(I freaking love this book XD I guess a laughing face probably isn't correct for this chapter, but hey, I am entertained.)
"Okay, we need to talk, Nikolai," Adoni said as he leaned back into the couch, his laptop perched on his legs with multiple tabs open. He'd been researching all day, but the storm outside was making him unable to focus. They always tended to put him to sleep.
Not right now. Too much to figure out.
Sasha and Martin had left to go to work, and since he could do his job remotely, for the time being, he'd already taken care of what he'd needed to do for the day.
"That just leaves you," he said, seemingly talking to himself, but not.
The faded outline of a body appeared beside him after several long minutes. It was taking Nikolai a while to reform into a physical appearance.
He's going to bite me again soon.
He wasn't looking forward to it. He already had enough injuries.
"We need to figure out a way to keep you from continuously needing to chew on me," he said to the materializing banshee.
Stifling a yawn, he tugged his laptop a bit closer and began going through the open tabs again. He still hadn't found a whole lot, but there was one article that was a bit promising.
I'll take anything positive at this point.
"I think I found a way to make this less painful, at least," he mumbled before leaning his head back again, then turning it to the side. See-through eyes stared back at him, their original light color nearly faded out of existence.
Blinking out of a daze, Adon realized that he'd gotten lost in those eyes and Nikolai was waiting for him to say something. Clearing his throat, he glanced down at his laptop and scanned over a few paragraphs to be sure that what he was about to say at least made some sort of sense, then looked back up at the banshee beside him.
"This might sound... weird, or wrong, or whatever, but this article said that you can stay within my body as long as you consume some part of me on a regular basis," he said, knowing that they both already knew that general bit of information.
Rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down again, he hissed in a breath before continuing.
"Well, if blood counts, which is made by my body, along with the water I ingest, then, well, saliva should technically work, too... I think."
His mind was slightly grossed out by it, since he definitely wouldn't drink someone else's spit, no matter how much he needed to, but continuously being bitten was definitely not something he could manage.
He looked up to check Nikolai's response to his words, but found himself leaning away abruptly when he noticed that the banshee had moved right up against him. Well, he technically had to always have at least one part of himself fused with his body, but his face was so close that they're noses had almost been touching.
Leaning one elbow on the armrest, he eyed the guy nervously. He seemed to be processing his words. Of course, he wasn't sure how he would really get the idea through to him. His ability to understand things wasn't all that high. He knew how to stay in his body, which was consume some part of it. That seemed to be as far as his understanding went, or probably, instincts, and that was all he really needed to process.
When Nikolai suddenly began leaning closer, Adon shrunk back until his back was on the armrest and there was nowhere else to go.
"Hey, uh, what are you doing?" he asked nervously.
When Nikolai's face got too close, Adon turned his head to the side, making the banshee pause to reassess the situation. He had one hand on the couch cushion between Adon and the back of the sofa with his right one near his left shoulder.
"I can just get a cup and we can test my theory," Adon said quickly, trying not to stutter as he glanced back up at the banshee a couple times but refused to turn his head back to face him.
A light weight settled against his torso as Nikolai straddled him nonchalantly, then leaned farther forward, putting his face within inches of his own.
"I'm sure none of this is going to really stick inside your head, but I have a girlfriend, and while I'm sure that this is kind of a special case situation, we really need to try it with a cup or somâ" cold fingers pressed against his lips, effectively silencing his nervous rambling.
Shhhh...
Adon's eyes widened to a near-painful width.
Nikolai had shushed him... in his own mind!
Panic raced through his system, sending a frigid chill first down, then up his spine. It darted around his extremities, then settled in his chest with his thrumming heart.
The cold fingers against his lips gradually moved against his skin, brushing the side of his nose before stopping just beneath his eye and settling there to cup his cheek.
"N-Niko, we really should just try it the other way first. I'm sorry if it sounds gross, but I really don't feel comâ" his words drifted off into silence when he saw Nikolai jerk his head up, his attention going to the front window. It was covered by blinds, but he was clearly sensing something there.
When he eventually tilted his head, then looked back down at him, Adon figured that whatever had been there had passed, or he wasn't worried about it. He almost wished that the man had a more materialized body so that he could see expressions, but considering his brother's nearly human-looking appearance, he still didn't have any kind of emotion that could be read. He just seemed scarier.
He was just thinking about what Nikolai would have done if he had been reborn as a wraith instead of a banshee, stuck behind a wall for years, when he felt the man's other hand gently press several fingers against his lower lip.
"H-hey, we tot odout dis," Adon tried to say, but it was hard with fingers inching into his mouth, seemingly trying to press against his hastily retreating tongue. He didn't dare bite the banshee, but at the same time, he felt like there was definitely something wrong with this situation.
Adoni...
The faint whisper of his own name in his mind had Adon hesitantly turning his head so that he could look up at Nikolai better. The man was truly fading away, right before his eyes. There was only small bits of light sporadically around his body's outline and one eye staring calmly down at him.
Would he even be able to last until I got up and got him enough saliva to try my theory? Would he just be removed from my body, or will he actually die if he fades away?
He knew that Caleb was able to fade away to invisibility when he got tired, but he had only seen Nikolai as illuminated lines. He'd never completely disappeared, to his knowledge.
I-I guess once... won't hurt. It's only to save your life. I feel like I'm talking to mysâa barely-there pressure settled over his mouth. A coolness came with it and moved between his lips, then downward into the space between his lower front teeth and bottom lip.
Adon felt movement against the side of his face as, what he assumed was Nikolai's other hand, moved up into his hair.
Don't get carried away, he warned the banshee even as Nikolai's tongue wandered deeper into his mouth, searching out what it needed. A quiet, echoing chuckle met his thought but dissipated before he could pull together much of a response.
Blinking open eyes he hadn't realized had slipped closed, Adon felt them widen uncomfortably for a second time as he took in what he could see.
He looks almost...
Seemingly having heard his thoughts, Nikolai slowly leaned away, allowing Adon to take in some much-needed air as the banshee began to reassess their situation.
He looks more alive than Caleb now, but how?
He'd been biting him off and on since he'd possessed him, but it had never given him more than a little more bioluminescent substance to his form. There was never a real person staring back at him like there was now.
Nikolai leaned back to sit in Adon's lap as he lifted his arm, mouth parting slightly, likely from the same wonder and confusion that was currently making Adon's mind and heart race. The banshee continued to examine his new form, getting more and more excited as he saw himself for the first time in what must have been years.
Adoni took that time to look him over, too. He was still wearing the same clothing that his skeleton was downstairs, and now that he was just about completely formed, Adon's heart started to hurt.
A long swath of blood coated his left arm nearly up to his wrist. There was also dried blood along the left side of his neck, both on the skin there and soaked into the dark green T-shirt he wore. There were a few splashes of it on his left cheek and ear, too, but that just told Adon that the worst damage would be on the left side of his back. It was a similar injury to Caleb's, but it seemed like Nikolai was able to defend himself with his arm... at least for a short while.
Slowly, hesitantly, he pushed himself forward so that he was sitting up, leaning his side against the back of the sofa for some help balancing. The action drew Nikolai's attention. When their eyes met, Adon felt all of the air in his lungs suddenly disappear.
This man can't be dead.
Reaching forward with his left hand, Adon hesitantly pressed it against Nikolai's chest. It was completely solid. There wasn't an ounce of give as the flesh beneath his fingertips expanded and shrunk with each breath the banshee took that matched his own.
You are living for him. If he wasn't attached to you, he'd be just like he had been for all these years.
His brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around that idea, though. He couldn't process that the man sitting in his lap was the same one that he'd first seen behind the wall.
Never... again.
Nikolai's voice in his mind drew his eyes upward, making his head lift with the action. The other man's mouth was there to meet his own midway through his action, his tongue easily parting Adon's lips.
Time seemed to stop as he was guided back down against the couch by Nikolai's gentle hands. He relented this time, knowing that he was giving the man something worth more than his own insecurity.
Shivers came and went as Nikolai deepened the kiss, his tongue refusing to miss a single inch of Adon's mouth. It took all of his focus just to keep himself breathing enough to not pass out, so there was no resistance from Adon.
After a while, however, even his breathing was becoming hard to manage. He could feel Nikolai's heartbeat in his mind, though, and since it oddly felt stronger than his own, he started focusing on it to steady his struggling one.
The sound of a key inserting into the door was lost on his ears as he felt a strong hand slide beneath his back and easily lift him, as if he suddenly weighed next to nothing.
"Adoni!"
Rest now.
His eyes jerked open at the sound of Taylor's voice, at the same time he was pulled forward, then hugged tightly, except, there was no resistance when he met Nikolai's chest. His body passed right through his flesh... and into complete darkness.