Title: The Music of the Night

Author: kirasmommy

Fandom: Dark Shadows

Pairing: Barnabas/Willy/?

Rating: R

Warnings: Slash with a twist, Song fic. AU. Domination, death (sorta) Not quite M/F exactly but as close as I will ever really come to it. Notes: answering my own challenge. Be careful not to assume whom the music belongs to there is a twist.

Archive: WWOMB, Rareslash, KB's Misc, anyone else ask.

Summery: Song fic featuring Phantom of the Opera song The Music of the Night. Willy recounts a night full of revelations.

by kirasmommy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation...
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination...
Silently the senses abandon their defenses...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't always fear the night. I don't even think I fear the night now. It is more of a nervous anticipation that I feel. During the day it is easy to tell myself that none of it is happening, that maybe I'm going crazy. I walk around in a fog during the day. Nothing is clear. Thoughts of escape are always on the horizon but always just out of my reach. Like a word that is on the tip of your tongue but you can never remember. Sometimes I can't even remember what it is that I want to escape. The sun, the day has become hideous to me. I dread it in the wee hours of the morning. As he escapes to his coffin I envy him because he will sleep through the confusion. And as the sun rises I begin to sleep walk through the day unable to think clearly.

The confusion makes me scared. I can't think clearly and it frightens me. I need him. I need him. In the hours before the sun falls and the moon begins to rise I fear the night, or at least in those hours I believe I do. I fear his awakening but at the same time revel in it.

As the night comes the shroud upon my mind begins to part. I come up out of the darkness that has blanketed me.

My fingers are shaking as I light the candles tonight. He will be awake soon. I can feel it. My mind is clearing and I have never felt so alive. I feel as though I have awakened from a long nightmare despite being awake all day.

And what little thoughts I've had of escape fly away from me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor...
Grasp it, sense it- tremulous and tender...
Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
turn your thoughts away from cold,
unfeeling light- and listen to the music of the night...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I find myself watching the last of the sun's rays disappearing over the horizon. Beautiful. It is truly beautiful as it slips over the edge of our little part of the world. I love this time of the evening. Just before he makes his appearance and just after I come back to myself. This is the time of day that I can truly think clearly. Fear keeps my tongue at night. Fear of his anger. But though I hold my tongue at night my mind works well. But it is at this time that I have time to think quietly without any fear. No haze, no fog, no fear. And I wonder why I feared the coming of the night at all until I hear the sound behind me and remember that he comes. I turn to him slowly as I hear him call my name. He says it in a low voice and I have no control. I obey. And I find the last of the fear fading. He is the night and I find no fear in the night. He takes care of me and of everyone in the world it is he that I must obey. No one in the day cares or wishes to even be near me.

He wants me to go into town and as I turn to get my coat I smile for the night has completely fallen and some one cares for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before!
Close your eyes; let your spirit start to soar!
And you'll live as you've never lived before...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old pick up truck jerks under me as I ride the bumpy roads toward town. I can hardly believe the turns my life has taken. I started out dirt poor without a nickel to my name. Hooked up with some of the local tough guys and went from there. In and out of jail at a very young age until I eventually ended up with Jason McGuire. I knew he liked to use me for his own ends but I think to a certain point he cared for me. He was my only friend for many years. I still miss him but he didn't want to listen to me. Now he's dead. He was my friend, my brother, my father figure, and my teacher both in learning and in the flesh.

I had dropped out of school long before graduation. Truthfully I never thought that I needed it. But Jason pointed out that if I wanted to make a good scam I needed to know what the educated knew. He helped me with my reading he helped me learn. He also taught me never to let on how much I did know. The less people think you know the more they are likely to talk and then maybe they will say something you can use.

I had it figured back then that me and Jason would be together forever, partners to the end and in a way that is what happened. Part of me feels like I betrayed him. I led him down into the crypt and knew that Barnabas was going to kill him. But part of me was still angry at the time for sending me away in the first place. And even then I was becoming apart of Barnabas' world.

I mourned him in my own way. He was my world for so long, my life. He knew more about me than anyone else in the world. He knew every inch of me. It was never true love, I'm smarter than that but it was comfortable. And there was a certain amount of security in him.

But I need to forget my old life. It is over and done with and there will never be any going back to it. But I can use what I learned back then.

I don't have a hope in hell of attracting his attention in the same way that I had Jason's but the mere fact that he is in my life is almost enough.

My life is a lot more complicated nowadays but in many ways it's worth it.

I park the old pick up truck near The Blue Whale and walk away. It isn't the Blue Whale I'm really going to. It is the darker sections of town I want to go to. I wrap my fingers around the smooth object in my jacket pocket as I keep my head down. I watch the people that are hiding in the darker shadows to the side from the corner of my eye. It takes longer than I wish and I really do hate this part but finally I find what I'm looking for. An old vagrant sitting by himself a pint of cheap alcohol clutched in his claw like hands. His liquered up eyes look upon me but don't really see me. I have the feeling that I wouldn't even need to bother with the club in my pocket. In fact I pick him up under his arm and he mumbles at me about how he was just moving on when I bothered him. He is under the impression that I'm a policeman. I almost laugh to myself as I walk him back to the pick up truck. No one spares us a glance as we walk back to the pick up truck. I practically have to hold him upright he is so drunk. I find myself rolling my eyes as he complains about police brutality and how the cop car smells funny.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Softly, deftly music shall surround you...
Feel it, hear it, closing in around you...
Open up your mind;
let your fantasies unwind,
in this darkness which you know you cannot fight-
the darkness of the music of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old drunk passes out before we get there. It is quite peaceful on the way home. It is nice having a place to call home. I haven't had a real home since my ma kicked me out at the age of eighteen with the words never come back on the tail end. I never thought I would consider it home. As I pull up to the back of the house and park I sit for a second and enjoy the night air. It is spring and I can feel it in the air. Just cool enough to be brisk and warm enough not to be cold. I breathe in a gulp of air as I open the old door and look at the night sky. The stars in the sky are extremely bright out here in the boon docks away from town. The moon has risen a little more and is extremely full. It makes it look almost like a pale imitation of daylight out here. In the distance I hear a dog howl. The poor mutt senses Barnabas and is protesting one predator to another. But it is a poor protest. One made out of pride instead of real anger. I smile now; I used to be terrified of that sound. I welcome it now. He's waiting for me but I can't help but slow my pace to enjoy my surroundings. An owl hoots from a tree some where and I see a bat turn cartwheels in the air. For a second I freeze in place but then I realize it isn't him. It's just a little old thing. Ordinary in a way that he could never be. For a second I imagine the bat has taken the owl's food for the night.

I open the old man's door and drag him out and hoist him up over my shoulder. He doesn't weigh much. What little money the old man gets he obviously spends it on booze.

He snores loudly as I go through the servant's entrance. As he passes gas I start to wonder if I made a good choice of victim tonight. I make my way down into the cellar where I know that Barnabas is waiting.

He looks satisfied as I carefully make my way down the steps. He asks me briefly if I was careful and if it is possible I was followed. I sigh to myself silently but answer in a wavering voice that I was careful. He always does that to me. I lose my voice around him. I set the old man down and Barnabas circles him quietly. He comments on the old man's age and condition. I just shrug. It isn't like the old man is a turkey and will be tough with age. I mean blood is blood isn't it? But I do tell him that he has passed out that I didn't harm him. In some way that seems to please Barnabas, Sometimes the oddest things please him. I just shrug to myself this time.

He pulls the old man up by one arm and I am once again impressed with his strength that is hidden beneath the exterior of a mild mannered man. The old man comes to in a vague manner and mumbles about his rights. Barnabas laughs lightly as he pulls the man up straighter.

I try not to look but find myself unable to look away. In the next few seconds the old man finally realizes that he is in danger and starts to struggle weakly but it is by then too late.

Barnabas pulls the man into an almost loving embrace and I watch as the old man's head lolls back in a swoon. And for a second I find myself jealous. The drunk's eyes flutter as they close and I hear a moan of pleasure. It appears to the casual eye as a lover's embrace and I find myself holding my breath. And despite myself I start to imagine myself in his victim's place.

I feel my skin heat up as he feeds. I feel an inner glow begin and my eyes begin to close. Within seconds I feel myself tighten and become hard. I have to concentrate on my breathing because I feel myself want to start gasping. I only vaguely hear the body of his victim drop to the floor.

And when I open my eyes I find him staring at me. His eyes are brighter than normal and for a second I color as I realize he must see my state. But I'm powerless to move. I can't move to hide my arousal or to flee from those dark eyes that seem amused by my state. I hold my breath unsure of his humor. Then I finally notice something odd. He is leaning against his casket, and he begins to smile. As he steps around to the front it is with a stagger. And it occurs to me that he is drunk.

I flashback to my own father's drunken rages and I want to run as Barnabas raises his hand toward me.

Unable to run I close my eyes and wait for the blows to begin. It would not be the first time.

I jump when all he does is lay his hand on my shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world!
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before!
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Only then can you belong to me...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stare into those hypnotic eyes and the world seems to melt away from me. He smiles as he comes closer and he is all I see. The world doesn't exist for me anymore. He is my world.

I can't breathe as I find myself in his arms and he lowers his head to my neck. I knew the day would come when he would take my life but I didn't count on today being the day.

But I forget thoughts of death as his teeth break my skin and he begins to feed. The pain is exquisite as I hold on tight as waves of dizziness overtake me. It burns deep in the wound and then the pain turns to pleasure. My eyes close again as my legs go weak and he holds me to him.

I need it to end but want it to go on forever. But I know that I will die but I don't care I just want him to feed forever. I hear myself moaning in the distance but I'm detached from it. Unable to stop it nor able to care I whispered the words I never wanted him to hear. "I love you"

But as I had feared he took his lips from my neck and I braced myself for the killing blow, the blow that never came.

Instead he held me tighter to his chest as he talked into my hair. "Those that love me always come to regret it."

And I'm whispering words not caring what I said. Just words that come to my mouth from what I feel. "Love can never regret, you can only regret not loving"

I only know that I want to serve him forever, to love him forever, and to be with him forever.

As I open my eyes the world looks new as it sparkles around me. A halo surrounds the world. The world exists in bright colors and I realize that there are colors mere mortals never see as for this moment in time I actually see them. I'm speechless as I see him through this new vision. He glows from within and the air sparkles around him. As I raise my hand to his hair I see my own aura and it is a green where his is a red. And for a second I think of Christmas.

I tremble as I stroke his hair lightly. This time when he lowers his head it isn't my neck his lips touch. It is my own lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floating, falling, sweet intoxication!
Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation!
Let the dream begin,
let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write-
the power of the music of the night...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a second I feel weightless as I feel him lift me in his arms. I don't know when we moved from the cellar into the main part of the house nor do I know when we went upstairs from there. All I remember is the feel of his tongue inside my mouth as he kissed me deeply. I loved him with my mouth and only realized we had moved when I felt the soft bed under us.

I look up at the canopy as he backs away to remove his jacket and as I look to the side I see the portrait that has haunted me since my arrival to the old house. The woman I have always in my heart considered my rival. And as I watch for a few moments her picture I realize that she is not there. I see within the picture and realize that at one time her home was indeed there. Her impression a beautiful yellow much like a fingerprint was still within the heart of the portrait but she herself hadn't been there in a while.

Then I forget all as he lowers himself again and she is forgotten. The world spins as he unbuttons the shirt I am wearing and my hands move to him powered on their own need to touch him. The rest of the night passes as a dream. And for all I learned with Jason he teaches me more about my body.

I give myself to him completely, body, soul and heart. And I make my pledge with my body and blood.

I feel the morning approach and as he flees to his coffin I find myself hating the light more. I sit up in the bed and look toward the mirror and find myself frozen and as the haze that haunts my days begins to descend I realize why. Why I live with no sleep which I always knew was impossible to do and why my sight has changed.

I see overlapping my own face hers. And I know why she no longer resides in the portrait as I realize that she has found a new home. She smiles at me in the mirror a sad smile. An apology rests in her eyes.

But I smile back and wave and see that my own aura is not green but blue. Her yellow overlaps my blue.

I see the question she begs to ask within her eyes and I nod. Yes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You alone can make my song take flight-
help me make the music of the night...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel her become apart of me and we are one. I feel relief as the haze lifts as she is longer riding me but apart of me. The auras disappear but I feel them close by.

I can not blame her for wanting him still and before we go to sleep we brush our hair at the table.

No longer my rival she and I are one and between our love for him we will protect him from all.

And I feel her gratitude as we slip off to sleep.

We wait for the night.

~fin~