Entitlement II

[Trillian]

[continued from Entitlement and A Perfect Song]

Lazarus entered the doors of Kerr\'s building, when the doorman opened them for him.  Smiling without humour, he hauled Ichabod in after him.  He was sure that Ichabod would have numerous questions for him now, and he allowed them to be asked, no longer silencing his pet with a finger or a \'tut-tut\' noise, letting Ichabod\'s voice fill him with a desire to see this through to the end.

He didn\'t like the fact Kerr had forayed into a little tug of war with him, with his pet, but he did like the fact that Kerr now owed him, and would come to understand that he owed him.  Lazarus would not make a fuss, but he certainly would make a noise about what had transpired between Kerr and Ichabod, if only to play the guilt and obligation cards more effectively.

Ichabod also wouldn\'t be completely lost to him, for Lazarus had gained permission from the Oligarchy to hand his newly acquired pet over to \'a good friend\', as he\'d declared Kerr to be.  It was interesting, how Halen\'s eyes had sparkled upon hearing Kerr\'s name, and had cause to repeat Kerr\'s full name with incredulity.

The permission had come easily enough, with a signed declaration sealed in a cream envelope inside Lazarus\' shirt pocket, to announce to Kerr that Ichabod was formally in his care as a pet, to deal with however he wished.  Such was the life of a mortal pet - very much like a cat or dog, who could be handed over in ownership for a variety of reasons.  As far as the Oligarchy was concerned, Ichabod only had the right of knowledge about the supernatural species, and this knowledge would not condemn him to death, because he had the title of being a vampiric pet.

Lucky him.

Lazarus pressed the up button, and waited for the lift to travel down to him.

[pinkroses]

After getting no reply as to where they would be going Ichabod stayed silent for a while, letting Lazarus lead him wherever he wished, although right now Ichabod just wanted to be curled up in bed next to Lazarus with the vampire no longer in this angry mood. But when they didn’t get in a taxi Ichabod knew they weren’t going home and his heart sank when he began to recognise the streets they were walking along.

He tried to stop walking, but Lazarus ignored the fact that he had stopped so Ichabod had no choice but to keep moving alongside him, he had no chance of being able to pull out of Lazarus’ grip even when he was at his full strength, let alone when he was weakened like this.

“Lazarus, please, can’t we just go home?” Ichabod pleaded tugging on the vampire’s arm like a petulant child. He didn’t know what Lazarus had in mind, but he didn’t want any confrontations between the two, no matter what mood his master was in. “This is pointless, let’s just go home, please.” In a way the vampire’s silence was worse than the yelling, at least then he might be able to get some sort of explanation about why they were here. Surely Lazarus wouldn’t bother coming here just to warn Kerr away from his pet?

As the elevator gave a cheerful sounding ‘ding’ to show it had arrived Ichabod’s stomach turned over and he shook his head, but couldn’t fight back as Lazarus pulled him into the metal box. All he could hope for now was that Kerr wouldn’t be home. And that if he was there, Ben wouldn’t be as well.

[Trillian]

"Pointless?" Lazarus asked in far too cheery a tone - one that matched the ding of the elevator in fact, as though the bright sound had mirrored his good mood.  "Of course this isn\'t pointless.  I don\'t do pointless," he insisted, pulling Ichabod into the lift with him.  "Don\'t you want to visit my friend?  Oh ho, he was my friend first before he was your friend.  And don\'t thank me, my pet, for re-introducing the two of you.  I knew you would both get along charmingly well, though I had to push a little bit, didn\'t I?"  He grinned at Ichabod in a toothy fashion, as he pressed the button that would take them both to Kerr\'s floor.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod couldn\'t stand to look at that grin and so his eyes dropped down the the button Lazarus had pressed which lead straight to Kerr\'s floor. He had obviously got the address from the Oligarchy, but Ichabod couldn\'t understand why they would have given it to him. Surely they wouldn\'t want vampire\'s fighting, so why would they have given him the means to find Kerr? Maybe he\'d lied to them about something...or there was a plan that he wasn\'t telling his pet and that just wasn\'t occuring to Ichabod.

He didn\'t want to respond to Lazarus\' verbal jabs, they just upset him even more, which he was sure was the idea behind them. Lazarus had pushed Ichabod and Kerr together and then was furious when they met up again without his permission. He shuffled his feet silently as he stared at the lit up button, then glanced up at the blonde again,

"What are you going to do?" he said quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper.

[Trillian]

"Since the three of us get along so famously, I thought it would be nice to pay dear Kerr a visit, don\'t you agree?"

It was true that the Oligarchy had afforded Lazarus the knowledge of Kerr\'s current address, but it was possible Lazarus had known it all along, even before Ichabod\'s visit.  He\'d met Kerr quite a long time ago, in fact, and it wouldn\'t have been so unusual for the blonde to possibly have known Kerr\'s newest place.  Unless Kerr had promised Ichabod that Lazarus would not accidentally barge in on them (as Ben had) because he didn\'t have Kerr\'s address.

"Why are you looking so worried, love?"

[pinkroses]

He didn’t have an answer to Lazarus’ first question, not when Lazarus was in this mood. He didn’t want to say no, in case he made him more angry, but saying yes would just be a lie. He didn’t think Lazarus would have known Kerr’s most recent address because he had only moved in a short time ago, but then again Lazarus had gone out so many times without him he could easily have run into Kerr again, and just neither of the vampire’s bothered to mention it to the human. But there way no way Lazarus was just going to pop in and say hello.

“I want to go home,” he mumbled, lowering his eyes to the floor and leaning more heavily against Lazarus without even thinking about it, and not answering the question about why he was scared. Voicing his fears would probably just earn more patronising words and laugher from the ancient. He was tired and thought he would probably do just about anything for some painkillers for his head right now.

[Trillian]

With a chuckle, and unable to keep his surprise fully to himself, he answered the comment Ichabod made as though it were a question.

"You are going home," he said, and gripped Ichabod\'s upper arm painfully, his nails biting into muscled flesh, but not so much that he cut into them.  "It turns out that a pet is a pet, no matter what vampire keeps them.  The Oligarchy merely record who belongs to who for the sake of identifying who\'s got what under their care."  With the secret out, the elevator continued to deliver Ichabod and Lazarus to Kerr\'s floor, among the strains of gentle and melodious classical music tinkling out of a recorded piano.  "I\'ve asked that since you enjoyed yourself with Kerr so much, it was only fair to give you to him."  He released Ichabod\'s arm and lifted a brow at him, appraising him.  "I grow bored with the same old thing after a while anyway.  Maybe Kerr will enjoy you for a little longer."

[pinkroses]

Ichabod looked up at Lazarus with confusion at his declartion that he was going home, then winced in pain as Lazarus’ nails dug into his skin and tried to pull away for a moment until he realised that that just hurt more and that he needed to listen to what Lazarus was saying. He was giving him to Kerr? Like some sort of object to just be passed around to different vampires on a whim? But Lazarus had wanted them to be together, he’d wanted to have Ichabod all to himself…hadn’t he?

Even after the vampire had let go of his arm Ichabod continued to stare at him with his mouth hanging open a little, still trying to process this information. Ichabod had known Lazarus was selfish and possessive, but he hadn’t realised that he would be this petty. Would Kerr even agree to this? If he didn’t then what would happen to the pet? Would he be passed on to another or just told to go away, go back home, to his real home? Kerr wouldn’t want him, he was sure. He was interested in Ben, he loved Ben and he didn’t need a human hanging around.

Still a little unsteady on his feet Ichabod backed away from Lazarus until his back hit the wall. He was half tempted to grab the vampire and beg forgiveness, to break down and cry, but he was still far too shocked for that. Maybe if he just stayed silent Lazarus would laugh and tell him he was only joking. Maybe when they got to the top floor he would just smile and press the button for the lobby once more. “You don’t mean it, you can’t,” he said, his fingers wrapping tightly around the metal bar around the edge of the small lift, which seemed to be getting smaller by the second.

[Trillian]

Lazarus, who had done far crueller things than merely giving away a youth to another vampire, merely smiled and folded his arms across his chest, expecting tears to come and being impressed despite himself that Ichabod wasn\'t giving in to such impotent behaviour.

"Why can\'t I?" he asked, sensing that Ichabod was still too weak to run off.  That suited his plans well enough, for he wanted a compliant body to hand over to Kerr, a weak voice and obedient soul once Lazarus knocked on the door and the Irishman answered.  "What makes you so special among the thousands I\'ve known and had throughout my time here on this earth?" he challenged, awaiting Ichabod\'s answer.  "Maybe I don\'t want sloppy seconds," he added unnecessarily.

The elevator chirpily dinged, announcing their arrival on Kerr\'s floor.  They were lucky to not have been interrupted on the trip upward.

[pinkroses]

“Because…” Ichabod said, but he couldn’t find any words to follow on. He wasn’t special, he was a nobody, a nothing; he would be dead in fifty or so years, maybe sooner and Lazarus would probably be around for centuries to come. What was a couple of months in the ancients life? Nothing. He probably wouldn’t even remember Ichabod in a couple of years.

But he didn’t understand how he was ‘sloppy seconds’. He had been Lazarus’ pet first and nothing would change that, how did having sex or letting someone feed form him change that? He’d done both before meeting the blonde, but now it suddenly mattered and Ichabod couldn‘t see why. “I don’t want to go,” he said as he slid down the wall and wrapped his arms around his knees as the doors slid open, revealing the corridor beyond. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Lazarus from moving him, but he wasn’t going to just walk out there and present himself to Kerr. He liked the Irish vampire a lot more than he had at first, but if he couldn’t be Lazarus’ pet he didn’t want to be anyone’s.

[Trillian]

"Stop being so fucking dramatic," Lazarus said, annoyed now.  He reached down and pulled Ichabod to his feet by the upper arm, dragging him out of the lift after himself, and looking at the number on the door before him to identify which apartment belonged to Kerr.  It would be this gesture that let Ichabod know that Lazarus had not been here before.

Shifting his hold to Ichabod\'s hand now, he tugged on the mortal enough to deposit him on the carpet in front of the door that was Kerr\'s.  He knocked loudly, presented his best smile, and waited.

And waited some more.

His smile faded as he pressed his ear to the door and listened intently, hearing no movement on the other side.

"Well, fuck," he declared with a scowl, for Kerr was out and that put a bit of a damper on his well laid out plans.  Still, he had a pet here to deliver, and he supposed that there was no real difference between Lazarus doing it personally or Ichabod waiting here until Kerr got home as long as Kerr got the message.

He looked at Ichabod for a lingering moment, wondering if maybe he should take him home, drink from and fuck him just one more time for old time\'s sake before taking him back to Kerr\'s apartment.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod had stopped caring whether or not Lazarus had been here before now that he knew Lazarus was just going to dump him. He was slowly realising that Lazarus actually meant what he was saying and although he was scared about what lay ahead he was also getting annoyed with his master (ex-master) and that wasn\'t helped by being unceremoniously dragged out of the elevator and across the hallway. He struggled against the strong grip but to no avail and ungracefully climbed to his feet with a scowl on his face as he was dumped next to Kerr\'s door.

The scowl faded as Ichabod watched Lazarus pressing his ear against the door in a manner that was definitely not as smooth as he was sure the vampire would have liked... as was further illustrated by the swearing.

"Well there goes your dramatic entrance," he muttered, thinking outloud without really realising it and glancing at Lazarus as he felt his eyes boring a hole into him. He leant back against the wall next to the door again, hoping that Lazarus would just leave him here, then maybe he would have time to get away before Kerr returned. He might just make him stay because that was what the Oligarchy had said and staying here because that stupid council said he had to would just be the cherry on top of the cake.

[Trillian]

This jibing remark from his pet\'s mouth did nothing to accentuate the desire in Lazarus\' eyes.  If anything, it removed it entirely and Lazarus snarled at him, lifting a hand in a threatening gesture to backhand Ichabod across the face.  The slap didn\'t come but moreso because he didn\'t wish to bruise his \'gift\' rather than not being the type to strike a mortal (not that he did so often, in any case).

"Watch your mouth, pet," he sneered.  "You\'d do better for yourself by staying put," he warned, a finger pointing Ichabod\'s way, edging closer until it was poking his chest firmly and a little painfully.  "If you hadn\'t been such a whore for it, I might\'ve kept you around a little while longer."

This was true, to an extent.  If Ichabod had fucked anyone but Kerr, Lazarus would\'ve just taken his punishment out on Ichabod and then made it up to him somehow - possibly keeping him for longer than he would\'ve, in order to prove that his pet was his and his alone.  However, Kerr was part of a much bigger and much more important plan to Lazarus, and Ichabod\'s indiscretion was a way of getting Kerr on side, quickly and effectively.  Ichabod, essentially, had done Lazarus a favour.  A very big favour, but it wouldn\'t do for Lazarus to be happy about it, not if he wanted this to work.

"Now sit your ass down and wait for your new owner to show up," he instructed, removing the envelope from his shirt and shoving the letter beneath Kerr\'s door - it was the one detailing that Kerr had permission to keep Ichabod as a pet, that he was a gift from Lazarus, and that the Oligarchy expected him to take responsibility for him until such time that Ichabod left his care.  "I\'m not going to hang around for a tearful reunion," he declared snidely, turning on his heel.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod flinched and lifted a hand in defence at Lazarus’ threatening gesture, but lowered it hesitantly when no blow came. He leant back against wall as closely as he could, watching Lazarus with distrust as the vampire pressed his finger against Ichabod’s chest. Not really wanting more trouble for now Ichabod slid to the floor once more and resumed his previous dejected position with his arms wrapped around his knees, watching unhappily as Lazarus slid the letter under the door. Now Kerr was going to know and there was nothing Ichabod could do to stop that, even if he left.

His eyes lifted to follow Lazarus as the blonde turned to leave and against his own better judgement Ichabod said quietly, “Will you come back for me?” He had liked feeling wanted by the vampire and that feeling wasn\'t just going to go away. He wanted to think this was just because he was angry, not because he didn\'t want Ichabod around anymore, no matter how true that might be.

[Trillian]

"It\'s a possibility," Lazarus lied, without bothering to turn around to face Ichabod as he said it.  He continued towards the elevator and pressed the button, discovering that somebody had already called it away, much to his chagrin.  He stood and stared at his pet curled up against the wall until the elevator dinged to alert him to its arrival, and, with one last gaze cast at Ichabod, he moved into the little box that would deliver him back into the lobby, to make his way home, alone.