Healer's Heart
Section 2
by
Ann Marie Olson
Story © 2002 Ann
Marie Olson
Chapter 5
Dimitri tried to evict the small creatures who'd decided his mouth was the perfect den. However, from the taste, they'd all died six months ago. He must have suffered transfer last night. He reached deep within himself and found it was only ten in the evening.
"What?" He rubbed at his eyes, trying to clean some of the worst of the crud out of them. Mitka fell off his chest to land with a thump on the floor. The room around him was chill and smelled of a long dead fire. The walls were a dark blur outside his ability to see clearly.
With a thump of his own, he put his feet on the floor. At least the rugs took the chill off. Dimitri blinked as a second blanket, one he he'd only seen on the couch slithered off him, rustling as loudly as Mitka's scales. He hated being hungover. Particularly as he'd never had the experience of being drunk.
Limping heavily, he staggered to the bathroom. He didn't look any better in the mirror. Why had everyone let him sleep so long? It had been, he consulted his time sense, eleven in the morning, when he'd fallen asleep? He shook his head, groaning as it tried to fall off.
Arkay had been wonderfully kind to leave a small bottle of jarli in the medicine cabinet. It went down without a quibble, nesting comfortably in his stomach. The warm buzz of jarli settled the worst of his hangover nicely. Dimitri scrubbed at his teeth with the corner of a towel. It was the best he could do without a brush.
"At least I don't have to brush my hair." It was so short his fingers did the job nicely. He fluffed it all up so it stood straight. Dimitri limped back into the other room and only now noticed the bottle of oil on the cold hearth.
His nameless benefactor must have seen the scar on his leg. How much else had he seen? Dimitri tugged the robe around him better. He wasn't normally body shy, but he wasn't too sanguine about someone staring at him in his sleep. Mitka looked like a slut when he slept and Dimitri figured he probably didn't look a whole lot better.
He sat in the chair and opened the bottle. Recognizing the scent of pennyroyal and lavender, he smiled. Someone had the same taste in massage oil he did. After warming it in his hands, he worked it into the scar on his leg. The sharp scent must have been enough to wake Mitka out of his second doze and he clawed his way up the side of the chair into Dimitri's lap. He'd only used his claws on Dimitri once, at least by accident.
"Smells good." He sniffed at Dimitri's leg. "Why can't you heal it?"
"Because I can't do anything about the damaged nerves." He sighed, rubbing the oil in deeper. The sharp bite of the mint cooled the ache while the clove base warmed the skin. It felt wonderful. Dimitri finally rubbed all the hair the right direction. Just for balance, he rubbed the oil off on his other shin.
A blur of white caught his eye on top of another blur which he recognized as his luggage. "Good," he got his shirt, no longer limping, and pulled out his glasses. With them he could see he was in a huge room with a big central fireplace. He blinked at the light coming in the far windows. "When is it?" There was nothing like a clock in sight.
He tried the door. It was locked! Suddenly frantic, he yanked at it with all his might. It held. Mitka flew up to him with a great thumping of wings against the air. His landing on Dimitri's shoulder nearly threw him into the door.
"I can fix." He snaked his head down and peered into the keyhole with one eye first, then the other. With one claw, he fiddled with the tumblers. Dimitri tried not to breathe and jar him. He slithered down Dimitri's front and sat in front of the door. Where was everyone? They should have heard his slam against the door. Mitka's tongue flicked out, but before he could pick the lock, the knob turned.
Dimitri blinked at his benefactor. "Good morning." Darya looked as rumpled as he felt. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
"I fell asleep too." She still held her knitting in one hand, crumpled. She handed it to him.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" He was careful not to let any of the stitches slip off. Particularly when Mitka poked it with his nose. It had become much harder to knit since Mitka'd been born. He tried to help.
"Oh, sorry," she took it back. "I'm not at all sure where everyone is. Vayer would have woken me up when they came in."
"All right then, what time is it here? I'm all turned around from the flight." His body was telling him it was night. His eyes told him it was morning. "Ugh," he rubbed at his eyes under his glasses.
"Still not used to them?" She steered him into the other room. Dimitri slipped the bottle of massage oil into his pocket before she could see it. Mothers could be difficult about secret admirers. Or at least that's what the writers of cheap romances wrote. He wasn't taking any chances. Dimitri'd never had anyone court him.
"No," he shook his head. His whole backside was still a touch numb from sleeping in the chair and he paced to loosen his muscles and get the blood flowing back to his brain. "Can't you tell where papa is?"
"Oh, he's around somewhere." She sat on the couch, returning to her knitting with steady clicks. Dimitri couldn't sit. "He'll be by soon."
"Now that we're both awake?" Dimitri stretched, luxuriating in the room to do so. He'd originally thought this room fairly small because of the dark walls. His own exhaustion probably hadn't helped any. After having been locked in a tiny sharm room by Salkov last year, he was paranoid about being trapped anywhere close. He retied his robe and checked his breeches. They were still damp, but at least he wouldn't be hanging out of them.
After a bit of struggle, he gave up. They'd been snug yesterday. Today they were impossible. He knew Arkay'd washed them in cold water, but wet, they wouldn't slide on his skin at all. Dimitri threw them against the wall. He wanted to sit on the tiles and have a good cry. Nothing was going right at all.
"Come out here, love." His mother called to him. Hoping his upset hadn't been too loud, he returned to the other room, again tugging his robe closed. A cold draft slithered up between his legs, making his testicles try to hide in his body. He shivered all over.
"Let me get the fire going again." It seemed his family decided to return, finally. With the last twenty four hours he'd suffered, he didn't want to know what had gone wrong now.
"I'll do that." Vayer came to his aid. "Go look." He winked. Dimitri sighed and turned around.
"For you." An exotically dark lord he'd never met before was handing him the key to the door. It was the perfect thing. Dimitri laughed, throwing his head back and giving his whole body to the exercise.
Danyel couldn't help but grin with Dimitri's reaction. It wasn't the nageric interaction, but rather the pleasure he could see Dimitri giving to his laughter. "The right thing?"
"I meant what we went shopping for." Vayer snorted, scraping the ashes from the fireplace and then laying the wood for a new fire.
"Its perfect." Dimitri took it from Danyel's hand, brushing his tentacles in the process. The dragon, Mitka, watched with glowing gold eyes. "Thank you."
"For?" Danyel lowered his eyes, suddenly quite aware of their difference in height, and station. Dimitri, awake, held enough strength in Mitka to rival Vanesa. It wasn't his place to even zlin a first.
"Caring," Dimitri tipped his chin up with a fingertip. "I'm flattered." His shimmering nager cloaked him in a veil as fine as silver mist, unlike the other Russians with their impenetrable fields.
"It was forward." A chill ran up his arms. He should have never taken such liberties.
"And thank you for the oil." He breathed, as quiet as a summer breeze. Danyel's head snapped up. Yes, he cold smell the distinctive aroma of cloves and mint. Dimitri's eyes were neither gray nor blue, but in between and as dark as old ice.
"You're welcome." Danyel yanked his tentacles back into their sheathes. Mitka was still staring at him, unblinking this whole time. "Any time."
"You'll tuck me into bed?" A single dimple appeared in Dimitri's cheek.
"If you like." He put his hands behind his back, keeping them from reaching out to the young Donor. It wouldn't do to be grabbing at him. Not like this. "Although I think you might want to see what else we brought back."
"I didn't ask for this." His nager smoothed to the consistency of glass. "I don't have the money for it."
"Then accept it gracefully." Danyel caught his eyes again. There was old pain there, as young as he was. "We can't always manage everything by ourselves, Dimitri."
"Of course not." He shook his head, as if shaking off flies. "And just why did you let both mama and I sleep on chairs when we could have been in bed?" The sharp change shocked Danyel down to his laterals. Then he caught the laughter in Mitka's eyes. It was uncanny to see a creature out of pure fantasy living and breathing in front of him, to say the least.
"Because you were both so soundly asleep I couldn't stand to have you woken." Danyel fought to keep the empathy he had for young Dimitri from his field. Dimitri raised an eyebrow at him, curiosity in every line of his face, even if it didn't show on his nager. "You were so beautiful last night." He clutched at the chain he wore again around his throat, now weightless without the heavy key.
"Now I know you flatter me." He tugged at the belt on his robe again. It didn't help a whole lot. Danyel could still clearly remember his incredible body and nager, sprawled all over the chair last night. Vayer had built up the fire and a gentle warmth came from the center of the room.
"Are you going to go back to sleep in it, Mitka?" He teased the dragon.
"I was mad." He said, voice a perfect echo of Dimitri's soft accent. "You'd pissed me off."
"I do that do him." Dimitri's nager twinkled. "He doesn't like it when I don't give him everything he wants."
"Everything I need." Mitka snorted. Something damp landed on Danyel's face. He wiped it away and looked at it. Then as he zlinned it vanished, leaving behind a slightly sticky feeling something.
"You didn't need that." He tugged at his belt again.
"Tell me now." Mitka crammed his head up the front of Dimitri's robe.
"Get out of there." He jumped back, flashing the whole room in the process. Danyel hid his grin as best he could. "I'm not going to let you lick me with a whole room full of people around."
"You said in the morning." If a dragon could pout, Mitka was. "Its morning. Now give."
"Not right now." Dimitri said through clenched teeth. "Later."
"You lied to me."
"No I didn't." Dimitri's field turned soft, as if he'd been hurt.
"Its only eight-thirty, Mitka." Danyel said. Dimitri's field froze, as if it had been dropped in a bucket of ice. "We'll be done here soon and Dimitri can take care of you."
"You don't know what he's asking for?" Dimitri sounded like he was choking. Mitka's eyes blazed with glee. He rubbed his belly on the floor, coming to twine around Danyel's feet.
"I love thee." He purred, twisting his way up and around Danyel's legs, growing bigger and bigger the whole time. When he licked Danyel's face, leaving a track of that slime behind, all his could do was not zlin. Mitka's body was as hot as a furnace and his fangs longer than Danyel's hands. They were now nose to nose. Danyel would have run in terror if his legs weren't bound together. "You're afraid."
He felt as if he'd just kicked a puppy. He lowered his eyes from Mitka's and gingerly brushed his side. It was slick and hard, like any other reptile's, if far warmer.
"Tickle." Mitka squirmed, caressing Danyel's legs with his whole body and cupping him in his huge wings. His breath was as sweet as the clove and mint oil he'd given Dimitri. "You're nice." He stroked his jaw against Danyel's face, those huge fangs sliding right by his ear. His jaws were even hotter than the rest of him, but soft, as roniplin glands were soft after the excess had been absorbed after transfer.
Danyel reached up and rubbed at the off side. Mitka leaned into him, nearly knocking him over. He would have if Mitka weren't holding him up!
"I thought you had southerner's?" Arkay asked. Danyel couldn't zlin a shenned thing. It was as if Mitka were absorbing the ambient into his midnight black scales. It felt pretty good, actually. He stroked the joint of his wing, careful not to squeeze too hard.
"I do." Diomid had explained to him, the first time the Rus had visited, that being Ferris was considered a lethal in Russia. He himself had often enough wondered if it should have been. But in Mitka's wings, he could see and zlin without the constant whirlwind of information knocking him all over. He met Dimitri's gaze and grinned from ear to ear.
Dimitri gave him back a shy smile. The expression lit his face from within, making him look so very young it nearly broke Danyel's heart. Had either of them ever been, truly, so young? "No," he mouthed, coming up to them. "I'm glad you like him."
"He's beautiful." Danyel hugged Mitka to him with all his might. Mitka's breath whooshed out of him, probably spraying half the people in the room, but he didn't care. In retaliation, most likely, Mitka grabbed him right back, claws and all. The sharp pleasure/pain grounded him to his body and made him gasp.
"Don't hurt." Dimitri reached for Mitka's neck.
"No, doesn't hurt." Danyel shivered all over with the goodness of it. He'd never had any entran functional feel like that. It had been three days since he'd worked in collections and when they'd been preparing Dimitri's surprise, the horrible vibrations had started up. Now he was entirely free of them, without the exhaustion of working himself nearly to death. "Oh my." He breathed, sagging in Mitka's grasp.
"You're going to get molested if you keep petting him." Dimitri put his hand over Danyel's. The cool, wonderfully Gen feel of his touch went right through Danyel's defenses.
"Don't warn him." Mitka was pressed against him, nearly smothering him with his entire body wrapped around Danyel's. "I want him."
"You're post, silly dragon." Dimitri put his fists on his hips. He had his legs spread and looked like a graphic story hero. Not one for children. The belt had fallen loose again. Dimitri blushed and grabbed for his wayward clothes. Danyel wrinkled his nose and giggled.
"I get the feeling you are too." Although with the way Mitka was writhing against him, it was a good thing he wasn't translucent. Danyel didn't have enough to give himself away too badly, as far as he knew, but the warmth of Mitka rubbing against him, particularly his groin, would have gotten a statue aroused. There was something so sensual about the way he twined and slid his body around Danyel's. He supposed many people would have considered it the height of perversity, but it did feel good.
"Do not put your tail between his legs." Dimitri tugged Mitka's tail loose before it could get past Danyel's knees.
"Thank you." He said, swallowing heavily. He'd not been at all sure of what Mitka was planning on doing with that tail.
"You're no fun." Mitka stuck out his tongue at Dimitri and gave him a huge raspberry. Dimitri wiped more slime from his glasses with a silk handkerchief.
"Before lunch, Mitka." He put his glasses back on. The oddness of it amused Danyel. Few people bothered with such things, either getting a channel to fix their eyes or going without. "So, what did you all get me?" He zlinned resigned to his fate, like a renSime dragged into a Sime Center when they really wanted their renGen sweetie.
"Don't be such a ren." Darya put down her knitting. "I want to see too. Although call Mitka off long enough to let Danyel help."
"Oh, he's fine." Danyel felt cold without Mitka curled around him. Dimitri glanced down and winked. Mitka came back, incidentally covering him from hip to knee in front. "Useful." He murmured. The problem had gone away quickly as soon as Mitka had let him go, but he liked having him near.
Chapter 6
Dimitri's head was spinning at the way Danyel had taken to Mitka. Diomid had told him to avoid the older lord, not that he thought about it, but he'd acted so normally he'd nearly forgotten the man had southerner's. Mitka was wrapped around him like a serpent from one of Maryam's sharm tales.
It felt good not to have to carry Mitka around, even so soon after having gotten rid of his selyn. For a moment he wondered if it would be enough benefit to Danyel he'd be willing to stay around. But no, Dimitri couldn't think of taking a lord to hand, even for a few months, who had southerner's syndrome.
He'd kill him in a heartbeat, not meaning to. He sat next to Darya and held her yarn for her.
"Thanks," she patted his hand and went back to her knitting. She was knitting more socks, brightly colored ones this time, to go inside boots, obviously.
"Ran out of each color?" He grinned, slipping another tight knot through his fingers. The whole ball was liberally seeded with them.
"Yes," she shrugged. "They'll work well enough to keep Vayer's feet warm."
"So he doesn't put them on you in the middle of the night?" Dimitri winked at his mother. Vayer had certainly done it often enough to him when they'd shared a bed the night before transfer. They'd never shared one afterward, even when they'd both been so post it would have harmed no one. Dimitri sighed and eased another knot out of the ball of yearn.
"Yes," she grinned. "Now hush. I want to see what they bought."
"First, we noticed you were quite short of clothes." Arkay winked at him. It really wasn't his fault. All of his underclothes had been effective enough under the kadors he'd borrowed from Vanya's closet. The problem was they were more holes than cloth, and what cloth there was had been darned so many times he couldn't tell what color they'd been.
The shirt and pants he'd worn yesterday had been the only whole underwear he'd ever owned in his life.
Danyel pulled out a large box. "From me." His hands caressed it gently.
"Thank you." He hefted it. Nothing to do but open it. The smell of newly dyed cloth hit his nose first. The first thing he saw was the placket of a nicely embroidered cross front shirt. He lifted it from the box and was stunned. The sheen of fine cotton amazed him. But it was white. This hadn't been dyed. Underneath it were two others, both plenty large enough to fit across his shoulders. "Thank you." He repeated, flattered a near stranger would give him something so fine.
"You're welcome." Danyel's eyes held his. Mitka had his chin resting on Danyel's shoulder, as if he were Danyel's nager, not Dimitri's. They were amazing together, black hair blending perfectly with black scales. "I like shopping."
"Like a sharm lord?" He teased. "I wish I had the words to tell you what this means to me."
"There's more." He turned away, his dark skin turning even darker for a moment. Mitka rubbed his jaw against Danyel's. The affection Mitka showed for Danyel stunned Dimitri down to his toes. He'd never, ever been so forward with anyone. "Here." He handed Dimitri another box.
"I can't." He opened it anyways. Matching pants, in equally fine wool and cotton were folded neatly on top of each other. One was a dark earthen brown and the other a deep indigo blue. He ran his hands over them, feeling the thick, even weave of the fabric. "Oh, Danyel." His vision sparkled as he held back tears of gratitude.
"They're only clothes." He said, taking a small step back. Dimitri tried to get a hold of his emotions. Post and still tired, they didn't come to rein any more than Mitka ever did.
"They're from you." He whispered, looking down at his hands.
"There's more." Arkay broke in, relieving Dimitri of his struggle with his emotions.
"Who put him up to this?" He knew Arkay'd seen the fact he hadn't been able to bring any other clothes other than those he'd had on his back.
"You should have enough to fill that case you brought with you." He winked. Soon Dimitri was surrounded with fine clothes, more than he'd ever dreamed of owning in his own name. Sergei's kadors belonged to Sergei, not him, personally. They'd also bought toiletries, another pair of boots, shoes, socks, even briefs!
"I don't know what to say." Dimitri bit at his lower lip, trying not to cry. No one had ever done anything like this for him. "Thank you all."
"I didn't help."
"Oh, you did, mama." He hugged her to him. "You gave me such wonderful fathers." Dimitri looked at Danyel, still wrapped in Mitka's long form. "And you showed them where to go."
"How did you know?"
"Because I know." He said, not wanting to go into his own talents right now. "Because I know you're the sort of person who'd make sure anything was done right."
"Now you flatter me." He continued stroking Mitka's back, making him purr.
"You stand there petting my nager and tell me I'm flattering you. To see him take to anyone so easily is proof it isn't flattery." Dimitri grinned at Mitka's look of utter bliss. His eyes were half lidded. As he watched a long gobbet of slime ran from one fang, all down Danyel's chest. It wasn't pretty. Danyel just wiped it up, careful to get the next one starting.
"I like him, Dimitri." He smiled down at Mitka. Mitka's eyes closed completely, his head sagging down to drape over Danyel's chest. "He's beautiful." Dimitri couldn't help but hear the warm complements to him Danyel added silently.
"We'd never found a cure for southerner's." He said, watching Danyel, so calm now after Mitka had taken to him so aggressively. Most normal lords would have run in a panic at Mitka wrapping himself around their body.
"I can't zlin very well with him here." Danyel's body had lost its brittle tension. His face, his whole demeanor had softened. "I'm not complaining, really."
"You look more comfortable." Darya'd gone back to her knitting. The steady clicking sounds soothed Dimitri's nerves as well. "I think he suits."
"Which way?" Danyel's lined face broke into a spectacular grin. His mobile features had opened up, as if someone had stopped beating him suddenly, after a long time of constant abuse. As Khristov did when someone was abusing him. A quick shudder went through Dimitri's body.
"I'm not saying." She cursed at a slipped stitch. Dimitri held the last on her needle as she pulled it back into place. "Thanks."
"No problem." He relaxed against of the couch, putting his arms against the back. "I suppose I should get up here soon."
"We're going out to dinner tonight. Before then, you're free to do whatever you wish." Arkay sat at his side. Like Darya, Mitka accepted him, unlike most Sharm Lords.
"Don't you have to go back?" Dimitri wavered between dismay and relief. He really didn't want to shoo his parents away so soon after they'd given him a fortune in new clothes and other things, but he'd also looked forward to being on his own, for the first time in his life. Always before there'd been someone looking after him, making sure he ate, took care of Mitka, found enough time to sleep.
"We're going back next weekend." He sighed, stretching out his own long legs. Nashen sat next to them, resting against him. "Someone here decided he wanted fancy clothes too."
"Besides, I want to see what Karin comes up with for Danyel." Nashen winked at him. Maybe it would be a good idea to have some familiar company while facing a whole new way of life.
"I have to get to work on Wednesday." He warned. "My contract with the Techton starts on the fifteenth."
"Then you'll have time to come with us to Karen's on Monday."
"What did you get me into?" Dimitri felt the far too familiar sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Even numbed a bit with jarli, his early unease came back in full force. "Papa?" He asked Vayer.
"Nashen is trying to get Karin, the designer of these outfits," he pointed to the fantastic blue and black shirts, with matching tights, "into a long term contract to make ones for Fatima." Dimitri hadn't been entirely sure about wearing those anywhere in public. They'd even gotten him a matching pair of soft, black boots to go with them.
"Didn't he forget its Mir's place to set up such foreign trade?" While Dimitri was Sergei down to the tips of his fingers, he'd never forgotten his origin in the bustling markets of Moskva, as a child of Fatima. "Why did you let him get away with it?"
"Because I didn't have the ante." He grimaced, twitching a tentacle at Nashen. "Although I want to hear him explain this one to Mikhail."
Dimitri laughed, thinking of just what Mikhail would say about the outrageous clothes. He wasn't a clotheshorse or much of a coinsurer of fine garments at all, much less lingerie. "He'll stammer like a fool, papa."
"Oh, probably." Vayer shrugged, his bright smile gleaming with fangs as sharp as Mitka's. "Its the most joy I'm going to get out of it."
"Oh hush." Nashen flipped a tentacle at him. "You'll get the final trade rights. Its just my capital that's going into the project."
"And I bet you're going to want at least ten percent of the profits, too."
"Oh, at least." He gave his lazy smile, showing as many teeth as Vayer. "We'll work it out when the deal is finalized."
"I wish I had the capital to really make some money." He sighed, wishing Danyel would quit hovering over them. Vanesa and Sevrin had vanished shortly after he'd opened his presents with the excuse they had work to do. Which was probably quite true, come to think of it. Dimitri's hands itched with wanting to get back to work himself.
"You do have work to do." Mitka raised his head from Danyel's breast.
"I do." He winced, pulling himself forward, out of the embrace of his family. "If you'll excuse us."
"You don't want to do it." He growled, his talons digging into Danyel's shoulders.
"Stop that." He ended up face to face with the older man. Well, face to neck. He was quite a bit taller than the lord. Dimitri looked down into very startled pair of black eyes. For a moment all he could think of was how kissable his soft, full, expressive lips were. "Stop it, Mitka." He growled, wanting to rip him off Danyel and throw him across the room.
But he didn't dare. Dimitri didn't know exactly how much damage it would do Danyel to have Mitka torn from him, but Dimitri did know it would be severe, if not lethal. "I'm commanding you."
"He likes me." Those long fangs rubbed against Danyel's face. There was no fear to the lord, only a sort of dreamy contentment, as if Mitka were drugging Danyel with his presence. "I like it here."
"I promised you, before lunch, I would take care of you." Dimitri backed away a step, trying to lure Mitka from Danyel's arms.
"You did." He raised his head. "I want him too."
"Oh?" Danyel looked Mitka in the eyes. Well, eye. It took a lot of will to do that when his fangs were so close. "I don't appreciate being tricked, Mitka."
"I had to try." His tongue flicked out to wrap around his muzzle.
"No you didn't." Danyel said. "You could have left Dimitri to make his own decision."
"Who are you to tell me what I should or could have done?" The scales on the back of Mitka's neck had arisen, a sure sign his temper was up. "I could rip you to shreds in seconds."
"You could." Danyel said plainly, still looking him in the eyes. "But you wouldn't."
"No, I wouldn't." Mitka said, unwrapping himself from Danyel's body. The lord stiffened, his eyes going true black this time. Dimitri could feel him go into shock. He dove for him, catching him before his head could hit the floor.
His heart had stopped. "My God." Dimitri breathed, praying against all hope he could get it started again. With only the lightest touch of power, he reached for Danyel's heart. It fluttered against his touch then went into massive fibrillations.
"Shen!" He shouted, putting him on his back. "Get back!" He barked at Mitka. Danyel's ribs gave beneath his first push. Then another. Then a third. Dimitri breathed for him, praying he'd come back. He let his own field wash through Danyel's body, desperately hoping he wasn't going to kill him forcing his systems to work. Finally after nearly six minutes of this, his heartbeat caught again, shortly followed by his lungs and selyn. Dimitri slumped over him. He didn't dare give vent to the terror turning his veins to ice. It would kill him as certainly as Mitka almost had.
"Danyel?" He asked, hoping his mind hadn't been damaged.
"Yes?" His eyes cracked open a fraction. "What happened?"
"Mitka dropped you."
"I didn't know it would murder him!" Mitka wailed. Silvery tears streamed from his eyes. "No!" His cry was followed by an ear piercing keen. "I want him."
"I know." Dimitri took Danyel's hand in both of his. The lord's tentacles came out and bound them in parody of the hand binding of transfer partners. "I wish." He patted their bound hands.
"It was good until he left." Danyel took a deep breath and then coughed.
"Stay still for a moment." He looked back to see everyone watching them, but not moving. "Why didn't you help?"
"Because we could do nothing, Dimitri." Arkay's eyes were as gray as a summer storm. "Any of use would have murdered him if we'd tried what you succeeded at."
Dimitri looked back at Danyel. "I wish."
"Me too." He brought Dimitri's hands to his mouth and kissed them. "I'd like to get to know you both better."
"A bit more carefully, though." Dimitri swallowed back his own reaction. Now he really was post. Working, as he'd been born and bred to work, with hands, mind and selyn had completed the cycle of need. He'd harmed himself, now he'd healed. "Will you go out to dinner with me?" Danyel glanced away. "No, will you come have dinner with me?"
"You cook?" He started.
"I do." He smiled, helping Danyel sit up. His resilience was amazing once he'd begun to recover, and now, only minutes later, nearly healed. Even the cracked ribs from Dimitri's CPSR. "I've always been too broke to pay anyone else to cook for me."
"I haven't." Danyel took a deep breath. "I think I'm going to take it easy this afternoon."
"Help me put my new things away?" He wanted to spend as much time with the fascinating lord as he could.
"When you're done with Mitka." He pointed out. No, this was not a feather headed lord, not at all. Just very, very reactive. "I think he deserves the respect.
"Even though he nearly killed you?"
"He only did as you asked." Danyel met his gaze evenly. "He doesn't deserve punishment for doing as he was asked."
"No, he doesn't. Will I be able to find you here?" He stood, helping Danyel to his feet. His nager was subdued, but still quite high field for someone who'd just survived total systemic arrest.
"You can find me in my rooms or in collections." Danyel wrote them down on a slip of paper and pressed it into Dimitri's hand. "I look forward to zlinning you in your new clothes."
"Definitely better than a bathrobe." He twitched it closed, yet again.
"Oh, I can see some definite advantages to a bathrobe." This time his gaze down Dimitri's body was all Sime. Unfortunately his body thought so as well. "Indeed?"
Dimitri nodded, looking away. Danyel was far from hard on the eyes, with his slightly curly, thick black hair, dark eyes and incredibly expressive lips. If only he didn't have southerner's syndrome. As it was, Dimitri didn't dare touch him for fear of killing him. He'd nearly killed him once already, without even touching his tentacles. There was no way they could share transfer together.
As if he were a Lord, Danyel looked him in the eyes and said, "Even if we can never have transfer, I'd have your touch."
Ashamed of his own greed, Dimitri looked away for a moment. "You shame me, Danyel."
"I'm older than you, Dimitri."
"All of my partners have been." He still clutched at Danyel's hands. They were work roughened, with callouses from knife, pen and half a dozen other things. Including a few odd turns to a couple of fingers from broken bones. He kissed Danyel's fingers, as if he were bringing Danyel's hands under the veil he'd never worn.
"Not so much older then." He squeezed Dimitri's hand. "This afternoon?"
"Yes," he took up the challenge. "I'll meet you there." If nothing else, he wanted to be truly certain Danyel would be all right.
Danyel knew he should get to work. There were fifteen annual reviews sitting on his desk, three job applications and at least two hours of work to be done in collections. He'd had to fiddle the schedule last night to be able to go out with Vanesa.
He stretched his tentacles and zlinned. The sun warmed them. He yawned and then blinked, surprised at himself. He wasn't so post he had to sleep hours at a time. Although he should also change his clothes.
His work rooms were on the other side of Kaon, away from the main entrance and all the bustle. Taking the stairs two at a time, his chest ached. What had happened? He remembered coming too with Dimitri's face only inches from his, as if they'd had transfer, on the floor! Danyel flicked away the memory.
Dimitri was Russian. Danyel was Ferris, if an odd one. It would never work. He was no so much a romantic to think otherwise. The gray overall with black piping wasn't particularly attractive. Even though he knew it was quite functional. He'd always kept a few changes of clothes and his office suite near the bathroom, with its own tiny shower. Often enough Danyel didn't want to bother with anything more complex than a shower and change of clothes, even though he insisted on going home at least every couple of days or so.
After another quick shower, he slipped on a clean coverall. The couch he often tapped on called his name. He pulled out his cards and flipped through them. The familiar patterns settled the worst of his nerves. Sitting for a moment, he slipped through the techniques. Drawing from the bottom, setting cards in order, shuffling the aces on top. It was mindless work.
He leaned back in his chair. Dimitri had done something to him. Danyel put his hand over the palm sized bruise on his chest. Something fairly significant. Growling at his drooping eyelids he replaced his cards in the pocket at the front of his shirt, beneath the overalls.
The sun had turned the new greenery into a riot of enthusiasm. If he were to enjoy tonight at all, he had to get something done.
"Good morning, Hajene Danyel." His usual Donor, Sosu Sara blinked at him. She was a nice enough young woman, if a bit slow for his draw so she only assisted. He was used to it. "I see you were up with all the other Simes last night." Her nager stayed as flat as it always did. Before last night he wouldn't have noticed.
"Of course." He grinned, giving her an extravagant bow. "How else do you think I manage?"
"By going through their belongings when they're all out and then sleeping when everyone else is awake." The corners of her eyes crinkled in a grin. Why had he so rarely noticed anyone's facial expressions. He zlinned toward the oldest section of Kaon, where Arkay and Nashen stayed. "Although I have been waiting for a while."
Danyel checked his timesense and realized it had been nearly an hour! What had happened? "Then we should be gettin to work, m'lass."
She giggled behind her hand. There was something different to her today. He zlinned her only to find a bubbling wellspring of good cheer. It was no different than her usual field, but today it tugged at his own. He brushed his tentacles over the back of his hand as they entered the collection room.
"Ah, my home away from home." She settled herself on a large chair, curling her feet up under her. Sara wasn't a tiny woman, but she always did fold herself into a ball when she sat. He flicked a tentacle at the gesture and she didn't hide her twitch. "I always sit like this."
"Why?" He sat at his desk. There had been no one in the waiting room, strangely enough for a late Sunday morning. They always had a few general order donors there, wanting their selyn taken so they could repay their gambling debts from last night. Often enough one or more of them owed Danyel money.
He pulled out his cards and flipped them through his fingers and tentacles. He'd learned to play as a child. He'd learned to win as an adult. Even in a shiltpron parlor with the player on nageric he could still win. Being Ferris had to be good for something.
He'd had to move his knife to below his collar because of the overalls and for a moment felt a bit off at the hilt against the back of his neck. It too had been with him since childhood, albeit without the gems on the hilt. He'd added those later.
Sara came around behind him, offering a neck rub.
"Not today." He waved her away with an ace. "I'm a bit out of sorts." He stacked all the cards by suit. He'd slipped a two behind a five. Grumbling, he swept them up and reshuffled. This time they came out in a muddle.
"Bad day?" Her attention was on the cards. Danyel put them up. Rarely did he let anyone at the Sime Center see him practice.
"Oh, It will get better." His ears caught the door opening. What was wrong with him? He zlinned a child, not yet established, dickering with the receptionist. Danyel opened the door and looked out. He shook his head in frustration. The nageric window should have done well enough.
"What can we do for you?" He went to the child and knelt at her feet. Danyel was not very tall, but this youngster was tiny. She wasn't even close to maturity.
"Hajene, I," she sniffled, rubbing at her eyes. Her child's nager did nothing to his, but her tears were heartbreaking.
"We'll call another channel to go to your home, Lira." The receptionist hit the red button under the desk.
"What's going on?" He asked with his own field. His wash of bitterness came as a total surprise. Danyel braced against it.
"Can I help?" He wiped away the tears with a tentacle.
"Its my brother, he's," she sobbed, biting at her lower lip. "His tentacles are coming and we don't have the money for the ..."
Danyel picked her up, as he did Kaon's little girls. "Just tell me where to go."
"But we can't get anyone there in time."
"Oh yes we can." He augmented out the doors, not caring how badly he might startle some hungover fool. There was a taxi line at the front of the center, as there always was. Few enough Gens came in a taxi, almost all of them left in one. "Come on!" He yanked at Sara with his field. The lack of reaction knocked him off balance.
"Sosu Sara!" He shouted at last. She came bounding down the steps.
"You know you shouldn't be doing this." Her expression was resigned, in sharp contrast to her glassy, still, nager. "I'm not going to get into trouble like your last three Donors."
Danyel opened his mouth and then closed it. He spotted Dimitri coming down from the old quarters. With a frantic yank of his field he grabbed at Mitka. He squawked and launched himself into the air, then dove right at him. Danyel braced for impact.
"Where are we going?" Dimitri'd body slammed him into the cab. It rocked on its springs. "I caught you." He grinned at the little girl, tickling her nose with his. The cabbies's mouth was wide open. "You're going to catch flies like that." He hadn't had to remind Danyel of the smell.
He did smoke on occasion. Well, more than on occasion, but the smell of stale tobacco smoke and far worse things churned his uneasy stomach.
"Go straight." She pointed.
"You heard her!" Dimitri smacked the cabbies's with his field so hard Danyel had to duck.
"He can't zlin." Danyel muttered under his breath.
"So?" Dimitri wiped the tears from the child's face with one of his silk handkerchiefs. "We'll get there in time."
"We don't have the money." She wailed, turning her face to his chest.
"We have to know where we're going." He gently turned her back so she could see out. "Now is it a left or a right up here at the stop?"
"A right," she rubbed at her eyes. "My brother ..."
"Relax," Dimitri was stroking the child's nager with his own faint gleam. It didn't do any good. Danyel put his hand over Dimitri's, praying he wouldn't get shoved around as well. "We can do it."
"Together?" Danyel's tentacles traced the veins on the back of Dimitri's hand. Beneath the skin, he could feel the life growing in him, as it did in all Gens, but there was a vibrance to Dimitri's field unlike any other Gen.
"Today," his field flickered dark. The child didn't lead them far in miles, but in terms of ambient, it might have been another world. Danyel stepped carefully over the remains of a shattered toiled.
"Come on." Dimitri beat him to the door, somehow managing to traverse weeds with their hidden traps of broken glass and worse without a single misstep. Something, long dead, was buried under only the thinnest layer of dirt near the front door.
"I couldn't do better." The child whimpered, her glance following his. "He was my best friend after Marc."
"Your brother." He took the child. She'd managed the treacherous front yard as easily as Dimitri. He'd picked up more than a few thorns in his socks.
"Why don't you go in?" She reached for the door.
"No," Dimitri held them both back. He was listening to something. Mitka flew down out of the sky and right through a closed window! Danyel blinked away the image of one solid object going through another as easily as a stick would go into water.
"Marc, no, don't!" Came from the other side of the door. If they'd gone through it, they'd have shoved whoever it was shouting into the new Sime's arms. Dimitri vaulted the railing on the porch. Danyel followed, nearly landing on a rusted out car. Even augmenting he barely managed not to fall into the shattered windshield. Dimitri danced over the surface as if it were a stage for his own special performance.
He followed Mitka, this time with a tremendous crash. There was a flash of pain on the ambient. This time knowing better, Danyel carefully followed. Shards of broken glass scattered under his feet as he came to rest in the dingy living room. There were faded blankets covering the back of a sagging couch and a single chair beneath the window.
Then, like a scene out of a history book, or his own past, a new Sime, crazed with first need, stalked Lira's mother. Or at least he guessed she was her mother. From the tired lines on her face and the threadbare bathrobe, she fit in here at least.
The berserker did not. Danyel felt a hot tightness in his own throat. He'd come so close to this scene. Only his escape into the arms of the Techton had saved him.
Dimitri was huge in the tiny room, Mitka coiled around him, an oversized necklace.
"Come to me." Danyel held out his hands to the new Sime. Mitka raised his head, hissing. The new Sime, Marc, flipped back and forth between them. Had he killed? Was Dimitri trying to already disjunct him? Danyel'd never studied disjunction, knowing if he ever went junct, he'd be dead before the month was out, by suicide if nothing else.
Mitka then glared at him and flipped his head to the door. Lira was pounding on it frantically. Danyel ran to the woman. Her nager was as flat as glass, but alive, very much alive. Dimitri must have scared her senseless, literally.
"Wait." He told Lira. Danyel put himself between Marc and his mother.
"Mama!" Lira wailed. "Oh, please, mama!" Sense came to Marc's eyes for a moment. He stared at Danyel, then his attention flicked to Dimitri. Terror greater than any Danyel'd ever zlinned ripped the ambient to shreds. He caught Marc on his way to the window. Danyel yanked both their arms in between them.
"No," Dimitri sounded like he was correcting a wayward pet. Before they could fall on the broken glass, strong Gen arms surrounded them. Marc yanked at Danyel's arms. First transfer, as sweet as honey and spring wine caught him up in its celebration of new life.
Quivering all over, Marc looked up into Danyel's eyes, his own wide with shock.
"Relax, little Sime." Dimitri's voice was a low, soft purr Danyel felt more than heard. "Both little Simes."
"Everyone is small compared to you." Danyel zlinned to see broken glass winking at him from only inches away. He moved himself and Marc away from the lethal hazard.
"Let me help you up." As if he were moving a cat he lifted both of them to their feet. Marc was boneless in Danyel's arms.
"Welcome to adulthood." Danyel zlinned him as well as he could through Dimitri's field. Mitka was watching this all with bright eyed interest from where he'd curled up on Marc's mother. "Exciting, wasn't it." He zlinned, fascinated as always, as Marc's tentacles explored their new environment. Danyel twined his own with them, showing the young man how they worked. His grin was so different from the grimace of anguish he'd had only moments before.
How could something like this happen in this day and age? Danyel himself had known well enough to run to the nearest Sime Center with the onset of change over. He zlinned around for clues, finding nothing but the lack of a television or radio. There wasn't even a telephone in the mean little room.
Chaper 7
Dimitri met Danyel's eyes, asking silently what to do now? The sheer poverty of this place was not something he could comprehend, even standing in the middle of it. They were far down river of Kaon, where all the detritus of any stream or river landed, human or otherwise.
Mitka licked Marc's mother and she stirred. Dimitri went to her, making sure she didn't see him. No, she was renGen, she shouldn't have felt his touch. He put his hand on her brow, through the touch trying to get a closer sense of her mind. A whirling maelstrom of insanity battered at a fragile facade of manners.
"Hush," he let Mitka wrap his wings around the woman. She'd probably think him another hallucination, but he couldn't let her disturb the two Simes. "Lets get you moved so we can let Lira in."
Her mouth opened to scream! Mitka grabbed her hard. Dimitri put his hand over her mouth. She struggled in their grip.
"Bless it all to hell." Dimitri couldn't get her calm enough to put her under! He could hardly keep a hold of her. Diomid had taught him more than infirmary medicine in the past year. He pulled back and gave her a sharp jab to the point of the jaw. Shen, he hated hitting anyone. Her eyes rolled up in her head and he caught her mind as she fell unconscious.
Good, he hadn't harmed her. If she'd not struggled quite so hard he could have pinched the carotid shut just long enough to knock her out. As it was, she'd have a violent headache coming to. He moved her away from the door and let Lira in.
"Why are they both staring like that?" Her eyes were huge.
Dimitri looked at the two Simes. Both of them were staring, tentacles out and pushing away. The ultimate rejection of any Gen. His heart sank, but he answered the little girl, "Because you're mother is ill and I had to do something that scared them."
"Oh, you hit her." She shrugged, as if it were no consequence. "Are you OK, Marc?" The event vanished from her childish nager as soon as she turned away from them. These were not healthy children, either. He'd felt old bruises and scars on Lira's limbs when he'd held her in the car, but had thought her simply a more awkward child than most.
"Danyel?" Dimitri was at a complete loss as to what to do. He shrugged, keeping one hand on the woman's breastbone to monitor her pulse and breathing. It was as steady as her daughter's. The older lord was still enthralled in the new Sime he'd saved from the Hunt. Well, here it probably wouldn't be a Hunt, but he didn't know what would have happened to the lad.
"Hmmm?" He smoothed Marc's new tentacles back into their sheathes. "You're going to have to come into the Sime Center tomorrow morning, when the channel on duty can sign you into your new school.
"Never went to no school." Adolescent nerves took over from the insecurity of such a huge change in his life. "Don't got to, neither." He snorted. "M'mam is good 'nough."
"You 'mam' as you call her, who beats you both?" Dimitri growled. The woman on the floor began struggling back to consciousness. This time he put her into near catatonia, triggering her mind to lock down her body completely. She'd be completely passive, physically, now until he could try to fix what was actually wrong with her. It was obviously more than poor diet and lack of exercise. Although when Dimitri reached deeper, he found her heart on the verge of catastrophic failure. All her symptoms, together, made it painfully obvious to Dimitri she'd never had a transfer of any kind in her life.
"You take that back. You mean, you ..." Lira came up and began pounding on him.
He caught her hands easily. "I didn't hurt her." Dimitri freed one hand and stilled her struggles. "Here now, little one. I'm not here to hurt anyone."
"You're bad!" She sobbed. "Just like I am. I'm bad and I'm going to make her hit me. She doesn't like to, we make her do it." Her frantic looks between them tore Dimitri's heart in two. He'd never before seen an abused child, but the signs were unmistakable from the handful of abused sharm lords he'd helped. He bundled her into his arms, as he'd done for too many hurt Gens. She pounded on his chest, frantic to get away. "I don't want to be bad. I want to be good. Let me go!"
"No, little one." He swallowed down the lump in his throat. "We'll help."
"I don't want your help. I want my mama!" Her cries only made him ache inside. No child should ever have to go through this. "Marc had been a good kid. It isn't mama's fault he turned out bad. She'll teach him good. Let me go!" Her wail, in her child's treble, was sharper than glass.
"Don't hurt her." Marc yelled from across the room. "Let me go!" He echoed his sister's cry.
Danyel must have done it. Marc grabbed at his shirt, trying to pull him away from his sister. Mitka snarled at him. His whole body was as rigid as stone. The confusion in his nager wrenched at Dimitri's self control. "Let me help you." He looked up from Lira, now sobbing quietly against his chest. "There you go, little one." He purred, rocking her slowly. "I'll take care of you."
"We can't take in children." Danyel pulled Marc off him. "We can't make them do what they don't want to."
"She's just a child. They're both just children." Dimitri'd seen too many of his family unable to bear healthy children. None of them talked about it, but he'd seen the hurt in Kirina's eyes every time she looked at a mother with more than one or two children, or Nashen's protectiveness of Tzer. Lira was as healthy as any child could be in such awful surroundings. No one in Russia lived like this, without any bright things at all, or even a simple icon over the hearth.
"But they're not our children."
"I'm not a kid." Marc stood up straight, even though Dimitri knew he had to be utterly exhausted. "Not now. I'm bad." His fingers dug into his new tentacles sheathes. Danyel pulled his arms apart, not quite saving him the sharp bite of pain. "I didn't mean it, mama!"
Dimitri wanted to cry in Lira's short hair as well. How could anyone allow this to happen? Well, it wasn't going to go on. He stared into Danyel's eyes. At his back, he could feel Mitka do the same. "I may not have any rank here, but I am human. These children, both of them, require help. Are you going to help them or do I have to do it myself?"
"You didn't even have a spare shirt to your name last night, Dimitri." Danyel snarled, his dark eyes black. Dimitri couldn't catch the slightest hint of his feelings behind those midnight eyes.
"She did?" He tipped his chin at the room. "Who takes care of neglected or abused children here?"
"The D. Ferris Center." His nager turned to ice, probably shocking the shen out of Marc, who jumped in his hands.
"That's where they take bad kids." His face fell. "Like me. You can't take Lira there!"
Dimitri looked at Danyel with new respect. No matter how well shielded, he could tell the D stood for Danyel. Why had he set up a home for children like these? No matter. He stood, looking around again. The room didn't improve on second appearances, or would it improve on even the twentieth.
"My mama!" Lira leaned out of his arms.
"We'll take her with us and help her too, Lira." Dimitri wasn't sure if he could manage more than helping her forget she'd ever had children, but there was little else he could do. And also make sure she'd never bear again. She was young enough to do so. Although a small part of him shivered like a struck bell at his own words.
"You can't just take these children like this." Danyel's tentacles lashed around his hands.
"Watch me." He looked around and noticed there was only the single main room, cubby for a kitchen, a bathroom and a locked room at the back of the house. Mitka joined him and peered at the lock.
"Let me." Danyel's field was darker than the dim sunlight which had managed to slither in through the dirty windows. He reached down to the ankle of his boot and pulled out a set of lockpicks. Dimitri had to bite back a wild flare of amusement. Danyel winked at him and pulled open the door. His amusement fled.
Two cots, both far too small for the children, leaned against the walls. The rank smells of human waste and rot stank in the tiny room. The stone walls were dark with mildew, all the way up to the ceiling. Dimitri held Danyel back, not incidentally handing him Lira. He stepped into the room, ducking to clear the lintel.
Not only were the walls thick with mildew, the floor was rotted out to the subfloor. Dimitri watched carefully where put his feet so he wouldn't fall through to the foundation. It was as neat as two preadolescent could possibly keep any room. There wasn't a single toy or even rag doll in sight. Some of the smell came from a chamber pot in the corner.
"How often did she keep you in here?" Dimitri was fighting not to kill the idiot renGen on the floor.
"When we were bad." Lira wouldn't meet his eyes.
"And when was that, little one?" He closed the door behind him and knelt to be eye to eye with her.
"Almost every night." Her face jerked up. "I, we, we tried to be good." Her throat moved convulsively. She glanced at her mother. Dimitri turned her face back to his. "She's going to lock us up for weeks. Marc and I together. I'm scared!"
"Don't be, sweet heart." He gathered her into his arms again. From the way she clutched at him, no one except her brother had held her in years. Marc had finally collapsed in Danyel's arms, tear streaked face painfully clean for the filth outside this one room. Both children were scrubbed to within an inch of their lives. "We'll take care of you." He met Danyel's eyes. This could not be allowed to go on.
Danyel forced himself to meet Dimitri's gaze. He'd seen worse. Shen, he'd lived through worse. His own mother had been a drunken whore, not just a Church of the Purity fanatic. "Lets get you home."
"Is there some way to contact the Center to bring a big van of some kind?" Dimitri tipped his chin at the mother. Danyel would have much rather left her to rot, personally. Mitka's eyes were unreadable as he watched the scene, but they were the color of old brass, hard and dark.
"We can have the cabbie call." He nodded. "Can you take care of ..." Danyel broke off in midsentence. Of course Dimitri could take care of a renSime. He'd certainly taken matters into tentacle so far, leaving Danyel to look the fool.
He shook his head no. "I've had far more experience with this sort of thing."
"I doubt it." Danyel stroked Marc's hair back from his forehead. The young man had come frightening close to killing today. Only Dimitri's quick thinking had saved him, not Danyel's. He put the young man on the sofa, careful not to disorient him and went to call. The cabbie had fled. Night was sinking on the slum faster than he cared to think about.
This was not a place for Dimitri to be out. Danyel drew his knife and rested it against his wrist. The child thief he'd once been took over, but now he could zlin. The broken window would be an invitation to the night before long. Danyel slipped into the shadows, carefully keeping the white lining of his cloak from showing.
It wasn't long before he crossed the bridge back into the good part of town. He replaced his knife and knocked on the nearest door. A matronly renSime answered, her nager going wild with surprise. Danyel flinched, holding his own as close as he could. "Hajene Ferris!"
"May I use your phone?" He felt the utter fool. Nothing had happened. Nothing bad that is. "My Donor and I found a renSime in change over and I have to call the Center." He flicked his head toward the slums.
"Certainly." She waved him in. The difference in the two homes was blinding. Magazines showing the latest daily stars were scattered over a low coffee table and pictures of "The Living Tentacles" and "Forever Selyn" were pinned to the walls. It wasn't a more expensive home, particularly, but it was the home of someone who had more in mind than repressing two small children.
"Could you turn down the television?" He dialed the number for the emergency crew.
"Certainly," the raucous concert faded to a tolerable level. Or at least one that would let him hear the other end of the line. He cupped his hand over the phone.
"Could you give me your problem and the address please?"
"Hey, Rindo," he answered.
"What are you doing on a private line, Danyel!"
"Got dorsaled into a change over."
"Why didn't you bring him in?"
"Don't ask. You'll want to bring the van. Address is 3840 eighty-ninth street." Danyel glanced at the renSime. She was zlinning him as she watched the renSimes gyrate to what some people, he supposed, called music. He didn't.
"That's all the way across the river!"
"Yeah, and my Donor is there. I'm not."
"Shen!" Rindo shouted. "Get moving! I'm coming along. See you." The phone went dead.
"You left your Donor out on eighty-ninth!" The woman grabbed her cloak.
"Hey!" He held up his hand. She bolted for the door. RenSime or no, she was fast.
"Move!" She tried to slap him nagerically. After dealing with Dimitri, it was nothing, but he moved. This was not the time to argue. "Name's Kris." She said as she locked the door.
"Danyel." He said quickly, pulling his knife back out. Her field flicked at it and then she showed him the throwing knife she had in her cloak. He winked. "Grew up there?"
"Yup," she zlinned the street. It was quiet except for the breeze in the trees and a baby's wail. This was not a bad neighborhood at all. As soon as they crossed the bridge again, it was silent, as if even the air were afraid to make any noise. Neither did they.
"Stop," he held up his nager. Three renSimes were hidden around the corner, their fields spilling over it. Only a Ferris would have zlinned it. He didn't have time for this. "Don't zlin." She didn't ask questions.
Danyel augmented around the corner and flared his field. A gun went off, the sound as loud as his nageric thunderclap. He threw himself back. A searing pain cut into his upper arm. He hissed in shock, covering the wound with his free hand. Blood already ran from the hot gash. It wasn't deep, but he knew it would hurt like shen as soon as the shock wore off.
"You're hit!" Kris didn't help, her field sending his into nightmare vibrations.
"Steady," he grabbed the ambient. She bit at her lower lip, eyes wide. The renSimes were unconscious, and so not a problem at all. He took a deep breath. He'd live. So close to transfer, his body had plenty of selyn to at least stop the bleeding. "I don't want to be here when they wake up."
"Yes, Hajene," she took off ahead of him.
"I can zlin better than you can."
"Not with an arm wound." She had her own knife out. He'd never known another Sime who'd learned weapons craft, but she held it with surprising authority. By the time they reached Lira's house, his head was spinning with shock. "You idiot Sime!" Dimitri growled, tugging him inside. "Were did you go, all the way back?"
"Not quite, Sosu." Kris snorted, zlinning around. Her nager pulled away from the unconscious Gen, as if she were poisonous. "What's a Gen doing living down here, alone?"
"She's Church of the Purity." Danyel snorted. "Probably doesn't have the money to afford anything better." He didn't mention the fact she'd been ticketed for being high field all the time anywhere else, even if not actively disruptive.
"What are you doing here?" Her field screamed. Danyel leaned against the wall. Dimitri's head whipped around. Mitka's wings snapped open.
Dimitri rolled his eyes and peeled back Danyel's hand. The motion reopened the wound. "I could have gone with you."
"What would you have done against a gun?" The floor came up to meet his butt with a thump. Now that he was no longer running on adrenaline, it hurt.
"Disabled the person holding it before they could shoot me." His eyes were dark with worry. Mitka looked over his shoulder. "Although I haven't seen one of these myself personally, be very glad I'm here and not some butcher of a Channel." He growled, putting his hand over the bare wound and his other against Danyel's forehead. "Hold still." He muttered, clamping down on the wound.
Danyel bit back a scream. It came out as a bark of shock and surprise. Mitka struck straight through Dimitri's hand, sinking what looked to be massive fangs into the wound. Ice seemed to stab all the way through his heart. Danyel stiffened, both with the pain of it and shock.
"Done," he removed his hand with a cracking, wet sound. Danyel looked to see it nearly healed, only the finest line still oozing serum. "I had to leave it open because I'm too low field to finish the job and because there's still lead and gunpowder in it. I don't want those being closed near the selyn transport nerves in your arm."
Danyel glanced at Kris. She was watching and zlinning, her eyes nearly as wide as Lira's. "Did you do that?" Lira asked, pointing at Danyel's shoulder from across the room. Dimitri looked at Danyel with the most perfect, "What do I say now?" look he'd ever seen.
Dazed, he winked at Dimitri and said. "Yes, he did, I think." His heart went out to Lira. How he wanted to take her home as he'd wished someone would have taken him home as a child. "We haven't worked together for very long."
"If I had the shirt to spare I'd wrap this, mostly for aesthetic purposes." Dimitri told him. "It should be healed well enough in a day or two I can make sure I got all the foreign matter out of it."
"How did you learn to deal with gunshot wounds?" None of the Rus had ever shown any inkling of knowing the first thing about firearms. Sure, Danyel could have murdered for Vayer's sword, but mostly because it was gorgeous, not because he thought it was an effective weapon. He'd take a gun over a knife any day. It was just shenned hard to get a permit to carry a gun in the city, and he was never allowed to carry one on Sime Center grounds.
"Sergei," his smile lit his face, not his nager. Mitka was as closed mouthed as always. Although as he zlinned, Mitka licked his lips, still staring. The effect was uncanny.
"Did it bite him?" Kris' dorsal shook like a leaf.
"Did what bite him?" Dimitri cocked his head. "I don't know what you're talking about." Mitka hid behind Dimitri's back. This had to have been a coached gesture. Although this left Mitka to his own devices. He promptly stuck his head up the cuff of Danyel's pants. It was all he could do not to yelp.
Dimitri's hand waved frantically at Mitka. "Do you require my partner to examine you?"
"No, no," her nager made the ambient squirm. Danyel was doing his level best to sit still. He gritted his teeth and put his hand on his arm below the injury, not incidentally displacing Mitka in the move. Mitka licked his lips again and tried for the other cuff. Danyel crossed his legs.
"Is there something bothering you, Hajene?" Lira's innocent question startled him. She was looking right at Mitka sitting on Danyel's chest and licking his face like a scaly, black dog! But she couldn't zlin obviously.
"Out," he hissed at Mitka under his breath. Those huge gold eyes gazed up into his. It was like kicking a puppy. He tried yanking at the back of Mitka's neck, as he'd seen Dimitri do. It jarred loose the fragile scar on his arm.
"Enough," Dimitri turned around, grabbed Mitka, and threw him at the wall. He passed right through it, vanishing without a trace. When he looked out the window next, he could see Mitka begging again, but at least this time they could pass him off as a nageric shadow. Dimitri's nager was as flat and apologetic as any he'd ever seen.
"You didn't hurt me." He reassured Dimitri, checking the long gouge on his arm. It was caked with black crud. Now he could see why Dimitri'd left it open.
"I could swear I zlinned what looked like a dragon harassing Hajene Ferris." Kris was not letting this go.
"Its a new technique. A visualization method we're using to train new Donors."
"You came out here with a new Donor?" Lira and Kris said in unison. The only reason they didn't shout was probably Marc still sound asleep on the couch.
"I'm new at being a Donor, not in healing." Dimitri washed his hands at the sink. "As you can tell."
"I couldn't have done better." Danyel hoped the ambulance would get here soon. And that it hadn't been hijacked. Sometimes, when they sent it down here, the locals would stop it in the street and draw it off to another emergency. He had to admit, as long as they stayed put, they were relatively safe.
Dimitri knelt next to the children's mother. His hand was on her brow now and he'd put his other over her heart. She looked helpless and innocent under Dimitri's huge hands, even though Danyel knew she was not. "How much longer do you think we have?"
"I don't know." He spread his tentacles. "We could be here for another five minutes or another five hours."
"I thought we had a dinner date?" He grinned.
"I'm going to go to bed when we get home." Danyel was not so Ferris he ran himself into the ground at every opportunity. He left that as an exercise for his far more illustrious kin. "Its been a long day."
"Since you haven't been to bed yet." Dimitri snorted before turning his attention back to the woman. "I don't want to keep her unconscious any long than I have to."
"Don't hurt my mama!" Lira came flying out of Kris's arms to beat on Dimitri's back again.
"No sweetheart, I won't." He told her, turning away from her mother. "I promise. Although she isn't well, either."
"How do I know you aren't bad like me?"
"Do you break your promises?"
"All the time." She looked down. "Mama says so. That's why I'm so bad."
"What kind of promises?" The calm in his voice and field was no distraction to how deftly Dimitri was drawing the child out. These were things she had to see for herself, but Danyel knew he'd not be able to do so like this.
"To be good. To keep my room neat. To not talk with bad people." With each sentence, Danyel felt his own nager grow colder. Kris' tentacles were locked hard in their sheathes. She gulped and zlinned away. "I'm bad!"
"No you're not." He brushed his hand over her straight, painfully neat blond hair. "You're a child, Lira, not perfect."
"But its wrong to break promises." Her chin was trembling she was so upset, but this time Dimitri didn't take her into his arms and hold her as Danyel would have.
"Your mother broke the promise she made to you when she carried you before you were born to love you and take care of you and never harm you." Dimitri's words struck home for Danyel as much as for Lira. "She promised to love you with all of her heart and she was too selfish to put your requirements over hers."
Lira blinked away tears, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her fist. Even still Dimitri didn't hold her.
"You can't make a real promise to someone who doesn't keep theirs, which you just told me. Your mother didn't keep her promises to you and your brother. Didn't I say I would take care of you and your brother?"
"You did." She looked at her mother, hardly breathing at all. What had Dimitri done to her? It was as if he'd put her into a coma, not just unconsciousness. "Is she going to be all right?"
"I'm going to try to teach her to keep those promises she made to you and your brother." He held up his hand before she could say anything else. "I can't promise I'll be able to. You're mother is very sick."
"Will she get better?" Lira leaned forward onto her toes. "I love my mama!"
"I know you do, sweetheart." Dimitri zlinned as if he were about to cry as well. "But sometimes love means we have to let go, too. It may turn out your mother is so sick you will never be able to live with her. Or that her illness may be her death."
"Then where will we go?" Her wail broke Danyel's heart. The ambient shattered into crystalline tears. Even Mitka was crying, now so small he could fit Mitka into his pocket, with his cards.
"Danyel and I will take care of you until we find you a home with other children to play with and a mama and papa who will love you and take care of you and keep those promises to you. And they'll teach you how to love so when you have children of your own they will grow up strong and straight."
Danyel wanted to bawl. He'd never heard anyone talk like this with a child. He'd always been afraid of hurting them. But Dimitri had told the whole truth in such a way Lira could understand it.
"Will I be able to see you when I'm with them?" Her teeth worried her lower lip.
Dimitri pulled it free, kissed his finger and touched it to her brow. "I don't live here. I'm only visiting for a few months, but I promise, when I'm here, I'll come see you when I can. I have my own work to do, little one."
"I understand." Her face fell, but now there was hope to it as well. "Could you take me back with you?"
Dimitri licked his lips, as if he were fighting back tears himself. "I don't know if you'd like it where I come from."
"Why not?" Now it was an honest, normal little girl's pout. "I want you for my papa!"
"I know sweetheart." Now he took her in his arms. "I know. But when you grew up we'd grow apart and you'd be all alone. Its better for you here." There were countless layers of other reasons beneath those, but this was what she could understand. In some ways, Danyel found it harder to deal with. Dimitri zlinned so young! As he bowed his head over the child's, his love for her rang on the ambient.
"I'll make sure you like your new family just as much as you like Dimitri." Danyel decided he might was well stick his tentacles into the mess as well. "I live here all the time. I grew up over on eighty-fifth."
"Really?" She grinned. "I have ..." Lira stopped, looking at her mother. Her whole body trembled.
"We think its wonderful you have friends." Dimitri stroked her hair. "What are her parents like?"
"Oh, they don't have lots of money like ... " she looked at Danyel out of the corner of her eye. He winked back at her. "How did you get so rich?"
He grinned. "Not the way I should have."
"Oh," she blushed, looking at her hands. "Well, my friends. She's a donor and he's a gardener, for across the river." She glanced that way, as if she'd never dreamed of going farther than the Center, if that. Danyel knew she wasn't telling all the truth. Everyone who lived down here wanted to be elsewhere. "They have this really cute little blue and white house with big roses out front." Lira kept flicking her eyes and her attention to her mother. "I'd sneak out there when mama was ..."
"Go on." Dimitri stroked her back. "Its all right. She'll never harm you again."
"How can you stop her?" Lira wailed. A muscle jumped in her mother's arm, making one finger twitch. Lira squeaked, dancing backwards.
"When, Danyel?" Dimitri turned to the woman. "I can't keep her like this indefinitely."
"I'll go zlin." Kris went to the door.
"Thank you." Danyel knelt at Dimitri's side.
"Take care of Lira." He muttered under his breath.
"I don't know how."
"Fake it."
Chapter 8
Dimitri pulled his mind away from Heri's body. He'd learned far more than he'd ever wanted to know about what she'd done to her children. "If that van or whatever it is doesn't get here soon, she'd going to be dead. She has a congestive heart disorder brought on by her lack of selyn movement."
"What?" Lira asked, peering over his shoulder.
"Because she isn't willing to give up her selyn she damaged her heart." Dimitri took her hand and put it over her mother's chest. "It should be an even, lub-dub, lub-dub."
"Its not." Her voice was full of awe. Dimitri smiled, despite the seriousness of the situation. Heri would never be able to be with her children again unsupervised. Between the lack of transfer and her psychosis, she couldn't be trusted with such a responsibility. She should have never had them in the first place. This was not a new problem. "Will she live?"
"She will, but not for very long." Dimitri hated telling anyone their loved one had a terminal disease, but with a child it was so much harder. Particularly as he was torn with wanting to rejoice in the fact she could not continue to abuse her children further. Her health would make a very convenient excuse to keep them apart. "And she'll be much healthier with complete rest."
"We're not very restful." She frowned.
"Not your fault, sweetheart." He took her hand in his. "Your joy is wonderful. Don't ever think it isn't."
"But it would upset her when we would get noisy and she'd lock us in our rooms."
"Because she was very ill." Dimitri reinforced, hoping if he said it enough it would sink in. He'd had very little experience working with damaged children. With how many caretakers most children had in Russia, it was very rare for any great harm to come to them. Not like here, where a single renGen had the raising of two active children all on her own. At first Dimitri'd hoped there had been at least someone who'd come in and helped with the household chores, but from the looks of their hands, the children had been put to work at a very early age. "It is good to play."
"We'll get in trouble." Her face shut down again.
"Not with me. I'd like to also talk with your friend's parents."
"We're here." A renSime, renGen pair stood at the door with Kris. Lira jumped up and threw herself into the renSime's arms. He tossed her up in the air and caught her, all forty odd kilos of her, even though he couldn't have weighed much more. His wife was as round cheeked and bright eyed as any Russian renGen. "Lira gave such a good description of our house Kris found it on the first try."
"It didn't hurt matters any your two boys were out climbing the rose trellis." She too had a huge smile on her face. Dimitri was just relieved. Now, where had Mitka gone this time? It would not do to have him pop up under some Sime's nose right now.
He could be such a pest. Finally Dimitri had to hunt him down by closing his eyes and feeling for him. It was like a huge game of hide and seek to his nager some days. When he opened his eyes again, Danyel was staring back at him, his hand over his breast pocket. What had Mitka found in there? He tried to ask the question with his eyes alone.
Danyel pulled out a deck of cards, with Mitka wrapped around them as if he were trying to hatch them. He put them away quickly when Mister and Missus ren returned their attention to the children. Marc was waking up and rubbing at his eyes. His tentacles came out to try to help. Mister ren sat next to him and quickly reminded him of how they worked.
Even if they'd never been together before, Dimitri could hear the click as their fields bonded. Some friendships were like that. And Marc required a friend. Lira went to Missus ren and tipped her head. "My mama's sick."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, honey." She knelt and put out her arms. When Lira had her face hidden she gave Dimitri the saddest smile he'd ever seen. She'd known what was going on and hadn't been able to do anything. "Is there anything we can do?" She asked silently.
"Love them." Dimitri watched the children bond with their new parents far faster than he would have ever dreamed possible. Usually such a fosterage situation took time and counseling. But both children were ready, Marc because of his change over, Lira, well, probably because it was time for her.
"If you could come down to the Sime Center or call tomorrow, I'd really appreciate it." Danyel, thank God, knew the formalities. Dimitri was completely out of his depth on what he could and couldn't do here. He knew the lord had to be ready to collapse, from selyn loss and shock if nothing else, but he was as bright eyed and energetic as when they'd left Kaon with Lira. Dimitri yawned and tried to hide it behind his hand. "I think we have to get someone home."
"I have to look after Heri." He put his hand back on her breastbone, the better to be able to track her vital signs. She was so fragile, he didn't dare send her so far under again as he'd done at first, when he'd expected the ambulance in half an hour, and hour at the most. It had only taken them fifteen minutes to drive here! It wasn't as if they had to hitch up the horses.
"Take care of mama!" Marc looked back over his shoulder, anguish coloring his field a bitter yellow. "I love you, mama!" Lira looked back too, her eyes sparkling with more tears. No, no matter how harsh a parent, it was hard for the little ones to go.
"I love you, sweetheart." Dimitri said silently, blowing her a kiss. His control lapsed a moment and Heri's heart stopped. He thought for a moment and restarted it. She'd not last long, but Lira should have the chance to say good bye, after she'd known what a healthy family was like for a while. "What a lats up." He sighed, when they'd passed out of earshot, Kris included.
"You want a drink stranger?" Danyel looked up at him from the other side of Heri. It felt as if they were on a death watch. The house was dark and silent without the children or Kris. Only the hissing of Heri's breath broke the silence when they didn't talk. Then Mitka crawled out of Danyel's pocket, slipped on the edge and fell onto the floor. "He actually goes thump." Danyel scooped him up in his hand.
"Yeah," Dimitri grimaced. "And I feel the bruises." He rubbed at his back. "Although why did you hide in Danyel's pocket?"
"Smelled good." He stated, curling up on Danyel's hand. "He likes me small." His tongue flicked out, like a real snake this time. Dimitri stared. He'd never done that before. "I like it like this too!" He did it a few more times. "You aren't a dragon, you're an imp."
"You've always called me trouble." He cocked his head to the side. "Maybe that's my real name ... Trouble."
"You're an imp." Danyel rubbed the top of Mitka's head. "You are cute, too."
"I know it." He ran his teeth along the leading edge of one wing. "I'm modest too."
"Bullshit." Dimitri wrinkled his nose at his nager. "You're as full of selyn as any Sime."
"What?" Danyel asked.
"A saying," Dimitri did think he was cute so tiny. He'd always been much, much bigger. "Simes are featherheads because they're full of selyn and so can't think very well." He winked, letting Danyel know he was teasing. Instead Mitka bit him on the thumb, not very hard, but Danyel yelped and nearly dropped him.
"Please don't." Dimitri put his hand under Danyel's for a moment.
"Nope, full of blood. I could cram some more selyn in there."
"Don't." Danyel echoed him. "I have plenty at the moment."
"A Sime who doesn't want selyn?" Dimitri teased, praying the shenned ambulance would get here soon. His banter with Danyel was keeping him alert, but no matter how alert he was, Hari was failing fast. "Are you well?"
"I'm Ferris." At his dark grin Mitka flinched, nearly falling off his hand. He only kept his balance with locking his talons around one finger and flapping mightily to right himself. Danyel helped, putting his hand under Mitka's tail and lifting him back up. "He zlins so fragile like this."
"I think that's why he's never done it before." Dimitri put his hand on Hari's chest again and had to restart her heart. She was draining selyn into the boards beneath his knees at a frightening rate. "If that shenned ambulance doesn't get here soon, she's not going to make it."
"Let her go." Danyel put his hand over Dimitri's. "She's not worth it."
"She's human." Dimitri growled, grasping at straws. "Don't get in my way."
"Not after you went through a closed window."
"I wasn't wearing my glasses." He glanced up into Danyel's shocked field.
"You thought it was open!" Danyel's jaw dropped.
"Yes," he nodded. "Mitka went through it without a pause. I thought I could."
"How did you not manage to slice yourself to ribbons?"
"Old glass and I know how to go through a window if I have to. I found out in the air when it was too late to change my mind." He shook his head. "I had jumped hard enough to make it through either way."
"Dimitri!" He rolled his eyes. "You're going to be the death of me."
"What about you grabbing Mark in the middle of all that broken glass?" He was sweating with the effort of keeping Hari alive.
"You caught us."
"Only because I knew Simes did stupid things. And I had two Simes to deal with, one of them still wet from change over." His words were light, his thoughts were not. "Where's the shenned ambulance?" He was having to keep Hari's heart going all the time now. He didn't know if they had anything more sophisticated than shock paddles on the ambulance, which was what he was doing right now, more or less.
"Stop," Danyel touched his hand and got a nasty shock. He pulled his hand back with a yelp. "Dimitri, its no good."
"Check one last time." He said, knowing she'd probably not make it even if the ambulance crew arrived right now.
"All right." He went to the window this time. It was dark out, without a hint of stars or moon. But then that may have been because of the filthy outside of the windows. "No one."
"Shen and shidoni!" Dimitri swore, letting her go. How he hated to loose, even when it was someone like this. Even the meanest criminal should be allowed to tell their children goodbye. Much less what it would do to Lira and Marc.
"I think they knew." Danyel knelt at his side this time. "I've never heard a Russian swear like that."
"I'm upset."
"I can tell." His quiet, calm voice didn't match his nager. It was as dark as the night outside the windows. Anything else would have sent Dimitri into a rant. As it was, he cried. He cried the tears no one else would cry for Hari. He'd never known her, but she'd been human, as alive as any of them, and even though she'd done wrong, Dimitri had no cause to believed she'd done so out of malice, only illness. "I'll go watch for the ambulance."
"Give me some time and we'll go back." He knew Danyel couldn't cope with his grief, not like this, not when it was so raw. He'd talked with Mikhail before he'd come here, about what he should and should not do around Western channels. Grieving for an abusive renGen in a shack in the slums was not on the should do list. Dimitri pulled his head back, looking up at the ceiling. It was nearly falling in, sagging half a meter or more in the center with water stains everywhere.
"Its not like there's anything here to loot, is there?" He asked at last.
"No," Danyel shook his head. "Nothing."
"Not even a cooking knife." Dimitri scanned the kitchen earlier. There was only half a loaf of bread and a sliver of dried cheese in the cupboards. He took one of the threadbare dishcloths and wrapped the narrow edge of a long triangle of glass. How he'd managed to go through the window without cutting himself to ribbons was still something of a mystery to him. Or at least without some substantial damage. "The Gods look out for fools and healers. And I'm both." He promised himself, next time, to wear his glasses.
"Why didn't you wear your glasses?" Danyel asked, as if echoing his unspoken thoughts. Dimitri could have sworn he'd been gelded. Vanesa had been completely unable to hear thoughts until Sevrin had cleared her conditioning. Danyel was countless times more fragile than Vanesa. He'd never survive having his anti-kill conditioning ripped from him. "Is there something wrong?"
"Memories." He shook his head quickly. Dimitri rarely let his Sergei born abilities range so widely. He looked on Danyel in a new light. "Anyway. I didn't wear them because I forgot."
Danyel rolled his eyes. "I have reading glasses, Dimitri. There's nothing wrong with wearing glasses."
"They're new." He admitted with a shrug. "And right now I can see at a distance as well as you can." He nodded at Mitka. With one of those flashes of selyn, he grew through the roof. "At night, through Mitka's eyes, I can see as well as you can."
"I'm impressed." Danyel waved a hand. "After you. You're not injured."
"And I am impressed as well. You're letting a Sharm Lord go first." He slid out the door, letting Mitka point out the people on the street. There were three other families on this side, fourteen on the other. But then there was a large apartment complex on the corner. Dimitri slid behind a selyn shadow.
"You're zlinning?" Danyel hid in Dimitri's shadow.
"He is." Dimitri whispered, pointing up. Mitka was eeling through some brush and garbage in a vacant lot. When he blinked his doubled vision clear, all he could see was black haze and top of Danyel's hair. It was much better looking through Mitka's eyes, not that Danyel was hard on the eyes, but he didn't have that much interest in the back of his head. "Lets go." He walked down the cracked sidewalk calmly, every sense aware of his surroundings. Since he couldn't see to save his life, his perceptions expanded with Mitka's to study every single life source in the vicinity.
Dimitri knew some other Gens wondered what it was like to zlin. He knew one person who'd never ask was his Uncle Sevrin, or himself. Danyel was fourteen meters behind him, sneaking, the silly Sime. He wished he could mindspeak Danyel and tell him to quit drawing attention to himself. If anyone zlinned him, he'd stand out from the shadows like a sore lateral.
To cover up for Danyel's obtrusive slithering through the shadows, Dimitri whistled. A renSime peered out from behind closed blinds and then shut them quickly. Dimitri knew his nager was as distinctive as his fingerprints, but unlike them, the Sime who zlinned him would never mistake him for anyone else. Even if they didn't zlin Mitka, Dimitri himself was almost as selyn neutral as a child. In someone nearing two meters in height, this was unusual, to say the least.
So the only way he was going to not attract any more notice, was to act as if everything were completely normal. Countless people had made ghost banishing gestures at him in the markets. Dimitri didn't mind. It meant he often got good deals because the merchants were trying to get him to go away.
"Everyone can see you!" Danyel hissed.
"Yes, and I know where they all are." Dimitri shielded his off hand with his body and pointed to all the people who'd glanced out their window. "Most probably think I'm a ghost."
"You do zlin weird." His eyes were flicking back and forth across the street.
"Here, hold my hand." Dimitri took it. "Zlin the reflection in the window." They were passing by a long closed clothing store. The model people in the window made Dimitri's skin crawl. He always hated anything that mimicked the human body. Dimitri figured it probably had something to do with his talents, but it wasn't worth remembering
Dimitri stifled another huge yawn. He'd worked hard today and wanted to go home. "I want to go someplace flat and warm. Last night had not been particularly flat."
"Me too." Danyel admitted. He was tucked neatly against Dimitri's side. "I couldn't zlin me very well through your field."
"Most probably couldn't zlin you at all."
"Do you mean to make people think we're ghosts?"
"Can you think of a better way to remain unmolested?" The thought reminded him again of his undressed state. Admittedly, Sharm Lord kadors were fairly revealing, but he'd not been out in public in breeches since he'd established. Except for the one exception of his claiming. He shuddered all over.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, remembering having almost all of the lords and Lords of Russia fighting over me."
"I can understand why."
"Not you too." He looked down at Danyel, hoping he was kidding.
"Is that how you broke your leg?"
"Yes."
Danyel nodded. His silence encouraged Dimitri to go on. There was no one within Mitka's extensive range who was at all interested in the ghosts wandering down the street. Every once in a while a Sime would poke their wrist out and then promptly vanish. Dimitri chuckled at one who actually looked before vanishing again. She was actually pretty cute. He waved.
"Dimitri!" Danyel's tentacles latched onto his arm with bruising force.
"She was cute." He protested, winking at him. "Yes, Lord Salkov broke my leg and then refused to let it be set properly. I couldn't do it myself because it required traction. He was trying to cripple me."
"After fighting for you?"
"Yes, I fought him to try to preserve my freedom." He stopped for a moment. Mitka had spotted something unusual. He pulled Danyel back against the building. A car was coming down the street. Dimitri hated the shenned things. They were dead, even if they ran on selyn. Danyel yanked himself out of Dimitri's grasp and waved to it.
"There you are!" Arkay ran up to him. Then someone put the brake on the car. "Where did you go? This is no neighborhood for you."
"I'm an adult here, Arkay." Dimitri blushed down to his toes. Danyel looked away, thank goodness. "We're fine."
"What's this about a change over?"
"He's fine." Dimitri knew he didn't sound as happy about it as he should have. "Why don't we go back and I'll tell you about it there."
"Good idea." Danyel was at his back, as if they'd trained, Lord and Sharm Lord together. "I don't like it here." The sign on the corner said eighty-fifth. His attention was on a dilapidated building, now covered in climbing ivy. Mitka came winging in out of the darkness. Dimitri turned and scooped Danyel up off his feet. The lord yelped and put his arms around Dimitri's neck. He liked Danyel here.
"Get in!" Nashen opened the door to the back seat. Dimitri was not at all adverse. Blood had been shed too many times here for his spirit not to feel it. Danyel, oddly, had his face against Dimitri's chest. He was normally so strong. What was wrong? He looked at the house again. Some of the blood shed here had been his.
Arkay was not happy about the growing relationship between Dimitri and Danyel. As far as he knew, Danyel did not prefer men and was so fragile if Mitka sneezed on him he'd die. So far the latter had certainly been proven true.
Although he'd also never seen Mitka so solicitous of any Sime's needs. He'd appeared out of Danyel's breast pocket when they'd brought the two home, only to zlin around and burrow back into it. "I'm not so sure about the two of you sleeping together."
"You aren't my father here." Dimitri had his stubborn Sergei face on. Which Arkay figured was redundant, but still descriptive. "I really want some sleep." Danyel'd been so exhausted he'd napped on the short drive back.
"I'm fine." Dark circles had appeared under his eyes. There was something he was hiding. Arkay couldn't read Danyel without possibly sending him into selynic arrest, so he raised an eyebrow and waited. "We have a date." He tipped his chin up and held out his arm.
"A date?" Arkay put on his best father look. Dimitri was far, far too young to be going out on dates by himself. "I don't know if I gave you permission to take out my son without me there."
"We don't require a chaperone." Dimitri straightened up. He was a mess. His hair was standing up every which way, his clothes were filthy and his eyes were as red as if he'd been crying. He tried to put a question into his field for Danyel alone. "I don't think we'll be late."
"You would have been later, indefinitely later, if you'd met up with that group of thugs we dispersed a block from where you were so merrily walking down the middle of the sidewalk." Nashen growled, matching Arkay's parent face.
"If they didn't think I was a ghost." He snorted. Arkay could feel him sway on his feet.
"The bar is across the street from Kaon. Its frequented by a number of channels and Donors. I'll take good care of him."
"He's so young." Arkay let slip out. It had been a late night for him as well. They'd been frantic when no one could find Dimitri. Arkay'd run every renSime at Sevrin's control ragged trying to find him. "You didn't tell us where you were going!"
"I'd expected to be home by midafternoon." He rubbed at his temple. "I haven't eaten yet today, either, otyet."
"You're not getting off the hook by reminding me you have to eat." Arkay tried to lean over Dimitri. It didn't work anymore. All he did was rouse Mitka out of his little nest. He was adorable so small. What am I doing? "Don't you dare use your talents on me, Dimitri!"
"Papa, let us go get something to eat and some sleep." He rubbed at his eyes again. "I promise, that is all we are going to do."
"I have no designs on your son's virtue, Arkay."
"I'd be relieved if you did." He snorted. It had been nearly impossible to find someone for Dimitri to even have sex with, much less transfer. Arkay'd accept a renSime at this point if they could deal with Mitka. "What I'm worried about is his getting into more trouble."
"Why don't I go get my glasses and you can talk with him?" Dimitri, of course, put his foot right in the middle of things.
"Why don't you do that?" He growled, hating to be manipulated, but wanting what Dimitri was giving him. Which was of course Sergei's gift in action. "We'll be right here until you get back."
"Let Mitka stay." He put out a hand to his nager. "I'll be right back." The love in his eyes for Mitka was undeniable. If anyone other than Vayer'd had the handling of Dimitri after his establishment, he'd have gone insane. As it was, he'd learned to love Mitka and being Gen, rather than resenting either, which would have been far easier for the young man. Mitka licked his lips and dove back into Danyel's pocket.
"You might want to think about lining your pocket with silk." He pointed to the soggy spot.
"As long as he doesn't get my cards soggy." Danyel pulled them out. Unwrapped Mitka. Put him back in his pocket and shuffled them. "No, they're fine." He continued the easy gestures. The cards were very well worn, as if Danyel regularly handled them like this. Back and forth in the fingers and tentacles of one hand. "Now, you have questions for me?"
"What were you thinking of taking Dimitri down into that hellhole?"
"I had no plans on taking your son anywhere. He decided he was going to go after a change over case with a little girl. We only found out later where it was. I know the area well. I grew up feet away from where you picked us up." His jaw was as hard as his eyes. "He's had a hard night. Give him a break?"
"By letting him go out on a date? He requires food and rest, in that order." Arkay held his field in check, but by Allah he wanted to swat this little uppity lord.
"If he sleeps now, he'd wake every fifteen minutes with nightmares. The change over went fine, the boy's mother was abusing him and his sister. Because the ambulance never showed up, we lost their mother. Dimitri might well feel its his fault she dies."
"Shen, Danyel," all the bluster went out of him in a rush. "Why wouldn't you say anything when he was here?"
"Because right now he needs to get fed, get stinking drunk and pass out before it all catches up with him. I've been there."
"So have I. Drugs aren't the answer."
"They are tonight. Tomorrow he'll be able to deal with it, after he's slept." Danyel's face was shadowed into a skull mask by the harsh lights in the courtyard. "Unless you have a better solution."
"He has to talk it out."
"Not tonight. He hasn't slept well in days if I don't miss my guess."
"No, you don't." He admitted. "And he's only had a handful of good transfers to get any sleep."
"Poor lad." Danyel sighed. "But I know well enough about that too." The dark lines in his face deepened. "I'll bring him home safe, Arkay."
"I don't have a lot of choice." He saw Dimitri bound down the steps three at a time. He'd grown so much since he'd established, but he still wasn't an adult. To loose a patient in such horrible circumstances was something no healer could deal with easily. "You're right. He's blocking it. Here." He pressed a few hundred marks into Danyel's pocket.
Danyel put away his cards, in his pants pocket this time. Smart Sime, Arkay noted. "Ready to go?" He held out his arm. Danyel must have learned the gesture from watching Vanesa and Sevrin. Dimitri's eyes widened at first, then he took it, just resting his fingertips against Danyel's arm. "We'll be back early, I promise."
"Oh, don't fret so, papa." Dimitri looked back over his shoulder, all bright eyed and nagered. "I'll be fine." Arkay waved, not trusting himself to say anything.
"He will." Nashen put his hand on Arkay's shoulder. "They have to grow up some time."
"Why now?" Arkay asked, watching Dimitri lean over to hear something Danyel said. Dimitri laughed. He'd dusted himself off and when Arkay thought about it he realized Dimitri hadn't put on his glasses, he'd put on his makeup. Arkay rubbed at his face. "I'm not ready for Dimitri to be dating."
"You don't have a problem with Aliana being pregnant or Tzer being bonded." Nashen dug the barbs in deeper.
"They're Simes." He said at last. True to his word, Danyel only took Dimitri as far as the bar and grill that catered to the Sime Center's staff. Arkay wondered if he could get away with staying out here and watching for them.
"You're going to be able to hear Dimitri come back in, Arkay." Nashen tugged at his arm. "Come on."
"We sleep on the far side of the building."
"Its not going to matter." Nashen sighed. "I don't normally hold much with drugs of any kind, but I think Danyel was right."
"He's a Sime."
"Not all Simes are brainless." Nashen pinched him one. Arkay didn't even yelp. "Oh, love, they'll be fine. It isn't as if the Center staff can't dump them in a wheelbarrow and push them home."
"I know." He sighed, holding Nashen's arm with both his hands. "But he's so young."
"You were so young once too."
"Yes, and I ended up with Katrina and Ilya."
"Danyel's no Ilya." Nashen snorted. "You're being paranoid."
"I know." He relented with a sigh. "But he's the baby."
"True." Nashen's field lightened. "There's so much time between him and Shanir, it seems like he was the last of the batch."
"He was the last one we raised, Nashen." Arkay felt the sharp pang deep in his soul. "Where does the time go?"
"I don't know, Arkay, my love." Nashen leaned against him, his hot Sime warmth banishing the chill of the early spring air. "I don't know."
Chapter 9
Dimitri took a timid sip of the gold liquor Danyel'd bought for him. He'd never drunk anything stronger than wine or beer. And that only rarely, with dinner. They'd ordered. Well, Danyel'd ordered for him. He knew he was in no shape to be out. As soon as he calmed down, today would catch up with him.
It was amazingly good. With the sharp taste of apples concentrated down to their essence. He let the warm liquid rest on his tongue for a moment. It was almost like breathing in a whole fall orchard at once. Dimitri closed his eyes and listened to the little clicks of the ice tap the side of the glass.
"Better?" Danyel had ordered something different. He glanced at it in curiosity. "Would you like to try some?" Danyel offered his own glass.
"Sure," the tight knot behind his breastbone was loosening up with each passing moment. The high booths were well insulated, both for sound and selyn. He tried a sip of Danyel's drink. It rasped against his throat and then warmed the rest of the way down. The sharp bitterness of grains and some sort of musky darkness balanced beautifully.
"Good." He tried to say, and then held his throat. It too had grown numb. Danyel chuckled softly, his own voice rasping. "What is it?" He managed to get out.
"Single malt scotch." He took another drink, baring his teeth afterward and exhaling sharply. "Good, no?"
"Very," Dimitri leaned against his seat. From here no one could see them at all. He set his drink on the table. Mitka wandered over and stuck his nose in it. He sneezed, fortunately not substantial enough to spray the liquor everywhere. Mitka looked up at him, his expression so dubious Dimitri chuckled. "I'm only going to have the one." Mitka still looked dubious. He curled up on the table, around the candle.
"Oh, they know me here." Danyel leaned back as well. He pulled out a cardboard box. "May I?"
Dimitri waved him on, curious as to what he was asking about. He pulled out a paper wrapped tube of tobacco and lit the end. It was very much like a cigarillo. Blue smoke drifted from his nostrils. "May I?"
"Certainly." He lit a second and handed it to him. Dimitri took a deep drag. It wasn't as sweet as the pipe tobacco Arkay and Dorityan smoked, but it was far smoother in his lungs. His head buzzed gently under the influence of the drugs.
"Thank you." Now his voice really rasped. This was not something he was going to do very often, but right now it felt wonderful. Mitka snorted again and licked his lips, as if to say, "You'd better not."
"Ah, here's our food." The renSime balanced half a dozen huge platters.
"I hope you plan on eating some of this." Dimitri eyed the arrayed dishes skeptically. He didn't know half of the dishes. What were the little triangular noodles in broth or the long skinny ones with slivered vegetables and nuts, for example?
"Some," he grinned, spearing a woodear mushroom off the nearest plate.
"Hey!" Dimitri stole one. It was very good, sauteed in a very delicate, slightly salty sauce. He loved mushrooms. He broke the bread and following Danyel's example, scooped a bit of the eggplant, carrot and mushroom mixture onto it. Surprisingly, it was a cold dish, and rather tangy.
Before he noticed what had happened, the waiter had also placed a tall mug of beer and a slender wine glass in front of his plate. Dimitri sipped at the wine in question. It was an aggressively fruity white. Not something he would have normally appreciated. When he got to the noodles in broth, it was perfect.
"Too spicy?" Danyel grinned, nabbing morsels for himself with his fork.
"No," he shook his head. It was perfect with the wine. The thin noodles were lightly spiced, with slivered almonds and cashews mixed in with carrots, squash and green beans. It wasn't a combination he would have thought of, but it was good.
Before long, the plates were clean and he leaned back with a small glass of tawny port. "Do you come here very often?"
"Not to eat, no." Danyel was drinking coffee, something Dimitri'd never heard of in a Western Sime. Although from the smell, he'd had it laced with something strongly alcoholic. "Although they do know me at the bar."
"I can tell." His head was spinning in the most wonderful way. Why had he not done this before? Although he also knew he'd pay for it in the morning, which was probably why. "What makes you so different, Danyel?"
"I'm Ferris." His dark eyes were shadowed by the back of the booth, making them even more unreadable than normal.
"No," he shook his head. Then had to stop for a moment. It was not going to be fun trying to make it back up the stairs tonight. "I meant you, not your genes."
"It does make me different."
"I know what Rels Ferris was like. You are nothing like him."
"You're drunk, Dimitri."
"I am." He took another sip of his port. "Doesn't mean I'm stupid. Only means I remember better."
"What a curse." Danyel's tentacles twined around his cup. "I'm different because my family, such as it was, was not so different from Lira's."
"Church of the Purity, you called it?"
"No," he shook his head. "She was a whore, Dimitri."
"I'm a bastard." He let his jaw tighten on the words. "And?"
"But you have parents that love you. Arkay loves you very much." A corner of Danyel's mouth turned up in a wry grin. Dimitri waved him on. "Oh, he told me exactly what I was not to do with his little boy."
Dimitri was too drunk to pound on the table. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not." Danyel put down his cup. "I learned to make my own way." He pulled out a pack of cards.
"You play?" Dimitri put all the possible meanings into the words.
"Yes," he nodded, flicking through the deck so quickly Dimitri couldn't see the cards move. Mitka raised his head to watch. The cards came out in order, in suit, across the table. He picked them up again and reshuffled. He held them out to Dimitri.
He cut them, knowing he could fog Danyel's mind and make him forget his tricks, but curious. Danyel pulled out the ace of hearts and showed it to Dimitri without looking at it.
"You know what it is." He grinned, turning it around. They weren't marked, just worn to the point where they were a bit soft on the edges. "May I?"
"Certainly." Danyel handed him the cards. They were a fraction smaller than the ones he was used to, and mass produced, but quite similar. Dimitri shuffled them quickly. Then he began sorting them, letting Mitka watch the faces for him. He let Danyel cut.
"And?" Dimitri held up the card.
"Ace of spades. I'm impressed."
"Mitka," he pointed.
"You cheat."
"I make my own rules." Dimitri handed back the cards.
Danyel knew he wasn't going to enjoy waking up. He rarely did. However, he rarely woke up with a hungover Gen in his bed. He wondered why he'd gone to sleep.
Then he rolled over and realized why. Dimitri was huddled in the corner, sobbing. "You'll be fine."
"Not the hangover." He flipped his head back so far Danyel only saved himself by augmenting. The motion did not sit well with his stomach. "Hari."
"I never knew her name." Danyel did his poor best to wrap himself around Dimitri.
"We should get up."
"Its only ...
"Four thirty three." He rolled over, putting his arm over his eyes. "I reset my internal clock yesterday. Although my body still thinks is the middle of the afternoon."
"Which is why you're so awake." Danyel yawned. They'd staggered in about closing time last night, after sitting and talking for hours at the bar. "I don't know about you, but I don't like mornings."
"Neither do I." He yawned, showing not one filling. Danyel was jealous. He hated having cavities filled, and he'd had too many of them. "I'd much rather sleep until afternoon, which I've just done, as far as my body is concerned."
"Then pity me and put me back to sleep." The simple phrase had to have hit Dimitri like a hammer to the gut. He flinched, drawing away. "Oh, Dimitri, I'm so sorry."
"Its all right." He took a deep breath. "I'll be fine."
"You're lying to me. You're not supposed to lie to your channel, at least not if you're acting as my Donor." He put his hand on Dimitri's chest. Not only was his massively built, but there was already a thick layer of muscle over his ribs, running down both sides to his hips, forming a perfect triangle. Danyel'd never seen anyone quite so obviously Gen. At least not in his bed.
"I will be." He turned those storm gray eyes on Danyel. With his wispy nager, Danyel felt himself drawn in against his will. He wanted Dimitri and knew he could never have him. Arkay'd been right to trust Dimitri to him. With this one Gen, Danyel'd never dream of touching his nager. "You look like hell, however."
"Thanks." He scrubbed at his teeth. "Is this what I get when I tell you to tell the truth? All of it?"
"If you like." He propped his head on his hand, now leaning over Danyel. "What kinds of truth do you want to hear?"
"I want to hear about yesterday." He thought he might be catching on to Dimitri's little tricks. Like changing the subject or the object of the conversation. "I want to know about Hari. Who was she? Why did she do it?"
Dimitri looked away. Mitka flew in, through the closed window, and landed on Dimitri's hip. Danyel made the mistake of glancing down and realized how young Dimitri really was. "Good morning, Mitka."
"Dark, cold, time to go back to bed." He burrowed under the covers and right under Danyel's flank. His eyes must have nearly bugged out since Dimitri grinned. "Now warm me up."
"Yes, Mitka," he stroked his scaled back, as commanded.
"I'll be back in a moment." Dimitri slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Danyel couldn't help but zlin. Most Donors would have put on a robe, a towel, worn something to bed. Dimitri didn't seem to care at all. And he was going to look. OK, so it wasn't the most civilized thing in the world, but he'd so rarely shared his bed with anyone in the past few years he was going to take some advantage of the situation.
The sound of running water reminded Danyel he'd better get up too. Moving became easier once he untangled Mitka from his fingers. Well, once he'd picked Mitka up and taken him into the bathroom too. He put Mitka over his shoulder, as he'd now done with three Teagues and took Dimitri's place.
"I take you've been helping Sevrin?" He grinned, looking closely in the mirror. "Yes, definitely hung over. I'm not going anywhere until my relatives have nothing to tease me about."
"I can tell you have a splitting headache, Dimitri. How can you be so relaxed about it?"
"I've had a number of bad transfers. They're worse." He sloshed a bit of water on his face. "I should probably shave."
"Later," Danyel pointed out his shaking hands.
"Point," he nodded, heading back to the bedroom. As Mitka had, he dove under the covers. "So, you want to hear about Hari?"
"Yes," he sat on the edge of the bed. Mitka squirmed around, grabbed his ear and pulled him onto the bed.
"Don't do that!" Dimitri swatted him. "I'm sorry."
"I'm fine." Danyel had to put his hand to his ear to make sure Mitka hadn't actually pierced it, as it had felt like. "Any blood?"
"No," Dimitri chuckled, leaning back.
"He's gotten a lot gentler." Danyel went back to stroking Mitka. Dimitri stretched. Now this was something to zlin. Muscles bunched and released all the way from his head to his toes. Danyel couldn't help but reach out and touch him as well. Mitka clawed at his hand.
"Share," he told the creature. Dimitri's skin had been so incredibly soft his tentacles ached to touch it again, but he didn't dare. He'd never told anyone his preferences. The Techton tried to live the lie no male channel ever looked at another male sexually. He'd been told he'd die, horribly, if he did. So he'd lied.
Lying here with Dimitri, from a culture which obviously didn't bar male channels from half of their Donors, he found himself in the position of not knowing what to do.
"Hari only knew what she'd been told. Her parents had raised her to fear and hate Simes." Dimitri shook his head. "I know it but I don't understand it."
Danyel wished he could brush the confusion from Dimitri's field with a simple wave of his nager.
"That would be like fearing the sun or the moon." He looked down at his hands. They were broad and strong. For a moment Danyel thought about what it would be like to have those hands on his body. Mitka noticed his slip, sliding down Danyel's front to press against his groin. Danyel pried him off his crotch. Dimitri's field twinkled for a moment and then stilled. He'd seen, and ignored it. Like someone ignoring a dog doing the same. "Why would someone fear something so beautiful as larity?" He did touch, taking Danyel's slender hand in his own. Of course his tentacles came out and lashed them together.
"Because not everyone is a natural Donor." Get a grip on yourself, Danyel. He may be a natural Donor, but he's not for you! "Because Simes can kill."
"So can Gens." Dimitri's eyes went completely gray. "My first true transfer partner has been through three surgeries and hundreds of hours of rehabilitation therapy. He's still not entirely well and never will be again. I learned to do thoracic surgery on him, Danyel."
Danyel put his hand over his own chest in shock.
"Yes, Mitka sliced the man's vriamic node into nearly three pieces. I couldn't stop him. Khristov moved and ..." he looked down at his own hands. "Mitka's fangs went through it."
"How did he move?" Danyel couldn't imagine the circumstance where a Sime in transfer would move, other than relative to the Gen. It was all so quick, in the time frame of an observer. Even he had to zlin closely to observe all the phases of transfer.
"He has no handling tentacles." Dimitri brushed a finger over one of Danyel's. At the comment, they hid in his sheathes. "There are certain Simes among us who chose to give up the ability to kill." His gestures were soft, barely touching the skin. "They choose political power over nageric."
"I couldn't."
"Then its a good thing you live here." One delicate fingertip brushed over the extensor nodes for one lateral. "For you would have been given a choice at change over, to have your handling tentacles removed and join the Veiled or be dead within a year, typically."
"Because I'm Ferris?" The Techton was looking better and better all the time. It might be heartless and senseless, but it was not cruel. Danyel wanted to put his arms to his chest and protect them.
"All those whose deformities appear at maturity are put to death. The Veiled are considered dead to us." Dimitri wrapped his hand so gently around Danyel's wrists it felt as if he'd cocooned them in warmed silk. Mitka was as still as an onyx and gold statue.
"What of Sevrin?"
"He'd been Veiled." Dimitri's fingers slid over Danyel's tentacle sheathes, playing them as Danyel would play a shiltpron. Of course they came out to twine around this tempting nuisance. "He was dead, Danyel."
"He's alive now." Danyel didn't want to think of how many times Sevrin had taken him to task for some minuscule error. "Very much so."
Dimitri chuckled softly. "They left their mark on him." He was looking at Mitka.
"You almost ended up dead, didn't you?"
"Yes," Dimitri nodded. "I think if I'd been able to take transfer from Khristov, they would have taken me, even against my will. I could never stand against a Veiled lord in unrestricted combat. None of us can."
"What makes them so special?"
"They take only the strongest, of mind, if not of body and forge great bonds of mind and spirit among them. Together, they can withstand the might of any individual." His whole body was as rigid as Mitka's. Danyel stroked the backs of his hands. "Sevrin could not tolerate the unity, as ..."
"He's too shenned independent."
"I wouldn't put it so crudely, but yes." Half a grin softened his face. "Master Cadek, my sire's twin, lives almost exclusively in the unity as he can not tolerate his own memories."
"I didn't know Diomid had a twin." Danyel's tentacles knotted at the thought. "He's a brilliant man, but not one I'd like two of."
"Me either." Dimitri grinned, tugging Danyel's tentacles back out. "I think I'm the only one who really knows about him."
"And now me." Danyel basked in the intimacy of the conversation.
"You are a very easy man to talk to, Danyel."
"Perhaps because I am no channel to judge others." He shrugged. "Other than by accident of birth, there is nothing special to me. No great talents for channeling or healing, either one."
"You have a great talent for listening." Dimitri's comment cut straight to the sheath.
Danyel sucked in a deep breath. His tentacles must have locked down, for Dimitri gave them a slight tug. "Oh, sorry." He released the pressure on them.
"Why did you pull back?"
"Why do you wake up with an erection?"
"Back pressure."
"Its been a long time since I've had a Sime's tentacles really latch down on my wrists." His gaze was steady, but Danyel could zlin his heart race. "I miss it."
"I'm still post."
Dimitri shrugged again. "I am too, more or less. But its been so long I'd give a renSime transfer if I could get them to hold still for Mitka."
"I'm surprised you handed Marc over to me yesterday." Was it only yesterday? It seemed like months ago.
"I didn't want to take the risk of killing him." Dimitri said. Mitka hid his head beneath his wing. Danyel teased him back out with gentle caress of one tentacle. Mitka crawled up, on his belly, to rest his head on their bound hands. Danyel's tentacles were still sliding all over Dimitri's wristbones. "Actually, I don't dare ever touch a renSime in transfer. It is just a saying among Donors."
"I've known some who would agree with the sentiment." Danyel admitted. "Although the Techton does not agree with me."
"I have little use for the Techton, Danyel." His eyes went hard. "From what I know, they are as cruel as any Gen who collects and kills renSimes for her own pleasures."
"I would have said any junct Sime." Danyel shuddered at the thought of a Gen so far gone in perversity they had learned to take pleasure in killing. Never, ever had he heard of such a thing. Those rare Donors who could kill, didn't enjoy it. Not even as much as the most desperate semi-junct.
"Oh, there is an ego-bliss in making a Sime dance to your tune. Don't mistake me. There is a pleasure in killing for any human who is so twisted." The glow in Dimitri's eyes matched Mitka's, hot and distant, as if wishing they weren't bound by the rules of civilization. "Oh, I could kill and enjoy it, Danyel, much as it shames me to admit it. I love Mitka and he loves me, but where need is concerned, we'd both rather hunt our prey and take it without having to worry about our next need."
"Dimitri!" Danyel swallowed past the hard knot in his throat. "You ..." he started again. "Do you see me like that?" The idea of being prey, not predator, tried to draw him back. Dimitri's hands had fallen over his extensor nodes. His tentacles wouldn't release. Fear, of a Gen, rose up in him.
"Stop it." Dimitri shivered, his hands still around Danyel's wrists. "Don't tempt me, Danyel."
Danyel wrenched himself hypoconcious as hard as he could. Sweat trickled down his temples. He stared into Dimitri's eyes, now as hot and black as any Sime's he'd ever seen. Dimitri's fingers were no long gentle on his arms. His hands were holding Danyel's tentacles out, and his nager obviously driving them to hold on. "Your father made me promise no intercourse. I don't want to be forsworn, Dimitri."
"You won't be." His hands snapped open at last. "That was the perfect thing to do, Danyel." A high, thick wall had come between them. "You are correct. It would not be right."
"But it would probably feel good at first." He teased, trying to draw Dimitri back out.
"Until it started to burn." Dimitri held his hands against his chest in fists. "I won't rape."
"It wouldn't be rape, Dimitri." This time he reached out, brushing a tentacle along the back of Dimitri's hand. The faintest glimmers of light followed the path he traced. Dimitri had the reactivity of an adult, with only the personal nager of a child. Mitka made up the rest.
"I don't have your permission." Dimitri's own, personal, field was going wild even as Mitka closed his eyes and rested his chin on Danyel's arm. The discrepancy fascinated Danyel, as if they truly were two different entities.
"I don't know how to do this." He tickled Mitka under the chin to make sure he heard this. He yawned, showing all his fangs right in Danyel's face. Fascinated, he stopped what he was doing and zlinned. The saliva Mitka drooled all over the place was really no such thing, but rather a shared nageric hallucination. Mitka licked his hand, daring Danyel to make the same conclusion about him. He quickly remembered what he was going to say.
Dimitri was trying not to smile, his dimples showing quite clearly, even the one in his chin. He tipped his head, waiting.
"You have my permission." He spread his tentacles over Dimitri's.
Chapter 10
Dimitri thought his heart would stop beating. How he'd wanted this moment and now it was here, he didn't know what to do with it. "I can't accept."
"Is there something wrong with me?"
He decided to take the cowards way out. "You're Techton, I'm not. You'll never be satisfied with a normal transfer if I touch you that way."
"Do you think I'm content with the Techton?" His question wrenched at Dimitri's self control. Danyel's field was wide open. It was as brilliant as the heart of the sun, and as uncontrollable. Danyel'd never be able to be still enough for Mitka's draw. Dimitri knew he was slower than any western channel, much less a Ferris.
"Danyel, it won't work." He put it bluntly. "I'd kill you." Dimitri could still hear Danyel's protests. "It won't work, trust me. I'd love to be your friend, but we could never have the other."
"Don't I have any say in the matter?" His tentacles came out and lashed them together again. It was everything Dimitri could do not to force himself on the older lord. Even post, he wanted to drive his selyn into Danyel with all his might.
"You're Sime." He fought all his instincts as Danyel seated his tentacles. Even Vayer never grabbed him this hard. It was enough force to bruise and the sharpness of it drove him to lust, even if he didn't need. "Don't do this." He pleaded, trying to draw away without digging Danyel's tentacles in any deeper.
Mitka was staring, his eyes as hot as Danyel's field. If they were both in need, he'd have already killed. His tongue flicked out, brushing their bound hands. Dimitri watched in dread as Danyel slipped into the world of selyn. If he didn't get away, he'd follow. His heart was pounding in his chest. He focused on the physical, the blanket tangled around his legs, his breath burning in his lungs, the sweat on his brow, his still pounding headache. The last gave him the strength to go limp.
Danyel popped out of the world of selyn so fast Dimitri flinched. "You have the control." He said softly.
"Only because I have a headache." He growled. Now his arms ached. "I've not felt a Sime's laterals in over two months, Danyel. Stop playing with me."
"These?" He let them flick out, so very much like Mitka's tongue, he snarled, writhing with the ache Dimitri felt in the pit of his stomach. "Do they really affect you so much?"
"Stop teasing me." Dimitri clutched his arms to his chest. Both post and in need with all the temptation, he struggled both to cry and not to. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I want to understand." Danyel's simple statement called to the heart of him that was Sergei. "Because I want to know now, not later."
"Good thing I have a hangover." Dimitri collapsed back onto the bedding, Mitka along with him. Mitka was panting, his tongue draped over the side of his mouth. "I'm not very skilled with my field, Danyel."
"You did fine just now." The curiosity in him was a clean draught of spring water. "Why did your father tell me I couldn't?"
"Because I'd kill you, you idiot Sime!" Dimitri rolled over and pinned him to the bed. "Do you want peace?" He looked into Danyel's eyes from cents away. "Mitka would drive his selyn into you so fast and so hard I couldn't stop him."
"Sounds good to me." His exotic features teased at Dimitri, almost more than his selyn had. True, in Fatima, there were many people with dark hair and dark eyes. But not as dark as Danyel.
"Do you want death?" He asked again, not feeling Danyel's unease at what he was asking.
"I'm fast, Dimitri." The dark lines in his face deepened. "Faster than any but a handful of seconds, most of them relatives. I'm far faster than you'll ever be. I'd think the question should be the other way around."
"Mitka is tough." He watched Mitka carefully. He was grooming his talons, making loud crunching sounds as he spread the toes and scraped his teeth over his talons. "I don't worry about him, not after Khristov."
"You said he moved." Danyel didn't refuse to meet his gaze. "I won't."
"We're fish and fowl. Too different. It would never work." Dimitri felt Danyel's body heat rise up to caress him. He bit back a groan. Why had he done this? His arms shook as he held himself over Danyel. At least he wasn't between Danyel's legs!
"You're Gen, I'm Sime." A twinkle came to those black eyes, teasing him more. "I don't zlin the problem."
"Don't remind me." He sagged in the middle, all except where he didn't. Fortunately, there were at least three layers of blankets between them. Dimitri rested his forehead on Danyel's shoulder. It wasn't quite as slender as most Westerners. The scents of roniplin and Sime hit the back of his sinuses like a hammer between the eyes. Sime thin skin was only millimeters beneath his nose.
"Don't ..." he said too late. Danyel'd put his arms around Dimitri's shoulders. Dimitri collapsed.
Arkay rarely slept through the night anymore. This might have something to do with the fact he tended to take naps during the day. It wasn't a pleasant thought. Nashen was as flat as only a Sime could be. He was also taking up most of the bed. Arkay put on an old pair of breeches and a heavy shirt.
It was still chill at night here, even though there was only a rare touch of frost in the mornings. He'd made a habit of wandering the corridors of Kaon in the middle of the night not shortly after they'd come here with Riana their first winter. Arkay'd heard someone staggering, lost, in the halls and gone to investigate.
The unfortunate in question had been even more of a lost soul than Arkay would have dreamed possible. The sharm lord had been drunk out of his mind and looking for the tallest place in Kaon to jump off. He'd dragged the man back to their rooms, and after letting him sleep off the worst of his drunk, had talked him into coming by on a regular basis for counseling.
Arkay'd not been very good at counseling others before he'd come to Kaon in the winters. He'd been too rash, to ready to heal with will and selyn. Those he helped now often enough only required a sympathetic ear and healthier solutions to their problems. It was definitely hypocritical, but Arkay didn't approve of burying problems in drugs. He'd done it enough to know it didn't work.
And that experience had enabled him to reach many, many people he probably could have never touched at all before. Arkay stopped to tickle his namesake, Arkady. Yet and Tanya had returned to duty shortly after he was born. Vanesa had insisted they bring the youngster with them. Tanya winked at him, standing straight and proud with her spear. The renSime guards of Russia were proud of their positions. That someone might think of them as beaten down serfs had crossed Arkay's fertile mind, but all they'd have to do was talk to one of them to be disabused of the notion.
Arkady was so cute it was hard not to steal the little mite. But he'd go back to Mir the spring after next, to be raised with all the other ren children of the Demense. Tanya had insisted. It was utterly fascinating to see how the merger of East and West in Kaon was working. With one last wuffle and giggle, he put the lad back. He was still well fed and dry, so he'd probably go back to his interrupted nap.
"I see he's already alert to people walking the halls." He grinned, watching Arkady yawn mightily and go limp again. "A good sign."
"I be thinkin so, m'Lord." She brought her spear up to attention.
"Be well and do your best, Tanya." He left off her title. It was less than an hour before dawn. Now was not the time for formality. Her chin quivered. "All right. "Be well and do your best, renSime Guard Tanya Kaon."
Her nager brightened instantly. "At your will, Sharm Lord Arkay." Her partner decided it was time to wake up and at least mumbled something like "Morning, Arkay." Pyoter was a lot more relaxed than Tanya.
"Morning, Pyoter." He winked, noticing the man really wasn't very awake. Guard duty at Kaon had to be incredibly boring. At least in Russia, there were always people wandering around in the halls, getting into discussions, talking about the weather, even the occasional spat.
Arkay wandered down the hall, listening for anything out of order. Nothing other than Darya and Vayer talking to each other quietly. He wandered out into the courtyard and looked upward. The electric lights drowned out the stars and he missed them. Although he didn't miss the cold that came with clear nights in Russia.
There was a light on in the complex. One that normally wasn't. It was near where he knew Danyel had to live. Arkay took the stairs up two at a time. He could still run with the best of them, if a bit slower. The shielding was excellent, Arkay had to give the Kaon builders this much. It was only by comparing his position now with where he'd been outside he'd been able to find the rooms. He'd never been to Danyel's rooms before. Actually he'd thought Danyel had a separate house off Kaon's grounds.
For the most part, he'd avoided anyone wearing the black marker for carrying active Ferris genes. It was easier than finding out later he'd accidentally clobbered someone. He remembered Rels personally. Danyel might have a completely different personality, heavens bless, he had to for how much Vanesa depended on him, but he still had southerner's syndrome.
Arkay debated knocking. It was his son he was after. Anywhere else he would have simply walked in. He had that responsibility to make sure Dimitri didn't get in over his head. They'd all be gone in a week and Arkay had to set a good example now.
He opened the door and got the shock of his life. Dimitri had pinned the much lighter Sime. Arkay grabbed the back of Dimitri's neck and tried to pull him off. "I told you, Danyel."
"I didn't do it!" He rolled out from under Dimitri, at least. "We were talking!"
"Horizontally superimposed?" Arkay wanted to slap this little idiot. But as he was acting like a child, he treated Dimitri like one. He put the youngster over his lap and gave him ten stinging swats on the butt. "You know better."
"We weren't doing anything." His face was a study in sincere outrage.
"With you lying on top of him?" Arkay stared him down. Where was Mitka? Dimitri looked away first. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"Yes," the line of his jaw was set. He rubbed at his temple. "Although it didn't do my headache any good to have you come barging in here."
"What are you doing in my rooms, uninvited, no less?" Danyel had pulled the blankets up to Dimitri's shoulders, as if he were protecting the young man. It was good to see some Sime taking care of the lad, but Danyel was not a suitable partner for Dimitri.
"You promised you wouldn't do more than take him out to dinner and talk." Arkay was still furious. "I trusted you to behave like an adult."
"We did." He glanced down. Mitka had his head under his wing and was trembling. "You poor thing." Danyel scooped him up in his arms.
"Then why are you trying to seduce him?" Arkay pointed at Mitka.
"He's upset, Arkay." Danyel stroked Mitka's wings. "There was no cause for you to do this."
"I'm his father. Of course I care about what he's doing with much older lords." Arkay glanced aside to see Dimitri pouting, like the child he was. "You, go back to your rooms."
"No," he said, coming out of it with a snap. "I did no wrong. I'm an adult here. I'm going to stay."
"Children," Arkay rolled his eyes. "You are not an adult, no matter what the local rules say. If you don't do as I say, you're going back on the next plane."
"You let Aliana run off to Rialite even before she changed over!"
"She's Sime, you're Gen, there's a difference." Arkay put his foot down. "Besides, she's more than five years older than you are!"
"I've established. Here I'm an adult." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"You're going to get another spanking if you don't do as I say."
"I didn't struggle because I don't want you to hurt yourself, but if you ever treat me as a child again, I will resist, Arkay. I love you as a father, but you have and had no right to barge in here and embarrass me like this in front of a friend."
"Stop it, both of you." Danyel broke in. Mitka'd draped himself over his lap, but he still had his head buried back under one wing. "Can't you see what you're doing to him?"
"Mitka will survive." Arkay snorted.
"But will his dignity." Danyel wouldn't meet his eyes anymore. "Why did you do this?"
"Because I don't want him getting into more trouble than he can handle." Arkay cursed the fact it was too late already. "He's going back with me."
"No," Danyel held Mitka to his chest. "They're staying here. I have the room and we were talking. We'll be available in three hours for the photo shoot."
"I want him under my hand, Danyel." He stood, pointing to a spot half a meter away. "You will be there in ten seconds or I will physically drag you out of here by the scruff of the neck!" He cursed the fact Dimitri'd had his hair cut so recently.
"No." He sat, arms still crossed. "I am bigger and stronger than you are. More importantly, you wouldn't harm Danyel by rash actions, now would you?"
"Shen you, Dimitri." He growled, wanting to swat this little puppy again, even as his hand still stung from the last time. "Even Ilyan wasn't so much of a pain."
"He escaped with Nivanya." Dimitri muttered. "I wish I could."
"You're going to be alone here for four months, Dimitri." Arkay wished Nashen were here. He could always talk sense into Dimitri. Or even better, Vayer. Frustrated, he mindcalled. *Get your behind in here, Vayer!*
Shock and a reluctant sense of assent came with the reply. *Let me get dressed first.*
Arkay didn't want to wait. "I called your father. Lets see you try to talk your way out of this in front of him."
"We did nothing wrong." Dimitri let Danyel put his arm around his shoulders. It was certainly a case of the kitten and the warhorse, but at least Danyel had some manners. Arkay paced, not waiting at all patiently.
Vayer thought Arkay was overreacting, but ran a brush through his hair and quickly braided it. He'd let it down last night to play with Darya and hadn't put it up, thinking he'd have plenty of time this morning. He'd have known if Dimitri'd been in real trouble. They'd shared transfer often enough at this close range he'd have heard it otherwise, as he had when he'd sent Arkay and Nashen off to fetch him and Danyel.
The ambulance had gotten sidetracked. Another change over case, this time with a kill. He'd decided it would be best to send Arkay out and stay behind. Dimitri wouldn't have liked the fact Vayer kept such a close eye on him. He'd zlinned Danyel a few times this winter, liking very much what he saw.
The man had his faults, drinking, thieving, gambling and smoking among them. But neglect or abuse, never. He'd shen himself before he let any harm come to Dimitri in that way. Vayer pulled on a pair of ragged trousers and didn't bother with a shirt. His father had called from Danyel's rooms, which meant he'd probably confronted them in bed, most likely naked. It wouldn't do to show up fully dressed.
"I love thee." Darya rolled over, her feet over her backside. She was so beautiful, Vayer stopped to appreciate the view. "You're staring."
"You're worth it." He leaned down and gave her a long, luxuriant kiss. Even after all these years, he pants shrank considerably every time he kissed her after transfer. They would have if he could have all the time. Even so he sometimes felt a stirring deep in his groin with her lush rear pressed against him in the middle of the night right after turnover. "What did I ever do to deserve thy love?"
"Chased me down and caught me." Her constant answer brought another smile to his lips, and another kiss. He didn't want to deal with Arkay throwing another fit over nothing. He'd much rather savor these last, unexpected, days without Mir and Visarin driving him crazy. Much as he loved both, they were often difficult at best. "Now hurry so you can get dressed."
Vayer rolled his eyes at her reminder. He didn't want to deal with Karin today. He'd much rather have lolled around in bed with Darya. After confronting Dimitri on the tarmac, he'd realized he'd been a Sime and let it go. Dimitri would do well. He, Darya, and even Diomid had given him the tools he required to do so. It was the best they could do without stifling him.
Another yawn punctuated his leave taking. It was too early for this nonsense. Vayer was an early riser, but not this early. He trotted down the stairs and across the courtyard. The stones were freezing cold underfoot and he hurried. There was no one around, so he augmented up the stairs and down the hall. Arkay'd left Danyel's door open. Shaking his head he knocked quietly.
"Come in." Arkay growled. His nager was a snarled mess. He really was upset about something. What was it this time? He waited until Danyel repeated the request.
"Come in, Vayer." Danyel's erratic nager was fluctuating so badly Vayer wondered at his state of consciousness. He should be in shock, not talking calmly and petting Mitka! Mitka butted Danyel's hand, as it had stopped for a moment. Arkay whirled in place. He had on his, I'm gonna hit something nager. From the state of Dimitri's rear, he'd already done some damage.
"Thank you for inviting me." Vayer made a point of making his respect known. Danyel was no child, even if he'd have been in constant medical care at home. Just because someone had a medical disorder did not necessarily mean they were to be treated as incapable of managing their own affairs. Right now Vayer wanted to swat his own sire on the behind. "What is the problem?"
"I found Dimitri mauling Danyel." Arkay had his head so far up his ass dawn was not going to do him any good. Vayer sniffed, finding nothing more than the very slightest scent of roniplin, no more than any Sime's rooms would hold. There was no musk, no appreciable sweat. When two men made love, the scent was obvious.
"May I zlin?" He asked Dimitri. It was his place to know what Danyel could and could not take. At least if he were acting as an adult.
"Why are you asking him?" Arkay asked.
"Why are you asking?" Danyel asked at the same time. Dimitri put his hand over Danyel's on Mitka. Vayer wouldn't have thought having Dimitri's nager so focused would help Danyel, but it certainly zlinned it.
"Because, unlike my father, I want my son to grow up strong and straight on his own. This is something he has to learn to deal with, as it seems his other father is a busybody." Vayer winked at Dimitri. There were times when he did wish Dimitri weren't his son. He'd be the one cuddled up in bed with him right now. Him and Darya together, yum. Vayer shook the thoughts out of his head. It would have been better if he and Darya had not been rolling around in bed together when Arkay yelled.
One of Dimitri's dimples made an appearance, although his field didn't change. Arkay could be as blind as Sevrin when he was having a fit. "Be my guest, and I'm sure I don't have to warn you to be careful."
Very nicely done, Dimitri. Vayer let his awareness of the people in the room come to the fore. There was nothing to give him the idea Dimitri had even made a pass at Danyel. The only thing sore on him was his butt where Arkay'd obviously paddled him. Sure, he'd been aroused. He wasn't even eighteen yet!
"You're out of your mind, Arkay." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Why are you harassing these two men?"
"Because I came in here to find Dimitri on *top* of Danyel."
"Is this true?" Vayer hated things like this before his morning cup of coffee. Life should never intrude before coffee.
"He barged in here, without so much as a knock, and found me on Danyel, yes." Dimitri's eyes were as hard as Mitka's scales. "We'd been talking and, well, he hugged me and my arms gave out. There were at least three layers of blankets between us." Dimitri didn't quite zlin as if this entirely thrilled him, but Vayer wasn't going to push the point. Dimitri was strong enough to do a few hundred pushups easily. Vayer knew he did at least a hundred every morning.
"See?" Arkay's expression asked.
"They are Sime and Gen together. You expect either of them not to touch?" Vayer wanted to slap some sense into Arkay. "If you didn't want them cuddling, you should have told Danyel not to take him out at all."
"Excuse me?" Danyel let the blanket slide from his right shoulder. Vayer saw the gunshot wound and hissed. "Oh, that."
"Yes, that!" Vayer grimaced. "Arkay, get out of here. Go back and roll around with Nashen. Get ready for the photo shoot. Something."
"You can't kick me out of here."
"I can." He said in accidental unison with Danyel. "Get out." He swatted his father with his nager as hard as he could. It didn't do a whole lot of good, but it felt wonderful.
"You can't do that around someone with Southerner's!"
"He zlins just fine." Vayer thought to glance at Danyel. There was something very strange going on with the fields. For a moment he wished he did have Danyel's crippling sensitivity. Mitka was licking his face. The image was too cute. "Arkay, calm down."
"You're the one going around hitting people." He leaned against the wall, glaring at everyone. Even this didn't seem to irritate Danyel and it well should have. "Look at them."
"I see two people playing with Mitka." Vayer shrugged. "He is cute."
"Papa!" Dimitri's other dimples appeared. He was a handsome Sharm Lord. "We're fine. I was about to clean Danyel's wound and find a channel who could finish healing it."
"I don't know if I want to try." Vayer'd run across more than one youngster with southerner's. It was a regular problem at Fatima, as so many of her children came from the South. "I've accidentally harmed people with southerner's before."
Danyel cocked his head. His nager was a whipping maelstrom of conflicting impulses. Vayer didn't want to get his laterals anywhere near that mess. "It will heal on its own well enough now."
"But it will still hurt." Dimitri examined the wound. It was seeping fluid, but not a whole lot of blood, from what Vayer could see. "This has to be cleaned out." He flipped a hand at Arkay.
"I can do it."
"No you can't." Vayer sighed. "Get out of here." He pointed to the door, both physically and nagerically. "You're overwrought, Arkay, and not thinking straight. I can finish up here and make it to the shoot in time. I'm not going to be in front of the cameras." Arkay's eyes widened. "Yes, you. Now get!"
He shoved himself off the wall with one shoulder. He sure didn't look his age. Some mornings Vayer felt older than his father looked. "As long as you make sure nothing like this happens again."
"I'm not promising anything because I don't know enough." Vayer kept pointing. "I outrank you, Arkay." This was such a silly thing to be arguing about at five in the morning! "You dragged me out of Darya's arms to deal with what you thought to be a problem. Now I'm dealing with it. Get out of here!" He shoved Arkay as hard as he could with his field. Mitka stared at them, eyes wide.
"I'll see you in two hours. All of you." He pulled his field around him and left, leaving the door open of course. Vayer shut it and locked it.
"I should have done that." Danyel winced. Dimitri wrapped a blanket around him and padded off to the bathroom. Vayer could hear the sound of running water. It would drown out his next words. Dimitri was very Sergei. Vayer sat on the bed. Dimitri must have been so fascinated with Danyel he hadn't noticed the awful thing. "So, is it your turn to now tell me to not molest your child?"
"Oh, heavens, Danyel. I know you'd never do any such thing." He stroked Mitka gently. The little slut rolled over on his back and spread his legs. Vayer chuckled at him, rubbing at his ribs as hard as he could. Mitka grunted a bit and stretched out further. He had an advantage over cats in that he really did have selective volume. "I wouldn't have let you go out with Dimitri yesterday in the first place if you would ever offer even a hint of impropriety."
"You weren't there." Danyel's field finally softened, even as it frayed on the edges with obvious sorrow. He followed Vayer's example in rubbing Mitka harder. The little dragon groaned, stretching from nose to tail. Vayer pulled Mitka's tail straight. He wiggled, settling down harder into Danyel's lap, and over it.
"You wouldn't have been if I didn't approve." He caught Danyel's eyes. "I don't let things go wrong I can avoid."
"How?"
"I probably would have made sure Dimitri was too busy getting ready for last night." He winked, letting Danyel in on how he worked. If he was upset by it, Vayer knew he'd soon part with Dimitri of his own accord.
But he just chuckled softly and said, "I hadn't known him at all and wouldn't have noticed."
"I like to be prepared." He shrugged. "Or at least as prepared as any Sime can be. Which means making sure disasters don't happen."
"Doesn't sound like what mama usually says." Dimitri came back from the bathroom with a basin of steaming hot water and a cloth.
"You were supposed to be busy. We were having Sime talk." Vayer winked at Danyel. He'd relaxed a great deal, his nager going from panicked to merely frantic. It was at least an improvement. Mitka had sprawled all over both of their laps.
"I won't be able to hear when I'm concentrating." He peered closely at the wound. "This is going to sting, since you have Mitka paralyzed at the moment."
"Do you want us to let him go?" Danyel removed his hand. Big mistake. Mitka reached up, grabbed it and put it back on his chest. For some bizarre reason he had half a dozen tiny gaps on his chest, three on each side, running down his ribs. Vayer rubbed the bottom two and got the expected response, an ecstatic groan. He supposed they were supposed to be nipple analogs, although why a dragon, who laid eggs, would have nipples was beyond him. Maybe just because Dimitri had nipples. Although as far as Vayer could tell, Mitka had no generative organs at all.
Oh well, he wasn't going to zlin Mitka so deeply he could do surgery on him.
"Hold still." Dimitri growled. Everyone did but Mitka, of course. Who bit him. Hard! Vayer grabbed his muzzle shut. It had been a while since Mitka had bitten him.
"What has you so upset?" He asked Dimitri's nager. Mitka licked his fingers in apology, so he let go.
"Hurt," his chin quivered.
"Danyel?" Sometimes talking with Mitka was like talking with a child. He had a much simpler view of the world than Dimitri. Which was probably to be expected, as he was much, much younger.
"Yes and no." Mitka looked away, his tail twitching. Vayer stroked it, tugging at the base as he liked so much. "Hurt here." He nudged Vayer's loins.
Vayer winced. "You mean to tell me he needs to get laid."
"Yes." Mitka flicked his tail once and then looked up at Vayer. "You won't do it."
"I can't, Mitka." He stroked the creature's head. The hard, bony protruberance down the back of his neck were as familiar now as the sound of Dimitri's voice. They'd spent a lot of time together over the last year and more. "He's too much my son."
"I know, but ..." he glanced quickly up at Danyel. "He's pretty neat." The stage whisper probably carried all the way out to the courtyard. "Why did Arkay tell him he couldn't have sex with us?" Danyel's field was growing redder by the moment. But if he was going to associate with Dimitri at all on anything other than a professional level, then he was going to have to learn to deal with Mitka as well. And Mitka zlinned nothing wrong with sex or transfer. "It wasn't like he's after me!"
"Because Dimitri doesn't know him very well yet." Vayer winced at having to be so blunt right in front of the man they were talking about, but Mitka didn't understand subtle. He'd tried. It hadn't worked. They'd ended up talking for hours and settling nothing. "Dimitri has a lot of things to learn about life and dealing with a romantic relationship is something he hasn't done before." Danyel zlinned like he was going to explode. Even though there wasn't a trace of anger in his field at all, it was all laughter.
"What's 'romantic'?" Mitka's eyes were as empty as his little skull, it seemed.
"Not just jumping your partner's bones, Mitka." Dimitri gave him a friendly swat with the towel. "We're friends, that's all." He glared at his nager.
Mitka wasn't taking this for an answer. "Why wait? It will feel as good now as later."
"Because Dimitri requires the time to know what he really wants. He could be hurt very badly if I were going to cheat him." Danyel squared his shoulders. There was a deep gouge in his shoulder, right through the edge of the deltoid. Vayer could zlin where Dimitri had left off healing it to let it drain.
"I know you wouldn't." Vayer wished he could set his public field to show Danyel Gen need, but didn't dare upset what balance Danyel'd managed to regained. "However Dimitri doesn't." He winked at Dimitri.
"You're lying to me." Mitka licked his lips.
"We're practicing." Dimitri stroked Mitka's head. Mitka purred, sagging all over. "I like Danyel a lot, but we don't know each other very well yet."
"Oh," he looked away for a moment. "You knew Karola really well, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did." Dimitri stroked Mitka's ribs. "We'll have time this summer to get to know Danyel ... I hope. That is if we haven't scared him off already."
"Scare him?" Mitka twisted around to look him in the eyes. "I didn't scare you, did I? Please tell me I didn't. I want to get Dimitri laid. He's really good. Karola said so!"
Dimitri blushed, looking at Vayer and shrugged. "He might be a bit blunt, but no one can say he lies."
"Even about being good?" Danyel grinned.
"Well..." Dimitri rolled his eyes. "I think she was making allowances for it being my first successful time."
"Oh." He looked at Mitka. "It isn't nice to say things so bluntly, Mitka. You embarrassed him."
"What's 'embarrass'?"
Chapter 11
Dimitri wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole. It had been bad enough with Arkay treating him like a child and spanking him in front of Danyel. He wished Mitka could understand things like privacy. He really did. "Mitka, embarrass is when you tell people we don't know well about our private life." He shut Mitka's mouth with his hand. "Private is things we don't do with other people around."
"How do you have sex without other people around? Last time there was everyone there." He rambled on.
"An orgy?" Danyel's gentle teasing was saving him from dying on the spot.
"When Karola and I were done she and Avilan gave me this bracelet." He showed Danyel the niobium one, now resting gently against his skin. "And Vayer gave me this one." He held out the steel and titanium with its firestone. "It was after we were done."
"But Avilan," Mitka got his mouth shut for him again. Danyel chuckled. Mitka licked his fingers. His eyes were hot and Dimitri could hear the words running up against his teeth. He was muttering fiercely, prying at Dimitri's fingers with his tongue.
"I'm sorry." Danyel mouthed. His nager was shining so brightly it was almost visible. "Mitka, listen to me."
"Mrmph?" He stopped thrashing long enough to listen. This was an accomplishment. Six months ago he would have fought until he was free.
"Hush." Danyel said, tapping him on the nose. Mitka jerked back out of Dimitri's hold.
"His nose is very sensitive." Dimitri told him.
"I'm sorry Mitka, but you were saying things that made Dimitri upset. I don't like it when he's upset. It hurts me too." It seemed he was getting through. No one else but Vayer had ever really managed to get Mitka's attention long enough to really talk with him. "I like both of you. You, Mitka, protect me from myself, which is a very comforting thing. And I like talking with you. I don't worry you're going to lie to me. But," he stroked Mitka's crest.
"You have to learn to wait. I'm not ..." he stopped for a moment. Dimitri held his breath. "I've never been with another man, Mitka. I don't know if I want to have sex with Dimitri. It might feel good or it might hurt. It might even hurt me so badly I won't be well again."
"Like Khristov?!" Mitka shouted, writhing in their grasp. "Nooooo!" He wailed, burying himself in the blankets. His wings fluttered madly. "Nooooooooooooo!" His cries nearly broke Dimitri's heart. He hadn't known Mitka remembered so clearly what had happened. "I'll never touch another Sime again!"
"Hush," Danyel fished around under the blankets. It was hard to grab Mitka when he was burrowing. It was like grabbing one of Arkay's eels. He was all slippery scales and muscle. "Mitka."
"Yes?" His head popped out. Danyel slipped a tentacle over one eye ridge. Mitka closed his eyes, calming instantly. No one, not even Dimitri had been able to calm him so quickly from one of his fits. Dimitri raised an eyebrow at his father. Vayer shrugged, flicking a tentacle at the two of them.
"Don't make foolish promises." He rubbed Mitka under the chin with another tentacle. "You're touching me, aren't you?"
"For transfer." He looked around, as if ready to bolt. But there was something to Danyel's touch that soothed him more than anything else Dimitri'd ever seen. "I won't bite again. I won't."
"Yes you will." Danyel coaxed Mitka back into his lap. He was curled into a little ball of wings and things. His tail had wrapped over his nose. Mitka was seriously upset. "I know you'll find a Sime who's perfect for both of you."
"Is that like when Dimitri knows things?" Mitka uncurled slightly, licking his lips. A bit of selyn dripped from one fang. Danyel gave Dimitri a nageric question mark.
"He doesn't have to know things the way I do. He knows things by having been alive longer." Dimitri couldn't possibly tell Danyel how grateful he was for Danyel's deft handling of Mitka.
"What good is that?" Mitka demanded. "Its not true."
"Its more true." Dimitri told him. "Its always true, not just fate."
Danyel's field was as full of questions as Mitka, now. Great. Just what he needed at five thirty-four in the morning. Although from the way Danyel was zlinning him, he was getting a lateral full on his own.
"Oh," Mitka stilled. "But I want sex!"
Dimitri groaned. "Not right now, Mitka!"
"You always say later. Its later now!" He was being stubborn. "I want it."
"I know you do, sweetheart. So do I." He admitted, wincing inside at how awkward he must sound. "But now is not the time."
"You were on top of him. You were touching him. You were hard. I was going to get the blankets all wet so you could feel him."
"Oh, Gods, Mitka," Dimitri put his face in his hands. "It really wasn't like that, papa. We weren't doing anything I wouldn't do in front of mama."
"I can tell from your blushes." He grinned. "We do have to all get dressed, Dimitri. You in particular."
"Oh shen," he muttered, not feeling at all up to going out in public. His initial burst of energy was wearing off and all he wanted to do was curl up with Mitka and go back to sleep.
"Ahem," Vayer reminded him of his manners.
"Its a bit late for propriety." He grimaced at Mitka, who was still glaring at him.
"I want to sleep right now Mitka, not masturbate." He'd already made so much a fool of himself it didn't do any good to try to hide anything at all. "Later, I promise."
"With Danyel? He makes me feel good. I like his tentacles. They are softer than Karola's. They'll feel even better," Mitka got his muzzle grabbed again. The details of his sex life were not for Danyel's consumption. At least not yet.
"Why don't I go with you and help keep a lateral on this wee beastie?" Danyel slid out of bed. With an appreciation more academic than carnal at the moment, Dimitri watched. He moved very well for a Western Sime. He didn't just float over the ground but rather owned it with every step. He'd never thought to watch Vayer so closely, even though they had slept together before transfer, when he had no interest in anything but Vayer's tentacles.
Now it was after transfer, more or less, and he found himself watching Danyel's smooth grace as he pulled on a pair of loose pants and an equally baggy shirt. He required someone to dress him. The coveralls yesterday were functional to the work he did and showed everyone his profession, but he wasn't going to work. Although Dimitri did notice he didn't bother with briefs either. He appreciated the smooth lines of his backside, what he could see of it through the baggy pants.
Danyel shoved his feet into a pair of low shoes, like slippers, and held out his arm. Dimitri cringed as he put on his pants from yesterday. They held the smells of the horrid little room they'd found at Lira's. The first priority for him was to find the laundry. He gathered up his shirt and threw it over his shoulders and then took Danyel's arm. Dimitri grabbed his boots on the way out the door.
"The ground is cold out there." Danyel looked down.
"Then we'll run over it." He grinned. His energy was coming back now that they were moving. And since Mitka had shut up. "Come on!" Dimitri tugged at Danyel's arm. Vayer trailed after them, with Mitka. He hadn't died. Only wanted to. Dimitri supposed he could claim a partial victory.
Danyel leaned back on Dimitri's nest. He couldn't call the pile of huge pillows and feather comforters a bed. Not really. It was very soft and warm though. If he hadn't had such interesting scenery, he'd have fallen asleep in moments. Dimitri was looking through the clothes they'd bought for him the other night.
"Do you think you could run up to Arkay's rooms and ask him if I could borrow one of his kadors?" He turned to his father.
"I think so." He glanced at the black and silver outfit Dimitri'd chosen to wear first. "That isn't exactly the sort of thing to wear on the streets during morning rush."
"No, it isn't." He winked at Danyel. "If you would like to watch, I have to put on my face."
"I think Karin has people who will do that for you." Danyel trailed behind him, as so many Donors had trailed after him. It was actually rather pleasant to not be the one doing the leading.
"I want to look good when we arrive." He was looking up, dabbing something under his eyes. "If nothing else I don't want to look like a lush." Dimitri blinked a few times. "Better?" He'd done something to get rid of the dark circles under his eyes and remove the red.
"Can you do anything with my ugly face?" Danyel looked at the little bottles and tins of mysterious substances.
"You're a channel." Dimitri blinked at him. "You don't have to wear makeup. You look striking as you are, anyway. My skin is nearly the same color as my hair, so if I don't do something with my eyelashes and eyebrows, it looks like I don't have any."
"You are incredibly handsome, Dimitri." Danyel couldn't believe he was wanting to look even better! "Why are you doing this?"
"Which this?" He'd already shaved, not nicking himself once, unlike what would have happened if Danyel'd tried doing any such thing with a straight razor. He'd have probably cut his own throat. As it was, Dimitri'd done him, again so quickly and neatly it was as if he didn't have a heavy beard. Danyel rubbed at his chin, amazed at how smooth it was.
"I'm a surgeon." He snorted, looking into the mirror at Danyel. "Of course I know how to use a blade."
"What else do you do?" He leaned against the counter. Dimitri'd handled what had to be an excruciating conversation so well, Danyel was still in awe. Danyel'd have fallen apart completely and here Dimitri was, getting ready for something else entirely unfamiliar.
"Other than chase Mitka around?" The subject of their conversation was currently napping on the bed. "He's worn himself out."
No, Dimitri wasn't easy to be around when Mitka wasn't protecting him, but it wasn't as awkward as what Dimitri'd dealt with so far. "I zlin that." He glanced back at him. Mitka'd grown to fill the nest of cushions, spilling over the edges, and trailing his tail on the floor. Selective mass, indeed. "Yes, other than chasing Mitka around."
"Well," he did some more arcane things to his face. "We are working as my sire's second at Sergei, since Gregory is currently trying to keep up with a fifteen month old baby and trying to keep Diomid from running himself into the ground at the same time. Sergei Donors have a tendency to run themselves ragged."
"I wouldn't have guessed." He winked. Mitka had rolled over and was snoring. "Although I'd think that would be plenty."
"Well, yes," he admitted, turning to face Danyel again. The young man looking back at him was far more sophisticated than the person he'd been only moments ago. It didn't look like he'd done so much. Storm gray eyes were now framed with dark lashes against his slightly tanned skin. "We're pretty busy at home most of the time. Particularly since we don't go into seclusion every month."
"I've always thought seclusion was a good idea." He snorted. "I wish I could get away with it."
"You don't?" Dimitri's eyes widened. With the skillful application of cosmetics, it made them look huge. "I'm looking forward to it, if I ever manage to find a partner."
"You will." Danyel brushed Dimitri's wrist with his tentacle tips.
"Tease," Dimitri snorted, his nostrils flaring. "You don't have to put on a good face for me. You've heard the worst." He glanced over at Mitka.
"No, I've heard some pretty good things, really." He pulled out his deck of cards. Danyel knew it was a bad habit, but he didn't like the feel of empty hands. "He's honest."
"He is that." Dimitri gave him a wry grin. "Although now I'm going to have to figure out how to wake up everything on him but his mouth."
"Let me." Danyel sat next to Mitka. He couldn't shove him over. It was like trying to move a log. He stroked Mitka's side. Mitka sighed, burrowing further into the bedding. "Although do you really have to wake him up right now?"
"I suppose I can let him nap for a bit." Dimitri yawned. "I wish I could."
"Go ahead. I'll wake you when its time."
"No," he shook his head. "I don't wake up very well."
"You did earlier." He pointed out. Under the makeup, Danyel could zlin the exhaustion making Dimitri's bones ache.
"I'm young enough to get away with it." He yawned again. "Although afterwards, I think I'm going back to bed. Talk to me, Danyel. What do you do?"
The question brought him up short. "I'm a channel. I take selyn from general order donors and give it to renSimes. Occasionally I do a bit of healing. Not a whole lot to it."
Dimitri glanced at the cards.
"Oh, and I'm more than willing to play the occasional game of chance." He cut the cards, showing the aces to Dimitri.
"That isn't chance." Dimitri noted. "Any more than Nashen's dice are fair."
"Do you think I'd really gamble?" He flicked the cards through his fingers.
"No," Dimitri leaned back against the cushions. It looked as if he were leaning against Mitka, but not really. "Tell me about the D. Ferris Center."
"Dimitri," Danyel felt a dozen serpents twine in his middle.
"You know about me." He raised an eyebrow.
"So I do." He grinned, running his free hand through his hair. "Well, my mother was both a whore and a drunk. I have no idea how she ever managed to get a Ferris between her legs, but she did. I was the result. No, she wasn't Church of the Purity, but she was a lush and very free with her fists." Danyel looked down at his own wrists, wondering what he would have done to survive if he'd turned out Gen. Been a Donor, he supposed. But not one like this young man lying before him.
"She also taught me to drink." He shook his head. "Why do you think I drink hard liquor and don't pass out after the first?"
"Hadn't thought about it." He shrugged. "Most Russians drink, to one extent or another. I'm strange in that I don't, usually." Danyel could tell he was fighting not to fall asleep. "So, you decided to put your money where your heart was?"
It seemed so trivial, put like that. Danyel glanced down at the cards in his hands.
"Who taught you to play?" He closed his eyes at last, dark lashes tracing over his high cheekbones.
"An old renSime taught me to beg when I was little." Danyel hadn't thought of him in years. "Smit was his name, or at least that's what he called himself. Said he was semi-junct. Considering the fact I knew him for a few years, I doubt it."
"Semi-junct?"
"Yes, someone who lives on occasional kills."
Dimitri sat bolt upright. "What?"
"Don't wake him." Danyel flicked a tentacle at Mitka. "As I said. It was probably a bit of bravado. Years ago, before Unity, there were a lot of juncts who couldn't stop killing. Here, Kaon, tried to keep them alive by finding them Donors. The Techton put a stop to that. Its now a death sentence for a renSime to be junct, even if they've never killed." Dimitri sagged back to the bedding.
"Anyway," he really didn't want to go on, but knew he had to pay Dimitri in coin for his earlier openness. Even if he didn't have Mitka telling all and sundry his life story. "Smit taught me to beg and a few games. Cup and ball, dice, things I could do with a child's hands. He showed me how to work cards, but without tentacles, well, I didn't stand a chance against an adult."
"Who taught you to use a knife?" Dimitri's sharp eyes missed nothing, or was it Mitka's.
"An old donor by the name of Gis. She'd opened her door for me one time when I'd been running from a bunch of older kids." He still remembered the look on her face when he tried to taunt them from behind her generous hips. He also remembered the smack she'd given him for doing it too. "She taught me to use a knife. I was a little skinny kid. M'mum never had much to do with eatin." He knew his speech was lapsing back into that of his childhood, the rough drawl that had always given him away around other Ferris'.
"I get the feeling she fed you, too."
"Yea, much as I coulda stole fer her." He leaned back next to Dimitri. It felt so good to be flat. Mitka's doze was hard to resist. "She'd taught m' te cook 'n clean."
"So she was like your mother?"
"If a mum could be said te run a whole string a' kid thieves. She taked me in te add m' te her set." Dimitri pried his eyelids apart again. Shen, Dimitri was strong. He was certainly high first, how high Danyel didn't want to think about. He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand. "But it not, well, she'd been the one what taught me te run fast and cut deep."
"And take what you needed." Dimitri put a cover over his shoulders.
"I'm te took care o' ye." He tried to shake loose the sludge between his ears. It wasn't working. "I'm not gonna be fer ye much teday if ye keep at me like it are." Shen, his words were running into each other. Concentrating as hard as he could. "You're putting me te sleep."
"Sorry," Dimitri sat back up. "Is this better." He yawned. It was catching. Danyel did it again too. "Why don't we walk down stairs. I'm about to fall asleep right here."
"I know it." Danyel struggled out of the morass. "So, Gis taught me about things like food and how to get some. Until I met her, I'd been always hungered." He grimaced.
"So you cheated and stole the fortune you used for the D. Ferris Center for abused children." Dimitri's dimples had returned. "I approve." The words sent a warm flush through Danyel's body.
"I don't know if I would call it a fortune, exactly." Danyel ran his fingers through his hair again after putting away his cards. In the early morning sunlight, Dimitri took his breath away. Between the silver and black embroidery on the shirt and the nearly obscene tights Danyel didn't quite know where to look. Although he wasn't looking at either the bracelets or the codpiece. Both were more than Danyel could deal with right now.
"Thank you." Dimitri took the black robe from his father and slipped it on. Mitka flew out the open window and circled Dimitri's head. "I know. You don't like it. But its only for a little bit." For a moment, all Danyel could do was stop and stare. Right now, Dimitri looked like something out of a drawing or painting. His upward gaze, with the sun striking Dimitri's heavy jaw and yet still elegant Gen muscling sent a shiver of appreciation through Danyel's arms.
"Come here to me, Mitka." Danyel held out his hands, hoping the gesture would be interesting enough to him. He'd noted Mitka would come out of curiosity when he wouldn't budge for anything else. Mitka backwinged to land before him. Danyel looked up. Then he looked up some more. Mitka's head was swinging back and forth between him and Dimitri. "You're a little big to fit in my pocket." He didn't want Mitka trapped between them. He'd never be able to give Mitka what he truly wanted, which was a partner, not simply an acquaintance.
"You're not mad?" A tendril of goo wafted down from his mouth. Danyel decided ducking was better than getting beslimed. "You don't like me anymore. You left me alone." He hoped Mitka didn't feel his reluctance to form a commitment as neglect.
"We have things to do." Danyel wondered if he moved closer if Mitka would shrink. He was as intimidating as a junct channel like this. "I'd like it if you came with us." But more than the intimidation, Danyel found himself wanting Mitka to like him. Which was silly, but in a way it was also rather sad, as few would ever like Mitka for himself. "I like you."
"Really?" In the blink of an eye, he shrank to no larger than a bat. "Can I?" His voice had turned soft, like a child who'd been told they were bad one too many times.
"Of course you can!" Danyel wondered who'd ever told him he couldn't. "I'd love to have you along." Mitka landed on the palm of his hand. Tiny talons clenched at his fingers and his tail wrapped around Danyel's thumb. His eyes crossed as Mitka finally perched along Danyel's thumb. "Where would you like to ride?"
"Um," he looked Danyel up and down so closely his ears burned. Mitka might have forgotten about this morning's conversation but Danyel hadn't. He distinctly remembered Mitka thinking he should have sex with Dimitri. Danyel didn't have the first idea how such a thing would work! "Can I have my pocket back?"
"Its now your pocket, Mitka." He made a special show of unbuttoning his breast pocket. Thank goodness almost all of his clothes had one. "Do you want me to take out my cards?"
"No," he settled in around them. His squirming against Danyel's chest, through only a single layer of cloth, was so much like a deftly skilled sexual therapist's touch he had to bite back a gasp. Of course being more than half asleep still didn't help
"Sexual therapist?" Dimitri looked as if he'd swallowed something still alive. "What?"
"I wasn't aware I'd said anything." He said quickly. His hand was caressing Mitka, possibly to feel him squirm some more, perhaps just because he thought it might feel good to Dimitri, he wasn't sure. Or perhaps it was none of these and it was simply the fact Danyel liked to feel good and so he wished to spread this around as much as possible to those who would appreciate it. If nothing else, Mitka appreciated feeling good.
"I can hear you." His steady gaze made Danyel shrink back for a moment. Then the car arrived. Manners took over from thought for a moment. The driver of the huge vehicle was separated from them by a thick pane of darkened glass. Danyel glanced back at everyone else. There were two other cars.
"I think Karin is serious." Danyel waved the driver back into his seat. He opened the door himself for Dimitri.
"Thank you." He slid into the car. Any other Donor would have been utterly fascinated by the exotic interior, Dimitri was still looking at him. The steady gaze was a caress from such a high order Donor. Particularly as Danyel had no business looking at any first. Dimitri slid all the way over and patted the seat. "I'd talk with you on the drive."
"You don't want to watch the scenery?"
"No," his lazy wink told him he was in trouble. Although doing something stupid, like getting into an insulated box with a first order donor was not particularly bright. Danyel slid into the car. It was like getting into a cave. "Besides, I can't see a shenned thing out there." He murmured under his breath, leaning back against the seat.
"Oh," Danyel'd forgotten about Dimitri's nearsightedness. "So, you can hear thoughts?"
His eyes widened and he sat up perfectly straight.
"He can't hear us." Danyel zlinned through the shield. It would stop anything short of a Ferris or a four plus channel. The driver was curious about the strange person in the robes, but that was all. Danyel he ignored with all the stolidity of a rock. "So, can you?" He stroked Mitka.
"Yes," he said quickly, jerking his chin up. "Often enough more than I want to. Although I can only hear you when you're very distracted or tired." A muscle twitched at the hinge of his jaw. "It is not something I chose, typically. So, a therapist?" One eyebrow raised. A shimmer traveled over his nager.
"Yes," Danyel ran his tentacles through his hair. He didn't want to disturb Mitka with getting out his cards. "To prevent Coital Depravation." For some reason, under Dimitri's steady gaze he blushed again. He'd not blushed so many times since he'd been a teenager.
"What?" He laughed, his field ringing with good humor however, not mockery. "Do you really?"
"Yes," he admitted, lacing his fingers and tentacles over his knee to still them. "All firsts and Ferris' are kept on a regular schedule of sexual activity as well as transfer." The words he'd been taught at Mountain High stuck in his throat. Not being Zaor Ferris, he'd certainly not earned a place at Rialite or any of the major channeling schools. No, he'd picked the cheapest one who could train a Ferris. Now, for a moment, under Dimitri's watchful gaze, he wondered if he'd made a major error.
"Mitka would like it if I were." One of his dimples put in an appearance. "He keeps trying to convince me my hand is broken." Dimitri leaned back, putting his arms along the back of the seat. His field sprawled all over the back of the car. "You can actually zlin me, not just Mitka?"
"Yes," he braced as Dimitri's field impinged on his own. But it didn't crash as a normal Donor's did. But rather it was like mist, interpenetrating but having no solidity at all. Danyel glanced down at Mitka, now sound asleep in his pocket. From the outside, it looked as if all Danyel had in his pocket was a deck of cards. From the inside he could zlin Mitka taking up room around his cards, making the fabric bulge.
"How does this work?" Danyel was zlinning one thing and seeing another! This couldn't be happening. He zlinned closer. Mitka stirred, his wings rustling against Danyel's chest. Danyel quit.
"I have no idea." Dimitri's smile was playing tag with the first lines of age already appearing on his face. Even beneath the make up, Danyel could tell he had not had the easiest time growing up, although probably far easier than many.
"Yes and no." He glanced at the darkened glass. Danyel hit another button that blocked their sight of the driver. "Thank you. I know he can't hear, but I don't trust, even when I know." His lips tightened into a thin line. "My sire felt threatened by my growing up and what it meant for my half-brothers. They are both doing well, but do not hold even the potential for the sort of power I wield.
"Well, to make a long story excessively short, it took my having been reduced to the status of chattel to convince my sire I was deserving of his consideration as well." His wispy field was writhing and thrashing in the confined quarters. If it had held the normal density of any other Donor, Danyel would have been pummeled unconscious long before now. "This is not to mention the fact few Donors do well without regular transfers."
"If nothing else, I get the feeling Mitka doesn't approve of your not getting them." Danyel's hand had gone back to stroking the warm, trusting weight in his pocket. Real or not, Mitka's purr warmed him all over.
"He doesn't approve of my not getting laid as well." Dimitri rolled his eyes. "So, you have someone you can go to for sex?" His smile returned, and this time it was teasing. "Tell."
He looked so very much like a child, with his bright eyes and faded nager. If it weren't falling with the speed of an adult, no matter how big he was, Danyel would have called him a child. "Yes, the Techton has special therapists to assist certain channels with their sexual needs."
"Oh, come now. It isn't really a need, now is it?" His eyelashes fluttered. Danyel'd had women who flirted less aggressively.
"Should be," he let his own field brighten. All the Russians seemed to notice such a thing, no matter their larity. "Do you think I'd say otherwise?"
"Depends on if you like having your ashes hauled by your 'therapist'." It was painfully obvious Dimitri was fighting back his blushes with everything he had. Danyel only knew the bizarre reference from Dimitri's reaction to it. "I don't know if I'd want someone who's job it was to have sex with me." His hands came down off the back of the seat. "I prefer to find my own partners, despite Mitka's aggressiveness."
"And you're not." Danyel put his hand to his mouth as the words slipped out. He was recovering from his lack of sleep, at least in how he talked, but obviously not in what he said.
"No," the light from outside struck his profile, showing just how very male he was, and how Gen. Danyel shifted his weight on his seat bones.
"If I had my choices in life," he turned to face Danyel again. His field was a great thunderstorm of unease. "Well, I would have been an artist."
"I play." He showed the string callouses. Sevrin had even let him play his great harp on occasion, in trade for helping to tune it, of course.
"Ah, but the man I spent the most time with, growing up, made his living with his art." Dimitri's eyes were a dark reflection of the slate barrier between them and the driver. "He was mad, Danyel, completely. Still, I'm not quite sure how aware he was of me. Not only was he mad, but by that point, also totally blind."
"But he taught you?" Danyel had never been with another adult where he didn't feel threatened or influenced by their field. He'd have never thought he'd like it, but he found it incredibly soothing. Certainly he could zlin Dimitri's field, but there was no force to it at all.
"After a fashion." He looked out the window again. Already lines were appearing around his eyes and mouth, and they were not ones put there by happiness. One of Danyel'd tentacles twined out toward him, as if to smooth them away. "He couldn't sire children. My grandsire made sure of it." Dimitri held up a hand. "Oh, for good reason. He'd have never been able to deal with the responsibilities."
"What was wrong with him?" Danyel'd been mostly unable to deal with the mentally unstable, but he'd been taught how in school. At Mountain View, because they got so few firsts, they taught their channels other ways of healing, with words and with patience. After seeing the graduates of other schools, there were many times Danyel was glad he'd gone to a third tier channeling school.
"Oh, Gods, Danyel, at this point I don't know." He blinked a few times. "I'd not come into my power then, being only a child, but he was often unaware of his true surroundings, living in his own world. But not in the way of a schizophrenic or psychotic."
"What about manic dementia?"
"I should know." Those eyes turned back on him, like both barrels of a shotgun. "No."
"Oh?" Danyel raised an eyebrow.
"All talented Sergei are bipolar to one degree or another." His expressive nostrils were flared. "I'm no less mad than Mikhail Chernoye, Danyel."
"Ah, but you don't rave, do you?"
"My father does." He sighed, lacing his fingers on his lap, palms up. "Not often, certainly, but he does. Arkay less so, although he had often enough when he was younger. Nashen stabilizes him a great deal. Kirina isn't brutal enough."
Danyel's tentacles sucked back into their sheathes. "Brutal?" He wasn't sure Dimitri'd meant exactly that word.
"Yes, willing to hammer him with her field and her will until he gives in. She loves him, don't get me wrong, but she isn't hard enough to control him." Dimitri sighed, leaning back against the seat. "Its all so much a mess, Danyel. I don't know why I'm talking so freely with you, perhaps because what makes me Sergei knows you won't judge." The muscles at the corner of his jaw twitched.
"Perhaps something more." He looked at Danyel, gaze steady. There was an honesty to him, an openness that called to Danyel. He'd seen it in the Russians, all of them, but couldn't get through their fields to get any closer than tentacle's reach. "Although I do know, if I were to ever find a mate, he or she would have to be very strong."
"I'm not." Danyel looked down at Dimitri's hands. They were covered with tiny scars, as if he'd shoved them through cut glass repeatedly. "Yes, I have tremendous strength, but its too flexible. Anything can set me off balance and keep me there. Such as all the scars on your hands."
"Ah, yes, the attention span of a Ferris." He grinned. "We Sergei's are no different when aroused, although the Fatima Lords are the worst about it, usually." Dimitri turned his hands over. His fingers were very long and incredibly strong looking. "As my sire says, if you're going to try to use a sharp object on a Sime, you're going to get cut. Its never been bad. Not at all. Just someone jumping when they shouldn't."
"And you got cut?" Wouldn't the pain make the temptation to try to take him horrible for the Sime in question?
"Yes, but when I'm working, I don't feel it as pain." He shrugged. "And my body heals very fast. As if it knows I'm just going to get cut again. Its just a very good thing I can't really get an infection or catch most diseases." His grin turned wry. "There'd been a time when a needle stick could mean a man's death."
"You use injected drugs?" Danyel shuddered. He knew, intellectually, many of the drugs Gen physicians used were injected, but would much rather not have a needle near his skin, thank you very much.
"Injected and I.V. both." He shrugged. No wonder he'd gotten cut up. Another shiver passed through Danyel's body. "Oh, it isn't so bad. We don't use the lower arm veins on Simes, ever, nor on Donors."
Danyel's empty stomach churned. He'd not recovered so much from his hangover so much the idea of having someone put something directly into his body, through his skin, didn't make his gorge rise.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Dimitri's hand came over to cover his, tentacles and all. The gesture, unasked for, startled Danyel badly. He'd rarely had a Gen, even a Donor, touch him without asking first. Dimitri's hands were also calloused and tremendously strong. "I didn't mean to make you jump."
"I'm not used to such contact." Danyel stilled his racing heartbeat. He's not really a Giant Killer Gen, he told himself. A soft snort came from Dimitri and he glanced over to see the dimples had made a definite reappearance.
"I didn't mean to laugh. Not really." His field was as bright as the morning sun. "Don't your Donors touch you?"
"They usually ask first."
Dimitri blinked, his artificially darkened lashes seeming far longer than they really should. "Why?"
"So, well," now it seemed to ridiculous. "So they don't startle the channels."
"Like you can't zlin." His snort this time was annoyed. "I can feel you zlinning me all the time, Danyel. If I didn't enjoy your company otherwise, I'd ask you very strongly to stop. However, I'm flattered." He ran his free hand through his hair and looked up at Danyel through his lashes. The gesture was so feminine, Danyel's primary reaction was desperate confusion. "Haven't you ever been flirted with by a Donor?" His upper teeth grabbed at his lower lip for a moment.
"No," he shook his head quickly. "We don't do that." Danyel thought back to the displays Darya and Garin had put on for Vayer. That had been more in the nature of combat than flirtation.
"Haven't you been curious?" He cocked his head to the side. A single earring glimmered on the curve of his upper ear.
"About?" Came out as a croak. Danyel cleared his throat. Dimitri chuckled, a deep, rich throaty chuckle. Again the conflicting impression, of both larity and gender yanked Danyel up short.
"I'm sorry." He squeezed Danyel's hands and then tried to pull away. He didn't get far. Danyel's tentacles had claimed his new territory for their own.
Danyel glanced down at the traitorous digits. They'd twined in and among Dimitri's fingers, binding them to his hands. As soon as he got one to release the last had reattached itself.
"I don't mind." Dimitri's field twined around their bound hands. "I've rarely gotten the chance to be so close to any Sime." Danyel didn't have to be able to zlin to know the sorrow in his tone. As if the company of Simes were something he specifically desired.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Dimitri squeezed Danyel's tentacles. "I may be a very talented surgeon, a good healer and a competent artist, but that doesn't mean I want to be alone!"
"What about other Gens?" Danyel's field had decided to get into the act and was trying to tie itself in knots.
"I'm not a pervert." His snort was more than a bit annoyed. "I'm not paranoid about it like my sire, but I certainly prefer Simes. Those who can tolerate Mitka."
"I like Mitka." Danyel latched onto the one thing he did know how to respond to.
"I know." The dimples came back. "I wouldn't be sitting here with you if you didn't."
"Where would you be?"
"With my father and the rest of my family." Dimitri leaned forward a bit. "I would not have gone to find you yesterday and you'd have gone with Lira on your own."
"And probably gotten shot!" Danyel looked at the healing gouge on his shoulder.
"You did." Dimitri's field tickled the itching wound. Danyel squirmed, the motion to be echoed by Dimitri. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, I'd have had to go back to get a ride back to the center, no mater how it had turned out."
"Even if Marc had killed?" Dimitri's face went hard again. There was a fire behind his eyes Danyel didn't know how to answer.
"I'd have felt sorry for him." Danyel held his face up, refusing to give in.
"Because he'd have been executed?" Dimitri blinked
"How incredibly cruel!"
"Not to Hari." Dimitri's nostrils flared again. "She shouldn't have died. Particularly not at the cost of her son's life, I admit."
"He'd have not been put to death." Danyel fought not to crush Dimitri's fingers. "Do you mean you would have killed him?"
"Yes," Dimitri said, as if it were no more a matter than killing an ant or a flea. Danyel shivered all over. He'd known the cultural gulf was tremendous, but this? "I'd have been very upset at Hari for forcing me to it and would have probably thrown up afterward, but I would see justice done."
"Killing for killing solves nothing." Danyel did tighten down his hold. "All it does is escalate the violence."
"No," Dimitri shook his head. "I have the ability, therefore I have the responsibility."
"Who says?" Danyel jerked his hands free of Dimitri's. They felt alone and cold without Dimitri's touch. Dimitri's face fell.
"I do." He held his own bracelets to his wrists. "When I accepted these. I also accepted the responsibility of protecting those who can not defend themselves."
"Killing isn't justice, Dimitri." Danyel looked out the window at the greening crops.
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