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Cicero was slightly on edge that morning when he found his Listener to be missing from the sanctuary. It was not uncommon for them to slip away without telling anyone, but Cicero hated it, he wanted to be with them always.
Cicero followed the footprints in the show that lead away from the sanctuary. They led from the black door to the shore, then into a nearby swath of trees where he found his dear Listener laying in the snow. Anyone who came upon Enid would have thought them a dead body for the stillness of their chest, and their bloodless pallor.
“The Listener is indeed dead though, silly Cicero… or rather un-dead.” Cicero thought to himself with a small giggle. Enid was a vampire, not quite alive, but they could be quite animated.
When the Listener tended to slip away it was because they were not in a good way. Enid suffered strange fits from time to time, fits of the mind. During the fits they seemed to fade away from the world around them; their eyes would glaze over staring somewhere far off as they refused to speak or eat. Well, they didn’t often eat anyway, being a vampire they fed.
Cicero had his own fits and dissociations from time to time and his dear sweet Listener was always there to soothe and comfort him, their sweet words like a balm on the wounds of the past. It was a guilty pleasure of his to be able to take care of his beautiful Enid the same way they would take care of him.
Enid made no move as Cicero approached them, though he was sure they were able to hear the deep snow crunching under his boots. Even more so, he was sure they could smell the blood within his veins.
Cicero crouched down in the snow beside Enid, leaning close to softly murmur in their ear. “Dear, sweet, Listener...do you have need of your humble servant, Cicero?” he asked, his breath coming out in misty puffs.
Enid’s eyes languidly opened into slits as they considered the Keeper. They didn’t speak, but Cicero felt a light tug on the edge of his motley garb as Enid balled a small fist on the hem. It was a silent message, an affirmative answer to his question from his dear Listener.
Cicero slung his leg over Enid bringing his knee to rest between their legs, posing himself on his hands and knees above the Listener. They continued to watch him from beneath their eye lashes, still and mute. Enid hadn’t fed in days and was surely ravenous with hunger, it was Cicero’s duty to offer himself to his Listener. “Do you want me, dearest Enid?” he breathed teasingly into their ear drawing a soft affirmative hum from the body beneath him. He could always draw them back to him in such a way.
Enid’s frigid lips were like porcelain as Cicero bent over them, slowly moving to kiss them lightly. It was a little strange to kiss, or touch his Listener at all, when they were in such a way. It was like pressing ones lips to a slab of marble, cold and unfeeling, until Enid began to stir.
Slowly, weakly, Enid began to kiss him back, one of their hands gently wrapped around one of Cicero’s wrists where his hand was planted beside their head. Their other hand deftly slipped up inside Cicero’s shirt, their icy fingers clutching weakly, yet needilly at his flesh. They numbly grasped desperately attempting to feel, to capture, to surface back into life. As they dug their frigid claws into Cicero’s side he let out a gasping moan against their lips.
His moan was echoed by a breathy moan from the back of his Listener’s throat as he brought his knee up to part their legs and rub against the apex between them.
“I need...Cicero...I...I need…” Enid murmured softly, yet fervently, against Cicero’s warm lips as they devoured theirs.
Cicero pulled away, out of his dear Listener’s grasp, and grinned down at the sweet creature below him as they let out a low whine in protest. “Cicero knows what his dear Enid needs!” he declared with a devilish smirk as he unsheathed his ebony dagger, twirling it for effect. He coyly raised it up towards his mouth arching his brow at Enid.
They were watching him with rapt attention by then, their usually blue eyes suddenly shining with a hungry red glint. Cicero felt a swell of want as he smugly took in their expression. He opened his mouth and gave the blade a long, sensual, lick. Enid’s lips parted, an expression of unadulterated yearning plastered there as they watched the thick red rivulets spill over the sides of his mouth and down his chin.
Enid pulled Cicero down to meet them roughly by the collar kissing him greedily and reveling in the taste of his blood. The kissing was messy, red staining both of their faces as Enid sucked ravenously at his lips and wounded tongue. They balled a fist in his ginger hair, suddenly not so weak, as they held him against their body. Enid moaned and squirmed against the jester with such sudden fervor and abandon. They came alive as he breathed, or rather, bled his own life into them.
Cicero’s body was freezing in the snow, pressing against a lover with no body heat, but his stomach burned hot as his erection strained against his trousers and Enid squirmed beneath him rubbing against it. Despite the cold Cicero desperately wished away the layers of fabric between them.
They suddenly yanked Cicero back, separating them roughly. “Cicero, please...I want you now..” they begged, their voice desperate and cracking.
Cicero felt such a swell of adoration in his chest as he looked down at Enid and the lust for him heavy in their eyes. They were so fragile, yet so fierce. There were so many things Cicero had thought to be over in his life so many years ago when he became Keeper...when he became the fool of hearts. Despite all that Enid needed him. His Listener was just as twisted in mind as Cicero, but also completely lacking in purpose before Cicero and the Night Mother came along. Cicero gave dear sweet Enid purpose, and they gave him so much more. Enid’s needs had brought so much of him back from depths which he had never expected them to return.
Cicero hardly needed more excuse to go further and was quick to free his erection from his pants at his Listener’s pleas. He rubbed the tip of himself at their slick entrance making them arch their back with a needy whine.
“My Cicero…” they moaned from their perfect bloodstained lips, and Cicero couldn’t hold himself back any longer, burying himself inside them to the hilt. Cicero let out a short gasp, while Enid cried out loudly, writhing and pushing back against him with their hips.
His Listener pulled him over them, popping the top claspings and stitches of his motley tunic in their urgency. Before he knew what was happening, their mouth was on his neck, his collar, his chest… White hot pain lanced through each point of contact. He let out a deep groan as Enid’s mouth traced a path across his flesh, tearing it open.
His dear Enid was insatiable, and he absolutely loved it. Cicero buried his face in the curly mess of Enid’s hair nuzzling it as he drove in and out of them. They bit, sucked, and licked every part of him they could reach, rolling their tongue over a nipple and digging their claws into the Keeper’s back, making him shudder in pleasure.
Cicero was dazed as he thrust roughly into them, lost in the friction of heat and cold, pain and soft pliant flesh. Nothing mattered in that moment, but the rapture flooding his senses, nothing mattered except his sweet Enid.
He was dizzy and shivering as his movements became desperate and erratic, though the sickly feeling of blood loss and the cold burn of the snow could not touch the glorious feeling of completion coming over him. It was Enid’s body convulsing around as they orgasmed that finally undid him. Their shameless cries echoed in the copse until they gave way to panting as he laid heavily on top of his Listener, body cold and tired as Enid murmured sweetly and stroked his back where they could reach.
A small hand shook Cicero’s shoulder pulling him back to consciousness as he had started to drift off. “Cicero, it’s too cold out here, let's go home.” they said as Cicero’s golden eyes fluttered. He nodded weakly in agreement knowing it was for him, not for themself that they urged him back to the sanctuary. He knew as well as his Listener did that if he laid out there for too long, he would likely never wake up.
They walked back to the sanctuary arm in arm, Cicero allowing himself to lean heavily on Enid, their strength having been exchanged.
Cicero’s thoughts became dark as they arrived back at their home. Cicero hated the way the others in the Dark Brotherhood looked at him when he appeared haggard and drained by his dear Enid. It was obvious to them what had happened when they saw him bedraggled with small crescents torn in his skin by Enid’s delightful little mouth. He never told Enid, of course, but he hated it nonetheless.
He knew what they thought of him. They only ever saw him as a fool and could not see what the sweet Listener saw in him, they did not see how Enid cared for him. They thought him to just a tool to Enid, a bed warmer and a blood bank. He deserved better than their disdain. He was after all more experienced, more talented, and more important than all of them! If he was just cattle to his Listener, then what did that make the rest of them? For Cicero was surely the most important person to dear, lovely, loyal Enid…
“You, initiate, have a bath prepared in my quarters.” sweet Enid commanded an initiate soon after they walked into the sanctuary, breaking through Cicero’s dark cloud of turbulent thought.
“Yes Listener.” They gave a curt bow before departing to quickly carry out the orders.
It was only a matter of minutes before the bath was ready and Enid led Cicero to their room by the hand. In the room alone, they disrobed quickly and turned to help Cicero out of his wet and torn motley while humming softly.
They climbed into the warm tub first with a contented sigh and beckoned for Cicero to join them, pressing themself to one end to make room. As obedient as ever Cicero obliged climbing in with his back to his Listener. He winced slightly as he sunk in and the water touched some of the scratches and bites covering him.
“Are you alright, Cicero?” Enid asked as they snaked their arms up to wreath loosely around his neck, pressing their flat chest to his back. Their voice was soft and genuine as they nuzzled their face gently into the back of his neck, no hunger left in their demeanor. They were truly full of concern for him.
“Mmmm, Cicero is happy as he is, serving beside you, dear Enid.” he murmured back contentedly allowing himself to relax and lean back against them. They took a rag and began to wash him with careful, tender hands.
Cicero’s heart swelled as his Listener’s care washed away all the stormy thoughts from before, cementing their love for dear Cicero. “So pretty…” they cooed to him as they washed his long hair.
They eventually clambered out of the tub before the water cooled, drying themselves and only donning light garments as they lounged in the bed holding each other, their embrace familiar and comforting.
“Cicero does not like when you wander off alone.” Cicero admitted to Enid holding them tighter to himself.
“Even when you get such a reward for finding me?” they teased lightly, batting their big blue eyes up at him.
“I want my dear Enid here with me, with Cicero you are safe.” he told them, a slight edge to his reply. “Cicero needs you, and we all need the Listener.”
“Then with you I will stay, and everywhere I go you shall follow, my sweet Cicero.” they hummed calming him with a sweet chaste kiss.
There was a deep need in them for each other, and neither had any will to change it.