FicWad

Eclipse usually made it a point not to bathe with his master. Not that such things were unheard of between liege and liegeman in the demon world. Eclipse had had masters who made it a point to bathe with as many of their servants as possible. But Eclipse's relationship with Raenef IV was more restrained than that. Based upon mutual respect for features other than the physical, for once. That was why, until the aftermath of the Battle of Elysia, when they both repaired to the Raenef lands' healing spring to nurse their wounds, the subject of Eclipse's more...esoteric skills never came up.

"What is this?"

"Hmmm?" Eclipse started to turn, continuing to pull his robe up over his shoulders, and stopped when cool fingers ran over the hot skin of his shoulder. After the warmth of the spring and the tingle of healing magic, something so simple as a cool touch over sensitive skin made him shiver before he could master himself. It took a moment before he realized what his lord meant. "Ah. That."

Raenef's voice was amused, his mouth quirked wryly. "That. Had you forgotten it, then?"

"No. I merely don't think of it much."

"Ritual magic, isn't it?" Raenef's fingers traced over Eclipse's shoulder, down the arch of his shoulderblade, following the rune as it swept towards Eclipse's spine. Eclipse had to grit his teeth hard to prevent himself from making some kind of noise. It was /distracting/, and more than in just physical sensation. The tantric rune was under Eclipse's control, was a tool without any sentience or will of its own, but it was also a vessel, and at the touch of a powerful being like Raenef, power pooled in it like water in a streambed, channeled into his--

Eclipse waited until he could speak with a steady voice. The rune was connected directly to his root chakra, and the influx of power was...disorienting. "Yes, my lord."

"I would have thought it beneath one of your stature." From the corner of his eye, Eclipse could see Raenef tilt his head as his eyes traced the design.

"It is, now. I got it when I was quite young, my lord, and still learning. One of my first employers was a demon of minor power who sought to learn the ritual arts and paid well for a partner who would facilitate that interest."

Raenef's fingers paused in their reach, just above the small of Eclipse's back. "It is still functional."

"Yes...." Eclipse replied, though it wasn't a question. Especially accompanied as it was with an idle pulse of power from Raenef's fingertips. Not a lot. But enough. Eclipse's spine jerked straight, his breath hitching not with pleasure or pain but with unfocussed and uncontrollable /want/, his chakra flaring. He was suddenly and completely hard beneath his robe. It was not unpleasant, but the disruption of his thoughts was disconcerting. Eclipse's hands clenched, trying to school his body to stillness, his mind to peace. He felt, suddenly, vulnerable in the presence of his master, and long experience had never made vulnerability in the presence of such power a good thing.

Perhaps Raenef realized this, as his power receded, the warm fire pouring down Eclipse's spine banking somewhat. "...I see." The almost-touching warmth of his fingers, though, did not go away, and after a moment Eclipse turned his head to look at the demon lord over his shoulder. Since asking, "Do you /mind/?" would have been impertinent, he settled for merely waiting expectantly.

Raenef was half-wrapped in his robe, his dark hair clinging to his skin and curling slightly from the damp. It was a context in which Eclipse was not used to seeing him: half-naked and almost relaxed.

He was beautiful.

This was not a new revelation for Eclipse. He had watched Raenef IV grow from a young demon who came barely to Eclipse's hip to a demon lord tall and proud and wrapped firmly in the aura of his own power. Eclipse had noted the cool, blooming fairness of his master's face with approval, for beauty could be a useful weapon in a demon lord's arsenal.

Now, however, with that beauty turned edge-sharp against him, tracing the rune inked into his back, channeling power straight to Eclipse's cock, Eclipse could not remain quite so detached. Neither, however, was he a slave to his desires. He would wait until Raenef was finished with his inspection and then leave and--

Raenef's eyes were still on the design, his lips muttering an incantation that Eclipse vaguely recognized as one to allow the caster to visualize power flows and ley lines. One finger tugged down in slight, imperious demand at the collar of Eclipse's' robe as it hovered against his lower back. "Let me see the whole thing."

Eclipse shrugged out of the robe obediently, letting it pool around him in a cool fall of silk. His skin ached along with other, more demanding parts of him. Even turned away from his master as he was, Eclipse doubted that Raenef could have failed to notice. And judging from what Eclipse could see from the corner of his eye, Raenef was not himself oblivious to the underlying tension in the air. Nor was he uninterested.

Raenef nonetheless studied the tattoo with all due seriousness. It was a fine example of tantric rune magic, even if it was now, as Raenef had noted, a bit extraneous for one of his level. Eclipse could now more readily raise power from the elements around him than through sexual magicks. It was easier and didn't require another person.

Though that was rather hard to remember when Raenef, like any good scientist-mage, began experimenting with power flows along the rune's structure again. Eclipse endeavored to keep his breathing steady. "Is this uncomfortable for you?" Raenef asked, distractedly.

It was. "It is not painful, my lord, though it is a bit...distracting."

"...indeed?" Raenef's eyes lifted to Eclipse's face, a slow smile tugging at his lips. Eclipse could practically see realization come to him, could feel almost without looking the scope of his master's attention widen to not just the rune but the rest of Eclipse's body. The air almost shivered with his interest.

Raenef held Eclipse's eyes, one finger travelling slowly, deliberately down a major sweep of ink, trailing fire that made Eclipse's spine arch helplessly.

"I think," Raenef said, his gaze heating, "that you will show me the use of this rune. I do, after all, wish to know all of my subordinates' skills."

Eclipse's eyes slipped shut. "Is that an order, my lord?"

Raenef shrugged his own robe off with one graceful roll of his shoulders. "It is."

"As you wish." Eclipse whispered the rune's activation key, and it flared deep crimson along his skin, need transforming from a yearning whisper in his veins to a throaty howl. He turned, eyes fixed hungrily on Raenef, and felt vaguely smug when Raenef's eyes widened in realization the split second before Eclipse pounced, pressing Raenef bodily to the ground, his back against the silk of his own discarded robe. Eclipse's hands skated up Raenef's arms, finding his wrists and pinning them in a position to his liking, his knee sliding between Raenef's legs to part them.

Raenef, to his credit, merely blinked once and observed, "...evidently I need to improve my recognition of projective vs. receptive tantric magicks."

Eclipse smiled wolfishly and reached for one of the salves by the pool.

The rune itself was one of the more powerful forms of masculine tantric runes and did not lend itself to gentle lovemaking. Eclipse did not worry about this. If his master objected, his master would order him to stop. As it was, his master merely wriggled into a more comfortable position, sucked in a breath as Eclipse stretched him, and then moaned lowly as Eclipse slid into him in one deep push. His master then proceeded to wrap his legs around Eclipse's hips and lift himself into each thrust, hands clutching at the silk beneath him as Eclipse grasped his hips and fucked him hard. Magic coalesced around them in a rich red mist, swirling and pulsing with panted breaths and feverishly working bodies, to tighten and flare as Eclipse thrust hard and they both cried out, spilling themselves heedlessly into the half-spell.

As they both caught their breaths, the mist cleared, and something fell from the air with a clink! onto the ground. Raenef reached over and picked it up idly, turning the smooth, slightly glowing red jewel this way and that. "A pretty bauble. Does all tantric magick coalesce the power so?"

"No," Eclipse said, tossing back his sweaty hair and pulling away gently. He only made it as far as the ground beside his master, though, propping himself up on one elbow. "The form is controlled by the spell. Lady Lavitta merely enjoyed making jewelry out of them."

Raenef chuckled. "Perhaps I should, also? A pendant, or a ring? Or perhaps another, and I could have earrings made."

Eclipse decided that there was no proper response to that except, "As my master wishes."

"Indeed," Raenef said, his smile inscrutable as he rose to his feet. His steps as he moved back to the spring were careful but smug, leaving Eclipse to wonder ruefully exactly who had gotten the better of the encounter. He decided that it had probably been a draw.

~End