I do have excuses for tardiness, but like, nobody really reads this part anyway. My update is brought to your courtesy of Merthur Dreamer, who wrote the sweetest reviews I've ever read 3

Arthur's home is on the top of a hill just inside of the city. There are other homes besides his, all of them too far away to be neighbors. The driveway is a flat cobblestone look alike leading to a four car garage. Arthur's mansion is huge. The outside is red, red walls, red shutters, a red door, and the inside is red as well; there are varying shades of red interrupted by the non-colors white and black, but everything is just red. It would be sickening if it hadn't been expertly designed.

The home was, to put it simply, a monster. Arthur gave Merlin an abbreviated tour, saying plainly as they passed gorgeous rooms with state-of-the-art technology and enormously expensive furnishings, "Kitchen", "Piano room", "Bathroom", "Lounge".

"Bedroom," Merlin asked after around seven minutes, because while his head was spinning with the notion that Arthur was richer than Satan, he was not about to forget why they were here.

"Alright," Arthur said, his mood indeterminable. He held out his arm like a prince at a ball and Merlin gladly took it.

"Now, my kittens will be upset if I'm not home by ten, so let's make this quick," Merlin joked as they walked up the large staircase.

"You and those damned cats," Arthur retorted.

Merlin grinned. "And I thought it was wolves that vampires couldn't stand."

Arthur shoved Merlin slightly and continued up the stairs. "Werewolves, you mean, and ordinary wolves are fine. The bat part of me doesn't like cats."

"So..." Merlin's stomach fluttered. "You can turn into a bat, huh?"

"Yep?"

"And what else? What else can you do?" Merlin asked eagerly.

They were at the landing and Arthur continued to guide Merlin down a long, wide hallway decorated with statues and portraits that the owner of the house was sincerely apathetic too, or at least he was when Merlin preoccupied his attention. "Wouldn't you like to know," was Arthur's answer.

"I would." Merlin grinned as he kept his eyes trained on Arthur. A smile was growing on the corners of that gorgeous, beautiful mouth.

"Is that so, why, Merlin? Don't you know how these vampire movies go? The terrible beast has to seduce the young victim eight, no, twenty times before he spills any of his secrets." Arthur laughed.

"Guess you'll be busy tonight then."

The legendary beast of the night tripped over his own feet and Merlin had to help him regain his balance.

"Right," Arthur swallowed. "So." He looked at Merlin, and his beautiful blue eyes slipped to Merlin's mouth. He looked up again, his gaze touching Merlin's, his mouth slightly open. Merlin could not find his throat to breathe. "You're, uh." Arthur licked his lips.

"Yeah," Merlin said. He wasn't sure what kind of a conversation they were having.

Arthur's eyes moved slightly, traveling across Merlin's face, and Merlin felt so self conscious and so good because the smell of sunscreen was right in his nose Arthur was so close. God, this man was incredible. "Fridge, I have to," Arthur muttered. Merlin could see his blonde eyelashes dancing on his cheeks as Arthur blinked fast.

"Mmhm." Merlin stared at Arthur.

Arthur's teeth just whispered across Merlin's top lip, and that single touch just broke it. Merlin grabbed Arthur's shirt and pulled him in just as Arthur's fingers dug into his hair. Arthur's soft lips crashed against Merlin's chapped ones and Merlin was certain he was going to be all kinds of wonderful black and blue come morning. Merlin let his hands shift to Arthur's neck, and his leg wrapped around Arthur's.

Arthur's leg slipped between Merlin's legs a little too fast and a little too hard, but he pushed Merlin against the wall and that hurt a bit as well. Except Arthur's thigh was rubbing just the right way, and his mouth was placing a soft, good kiss on Merlin's. Merlin moaned, because the Adonis was kissing him and they were both fucking enjoying it.

Arthur's hands slipped under Merlin's ears and cupped his face. He forced their skin apart with hesitant strength, and managed to whispered, "Your damned cheeks," before his lips, as if dying for touch, pressed against Merlin's cheekbones. Arthur set a wet, solid kiss on the soft hollow of Merlin's cheeks. Merlin gasped out. His hands grasped out for Arthur's hips, and one latched onto a muscled side while the other found purchase in Arthur's belt.

Arthur's soft lips forced themselves against Merlin's chin, and he placed three hard, good kisses until his tongue slid down Merlin's neck to his Adam's apple. Merlin stretched like a cat, his cock hurting against his jeans. He slid his legs hard against Arthur's thigh and could feel Arthur pushing back against him. Arthur's soft lips thrust against the side of Merlin's neck, his tongue licked Merlin's skin, wet and hot and good.

Merlin's hands shook as he tried to find Arthur's belt, but Arthur's hands reached down with purpose. In a few motions, Arthur had freed Merlin from his jeans and done the same to himself. When their hips came together again, their hard bodies were separated by only a thin cotton and silk material. Arthur moaned like a starved dog. He pressed his lips harder against Merlin's neck.

"God," Merlin cried out with a whisper. He forced his shaking fingers to slide down his boxer briefs, and he may have looked like some debauched whore pressed out over a wall but this was the beautiful Arthur so what the fuck did appearances matter?

Arthur closed his lips tight and pressed his nose into Merlin's skin, breathing in heavily. His own hands grabbed the silk material keeping their touch apart and thrust it down like the bother it was. He grabbed Merlin's back, sliding his hands to hold Merlin's ass, and he moaned deeply in his throat. "Merr," he muttered with his mouth tightly shut.

Merlin gasped for some piece of air in his breaking lungs. Arthur's free hand slid over his cock, and Merlin could only wrap trembling fingers around that confident and sure hand. Arthur stroked and Merlin wanted to cry. He could feel Arthur's strong body against his, their clothes between them. Merlin wanted to feel Arthur's naked body, he wanted their hairs to touch and their skin to burn. Merlin wanted to breath in that smell on sunscreen and blood and he wanted to forget there was anything else in the world. And Arthur's fingers pressed, and his fingers tightened, and their hips thrusted together in a messy, imperfect pattern.

"I," Merlin could hardly manage to exist.

It was just Arthur's smell and Arthur's body and Arthur's mouth and Arthur's hand and there was nothing else, no wall but so much good. And it was so fucking good and it had better not end because if Arthur left, Merlin wouldn't make it.

Arthur's mouth open and his breath gasped against Merlin's skin, and when Arthur's hand loosened Merlin knew he had been gone long before.

Their lungs eased, their bodies calmed. In a few moments, Merlin's legs gave out and Arthur gently slid them to the floor. Arthur forced his mouth out of the crack of Merlin's skin.

"I need to drink," Arthur said, rushed and fast. He stood, fixed his clothes for a few second. "I'm sorry, I."

Merlin looked up, his own eyes barely focused.

Arthur's fangs were long, nearly two inches, his eyes a piercing and terrifying red as he looked at Merlin with the softest gaze Merlin had ever seen.

"I'll just," Merlin gasped, "be here, when you get back."

Arthur fled down the stairs, Merlin's eyes unable to track with his fast speed.

Merlin's hand shivered as he pulled his shirt to his own nose and Merlin could still feel Arthur's heat and smell Arthur's scent. Merlin laughed.

When Merlin's heartbeat calmed down, and his hands stopped shaking, he stood up. It took a few second to fix his clothes, and then he walked downstairs the same way Arthur had gone. It took awhile to find what he was looking for, since he got lost, but Merlin stumbled into the kitchen where he found Arthur with his head stuck in the refrigerator.

"You probably should watch your figure," Merlin said.

Arthur looked up. He was holding a clear steel container, his teeth biting into the side. "Hm," he managed to say with his mouth full.

"Is blood all you've got in there?" Merlin asked as he stepped forward. The fridge was full of steel containers of different sizes and shapes, all organized into rows that were casually labeled different blood types. Merlin looked for a moment, and concluded that Arthur was drinking O positive.

"Steak," Arthur said. He tore his mouth off of the container and tossed it into a garbage can hidden under the sink. He immediately reached, his hand shadowy and his nails long and black, for another container. His teeth snapped through the metal as easily as if cutting through bread. Arthur swallowed.

"If I'm going to come over more often you had better get macaroni and cheese, or this whole thing," Merlin gestured to the both of them, "is over. Oh, and Coke."

"Any other demands," Arthur said, his voice muffled as he swallowed again.

"I'm rather curious to see your reaction to Twilight, Interview With a Vampire, Vampire Diaries, Dracula, Nosferatu, Hellsing, every lesbian vampire fic ever, Vampy-"

"I am not watching that crap," Arthur said. He swallowed.

"Can I pick one?"

Arthur shrugged.

Merlin smirked. "Anything?"

Arthur nodded cautiously.

"Okay," Merlin decided, "we're watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Arthur blinked. "I'm beginning to question your feelings for me."

"Oh, are you? Because if I can recall five minutes ago, the two of us didn't make it to your bed." Merlin jumped onto the kitchen counter, too lazy to find a chair.

Arthur grinned, and, yes, there was blood on his teeth and in any horror movie the cheerleader would be screaming and running for her life right now, but this was not a horror fic and Merlin was never gay or stupid enough to be a cheerleader, so Merlin smiled back.

"So," Merlin said. And he saw the sink was next to him so he fiddled with the handle as he asked, "Where do you get all that blood?"

"This?" Arthur looked at the refrigerator. "Donations. It's just stored for emergencies. It..." He shrugged. "Tastes awful, but it works."

"So... fresh blood tastes good?" Merlin inferred.

"That's why covens have blood slaves and the like," Arthur explained. He swallowed.

Merlin nodded. "Blood slaves are human beings who allow vampires to drink their blood?"

"Yes," Arthur admitted, "almost all of them do it for about three years and then get paid by being turned into a vampire themselves. Some do it for family members who are vampires and coven-less. Many times a vampire has several blood slaves that they also use as lovers." His eyes widened and he coughed. "Not that..." Arthur looked away. "I wouldn't do that to you."

Merlin turned on the water and turned it off. "Do the blood slaves just work for the whole coven?"

"Not really. The newest vampires have a certain amount of blood slaves that they share, most of which they know from the period where they themselves were blood slaves, but the older vampires and the ones with lineages tend to have two or three blood slaves at all times. Often, small families," Arthur explained, "and when I say 'families' I mean, parent vampires and their children, and there are normally just one or two in each coven, but these families will share around ten blood slaves. Wealthy families have closer to twenty."

"And how many do you have?"

"I have two myself, I share one with my sister, and my father, sister and I have about fifteen that we all use."

Merlin blinked at that. "Well," he said softly to his shoes.

"I don't..." Arthur insisted, "I mean, I've never, I'm not a succubus or anything."

Merlin nodded. "I know." He looked up at Arthur and gave him a small, quick smile. "I just," Merlin sighed, "I don't understand how any person would do that. Would put themselves at the beck and call of a mo... a vampire."

"They do it to become a vampire themselves," Arthur explained. "Most don't make it though. There's a whole initiation process."

"Right," Merlin remembered, "people can die when they're turned into vampires. That whole risk thing."

Arthur snorted. "Not at all, you watch too many movies."

"I had to catch up on my vampire lore. Wikipedia was quite forthcoming with information. I didn't know vampires have their origins as children of the rainbow unicorns," Merlin joked.

Arthur rolled his eyes and smiled. "Hah." He swallowed.

Merlin clenched and unclenched his fists. He looked at the faucet, and asked seriously, "So the reason you had to rush down here is because you were about to feed on me?"

Arthur swallowed.

Merlin looked up and allowed his blue eyes to meet Arthur's. "It's alright. I'm dating a vampire, I weighed the pros and cons. I'm not going to leave because of anything you tell me about the whole bloodsucking Dracula thing."

Arthur crushed the steel cup in his hand and let it fall into the trash. He sighed, running a hand through his perfect blond hair. Arthur set his hands on the counter. "Merlin," he said to the wall, "there is a whole lot more to the 'bloodsucking Dracula' thing then I want you to know just yet. I..." His gaze slid to his hands, but then with a large amount of effort he turned to look at Merlin. "I like you and I don't want to rush this."

Merlin nodded. "But I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me about any of this, because I like you a hell of a lot too."

Arthur smiled and turned. He slid off his jacket, setting it on the counter. After coming from work he had forgotten to change. He stripped off his tie as well. "Good to know," he said with a grin.

"There is one thing I have to ask," Merlin hinted.

"Oh?" Arthur said as he fixed his shirt.

"Is it safe to stay the night? Because, believe me, I am quite ready to."

"A bit forward, aren't you?" Arthur teased. He walked over to Merlin and flamboyantly took Merlin's hand in his own. Placing a strong kiss, no fangs, on the back of Merlin's hand, he gestured wildly to the kitchen door. "Shall we?"

"Lead on, my prince," Merlin allowed. "And let's be careful this time, I'm already going to have to get my jeans dry cleaned." He gladly let Arthur lead him away.

Uther Pendragon reclined in his office chair. "Morgana," he warned.

The strong vampiress before him would not be deterred. She shook her head, the pearls interwoven in her hair clacking gently, and stomped her foot, her heel most certainly left a mark on the floor. "Why are you so calm about this?" Morgana demanded, "This is Arthur."

"Would you rather I interfered, like I never did with all of your lovers? Believe me, I wish Arthur could have chosen someone who might prove beneficial to the coven, but the human is working with Gaius and that's at least something to his credit. Arthur is experimenting, and he's certainly old enough to do such without his father watching his every move." Uther glanced at the clock.

Morgana shook her head. "You didn't see Arthur a month ago, when that wretched human left him," she insisted. Morgana paced across the floor, her head reeling. "And now the sniveling blood bag has come back, and of course he came back."

"It's about time Arthur learns a little something about love," Uther Pendragon decided. "Isn't that what we were trying to do before? With Sophia? And with that blood slave of yours... what was her name?"

"Gwen, her name is Gwen," Morgana stopped. She shook her head, pearls clacking, and continued, "No. Arthur is going to do something stupid, and if he is an idiot and converts that damned blood bag then mates with him, Arthur's going to be stuck."

"And I do not see why this is any of your business."

"I can't be worried about my own brother?" Morgana exclaimed, "This is Arthur, after all! You know how impetuous he can be."

"Of course I do, and I can say the same of you."

Morgana glared. "You're no help."

Uther Pendragon shrugged. "Did you think I would side with you? Dislike the boy as much as you may, Arthur is fond of him."

"Arthur is not just 'fond' of him-"

"I see, and that is a good thing I presume. I'll leave you to make sure Arthur doesn't get carried away."

Morgana turned sharply and stomped out of the office. She sidestepped at a figure that walked in. Morgana hissed, if only because she was pissed off and had also never liked Leon anyways.

Leon Bors was born to a family of vampires in Uther's coven in the same year as Arthur, and they had remained close ever since. Beyond Uther's own family, he trusted the Bors more than any others. "Sire," Leon said with a respectable nod in Uther's direction.

"What brings you here?" Uther asked, he shifted slightly in his seat.

"Bayard's messenger sent me a note," Leon said seriously.

"And what," Uther said as he fixed a paper on his desk, "would the leader of that half-bit coven have to tell me?"

"Cenred's in Camelot," Leon announced.

Uther left his papers and stood up. "I see."

"Sir," Leon nodded, "I would like to send Bedeviere out to check the validity of this."

Uther nodded, thinking. "Yes. Though I can't see why Bayard would lie to us." Uther Pendragon's fangs elongated slightly. "He knows he's not strong enough to wipe us out."

"Cenred might be, if he's moving into our territory," Leon said.

Uther nodded. "There wouldn't be any other reason for them to be here. They do not hunt in the city." Uther pressed his hand against his chin to think. "Alright," he concluded. "Put any of the bloodslaves within six months of completing their terms on standby, we may need fresh vampires. Alert Morgana, Arthur, and Agravaine. If you come up with anything conclusive, I need you to call them back here immediately."

Leon nodded.

"So," Merlin said as he sat on the silk covered, giant bed that was most certainly hand knit by the gods of comfort, "vampires sleep?" He looked around the room, which contained glass doors that led to a bathroom that looked like a water park, a few gorgeous paintings, a door open to a walk in closet. And then he looked up, and someone had stuck a flat screen television over the bed.

"Mostly during the day, but because I work my sleep schedule is... jetlagged?" Arthur shrugged at the word. He sat down on the other side of the bed and began to casually tug of his shoes. He proceeded to throw the shoes, which were likely worth more money than Merlin had ever seen, on the floor and then start unbuckling his slightly crusted pants.

"I tend not to sleep much at night either, but that's mainly due to my addiction to Doctor Who," Merlin admitted.

Arthur smirked. "Is that something that should concern me?" He asked as he began to unbutton his shirt.

"If I don't get you to cosplay as Captain Jack by the next Who Con this relationship is over," Merlin insisted, "no excuses."

"Such a turn on," Arthur joked as he looked darkly across the bed toward Merlin.

"Mmhm?" Merlin slid off his jeans. Arthur's shit was unbuttoned, and Merlin's eyes skimmed down Arthur's toned, vampire chest. Merlin looked up, and Arthur was grinning at him. "What?" He asked.

Arthur smirked. He shrugged off his shirt.

God, Arthur looked good. From his shoulders to his fucking navel, the hairs on his chest and that stupid, stupid grin on his face that said 'Face it, Merlin, I won'. Merlin was quite willing to loose right now. In fact, he was more then ready for it. So Arthur's slow crawl across the bedsheets was such sweet, sexy torture. "You," Merlin swallowed but his mouth was dry.

Arthur's phone rang.

Arthur slid his hand over to Merlin's neck. His thumb brushed across Merlin's cheekbones. Arthur smiled.

"What?" Merlin asked. Hesitantly, he reached up and let his fingers brush across Arthur's chest.

"I like these," Arthur replied calmly. He pressed his lips against Merlin's cheekbones. He moved closer, the smell of blood and sunscreen so strong Merlin could taste it on his tongue. Merlin breathed, and Arthur moved. Their mouths were just close enough to touch.

Arthur's phone rang.

"Damn it!" Arthur said, and then he cursed. He disappeared, leaving Merlin blinking in his absence, and he grabbed the offending piece of technology. "What," Arthur demanded, pissed. Arthur listened, and Merlin watched as his entire demeanor changed. "Are you sure?" He asked quietly. Arthur nodded, and hung up.

"What is it?" Merlin asked.

"Wolves," Arthur growled.