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A game of cat and mouse
They had played that game of cat and mouse long enough to recognize the little signs the other one was near again. James could tell precisely which tips on vampires would lead to Regulus, and which ones would end up with him face to face with a disappointingly imitator of Blacks hunting strategy, perfectioned over centuries.
Likewise, Regulus would notice James tailing him in a matter of days. He noticed how all other hunters vanished, knowing that no one messed with James´ prey when the hunter was on a mission. And he noticed the back part of his scar tingling, as if it felt James watching eyes.
***
Scarring a vampire was almost impossible, especially one as old as Regulus, but he had been young once and so had James been. While Regulus, born as the second son of the noble and most ancient house of Black, had been born a human, everyone in the know about the supernatural knew the Blacks vampirical genes awoke on the day of their 21st birthday. And James Potter, heir to one of the most ancient hunter families should have known better than to fall for the pretty pale boy, whose name he did not know.
But how should he have stopped it, in that fateful summer sometime in the late 17th century. James was visiting his distant relative Abraham Potter to learn more about diplomacy in an upcoming peace negotiation with supposedly harmless vampires, when he saw the boy out in the city, and again a few days later. When they just continued to run into each other James decided to talk to him when he saw the black-haired boy again on a late-night patrol around town.
“You can call me Reg”, the boy introduced himself after James had approached him, holding out his hand politely. Apparently, he was also visiting family in town, an uncle, James thought he remembered, here for some business conference.
Like this a tradition was born, both boys stealing out of their houses in the late night to meet at the park were they first met to talk about God and the world. Sometimes personal topics came up, dreams about the future, but James quickly learned Reg was quite tight lipped about that, so they stayed on more general themes. Not that the conversations lacked depth, the opposite really, the younger man could get extremely passionate about philosophy and literature, politics and the arts. Never about him or his family though.
So, James too stayed quiet on that account. Something he would later often think about, questioning whether it would have changed anything if one of them knew…. Who was he kidding, they would have attacked each other right away. Their last encounter that summer and the scars they both carried since then were proof enough of that.
When the peace negotiations started, James was introduced to Alphard Black. James, of course, knew about the ancient and most noble house of Black, and in that moment, when he looked at Alphard´s dark curls and pale skin, something clicked in his mind. Reg… Regulus Arcturus Black, second in line of succession in one of the oldest vampire families in Europe. How had he not seen it. The boy that never talked about his family, who was in town visiting his uncle who was taking part in some business deal, James mentally scoffed. Outwardly he schooled his expression and if anyone noticed something was amiss, they probably blamed it on his nerves.
Later that night he struggled to decide the best course of action. Should he notify Abraham of his interactions with the young Black, should he stay away from him? What he should not have done was tacking one of Abrahams stake sets and go out into the night to meet his…friend. He could not call him that anymore, and wasn´t that heartbreaking, when James thought about how he came to care for the other boy.
Once he arrived at their usual spot, he could already see a mop of black hair waiting on the bench. Taking a deep breath, he moved closer, grip tight around the stake in his pocket. He should not need it, should not even carry it, considering the reason the Blacks were in town for peace negotiations, but he couldn´t help the simmering fear caused by stories about bloodthirsty vampires and the way they used tricks and allure to lure their victims into the trap. Had Regulus used allure on him? Only one way to find out, he thought as he stepped in front of the younger boy.
“James”, Reg´s face lightened up, “I thought you might have fallen asleep.”
“No, sorry, just took some time to wait for everyone to go to sleep tonight”, he lied, trying to find hints of deception on Regulus´ face. He could not find any. “I joined some family business today”, he continued, “negotiations to be precise. I think I met your uncle Alphard.”
At that Regulus looked up in shock: “Alphard? But he met with the Potters today to…” You could see the moment the penny dropped, and Regulus jumped up on the bench, bringing a bit more distance between the two. “You´re a Potter, you´re James Potter?”, he exclaimed
“And you´re Regulus Arcturus Black”, he spit back, followed by silence.
Both looking at the other, thought racing on how they could have overlooked what was so obvious now that they knew.
He can´t remember how it escalated after that, accusation thrown around, one thing led to another until Regulus pushed at James, screaming: “I am not like them. I am not even a vampire yet!”
James, not having expected the outburst, stumbled back, biting his lip in the process, causing blood to trickle down his chin. Regulus was on him in seconds, a mixture of outrage and concern on his face. But James´ training got the better of him, instincts drilled into him since birth, and he only felt the pain and saw a threat coming for him. Without thinking, he pulled the stake from his pocked and rammed it against the approaching body. It went right through, just below the collarbone.
Regulus screamed in pain, the sound ripping through the night. Immediately, James pulled back, the stake back out, eliciting another pained grunt. Shocked he looked down at his hands, the stake still gripped tight and covered in blood. Regulus blood.
“I…I didn´t …Reg”, he stammered as he started to look the other boy in the face, seeing his pain, “I didn´t want to do that. You have to believe me”, he started pleading.
“So, you had that stake with you for fun?”, Regulus spat. “Clearly you are not that stupid. You figured out what my family is and bring a deadly weapon to a meeting with me, were you accuse me of crimes I did not commit. What did you think was going to happen James?”
James had no answer for that.
Regulus had refused his help, opting to stumble home, hand clutching his bleeding wound. James could only hope he made it. And he had his own troubles to face, namely admitting to Abraham that he very likely fucked up the peace negotiation and had stolen the stakes he was told were absolutely off limits for him. Sounds fun.
Luckily the negotiations were not nulled. After he profoundly apologized to Alphard and begged him to forward his apology to Regulus as well the older man just laughed in that slightly patronizing way older people remember their own youth and told James not to worry about it.
What he had to worry about though was the consequences about using the stakes he had hurt Regulus with. They were a family heirloom, embedded with ancient magic, creating a bond between hunter and prey, only to be broken when the magic is satisfied.
How to satisfy it you may wonder, just like James. Well, the stake would become the only weapon able to kill the prey, and the hunter would be damned to roam the earth until he fulfilled the stakes destiny. The strongest hunters had been broken by the suffering of an immortal life and the oldest vampires had gone mad from the never-ending chase…
***
That was about three hundred years ago, James had seen family members and friends die from sickness and old age more times than he could count, always following Regulus tracks. They had been around the globe more than once, seen wars and the new weapons they brought, seen beautiful nature one can only dream of. Their relationship had changed a lot over the years and the encounters they had. While the first decades had been filled with hurt, on Regulus part, and desperation, on James´, their hunt turned into a game.
And it´s not as if they only fought, or not in the classical way at least, when they met. The mutual interest they had in each other when they first met as teenage boys turned into an underlying sexual tension as they got older. Though they both stopped aging once Regulus became a vampire. Forever stuck in their 21- and 23-year-old bodies they used their looks and family money to infiltrate the most debauched parties and places around the globe to fight for dominance in other ways as with their fists.
***
James was getting close, he knew it, and he knew Regulus knew it too. They would meet soon. On the 29th of July 1981 it was finally time to meet once again. Due the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana the whole of England was in a celebratory mood. Street festivals and pubs overflowing with drunk folk were the perfect hunting ground for vampires. Though Regulus had admitted several decades ago that he did not particularly like the taste of their blood: “Blood´s like liquor you know, there´s cheap one, to quench the urge and then there´s the expensive one, delicious, made to be savoured. I bet you´d be the latter.”
James remembers that night vividly, the shudder that ran through him at Regulus´s words, the seductive glances they shared all night. It was the first time they kissed, followed by countless encounters that ended in them fucking each other against walls, over tables or in coat closets. He knew tonight would be no different when he spotted a flash of dark curls in the corner of his eyes. Making his way trough the crowd he followed the vampire who was vision to behold in a lacey, Victorian style dress shirt and tight black pants.
The younger one was obviously following his designated victim out into the back alley, poor man probably only wanted a smoke, unaware of the danger he was in. When James burst through the back door, Regulus was just letting up on the guy´s throat, bite still visible and mouth blood stained. The vampire caught the man by the chin and looked into his eyes: “Go home! You felt sick after the party, so you left. Tomorrow you will stay in bed to recover and forget anything ever happened here.”
The guy stumbled to his feet and left.
“Tsk tsk tsk Reggie”, you´re getting sloppy, “imagine if anyone else found you like this”, James teased.
“I knew you were following me, thought I´d make it easy for you”, Regulus replied. He had long given up on reprimanding James for calling him Reggie, as it seemed to only spur the hunter on.
James had moved closer during Regulus answer, and he let his thumb glide over Regulus´ still bloody lips, smearing the red liquid until it looked like lipstick. Maybe the many years had corrupted, many hunters would agree, but the shimmer of the streetlight on Regulus´ shining lips was one of the sexiest things he had ever seen. Slowly he leaned down, getting closer, until their lips met, and Regulus let some of that stiff exterior melt, just enough for James to slip a collar around his throat, shutting it with a “click”.
That got Regulus attention: “What have you done?”, he asked angrily at himself for letting his guard down.
“It´s a new invention”, Jame said proudly, “it will render your speed, strength and healing useless, basically making you human, for the duration of you wearing it”
Regulus shivered at the words; it has been too long to remember what´s it like not to have enhanced abilities. And to have his advantage taken away at James mercy…oh god help him.
He felt James lips on his own again until the hunter moved up to lick the shell of his ear: “That’s alright for tonight baby? You´re going to let me have my fun?”
Regulus nodded, and what could he do anyways.
James took the confirmation in stride and started to put pressure on Regulus shoulders, pushing the black-haired man down to his knees and gripping his hair, causing Regulus to curse him out for getting his pants dirty “in this filthy gutter, do you even know how much these are worth you ruffian”.
James only pushed harder at that, driving Regulus knees painfully into the cobblestone beneath. “Listen here, you don´t have your speed or your strength, nor your healing so if I were you I would be a bit nicer to me, you understand that?”, James said, aiming for a serious tone.
He pulled his gun out from its holster on his thigh, toying with it until he was sure of Regulus attention on it, then he pressed it against Regulus lips: “Do you want to know about my other new invention? Well not just mine, I had help, but you know…I have it so... It´s a gun, obviously. But what´s new is the monition. Do you wannna take a guess baby?”
Regulus, wasn´t stupid enough to fall for that, much to James´ disappointment, so he pulled hard at the dark curls between his fingers. Finally, that got Regulus to let out a small shriek and James used that to slide the barrel between the vampire´s lips.
“See, the monition of this little thing here is made from a very specific would, you know it personally, one could say.” At that Regulus eyes widened and for the first time something like fear crossed his expression.
“You´re right to be afraid love”, James cooed, “but don’t be afraid, as long as you do as I say your precious life is safe.”
Rationally Regulus knew James would not kill him, since it would be his own death to do so, but one could never be a hundred percent sure that the hunter had not lost his mind, like so many before him, and decided to take them both out.
James holstered the gun again, this time on the inside of his jacket, out of Regulus´ reach, only to move one hand down to his pants and unbuckle them, letting his half hard cock out of its confinement.
“Come on baby, you know what I want, don´t be difficult now”, James urged Regulus mouth closer to his groin, “and keep those fangs at bay, I don’t want a single scratch on my dick, get it!”
Regulus only glared up at James once, before the tugging on his hair become to much and he let his tongue slide over the head of James cock, coaxing a first moan from the man above him. Slowly he started to get bolder, licking longer stripes up and down the cock, teasing the slit until James got impatient and started to thrust forward: “Baby, don´t play!”. And with that he pushed Regulus down his cock all the way, until the vampires nose hit his pubic hair: “Aahhhhh oohhhh Reggie you feel so good, always so good.”
Regulus knew he gave good head, perks of not having to breath. Though during one of their rougher games James admitted he was a bit sad that he never got to enjoy James´ choking on his cock. A few months later Regulus had surprised James for his birthday, putting on his best impression of a chocking and sniffling mess as he went down on James.
Today though he had no intentions of offering his acting talents to James, not after the thing he pulled with the collar. But he should have known better than to hope he would get away with it as James pushed into his throat rougher now: “Reggiiiiieeee”, he moaned, “You know what I want, let me see you gag baby.”
When Regulus did not react immediately James let one hand trail up his west, to where he holstered the gun. He did not grab it, seemingly just wanting to remind Regulus of his place in this scenario.
So, Regulus obliged, beginning to make little chocking sounds, willing his eyes to tear up: “There we go”, James moaned, “so pretty for me, so pretty when you choke.”
He continued to thrust deep into Regulus throat, holding himself there to feel Regulus contract his muscles, before starting of a fast rhythm again. Getting sloppier in his movements as he felt his orgasm approach. “Reggie…aaahhhhh…I´m about to come. Want you to swallow, do you understand?”
Regulus, who could neither speak, nor nod tried his best to mumble a yes around James´ cock but only managed grunting sounds, when he already felt the first spurts down his throat, as James came with a drawn-out groan.
Once the aftershocks were over James pulled Regulus up, allowing him a moment to find his balance before he clicked off the collar and went to disappear into the night.
Before he could leave though Regulus had him pinned to the wall. “So, you thought I´d let you go like this, heh? That you can come here and do as you please?”, Regulus leaned in to James lips, “I don´t think so”, Regulus said as he let his fangs drop down and bit hard into James´ lower lip. The sweet flavour of the hunter´s blood exploding over his taste buds and Regulus could come from the sensation of it alone, would he not have to die of embarrassment afterwards.
With a last suck to get a little bit more of the delicious red into his mouth, Regulus turned to leave: “You didn´t say anything about scrapes on other body parts”, he winked and vanished into the night. Leaving behind a befuddled and half hard again James.