The Ghost of Atlantis (BL)

"I want to hear his voice again," Nikola felt like he was selling himself, but what other choice did he have? He was powerful, and perhaps he was powerful enough to get Penemue out of the Abyss, but for that, he needed the angel's cooperation.

"As you wish," Wei Caihong said, expression unreadable. Then he heard it. Mutterings and moans. He recognized some of them. Azazel's angry hisses most of all. However, of Penemue's songbird-like voice were no traces to be found.

"He is quiet. He felt us trying to connect with him," Wei Caihong said, his brows furrowed.

Nikola opened his mouth and then closed it, biting his lower lip to keep from screaming.

"Tell him he is a stubborn mule! Tell him I forgive him, that I am to blame! That I love him, darn it all!"

"He says he knows. But he still refuses to speak with you. His guilt is…"

Nikola was laughing like a maniac and tugging at his hair at those words. He wanted to tear at his clothes. He wanted to scream.

Instead, he spoke:

"So, that is it? He passes me on to someone else and all ends are nice and tied? Tell him I'm going to find a way to get him out of the whole he flew into! With or without his consent."

"He begs you not to try," Wei Caihong's voice sounded urgent at that. "Not even his immortality will protect you from God if you do so. His punishment is not until the end of all generations, like it is for the other Watchers. Only for a thousand years."

Nikola raised an eyebrow at that and pointed a finger at the noble. Speaking at him as if he were speaking to Penemue.

"And you expect me to wait that long, my love? That is my entire lifetime!"

"He says one hundred years already went pass by you as you slept," Wei Caihong muttered, knowing full well that he might feel the brunt of Nikola's anger soon.

Nikola screamed into the dark night. Wei Caihong looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind.

Penemue was the crazy one, Nikola told himself. A thousand years? And then what? They'll play hide and seek some more?

"Tell him to either speak to me directly right now or to forget about me!" Wei Caihong winced, expecting to be yelled at again. The only voice in Nikola's head remained his own. A tear fell down his cheek and he was soon hiccuping.

"He turned the connection off. Let's go inside. I owe you a dinner after this, at least," Wei Caihong offered his hand then, his eyes soft.

So, even a love as legendary as the love between the Emerald Emperor and his angel had come to an end? Then, what did Wei Caihong had to look forward to?

"You don't owe me anything," Nikola said between sobs.

 He let Wei Caihong place a warm arm around his waist. Nikola wasn't going to let the future he saw unfold. Despite what he said, he was going to wait for Penemue. But he would rather not be alone right now.

 He feared what he would do.

 Rice and fish were set into two bowls on the table. Silk cushions placed next to it. Nikola sat down. He missed the plush chairs of Atlantis.

The cushions did nothing to soften the floor, and they were more decoration than anything else. He picked at his food and noticed that Wei Caihong was staring at him.

"What?" He asked, this time softly and with no malice coloring his tone.

"How do you boil the blood of someone?" Wei Caihong asked.

 Nikola smirked at that. Figures that the man would try to get something out of him tonight.

"You need extensive knowledge in biology. You need to know all about veins and how they are connected to the heart. But you don't want to know about that."

"I do. I was promised…"

"No, you don't," Nikola snapped and then regretted it. He had taken out his anger on Wei Caihong enough for one night. "You'd need to practice on someone and this magic? Well, it screams Atlantis. You won't be able to use it anyway, so why bother learning?"

Wei Caihong seemed to think it over, becoming smug all of a sudden.

"You took over the world with this magic. I can do the same!"

Nikola laughed at the nativity of the man and was quick to correct him.

"I took over the world by commanding the Nephilim. I used the magic to do so. But do you know what? I killed off all the giants, and the Watchers are now somewhere where they can't produce anymore. And in the end, my magic proved useless in keeping everyone in line."

There was something ugly taking over Wei Caihong's face, and Nikola grinned. The future he saw in his mind could have been but a false image placed there by the noble.

Now that he knew that the man could do magic, he wouldn't put it past him. While Wei Caihong was unguarded, Nikola took a look into his future again and saw a much different picture.

He was once more in the noble's embrace, but the man looked to be biting his neck. Blood was dripping from Nikola's neck. Wei Caihong's face twisted further, apparently feeling the intrusion.

"I want your immortality," the man said, and Nikola finally noticed how young he was.

Nikola himself was stuck at eighteen, the age he looked when the angels came into his life and Penemue took his as a lover. Wei Caihong looked to be no older than twenty. And it seemed he would rather not get much older.

"And how do I give you it?" Nikola asked. A part of him wanted to pass the torch. If he turned to dust now, would he go into the Abyss and be with Penemue?

"Your blood is the key. But you are too strong for me to overtake," and it gnarled at Wei Caihong to admit it. Nikola sat straighter on the pillow, and he regarded the noble with a cool look.

"You'll bring much destruction if your ascent. You seem to favor wearing red and black. Will you be the Crimson or Ebony Emperor, I wonder?"

Wei Caihong stood up, sake bottle in his hand, and he slowly made his way to Nikola.

"I'll be whatever you tell me to be," he murmured as he poured the drink into the small bowl laid next to Nikola's meal. "Just let me drink your blood. I don't want to ever age. Or die."

Nikola took the bowl and brought it to his lips. He had seen Wei Caihong pour himself from the same bottle. There was no poison inside. And even if there was, Nikola would survive it.

"Let's say I give you my blood," Nikola began, only to waver.

 To be perfectly honest, he didn't even know what he was offering. The Watchers had had other favorites apart from him during the centuries. And they had been displeased with him more than once.

If it had been so easy to pass over immortality, they would have forced it out of him. No matter what Penemue said or did in his defense.

 "How do you know you'll survive whatever change overtakes you?" Nikola felt that he should try to warn the noble. To stop him from sealing his own fate.

No one had tried to do that for Nikola. He knew where that had landed him.

What he had lost because of his youthful stupidity.

"Azazel told me I will. That I will become faster and stronger. But he also told me that I will become weak to fire. Do you have such a weakness?"

Nikola shook his head. Hadn't Wei Caihong seen him dance with the candle plenty of times already? What a silly question he was asking.

"What else did he tell you?" Nikola pressed; his bowl was filled again. He drank it dry and when Wei Caihong tried to fill it again, he moved it out of reach.

"He said I'll thrust for blood afterward. But once you teach me all you know about magic, it won't be hard for me to get my fill of it."

Nikola giggled drunkenly. Perhaps he should have taken the bowl away sooner…

"What you speak of has a name. It happened in Libya. Her name was Lamia, and she had an affair with a Greek God. Well, it didn't turn out well for her, as she was forced to eat her children and become a blood drinker. She was plagued with insomnia and her lower body was transformed into that of a snake. This is the curse you are begging me for."

Wei Caihong paled at that, but he was determined to press on.

"Azazel said that my lower body won't change."

He wanted it all. He wanted to rule, he wanted to have the gem before him.

Giving up was not an option.

"Oh? He's listening in, is he? Well, he did teach me how to fight, and I do owe him. Besides, I don't like you. You come off as if you own me just because you have Penemue's permission to toy with me. Do you want to be cursed? Well then, I'll curse you! How do I do it anyway?"

Nikola's goodwill had never been an inexhaustible resource. If Wei Caihong wanted to throw his life away, then the former emperor would not stand in the way of his idiocy.

Who knew? Maybe then the noble would understand just what sort of beings the Watchers were?