Tala hadn't slept in days, and now that he was back in the desert with Wren, he wasn't in any better of a mood. His despair had faded to anger, confusion, and all out frustration with Wren again. The man wouldn't shut up the entire time Tala had to force him through the numerous transportation spells back to his castle. Each and every word cut Tala deeper that he knew a person was capable of hurting him. Wren thought he was a monster, which shouldn't surprise him, but Tala had thought they'd developed a sort of kinship despite it all.

But it had all been a façade.

The words were clear.

Please don't make me go back there.

Wren thought life among his people was worse than death, and it had Tala seething as he dragged the man through the sands with little care for how he fell more than once into the searing granules. Tala's people had accepted Wren, cared for him as if he were on of their own, and Wren would rather die than see them again.

Kill me, Tala! Please, just kill me. Please. Please.

How many years had Wren begged to die? In the dungeons, it hadn't mattered to Tala if the man begged or not because there had been no way for the man to escape his fate. But now, after how Wren had finally calmed to him, allowed Tala to share his nights and sleep by his side during the day... It was a slap to the face. Death was preferred to his presence to this man, and that hurt the most. Was he that awful? By the time they made it back to the castle, Wren was outright sobbing.

"Burn in hell, you piece of shit!" Wren rasped as they finally made it in the doors, and every eye turned to them.

Wren had at least enough understanding to be embarrassed when he saw his people downright gaping, Shan most of all. They had been eagerly waiting for Wren's return. One of the nomads named Rin quite missed working with him in the kitchens, and several of his men had expressed their desire to spend time with him when he was feeling better. They expected Wren had been weak from fighting and had to stay behind to heal, not that he was refusing to come back. Tala hadn't had the heart to tell them otherwise.

The better part of Wren saw this, and he stopped his sputtering and begging as Tala marched him down the halls to their room. Two days without sleep, frustration with himself for not understanding Wren, and anger at how the man was so quick to throw him away did not make a good combination in Tala. He damn near threw Wren into the cot between the shelves, and it wasn't at all springy as the man hit it like a rock dropped on concrete.

Desire overtook Tala then.               

Days had made him lonely and restless, and hearing from Luna Aurion how he had no claim to Wren drove him to near madness as he focused on the pulse in his neck. A hiss escaped his lips that had not been entirely intentional as his fangs lengthened in hunger for what he had avoided for decades. Wren was already dim of pallor from the whole ordeal, and Tala cared little as he pounced on the man, holding his shoulders to the bed and pushing his chin out of the way to plunge his fangs into his neck.

Familiar light energy coursed over his tongue in a sweet heavy liquid that filled a hole in Tala he hadn't known he'd had. It was so different than drinking from the numerous blood slaves. Having the man's blood sink in and revitalize him drove his fangs deeper in a hunger for Wren that he'd kept in check for far too long. Wren struggled, but Tala had his hands in his to keep him from casting any magic as he pressed the rest of the man to the bed with his body. That felt the nicest, their bodies flush, the warmth on his cool skin, the closeness of the one he'd craved for days.

Cool drops wetted Tala's hand that held Wren's face, and a quiet sob shook Wren. It sounded almost like a whimper, and Tala eased his fangs off his neck. He'd hurt him. That had not been his intention. Desperation had driven him to possess the man by their laws as much as physically, and he'd been too rough. As Tala backed away from him, Wren raised his hand as if he were reaching for something past them both, but it fell away as the man lost consciousness.

Dammit.

Wren had already been weak. The man hadn't been able to stand the last he'd seen of him, and Tala had not held back when drinking from him. Tala touched Wren's face and leaned in to feel his shallow breath against him A compulsion overtook him and he nuzzled Wren with his nose, pressing his cheek to his own, and then Tala trembled. This wasn't right. Wren hadn't wanted to come back with him, but he couldn't let go. If he continued to force this, Wren would only become spiteful.

There was no feeling better than when Tala sank onto his side and stuffed Wren into the crook of his arm. They fit together like puzzle pieces, the man just slightly smaller than him so that he fit against the curve of his body, and Tala wrapped around him in a protective gesture that was entirely lost on Wren. All he wanted was the man safe, by his side, and happy. That was what he wished for all of his people, but Tala didn't know what to do with Wren if he'd never really wanted to be here.

Both of them were weak, and Tala was exhausted from having to deal with the mages after not sleeping or feeding for days. It made sleep that much easier, even though he knew when Wren awoke he would not be this quiet, comfortable, and warm. Tala drifted off and wondered if Wren might calm when he woke. Perhaps they could sit and talk, sort this out. There might be away for it all to go back to how it was.

Maybe.

A soft sound woke him in the night, a time he'd normally be awake if they weren't both a mess. Tala waited until the sound came again, and he clenched his teeth as he realized Wren was awake... and crying. Why? What about him was so loathsome that the mage feared and hated him with such a fervor? It tore at him, but Tala knew if he stayed here it would only get worse.

"God damn, Wren, I'll leave." Tala sat up on the bed and cast his eyes to Wren as the man looked around seemingly bewildered.

Wren took in the room and wandered his hand along the sheets when he couldn't make shapes appear in the darkness. "I don't understand," Wren rasped, his trembling arms lifting him into a similar sitting position next to him. Then he looked to him, dim grey eyes meeting his for meaning.

"Understand what?" Tala growled, tired of them never being on the same page. What about this was confusing to Wren?

"Anything," Wren sputtered, turning around to the rest of the room as if he were fearful ghosts might come out and grab him. It seemed Wren was so weak that he wasn't processing things right, and Tala wasn't great at deciphering human emotion. It was stronger and fluctuated more than most vampires.

Tala moved his hand to merely rub his face in frustration, and Wren jerked back as if the man thought he was about to slap him. A hiss escaped him in a rush of steam as his body heated with his fire magic in frustration.

"Ask, Wren. Anything you don't understand, I will do my best to explain." Tala calmed and tried his best to sound unaggressive. There wasn't enough left in him to drag Wren around more and fight with the mage's desperation to die.

"Why am I not in the dungeons?" Wren's hollowed eyes were the hardest slap to Tala's face yet. 

"Why..." Tala's words choked off as he tried to fully process. "Is that why you refused to come home?" Tala nearly growled the last and Wren flinched back.

Rage built up in Tala in a way that wasn't healthy, but he couldn't contain it as he moved in front of Wren and slammed a hand on the headboard next to him. It backed the mage to the wall, and Tala bared in his fangs as he locked him in with his other arm and leaned close enough to breathe him in.

"Do... you... think... that... little... of... me?" Tala bit out each word.

"Little?" Wren squeaked, keeping his trembling hands pressed into his chest so that he didn't accidentally touch him.

Did the mage fear Tala would taint him?

"You love your people, Tala, and I took the most important one from you. I know I deserve it as much as you want to hurt me, so I don't understand why I'm still here."

Here. Tala knew no other place that he wanted Wren anymore. This was home, his place of comfort, his happiness. And it had all just been slow torture for Wren, one he'd hid amazingly well.

"Was that all I was to you, an enemy held back by a piece of parchment?" Tala asked in desperation for the truth. That was all he wanted. It mattered little to him if the man hated him, but to pretend otherwise for all that time. That was cruel. "Go ahead then." Tala hissed as he lost control of his the darkness inside of him, flooding the room with his magic. "You have no shackles, so kill me, Wren Song."

Tala grabbed him by the collar and threw him off the bed, right into one of the bookshelves and the mage collapsed on several fallen volumes. It took little effort to pretend Wren was the enemy again and appear at his side as the mage gasped for air and tried to right himself. Pity, Tala was lacking as he kicked the man right in the side of the face. Wren Rolled and couldn't get back to his feet before Tala was standing over him again.

"Come on, Mage. Fight! Isn't that all that was stopping you? Paper!" Tala screamed it at him, losing any semblance of control with the emotions he'd bottled this last week, and as Wren grabbed the edge of the end table to right himself, Tala tore it from him.

Wren scrambled for something, anything, but still didn't turn on him. Why? If Wren hated him so much, why wasn't he fighting? Perhaps Tala had yet to be persuasive enough. Stretching out his hands, Tala lit flames above his hands and around the room in what appeared as flickering wisps of the dead. With them, Wren's heartrate jumped and he looked for any escape.

There was none.

Not from this.

Not from the truth that Tala had to beat out of him.

"How long has it been since I've burned you?" Tala cackled, cutting off Wren's line of sight to the door. The man ran, stumbled, and fell until there was nowhere left to go. "You remember don't you? The hiss of melting flesh, how it curled back off of you under my claws. I've clearly thought of nothing but that since you escaped my dungeons." Tala doubted that Wren understood the sarcasm in his state, but with his anger, he didn't care.

Word Count: 1975