Current mood:

accomplished

Nightmare Visions
Hey... remember that Original angel!fic I posted a week or so ago? Well... here's some more. :)


Title: Soul Made Flesh (Working Title)
Rating: PG/PG13
Pairing: Adriel/Bracken
Summary: Set shorty after this scene. Adriel wakes from a very vivid nightmare to find the vampire deep in thought.
Warnings: Angel/Vampire, some mild gore, blood-play.

Nightmare Visions


The dreams started almost as soon as he closed his eyes. Blurred shades of grey at first, no shapes, no colours, no feeling, just hazy, moving images that swirled in and out of focus behind his eyelids. The shapeless grey forms moved randomly at first, almost as if they were being reflected upon the surface of a violent sea. Then the movements changed, slowly, but no doubt all at the same time. Tiny flecks of muted colour slowly came into view. Blues and whites and reds. The blue seemed fixed even as the other colours continued to move, the white and grey leaping almost urgently from side to side, small flashes of red appearing in amongst them as they moved.

The colours continued their strange dance for quite some time, then, gradually, began to take shape. It was like watching a ruined oil painting being magically restored before your very eyes, the faded masses of colour slowly coming into focus, solidifying around the edges, detail appearing on their bulk. The greys became bodies, moving bodies, different bodies all engaged in some sort of desperate struggle. The blue became sky, inky blue, starless sky, sinister in its calm contrast. The red became blood, stark against the white on which it flowed. And the white…

The white became wings.

As Adriel watched, it became clear that the poor thing with blood on its wings was an angel. The five creatures it was fighting, battling with all its strength, were Hell Spawn. Demons. Vampires. Adriel could make out nothing of the angel’s features, he didn’t know if it was anyone he recognised, even if it was male or female. It had no face, it had no markings. Of all the things in this image, the angel’s body was the only thing still out of focus. It shone a magnificent white, as if radiating Heavenly light from within its own body. The only detail Adriel could see was the matted and blood-stained feathers as the poor angel tried its hardest to escape the clutches of these monsters, that seemed to delight in tearing it apart.

He watched, frozen to the spot, unable to help, a burning sensation of complete and utter helplessness washing over him as the vampires finally managed to grab hold of the angel’s arms and hold it still, whilst one of them moved round in front and lowered his head to the shining white throat. Red stained the light and a shrill high-pitched scream filled the night air as the angel’s wings slowly stopped beating and the light faded grey, before it extinguished completely.

The Hellish creatures laughed and the one responsible for the angel’s death stood up and threw back his long black hair, one white streak visible in the moonlight, blood trickling down over his chin and throat. Adriel suddenly felt a huge weight pressing down upon his shoulders. He dropped to his knees and without even stopping to consider the danger he would be putting himself in, started to crawl toward the fallen body, now lying in the dirt. The vampires noticed Adriel but, surprisingly, they did not attack. They all let out a soft hissing sound and backed away, dispersing, fading into the blackness until they were all gone. All, except one. The one who had fed, the one who had killed. He stood, like a statue, looking down on the body, almost as if in mourning.

Adriel stopped when he reached the angel’s side and reached out to run his fingers gently over one bloodied wing. He could see the angel now, now that the light had gone out. It was a male, young, fair skin and blond hair. Blood was still oozing slowly from several deep gashes on his back and Adriel could see that one of the angel’s wings had been pulled out of joint. There was another emotion that came over him as he felt the blood under his fingertips, and it almost seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Fear. An acute sense of fear for what this would all mean. He placed his palm on the dead angel’s shoulder and gripped it tightly.

“You won’t like what you see,” said he vampire behind him, still making no move to leave or attack.

Adriel stopped for a moment, feeling the words work their way into his chest and wrap painfully around his heart. He knew the creature was right. And yet… he had to look. Had to see.

He took a deep breath, his whole body suddenly trembling, and rolled the angel’s lifeless corpse over.
 

* * * * * *

 
Adriel woke with a gasp, sitting bolt up-right in the bed on which he lay, a thin layer of sweat glistening on his brow. He looked around, as if not sure where he was, then let out an unsteady breath as he recognised his surroundings. He noticed Bracken standing by the window before he noticed the space beside him was empty, and frowned slightly. It was unusual that Bracken ever let him wake alone. He pulled back the covers and got out of bed, the cold stone floor harsh against his feet, and walked over to Bracken. He stopped once he reached his side and looked out of the very same window, trying to see what it was the vampire was so apparently infatuated with.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Bracken asked after a time, keeping his gaze fixed on the night sky.

Adriel looked at the stars and let out the smallest of sighs. “Yes, they are,” he replied, before looking down at the grey rough stone sill. It was at times like this that Adriel felt weakest, when Bracken seemed so distant and un-reachable, because he had no one with him then. Here on Earth he was alone, without God and without Gabriel. Without the Kingdom to protect him, he was vulnerable. Bracken was the only thing here for him, and sometimes, even when Adriel knew he could just reach out and touch him, he was too far away. A chill autumn breeze blew in through the shattered panes and made strands of Bracken’s raven-black hair fall softly over his shoulders.

“Why are you out of bed?” the angel asked, dragging his gaze away from the cold stone. “Does something trouble you?”

A small, almost undetectable smile played across Bracken’s visage and he looked down slightly, now focusing his attention on the tops of the trees below, as they swayed to and fro in the wind. “War troubles me,” he replied simply, a slight note of amusement behind his words, as if Adriel should have known it to be the answer.

The angel shook his head, however, and moved closer. “But that’s not what troubles you tonight,” came his reply, softly spoken, as if he were afraid that others might overhear. “That’s not what roused you from your slumber. What keeps you from my side. What is it?”

Bracken’s dark gaze shifted and he turned his head to look Adriel in the eye, the moon’s glow now illuminating the single white streak that stood out stark against his long black hair. “You were dreaming, Adriel. Tell me what happened in this dream.”
Adriel felt his breath catch in his throat and an ever so familiar tightening in his chest, around his heart. He could not lie to Bracken. He knew what he had seen, knew what it had meant, knew where those horrifying images had come from, and he didn’t want to tell Bracken about them because the response he was anticipating was not one he wanted to hear. He pulled away slightly and looked down at the floor, unable to make eye contact.

“I’ve… Gabriel’s words have been playing in my mind over and over since he spoke them. Doubt… I never felt it before, not about you.”

“That was foolish,” Bracken stated.

Adriel frowned and looked up at that. “Was it?”

Bracken didn’t answer and the question hung in the air for quite a few moments before the silence was broken again, by Adriel. “You’ve never hurt me. You’ve never given me reason not to trust you.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have the ability to do so. Do you not realise how vulnerable you have let yourself become around me? I have had opportunity after opportunity, handed to me on silver platters, to take you below and hand you over. Does that not frighten you?”

Adriel just looked at Bracken, tall and looming in the darkened clock tower, moonlight playing across his ashen face, every inch the physical embodiment of pure terror, and shook his head. “I trust you.”

Another, stronger gust of wind blew in through the broken window, whistling loudly through the dusty room and blowing Bracken’s hair about his face. He stepped closer to the angel, looking down on him as he closed the distance between them and reached out to place a hand gently under Adriel’s chin. Adriel didn’t move or flinch, even as Bracken turned his head to the side and leaned forward to press his mouth against Adriel‘s throat. A brush of lips, cool against the angel’s own heated flesh, the slick, gentle caress of tongue, the feel of sharp, pointed fangs pressed against his pulsing jugular. Sensations washed over him that had never once concerned him, sensations which had always succeeded in arousing and calming him wholly. Sensations that now made his heartbeat race and Gabriel’s words replay loudly in his ears.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to block them out, those sharp teeth applying a slow pressure that got heavier and heavier with every passing second.
 
‘I fear for you, not only because they may hurt you, but because I fear he is poisoning your soul.’
 
The words kept repeating in his mind, visions of dancing coloured shapes accompanying Gabriel’s voice as it continued speaking.

A sharp shooting pain in his neck alerted him to the fact that Bracken had broken the skin and the giddying rush that came with the feed was right behind it. He frowned. He couldn’t let Gabriel put these doubts into his head. He trusted Bracken, more so than he trusted some of his fellow angels. Bracken had had plenty of opportunities to hurt him, to hand him over and have done with it. But he hadn’t. He hadn’t hurt him, he hadn’t handed him over.

He felt the vampire’s grip on him tighten slightly and frowned. Bracken was trying to prove a point that didn’t need proving. Adriel wondered how far he would go and for the first time, he was afraid. He pushed against Bracken’s chest, spreading his wings in warning as Bracken’s grip tightened further. “Stop it. You have nothing to prove to me.”

He gasped as the teeth in his throat dug in deeper and beat his wings fiercely, knocking the tall brass candelabras to the floor with a crash. Bracken released him then and Adriel flew backwards a few feet before landing and looking at the vampire sadly. “Stop it. Stop trying to make me doubt you.”

“You have every reason to doubt me.”

“No I don’t. You could have handed me over, but you didn’t. You’ve warned me in times of danger, protected me.” Adriel’s voice sounded strained now as he spoke. “If you’re doing this because you think being with you is too dangerous for me, then please don’t. I get that enough from everyone else. I don’t need it from you, too. I’m not a child, I’m a warrior. I know how to look after myself.”

Bracken sighed, the lines around his eyes deepening, making him look tired. “I know. But what do you think will come of this? We are from two different worlds. Two worlds at war.”

“I love you, Bracken.” Adriel said bluntly, ignoring what the vampire had just said.

Bracken sighed again and walked over to Adriel, placing one cold hand against Adriel’s cheek. “And I… I love you. But we-”

“Shhh.” Adriel placed a finger against Bracken’s lips to silence him. “Not tonight.” He removed his finger and replaced it with his lips, reaching round and holding the vampire’s body to his own. He smiled as he felt the gentle hands caress his feathers and pulled the vampire across the room towards the bed.

Things would need to be thought over, decisions made, choices. But not yet. Not tonight.