Disclaimer: I make not the money. You make not the sue.

Warnings: Well, when vampires cuddle, sometimes people get nipped. That and some mild naughtiness is all you've got to worry about here, so bring the young'uns! Oh, and lest I forget, Solomon/Karl is briefly mentioned in a past context. Might wanna watch out for that, if it bothers you.

I took some artistic liberties with the subject of Chevalier and sleep, going with the theory that they're perfectly capable of it, but don't need to and won't if there's a threat to the Queen.

Haji's eyes opened at the oh-so familiar feeling of the back of a small hand lightly coming down on his face. He had no negative feelings, not even the slightest shred of irritation, at being woken up; after all, it could barely be said that he slept, when he chose to sleep at all. His mind always stayed fully alert behind closed lids, his body a well-greased weapon ready to burst through the thin curtain of relaxation hiding it if there was the slightest sign of trouble. Never, never did he truly let his guard down, and anyone thinking of ambushing Haji while he slept would find themselves never needing to think again. Yes, that was one reason he had no problem with being taken out of a resting state. But more importantly, it was Saya who had done the waking.

When he had been so blessed so as to be sharing her bed, nothing she did could upset him, even the fact that she could be quite a restless sleeper, often turning quickly in her dreams so that her arm flopped loosely to the side and struck him.

Haji laced his fingers with the ones currently covering his nose and eyes. She had the hands of a true swordsman, strong and delicate,calloused. Hands that had seen and shed so much blood, that let their own blood flow regularly; how did she still manage to look so peaceful when she slept? Rolling onto his side, he watched her for a while.

Saya lay in a position of supine peace, her head just slightly tilted on her pillow, hair sweetly tousled from nocturnal movement. Her lipswere parted a touch as she drew soft breaths (always pink and lush, and unmarked no matter how fierce their passion or how long the nights, Haji mused.) The hand not being held rested next to her head, curled around a wisp of the same cream colored sheet that veiled both their naked bodies.

Haji felt his breath catch. She was perfect. His Queen, his goddess, and his love. Though it seemed almost sin to wake her, he leaned down to lay a gentle kiss on her cheek. Then another on her jawbone, and one more alongside her mouth. From there he couldn't stop, from the spot below her ear, where he allowed his fangs tickle her skin, to her eyelids, where his lips touched her as gently as a butterfly's feet. Patiently he carried on kissing her awake.

"Mmmm..."

Her sleepy moan caused him to pull back, but not completely. When Saya's brown eyes slid open to half-mast, Haji's silver pair was thefirst thing she saw, and his hair forming a silky curtain around them both was the second. She smiled.

"Morning..."

"Good morning, Saya." His voice roused her like good, rich coffee. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmhmm," she affirmed. "But I like your wake-up, Haji..."

Relinquishing his hand with fair reluctance, she held her arms out above her head and stretched, body arching into a graceful arc thatever so lightly brushed his. Haji watched with a respectful coolness the way the sheets clung to her slender body, followed her every curve and loved the swell of her breasts. She had a body any man would kill to devour, yet her stoic Chevalier merely savored. He had spent too many decades waiting for her to come out of hibernation to do otherwise. So whenever they had a moment simply to be together, he drank it in. When they survived a battle, he counted every blessing. And when they made love, he worshipped it. Even Haji's desire for her was pure.

Saya let her back settle against the bed once more. If she hadn't taken a second to brush a wisp of hair from her eyes, she would have seen the faintest smirk of mischief turn up the corners of her Chevalier's mouth. What she did realize was that his comforting warmth was suddenly being taken away from her.

"If you're ready, we should be getting up."

He didn't get far. In fact, he had no more than reached a sitting position when her hand closed over his, and their positions reversed. Now she was the one intertwining their fingers. She gave his hand that faintest little squeeze which spoke more than either of them could say.

But speak she did.

"Stay with me for a little while, all right?"

He gazed down at her beautiful face with its silently hopeful eyes staring back at him. There was no need to consider the request. As a smile finally emerged, Haji gave her the usual reply.

"If that is your wish."

He lowered himself down where he belonged, lying with his soul-mate, sharing both the bed and a long, slow kiss.

Because Haji's wish had always been her's.

Smack.

Karl blinked groggily against the hand covering his face. The last of the dream he'd been having--for some reason, it had involved raspberry pie--swirled around his head before disappearing completely, leaving only this faint stinging to serve as a replacement. Past the limp digits he could make out that the room was still dark, but that was no indication of time, seeing as the blinds were drawn. Somewhere outside, a choir of irritatingly cheerful birds was singing, getting under his skin in a way the girl beside him never really could.

He had been hurt by her before, but this was not one of those times.

He maneuvered his head out from underneath her hand, misleadingly resembling a puppy seeking just one more stroke behind the ears, and allowed it to fall onto the edge of his pillow before he turned onto his side to face the wall. Their "couple status" was fairly new, but they'd shared enough beds for Karl to be well aquatinted with some of Diva's stranger sleeping habits, ranging from the pleasant (humming softly) to the not so pleasant (violently kicking him in the back.) Still, he had endured far worse pain in his lengthy lifetime, while Diva's love had always been the one thing he most longed for. At the end of the day, he would endure anything for her.

The very sound of her breathing beside him was deep and peaceful, quickly leading him home towards the same state she was enjoying. As the sharp edges of awareness were softening, he felt Diva roll onto her side before cuddling closer to his back, silky, nightgown-clad body pressed up against his spine. As she gave his shoulder an unconscious nuzzle, for a moment Karl Fei-Ong's world consisted of nothing but supreme happiness.

And then Diva started to bite him.

There was no pain. In fact, he didn't even flinch when her teeth closed on his bare shoulder--it was, in reality, more of a light chewing than the actual breaking-of-the-skin chomp she administered when feeding on himself or his brothers, and on "bad days". What concerned him was the possibility of her turning those fangs on his neck; again, not from fear of pain, but for the mere fact that it was his neck was one giant erogenous zone. It certainly wasn't something typical of Chiropterans, sometimes leading him to wonder if there was something wrong with his anatomy. But Solomon had long ago assured him that he was fine and simply needed to enjoy it (granted, the elder had always delighted in the soft cries of pleasure he could coax from his little brother's sensitive throat, though it was a secret he had promised to take to the grave.) For reasons he didn't understand, all the nerves in that area of his body seemed to be directly connected to another equally vital area, one that didn't need a roundhouse of a wake-up right now.

This morning, it looked he had gotten lucky. Diva was still tasting him in her sleep, but her teeth were nibbling a polite point on his shoulder nowhere near his neck and it looked like that was were she was going to stay. Secure in that knowledge, Karl let his ink hued eyes drift shut...and promptly fly open again when she did no such thing.

In zero seconds, those innocent little "love nips" seemed blatantly sensual, very delicate touches moving slowly up and down the curve of his neck with such deliberate care that for a moment he wondered if she was really asleep at all. Her fangs were so sharp in contrast to the smooth lips and velvet tongue, and there, appearing just like magic, were the millions diminutive lightning bolts sending tingles up and town his spine...he felt the blood rush to his face on a merry detour before flying south.

Running through his limited palate of options, Karl tried to separate his neck from his Queen's mouth merely by scooting away an inch or two, the same way he'd moved out from under her hand. The problem was, Diva had no intention of letting her treat crawl away, and at the first hint of serious movement she placed a restraining arm firmly around his chest. Escape was impossible. Karl would have let his let his inner self voice a curse, except that slightest of motions had caused her to bite down just a little harder, and ohhhh...it was getting hard to think at all.

But...all right. All right, no more moving.

Further escape plans were sluggish in forming, unable to penetrate the haze of thick fog clouding his mind that blocked out everything but her, and him, and bed, biting, good, and don't forget that ever winding coil of heat in his lower belly. He couldn't wake her up, move away, or bring himself to make her to stop, so perfectly content was he to lie there, letting her use his body for whatever she wanted. Then her hand pressed down on his breastbone, causing her wrist to brush his stomach and heat to prickle (was there even a full six inches of space standing between her touching him?) and all he could think of was fangs slipping through the skin, into his carotid, drinking him dry, so that nothing remained in those veins but liquid fire, pure orgasm...

"Nnngh..."

Karl didn't even register that he'd made any sound until roughly four seconds after the fact. He wasted no time in kicking himself between bouts of wondering just how loud and needy it had been, though he did manage to stuff a wad of pillow into his treacherous mouth. When the biting stopped, the realization sunk in that it had been noticeable enough to wake his Queen. The springs whimpered in protest as she sat up, giving a leisurely yawn that Karl could picture even as she stayed well behind his back. But even though she'd stopped molesting him with her teeth, the knot of lust she'd diligently woven stayed tightly coiled as ever.

"Good morning, Diva." Oh, how he hoped some of that strained tone would be lost on her. She didn't seem to realize what she'd been doing, maybe even had woken up on pure coincidence, rather than his little lapse in self control.

"Hmmm..." she mused in lieu of a reply. "You're up early."

Karl had known her long enough to realize the unlikelihood of any whimsical wordplay, and let this go.

Sighing contentedly, she sprawled out on the bed, this time opting to pillow her head on his shoulder, not because he was softer than her real pillow, just because he was warmer and smelled nice. Scent was no overly pressing sense in her world, but over time she'd come to identify his as tuberose and new paper. It was one more for the series of interesting tidbits of information she'd discovered upon selecting her odd little Chevalier for a mate. A few ebony strands tumbled down over his bare chest, and he raised a hand to stroke them.

It couldn't continue forever. Moments of peaceful calm just didn't suit them as a pair.

"I'm hungry," Diva announced, already crossing the king-sized bed, swinging her feet over the side. With breakfast in the neat future, she had no time to waste waiting for responses from bedmates who hadn't felt real hunger since the start of the Second World War. Be that as it may, on any other morning Karl would have followed her with the devoted enthusiasm that endeared him to her. Sadly, it just wasn't in his nature to get up and start prancing around half-dressed and aroused (that was more a Nathan habit).

The lack of footsteps treading on carpet behind her was a displacement in Diva's usual morning routine. She turned around at the door, cocking her head to one side. "You aren't coming with me?"

Karl lifted his head from the fetal position he was lying in to shake a negative, although not without looking genuinely disappointed at not being able to do just that. "Forgive me, beloved. I'm not feeling well this morning, but if you'll go on without me, I'll meet you as soon as I can."

The girl crossed her arms, giving a great sigh of pouting disappointment. "I thought you might say that."

Then, with one foot, she kicked the door shut behind her, locking it with an almost ominous click that echoed around the spacious room. Karl's eyes doubled in size.

"Diva?"

But she wasn't pouting anymore. Sidling back to the bed, those blue eyes were glowing with a positively predatory light capable of making grown men take cover and Chevalier look sharp, which Karl had no time to do, seeing as he suddenly found himself pinned flat on his back looking right into the eyes in question. Just like that, he was 17 years old again, trapped between awe of her beauty and fear of what she might do to him next.

"Don't you know me at all, Karl?" The name was spoken with a distinct purr. She ground her hips down against his lap, making him gasp. "I like to eat my breakfast in bed."

With that, she plunged her fangs into the side of his throat, and there was no need to think at all.

Good morning.

End