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Grendel quickly shook his head. "No, it would not. I do not want to kill him. It would do me no favours to do so." He agreed and then smiled a strained smile. Ravnos had a way of taking things that had been weighing heavily on the God's mind and making them not seem all that bad. "I did say that it offers what it thinks I want. It also makes it all sound very enticing, somehow. It has been...difficult for me to ignore." Besides, what he offered up to Ravnos was only a small portion of what the whispers tried to entice him with. It was hard to explain the draw of it, to one who wasn't experiencing it themselves.

Still, he appreciated that the Disciple was doing his best to keep things in perspective. Grendel had needed that, even if he hadn't been expecting it when he first decided to come.

At the vampire's next words Grendel frowned, and then said slowly. "Well...I did wonder who may have created a Crusnik, if that is what I find." But who would go through all that trouble, and why? Just to mess with him? He shifted in his seat, mulling that over when he felt Ravnos's hand slide over the top of his own.

He didn't really know how to answer that question, so he posed another one, setting his gaze on the Disciples eyes and holding it there.

"What are we to each other, Ravnos?"

Grendel tried to think back. He knew he probably should have listened more, but the Angelique was, frankly, hard to listen to. "He said...Chaos's daughters forbade its use by anyone." Was that helpful? Probably not, so he tried to remember more. "Ah yes, I did ask what it would do to me if I held it. He said something about it rending my flesh and breaking my body down until I no longer existed...Well, that didn't quite happen." He glanced at the hand that was holding his drink, the one with the glove still on it.

"So someone creates the Crusnik, knowing that I will have to do something about it, and the same someone, manipulates it so that I get exactly what I need to kill it? Why?" It just didn't make any sense! Unless actually using the weapon would trigger something else. But if he didn't use the weapon, the Crusnik would continue on its rampage.

Bah. He hated these games.

It was that damn smile that got him, next. He had asked a question, and not only had Ravnos turned it back on him, but he did it with that smile, and that look in his eyes. Something in the God's chest twisted, but not necessarily in a bad way.

"I want us to be together." He admitted. It was the truth and a simple one at that. "I just don't know how that is going to work."

That was a good question. Grendel had gotten the impression it would be very quick like he wouldn't even be able to leave the armoury before he would be burned up on the spot. But then Cernunnos had given him the glove, and he was able to hold the Spear, their battle of wills cut off completely, save for the voices. He offered Ravnos the smooth rise and fall of his shoulders in a shrug and a slight shake of his head. He just did not know, but it had now been days. He didn't feel different, except for the tiredness, but he assumed that was from an extreme amount of over-exertion on his own part.

He felt as though the conversation about the Spear and Crusnik both had exhausted itself. There was nothing more to say unless Ravnos could think of anything else to ask him about it. While Ravnos's early dismissal of everything he had told him had been initially irritating, the God felt better about it now, realizing that the Disciple gave his own opinions freely and that he obviously looked at things from angles that Grendel did not. It was reassuring, and rational. It offered stability. The two of them were just so different, and yet...

It really was as though Ravnos were already his better, more sensible half.

He sat in quiet contemplation for a time, turning his hand over in Ravnos's so that he could hold it better. He smiled in response to the other's words, and interjected with, "Really? I hadn't noticed.". The tension he had felt from the moment he arrived continued to ease. He felt lighter, and he smiled into his glass before he finished off his second drink and set it down.

"No, I suppose it can wait..." His voice trailed off, and he closed his eyes, a shiver of whispers running along his spine that he needed to suppress. Opening his eyes again, full of intensity, they found Ravnos's and held them. "I do intend to be with you, as much and as often as I am able, as duty allows it. We have tonight, but when you sleep, I will go and begin my hunt. Afterwards...well, so long as I live, I will always come back to you."

There. The promise was made, and it was a promise he felt confident he could keep.

Grendel watched as the Disciple approached him, a small smile playing along his lips. His touch sent tingles racing along the God's skin, a warmth spreading across his chest. It was easier to ignore the whispers like this because he was so focused on Ravnos, on how he made him feel, and that feeling drowned out all else.

He let out a dark chuckle at the vampire's words, running gloved fingers back through loose hair and pushing it back from his face. "Well then, I'll just..." He let out a breath, shivering against the kisses along his skin, his eyes going half-lidded. "Need to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen." He somehow managed to finish saying, though he could feel himself quickly losing a battle against rational thought the more Ravnos continued.

He probably wouldn't have even minded if the Disciple had bit him, at that moment.

He pushed back his chair, a silent invitation should Ravnos wish to join him in it, or draw him up and take him elsewhere in the room.

It may have only been a couple of weeks since they had last been together, but Grendel basked in the moment as if he had been much, much longer. He disliked knowing that they couldn't be together in a more conventional sense, but he was also willing, and happy, to take whatever he could get when it came to the Disciple. He knew that this was real, and for better or worse, it was not going to go away. He was, for lack of a better word, absolutely smitten. These things didn't just happen, with the Gods. No, it tended to be quite permanent.

And while it may not have been an ordinary pairing, Grendel was absolutely okay with that.

When Ravnos moved to his lap, the vampire God nearly lost his mind with lust. He moved his hands to the Disciples shoulders, pulling him in down while leaning up and into the kiss, shivering again, though this time because of claws that ran against his scalp. His mouth parted in response, a moan that was stifled, his own fingers now threading through Ravnos's hair keeping him there, a silent demand for more.

It wasn't as though either of them ever needed to come up for air.

Ravnos moved away from Grendel's mouth and the God could only utter a small sound of protest before he found himself enthralled with more teasing along his neck, his eyes nearly closing as he let his head tilt back, though they flew open again and he let out a loud hiss of breath, the bite on his neck fully unexpected.

yayoi

The words jolted at something deep inside Grendel, electrifying, and the moment it was said, everything slowed. Time stood still while he processed it, wondering how it had never occurred to him before. He was a God who had always acted on more basic feelings, not caring about finding a mate but enjoying mortal indulgences. He'd been seduced, persuaded, and had children in the past and while he couldn't say those experiences meant nothing to him, they didn't hold the same weight as this.

Was this love? Is this what love felt like?

There was something inside of him that flickered with uncertainty. Gods didn't fall in love with mortals. And yet...he knew this was something much different than anything he'd felt before. He knew that something had drawn him to Ravnos, long ago, even if he'd never pursued that connection to find out why. He knew that he had fought against a desire for many years because he was berated, scolded, and told time and time again that the things he felt were a weakness, a disease. He was told what was expected of him. A divine match. Beholden to duty.

He had refused one while throwing himself into the other.

And now...

And now he stared up into the dark eyes of a deviant wanderer, one who drove him crazy (in more ways than one), who did his best to understand him, who accepted him, who wanted him despite significant differences between them. Who, apparently, loved him.

Grendel was struck with desperate need, with desire and longing that ached in his chest. And happiness, the happiest he'd ever felt in his long existence. It was an all-consuming, painful and wonderful thing.

Was this love?

He blinked, the warm glow of his eyes had brightened. He opened his mouth to speak but a hitch in his chest stopped the words from coming out. His face felt warm, too warm, and it had nothing to do with the fire crackling nearby.

I love you too. His voice whispered, the words carrying the weight of all of those emotions that he hadn't been able to place until that moment. He sat up, and his ungloved hand reached for Ravnos's face, thumb caressing his jaw as he leaned in for a kiss that was deliberately slow, something more tender than the usual desperate need that seemed to possess them both.

I love you too...