“You are something else, my Emerald. Even if you kept moaning another man’s name,” Nikola relaxed in the afterglow of their coupling. He wouldn’t call what happened simple fucking.
Wei Caihong had plenty of opportunities to flip him on his stomach and fuck him into the mattress. It’s what Nikola would have done to Penemue if the angel ever moaned another’s name.
Yet, despite the occasional bites which were more as an indulgence rather than from any real thirst, the noble had been gentle. Nikola felt stretched and warm, both good outcomes when it came to sex.
“It can’t be helped,” his voice had a sleepy quality to it as he said it. “I am in love with the one whose name I kept moaning. I imagined him in your stead, too.”
Wei Caihong huffed and finally climbed from on top of Nikola. His skin was cold now and pale. As if he had lost all his lifelike qualities at night. Nikola turned to the side so that he could see him better.
“So, that was why you kept your eyes closed,” Wei Caihong’s pride must have taken quite the hit, Nikola mused. He tried so hard to please, only for his efforts to go to another.
Nikola reached out and ran a thumb against the now sunken in cheeks. Wei Caihong could pass for a marble statue, albeit in the wrong colors. Perhaps porcelain instead? But no, there was something sturdy about the Chinese man. Ivory then. An ivory carving, cold and with sharp edges. Made by him for personal use.
“What are you thinking about, my Emerald?” Nikola blinked and moved closer towards Wei Caihong’s face.
“Nothing really. You got your curse, and now you will survive a couple of centuries more. But Penemue needs help. I will start teaching you various teleportation spells, and you will go to the Abyss and get him out. However, when you get there…”
Wei Caihong looked like a kicked puppy at that. The realization that he was going to be used and then discarded, downing on him. He placed a hand over Nikola’s, still gently rubbing circles over his cheek, and gripped it gently.
“I’ll learn what you want to teach me, but in exchange, you will teach me what I would like to learn. Spell for spell. Ritual for Ritual. I intend to be able to turn invisible. Can you teach me that?”
Nikola regarded Wei Caihong with a curious expression.
“What happened to wanting to learn how to boil blood into someone’s veins?” Wei Caihong took the hand he was holding and moved it towards his lips. He gently a bit down on Nikola’s long fingers and lapped at the droplets of blood that wept out of the wound.
“There is something you said. That the villagers will tear me limb from limb. They are too many, I realize that now. I wish to be able to hide from those who wish me harm, my Emerald. To strike at them from the shadows. I don’t have the luxury of a true immortality like you. Nor do I have angels invested in my good health.”
Nikola snorted but didn’t remove his hand. He allowed Wei Caihong to keep chewing at it. He’ll regenerate. And he had long since learned to accept pain.
“Invisibility requires a potion to be ingested. The ingredients are simple ones, but it’s ritualistic in nature and too much trouble to brew. You need to look out for the phases of the moon. For the positions of the planets, Venus in particular. And it takes a month and after you redistill it you get a small flask from an entire pot. But you can’t skip that last step. It will melt your stomach if you do. And that is pure agony, believe me.”
“You tried to run away once?” And Wei Caihong wasn’t chewing on Nikola’s finger anymore. Nikola pushed his finger back in the noble’s mouth and sighed.
“No, never. Not since even lava didn’t manage to kill me. One of my granddaughters was set to take the throne. Dominique. She had my coloring, green eyes and dark, straight, brown hair. I was tired of ruling back then, and my campaign in India wasn’t going anywhere. Not to mention that your nation of China wasn’t helping matters by playing both sides,” Nikola made a small pause, remembering all the backstabbing that had gone on.
“So, I made my intentions to just become a general and step down clear. And Dominique was the only one gifted in magic among my descendants at the time. I announced at court that during the Winter solstice I will be stepping down and named Dominique the crown princess. The very next day, she was given a nondistilled invisibility potion. I figured it out because Penemue’s stores were depleted of the stuff. I raged at him for days for keeping something this dangerous in the palace. Until now, I still suspect he was the one who poisoned her.”
Wei Caihong bit down on the finger still in his mouth, and Nikola felt as the delicate bone snapped. Petty revenge for being put horns on while he was for all intents and purposes trying to make love. Nikola sang a slight healing spell, his voice carrying through the tune, and his finger stopped hurting him.
“Show off,” said Wei Caihong, finger still in his mouth. Nikola grinned at that and pulled his digit out at last. He got his hand out of Wei Caihong’s grip and brought his now unharmed finger to his lips.
“Wouldn’t you rather learn how to do that? There is more than the singing to the spell. I will have to teach you about anatomy, but with a little practice on me, you’d be mending wounds in no time. It can also be done without singing, but it takes more out of you that way.”
“I’d rather have an invisibility potion,” remained steadfast Wei Caihong, and Nikola’s smile dropped.
“It can’t be done for the remainder of this month. The moon is in the wrong phase,” said Nikola, and Wei Caihong regarded him coolly.
“There is, but a week left until the next month,” Nikola’s hand was in Wei Caihong’s again and this time nails dug into his skin. Nikola laughed at the weak attempt at intimidation.
“But you can start learning the teleportation rituals now. It will take a year until you are ready. But as you are the only one with connection to the Abyss, you are the only one who can do it,” Nikola twined his fingers with Wei Caihong’s. He pulled him so that the noble could be half on top of him. He offered his neck, and Wei Caihong growled deep in his throat.
“You were going to warn me about something when I interrupted you,” he murmured against the skin of Nikola’s neck. Nikola sunk deeper into the mattress, exhaling softly. He was beginning to like being bitten. Perhaps he could talk Penemue into drinking his blood too once he got him out.
“Penemue’s real form is quite…extreme. He is taller than any Nephilim. It has three heads, one a lion’s, one an eagle’s and finally a woman’s face. Furthermore, he has the lower body of a bull, literary. In a fight, even with most of his powers blocked, he will crush you. You will need to convince him to come back.”
“To you?” There was irritation in Wei Caihong’s voice, and Nikola rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t think you’d get to keep me, did you? I’ll be your lover for the time it takes to get you in the Abyss. But once Penemue is out, you will never see me again. Do we have a deal?”
“I can make you change your mind,” replied Wei Caihong stubbornly. “I will still get the angel out. If only so that he can see he has been replaced.”
Nikola hummed and tugged at Wei Caihong’s hair until the man’s face hovered above his.
“Let us seal it with a kiss,” said Nikola, eyes half-closed and already imagining Penemue’s face instead of Wei Caihong’s.
Cold lips pressed against his and a tongue begged him for an entrance. Nikola obliged, his tongue rushing out to tangle with Wei Caihong’s. Then, Nikola’s right hand’s fingers made a sign.
Two close together as if about to press into something, the rest folded. He pressed the fingers in the back of Wei Caihong’s head, and a blinding light bound them both. Wei Caihong pulled away from the kiss to watch as chains of light begun to fade around them. He slapped Nikola and the former emperor smirked at him.
“Just a little insurance, my Ebony. If I break my part of the deal and don’t provide you with a fair trade for each teleportation ritual, I teach you, then I will be in a lot of pain. If you don’t learn to your fullest potential, you will die. Your head will fall off, in fact. Isn’t that what Azazel warned you of?”
“You demon,” there was fondness in Wei Caihong’s voice thou, and he was soon kissing Nikola again.
Nikola allowed for the man to take him again after that, wrapping his legs around his waist to make it easier for him. He still kept moaning Penemue’s name thou and the man above him kept trusting harder and harder with each insult.
When they were done, Wei Caihong rolled away from Nikola and showed him his back. Nikola was still breathing heavily from the coupling, and so he remained on his back, chest raising desperately.
He giggled at both the pleasure and the insulted Wei Caihong and finally turned around so that his back was touching Wei Caihong’s. Gathering the blankets, he imagined he was laying on Penemue’s chest. He drifted off soon after that, a smile playing on his lips.
