must have worked, since Dave’s eyes finally stilled and he was staring at him.

“What did Sean say to you?”

“He told me to make sure you came to him or else he’d make me go to Orlando permanently.”

Billy’s mouth went dry at that, but his shock was quickly dispersed by the small flame of anger curling up in his stomach at Sean’s presumption.

He chewed on his lip thoughtfully before absentmindedly patting Dave’s head before releasing him.

“Lead the way, Dave.” was all he told his friend, who gave him a tiny glance of relief before doing as he was told.

They walked down the rest of the stairs and entered the quiet second floor, not stopping until they reached the last door tucked away in the darkest and farthest corner of the level.

Dave gave Billy a weak grin as he raised his hand to knock...

At air, since the door swung open to reveal the somewhat lupine face of Sean.

“About fucken time.” Sean practically snarled at Dave, who stepped back against the wall as if wishing he could blend into it.

“Knock it off.” Billy said in a quiet voice, his eyes turning a pure honey yellow as he glared at Sean.

“Fine.” he replied before turning away from the open door and wandering inside.

Billy shook his head and turned to Dave.

“Are you going to be around tonight?”

Dave shook his head, not trusting himself to speak when the door was open and there was a chance Sean could be listening to them.

“Come here.” Dave stepped away from the wall and did as he was told, not quite sure what to expect to happen.

Billy pulled him down and embraced him tightly, nipping slightly at his ear as he did so.

Dave jerked a bit, but Billy wasn’t letting him go before he spoke.

“Get some sleep. Go and hunt. Don’t worry about them. I’ll handle them.”

Dave gave no hint he had heard Billy and simply let him go before taking off to the third floor they shared.

Billy stepped into Sean’s flat and closed the door behind him and headed off into the living room where he expected Sean to be waiting.

Sure enough, Sean was sitting on his fairly utilitarian blue couch, a glass of what looked like red wine in his hand as he stared at the black-shrouded window to his left.

Billy sat down on the love-seat and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he waited for his Elder to speak.

But after waiting for several minutes in silence, Billy decided enough had been enough.

“What. The. Hell. Is. It. You. Want?”

“Don’t talk to me as if I was that foolish child, William.” Sean replied, careful to add the emphasis to Billy’s name.

“He’s not, awright. So quit picking on him. He’s got enough shit to deal with, being the go-between.” Billy snapped.

Sean turned his head at the snipe and stared at Billy.

“If he can’t handle that simple duty, he deserves anything he gets. You know there’s no room for the weak.” Sean chided him.

Billy rubbed his eyes and sighed.

“Look, Sean. Just leave him alone, awright. He’s still extremely young compared to you, Viggo and Orlando; so of course he’s gonna be weak. He’s also fresh meat for Orlando’s appetites, especially if me, Karl and Miranda are the only ones backing him up and everyone knows that. So just..quit it.”

Billy’s voice trailed off into tired silence after that last statement.

“Ah kno why yoo do it.”

“I know you do. I never thought you were stupid, William. And I’m sure you know what to do if you don’t want your precious David harmed.” Sean replied caustically.

Billy looked up at Sean’s slightly feral eyes, which had gone a liquid emerald green, like the eyes of a panther.

“Ah came back, didn’t ah?”

“I know you did. I also know you seduced a mortal before you came here.”
Billy shrugged.

“It’s not like I’m gonna run away with him and have three children, a house and a yard with a white picket fence.”

Billy replied in an earlier echo of Sean’s own caustic reply.

“I know. Not when they’re acting up again.”

Billy pushed away his irritation with his Elder and sat up straight.

“What are they doing now?” he asked. Despite their somewhat tense relationship, Billy and Sean could and often did push their animosity aside when it came to important things. Like dealing with the erst-while half of their coven.

“The usual. Except they turned it up a notch. Here.”

Sean replied, tossing him a newspaper that had been lying next to him.

“Second Boy Found In Parkade.” the headline is followed by a crime scene picture, a column of text and the victim’s picture.

The boy couldn’t have been more than fourteen, Billy guesses as he studies the picture. It was a school picture, he can tell by the fake sky background, the too formal clothes and the glossy, combed back black hair from a serious face more used to smiling; if the small grin being futilely held back are anything to go by.

“New York- Police are baffled by the discovery of yet another body in Lincoln Parkade, which bears the same marks of torture as the previous boy.  So far, there have been no solid clues or leads for NYPD to follow.
The latest victim, fourteen year old Andrew Micklenton....”

“Shit.” Billy whispers once he had read the first few lines of the article.

“That’s an understatement.” Sean replied, sitting back and taking a sip from his glass.

“So what do you propose we do? Have an all out war?”

Sean glowers at him.

“If it comes down to that, yes.”

“That’s why you keep me here on a leash?”

“Who else can I rely on if we do end up in a war?  You said it yourself, Dave isn’t as strong as Orlando, Viggo or me. Miranda’s barely more than a child and you know Karl can’t leave her alone. You’re the only one that even comes close to being my equal.”

“But aren’t Miranda and Karl your trump against Viggo?”

Sean smiled bleakly at Billy.

“They only have value if he cared for them. Tell me, if you truly shut yourself off, would you care if I handed Dave to Orlando on a silver platter?”

Billy winched at the question.

“I suppose not.”

“Exactly. I’m sure Viggo’s too jaded and too apathetic to even recall what their names are if we presented them to him.”

Billy nodded.

“So it’s not like we’d have to worry about him jumping into a war then.”

“He’s always been unpredictable. I wouldn’t lay a bet on it.”

“So...” Billy licked his lips as he processed the conversation.

“Are we going to war then?”

Sean frowned.

“Not yet. But be ready for it. Miranda said something’s going to happen. And soon.”

Billy’s face turned paler at the mention of Miranda.

He had seen her break the neck of a man with those dainty little hands and calmly go about picking flowers all in the space of two seconds. Sure they all doted on her, but they were also wary of her and her moods as well as some of her eccentricities.

“Awright. I’m going to bed, unless there’s anything else?”

Sean shook his head.

“I’ll see myself out then.”

Sean nodded, his eyes fixed on the newspaper Billy had left on the love-seat.

He had reached the door when Sean called out to him in a soft voice, making him come back.

“William...”

Billy stood by the entrance of the door and waited until Sean spoke.
“I’m sorry things have to be this way.”

Billy nodded, and for a fleeting moment, thought about Dominic and his child-like enthusiasm and the way that his body tasted underneath his tongue and hands.

He knows it’s the closest Sean can get to having any kind of tender emotion, so he only nodded.

“I know it is.”
~*~*~*~*~*~

Dominic winced as a shaft of sunlight hit him square in the eyes and he finds himself wishing for rain or clouds just this once.

He was tired, hungry and missing Billy something awful. If he could get a bed and something to eat, he’d be able to deal with the ache in his fucken chest.

He paused briefly in his walking and patted his back-pocket to make sure the slip of paper was still there.

After having felt the familiar outline of the paper, he grinned a bit before hoisting his bag higher on his shoulder and continuing his walk to Elijah’s flat.

He had known not to expect a grand building, but he had to admit that Elijah’s building was a tad disappointing.

Although it was semi-clean, it had an air of seediness about it that was unique to places that had seen better days.

“Please, please...” Dom prayed as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the number he had hastily scribbled Lij’s address.

He checked it. And re-checked it, but as much as he wished, the numbers remained the same.

“Damn you Lij.’ He muttered as he finally gave up hope and climbed up the stairs.

He paused at the front door and searched the intercom buttons until he finds “Wood, E.” close to the bottom.

Snickering a bit to himself, he pushed the button and waited.

And pushed it again. And again.

He had his hand ready to push it when he heard a staticky “‘lo?”

“It’s Dom! Open the fucken door up you twat!”

“Fuck you...Oh my..’od! DOM!”

The girlish squeal is followed by a nearly deafening buzz that sounded like a Canada Goose being strangled to Dom, who winced again as he opened the door and let himself into the building.

Only to be practically strangled by an ecstatic Lij, who jumped on him and treats him to the sloppiest, saliva-swapping, open-mouthed kiss Dom had ever experienced up to that point in his life.

“How’s that for a greeting?” Lij asked once he pulled away from Dom.

“Wet.” Dom replied. “I take it you’re glad to see me?”

Elijah nodded, his head bouncing up and down so fast that it made Dom dizzy.

“Did you miss me?” Elijah asked, his words coming out so fast that Dom had to strain to make sense of them.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, would I?”

Elijah shook his head and whipped Dom in the face with his longish, somewhat scraggly hair that smelled like a mixture of pot, Dove shampoo and another acrid, sickly sweet smell Dom doesn’t recognize. Even though it’s not an unpleasant medley of scents, Dom finds himself longing for Billy’s fresh, clean scent and the ache in his chest deepened.

“So are you gonna get off of me or what?” Dom asked him as he tried to push the pang of longing away and focus on settling in with Lij.

“Huh? Oh yeah! Sure! My flat’s up this way!” Lij replies, his voice going a tad squeaky as he blurs his words together before jumping away from Dom and running up the stairs so fast that make Dom question whether he actually did see Lij move.

“Yeah. Okay man! Just wait up a bit!” Dom calls up as he made his way up the stairs and to the second floor, where Lij was waiting at the second door, his body practically vibrating as he made a very weak effort to stand still.

“Come on!” Lij cried out, before reaching out and literally yanking Dom into the flat.

The flat was a bachelor suite, but big enough to house both of them and despite the way the building looked outside, it was in fairly good condition, despite the heaps of books, clothes, cd’s and records lying about all over the poster decorated living room.

“Still haven’t figured out how to clean house, Lij?” Dom teased the younger man.

“I was busy, allright?” Lij defends himself as Dom stepped in further and dropped his bag on the coffee table that looked suspiciously powdery to him.

He bit his lip and looked up at Lij. Really looked at him.

Lij had always been pale, but his skin looked like it was translucent under the lights. His eyes looked huge in his thin, wasted face and the hollows underneath them looked like they had been etched in.

The body was too gawky. Too thin and immature looking for someone Lij’s age. If he was any thinner, he’d be in the hospital and Dom wondered at how he missed feeling bone and skin when Lij had been in his arms.

He opened his mouth, but changed his mind when Lij’s expression clouded over slightly.

He knew how much Lij hated being ragged on about his drug use and he wasn’t about to get on his mate’s shit-list so early in the morning.

So even though he was hating himself for it, he decided not to say anything until things had been settled and they could move on with their new lives.

He forced himself to give Lij a smile before he ran his hands through his hair.

“Great. So where do I sleep?”

Lij’s face lit up quickly and Dom thanked his lucky stars that things had blown over. Everything was gonna be okay. Just like old times.

“But for how long?” his mind asked.

Dom didn’t reply.

End Part 4.