A.N. - Yo all! My exams have finished, and I have one month of schooling to go! My only wish is that I finish this excruciatingly long fic, and a few more other ones before I go on holidays. And then maybe I'll take a loooong break from fanfiction. Whatever comes to be. Enough about me.

Thankyou for the support everyone, I wouldn't be writing if it weren't for your reviews, because I'd see no point in continuing something I think is utter crap. LOVE YOU!

Now for the chapter you've all been waiting for. SEX. Need I say more? XD

Taste of Love

XIII : The Last Lesson

You know what the most embarrassing thing is? Waking up to find someone had been watching you sleep. Worse still is when you realise you'd been sleeping with your mouth wide open, a little dribble here and there, with the horrifying possibility dawning on you that you may have even been snoring. Worse furthermore is when the person who had been watching you happens to be the person you have a hopeless crush on.

So there he was, perched on a stool next to the bed (bed?), smirking as I hurriedly wiped any possible dribble from my face and tried in a desperate though unsuccessful attempt to remember where the hell I was, what the hell he's doing here and why the fucking hell this bed is so damn comfy.

But did I care?

Not in the least.

'You missed a spot,' he chuckled, leaning over the bed an inch to lick at the edge of my mouth. I let out a pleased moan, leaning into the affection. Vanez smiled against my mouth, and after an excruciating pause which seemed like an eternity of waiting, he finally kissed me, his tongue pushing its way past my lips, licking teasingly behind my teeth, then tickling my palate. I half responded before pulling away quickly, coughing and spluttering.

'Oh, my God!' I gasped, blinking furiously.

'What, am I that bad a kisser?' Vanez raised an eyebrow, an amused grin on his thin lips. I shook my head, blushing.

'How long have I been sleeping?'

'Three days, two nights.'

'Meaning that now is. . . . .'

'Night.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

'Right. Um.'

'Almost morning, though. Not that it matters, here.'

'Yeah. Er. . .'

'Hungry?'

'Yes, actually,' I said, surprised, realising for the first time how empty my stomach was.

'Good,' Vanez smiled broadly, ' 'cause there's a feast being cooked for you right now.'

'What? What for?'

'You've passed the trials, remember?'

The word 'trials' forced into my mind some pretty darn unpleasant memories. Crazed boars, poisonous snakes and blades, water and mazes, crocodiles and fireflies - those damned things - and flames. Feeling a sudden rush of nausea, I clapped a hand to my mouth and leaned into the strong, broad chest in front of me. The fire, the fire. Oh sweet gods, the fire. Pain, burn, searing, hot, flames, hissing, ring. . . The ring! I clutched at my chest and let out a breath of relief to feel cold metal and a smooth weight.

'. . . . .the ring. . .' I croaked out at last, staring at Vanez blankly.

'Hm?'

'The ring!'

'What about it?' he chuckled, amused grin playing at his lips.

'It saved me! In the Hall of Flames!'

'It what?' he raised an eyebrow, looking slightly worried as if he thought I was rather off the hook.

'Your mate saved me. . .' I smiled to myself, remembering how if I hadn't lunged for the ring, I would have been a nice lump of coal by now.

'Riiiiiiiiight,' Vanez chuckled, ruffling my hair, looking quite convinced I had probably hit my head rather hard during the trial.

We both smiled for a few comfortable moments, and then I leaned forward to continue what was started before.

'I'm so fucking glad you're alive. . .' Vanez whispered, his breath softly brushing my lips as I closed my eyes and. . . .

GRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH.

I blinked, then cracked up laughing. Vanez rubbed his stomach, frowning.

'Talk about mood-wreckers!' I said with much difficulty between gasps for breath as I chuckled against his neck.

'Sod off,' he mumbled, biting back a grin himself as he tried to choke me to silence.

A knock at the door startled both of us into sitting up straight and stopping acting like schoolboys on sugar. The door creaked open, revealing Gavner Purl's crooked, unshaven smile.

'Gavner!' I sat up, feeling a little dizzy in the head with happiness and woozy in the stomach from hunger.

'Kurda, Kurda, Kurda! My dear friend, I'd salute you and shake your hand and hug you and mess your hair up and give you a big wet snog, but I'd rather have my head intact with my body so I shall refrain,' he grinned, glancing at Vanez cheekily.

'And - you know your tutor's stayed at your side looking after your wounds since the end of your trials up to now - non stop? Not a piece of bread or a sip of soup since your trial. Sure he'd go take a crap now and then but otherwise he just sat there chasing away medics insisting they don't touch you. Except, of course, Seyle who looked after you too. Your burns have healed very nicely leaving your skin very much as it used to be, thanks to his herbs. Worth noting, though, he did pass out a few times whilst stitching you up, and more embarrassing was when he actually -'

'Oh shut up, Gavner, you were no better,' a husky, friendly voice sounded from behind Gavner, and I had to tip my head sideways to see the fluffy-haired ex-medic closing the door with his foot, careful not to spill blood from the four jugs he balanced on a tray, 'you screamed and ran off trembling when we first carried him in. Hope you didn't wet your pants?'

'Did NOT!' Gavner huffed, glaring at Seyle.

'Did so,' Seyle smiled sweetly and, before Gavner could open his mouth to argue, Vanez cut in.

'He did, Kurda.'

'Really?' I raised an eyebrow at Gavner who had turned his back against everyone in a huff.

'That's what you get for making fun of me, doofus,' Seyle grinned his trademark dimple-grin, blowing hair off his face as he passed me and everyone else a jug of blood.

'To Kurda!' Vanez said simply, raising his jug.

' 'To Kurda!' ' the other two echoed, Gavner turning around grudgingly to clink his jug with Seyle's.

'To our dearest friend, Kurda.'

It was well past midday when the celebrations began. It went on for seemingly days. Half the people there didn't even know what the hell they were celebrating about but drank and sang and danced anyway. The whole thing was insane - there had never been a crazier bunch of stupid drunk people, I could have sworn.

Paris, Vancha and other numerous Vampires who happened to know who I was congratulated me also. Everyone was so drunk that I hardly knew what they were saying but smiled and nodded anyway. Even Paris was mildly red in the face. Vancha was the only sober one there, keeping his drinks only to blood and milk. Mika Ver Leth didn't come, to Vanez's great relief. One Prince had to remain in their Hall all the time.

A few hours after the feast had begun, my sire arrived in the mountain, congratulating me with his stern but caring smile. I was so glad to see him, but when I tried to introduce him to Vanez, I couldn't find the redhead anywhere.

After everyone had finished congratulating me, I walked around in search of Vanez. I found him sitting alone at a table, smoking cigarettes and drinking from what looked like a bottle of liquor and a pint of ale.

'Vanez!' I ran up to him, smiling - he just looked up at me blankly, then took a long breath from his cigarette, releasing the smoke with a long heavy sigh. His eyes seemed reddish, and he had to lean on the table to stay upright.

'Vanez. . . are you sure you should be drinking so much?'

Silence.

'What's the matter . . . ?'

'. . . . . nothing.'

'Aren't you happy. . .?' I frowned, worried.

Vanez closed his eyes for a second, then faced me, a forced grin glued onto his flushed face.

'Of course I'm happy, stupid,' he smiled, snaking a drunken arm around my waist and pulling me down to sit astride on his lap, facing him.

His hands combed through my hair, as I let out a breath an dropped my head on his shoulder. His hands slid down my back and tugged at my belt, forcing my body into his chest as he pulled me into a lazy, drunken kiss. His mouth was a bitter taste of a mix of tobacco, gin and ale - I let my mouth be thoroughly soaked in that taste - so that when he finally pulled away, I could still taste him, strong and clear, in my mouth. I was pulled out of my daze when I noticed a couple of vampires jeering in our direction. Vanez gave a swift middlefinger in their general direction, and yelled drunkenly;

'Yes, we're gay, so fuck off.'

'No you're not!' I laughed, amused at the open-mouthed responses of the said jeering crowd.

'Yes, I am,' Vanez smirked, nuzzling my neck. I pulled at his hair.

'You're bisexual, not. . .'

'I'm so gay right now,' he breathed against my neck, and didn't give me a chance to argue or inquire as he swiftly nibbled my ear till I pressed against him, gasping for breath, 'I'm so fucking gay that I want to fuck you right here, on this desk, raw and hard - in front of those pricks - I swear I will, I . . .'

'You're drunk,' I breathed out at last, choking for breath, feeling an uncomfortable cramp growing in my crotch area.

'Yeah, I suppose - I am,' he drawled, taking another swig of gin anyway.

'Gavner told me you're a weak drinker, you shouldn't drink so mu. . .' I paused, spotting something sparkle at the corner of Vanez's good eye. He wiped it away quickly with the sleeve of his favourite beige army-jacket, but the way he shivered, crinkling his nose to hold down a whimper - made it all too obvious.

'Vanez. . . .?' I whispered, stroking stray strands of wine-red streaks off his face, 'Everything will be okay now - I've passed my trials, remember? I didn't die, you didn't have to die - we're here, now, safe - it's all going to be alrigh-'

'No! No, it's not,' he said suddenly, slapping away my hand and standing up abruptly, making me topple onto the floor and hit my backside painfully on the rocky floor.

I groaned, then stared at him in shock - but he ignored me, continuing with fiery eyes;

'You won't be here. You'll be leaving. Your mentor's here, he's going to pick you up, he'll take you away, to teach you so that you'll be a fucking 'General' like all mentors want their assistants to be. So that you can risk your precious life on stupid 'missions' and you're going to die, just like the rest of them - die for nothing, wasting everything that you've been through in the name of whatever the fuck 'pride' is. The trials are just the same - why, for fuck's sake, would you want to throw your life away willingly? I'm stuck here, Kurda. I can't leave this hell, I'm stuck here watching helplessly while my students go wasting their lives on damned missions! So be it if this is my punishment, but I can't - I can't let it go this time. You can't stay here, though, you won't, stay here, you won't be here, any more, . . . with me,' he ended, panting, looking more shocked at his own words than I was.

He bit his lip and glared at nothing in particular, eyes drifting in drunken lines across the hall.I stared at his sandals, mouth open to say something, anything, but nothing came out. He sighed irritatedly, kicking his chair in violently and spinning around, striding swiftly away.

'Fuck it, I'm getting another ale.'

I spent the rest of the night staring blankly into space, thanks to Vanez. His words didn't leave my mind no matter how many jugs of ale I downed (It didn't help that I was a born strong drinker and I'd never been drunk in my life) - his tear, his pained expression was all I could think of no matter how many vampires stripped on the tables (even Paris Skyle did and I did warn him about alcohol, I swear).

I had no idea what to make of it, though. Did all he said mean he thought of me - as someone he loved? Or is that taking it too far? Maybe he loves all his students - in a fatherly way. Maybe it's friendship he'll miss. But the fact that he'll miss me, made everything worth it. I don't know. Does he like me in a special way? . . .Do I care? No. I'd already decided that I don't even care what he thought of me. If I can make him smile, make him happy at all, that's all I wish for. Wishing for more would only be greed. Of course, if more came then I'm a lucky guy, but just how many people do really love eachother? Unrequited or not, I had no say in what he felt.

The feast was nearing to the end as food began to run out and people were either spewing in corners or passed out and snoring.

Seyle was totally drunk, his already rosy cheeks flushed like ripe apples as he sat on a very amused Vancha, purring and urging the Prince to have sex with him "in that dark corner, just over there", where incidentally Gavner had recently been emptying his stomach contents.

Vanez was on one of the tables, peeling his shirt off and whipping his belt about as he sang loudly about giant pink grasshoppers and take-away spring-rolls taking over the world while "rubber duckies" brought about the Armageddon. It wasn't long before he dropped on the table, sound asleep, snoring like there was no tomorrow.

As everyone else was either very drunk or very busy making love in dark (vomit-filled) corners, I guessed I was the one who had to do it. I couldn't just leave him on the table to catch a cold. I dragged a half-naked Vanez across the corridors, wincing as he gurgled and vomited all over my arm half way to the closest of our rooms, mine.

My room still had the soft bed the medics brought in for my care - I was personally very fond of beds, but as vampires tend to think only 'wusses' slept in beds, I had to learn to sleep in coffins or on the hard ground. With immense difficulty I pulled Vanez onto the bed, and went to the tap to wash vomit off my arm and fetch a cold glass of water for the drunkard.

When I came back, Vanez stirred, sitting up and swaying slightly, staring blankly into space as if trying to get his vision back. I sat on the edge of the bed, passing him the cup of water - he drank from it in silence, then took a few deep breaths - he looked much better after that. He noticed the stains on my sleeves and winced.

'Oh Gods, I'm so sorry, did I - '

' 's okay.'

'. . . thanks for - '

'Don't worry about it.'

'Er. . .'

'You feeling any better?'

'Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine now.'

Awkward silence.

'Forget what I said today, okay?' Vanez blurted out suddenly, wearing a pained expression on his now-sober face, 'I was drunk. Forget about anything I said . . . please.'

I looked away, knowing full well I'm not going to be able to forget a single word. Fingers gently cupped my chin and I was forced to look at him. He swallowed, eyes darting everywhere almost at once, then settling on mine - he cleared his throat and whispered very, very nervously;

'Look, I'm . . .' he cleared his throat a few times, looking positively screwed up and possibly nauseous - 'I think I . . .,' he bit his lip, looking so thoroughly uncomfortable that I actually started feeling sorry for him, ' . . .oh fuck it, er . . . I - okay. I'm . . . I'm,' he choked, 'I'm proud of you,' he finished, a complicated expression of suicidal appal and "Oh fuck" written all over his face as if he had just blurted out something completely dissimilar to what he really wanted to say.

'Yeah. I'm proud.' he said again as if to make believe it actually was what he was wanting to say.

'I know,' I smiled, giving him a swift hug and then standing up. Vanez caught the hint, dragged himself up also and headed for the door. I opened it for him - he walked out, but lingered in front of it, staring at me as if he needed to say something else. After an uncomfortable pause, he shifted his weight to one leg, coughed, cleared his throat and started;

'You don't suppose you'd - '

'No,' I said, shooting an amused glance at him.

'. . . . . I haven't even asked anything yet!' he blinked. I laughed.

'I think I know what you're going to ask.'

'You know?'

'Mmmhmm.'

'Say it, then.'

'You were going to ask if I wanted to have sex with you.'

'I . . . ' Vanez blinked again, taken aback - and then cracked up laughing, 'Noo, it was more along the lines of "Do you want to drop over to my place, have a drink or two, relax, chat, celebrate properly as tutor and student with perhaps, maybe, possibly a little sex on the side?" '

'Ah. So apart from the bit about 'your room' and 'drinks', I wasn't wrong.'

'. . . . . . .Well. . . . in a manner of speaking, no, but. . .' he looked hopelessly around the room as if the walls would tell him what to say, then sighed, 'hell, I give up! . . . . So?'

'So . . . . what?' I grinned, bemused.

'So, do you?'

'No.'

'Oh,' his shoulders dropped and he dug dejectedly at the ground with his heels, 'Okay. Well. I'd better be going then, I guess. Er. Goodnight?' he smiled hopefully, leaning forward a little. I gave him a peck on his cheek, and smiled back.

'Night.'

He turned around rather reluctantly, and started slowly making his way down the corridors. I laughed.

'Wrong way, Vanez.'

'Eh?' he span around, blinking.

'Your room's that way,' I pointed in the other direction - and then, in the spur of the moment, added just before he started walking that way - 'unless, of course . . . you. . . ' I gulped nervously, 'you don't suppose you'd - '

'Sure,' he said quickly, grinning so broadly his crooked teeth showed.

'I haven't said anything yet!'

'Ah. My apologies, dear student. Please continue?'

'You don't suppose you'd . . . .could you. . . I mean. . . er . . would you like to - '

I was cut loose as Vanez strode up to me and kissed me quickly. And again. And again. And a few more times.

'Stay, please. . .' I breathed, simply, when he let go of me at last.

'Sure. Again,' he smiled charmingly, stroking teasingly down my back with his right hand while he held my cheek with the other to kiss me again, leading us gently back into my room as he did so.

Before I knew it we were on the soft, comfortable bed - I was too entranced by Vanez's sweet persuasion, his gentle coaxing as he breathed unspeakably obscene things into my ear - mostly to do with the things he was going to do to me very very soon.

And when the hell had he undressed me?

I tried to sit up - but Vanez kissed me back down, his bare chest making dizzying contact with mine. I arched upward desperately to get more of that brain-blowing, wonderful warmth - oh fuck, this is so, so wrong, I'm a guy, dammit, he's a guy, and it's so wrong but it feels so damn right. . .

Lips brushed against my ear, and I whimpered into his silken crimson hair.

'Shhh, Kurda. Relax. . . it's alright,' Vanez whispered, his voice so low and rough it buzzed against my throat, his hands going places they really really really shouldn't be going but hell, it felt so damn good and . . . I felt a tear roll down my cheeks onto the bedsheets as I whimpered again involuntarily.

'Oh God, oh God . . . '

'Shh, it's alright, Kurda, breathe,' Vanez murmured against my lips before kissing my whimpers quiet.

In midst of all this, strange thoughts managed to cross my mind - like for instance "Does all this mean that I won't be able to walk for a week, like Vanez said some time ago?" and "Is this safe sex? Oh wait, I can't get pregnant anyway," and "Hell, what I'd do for a cup of tea right now," and I thought, quite sincerely, I really should shoot myself right now.

'Are you sure you,' he whispered somewhere around my navel, 'you want this, don't you?'

It wasn't a question and it was just as well, because being naked made it quite obvious if I wanted 'it' or not.

I realised at that point that now I was turned over on my stomach and thought to myself angrily - why do I never know when I'm being pushed down on a bed or undressed or turned over or when fingers are getting jammed up my - oh my God.

I caught a handful of bedsheet with trembling fingers, and muted a scream by biting hard on the edge of a pillow.

Long fingers cupped around my chin, and a tongue slid across the right side of my neck.

'Shhh,' a voice said, so very raggedly that I wasn't even sure if it was Vanez any more - 'Relax, you're so tense - just . . . breathe out, will you, and relax . . . you'll like this, I know you'll like this. . . . a lot.'

I made a pathetic, incoherent groan of a reply, feeling Vanez arch against my sweat-damp back - my last two coherent thoughts being "Is it just me, or is Vanez very much nicer during sex, compared to martial-arts lessons?" and, "Oh Gods, I wish I'd had more ale before."

And like all things Vanez had ever said - it was right. I did like it - a lot.

A.N. - Somewhere, I know Darren Shan is crying. Somewhere. I bet he never thought 17 year old girls would be writing stories about the most unlikely characters in his children's literature having hot gay drunken sex. I'm going to hell - who's coming with me?

I hope you all liked that, I know I can't write good porn, shut up, sod off, whatever, and is it just me who thinks Vanez and Kurda are so very similar to Brian and Justin in "Queer as Folk"?

I plan to update before I graduate (which is in a month), so please, no more death threats! And since this chapter was long, the next and last chapter will be short. If it makes any sense. Phear moi.

Serious Li, Yayfulness, SilentlyCrying - Thankyou very very very much for your reviews, I heart you from the bottom of my . . .. heart? Um. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and so much platonic and dirty love to you!

DaredevilX

Thankyou for your review! XD I'm so glad you like it so much, it's people like you who inspire me so I hope I'm doing you justice by writing more once in a while.

decayedangelwings

Ooh, how was your vacation? I hope you had fun, and I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chu chu!

Fear The Walls Of Jericho

No offence taken! I love your reviews, seriously. I know, last chapter was a little boring. . . I hope this one was at least a little better. Thanks as always for your advice! So much love!

brunettebabe

Since you seemed to be the one waiting for this chapter the most, I hope you really did enjoy it - and thanks for the review!

phantome101

Please, please don't kill me! At least let me graduate, THEN kill me - wait, at least let me graduate, get laid a few times, THEN kill me!

Showjumper916

Oh we should. Do you think he deserves The Perv Of The Year medallion? He'll have to fight it off Vancha, 'cause he's pretty pervy too. Hmmm.

Alasse Fefalas

Yay, someone loves me! I love you too! (huggles) You are one of the few who liked the way I wrote the Hall of Flames, I love you so very much. Thanks for the positive review!

Silver Sky Magician

Happily ever after - or not? Hmm, I haven't quite decided yet. Awake! I bought the actual CD when I was in Japan. . . It's so pretty. I love Ophelia. . . and Lost Heaven is WOWFUNKY. Hyde as a soloist is pretty darn good too, and you should listen to "Glamorous Sky" which is composed by hyde and sung by a girl - very very Laruku-ish. Anyway - thanks for the review! Muah!

Kirin the Vampiress

I hope I finish it. . . when did I start it? Some time last year? God it's dragged on, hasn't it? XDD I really hope I do. Wow, you pass a lot of subjects - I scrape passes in most classes, you know XD I hope I get into Science at university. I want to do Anatomy - dissecting people and stuff. Fun, fun, fun. What grade am I in? Last grade of highschool. Graduating in a month. So very very happy but scared that I'll fail Uni. Did you get to see Darren Shan yet? Or is that later this year?

cold-night09

Any more books came out in Canada yet? How's school been? It's so long since I've talked to you, I hope you're doing fine. Thanks for your review!

Inyx

Inny! I'm back from holidays and although I couldn't read a lot of Flanders, I did manage to write lots more of Hardy and this. Don't kill me! Yet. XD

Yes, Vanez smokes Camel. And other things that he shouldn't be smoking. XD Anything you want, hun.

Engagement ring! Mmm, it could be. Vanez, German? Germans have red hair? I think Vanez is too messy and scruffy to be German. Germans are very nicely dressed and always very straight and nice-smelling. Plus they don't say 'fuck'. Not that I know of. . . . but then, what nationality could he be?

Strippoker with demons! Wait. . . do demons even wear clothes? XDDD

Nuu, I had to take back Pagan to the library because someone wanted to read - and I had to put a hold on it and they haven't finished yet so, no, I haven't read Pagan. Kia keeps pestering me about how he's read it and how it's so good and how he's so much sexier than I am.

Talking like this is still very weird, just because I have to check on what I said. And I can't say embarrassing things like "INNY HAVE SEX WITH ME" because people could be reading. Oops.

Seyle - I'm beginning to not like Seyle as much as I used to, I think Harley is so much easier to write. (huggles Harley) Seyle is kind of personality-lacking. I hope you make him better in your writings. At least he got some in this chapter? XD

(WHIPS YOU)