Azrael hadn’t warmed to Vivian herself all that much, but he could certainly admire her collection of books. For the couple of days that they had spent under her roof, Azrael had found himself drifting into the quiet library for some peace and quiet. There, he could escape into a world far more peaceful than the one that existed outside of it.
It wasn’t that he was necessarily angry about the attention that Vivian and Tobias showered upon one another. He was delighted to see how well the two of them got along. It was simply that Vivian brought out a side to Tobias that Azrael couldn’t participate in much. Theirs was a world of rapid speech, sudden shifts in conversation, and mulling over matters of the past that didn’t include Azrael. He would have worried that the sharper edges of Vivian’s personality might have made Tobias slip down a familiar road, but rather than being problematic, it seemed more cathartic for him.
Yet, Azrael found that he was excluded, albeit unintentionally, and left to his own devices. He found that he rather enjoyed his time alone, and delighted in the free reign that Vivian allowed him to have with her collection. She apparently had permitted free reign in other subjects as well, as after that first night alone, Tobias had been spending his nights in Azrael’s appointed room. Azrael had thought, perhaps, that Tobias had been utilizing a bit of subterfuge, until they were found walking out of the room the next morning by Vivian. She had looked as if she were bursting to say something, but instead admonished them for taking their time in coming down to breakfast.
He wasn’t the sort of person to gloat about being right, but there was an almost smug sense of satisfaction at seeing the two of them getting along so well. Tobias had never had this sort of open and friendly interaction with anyone of his own blood before, and the few days he spent with Vivian had benefited him immensely. Now, Azrael could see him smiling and enjoying himself, and not just with him. In some ways, he missed the feeling of being special, but he knew that it was better for Tobias this way.
Meanwhile he was able to curl up in the quiet of the library and comb through the various books in Vivian’s collection. It covered a multitude of subjects and he found it difficult to keep to just one book at a time. He had learned to keep a small pile of similar books near him when he was reading, as he would jump from book to book when a concept struck him, reminding him of something else that he had read. He spent hours amongst the dusty scent of the books, smiling to himself when the occasional burst of laughter would float up from further within the house.
Now, however, he found himself gazing at the door that stood near the back of the room. It wasn’t a hidden door by any means, just lost to his mind from the sheer volume of books that he had been consuming. For a moment, he wondered if he should be content with all that he had been given, rather than allowing his curiosity to get the better of him. Then again, Vivian had said that he could have free reign of the library, and if whatever was behind the door happened to be part of the library? Eventually, Azrael's curiosity became too much for him to resist.
Grunting to himself, he stood up to cross the room and open the door before he could second-guess his decision. It swung wide and he stepped into the dark while fumbling for a light switch. When he found it, he was surprised when several soft lights came to life. It wasn’t a large room, but even with the shelves and cases that lined it, there was plenty of space for him to move about.
Immediately the smell of aged paper hit him, though it was a far cleaner scent than the ones in the library. The shelves against one wall were lined with tubes of some sort, and when they were nudged, something could be heard thumping gently against the sides. The cases stood against another wall, lined carefully with what appeared to be the oldest books that Azrael had ever seen. Most of them bore no title whatsoever, while a few bore the markings of a language that he knew, but was having difficulty remembering.
“Is this what you’ve been doing the whole time up here?”
Azrael jumped, whirling around to find Tobias standing in the doorway, looking amused. “What?”
Tobias glanced around slowly as he entered. “Have you just been up here nosing around through Vivian’s things while we’ve been leaving you unsupervised?”
Azrael flushed. “I was…not attempting to be nosy, or rude. This is the first time I’ve ventured through this door. I did not know she had a collection of other…texts, through here.”
Tobias leaned over the nearest case, gazing down at the books with faint interest. “Huh, these must be the books that she talked about.”
“She spoke of them to you?”
“Yeah, she and her husband used to be big time buyers and sellers of really old stuff. Her biggest thing was like books and scrolls, mostly occult stuff. You think any of the stuff in these books is accurate?”
Azrael gazed thoughtfully at the book Tobias was scrutinizing. “Some. When it comes to manipulating the fabric of Creation, when humans got it right, they were exceptionally right. Yet what they got wrong, they got exceptionally wrong.”
“Manipulating the fabric of Creation?”
“I believe you would refer to it as magic.”
“Magic magic? Not like, magician, parlor trick kind of stuff?”
“I…am not sure what you mean.”
Tobias straightened and shook his head. “I’ll show you what I mean some other time. Think any of this is the real deal?”
Azrael shifted, trying to look at the other books that lay in the case before them, looking for any marks that stood out to him. His eyes almost slid completely over one of the smaller books, before jumping back with a lurch of recognition. He reached up to one of the lights, noting it was capable of being moved and shone it on the book.
“What is it?”
“That glyph on the cover, is Enochian.”
Tobias squinted down at the indicated book. “Enochian?”
“The language of angels. The written language is rarely transcribed outside of Heaven itself. Humans have tried to decipher it many times throughout their history, but are rarely accurate in their depiction. This book, however, bears a genuine mark.” The mark was difficult to translate directly, at least to the modern tongue. The Enochian language was the first ever created, and angels were born with the knowledge of both the written and spoken forms etched into their minds. With it they could understand Creation, and at times, alter it.
“Wait, you’re telling me Vivian has a book with actual angel writing in it?”
“At the very least some of it. It must be very old.”
Was it possible for humanity to have discovered the oldest language once more? Azrael doubted it, the age of obsession with the mystic and otherworldly had passed. True faith was a rare commodity in this day and age, compared to previous times. The drive and mindset that once created sorcerers of note was absent in the modern world. At best, it was an old transcription of an even older text.
“Doesn’t look too old.” Tobias said as he squinted down at the book, as if expecting it to do something.
Which was true. The cover was a thick binding of dark brown leather, looking only a few decades, a century at most, old. Azrael considered that for a moment, wondering if it was simply a transcribed copy. It was a fairly common practice, though it was usually preceded by bloodshed. No mystic of old would have willingly handed over what looked to be a genuine collection of knowledge.
“Then again, it could be a copied text. Though if it were a genuine copy, it would not have aged with the years. The codified power within it would have preserved it against the ravages of time. I wonder which it could be.”
“Don’t go reaching in there for it, Az.”
Azrael looked up, startled and a little affronted. “Whether or not it bears the language of my kind, I would not presume to touch what is rightfully hers, Tobias.”
Tobias laughed. “Good. Now, come on.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
Tobias glanced at the door, then to Azrael with a look of desire that curled up in Azrael’s gut. “Yeah, Vivian has some society meeting or something to deal with. Says she’ll be gone for ages. She also said it with a bunch of winking and nudging, or close enough to it.”
Azrael followed Tobias out of the room, making sure to turn off the lights and close the door carefully behind him. “She does not mind?”
Tobias sighed, flicking off the lights in the library as well. “Please. She called me out on being gay the other day, then proceeded to try to have a whole conversation about my sex life with you. I didn’t participate, but…”
“That explains your presence in my bed recently.”
Tobias looked pained. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you, Az.”
Azrael pulled Tobias in for a kiss, enjoying the feel of his lips against his, and the way Tobias’ breath caught slightly at the gesture. “If you were, you would not have spent the past couple of nights curled against me so adamantly. You simply needed to know you were safe.”
Tobias visibly relaxed against him, nodding. “Now, I don’t wanna be safe. I wanna be naked, with you.”
“Wait.”
Tobias paused in his motion to pull them down the hall. “Az?”
“I have been thinking, and I wish to be the one who, receives? Bottoming, I believe you have called it in the past.”
Tobias stared for a moment, eyes darting up and down Azrael’s face. “You, uh, have been thinking about that, huh?”
“Yes.”
“When you thought about it, was it just thinking or were you…imagining it, too?”
The rough undertones to Tobias’ voice sent a delightful shiver down Azrael’s spine. “I imagined it as well, but how can I know how accurate the reality is without having experienced it first hand?”
Tobias leaned forward suddenly, pressing their mouths together in a heated kiss. Before Azrael could respond by curling his arm about Tobias’ neck, he was being pulled down the hallway toward their now shared bedroom. Hands roamed Azrael’s body, curling beneath the curve of his ass and pulling him more firmly into Tobias as their mouths worked hungrily against one another. It wasn’t the first time that Tobias had been so straightforward about initiating sex, but usually it was Azrael’s lower back or crotch that he went for first.
Tobias pushed him back toward the bed, the motion smooth at first, until Azrael felt the back of his knees hit the edge of the bed, and then he was falling backward. His back had hardly hit the surface of the bed before Tobias was on top of him once more, body shifting to slip comfortably alongside his own. He gasped as he felt Tobias rut against his hip, his grip finding and steadying him as their kiss resumed.
They hadn’t been intimate since coming to Vivian’s, and Azrael could now feel the need for it hitting him as he felt Tobias hard against his hip. He would swear that Tobias was almost pinning him to the bed. Tobias rarely became downright dominant in their intimate moments, but the recent lack of any real sexual contact seemed to be bringing out the predator in him. Either that, or perhaps the promise of a switch in roles had brought it to the surface.
Whatever the reason behind it, Azrael loved it all the same. Some part of him craved the moments when Tobias came to life in such a way that his hands exacted his will, and his body demanded obedience from Azrael without words: from the way Tobias’ fingers dug into the skin of his hip to the eager way his tongue wrestled with his. Tobias was slightly larger than he was, and stronger, but Azrael never once feared anything that Tobias could do to him.
There was a desperation in the way that Tobias pulled at their clothing, his mouth finding each bare spot of skin as it was revealed. Azrael wriggled beneath his lover’s touch, thrilling in the sensation of their bare skin pressing together. His own fingers gripped onto the broad strength of Tobias’ shoulders as he slipped further down Azrael’s body, tossing clothing aside as he paused along the way just long enough to remove something from one of them.
A shiver ran up his spine as Tobias’ mouth found his waistline, trailing a path downward with his tongue as his fingers worked the button and zipper of his pants. Teeth sank teasingly into his sensitive skin, drawing a moan from Azrael as his hips lifted. Tobias’ fingers hooked into the waistband of his jeans and underwear, easing them slowly past his cock and down to his ankles. Azrael fought the confining fabric, frantically kicking them off as quickly as he could as Tobias nuzzled his face teasingly between his thighs.
His head spun as Tobias’ tongue slid up the sensitive flesh of his inner thigh, then licked higher, trailing up the side of his cock. Azrael moaned, fingers plunging into Tobias’ thick hair as his mouth closed over Azrael’s cock. Tobias hummed a happy noise and the moan reverberated through Azrael’s cock as he slid more of Azrael into his mouth. Azrael envied Tobias’ ability to take so much of him into his throat, a skill he lacked, but God above did he love to see and feel it as Tobias took him deep.
Pleasure raced through him as Tobias forced more of Azrael into his mouth, only to slide back and nurse gently on the head. The process was repeated, the slick heat of Tobias’ mouth teasing him, never quite letting Azrael sink totally into the moment. His body fought against the teasing, desperate to have Tobias either finish the job, or move onto something else. Tobias however, held his hips down firmly in his grasp, letting Azrael struggle until, whimpering faintly, he gave up the fight.
Chuckling, Tobias reached out, drawing his hand back from behind them with the bottle of lube. Anticipation spiked in Azrael’s gut as his eyes followed the tube, remembering what he had asked Tobias to do this time. For a moment, he was caught up in watching Tobias deftly open the tube, spreading the slippery fluid over his fingers. Wide eyed, he followed those fingers until they disappeared beneath him.
Green eyes locked onto his face as he felt the first pressure of Tobias pressing into him. It was an exploratory touch at first, and then the real pressure began. There was only that sensation, before the finger slipped into him. He gasped at the new and strange sensation of the finger pushing into his body, faintly distracted by the feel of Tobias’ mouth never leaving his cock. There was no pain, only the odd feeling of something entering him and a slight stretch.
Azrael’s hips shifted, which Tobias took as encouragement, adding another finger and slowly easing it into him. The sensation of being stretched increased as the second finger slid into his ass alongside the first. Azrael found himself analyzing the sensation, feeling the tingling pleasure as the digits brushed along nerves he hadn’t known existed. Coupled with the familiar erotic grip of Tobias’ mouth and throat around his cock, Azrael found he liked it. Yet, he didn’t completely understand the full appeal. What drove Tobias to crave it as lustily as he did?
Tobias’ fingers curled inside of him, pressing deeper and a sudden jolt of pleasure crashed through him, dragging a gasp from Azrael’s lips. A throaty chuckle reverberated up from Tobias’ throat and down Azrael’s cock at his reaction, the fingers beginning to move in earnest inside of him. Pleasure from a whole new source rippled through him, drowning the idle, questioning thoughts from his mind. He hardly noticed the addition of the third finger, save for the now almost erotic sensation of his muscles stretching further apart.
“Tobias,” he gasped, head beginning to fill with an ever-growing need for more. Dimly, Azrael knew that three fingers wasn’t the same as Tobias’ cock, but Azrael wanted it all the same. His mind was pure sensation and could only just latch onto the pleasure of Tobias’ cock in his hand, or the feel of it sliding into his mouth and meld it with the thought of the pleasure Tobias’ fingers were giving him at this moment.
“You sure?”
The hesitancy in Tobias’ tone sobered Azrael enough to open his eyes and look down at him. Desire and concern were evident in equal measure on Tobias’ face as he looked up at Azrael. Was there something else that worried Tobias, or was he simply concerned about the possible pain he could cause? Azrael knew that sometimes the entry could be uncomfortable or even painful for Tobias when they rushed things. He wasn’t afraid of pain, but he also trusted that Tobias wouldn’t press him beyond his limits either.
“Most assuredly,” he breathed, pressing his hips down onto Tobias’ fingers for extra emphasis.
With a small smile, Tobias pulled his fingers free of Azrael, leaving a strangely unsatisfied feeling behind. It was replaced by the familiar press of Tobias’ body on top of his own, his mouth hovering just above Azrael’s lips. The room was well lit, and Azrael could see the exact green of Tobias’ eyes, and the way they seemed to darken as his desire intensified.
Tobias’ hand slid down between them, wrapping around his own cock with lube-slicked fingers as he kissed Azrael once more. Hungry for more, Azrael wantonly returned the kiss, moaning faintly as Tobias’ tongue battled with his own. Any other time, he would have smiled at the way Tobias eagerly rutted his hips against him, unable to contain himself in the moment yet this time, he simply moaned, begging for more.
Then Tobias was there, the head of his cock now where his fingers had been only moments before, exerting the same cautious, yet demanding pressure. The pause between that and the actual entry seemed to last forever, but his muscles relaxed and gave in and Tobias slid partly into him. The sensation of being stretched was even stronger, and there was a burn that hadn’t been there before. Azrael’s body tensed, freezing Tobias in his tracks as Azrael arched his back.
“Az?”
Azrael shook his head, burying his forehead into the crook of Tobias’ neck, holding tight to him. It hadn’t been an intense pain, just a surprising and new one. His lips pressed to the skin beneath his mouth, nudging his hips down toward Tobias in encouragement. There was only a moment of hesitation from Tobias before he pushed forward a little more, sliding deeper into Azrael, taking his time and moving gently.
It seemed to take forever for Tobias to slide completely into him, inching his way as he let Azrael adjust to the new intrusion. The burn came and went, ebbing away quickly as Tobias patiently waited. What held Azrael’s wonder, was the sensation of Tobias inside of him. It wasn’t the pain that grabbed his attention, as Tobias was too patient for it to be any more than a faint nuisance at times. Azrael had no real frame of reference, as Tobias had been the only man he’d ever been with. He thought Tobias well-proportioned for a man of his stature, yet he felt considerably larger once he was inside of him. It was a strange feeling, but it was comforting, the press of Tobias’ arousal sliding deep into him.
Then came the moment when Tobias’ hips pressed against his body, flush with the rise of his ass. Azrael moaned, his legs curling about the man’s body and holding him there. Tobias was flushed, already a sheen of sweat shone on his forehead. Azrael knew all too well the amount of sheer will that it took to keep oneself steady and in control when the tight heat of being inside someone wrapped itself around your cock, just like his body was obviously wrapped around Tobias right now.
“God, you feel so good,” Tobias all but gasped against Azrael’s neck, his breathing heavy and ragged.
“Move, please,” Azrael managed, consciously loosening the grip his legs had on Tobias.
Tobias was all too happy to oblige, his movements slow and measured at first, as he let Azrael adjust to each and every new sensation. The slide of Tobias inside of him lit pathways of pleasure through his body that Azrael hadn’t known were even possible. Being the one who penetrated was intensely pleasurable, as he knew from experience. Feeling the grip of another person around one of your most sensitive parts was so intoxicating, as the pleasure built steadily within you like a pressure valve needing release. As you soaked up the ecstasy of your actions from your partner, it only drove your passion and carnal desire further. Being on the receiving end, he was learning, was so much more like slowly losing your grip on your sanity. Ecstasy was building in his body, crashing wave upon wave, breaking his thoughts and scattering them to the four winds.
Thrusts became deeper and more earnest, driving more powerful ripples of almost painful pleasure through him. His mouth worked of its own accord, gasping and moaning as Tobias began to thrust deeper into him, harder. Suddenly, he craved this in the same desperate way he craved seeing the pleasure on Tobias’ face when he entered him. It was a mindless but hungry pleasure, one that needed more from Tobias than he was already receiving.
Words failed him, but he was able to grip and hold onto Tobias, his legs attempting to pull him in closer, his hands struggling to find somewhere to give him the best leverage. They began to curl into one another, their bodies working together to bring both of them what they wanted, what they needed so desperately. The sounds of their bodies meeting melded perfectly with the low groans coming from Tobias’ lips, and the gasps that fell from his own.
The pleasure built steadily, his body filled with it and he was unable to think of anything else. Dimly, he was aware of his body going taut, muscles tightening and pushing eagerly, almost impatiently against Tobias’ thrusts. Tobias’ voice was rough in his ear, encouraging him, almost begging Azrael. The need dripped from his voice, and spiraled straight into the core of Azrael’s being. Every nerve in his body seemed to light up as his orgasm hit him, all thought and sense of self wiped from his mind as he cried out in ecstasy.
Tobias groaned harder than ever as Azrael came, his cock jumping between them and splattering them both. Azrael was aware of Tobias giving one, two, three more sharp thrusts and then his body went rigid above Azrael’s. His own orgasm began to ebb in time to feel Tobias pulse inside of him, his mouth hovering above Azrael’s face, mouthing Azrael’s name like an unspoken prayer.
The energy drained from them both. Tobias sagged onto Azrael, remaining inside of him as he pressed himself into the curl of Azrael’s arm. They were both slick with sweat, their chests heaving, gasping for air. Warmth cascaded through Azrael, the sensation was soft and fuzzy around the edges.
Time seemed to stretch, filled with sensations. The comforting weight of Tobias’ body stretched over his thigh, and onto his arm. Tobias’ breaths slowly evening out against his hot skin. The feel of him, still hard inside of Azrael, a comforting pleasure even as the slightest movement was almost too much to take. The lazy, drunken look in Tobias’ eyes as he stared at Azrael’s face.
“Hold on,” Tobias breathed, fingers pushing onto Azrael’s hips as he slowly eased himself out of him. Careful as he was, Azrael still gasped softly at the sudden absence of pressure from within him. Tobias chuckled at the sound, bending forward to gently kiss Azrael’s temple as he eased the rest of his body to lie more comfortably beside him.
“You okay?”
It was the second time Tobias had spoken since their release, and it was just as gentle and soft as the first time. The sound was music to Azrael’s ears. Gone was the faint tone of worry and doubt that had laced Tobias’ words before, when he would ask that same question after sex. Gone was the fear that spoke of all the things he’d lost and still feared to lose again. Now there was only the softness of love in his voice, the gentle swell of peace and contentment.
Azrael gazed into the deep green of Tobias’ eyes, warmth pooling in his chest. “I am beyond okay, Tobias.”
“Yeah?”
How do you tell a mortal, who has never bathed in the golden presence of the Lord’s countenance, that the feeling that bathed the room just now was just like that? How do you tell a man who scorns the very idea of God’s love, that the love they shared between them was exactly the same? Where were the words to describe the knowledge that the most beautiful thing in all of Creation, was the very thing that they felt for one another now?
“Yeah.”