Just Last Night

[Trillian]

His car was well known to the supernatural community now. He felt obvious in it as he made his way to the Academy, to talk to the Dean and make arrangements for his absence. Kerr had said to leave and that it wouldn't be worth it by the time he left, but he thought Kerr had underestimated Ben's ability to focus on the task.

He was preparing to go on a holiday. There was nothing to keep him here and he'd wanted to travel. He wasn't sure if he was going to go to one of Kerr's other houses in Europe and live there for a while or if they would flit from place to place, but he thought he might like to immerse himself into a culture. Maybe Italy. There was a villa Kerr kept there, he recalled.

He avoided the highways and took the back streets on the way so he could think. Kerr had suggested he come with but Ben knocked him back with insistence. Kerr could deal with Digital's issue, whatever that was. The Malkavian had started buzzing for them early that evening and insisted they talk about the frogs in the network. Who knew what that meant? Kerr was better at dealing with him so Ben fobbed it off. He also didn't want to be babysat and got the idea that Kerr had wanted to stay with him for that. Ben promised he would go to the Academy, stay there until he finished doing what he needed to do, and then come straight back.

He had no intention of doing anything else. Not until he saw the person waiting for him, standing in his reserved car parking spot. Ben had a feeling maybe he'd been spied driving his obvious turquoise car and considering he was heading East it wasn't hard to figure out where he'd been headed. As the crow flies - or the dark angel in this case - it would've been easy enough to beat him here.

Ben slowly pulled into the spot, giving Saraekiel time to move away. Ben switched off the engine and got out, leaning against the car after shutting the heavy door with a thunk and staring at the other. The familiar erotic response returned, which surprised him. Ben didn't think it would make an appearance considering how deflated he was feeling. He'd lost the election last night, after all.

"So I guess now there's no chance of fucking in the boardroom," Ben quipped. It was a sassy greeting but his heart wasn't in the delivery.

[Seragil]

He had heard the news last night of course and had immediately wanted to call Ben, no, he had wanted to see the vampire. Naturally he had fought the desire, the compulsion, the pure need. Was it love? Had he fallen in love? Maybe, what else could this obsession for another creature be but love? The thought had been enough to stop him giving into his desire last night, but the light of day had seen his resolve crumble and so had asked the Shae and her birds to keep an eye out for Ben's car once the sun had set. Once spotted it had been relatively easy to deduce where he might be heading. The flight had been quick, which was good; it gave him less time to think, less time to change his mind. He kept his wings out as he watched the car approach, the rest of him was dressed in his usual, black pants, belt and shoes. His long sleeved white shirt left was left with the top three buttons undone, allowing glimpses of copper kissed skin as he moved

He stepped out of the way as Ben drove into his parking space, a wave of relief washed over the dark angel when he realized that Ben was alone, he had half expected Ben to be accompanied by Kerr, the ex ruler of the city, the failed leader of the oppressive and thankfully dead Oligarchy.

His watched as Ben got out of his car, the sight of the vampire caused a tightening in his stomach, a visceral punch of desire that caused his body to tremble from the hunger and need of it. His step was slow and sensual, full of a predatory grace as he walked towards Ben, a slow smile curling his lips upwards in greeting, although his eyes held sorrow and regret for his political loss. Internally he didn't overly care who won or retained the council seat of Central.In fact it was probably in his best interest that Jake had won Jake had done nothing but gain the councils ire and the whole election thing had done nothing to lessen that, in fact it had caused it to grow. Ben would have been a power and influence within the Council that would have been hard to stand against, and the changes he had wanted to achieve were not in Saraekiels best interest. Jake? Jake had an uphill battle to gain any favour with anything he wanted to do.

His mind however was filled with nothing but the image of Ben standing before him as he stopped just in front of the vampire and his voice was soft and tinged with regret as he spoke.

"Oh I don't know, the boardroom is in need of some fun and excitement within its walls, now more so then ever before." he raised his hand towards Ben's face as if he were going to stroke it those amazing cheek bones. " I am so sorry Ben, I know how much you wanted to win. The seat should have been yours." he said with a touch of heat and anger in his tone.

[Trillian]

Ben breathed soft laughter at Saraekiel's words, an amusement he did not feel. He crossed his sneakered feet at the ankles, wearing a casual outfit of jeans and an olive drab tee.

"Don't say sorry," he said, his voice low. "You know I would've brought back the Oligarchy. I would've done my best to take over other districts towards that purpose. The first step was to arm the Ward to the teeth and make them a force in other districts, and to ally myself with them early. And you... I would've tried to influence you any way that I could, using any advantage I had available to me," he said, shrugging. There was no point hiding this plan from the dark angel. It wasn't much of a secret. Saraekiel would've guessed it, or even if he hadn't, it didn't matter. Those plans had turned into smoke and ash.

"It's all gone now, Rae, in the hands of an idiot. Better for you."

His words were bitter but his expression didn't change. He watched Saraekiel closely, to see if his words would change anything between them. He didn't think it would.

[Seragil]

His smiled slowly with dark humour and desire both when Ben finished speaking. he loved the honesty, plans made bare. "You told me about you're Oligarchy plans the night you and Kerr visited me" He said softly almost conspiratorially. He stroked his fingers along Ben's arm lightly,luxuriating in the contact, his body almost humming as he brushed his fingers against Ben's unusual cold skin. He plucked playfully at sleeve cuff of the drab coloured tee before he lifted his gaze from his trailing fingers to Ben's stunning mercurial blue ones. He hated the shirt, the colour was ugly and did nothing for Ben's stunning beauty, if they were alone he would have done to it what he had to Ben's pants that night so many months ago. Had it really been that long ago. How quickly time flies, even for the timeless. 

His eyes searched Ben's, for what he wasn't sure as he continued to speak. Honesty for honesty. "I figured you planned to dissolve the districts with your mention of surrounding yourself with specie specific advisors. You might even has succeeded to gain a few but they wouldn't have kept their new positions long." He admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders, their planned deaths clear in his storm coloured eyes. "As for the Ward, I planned to steal them from you with the promise of freedom, position and power." he smiled sharply with dark humour. "I still intend to steal them actually and I was very much looking forward to our bedroom maneuverings." He stepped back slightly a serious look in his eyes and tone. " I am sorry Ben I was seriously looking forward to having you as a District leader. It would have been fun and challenging to both work with and against you. Jake is a common thug and despot, Zeus and Zoheret are self absorbed and only interested in playing with themselves unless you shove their face in a problem or you poke them with a stick, like bear baiting. Charon only cares about his clan and vampire advancement as for Sabrina." he shrugged again. "The council is once again dull and boring.Better for me yes, but no were near as much fun as it could have been, should have been."

He studied Ben's face in return to see how he would now react. Would he walk away now?

"It doesn't have to be all gone Ben. This was your time and it has been stolen from you, by a thug and his few supporters." he raised an eyebrow. Was Ben so willing to walk away from it all? To let it all go?. He flicked looked in the direction of the academy then back to Ben. Why had he come here tonight so soon after the announcement of his failure at beating Jake McCloud. "What do you plan to do now?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

[Trillian]

His opinion was that Saraekiel couldn't corrupt the Ward. It had been designed by a righteous man - Conner - and then taken over by Ben early on and moulded in his plan of what a self-governed force should look like. They weren't in his pocket because he didn't want it that way, but the Ward certainly owed him many favours that he wouldn't dare call on. It was that lack of taking that made them loyal to him. He didn't want to test that loyalty until he needed it at a very particular crunch time because he knew that the favour would come only once. Like the Academy, he'd seeded the Ward with people who followed his vision. There were rumours his donations put them in his pocket but it was less straight-forward than that and a lot more difficult to weed away from him as a result. He'd built the Academy in much the same way. To work without him.

And now came Saraekiel's support - as hollow as the city's desire for change - along with that question, the one that made Ben want to cringe inside. He puffed more laughter instead; a scoffing, mirthless thing.

"Leave?" he asked, because deep down he didn't want to. Untrue. He both did and didn't. "I'm here to sign off on some things, to give the Dean his remaining administrative power while I'm away." He glanced at the building and then back at Saraekiel, his gaze fixed on the smoulder of the corrupt being before him. "What do you want... Rae?" It was challenging but it wasn't hostile. "A partner in crime? Because I'll help you rule the north, if that's what you want."

Knowing that it would never happen in a million years, Ben smiled.

[Seragil]

He tilted head as he gazed at Ben. weighting what he had said, what he had offered, what he had asked. How honest should he be, did Ben want him to be? "I want what I have always wanted, the only thing I have ever wanted. My freedom, my freedom and the power that is my natural birthright. Can you give me that Ben?" He asked the vampire in all seriousness. "Can you break my bonds? Set me free while ensuring the cost isn't that which makes me all that I am? " He asked with a quiet and sincere passion. His smile when it came was sharp and filled with dark resignation. "No, I doubt even you, with all your cunning, ambition and intelligence, and eventual power, could achieve that which all my kind, light or dark have striven for and failed to accomplish since the instance of our creation."

He closed his eyes and sucked in a lungful of air then expelled it in a loud and heavy sigh, opening his eyes as he did so. Ben wasn't interested in such a fundamentally personal truth and he felt embarrassed for admitting his deepest desire. "Freedom is a pipe dream anyway. nobody and nothing is every really free. " He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. " You I think understand that more than most. As for ruling with me." This time he smiled earnestly. "As much as I am tempted by the idea, and I am; we both know you would end up working behind my back to take the North from me. Your ambition, thirst for power and freedom for yourself is now too strong for you to place yourself beneath others now, not without you coming to resent them in the end anyway. And I don’t want you to resent me.” He said honestly and meant it.


“I can understand why you want to leave Ben and maybe it’s a good idea, a chance to clear your head, reassess and make new plans.” He stepped in closer again and looked down at the vampire. He couldn’t deny his desire for him any longer and didn’t want to. He breached the distance between them with his hand and stroked Ben's cheek. “Don’t stay away too long though.” He said softly before dropping his hand away. “Because what I want besides my freedom, is you.”

[Trillian]

When Saraekiel spoke of his bonds and that Ben wouldn't be able to break them, he frowned, unsure what the dark angel was even requiring from him. When it was clear that the request was so grand that all angels and dark angels for all of time hadn't solved the problem, he'd almost coughed a laugh and prepared to say something off the cuff like 'yeah, that's a big ask'.

But he held back. He held back because there was something beneath the words that he didn't think was the dark angel being coy and flippant. Saraekiel could throw out some whoppers at inappropriate moments and Ben suspected that this was one of them. Not an inappropriate moment at this point but certainly not anything said in vain.

Ben's smile returned and twitched at the accusation he'd work behind Saraekiel's back. In a way it was hurtful and frustrating because he probably wouldn't start off that way, legitimately wanting to be a good leader... but he knew that he would eventually think that Saraekiel was doing it wrong. Fuck, he thought Charon was doing it wrong. None were as wrong as Jake, but nobody was really doing anything with their districts except to ignore it or use it to advance themselves.

When Saraekiel also mentioned it was good for Ben to leave, clear his head, effectively agreeing with Kerr that running away was the best solution, it brought out Ben's anger. His expression cooled, his body language shifted and he uncrossed his feet and lifted his chin, assessing the dark angel as he admitted he wanted Ben.

A weakness, then.

"You want me but you offer me nothing," he said.

[Seragil]

He narrowed his eyes at Ben's sudden change in demeanor and the up-swelling of anger that burst through him. had it been there this entire time? merely buried, suppressed? Why? He would have been pissed in Ben's position too and he would have let that anger free not bury it, then again, he wouldn't have tried to achieve his goals through such a democratic way. Hell that system didn't even work for the humans.

"You ask that with such anger on your tongue Ben" he raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Does my desire for you anger you so?" He smiled darkly as he placed the tips of his first and second finger just above Ben's heart, right where he had marked him with his lips. "You didn't seen to require payment when last we were alone, in fact, I would say we both burned and melted with out mutual desire. Now you say if I want my desire for you returned, I must first purchase it?" Anger of his own raised within him, along with frustration caused by the...need he had for this vampire." How quaint and basic. Since you wish to place a price upon yourself Mr Samson, What do you require as payment? Let us see if you are worth the asking of it"

[Trillian]

Wordy. Saraekiel was a wordy guy. He'd been confused by the dark angel's long-winded speeches on multiple occasions, misunderstanding him almost every time. He'd thought he'd been propositioned the first time they'd met, at Lazarus' bullshit trial. He'd been blindsided by it at the District Leader meeting. He'd struggled to understand the dark angel's point when he and Kerr had visited him at his headquarters, but he had learnt that the attraction was mutual and it had planted a seed he'd later explored. After sex they'd chatted and Rae's way of over-talking the simplest of points had amused Ben. Now he found himself impatient with it.

Ben waited him out until all his points were made because it was just easier that way, and then addressed them in the order they were said. He'd made mental points while listening. He spoke fast and furiously, unleashing on Saraekiel because he was here at the right place and right time. He gripped Rae's wrist so he could hold it slightly away from his chest, not wanting to risk being burnt a second time, this time in retribution rather than lust.

"Your desire for me didn't piss me off. You want me to leave, just like Kerr does, but he gets to come with me and you don't, so you shouldn't want me to go. I wouldn't want you to if our positions were reversed. You're a dark angel, you're supposed to be fucking selfish. As for my price..." he said, spitting out the word because Rae had implied Ben was one of the two things he wanted. Ben's hand released Rae's wrist and both hands moved to press flat on the dark angel's chest to feel his heartbeat but also to act as a barrier between them, albeit an intimate one. He looked up into Rae's eyes, the intense heat of their attraction making him forget that he  really didn't have any influence over the dark angel other than being a plaything of curious appeal, "it depends what you want from me, and you never really answered."

[Seragil]

His words stopped him as understanding of what Ben was saying and asking finally sunk in. He was so use to people trying to play him, to manipulate him, to manoeuvre him. He had assumed that was what Ben was about as well, was all Ben had been about. To use what ever this was that was between them and just use him, to bind him and make him nothing more than his exotic plaything. He had never truly thought Ben might actually want him. The truth was he was often confused by Ben almost as much as he was by what he felt for him.

A thrill of pleasure zipped through him as Ben manhandled him, pushed against him both with his body and his righteous anger.

"Want you to leave?" He asked with a touch of exasperation in his voice as he pushed back against Ben hands upon his chest, moving into him till his legs were pressed against Ben's. He banged his his hands on either side of Ben with enough force to rock the car, trapping Ben between it and his body as he burned with anger, frustration and desire, all of it caused by the maddening creature before him. "I have never wanted you to leave. Not once. Of course I want you to stay, but I am a prideful creature and I don't like the idea that I am not enough to keep you here."

He leaned in closer, so that there bodies were a mere breath apart and looked down at their bodies, oh so close together. Ben's hands on his chest appearing more like a caress now rather then the restraint that they were. Saraekiel liked the feeling of it though, the feeling Ben's hands on him, of Ben pressing against him, pushing against him. When he lifted his gaze back to Ben's face his eyes smouldered with heat and memories. He wanted more than just Ben's body, just a fuck, he wanted to be more than just a fuck and that too was in his eyes, his voice.

"I want you to want me, to want me to be apart of your life, to be in your life, to be in and apart of mine. Is that answer enough, Ben?" He leaned away slightly, his voice rugged and uneven, giving them both some breathing room as he tried to gain a little composure. "Stay. Stay here with me."

He knew he wouldn't. Choose him, stay with him. He smiled and waited for the rejection.

[Trillian]

The emotion that went with Saraekiel's words implied too much but they'd also gone in the direction that Ben had wanted. He'd half expected Rae to laugh at him but instead he'd been pinned by a hard body that had no secrets about how keen he was for Ben. He slid his hands up from Saraekiel's chest and linked fingers at his nape, effectively pulling him down. Ben tilted his head for the kiss and soon he was refamiliarising himself with Saraekiel's mouth and tongue and taste. The kiss broke for Rae to breathe and for Ben to listen to his heart hammering in his chest.

"I really wish you hadn't pissed him off," Ben said softly, the words intended for himself but also for Saraekiel to overhear. No point wishing about it though, it was done. Kerr coming around on Saraekiel was much like Ben coming around on Jake. Especially after Ben had been marked. "To stay with you means leaving Kerr and I won't do that, not ever again. I died inside when I thought he was dead. That can't ever happen," Ben said, giving Rae a warning look. "I will make time for you because I want to explore whatever this is, but if Kerr is hurt or dies this is over."

[Seragil]

He leaned into Ben's kiss, a tension he hadn't even known he was holding eased out of him as he pulled Ben in closer still, their bodies tight against one another. When Ben pulled away so he could breath he couldn't help but smile. This was the answer he had been hoping for.

His elation fell at Ben's words however. Although the last statement caused his lips to twitch. he hadn't planned on harming Kerr, although the idea wasn't unappealing either. How had he pissed Kerr off anyway? By sleeping with Ben? By all reports it wasn't like they were having a monogamous relationship anyway.

Fuck Kerr, he didn't owe that vampire anything.

"Expecting you to leave Kerr would only kill what is between us. I know that, you have made it very clear how much he means to you." Like announcing it in front of everyone at the carnival. "Not that I would have been disappointed if you had left him for me." He added with a small smile. " I am happy to accept Kerr as your number one, as long as I am your number two. Full time, live in relationships don't really work for me anyway, to be honest" He leaned back against the car and gave Ben a discerning look. " Is Kerr going to allow you to have an open or polly relationship with me? Or is this going to cause problems?" Not that he cared overly much about Kerr's problems. "I can't guarantee Kerr's safety however. I'm not his bodyguard and have no intentions of becoming so." His lips twitched with amusement,giving away that he knew what Ben meant. "Very well. as long as Kerr makes no moves against me or threatens me or tries to harm me or mine. I will do the same." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Is that enough?" He would keep his word but there was no way he would let himself become an open target for Kerr either.

[Trillian]

Ben's lips curled into a broad smile, a small clue at the relief that flooded through his body. If anything happened to Kerr because of one of his trysts outside their relationship, then he would suffer for eternity, if he lasted that long.

"It's enough," Ben agreed. He turned, leaning on his car on his side so he could look at Saraekiel directly. Again he felt that surge of attraction, of wanting to rub himself all over the dark angel's body like a cat in heat. Those wings excited him as well, and he remembered touching them, and he remembered what they'd been doing when he'd first touched them. It fed his lust enough to have him lick his lips, wetting them at the memory and wanting to wrap himself around Saraekiel once more. This man, this creature, he tapped into Ben's sexual magnetism in a way that tested Ben's self control. Kerr had uttered warnings of corruption and bad decisions. Ben had blown them off. But here Saraekiel was, and Ben wanted him.

"Did you ever get to look around inside the Academy?" Ben asked, knowing that Saraekiel would recognise his thirsty expression because he'd seen it before when they'd spent hours pleasuring one another. "You don't need to put your wings away, in there. Unless you have somewhere else you need to be," he added, his tone suggesting he hoped Saraekiel wouldn't leave.

[Seragil]

"No, I have nowhere else I need to be." He replied with a slow smile. He didn't even bother looking towards the Academy as he tugged Ben to him by the waistband of his jeans and kissed him. His hands sliding slowly over that truly ugly tee to curl around Ben's nape, his fingers along the back of his skull and through his hair as he savoured Ben's mouth, drowning in the feel of him pressed up against him, in the copper tinged scent of him as he moved from his mouth to his throat, the sensation of Ben's cool skin beneath his hot mouth driving him almost over the edge..

When he pulled away, gasping for breath, his eyes smouldered with a heat only Ben seemed to bring out in him, his body just as hot, hard and eager.

"Show me the Academy." He said with a slow smile as he phased his wings out."Walking with my wings out is a drag, literally." He said in way of explanation.

This was easier, lust was easy, uncomplicated. he could handle and deal with lust. The full complexity that he felt for Ben unnerved him, confused him. Had he really just entered into some kind of a relationship, and with a vampire no less? It was too much, he pushed it aside and focused on the easy stuff.

[Trillian]

(ooc: so sorry I missed this here!)


Ben shrugged his disappointment when Rae made his wings go away, pretending he didn't care as much as he did. Still, it would probably attract less attention. All he was doing was showing the District Leader of the North around the Academy without his wings out. Maybe he could talk Saraekiel into something Academy related. Flying lessons, perhaps?

He chuckled breathy laughter at his own idiot thoughts before shoving his hands into his pockets and gesturing with his head for Rae to walk with him. He thought about the areas of the Academy that were off-limits to students and also the rooms that had locks on the door. Not that he was planning on getting it on with Saraekiel but... fuck it, yes he was. The dark angel's presence always made him thirsty for sex.

Ben walked with Rae through the front doors. There were a couple of students in the library to his right, he could sense them and their heartbeats. A few were in the dorms. There was one class being held presently and the rest of the classes were empty.

"This is the library. It's got a small portion of the books that used to be at the Chambers. I was more selective about what went onto those shelves. You never saw the Oligarchy library, did you?" Ben asked. He remembered the way the staircase in the centre revolved around a pillar resembling a giant tree trunk in the middle of the room. Currently, all of its shelves were empty and the furniture was covered in white cloth with a fine sheen of dust over everything. It looked like a haunted house.

Ben moved towards the stairs that took them to the basement levels. Nobody was down there.

"I'll take you underground before we visit the gardens," he said, and started down the stairs.