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elrhiarhodanTitle: The Blood of Helios – Vampire World Chapter II - Freedom is a Palace
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, June, Elizabeth Burke
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~ 2400
Summary: Vampire Peter, Shapeshifter El and Neal, who is something more than he ever expected to be. Chapter II - The Late Night Sky, Her Majesty, and a Room with a View. Love Pounces From a Tree and a Marriage Proposal.
This story is dedicated togyzym who has held my hand and encouraged me when I felt this was all turning to shite. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. Beta’d by the awesome riazendira. All mistakes are mine. Feedback is adored.
Prologue
Chapter I - Coming From The Darkness
______________________
The Blood of Helios – Chapter II - Freedom is a Palace
Captain Burke and Neal materialized on the sidewalk in front of a large and imposing mansion on the Upper West Side of the City. Neal breathed deeply. For the first time in a decade, the air wasn’t tainted by the stink of damp concrete and rusting iron. The sounds of traffic were a distant and pleasing melody in the rich darkness of the pre-dawn hours. Across the street, the park was a vast lacuna of light, but it didn’t bother Neal. He could hear life coming from there, the remaining leaves tapping against the tree branches, small nocturnal animals scrambling in the decaying greenery. His long-starved senses were overwhelmed.
Dressed just the worn-out prison uniform, he shivered in the late October chill, and Captain Burke draped an arm around him. Neal was surprised how warm the vampire was and even more surprised that he initiated physical contact. It felt good, especially since it had been so long since anyone had touched him. He wanted to lean into Burke, but stepped back instead. And then looked up at the night sky. The moon had long since set, but the bright stars of the Winter Triangle, Sirius, Procyon and Betelgeuse were visible overhead, despite the city lights. Neal would have fallen to his knees, but Burke caught him. Still clutching the bottle of Bordeaux, he hung limp in the vampire’s arms, head flung back as if he were having a seizure.
“Neal, straighten up.”
“I can’t - the night sky.” Neal gasped. “I had forgotten how beautiful it is.”
“Caffrey, - don’t go star-mad on me. You’re my Sunlight Agent, remember.” Captain Burke gave a near silent chuff of laughter. “Come with me. It gets better.”
No, it can’t be better than this, not unless you’ve got sunshine in your pocket. At that totally bizarre thought, Neal straighten up and followed the vampire up the steps of what he hoped would be his new abode.
Before the vampire could knock, the door was opened and they were greeted by a small brownie, her dark eyes and noseless face both shy and smiling. “Welcome back, Captain Burke. Welcome Mr. Neal. Her Highness is expecting you.” Her Highness? Maybe it can be better? The brownie held out her hands and Neal gave the wine into her keeping. He nodded and remembered not to thank her.
With perfectly exquisite manners, Burke acknowledged the brownie, but did not thank her either. She led them into a candlelit room with walls that seemed to glow. A woman of indeterminate age was standing there, her dark face was serenely beautiful - like a statute Neal had once seen. She greeted the Captain.
“Peter, how wonderful to see you. And this must be Neal Caffrey.” Neal thought her voice was like mischief and long summer days, and he hoped he could spend time just listening to her. She turned to him, smiled - not a woman’s smile, but a mother’s smile - and Neal’s legs almost went out from under him again.
“Highness, the Kiss is in your debt.” Peter made the introductions. “Neal, make your bows to the Summer Queen.”
He tried to execute some graceful and courtly maneuver, but his body - unused to such exercise, refused to cooperate. In a moment of utter humiliation, Neal found himself sprawled on the floor. In the seconds that he laid there, he expected to hear Burke’s derisive laughter, and some unpleasant comment about how the way he spent the last ten years wasn’t conducive to good manners. The vampire said nothing as he helped him up. The Summer Queen, to Neal’s utter surprise, placed a warm, smooth hand against his cheek and then stroked his forehead. Neal thought, if I wasn’t forsworn - I could be her paladin. All he could manage now was a whispered “Highness.”
“Please call me June. My daughter has been the Summer Queen for half a century now. I am merely the dowager, living out her days in remnants of faded glory.” Despite the words, there was no bitterness in the Lady’s voice - Neal got the sense that this was a bit of practiced banter, meant to put him at ease. “Come, it grows close to dawn – let me show you your quarters.”
Burke gestured for Neal to precede him, and they followed the Summer Queen – June – up several flights of stairs. When they reached the top of the last staircase, Neal watched as she took a large black key out of her pocket and unlocked the waiting door. The Lady walked in and flicked on the lights and Captain Burke pushed Neal across the threshold with a small shove.
Of all the things that happened since Bobby woke up him up at two am, this was the one that that finally broke Neal. He didn’t fall to his knees like he had on the sidewalk. He didn’t collapse into a pile of ungraceful bones. He just stood there – frozen in shock with tears pouring down his face. Captain Burke, a warm, solid bulk behind him, whispered in his ear, “See, I told you it gets better.”
Neal sobbed once, twice and then gave a bark of hysterical laughter. “You fucking bastard. You evil, sneaky, fucking, bloody, bastard.” The Summer Queen stared at Neal, not so much appalled at his invective, but concerned at his reaction. Burke just laughed, as if he had fully anticipated Neal’s extreme response to his new lodgings. The apartment wasn’t large – but it was big enough for a living room with a comfortable couch, a dining table big enough for four or six people, an open kitchenette, and a bedroom. But what drew Neal’s eye were the wall of windows and the bank of skylights over the bed. Neal turned to face the vampire, his eyes wild, all pretense of composure gone. “You…bastard.”
“Don’t you like the room?” The Lady asked Neal, who was shaking and holding onto himself.
“Highness – I don’t think there is any place that could be more perfect for me.” Neal swallowed and looked at Burke, who had a carefully blank expression on his face. “I knew that vampires were devious – but this it a masterstroke. If there was anything that would guarantee my cooperation, that could ensure my loyalty to a bunch of blood-sucking fiends – it’s this room.” Neal walked into the bedroom and stood in front of the bank of windows. Burke followed close behind. Neal turned around, practically stepping on the vampire’s toes. “Do you mind?”
Instead of stepping back, Captain Burke reached around and turned a knob that Neal hadn’t noticed; opening a door to what he could now see was a rooftop terrace. Neal looked at the Summer Queen, who had a sweetly pleased smile on her face. “I like to have breakfast up here, weather permitting. I hope you’ll allow me to share it with you.” She walked over to another bank of windows, another door, opened it and went outside. Neal and Captain Burke followed her.
“Peter, remember that lovely anniversary dinner you had for Elizabeth up here. What was that, thirty-five years ago?”
“Nearly forty, June. El and I will be married for fifty years in a few weeks. I’m at a loss for an anniversary present. What do you get the woman who wants nothing?” The question was rhetorical.
Neal stared at the vampire. “You’re married? Vampires don’t marry.”
Burke smirked at Neal. “Never assume, Caffrey. El – my wife Elizabeth – will want to meet you soon.” The vampire looked out over the pitch-black skyline. “Dawn’s coming in a few hours. I need to go.” He reached into his jacket and took a slim leather envelope out and handed it to Neal. “Consider this a signing bonus. Get yourself some decent clothes, a haircut, whatever you need. Expect a visit from Frank, the agent you’re replacing. He’ll get you started, and I’ll see you in a week.”
With nothing further to say, Captain Peter Burke departed.
______________________
Peter materialized inside the house he shared with his wife and Satchmo, an aging yellow Labrador retriever, just as the sun broke across the horizon.
“You shouldn’t cut it so close, honey.”
“El - I’ve been doing this for a few years. You don’t have to worry.”
“Peter, I’m your wife. It’s part of the job description.”
Peter looked at Elizabeth and smiled. She was sitting on the mundane couch in their mundane living room, folding a mundane pile of clothes. When they first met, nearly sixty years ago, he had wanted to give her a palace and servants and all the things that went with being a vampire of rank and stature, but she wanted none of that. All Elizabeth wanted was his love and a wedding ring. The first was astonishingly easy to give – Peter had fallen, and fallen hard, and sometimes it was still hard to believe that she loved him too. But marriage was another story, that commitment brought a whole raft of expectations, including fidelity, something which was impossible for pansexual and polyamorous vampires.
Peter was still as intrigued by Elizabeth today as he had when he first laid eyes on her. She was a smart and pretty shapeshifter who wasn’t at all afraid to work for a vampire. He had been investigating her boss, a member of an affiliated clan who had been skimming profits from the business. Profits that should have been paid to Kiss Whryccrid as tribute. The matter had been resolved, and the thief swiftly dealt with - he lost his right hand to the noon sun. Peter continued to watch her, but he was reluctant to make a move.
Shifters were monogamous, usually mating for the duration of their very long life. Within Whryccrid, the Kiss prospered through the carefully built circles of lovers and feeders, and the giving and the taking of the Gift (other clans were less discriminating). For Peter, it was even more than just building and strengthening his clan, he had responsibilities to each member of his cadre. The exchange with his warriors was a deed of loyalty, and sex was as important as the sharing of blood. Peter believed that there was no way he could have a relationship with Elizabeth without breaking her heart.
It was Elizabeth who made the move on Peter. One moonless summer night, he was sitting on a park bench, watching her apartment. All of a sudden, a black shadow dropped out of a tree branch and landed on him, and first time in several centuries someone had truly taken Peter Burke by surprise. He found himself with his arms full of a blue-eyed panther, huge paws batting at his head and neck. Her claws weren’t fully retracted, and Peter got random nicks over his face, neck and hands as they wrestled in the darkness. He let himself get pinned, those paws pressing his shoulders into the ground as Elizabeth rubbed her head against him and licked at the blood from his scratches. Peter laughed as her whiskers tickled and tormented him, and that laugh became a gasp as she sat down between his spread legs and returned to her human form.
“I’ve marked you, Peter. You’re mine now.”
Peter sobered up immediately. “Elizabeth - I have responsibilities to my cadre, to my Kiss, that I cannot abandon for you. I can’t be just yours”
“Do you love me?”
Peter’s eyes went white, a sign of fierce emotion, and the only answer he could give was “Yes.”
“Silly, silly man...then nothing else matters. I don’t care that you share your blood and your body with your people. Just be sure you love no one else, and I’ll be happy.”
It had taken nearly half a decade of “dating” to convince Peter that Elizabeth could accept his obligations to clan and cadre, and another five years (plus some outside pressure) to persuade Hughes, the Kiss’ master, that marriage between Vampire and Shapeshifter could work. Nearly fifty years ago, during the first dark moon after the Winter Solstice, Peter and Elizabeth exchanged vows, pledging their love before her family (a pride of very big and very disapproving cats) and the ranking members of his Kiss. The ceremony ended with Elizabeth delicately sipping blood first from Peter, then from each member of Peter’s cadre and lastly from Hughes himself - accepting the Gift. That night and on each dark moon thereafter, she gave her blood only to Peter.
“Peter, did everything go alright?”
Her question drew him back to the present. “Oh, El - I think I left him there nearly too long. When he walked into the room, he looked like a ghost.” Peter sat down next to his wife, pulled her into his lap, and rested his cheek on her head. “The fire was nearly gone.”
El maneuvered around and looked up at Peter. “But it wasn’t, was it.” She rubbed her cheek against his.
Peter smiled. “No, it’s still there. You should have seen his reaction to June’s place – he was torn between rapture and murder. Just what you predicted.”
“When can I meet him?”
“I want him to settle in, get healthy, get a feel for the work.” Peter tipped her face up with one blunt finger. “Elizabeth Burke, you are a delight, but you can be a bit unnerving.”
El made a face. “I am NOT unnerving. I am interesting.” She preened. “There is no reason why your Mr. Caffrey should be frightened. Why don’t I drop by tomorrow and say hello to June. I’m sure she’ll be happy to introduce me.”
Peter looked at his wife. Once she got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her. If he said ‘no’ to Elizabeth, she’d simply find a way to make his ‘no’ meaningless. “Give him a few days, honey.”
They sat together on the couch, and Peter felt some of his vitality slip away as the sun rose higher in the sky. He felt Elizabeth kiss the side of his jaw and the corner of his mouth, and he smiled. “Let’s go to bed.”
Go To Chapter III - Dawn's Great Magic
Author:
elrhiarhodan Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, June, Elizabeth Burke
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~ 2400
Summary: Vampire Peter, Shapeshifter El and Neal, who is something more than he ever expected to be. Chapter II - The Late Night Sky, Her Majesty, and a Room with a View. Love Pounces From a Tree and a Marriage Proposal.
This story is dedicated to
gyzym who has held my hand and encouraged me when I felt this was all turning to shite. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. Beta’d by the awesome riazendira. All mistakes are mine. Feedback is adored.Prologue
Chapter I - Coming From The Darkness
Captain Burke and Neal materialized on the sidewalk in front of a large and imposing mansion on the Upper West Side of the City. Neal breathed deeply. For the first time in a decade, the air wasn’t tainted by the stink of damp concrete and rusting iron. The sounds of traffic were a distant and pleasing melody in the rich darkness of the pre-dawn hours. Across the street, the park was a vast lacuna of light, but it didn’t bother Neal. He could hear life coming from there, the remaining leaves tapping against the tree branches, small nocturnal animals scrambling in the decaying greenery. His long-starved senses were overwhelmed.
Dressed just the worn-out prison uniform, he shivered in the late October chill, and Captain Burke draped an arm around him. Neal was surprised how warm the vampire was and even more surprised that he initiated physical contact. It felt good, especially since it had been so long since anyone had touched him. He wanted to lean into Burke, but stepped back instead. And then looked up at the night sky. The moon had long since set, but the bright stars of the Winter Triangle, Sirius, Procyon and Betelgeuse were visible overhead, despite the city lights. Neal would have fallen to his knees, but Burke caught him. Still clutching the bottle of Bordeaux, he hung limp in the vampire’s arms, head flung back as if he were having a seizure.
“Neal, straighten up.”
“I can’t - the night sky.” Neal gasped. “I had forgotten how beautiful it is.”
“Caffrey, - don’t go star-mad on me. You’re my Sunlight Agent, remember.” Captain Burke gave a near silent chuff of laughter. “Come with me. It gets better.”
No, it can’t be better than this, not unless you’ve got sunshine in your pocket. At that totally bizarre thought, Neal straighten up and followed the vampire up the steps of what he hoped would be his new abode.
Before the vampire could knock, the door was opened and they were greeted by a small brownie, her dark eyes and noseless face both shy and smiling. “Welcome back, Captain Burke. Welcome Mr. Neal. Her Highness is expecting you.” Her Highness? Maybe it can be better? The brownie held out her hands and Neal gave the wine into her keeping. He nodded and remembered not to thank her.
With perfectly exquisite manners, Burke acknowledged the brownie, but did not thank her either. She led them into a candlelit room with walls that seemed to glow. A woman of indeterminate age was standing there, her dark face was serenely beautiful - like a statute Neal had once seen. She greeted the Captain.
“Peter, how wonderful to see you. And this must be Neal Caffrey.” Neal thought her voice was like mischief and long summer days, and he hoped he could spend time just listening to her. She turned to him, smiled - not a woman’s smile, but a mother’s smile - and Neal’s legs almost went out from under him again.
“Highness, the Kiss is in your debt.” Peter made the introductions. “Neal, make your bows to the Summer Queen.”
He tried to execute some graceful and courtly maneuver, but his body - unused to such exercise, refused to cooperate. In a moment of utter humiliation, Neal found himself sprawled on the floor. In the seconds that he laid there, he expected to hear Burke’s derisive laughter, and some unpleasant comment about how the way he spent the last ten years wasn’t conducive to good manners. The vampire said nothing as he helped him up. The Summer Queen, to Neal’s utter surprise, placed a warm, smooth hand against his cheek and then stroked his forehead. Neal thought, if I wasn’t forsworn - I could be her paladin. All he could manage now was a whispered “Highness.”
“Please call me June. My daughter has been the Summer Queen for half a century now. I am merely the dowager, living out her days in remnants of faded glory.” Despite the words, there was no bitterness in the Lady’s voice - Neal got the sense that this was a bit of practiced banter, meant to put him at ease. “Come, it grows close to dawn – let me show you your quarters.”
Burke gestured for Neal to precede him, and they followed the Summer Queen – June – up several flights of stairs. When they reached the top of the last staircase, Neal watched as she took a large black key out of her pocket and unlocked the waiting door. The Lady walked in and flicked on the lights and Captain Burke pushed Neal across the threshold with a small shove.
Of all the things that happened since Bobby woke up him up at two am, this was the one that that finally broke Neal. He didn’t fall to his knees like he had on the sidewalk. He didn’t collapse into a pile of ungraceful bones. He just stood there – frozen in shock with tears pouring down his face. Captain Burke, a warm, solid bulk behind him, whispered in his ear, “See, I told you it gets better.”
Neal sobbed once, twice and then gave a bark of hysterical laughter. “You fucking bastard. You evil, sneaky, fucking, bloody, bastard.” The Summer Queen stared at Neal, not so much appalled at his invective, but concerned at his reaction. Burke just laughed, as if he had fully anticipated Neal’s extreme response to his new lodgings. The apartment wasn’t large – but it was big enough for a living room with a comfortable couch, a dining table big enough for four or six people, an open kitchenette, and a bedroom. But what drew Neal’s eye were the wall of windows and the bank of skylights over the bed. Neal turned to face the vampire, his eyes wild, all pretense of composure gone. “You…bastard.”
“Don’t you like the room?” The Lady asked Neal, who was shaking and holding onto himself.
“Highness – I don’t think there is any place that could be more perfect for me.” Neal swallowed and looked at Burke, who had a carefully blank expression on his face. “I knew that vampires were devious – but this it a masterstroke. If there was anything that would guarantee my cooperation, that could ensure my loyalty to a bunch of blood-sucking fiends – it’s this room.” Neal walked into the bedroom and stood in front of the bank of windows. Burke followed close behind. Neal turned around, practically stepping on the vampire’s toes. “Do you mind?”
Instead of stepping back, Captain Burke reached around and turned a knob that Neal hadn’t noticed; opening a door to what he could now see was a rooftop terrace. Neal looked at the Summer Queen, who had a sweetly pleased smile on her face. “I like to have breakfast up here, weather permitting. I hope you’ll allow me to share it with you.” She walked over to another bank of windows, another door, opened it and went outside. Neal and Captain Burke followed her.
“Peter, remember that lovely anniversary dinner you had for Elizabeth up here. What was that, thirty-five years ago?”
“Nearly forty, June. El and I will be married for fifty years in a few weeks. I’m at a loss for an anniversary present. What do you get the woman who wants nothing?” The question was rhetorical.
Neal stared at the vampire. “You’re married? Vampires don’t marry.”
Burke smirked at Neal. “Never assume, Caffrey. El – my wife Elizabeth – will want to meet you soon.” The vampire looked out over the pitch-black skyline. “Dawn’s coming in a few hours. I need to go.” He reached into his jacket and took a slim leather envelope out and handed it to Neal. “Consider this a signing bonus. Get yourself some decent clothes, a haircut, whatever you need. Expect a visit from Frank, the agent you’re replacing. He’ll get you started, and I’ll see you in a week.”
With nothing further to say, Captain Peter Burke departed.
Peter materialized inside the house he shared with his wife and Satchmo, an aging yellow Labrador retriever, just as the sun broke across the horizon.
“You shouldn’t cut it so close, honey.”
“El - I’ve been doing this for a few years. You don’t have to worry.”
“Peter, I’m your wife. It’s part of the job description.”
Peter looked at Elizabeth and smiled. She was sitting on the mundane couch in their mundane living room, folding a mundane pile of clothes. When they first met, nearly sixty years ago, he had wanted to give her a palace and servants and all the things that went with being a vampire of rank and stature, but she wanted none of that. All Elizabeth wanted was his love and a wedding ring. The first was astonishingly easy to give – Peter had fallen, and fallen hard, and sometimes it was still hard to believe that she loved him too. But marriage was another story, that commitment brought a whole raft of expectations, including fidelity, something which was impossible for pansexual and polyamorous vampires.
Peter was still as intrigued by Elizabeth today as he had when he first laid eyes on her. She was a smart and pretty shapeshifter who wasn’t at all afraid to work for a vampire. He had been investigating her boss, a member of an affiliated clan who had been skimming profits from the business. Profits that should have been paid to Kiss Whryccrid as tribute. The matter had been resolved, and the thief swiftly dealt with - he lost his right hand to the noon sun. Peter continued to watch her, but he was reluctant to make a move.
Shifters were monogamous, usually mating for the duration of their very long life. Within Whryccrid, the Kiss prospered through the carefully built circles of lovers and feeders, and the giving and the taking of the Gift (other clans were less discriminating). For Peter, it was even more than just building and strengthening his clan, he had responsibilities to each member of his cadre. The exchange with his warriors was a deed of loyalty, and sex was as important as the sharing of blood. Peter believed that there was no way he could have a relationship with Elizabeth without breaking her heart.
It was Elizabeth who made the move on Peter. One moonless summer night, he was sitting on a park bench, watching her apartment. All of a sudden, a black shadow dropped out of a tree branch and landed on him, and first time in several centuries someone had truly taken Peter Burke by surprise. He found himself with his arms full of a blue-eyed panther, huge paws batting at his head and neck. Her claws weren’t fully retracted, and Peter got random nicks over his face, neck and hands as they wrestled in the darkness. He let himself get pinned, those paws pressing his shoulders into the ground as Elizabeth rubbed her head against him and licked at the blood from his scratches. Peter laughed as her whiskers tickled and tormented him, and that laugh became a gasp as she sat down between his spread legs and returned to her human form.
“I’ve marked you, Peter. You’re mine now.”
Peter sobered up immediately. “Elizabeth - I have responsibilities to my cadre, to my Kiss, that I cannot abandon for you. I can’t be just yours”
“Do you love me?”
Peter’s eyes went white, a sign of fierce emotion, and the only answer he could give was “Yes.”
“Silly, silly man...then nothing else matters. I don’t care that you share your blood and your body with your people. Just be sure you love no one else, and I’ll be happy.”
It had taken nearly half a decade of “dating” to convince Peter that Elizabeth could accept his obligations to clan and cadre, and another five years (plus some outside pressure) to persuade Hughes, the Kiss’ master, that marriage between Vampire and Shapeshifter could work. Nearly fifty years ago, during the first dark moon after the Winter Solstice, Peter and Elizabeth exchanged vows, pledging their love before her family (a pride of very big and very disapproving cats) and the ranking members of his Kiss. The ceremony ended with Elizabeth delicately sipping blood first from Peter, then from each member of Peter’s cadre and lastly from Hughes himself - accepting the Gift. That night and on each dark moon thereafter, she gave her blood only to Peter.
“Peter, did everything go alright?”
Her question drew him back to the present. “Oh, El - I think I left him there nearly too long. When he walked into the room, he looked like a ghost.” Peter sat down next to his wife, pulled her into his lap, and rested his cheek on her head. “The fire was nearly gone.”
El maneuvered around and looked up at Peter. “But it wasn’t, was it.” She rubbed her cheek against his.
Peter smiled. “No, it’s still there. You should have seen his reaction to June’s place – he was torn between rapture and murder. Just what you predicted.”
“When can I meet him?”
“I want him to settle in, get healthy, get a feel for the work.” Peter tipped her face up with one blunt finger. “Elizabeth Burke, you are a delight, but you can be a bit unnerving.”
El made a face. “I am NOT unnerving. I am interesting.” She preened. “There is no reason why your Mr. Caffrey should be frightened. Why don’t I drop by tomorrow and say hello to June. I’m sure she’ll be happy to introduce me.”
Peter looked at his wife. Once she got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her. If he said ‘no’ to Elizabeth, she’d simply find a way to make his ‘no’ meaningless. “Give him a few days, honey.”
They sat together on the couch, and Peter felt some of his vitality slip away as the sun rose higher in the sky. He felt Elizabeth kiss the side of his jaw and the corner of his mouth, and he smiled. “Let’s go to bed.”
Go To Chapter III - Dawn's Great Magic
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-02 03:36 am (UTC)Neal's reactions... oh I want this so much!!! Hugs!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-02 03:56 pm (UTC)Tonight's chapter is very Neal-centric. Hope you like it.