My Darkness and My Light (Little Star)

Chapter Seven: My Rapture

My body was flung hard and hit the ground knocking all the air out of me as the percussion from the explosion reverberated in my ears and the stars in my vision started to dim to blackness. For the second time in a day my well of magic was completely dry. I felt instant panic. "I can't see," I cried out, then "Halsin!?" Silence followed by "Me, I'm afraid," from the last voice I wanted to be trapped alone in the dark with. "I can't see either. I don't think there's anything to see. I think we're between planes. Whatever hit that transportation stone was some serious magic. We're talking, and I assume you're breathing, so we've got atmosphere. That's lucky, and frankly unlikely. Not much else it seems, though. Listen to the echos. There's nothing." He finished by saying " We better feel around and make sure no one's here and knocked out or worse. I don't have my pack, you?" "No," I replied. We spent some time feeling our way around and turned up no more of our party, but we did find Astarion's pack some way off.

We eventually both settled down in the dark not too near, but not too far from one another. Astarion spoke up again. "I have two days' water rations in my pack. If we're very careful to stretch it, you've probably got over a week, especially with the moisture from some of the fruits I've packed. I have bottles of wine, but that would only hurt. Though it might be some comfort if things go badly." "So that's the whole plan then?" I asked. "Prepare to thirst to death." "The plan," he growled out, "is to hope our friends survived the blast on the other side and that they, (and here he groaned,) specifically Gale, can move fast enough to acquire the power needed to pull us out of here before you thirst to death. So yes. I guess prepare to thirst to death is another way to put it." We lapsed back into silence then.

Time is hard to judge when you're nowhere in the dark, but based on how often and how fast I became thirsty, I'd say more than a handful of days had passed when I was down to half water rations remaining. Astarion had attempted to start little conversations saying something he thought was clever or funny from time to time, but I was no good company. When I initiated conversation for the first time, it was with concern. "If we were going to make it out, don't you think it would have happened by now?" Astarion made a noncommittal noise then said quietly "Who knows?" I was below one quarter water rations remaining, trying to stretch further between sips, and really trying not to cry. I ached for Halsin, to be wrapped up in the safety of the arms of the man I cared so much for one last time. I was thinking of the warmth and smell of him when my reverie was broken by the sound of Astarion settling down so close I could have felt his breath on my skin if he were alive. There was glass clanking and the uncorking of a wine bottle. "I hope you don't mind," he said. "You wanna hear something that will cheer you up?" I did not respond. "You'll be dead before too long, back with a god who loves you. But I'll just be here, alone, starving, slowly losing my mind over millennia as I become a raving mad thing in the dark." I let out a snort that was almost a chuckle and he said "Told you it would cheer you up."

Listen, you don't owe me anything, not your time, especially when it is so short, and of course not your forgiveness, but would it be okay if I talked some while there are still ears other than mine to hear me" he asked? I shrugged, and then realizing he couldn't see that movement, said "Fine, I guess." And so we talked, he told me what little he remembered of being human. He told me about his death, his centuries of enslavement to an evil vampire lord. He told me of the first person he killed, of all the kills that came after it. He tried asking about my life, but 32 years on the family farm doesn't take much time to tell. The water dwindled, and still we talked. I had less than days now. I dozed off and on. When awake, I was either chatting with Astarion, or mostly wondering to myself if this death was going to be better or worse than any of my previous deaths. At least hopefully it would be my last.

I awoke as Astarion pulled the last bottle of wine from his pack and offered some of this one to me. I took a long swig and it was the most glorious thing I'd ever tasted. I knew logically it would only increase my thirst, but it felt like heaven in the moment. I passed the bottle back to him. "You think I would have learned about taking drinks from you," I quipped. "Yes, you aren't very bright," he agreed with a haughty laugh. A few minutes of silence passed between us and then "Why me?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper. He was quiet for a long moment. "You were there. You were beautiful, you looked innocent, easily seduced." "That's it?" I asked, "Being simple and pretty condemned me to death after death?" He cleared his throat, choking on his words "And you didn't have on any wedding jewels. You weren't a wife, I wasn't stealing someone's mother, but mostly yes. If I was going to bed someone, I'd rather they be beautiful and enjoyable." "Bed someone!?" I near shouted. "Well, yes. Most folk don't down the whole drink in one go. Often they took a bit more physical persuasion to get them back to my master." I let out a little puff of air. "I guess that might have been preferable," I said, "to have experienced pleasure from my body instead of only pain before I died." Astarion was quiet for another long moment. "Not you and Halsin?" he questioned. "Not even a kiss," I replied sourly. "He never pushed me for anything, always letting me lead." "Yes, Halsin is like that," the vampire agreed, "but gods did you miss out. He loves like a wild thing." I chuckled and then let out a low moan thinking of what his lips could have been like on mine. I heard the swallowing of wine and the empty bottle clunk to the ground.

In the next moment I felt a cool strong hand against my chest pushing me down from my seated position while his other hand cushioned my head against the ground, then lips were on mine. I parted my lips to cry out and his tongue snaked into my mouth, his mouth cool like breathing over fresh chewed mint. The taste of wine on his tongue and smell of citrus from his clothing overwhelming my senses. Instead of crying out, I opened my mouth further and met his tongue with mine. He pulled back with a start, then leaned in to nip at my ear. "Please stop me at anytime. You are in control, but I want you to let me show you all the pleasures your body has for you." His voice was low and throaty against my ear as he began to nibble down my neck, all teeth no fangs. Everywhere the coolness of his mouth and hands touched turned to fire in my body. He claimed my mouth again, settling the weight of his body gently against mine. I kissed him back urgently. It did not begin to occur to me again to stop him. My breathing was ragged and I could feel my pulse pounding between my legs. I needed more of what he was giving me. I arched my hips up into him and he responded by pushing back with the knee that was between my legs. I ground myself against him seeking relief from the blood pounding and fire in my sex. I sucked at his tongue, moaning into his mouth. He pulled his face back from mine and moved my shift to expose a pointed hard little nipple before lowering his head to take it into his mouth. Replacing the tongue in my eager mouth with two fingers, I contented myself to suck on them as he produced new fire beneath my breasts with that icy mouth of his. He exposed the other breast and lavished attention on it with his free hand. I was moaning and mewling like a wild creature begging for more, to feel this fire and ice everywhere. A single "Please" fell from my lips and I immediately felt him move down my body, pulling up my robes and shifting underclothes aside. His mouth closed upon my sex and the fire there roared to life in a blaze that consumed my entire body. I opened my mouth in a silent "Oh," and I wanted to live. I wanted us to be rescued. I would demand to be returned when I died. I would save us both! I wouldn't leave a world that had this much pleasure in it. He kept his mouth closed around the peak of my sex while he licked and moaned, the vibrations shooting through my whole body in tiny explosions of pleasure. As his tongue made another long slow pass, his fingers slipped inside me and I bucked against him. I knitted my fingers in his beautiful hair and pulled him against me, pushing myself hard into his open mouth. The fire and ecstasy building in my body were becoming unbearable. Now this was torture, pure and rapturous. Curses and moans my throat had never made poured from my lips as Astarion licked and lapped me over the edge and my body stiffened and spasmed with wave after wave of pleasure. I silenced as I rode out the last few waves, unable to make a sound. Astarion was already tounging his way to my mounting pleasure again when the air began to crackle and pop around us. For a moment my brain didn't process that the tension in the air was separate from the tension in my body. Then I tasted the cold metal, the snap of magic in the air, and we were tumbling into sunlight.

We fell apart and landed in a pile on the hard earth. I adjusted my robes, making sure my body was covered, and rose to my knees on trembling legs which had nothing to do with over a week of deathly thirst and near starvation. In front of me, I found the offered ivory hand of the elf which I took to pull myself to my feet. I stood face to face in the sunlight with my killer- my rapture. He gave the faintest hint of a sad smile and a small wink before dropping my hand as the audible cacophony of our friends hit us, screaming their delight just before the wall of their bodies followed, nearly knocking us back off our feet as we were hugged and patted on our backs while being both questioned and given updates all at once. Head above the rest, Halsin peeled Wyll and Karlach off of me before scooping me off of my feet into a crushing hug. He was squeezing the air from my lungs and pressing a dozen tiny kisses to the top of my head as I squealed and kicked my feet to be let down. He set me down, keeping me tucked into his left arm as his right arm scooped up Astarion and pulled him into a crushing hug his mouth pressing a kiss to his lost lover. I saw Halsin's eyes go wide the second he claimed the vampires mouth. Halsin turned his face to me with the grin of a bear caught in the honeypot. Oh, Astarion and I were fully caught. I felt myself blush deeply and looked away. Halsin roared with laughter crushing us both back into another bear hug.