Chapter 23: Come to terms with it, dearest.

Edwin was trying to feel the present moment. He tried, really tried; to respond to the kiss Damon had sneaked on him as Edwin was staring out of the window. He tried because Damon was the only person in his turbulent afterlife who had treated him with kindness.

He tried, darn it all. His tongue was trying to dance with Damon's, his hands were in soft brown locks.

Snowstorm eyes were flashing before his eyes. The memory of how Orion had looked with a chain around his neck, before it turned into a necklace, threatened to drive him over the edge of madness.

Edwin wanted…

What did he want?

"Love?" When had Damon stopped kissing him? Edwin blinked, licked his lips, leaned into the man. Was he drunk? Could he get drunk on the mere feeling of having Orion bound to him?

"Oh," Damon said, his eyes gazing in Edwin's blue ones. "You would have liked it better, if he were the one kissing you?"

Edwin breathed in then out. It did not help him any. He still saw fiery gray eyes before his own. He still wanted to run his hands through soft black locks.

Would they be soft, though? Orion did not seem like the type to use hair products. He was a brute, and not only that, but he did not care…

"We can go to him if you'd like. I am sure that Seraphin would gladly take us to his home," there was no hate in those words. Just understanding, spiced with a note of regret.

Edwin blinked. How was he going to explain to Damon that being a vampire was not enough? How could he break the man's heart like that?

"It is just that…" Edwin did not know what to say. He felt so, as if he wanted to fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness. Why was he so rotten as to not accept Damon's love?

Why did he keep on seeing gray eyes before his own?

"And he will need the help, besides," Damon took Edwin's hand, kissed the knuckles with a soft smile on his lips. "It is just what soulmates do, my sweet."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Edwin whipped around, for he could never mistake that voice for anyone else's. He did not know why, but his heart skipped a beat.

It should have done it out of fear, he knew. Orion was covered in blood and had something that looked like entrails in his hair.

The only thing Edwin could note were those snowstorm eyes, which were eyeing him so, as if he were a curious bug. A bug the demon wanted to step on.

"If you want me, my lady, then say so!"

Edwin did not want the demon.

 He wanted to see him, speak with him, hold him.

But he did not want him so, as he was.

"Orion, what have you done? Attacked a goblin settlement, or something like that?" Damon asked, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

Oh, he had known that romancing Edwin now, that the man had bonded Orion to himself, was a lost cause. Not that he had told Edwin exactly what he had bonded with the demon, no.

Why should he? It would have killed off the slight attraction the Lich felt for him in the bud.

Besides, Damon had always wondered how it would feel like to become one with Orion. The man liked him well enough but had never considered him as more than someone who was on friendly terms with him and did the occasional deal with him.

"No, imps," Orion countered, as he made a couple of sure steps towards the love seat, which the two lovers were sharing. As soon as he was before Edwin, he placed two fingers under the man's chin and forced him to look up. "And you, my lady, think too loudly."

Edwin gulped. Oh, of course Orion would be able to read his thoughts. Why not? They were bonded, were they not?

"I…" Edwin did not want to come to terms with what he was going through. 

The only thing he wanted was a kiss. Just one. But not the way Orion was now. Covered in blood, with body parts stuck in his hair.

"Oh, my lady love," Edwin did not know if he was imagining it, or if Orion really had said that nickname of his without mocking. He leaned in, his hands reached out and rested around Orion's arm. "If you want something, you have to take it."

Edwin nodded, not even knowing why.

"You agree?" Orion asked, leaning in. The stench of blood and something which Edwin did not want to consider filled his nostrils.

Yet, he did not move away.

"Yes," Edwin was out of breath. His heart was beating too fast.

What if it stopped again?

"Hm… then why don't you come with me? I can teach you how to make runes, you can doodle the entire day long, and I can actually fight my way to your mother."

It was spoken softly. Just like Orion used to speak, back then, as Edwin had been still alive. That had not ended well. Edwin knew that he had to be careful, oh, he knew it with the entirety of his being.

He still ended up leaning in, his lips pressing against Orion's bloodstained ones.

This time, he lost himself. His eyes closed shut of their own accord, his mouth opened without prompting.

It was their second kiss. The first had tasted like death, Edwin was sure. How could it not, when it was stolen from a corpse?

The second tasted of mint and blood.

He felt himself being lifted up. Felt as Damon slowly let him go, only to smirk at him. He did not know why he was this calm, but as Orion scooped him up bridal style, and he felt something like a tug at his navel, he knew that there was no going back.

Edwin's back hit soft sheets, and he tried to relax. He knew, logically, that he should not allow Orion to take off his robes. He knew that letting Orion's fingers inside him was a bad idea.

He still rocked his hips, still gripped Orion with all that he had.

And when his mouth was finally released from the kiss, he let out a moan.

Orion did not need any other permission.

For the first time in forever, he could feel it. The heat the mortals lost their minds over. The tightness, the warmth. He had no smart comments, had to concentrate on going slowly, for he was pretty sure that if he messed it up now, he would never get a second chance.

He did not care to stop when he felt something warm spill on his stomach. The ice demon did not give Edwin any rest, even when the man started gasping for breath.

He rocked them both. Slowly, burying himself deeper and deeper with each trust.

When he finally spilled himself in his soulmate, he captured the man's lips once more. The taste of toothpaste he hated so much was not what he tasted.

No, he tasted something sharp and spicy, something that made him wide awake.

"Orion," Edwin breathed out, as the kiss ended. Orion ran a hand through the long curly locks, smiled down at his prey. He wanted for Edwin to start to delude himself that things had changed between them. Wanted to keep him in his spiderweb of masks and shadows. "Orion, please…"

"Yes, my lady?" He said, not helping himself. The haze Edwin was in was blown away by the nickname. Blue eyes locked into gray. 

Searching, judging.

Edwin pressed a hand against Orion's chest, pushed him to the side.

"You will never change, will you?" Edwin murmured, as he took a blanket to cover himself with.

"Well," Orion took a hold of the blanket as well, tugged it to himself. He wanted to feast his eyes on his lover's naked form. To trace every curve, to feel soft skin, covered in a layer of fine and clean sweat. "Is that so bad?"

Edwin chuckled; Orion blinked. He had not expected that. The Edwin from a couple of hours ago would have given him some pity-party sob story about how Orion did not deserve him, he knew.

This Edwin just pressed their foreheads together, and put the blanket around them both. Orion did not know from where the warmth had come from. The blanket was so thin, it could not warm anything. Much less an ice demon.

"You will never let me go, will you?" Edwin asked, as he snuggled into Orion. Oh, Orion had had sex before, but such things as cuddling were not in the cards for him.

He had killed lovers because of that, in the past. Had not felt anything during the act, and the sugary sweetness after had annoyed him.

But now, as Edwin pressed his nose against Orion's neck, the ice demon could not help but feel calmer. Could not help but think that Edwin's hair felt like silk under his chin.

That Edwin fit perfectly in his arms. That he belonged there.

"No," Orion replied, as he closed his eyes.

He was lost, damned, and at Edwin's mercy.

Orion still fell into a peaceful slumber, not caring one bit. Edwin's soft puffs of breath lulling him into a state of being he had never been in before.