Jaaneman
Jaaneman (n.) (phr.) lit. “soul of me”; gender-neutral word of sweetheart or darling
On the outskirts of Domino roaming fields and forest hid mountain slopes and one of Akeifa’s few legal businesses. A horse ranch titled Layal Earabia, in honor of his family and the stories his mother once upon a time told him. There were very few places left on earth that Akeifa considered worthy of his memories, yet the mountains surrounding the port city of Domino where one such place. Ever since he had first stepped foot in the then small village of Domino Akeifa had known the place was important. Would be important.
Something always seemed to draw him back to Domino and Akeifa had never felt the urge to fight it. He knew something was going to happen here. He didn’t know when and he didn’t know why. But Akeifa knew without a doubt that it would have to deal with his family.
When the Theif King had heard that the Pharaoh and his court had been invited to visit Kaiba Corps. CEO? Well, Akeifa had decided that it was the perfect time to return to the city he had adopted as his own. It had been roughly eighty years since he’d last set foot in Domino. Not a long time to a Vampire like himself, but long enough for the isolated vampire community, and the humans living within the city to forget about him.
Stepping out of a 2016 LTX metallic Silver Acura Akeifa took a breath of clean mountain air. Without meaning to Akeifa started to relax as the sounds of nature swirled around him. He would always prefer the wide open spaces–those untamed by vampire or human–over the bustling cities both species had created. There was a freedom to the untouched natural world that Akeifa knew even the Pharaoh craved, after all, that was why Atem had been created.
Gently Akiefa closed the car door and looked back the way he had come. At the city he last remembered as a small town. Across a landscape of rolling hills the cityscape was networked like a grid, intersected with rings of freshly planted grassland and trees. The web sprawled out toward the sea, spilling over it in a net, expanding out further until even Akeifa with his enhanced vision lost view of it. It all surrounded a great center spire, protruding free from a rising hub of skyscrapers.
The center spire drew Akeifa’s attention away from his thoughts of a city that looked like this five thousand years ago. Lost to the sands that one was, but this one was sleek and clean and new. Brimming with upstanding vampires and humans who wanted to work together, to bring about a city, a home they could be proud of.
Shaking his head to clear those thoughts Akeifa noted that the entire city of Domino was built around that one tower, the layout of the city in circles. From where he stood on the lowlands of a mountain Akeifa was able to see that the shape of the city was actually in the format of ripples expanding out from Kaiba Tower. Each ring divided into its own division, with its own individual use.
The largest was the agricultural ring. Akeifa searched for the portion of it he could see. The people of Domino were currently still building it, with portions of the ring being built over the ocean. Kaiba, the arrogant human, was having to extend the city out into the sea because he'd simply run out of land.
Shaking his head Akeifa turned from the city of Domino, but not before he thought. It's going to be able to sustain the population of the city and more, within another three or so years. If this continues Domino is going to become its own country soon. Hell that may even be Kaiba's plan.
Grey-purple eyes softened at the sight of Layal Earabia. 600 acres of open field and forest accented by two spacious 200 stall horse barns, and a dotting of small cabins used by the ranch hands. Arabian, Akhal-Teke, Barb, and the thought to be extinct Turkoman stood grazing in the fields. Laughter caused Akeifa’s eyes to crinkle as he watched an Akhal-Teke yearling sneak up on a ranch hand and steal the apples the man had been picking.
All in all, it was good to be home.
The rustle of fabric alerted Akeifa to the approach of the head ranch hand. Nothing happened at Layal Earabia without his or his mate’s knowledge. Stepping away from the car a grin settled upon Akeifa’s face as a youthful looking vampire appeared in the shade of the closet cabin, one that existed more as an office then an actual cabin. It had been the very first one Akeifa had built when he’d bought the land off of a Shogun.
The head ranch hand wore loose cotton pants and a traditional white cotton top in the style of his home land. A head of kinky black hair nearly hid the vampire’s periwinkle eyes. Nekor in origin Hadi “Alex” Tamesis was a vampire of many things, wealth, knowledge, loyalty, and above all a love for horses.
Akeifa had met the five foot seven vampire in Spain after the fall of the Umayyad Dynasty and the beginning of the Taifa kingdoms. The young recently turned vampire had been born in the small Kingdom of Nekor, in modern day Morocco, and had been sold into slavery after his father’s death as a way to repay his families debts. Hadi was and had been a natural with horses. It was as if he knew what the horses where thinking and the horses knew his thoughts in return.
The younger vampire had spotted the problem with Akeifa’s horse right away that rainy day in Spain and had done everything in his power to help not only the animal but Akiefa himself. A debt had been made that day, and after looking around and learning as much as he could about Hadi, Akiefa had finally decided to take the fledgling under his wing. In the process killing the vampire that turned Hadi to prolong the boy’s usefulness, but that was all in a day’s work.
Hadi had returned to Nekor to continue his father’s work raising Akhal-Tekes and Barbs with a promise to answer Akeifa’s call whenever it came. It took a thousand years or so, but Akeifa had finally called Hadi when he’d bought the land that would one day become Layal Earabia. Hadi was even now the only person Akeifa trusted with his horses. Well, and Hadi’s mate that is.
“Masa' alkhayr ya sdiqi!” Hadi called out from the shade of the cabin. “Come out of the sun Akeifa! I have chilled AB negative waiting for you inside.”
And there was Hadi’s mate’s handy work. The little blond hajin* wasn’t very good with horses, but he had quite the ability of foresight. It helped, Akeifa supposed, that the blond was a child of Apollo. One of the few vampire’s in the world who could claim to be of the great seer’s bloodline. To this day it astounded Akeifa that the humans once worshiped the curly haired, blue eyed, smug future-seeing-bastard as a god. Oh, dear Ra, how Akeifa partied when that particular pureblood died.
Crossing the gravel parking lot before the cabin Akeifa’s grin grew. He could feel the weight of being two different people dripping off of his shoulders with each crunch of gravel underfoot. The contrast of hot to cold on the elder vampires highly sensitive skin was felt immediately as Akeifa stepped into the shade. Much like a sudden jump from a hot tub into glacier filled water.
Hadi waited until Akeifa was standing next to him before he started for the door. The constant chatter leaving the takhmar*’s lips relaxed Akeifa even more. By the time he actually got to seeing how the ranch had survived without his presences Akeifa was sure he would be too relaxed to move.
“Layal has grown another hundred acres since you’ve been here last and we’ve just gifted ten yearlings to the Kaiba Rehabilitation Foundation. We weren’t going to give the foundation any horses but our newest trainer talked me into it. It seems Kaiba created the foundation specifically with him in mind, and has made him the president of the foundation. Nothing is going to happen without his knowing. And well,” Hadi smiled lightly holding the large oak door open for Akeifa. “I know the yearlings will be taken care of.”
Akeifa nodded as he stepped into the cozy wooden cabin. Five chairs where settled before a large bay window that looked out over the ranch. A rack for coats was settled near the door and photos of horses, ranch hands, and nature littered the walls. On the right hand side of the room sat a sturdy desk made from Blue Japanese Oak. Papers littered the top and a small laptop hummed among the mess.
It was obvious what Hadi had been doing while he waited for Akeifa’s arrival. The takhmar motioned for Akeifa to take a seat before darting through an open doorway into the kitchen, returning moments later with a goblet of the promised AB negative.
Once again nodding his thanks Akeifa sent a pulse of shadows through the blood to burn off any poisons. Not that he expected such a thing from Hadi, but it paid to be careful. The cool coppery tang of chilled blood rolled across Akeifa’s tongue like cool silk over his senses. A sigh left his lips and grey-purple eyes blinked open lazily.
When had he closed them?
Hadi’s periwinkle orbs glittered in the afternoon sunlight as he watched his oldest friend slowly relax into the seat. It was a secret pleasure of Hadi’s to watch the feared general/Thief King totally relax. Akeifa didn’t relax around just anyone after all. Knowing that if he kept talking Akeifa would continue to loosen up and possibly become a pile of vampire shaped goo, Hadi did just that.
“There’s not much else to tell you. All our taxes are up to date. We haven’t lost any of our ranch hands and requests have been flooding in lately from potential buyers.” Hadi shifted on his seat for the first time taking his gaze off Akeifa.
“We gained one knew ranch hand. Well, gained in putting it mildly. Ryou volunteers at the ranch at least three days a week.” At the mention of the name Akeifa’s attention snapped to Hadi and the elder vampire sat up straighter. Hadi blinked slowly, now that was interesting, Akeifa almost looked hungry. “The brats rich and told me flat out that he didn’t need the pay. He simply wanted to work with the animals he loves. I haven’t seen somebody as good with horses since, well, you.”
Akeifa leaned forward, his gaze burning. “Is he here today?”
A hum left Hadi as he made his way over to the desk. Shuffling some papers around the takhmar nodded. “He should still be here. He’s been working with a few of our Akhal-Teke yearlings. However, today he was going to take Ahriman out along the ranches west border to look at the changing leaves.”
“Ahriman?” Akeifa questioned in surprise. “You named one of my horses after a Persian god of death and destruction?”
“Actually, the name means Evil Spirit.” Hadi shrugged typing something into the laptop and then turning it around on the desk so the elder vampire could see the photos that popped up. “I wasn’t the one to name him. Ryou did that. He helped with Ahriman’s birth and raised the little demon when her mother didn’t make it through the birth.”
Standing from the chair Akeifa lazily walked over to the desk to get a better look at the photos. All of them showed an Aswad* and the maybe reincarnation-Ryou. The pictures went back four years, from the point of the mare’s birth all the way up to one that had been taken just a few weeks before.
The horse was true black in color, with no brown in the ears, muzzle, or flanks; a rare horse indeed. True Black Arabians had always been rare, just as rare as the pure white Arabian. However, in these modern times Egyptian breeding had become the most prolific of the black coloration through a mare known as Venus. She was the root mare of the Hadban Enzahi strain and the stallion Dahman. The stallion was the sire of Rabdan, who appears three times in the fifth generation of Nazeer’s pedigree and is the grandsire of Fadl.
Tracing a finger over the last image, Akeifa looked up at Hadi. “I never had any Aswads in my herd.”
“No,” Hadi agreed. “Five hundred years ago I went to Egypt to see if the stories where true about the Arabs. They where, and I had to buy at least one mare. However, there was no way the Bedouin tribes would let an outsider like me simply buy one. So I offered up my own horse in a race and well, I won. As is tradition I took the best stock of the losers herds. I collected a few celebrated war mares in the process.”
A smirk stretched across Hadi’s lips. “I made a deal with the head of one of the tribes. He would look after my new Arabian herd as if they where his own, and in return I would deal with the small problem he had been having with thieves and raiding parties.”
“That still doesn’t explain why there’s now an Aswad in my herd.” Akeifa pointed out.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on my herd. At least once every ten years I return to the Bedouin tribe to see my horses and meet with the head man. They consider me family now and my herd is as much theirs as mine.” Hadi stepped away from the desk to finger a picture on the wall. “I hadn’t been able to return for a good hundred years, but when I finally made my appearance I found my herd had Aswads in it. They’d done the impossible and gained a priceless war mare.”
Hadi turned to look at Akeifa seriously. “Aswads are so rare and I knew it would add to the pedigree of your Arabians as a whole. So I took three of my broodmares and brought them here. Last year I went back and bought a young Desert Bred stallion. Ahriman is the child of that stallion and the daughter of one of my mares. Ahriman is Asil* and a war mare in her own right.”
Akeifa ran a hand through is dove-grey hair. “You are just full of surprises aren’t you my friend.”
“You are of the Bedouin, Akeifa.” Hadi pointed out softly. “You’re tribe was one of the first to breed Arabians before the Millennium War. The Bedouin still tell stories of your War Mares and your conquests in battle. It is only right that you would have such mares in your herd once again.”
Sighing Akefia knew Hadi was right. He was of Bedouin blood. Even if his tribe and bloodline had been wiped from the face of the world five thousand years ago Akefia was still one of the desert people, and the Arabian horses of today where all descendents of his original herd. Only Hadi would go so far as to return a portion of Akeifa’s past to him in such a manner.
After all, Akeifa had not been able to bring himself to visit the Bedouin since the end of the Millennium War. The war had little to no effect on his people. Desert nomads that they were, the Bedouin had relied upon horse and camel far more than any of the vampire technology.
It brought sadness to Akeifa however, to know that all the Bedouin who might once have been vampires had been killed off millennia ago. He was the last of his kind, the last one to remember the old ways and traditions of the desert. Sure Akeifa had taught Atem. Yet, it was not the same. Atem was of Khemet’s blood. He might have been of the desert, but the ever changing desert winds did not flow through his blood like they did Akeifa’s.
Ever a nomad.
Shaking his head to banish those thoughts Akeifa once again looked at the photos. An Asil-Aswad war mare and her pale haired rider. Just as it should be.
“Al Khamsa*?” Akeifa asked gruffly.
“Ahriman’s mother was Hadban, and the father of Seglawi’s brood.”
“I see,” Akeifa picked up the now warm glass of blood he had been drinking earlier and drained it. “I will be off then to walk around Layal. Perhaps I will get the chance to meet this Ahriman and her rider.”
Haid nodded and watched Akeifa walk back out into the afternoon sunlight. For a time he stood there simply staring at the door. In the end the takhmar sat down in his plush chair behind the desk and turned the still open laptop toward himself. Smiling at the image on the screen Hadi whispered.
“Happy hunting, my friend.”
Thunder rumbled across the mountain side as Akeifa finished his tour of Layal Earabia by entering the single two story horse barn. The storm had blown in unexpectedly and as much as Akeifa liked a good rain he didn’t like to get soaked unless it was unavoidable.
Inside the barn was clean, spacious, and well lit. Just as Akeifa had wanted it. However, the elder vampire was looking upon a barn that had not existed the last time he had been at Layal Earabia.
No. This barn had a long straight walkway about fifth teen feet wide made of cobblestone. Near the center of the barn the tack and gear where stored in a large open room, easily assessable from the inside of the barn, as well as the outside of the barn with a set of doors that led directly through the area.
The barn had two–no, four exits, Akefia counted as he walked down the center path. Two on the ends and two opening up to the sides of the barn. The entire barn was made of beech wood, the stalls for the horses where filled with fresh hay and the few horses that where inside poked their heads out of the wood and metal stall doors to beg sweets and apples off of Akeifa.
Glass skylights at the peak of the roof let Akeifa see the dark rolling clouds over head. As the hanging copper lights flickered on to help keep the darkness at bay, the vampire marveled at the second story of the building. Cat-walks crossed the center path connecting one side of the building to the other. Akeifa knew that his ranch hands had cabins to live in, so that couldn’t have been what the upper floor of the barn was for. So what was it used for?
All thoughts about finding the nearest staircase fled Akeifa’s mind as he heard faint singing farther down the path. The crash of thunder muffled the noise just enough that Akeifa didn’t know who it was in the barn with him, but Akeifa was going to find out.
Slowly Akeifa walked down the path, making sure to be as quite as vampirely possible. Ears pricked to alert him to the slightest signs of a threat Akeifa followed the music. Faint tones could be distinguished now through the noise of the storm. It was a male’s voice, a tenor.
Rounding a corner into a spacious wash area, grey-purple eyes blinked in surprise. Akeifa stepped back out into the center path to look back the way he had come. Turning his head from left to right the vampire realized that this was a hidden corner of the barn. There was no second story, which left the ceiling vaulted thirty feet and a large doorway was set to the back of the room leading directly into the field.
From the look of the area, this wasn’t the main wash room. Yet, it was bigger than the one Akeifa had seen closer to the front doors of the barn. Which begged to question; why wasn’t it used by everyone?
Stuffing that thought away for future pondering Akefia turned once again to the sight before him.
The maybe-reincarnation Ryou stood with his back to Akefia hosing off what could only be Ahriman. Grey-purple eyes ran over the stunning figure of the Arabian mare.
14.3 hands, pure black, with a perfect mix of the refined, almost feminine elegance of the Seglawi and the athletic muscular build of the Hadban. Ahriman was fine boned. Her face was long, profile slightly concave below the eyes, with small ears the tips curved slightly inward. With large, dark brown expressive eyes set well apart on her head.
Akeifa’s eyes continued their perusal. This time however on the two legged animal in the room. Ryou’s white hair was tied back in a plate, bound by leather and interlaced with strings of red beads. The human was dressed in loose white linen pants, black riding boots, and a red button up dress-shirt with the sleeves rolled up past the elbow. Strapped around Ryou’s waist where his ever present daggers. This time however, they were on the outside of the human’s clothes, allowing Akeifa the perfect chance to view the lethal weapons.
Khemetian in style; the daggers where nine inches in length. No hand guard dressed the blades. Only a slim handle inlaid with ebony and rubies well worn from use. The sheaths where made of ebony also, and etched with ancient prayers and blessings.
The whole time Akeifa had stood there watching Ryou interact with Ahriman the human continued to sing. Something wet and salty hit the floor, causing Akeifa to blink. Why was his vision so blurry? Wait. Was he crying?
Scrubbing at his eyes, Akeifa didn’t understand why he was crying. It didn’t make any sense. He didn’t cry! As if in answer a memory appeared unbidden.
The festivities of Wepet Renpet were running rampant across Khemet. Every city, town and village was overflowing with feasts and community events. All were happy that once again the great mother blessed Khemet with the flooding of the Nile. As was tradition it was a time for feasting and families.
Settled within his tent, Akeifa wondered where his mate had run off to. Around him the sounds of revelry and debauchery could be heard. Oh, his family sure knew how to have a good time. It wasn’t often that Akeifa’s tribe could all get together in one place. There was too much risk involved.
Yet, Wepet Renpet was one of the few times they dared come together. And unlike the rest of his tribe, Akeifa wasn’t getting any. If his brothers found out about this where would be a roit. Akeifa was sure. He had to stop this before his brothers had a chance.
Mind made up, Akeifa stood and left his tent tracking his mate by scent. It was nearing dusk and the temperatures out in the desert where starting to plummet. Just where could his mate be?
His mate’s scent brought him to the nearby oasis. Frown settled deeply upon his lips Akeifa walked through the underbrush until he came upon the pool of water. There, naked as the day he was born Bakura stood in the shallows washing a pure white Arabian.
Soft singing reached Akeifa’s ears along with the burble of running water from a stream.
“Rest now, My warrior. Rest Now, your hardship is over. Live. Wake up. Wake up. And let the cloak of life cling to your bones Cling to your bones. Wake up, wake up–*” The singing continued into the real world, a tenor replacing Bakura’s deeper tones. Swallowing, Akeifa tried to banish the memory back behind the locked door that had been its home for the last five thousand years.
That song, it was the one Bakura used to sing to calm down the horses. To think that Akeifa would hear it now out of the lips of Bakura’s possible reincarnation? It was unthinkable. Grey-purple eyes closed as Akeifa allowed himself to show a little weakness and listen to the song until it had ended. Remembering all the times he had heard his mate sing those words as if they where a lullaby.
As the last notes of the song died off a sigh reached the vampire’s ears. Ryou had moved on from washing down Ahriman and was now brushing her down with a curry comb.
“Things are bad, Ahriman.” Ryou softly told the mare. “Yugi and Marik refuse to let me out of their sights. I had to pull out blackmail just to come and see you today. We all knew eventually this would happen. There’s no reason for the two of them to start freaking out on me.”
The mare flicked her ears backward to hear Ryou better as he continued. “It’s not like I’m defenseless or anything. But even ‘Kura has been acting overly protective. He nearly had a heart attack when he found out what happened Thursday.” Leaning down to rub a back leg Ryou muttered to himself. “It’s not like I meant to wind up in Empire of the Night.”
Silently Akefia moved closer to the pair. As if knowing what the vampire was thinking, Ahriman whined and pawed lightly at the ground. A warning if Akeifa had ever seen one. Hands held up to show the mare that he meant no harm to her rider, Akeifa moved over to the right side of the room and a nice shadow he could hid in. Settling against the wall closest to Ryou’s tack and gear Akeifa made no more movements.
Ahriman’s dark brown eyes stayed on Akiefa a few minutes longer before both vampire and mare’s attention was drawn back to Ryou. “He hasn’t let me remove the ring since then. It’s not like I’m going to be kidnapped or drained if I’m on my own.” Akefia could feel the eye roll from where he stood in the shadows.
“Besides, I was trained by the best assassin of Persia! If there’s anyone we should be worried about, it’s Yugi! He’s the one being stalked by a group of vampires. Not only that but he’s the owner of the millennium puzzle. Do you know how many times he’s nearly died because somebody wants the power of the Pharaoh?” Ryou asked Ahriman. The mare snuffled the humans shoulder in response. Sighing, Ryou patted the mare’s snout. “That’s what I thought.”
Ryou made to continue but a startled gasp escaped his lips instead. Akefia didn’t even have time to react as the scent of an unknown vampire invaded the area.
One moment Ryou was standing next to the mare. The next he was rolling along the floor with a vampire. Struggling against the unexpected attack Ryou could do nothing as Ahriman freaked out. He had to make sure that the fight stayed as far away from Ahriman as possible. Ahriman might mean well, but Ryou had no urge to get trampled by his own horse.
As if reading his thoughts the attacking vampire managed to get to his feet and threw Ryou across the barn.
Crack!
White light flares across Ryou’s vision as the back of his skull connected with a post. A growl escaped Ryou as instincts from his over half started to kick in. Tracking the vampire by sound Ryou rolled out of the way just in time to miss a shovel to the neck.
That would have been a death blow if it had connected.
Still in motion Ryou rolled up onto his feet and lunged. The vampire hadn’t expected such a reaction from its prey and fell underneath Ryou’s attack. Quick as a viper Ryou’s one of daggers was in hand and the human made little work of plunging the blade straight through the vampire’s heart.
In one last attempt to kill its target the vampire kicked Ryou into another wall. Flipping to its feet the vampire grabbed hold of the dagger in its chest and pulled it out.
“Foolish food,” the vampire hissed. “That won’t work on my kind.”
Stumbling to stand Ryou gave a bark of laughter. “Sure. But you know–” Ryou’s brown eyes glittered, “that blade was made for a hajin using his own blood.”
The vampire froze, realizing that the wound was not healing. The vampire’s blue eyes had time to widen as Ryou’s words finally resisted before death was upon him. Like a marionette that’s strings had just been cut the vampire fell to the floor. The daggers magik quickly did its work turning the vampire into a pile of ash. Only the vampire’s personal effects remained.
Akeifa had seen enough. Quickly he stepped out of the shadowed corner he had been in. Grabbing the mare’s halter Akeifa forced her head down to his eye-level. In calm motions Akeifa slowly ran a hand down her neck, soothing the scared animal.
Once he was sure that the mare was not going to bolt at any sudden movements Akeifa turned his attention onto the human. Frowning at the sight that greeted him, Akeifa nearly kicked himself. That vampire had used the sounds of the storm and the muddling affect of the rain to hide in plain sight. If he hadn’t been so focused on Ryou and memories of his lost mate this might not have happened.
“You know,” Akeifa finally stated. “That fighting vampires isn’t something humans should make a habit of.”
Slightly unfocused brown eyes snapped to Akeifa.
“Excuse me?” Ryou said incredulously, standing straight.
“I said, child.” Akeifa purred. “That humans such as yourself should not make a habit of fighting vampires. It’s quite bad for your health after all.”
Akeifa expected a harsh remark. For Ryou to snarl or throw something at him, perhaps even lunge at him with one of his daggers. Instead Akeifa’s heart stopped beating as his mating bond snapped back into place. Flooded with emotions that were not his own, Akeifa had to focus on not harming the horse still within his grasp.
Breathing deeply to steady himself, Akeifa closed his eyes. He had to try and mute as much of the bond as he could. It hurt, feeling so many emotions that were not his own so suddenly.
“I don’t know who you think you are,” a gruff voice that was not Ryou’s, came out of the human’s throat. “But we’ve done just fine on our own.”
Grey-purple eyes flew open at that voice. Whirling around so quickly it took a few seconds for his hair to ketch up with the movement. Akeifa’s grey-purple eyes met the brown-red of his mate.
“Bakura?” Akeifa whispered softly.
Bakura’s eyes narrowed. “And who might you be to use my name so candidly?”
“I’m…” Akeifa didn’t know how to respond.
His mate was standing before him. Bakura was standing right there, but it couldn’t have be him. It couldn’t be Bakura. Where was Ryou? No. Akeifa noted the red beads in Bakura’s hair. The red dress shirt. The body was Ryou’s, but the soul inhabiting it was Bakura’s.
“I don’t care who you are,” Bakura snarled. “Stay away from Ryou. He’s mine. If I see you anywhere near him I’ll personally take it as a threat to my mate and deal with you accordingly.”
There was no recognition in Bakura’s eyes. No acknowledgement that the old mating bond had returned to the state it had been in before Bakura’s death. Akeifa felt anger start to bubble up, his own and Bakura. Yet, just as quickly the anger faded. What had happened all those years ago to cause Bakura to forget him? Akeifa had to find out.
Taking Akeifa’s silence as an answer, Bakura switched control back to Ryou. Bakura’s natural vampire healing had dealt with any wound that had been inflicted on the human’s body during the fight.
Akeifa watched to subtle shift from spirit to host with interest, noting the minor changes that occurred out worldly. Even as the mating bond fell almost dormant in the back of Akeifa’s mind. The flutter of emotions not his own lapped at the edge of Akeifa’s mind. Nothing Akeifa could handle.
Ryou’s brown eyes settled on Akeifa once again. “I’m sorry, tifl alrriah. Please excuse my behavior. I’m a little shaken up at the moment.”
Tears once again threatened to fall from grey-purple eyes. Bakura’s nickname for his lover was being spilled from another’s lips. Akeifa consoled himself with the knowledge that least one of the pair in front of him remembered who he was. Maybe not consciously, yet they still remembered.
Nodding his head in acceptance of the apology Akeifa started making plans. He would have to do some research. Lots of research. Covertly watching Ryou as the human started fretting over the mare, a gleam entered Akeifa’s eyes.
He’d have his mate back, and perhaps one more as well.