Silvia headed down the hall towards Neil's room. Wren have given her general directions on the way out and the Sols who walked the halls were super friendly in helping her along her way. For vampires not used to mages in their castle, they were accepting of her presence if Talamayas deemed it safe. The loyalty reminded her of the way the Arcs trusted Neil implicitly and she liked that both vampire houses shared something in common.

By the time she reached his door, she'd been able to feel his energy permeating the hall for almost a full minute. Perhaps it was their connection from how he'd flushed her full of his energy before, or maybe it was because he'd grown stronger, but she could feel him sink into her every pore and she shivered with excitement to see him.

It wasn't like her to walk in on people, so she knocked gently on the door. There was a moment of silence and then the door opened up to a familiar face. Damien stood before her in his dark garb and normally guarded eyes. Even after being a vampire for over twenty years, he was still so much like a mage, and he viewed any other mage as a threat to his master. At least he was loyal to Neil.

"Can I help you?" Damien asked, and Silvia let out the slowest sigh of her life.

Had Neil still not told him that they were together? How had that slipped his mind for over a year?

"You can get out of my way." She didn't have energy to deal with Neil's guard dog right now. All she wanted to do was pass out from the blood loss of feeding Jesse followed by all of her anguish over his refusing to come with her and the loss of her people. She needed Neil right now, and the wall of hardened mage in her way was going to make her snap.

"Damien, let her in." Neil's voice came from inside the room, and Damien's frown deepened with distaste but he moved out of the way.

Silvia slid in and found Neil in an instant, curled up on his side in a heavy comforter with his eyes barely open but cast into the blankets. He really was exhausted.

"Am I ugly?" Silvia asked with another sigh, and Neil snapped his gaze up to her in an instant. The way his mouth hung open and only a squeak left his throat had her laughing immediately. She was such a horrible person for those to be her first words to him, but he was so adorable.

"Why do you say those things?" Neil whined, dropping his head back onto the pillow with a groan before he tucked his face into in to cover the nervous blush on his face.

"Well, you weren't looking at me. I thought you'd be excited to see me, but here you are, hiding in your room." Silvia really shouldn't be goading him, but she needed him to climb out of his shell. It didn't take her much to figure out why he was here. Neil was afraid that she didn't want to see him, which to a point she understood on the basis that she might be frightened of vampires from her captivity. But she knew Neil, and she doubted that was his sole motivation.

"Neil is weak from his fights with Remus and Talamayas," Damien growled at her, and she glanced over at him.

"You fought with Tala?" she asked, and Neil groaned in pain that had her lips curling up into a smile.

"I was supposed to just lose to him like everyone else, but I got this dumb idea that if I lasted a few minutes against him, people would respect my house more. When he couldn't immediately shut me down, he got really aggressive and squished me like a bug. The only reason I'm still hanging onto consciousness is because I've been... waiting for you."

"How do I get rid of him?" Silvia asked, pointing to Damien, and Neil's second-in-command bristled.

"Damien, leave," Neil said, and Damien dropped his aggression for surprise.

"Neil, I understand that you have some sort of attachment to Silvia Copse from your mission together, but you–"

"Damien, out!" Neil growled, and Damien scrunched his face up in frustration.

"As you command," Damien said with a half bow. "If you harm him–"

"Damien!" Neil cut him off, and Damien withdrew from the room with a growl. A few moments after he left, Neil calmed back down. "I apologize for him. Damien was not thrilled about me bringing my house here for safety. It's made him extremely protective of me."

"Not sure he can get more protective," Silvia said, walking up to the bed and slipping right into it.

Neil backed up a foot as she crawled under the covers, and she closed the gap before he got far enough to escape. Touching the sides of his face, she brought hers in and pressed her forehead to his. The dark magic flowing against her skin felt so much like home that tears welled up in her eyes. Of course those had Neil shirking back and tucking his hand into himself as if he might make it worse.

"I missed you," she said, kissing his cheek.

It had been so long that she'd been worried about his control if she touched him too much too soon, but the moment her lips touched his skin, she was pressed against his body so tightly that she couldn't get more snug if she wanted to. Neil threaded his hands into her hair, and she returned the gesture as he inhaled her scent and shuddered against her.

"You smell just the same as you did before," Neil whispered into the side of her face, and she smiled. "Something is a bit different though." Someone touching her and running their nose all over her to smell her would be creepy if it was anyone but Neil. It just drew a blush into her cheeks as his focus wandered down her neck and to her collarbone before he trailed over her shoulder. There, his lips parted and he pressed her fangs to her skin.

Shoot, she did not know how much blood she had left for this. While the potion Jesse gave her restored her blood faster, it lasted for all of one feeding, and she did not know if her body could take losing more blood right now. She was spared explaining that to Neil as he lifted her hand and brought it to his lips where he kissed her fingers.

"Your magic is different," Neil said, raising his eyes to her.

"Well yes. I can use it now after my training," Silvia said, her blush climbing further as he smiled, seemingly excited for her. "I suppose I have shifted from trying failed wood spells to... wind ones. They reminded me of you, so I adopted them. I liked having a piece of you by my side when I fought."

The words brought tears to Neil's eyes and his smile fell away. "You shouldn't have had to fight without me. I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you." Neil tucked his face into the crook of her shoulder and her neck, and she let out a slow breath, running her hands down his hair.

"Neil, you didn't–"

"I beat the shit out him, Silvia!" Neil growled, and she quieted as he turned her on her back and hovered over her with his pained scowl. "That means that he needed blood, your blood to heal. Which was why you didn't see my fight with Tala, isn't it? You were too weak after he drained you." Neil dropped his face down onto her and his shoulders shook.

"Neil, nothing that happened to me is your fault. Jesse would have lost to someone sooner or later, so he would have needed my blood either way."

Neil snapped his eyes up to her, and a snarl ripped out of his throat that had her pressing into the bed. What had she said wrong?

"Silvia," her name came out as a low growl followed by a groan that shook every part of him as he contained himself. "I have this urge, this need to have you, to claim you as mine. It's cruel of me because I know you didn't want anything that happened to you, but at the same time, I want to wash him away. Every touch, every word, I need to smother it with my own, to make it so you think of no other, remember no one else in your bed."

"Are you saying you want to have sex with me?" Silvia asked with an entertained smile lifting her lips. It dampened his frustration with himself for asking, and she tickled the sides of his face with her fingers. "Holy hell, Neil. Take my damn clothes off all ready. I've wanted to touch every inch of you every day of the last year."

Neil opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, his licked his lips, his eyes darkened to blood red, and he inhaled the scent of her desire for him.

"You're my mate, right?" Silvia asked, and that single word drove a growl of hunger out of him that she'd never heard with such intensity before.

"Silvia," Neil groaned, yanking off the light silk shirt he'd had left on, and the poor buttons scattered all over the bed, a few plopping onto the floor. "If you would have me, I would be yours till the end of your days, protect you from your enemies, accept your house as mine, and give my life up to your happiness." The words came out like a vow. "Will you accept me as yours?"

"Am I supposed to say something fancy back other than yes?" Silvia chuckled as Neil danced his fingers down her blouse and tore it open.

"There are words, yes," Neil said into her ear as he lifted her to remove the shirt. Her skirt and shorts ensemble followed so quickly that she squeaked when she was naked in front of him. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stand you in clothes that belonged to him for one more second." Neil took in a slow breath of her scent and then lifted his eyes to the headboard as he covered her with the blanket.

"What?" Silvia asked as he pulled himself back from her.

"Sorry, this is going to take a moment," Neil said, grabbing onto the headboard so hard that the wood cracked under his finger, and she sank back into the bed again. "Fucking Tala told me what happened between you, but I..."

"Right." Silvia ran her hands over her face. "I was so ready for you all over me that I forgot."

"Tala said you forgave him and that you didn't want it to come between us as allies." Neil growled into the wall above the bed, keeping his hand buried in the splintered wood below.

"Yes. I don't want it to come between you. Talamayas saw me as a threat to you because he's a stubborn ass and didn't read your letter or let me speak for myself. It was a really shitty misunderstanding, and he paid for his mistake with Wren's freedom. I know it might not mean anything to you, but I saw that Talamayas was willing to give up anything, even his hold on the man who'd taken his own mother from him, just so that you wouldn't lose me. I don't think that sort of loyalty is worth giving up for his mistake."

"You're more forgiving than I am," Neil said, releasing the poor bed frame and dusting the splinters off of his hands on the side of the bed. "I needed Tala, so I forgave him. For the last year, I have done nothing but train, with him, your father, Tide, anyone who would help me grow stronger. I've bled and struggled against things more powerful than me until they forced me to grow, to climb, to gain control of the power inside of me. I wanted to be someone... different when you returned, someone better."

"You didn't need to change for me," Silvia said with a frown, but Neil smiled. "I'll admit I'll enjoy it if you have control in some areas like drinking my blood and...um..."

Neil chuckled and sank back down onto her. "That is very important to me as well. I never want to hurt you with these hands again. Once was enough, and I will never harm you. You are my mate. To do such a thing is to tear out my very soul." Neil uncovered her and she blushed as he moved over her, still wearing his black pants. "Is it okay if I touch you?"

"Do you really need to ask that?" Silvia complained, her desire for him lifting his eyebrows in what almost looked like agony as it washed over him.

"I meant your scars," Neil clarified with a gentle lift of his lips.

"Well, they are part of me, so yes. All of me belongs to you as my mate, and I give myself freely."

Neil purred into her ear, and she blushed as he squeezed her into an embrace that had her breasts pressing fully against his naked chest. "You can't know, but those words are close to the affirmation one gives when they accept a mate. I don't need you to recite them, but it resonates with a part of me when you utter such things."

"Sweet, I passed vampire speech class." Silvia and he chuckled together.

Then he lowered his hands.

The trail of his fingers over the shape of Talamayas' burn on her side was slow, and he wheezed in breath as he tried to remain calm. Did it help him to breathe her in when he was upset? It must, because he collapsed on her, his face in her hair as he finished examining them with his fingers. After, he trailed them up her sides and stopped just below her breasts where he gripped her sides gently.

"I've never really... touched you," Neil said as he lifted his face to hers.

"Pretty sure we did a lot of touching," Silvia argued, and Neil smirked.

"Maybe a little, but I was distracted at the time, too busy waiting for some Angelus piece of shit to ruin it. I have nothing else to think about right now but you..." Neil paused and his mood dampened. "You and how I'm going to pass out here soon." 

Silvia chuckled. "Well then we'll just have to do a lot of touching quickly, now."

"Shit, this is really uncomfortable," Neil whined as he removed his pants and fell onto her with a sigh of pleasure.

"I hear it's not fun to get an erection in tight pants. Perhaps wear some that give you space to stretch?" Silvia teased, but Neil barely even heard it as the skin of his arousal pressed into her thighs.

"I wish I had more energy for this," Neil's laugh was so pitiful that she felt bad for him as he ran his hand down the inside of her thighs and pulled her legs open. Another groan escaped him as he inhaled, and she knew that it was him responding to how her body had already prepared for him.

"Come here," Silvia pulled his face down to hers and he fell gladly, his body nestling between her legs and resting on her body. "How about we shamelessly fuck each other with all of our pent up year of energy, pass out, and then when you wake, you can explore every single inch of me at your leisure," Silvia whispered into his lips.

"I have to say that I would like nothing else." Neil lowered his lips to hers, and she arched as he angled her hips and slid between her legs.

It was so like him to enter her as slowly as his lips moved on hers, tasting, testing, making sure everything he did was okay and that he had control of himself still. That made it her job to pry his lips open with her tongue and show him exactly what she wanted. Neil's growl vibrated her tongue, and it tickled, making her laugh, but he moved past it to learn the inside of her mouth with his own tongue. As he did so, her thrust into her for the first time in far too long.

She lost her breath as he did so, and he didn't hesitate as his desire took him over and he pulled her onto him. As they connected, she couldn't stop the squeak that excited her mouth at first, and Neil paused with concern before she yanked him down. Pressed against each other, they moved in rhythm, and her initial surprise at the sensation of him filling her sank into moans of pleasure.

She urged him faster and harder until his thrusts left her with a sore spot inside of her that every time he returned to it, flooded her with pleasure that she'd never known. This was wonderful, even if it wasn't going to last long. She wanted it, the strength of Neil's desire imprinted on her, inside of her. It was just as Neil had said, overshadowing all her pain and frustration with his presence. It instilled her with a desperation that she sensed was worrying Neil as she urged him on. 

"Silvia," he gasped, panting in her scent as he pulled them together to speak. She let out a loud moan as she sheathed him, and that had him growling in lust. "Am I hurting you?"

"Yes," she said with a coy smile that made him freeze. "Just a bit, Neil. I like the power of you moving inside of me," Silvia said, pulling him back into her just as he retreated, and he lost his hesitation. "It feels so good to have you inside of me, claiming me. I want it, Neil, the ache of your pleasure, the way you dominate all of my senses. I need this, to wash away everything else going on. Just this. All I want is this."

Neil needed no more prodding, and his fangs extended in his hunger for her. Dropping his lips to her neck, he slid them into her and clenched his mouth on her throat as he dropped what reservation he had left. Moving just as hard as she'd urged, he filled her, heightening their pleasure together before he let go of her neck, threw his head back, and let out a guttural growl of possession with his release.

It had been so long that she'd forgotten how it felt to have his energy spill out into her, seeping into every cell she had, and it forced her own pleasure on her in a torrent. She clenched onto him and writhed as their magic spun together and clawed at her insides to sink further and further until it enveloped her, devoured her. With her head lolled back, she allowed it to take her as she sank into the covers below her, pressed into them by such pleasant darkness that crawled over her skin and subdued her.

A high pitched whining noise shook her out of her daze, and Neil was next to her now, cradling her face with worry. "Are you back?" Neil asked, a satisfied smile curling his lips, and she buried her face in his shoulder as she pulled him into her.

"Did I leave?" she asked as the residual ache of her pleasure and Neil's dark magic caressing her skin dragged her down into the slumber she craved.

"You always do when my magic gets under your skin." Neil chuckled, keeping her close. "I've wanted this more than anything," Neil said into her hair. "Just lying with you again, holding each other as we sleep."

"Well good, because I'm doing that sleep right now. You have like fifteen seconds. Why not rattle off those vows I'm supposed to say back to you. I want to hear them," Silvia said as she relaxed into him and he tucked the blankets around them tighter.

"Very well." Neil snuggled close and whispered into her ear. "My happiness will be yours, my kin your own. You will fight no enemies without me by your side. We will stand together against any obstacle, rise above any challenge, and fall together into the abyss at our journey's end. To you, my mate, I give myself into your protection, and unto you protection, until the end of my days." The words were filled with such tenderness and devotion that they eased her into sleep, wrapped in his arms, and in bliss to finally be by his side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 3489