Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Lies, part 2.

Wei Caihong's eyes rolled and turned white, turning blue seconds later.

Nikola kissed the lips which now belonged to Penemue desperately, being kissed back. Penemue was holding him with Wei Caihong's arms and was breaking from the kiss only to pepper his cheeks with more.

Oh, for how long Nikola had dreamed of it all? For how long had he missed the one person who made his heart skip not one, but thousands of beats?

If he could turn back time, he would have never jumped in bed with Wei Caihong. The tenderness, which had developed between them, was not something which Nikola had wanted.

And yet, even now, he could not get away from the taste of Wei Caihong's lips. He could try all he wanted, but Wei Caihong was not Penemue.

Even if the noble's soul had left, to make place for the angel who meant everything to Nikola.

"I'm sorry…" the angel whispered, but Nikola's hands were already tangled in his hair, and he was combing through it.

"No, I'm sorry. I should have given the crown to Pallas…"

Nikola did not care what that would have resulted in. He did not care about the fact that the Nephilim had been a danger magnet, prone to anger.

The truth of the matter was that Nikola had been tired. He had just wanted for it all to end. Why should he care if Pallas brought about an age of war?

The giant would have never rebelled with a crown upon his brow. Would have never hurled stones at the palace where he had been raised.

"That's not why I'm apologizing, although I should. When Azazel told me that you didn't want to hear my voice, I believed him. I am such a fool. And now you need another's blood, or you'll be driven to madness, and it's all my fault…"

Nikola kissed Penemue again and hoped with viciousness that Wei Caihong was feeling it. He had never kissed Wei Caihong with the same desperation as he did Penemue now. And he never will, he told himself.

His eyes narrowed, imagining the turmoil he'd gladly put Azazel and Wei Caihong through if he only could.

He needed them, but for how long? The next words he spoke came from a dark part of his soul. A dark and petty part. A part which he had thought had left him, when he had woken up on these strange shores.

"We were had. But I want to avoid speaking about that snake-Azazel. You have to go through the portal that we, Wei Caihong and I, will make. You have to come back to me. I don't need a crown or power. I just need you and a home to call my own."

Penemue chuckled sorrowfully, touching Wei Caihong's bleeding abdomen. It healed instantly.

"Once you finish using him, I'll clean his veins from the curse you set on him. For him to age and die would be the best punishment."

A petty angel for the petty emperor, Nikola thought bitterly. How could have Wei Caihong ever hope to be with him when Nikola's preferences were well known?

"An eternity in fear is by far better," he wasn't asking for Wei Caihong's pseudo immortality to remain out of any good feelings he still harbored for him.

He would suffer from the loss of the noble's blood, but he had had ingested drugs for his rituals before. He'll get clean again, and Wei Caihong would have to hide on the outskirts of villages and towns and hunt for himself.

How long until that chipped at the noble's humanity, he wondered?

"You weren't this cruel in the beginning," Penemue said, a tear falling from his right eye. Wei Caihong's eye. "I made you this way. I'm sorry."

What was with people telling him he was cruel? He was rational! He knew what people deserved, having a thousand years' worth of experience to know right from wrong, and so he dished it out. His next words were a compromise, for he could not bring himself to snap at Penemue now, that he finally had him in his arms.

"Perhaps I always had it in me. It's not your fault. But if you want me to, I can change! Penemue, can you remain in his body?"

A violent shudder passed through Wei Caihong's body and Nikola felt it. So, the wretch was listening in?

"He won't allow it. I needed his consent to speak with you, and now he is actively trying to get me out. I forgive you for laying with him. And I'll forgive you if you do it again. After Vasiliki, I have no right to judge you."

Nikola shuddered at the name. The ghost of his great-granddaughter still stood between them. Penemue was not willing, it seemed, to let the poor girl rest.

The lack of faith hurt Nikola more than him gauging his own eye out had.

"I won't! I don't really have feelings for him. It was only a moment of weakness!"

Blue eyes turned white again and then dark brown.

Nikola was pushed against the wall.

"You said we made love!" Wei Caihong screamed at him, and it was hard for Nikola to believe there could be so much hurt collected in five simple words.

"Based on lies!" Nikola angled his head so that Wei Caihong's searching lips couldn't reach him.

"But you don't deny it!" his lover hissed against his neck. Nikola whipped his head to shout at him, his words freezing in his throat.

Wei Caihong looked torn, and guilt rose in Nikola for being the one who brought the noble to this. He had been lied to! And yet…

"You are a heartbreaker, using me to get back at your lover, and then again to get him back! But you can't leave me! Azazel assured me you won't be able to function without my blood."

Wei Caihong finally released him; Nikola turned his back to him.

"We'll see," the sun had long since hidden itself from sight. Yet, the red hues in the sky remained.

Wei Caihong stared at them, clenching his fists.

Nikola had seduced him with his dancing, and then he had given himself over. Even if it was based on lies, they were in love, and he had heard Penemue.

He may not have the angel's blessing, but he had something close enough to it to continue trying to woo his Emerald Emperor.

Not sparing a thought at how similar they were…