Moonlight Flower

Shinigami Yumi


presents


Moonlight Flower

Summary: In his fight with a certain silver-haired vampire, Leon chose to save his enemy from fading away. The two become unlikely friends, and Joachim takes Leon as his Host. The years pass as Leon continues to hunt the night with Joachim's aid while searching for Mathias. Meanwhile, Joachim finds himself wanting far more than he already has. JoachimLeon. Possible MathiasLeon and MathiasLeonJoachim later. Implied WalterJoachim. Yes, it's YAOI. You have been warned.

A/N: Sorry I'm rather late with this update, but I refused to post without beta-ing and both my beta and I have been swamped this past month. Also, I was editing like crazy, and even now, I'm still wondering if this lives up to everyone's high expectations. Mathias finally takes the stage here, and I'll admit I'm not very confident about writing him, but I tried my best. Please tell me what you think. All your opinions on every aspect of this story are very helpful! Thank you for reading, I pray you enjoy it, and I look forward to your feedback with pounding heart and bated breath!

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Chapter 6: Mephisto Waltz

-Countess Elune Lucienda… Our lovely hostess and an old friend. We should greet her as is only proper. She is conversing with Lady Sushmeeta Jahan, hostess of the previous ball, and… Lady Arietta… Ah, a neighbour… Fascinating. We should certainly join them.-

Friend? Did you not say earlier that you had some differences with her?

Count Dracula Mathias Cronqvist made his way through the throng of Nosferatu in the hall towards the corner where the hostess of the Ball stood conversing with two dark-haired ladies, one an Indian and the other he recognized as a neighbour at his present residence in Wallachia. As he watched, another lady joined them, her fine oriental features strikingly exotic amidst the mass of Caucasians around her. Even her Oriental gown stood out from the rest with its rich red, shimmering gold and ornate brocade, and she carried herself with a proud regal air of recognized supremacy despite her relatively diminutive height and slight build.

-Beware that one. Princess Shang Li Lin. Even with the Crimson Stone, she may be more than a match for us, well-acknowledged as she is as one of, if not, the most powerful of our kind and accordingly respected.-

Indeed?

-Some say she was turned by Mother Lilith herself near the beginning of this world.-

Just as he approached the group, the newcomer turned to face him wordlessly, drawing the attention of the others to him in the process, and Mathias quickly decided he didn’t like the piercing black gaze that trained on him. It was akin to being looked upon and measured from a high place, and he had never liked being belittled. Still, he kept up his perfect etiquette and greeted them all, bowing slightly to each of them courteously.

“Good evening, Your Highness, Countess Lucienda, Lady Jahan, Lady Alonso… I must thank you for your wonderful hospitality, Countess Lucienda. It is a great honour and pleasure to partake of such exceptional cuisine and sterling entertainment this season.”

Their hostess smiled pleasantly and curtseyed gracefully. “The pleasure is all mine, sir. It is always an honour to be in the company of so many guests of such outstanding eminence.”

Onyx eyes travelled down his body as if to take in his appearance for a moment before the princess spoke. “Count Dracula, is it?” she asked, pronouncing the words slowly, deliberately, with the barest hint of an accent. Her contralto was resonant despite its soft volume, powerful.

“I am honoured that my name has reached even your venerable ears, Your Highness,” he verified politely, observing her more closely now.

She was not especially beautiful by the standards of their people, but neither could he find fault with her appearance in any particular way, so perhaps she was a great beauty by the measure of her countrymen; he could not say, since he had yet to extend his travels so far to the east. She certainly had a presence about her, however, that belied her petite stature, and the many gold ornaments she wore –in her long black hair, around her slender neck and wrists, hanging from her ears and on her luxurious silk robes– spoke of a life of lavish affluence.

“And I that one who styles himself Lord of Vampires and King of the Night would address me with such deference,” she returned, the lack of cadence making it ambiguous whether she was being sincere or sarcastic. “But that is not your name.”

He blinked. “I beg your pardon, Your Highness?”

“That is not your real name, just a title you audaciously gave yourself,” Sushmeeta Jahan, the most beautiful of the four, cut in to explain snidely.

“Sushmeeta! Some decorum in my house, if you please,” Elune Lucienda chastised disapprovingly.

Before the Indian could say any more, Shang Li Lin spoke again. “It seems you have offended some people already.”

“Not Your Highness included, I hope,” he replied, concealing his irritation. It would be useful to have her on our side.

-Give it up. She will have no interest whatsoever. Her concern for the affairs of others is an absolute zero. And no matter what it looks like, her prince observes her every wish.-

“I am apathetic,” she answered, blank expression unchanged since the conversation had begun. “Himself might take issue though,” she added, toneless as ever. “And I am no princess here. ‘Lady Shang’ suffices.”

“You are royalty wherever you are, Your Majesty,” Arietta, the youngest of the four, interjected hurriedly with a slight blush, speaking up for the first time since he’d arrived.

The Easterner merely inclined her head in polite acknowledgement before remarking to him, “Nice ring,” with a glance at the brilliant crimson jewel encrusted in the ornately wrought gold ring he wore on his left ring finger. “It matches your pendant well,” she continued a few seconds later, eyes travelling upwards accordingly.

“Thank you, milady. It must pale in the magnificence of your own collection.” Would she know the Crimson Stone on sight?

“It would not be out of place,” she acceded. “However, my countrymen tend to be concerned with matters of fortune and thus avoid ill-omened objects.”

-It is hard to say. Why do you not figure it out yourself, brilliant tactician?-

“And red stones are regarded as inauspicious?”

“Not generally. But surely you can sense how much blood has been spilled for that gem. That which is immersed in bloodshed brings misfortune indeed.”

Mathias tried to decipher the look in ebony eyes, but failed to discern anything; there was nothing to go by as they were empty, flawlessly concealing a mind that he was beginning to sense was a cornucopia of knowledge acquired over millennia of existence. By this point, the other three noblewomen had begun their own somewhat hushed conversation nearby, and he overheard bits about recent events in Asia.

“It has, as yet, brought me no ill fortune,” he challenged in reply. Even barring that, she knows too much.

“Misfortune comes in many forms, Dragon-child. You will see.” With that, she turned to join the other ladies’ conversation, silently dismissing him much to his irritation at both her lack of regard for him and her insistence on the ill omen about him.

-Stay out of her way, and she will stay out of yours, schemer. I have no wish to die again.-

The former strategist turned and walked away, adjusting his black fur-lined cloak as he made his way through the crowd towards the beverage counter for another glass of wine.

You seem confident we will lose.

-Even I know my limits, unlike you.-

Is that so? Still, I have surpassed my fellow men.

-You forget that you were not without help.-

“Can you not take ‘no’ for an answer, sir?”

Mathias stopped dead in his tracks. That voice; it was unmistakable. He never thought he’d hear it again within his human lifespan and indeed not in a function of the Nosferatu. Turning in the direction of the sound, his searching eyes quickly located the familiar blond hair and lean profile of a knight he had once fought alongside with, and he nearly staggered from the onslaught of conflicting emotions that crashed over him. Affection warred with hatred, friendship with betrayal, loss with bloodlust, longing with rage, and all these meshed and overlapped until he could no longer determine how he felt about his former best friend. One thing was certain, however; he could not simply walk past and forego an encounter. Whatever the outcome or reason, he had to see Leon. Taking a moment to regain his composure, he made his way towards the Crusader-turned-vampire-hunter.

---===***===---

By this point, Leon Belmont was fairly certain that Rafael Bertolli was stalking him. He had barely been down in the hall for 5 minutes, having asked Joachim to wait for him in the room while he grabbed a quick bite, when cold arms slipped around him. He knew without even looking that it wasn’t Joachim, and instinctively elbowed the man in his side to make him let go. Spinning around to face the offender, he was unsurprised to find that it was the Genovese vampire from the night before. No one else had yet been so audacious.

“Can you not take ‘no’ for an answer, sir?” he asked, frustrated. Perhaps he should have let Joachim accompany him, but he was well aware that his Master was already sick of the crowd, and he hadn’t expected to be bothered after the rather extreme display the previous night. “I am sure you are well aware how my Master feels about this by now.”

“He is not with you right now…and it really cannot be helped that you are exactly my type, Leon,” the vampire replied, moving closer again. “Your blood… Your scent has haunted my mind since first I caught it yesterday…”

Leon backed away quickly. “How can you say such a thing in front of your own Host?”

“I never said that Kazuya was not my type or that I did not love him. Just that everyone likes some variety to their food every once in a while, would you not agree?”

Before he could reply, Leon found that he had backed into someone and was about to turn around to apologize when frighteningly familiar hands landed on his shoulders. He froze as the newcomer said, “Even so, everyone has some variety of food they are not supposed to eat.”

Leon spun around sharply in alarm, crying, “Mathias!”

The older man looked just as he remembered the day they parted ways in those emerald green, brown and gold robes with the white sash around his waist, the black fur-lined cloak around his shoulders and the Crimson Stone hanging from his neck. His former best friend wore the usual pleasant smile and gazed upon him with those placid black eyes that he remembered so well from their time together, and he could almost forget that they were now enemies. Almost. He didn’t think the situation could possibly get any worse. Caught between Mathias and Rafael, he wasn’t sure which was the lesser of the two evils presently.

“And just who are you?” the Roman demanded.

Mathias Cronqvist shifted his gaze to the lesser vampire calmly, letting his hands fall to his side. “An old friend of his…Master’s.” Meeting the other’s eyes, he advised, “You should leave now,” throwing the full force of his will behind his gaze.

He felt the stranger’s mind buckle under the pressure before the other wisely conceded defeat and turned to walk away, muttering, “Very well. Just my luck.”

Once he was sure that the lesser creature had given up, he turned back to his one-time friend who looked upon him with mixed confusion and trepidation. With the Winter Armistice prohibiting physical violence, they couldn’t react the way he’d always assumed they would if and when they met again, and meeting as friends was out of the question after everything that had transpired between them…or was it? Despite it all, he couldn’t sense any hatred from the blond. This was far more awkward than he’d imagined.

-Why do you not simply read his mind, old friend?-

No, I am not going to sink that low. “It…has been a long time, has it not, Leon?” he began quietly.

There was a surge of anger from the former knight before he calmed down and affirmed, “Ten years.”

-And I thought you gave up lying to yourself.-

Stop poisoning my thoughts, you bastard. “Ho…How have you been?” he asked tentatively.

Another surge of anger and bitterness. This time, Leon let it rip. “Do you even care, Mathias?”

The former strategist found himself feeling unexpectedly sad. “I… I have treated you unkindly, have I not..?”

-Regretting it now, are you? How human…-

Leon clenched his fists. “That is certainly a mild way to say it if I ever have heard one.” He stepped closer to bite the words out through gritted teeth. “You used me, had Sara kidnapped and sent to her cruel demise, and asked Death to ‘take care of me,’ Mathias. I am not sure ‘being treated unkindly’ even begins to describe what you have done to me.”

Mathias knew the only reason Leon wasn’t yelling this at him was to avoid being overheard. “Leon, I… It was not easy for me either… If only there had been anyone else whom I could have relied on to complete the task… It weighed heavily upon my heart once my disappointment deserted me, Leon. You must believe how relieved I was to hear that Death had failed in his task…”

Condescending laughter rang in his head. –To your credit, you have always been a fine liar.-

“I should never have trusted you, Mathias, and I will not make that mistake again.”

Silence, I am not lying. “My apologies, Leon… It was a terrible thing for me to do. I…” He looked around; they were beginning to draw attention. “We cannot talk here. Let us go somewhere with a little more privacy.”

-Great is the liar that deceives even himself.-

Clear blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Such as?”

“It is too cold outside… One of our rooms?” he suggested.

“I may never have been as brilliant as you, Mathias, but neither am I that big a fool.” That familiar soft tenor was scathing in its bitterness.

“If I kill you in this castle, I will be executed for contravention of the Winter Armistice. I just want to talk to you, Leon. As the years drew on, I have found myself missing you terribly, unconsciously surrounding myself with things that remind me of you. Suits of armour line my hallways, swords adorn my walls, and I have found and purchased every single book I have ever read with or to you. Often, I sit outside by the lake or seashore, remembering the times we used to have picnics together whenever there was a lull in the fighting with you fishing and me reading under a tree. I… I have been lonelier than I ever expected to be, Leon, without even a friend with whom I can play the occasional game of chess. Can we not even speak civilly anymore?”

-You could just will him to come with you.-

I will not. What would be the point if he were not complicit? Leon had always been too kind for his own good, he knew. Even now, he could tell the blond was torn between wanting to believe him and suspecting him of foul play. Sadly, he knew none of those piteous words to be lies. “Leon…” he tried again, inserting a more pleading tone into his voice.

-Playing the self-blame card, I see. We are more alike than you would care to admit, tactician.-

Stop it! I have no such intention!

“How much more do you intend to play with my feelings, Mathias?” Leon asked tiredly at length, and Mathias was surprised how deeply the question wounded him.

“You chafe me, Leon. I have not uttered a single falsehood to you this night.”

The baron sighed. “Even so, how can you expect me to believe anything you say after everything that has happened between us?”

“Would that I could rid myself of these pointless feelings,” he murmured softly. “Will you not even give me a chance for old times’ sake?”

“At what cost, Mathias?” his old friend whispered the query.

“Leon…”

“Is it foolish of me to want to believe you still, even now?”

He finally smiled at that despite the deep pain inflecting the words. “My room is on the sixth floor,” he said, turning to lead the way, and a bit of gladness entered his heart when Leon reluctantly followed him.

---===***===---

From the bottom of his heart, Leon knew this was a bad idea. Even the sound of the door shutting gently sounded ominous to him…like he was being trapped in this room that looked just like his and Joachim’s with no way to escape. And yet, since he could not fight Mathias here, what was there to do but talk? Perhaps he could change his former friend’s mind yet, hopeless though it seemed. Now cold arms wound around his waist affectionately from behind, and he was pulled against the older man’s familiar body.

“I really have missed you, Leon…”

The tender words were murmured into his ear with warm feeling as he inhaled deeply of a scent he hadn’t smelled in years. Mathias still used the same blend of scented oils to moisturize his skin, still smelled of musky sandalwood. So little had changed about them both, and yet, nothing was the way it was. The thought filled him with sadness. The sorrow had never been far away; he had only always avoided thinking about it. Leaning back slightly into the embrace, he covered the hand on his abdomen with his own, noting how much longer the other’s fingernails had grown.

“And I you,” he admitted softly at last. “Although, usually, I am far too angry and bitter over what you did to feel that way.”

“I… Would you believe me if I said I never wanted to hurt you?”

“Your actions have long since proven otherwise,” he replied with a deep sigh. “I know not why I stand here in your arms now instead of trying to kill you. Truly I am betraying Sara’s memory…”

“Hush, just for tonight… Will you not bring that up?”

He squeezed the cold hand tenderly. “It is not too late, Mathias. You can still turn back.”

Mathias seemed to think about this for a moment before riposting, “If you mean to stop being a vampire, the curse has already changed my body. It is not reversible.”

“But you can stop cursing God…stop hurting people… Mathias…”

The other stiffened behind him. “He took everything that mattered away from me. How can I not curse Him? Do you still not understand?”

“You took away everything that mattered to me, Mathias. Should I spend the rest of all eternity cursing and hating you?” he challenged sadly.

“Would that I were as noble as you, Leon…” the older man murmured against his skin before pressing a soft kiss to his neck.

Leon tensed at that, but Mathias only kissed him again. He broke free of the former tactician’s embrace and turned to face him in shock and horror. “M-Mathias! What are you doing?!”

“Is it not obvious..?” The other closed the distance between them to gently push him down onto the bed.

“What… No! This is wrong! And… I thought you liked women…” he protested, attempting to rise. I cannot commit this sin again… God help me, please…

“I do,” Mathias replied easily enough, moving to pin him to the soft mattress with his body. “My love for Elisabetha is unchanged…but your cruel God robbed me of her despite everything I have done in his service, and you are here with me now…”

Leon gasped as his former friend’s hips began rocking against his own an instant before moist lips covered his own parted ones and his mouth was plundered thoroughly. Mathias’ touch was familiar even after ten years; it was not much unlike being with Joachim, and he found himself responding involuntarily as his body quickly remembered the pleasure of the previous night. “Mathias, please do not… That…That is no reason. Please stop this,” he pleaded, breaking the kiss and trying to escape. “Kill me even, but do not do this!”

The older man only leaned more heavily on him and moved his lips to trace kisses down his throat while his coat was unfastened and the girdle on his tunic was loosened for cool hands to slide underneath to caress bare skin. “No..? And these days I find myself wondering… Do you not think my dearest Elisabetha resembled you greatly?”

Leon bit back a moan as fingers began to toy with his nipples. “What… What are you saying..?” he asked breathlessly, writhing beneath the other in helpless arousal even as he continued trying to push the other away to no avail.

Skilled hands dropped to make short work of his pants. “Maybe… Just maybe… It was always you I sought and desired…even though I came to love her deeply… Was it only because she reminded me of you..?”

And then that cool mouth closed over his throbbing member, and Leon found himself crying out softly, back arching in response when a slick tongue skilfully swirled around it. His hands fisted in the folds of his former friend’s clothing as that perfect combination of suction, tongue and teeth wrenched unwilling moans and cries from his lips. “Mathias…ahh!” he gasped. “No…”

Mathias smiled to himself upon hearing his name on the blond’s lips. He caressed the sensitive area under his partner’s sacs with his fingertips as he freed his mouth to speak, stilling the reflexive thrusting of lean hips with his other hand. “You are far more responsive than I expected, Leon… Has it been a long time?”

The baron’s only response was an unintelligible sound of reluctant passion, and he kissed those sweat-slick muscular inner thighs languidly, inhaling deeply of a scent he knew well from years of fighting alongside his old friend, before reaching underneath to stroke the other’s entrance experimentally, eliciting a loud cry of pleasure.

-It is as I thought. More like too recently.-

What too recently?

-He has known a man’s touch, can you not see? That manwhore never could keep his hands off, especially in their circumstances.-

Mathias felt the green beast of jealousy awakening in his heart as he took the former knight’s erection in his mouth once more to approving moans. What are you talking about?

-My Childe. Who do you think brought him here? Your old friend here spared that nymphomaniac when he swept my castle, and it is probably no act that they are Master and Host. That stubborn rebel falls hard and fast for compassion and attention, and nothing turns him on quite like feeding. Practically begged me to touch him every single time.-

The taste of precum in his mouth suddenly did not sit well with him, but he protested nonetheless. No… Stop poisoning my mind… Leon would never…

-And is he not willing enough now? Check his memories for yourself.-

No, it is despicable!

-He will not say; you will not ask. How else do you propose to find the truth, scholar?-

I… He faltered. He wanted to know. No, he needed to know. He wanted to believe in his former best friend, but neither could he deny that his doubts held water.

-You need not look further than the last three days, most assuredly I can say to you.-

The former strategist finally caved in to curiosity, and what he saw in the blond’s mind possessed him with more rage and betrayal than he had ever known as jealousy reared its ugly head with a ferocious roar. Only last night…

The laughter in his head was triumphant and sinister. -Do you still think me duplicitist poison?-

From the tension in that well-chiselled frame, he knew Leon was close, but his own pleasure had long since been replaced with possessive wrath. He should have been mine, first and only!

-In a manner of speaking, it is not yet too late.-

What do you mean it is not too late?!

-He is as yet human and untainted. You can make him yours forever.-

Turn him? He would run for the sunrise to die rather than become a Nosferatu.

-Even so, he would have been yours. And there is hope yet… Underneath it all, his Master is a terribly selfish child who fears abandonment more than anything.-

There is no guarantee of that… And what would be the point if he died? He would just return to his cruel God and never truly be mine.

-Look at how easy it was to convince him to come with you. Your old friend is a compassionate man, and I am rarely wrong about my Childe. You only have this one chance, tactician. I think it worth the risk.-

Mathias took a moment to perpend the matter, and soon would have smirked had his mouth not been otherwise occupied. Yes, I will make him my own for eternity…

He tilted his head slightly, allowing a single fang to delicately pierce the vein that ran along the human’s shaft. Leon came in his mouth with a loud cry from the intensity of the sensation, and he savoured the heavenly taste of victorious possession as blood mingled with semen on his palate. He swallowed every drop of the mixture as the blond rode out the remaining tremors of orgasm, and it was only as the haze of pleasure faded and he licked the tiny incision shut that Leon realized what he had done and leapt to his feet a little unsteadily.

“You… How could you!” Leon demanded, hurt and furious beyond coherent speech.

Mathias rose calmly. “I could ask the same of you, Leon. How could you give another what you had never even given me?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Need you ask? Of all atrocities… And only last night!!” The count bellowed as he telekinetically sent his former best friend flying into the granite wall, finally losing his temper.

“You have no right to call that an atrocity when you have just cursed me more gravely than the highest mortal sin, Mathias,” Leon spat, wincing in pain as he fixed his clothes where he knelt on the floor by the wall.

“Right?!” the vampire echoed incredulously as he closed the distance between them, clearly irate beyond rational thought. “That slut has no right to claim that which belonged to me long before he even laid eyes on you!!”

Seizing his chance, Leon quickly snatched the chain hanging from the former strategist’s neck and crushed the pendant as hard as he could against the granite wall behind him. The jewel cracked into pieces, but he sensed no change in the monster before him, saw no improvement to the crazed look in black eyes. Truly, his former friend was a demon now. A pregnant moment of silence passed between them before Dracula, as he now called himself, burst into maniacal laughter.

“Is that your final act of defiance, Leon? How pathetic…” He struggled as Mathias lifted him with a single hand before hurling him violently against the other wall. “Did you really think it would be that easy, that I would risk displaying my most prized possession so openly?”

He coughed weakly and spat the blood that filled his mouth out to the side, blinking to clear his blurring vision. “And yet, you are too paranoid not to carry it on your person… It is the ring, is it not?” he asked as he caught sight of an identical red jewel adorning the other’s right hand.

“You underestimate me, Leon; you always have,” the twisted scholar continued the tirade as if he had never spoken. “And you always were far too kind for your own good.”

“It really was all a lie then?”

“Certainly, it is clear that I cannot kill you here, but you should know by now that my deepest wish for you has always been to share eternity with me, Leon.”

Mathias probably hadn’t heard a word he’d said in the last minute, so Leon raised his voice this time. “How many more people do you intend to hurt, Mathias?! How many more will you sacrifice like Sara?! Elisabetha would never have wanted this!” He nearly choked with emotion as everything he’d felt that fateful day ten years ago came rushing back to him, the wounds as fresh as the day they had been inflicted. “I do not want any of this…” he whispered. In reality, he had only stopped thinking about them; they had never truly healed.

It seemed as if he’d finally been heard for Mathias turned to face him at that, looking like he’d just been reminded of a minor detail. “Ah, Sara! If only I had gotten rid of that wench earlier, you might have been mine long ago. And to think you chose to save her instead of me! No matter now; she can no longer steal your attention away from me.”

For a moment, all Leon could do was stare at the other in stunned horror. Then he cried, “You’re mad, Mathias! Completely and utterly insane!” He rose to his feet, resolutely looking anywhere but at the vampire as angry tears welled up in his eyes. “I curse the day I met you, Mathias Cronqvist, and the folly that possessed me to have ever trusted you, not once but twice!!” he yelled heatedly and tore out of the room as swiftly as his legs would carry him.

Behind him, his enemy’s sinister and condescending laugh continued to reverberate in the room. “Go, Leon! Go as far as you can! Someday, surely, you will return to me, my Childe!!”

A terrible urgency gripped Leon as he tore down the stairwell and corridor to the room he shared with Joachim, wiping the moisture from his eyes, and he called his friend’s name sharply as he burst through the door, panting. They had to leave now; they had to go as far away from here as possible. He ran to the armoire to begin packing their clothes into their chest in a great hurry without pausing to explain. Mathias had well and truly lost his mind; there was no telling what a lunatic would do.

Joachim turned where he stood fastening his coat. “Leon! I was about to go find you…” His expression immediately grew grave as he took in the sight before him. “What happened?”

“Mathias,” Leon answered simply, suppressing the tumultuous emotions that swirled painfully in his chest. It could wait. For now, they had to flee.

The name was explanation enough for the vampire, and he immediately rushed to help gather their belongings without another word. If Leon was in such a panicked frenzy, he probably had a valid reason. There would be time for questions later. First, they had to escape.

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A/N: Please leave me a review no matter what you thought. I really appreciate all feedback. Thank you very much for reading!