Like Starlight and Wine (A Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion x Tav Fanfic)

23. A Devil Comes to Call

As I stir in my bedroll under the warmth of the morning sun, the first thing I'm aware of is a dull, throbbing ache in my head, my sluggish heart pumping thick blood through my veins. I reach up instinctively to touch a spot of sore flesh on the side of my neck, feeling the two small raised bumps beneath my fingertips - tiny puncture marks that have already scabbed over since... since he put them there.

I feel warmth rush through my being as the memory of last night floods back into my mind. The feeling of hunger and of heat - the friction between our bodies as Astarion pressed me into himself like he was desperate for me - losing himself in me, drinking me in - becoming drunk on my blood as though it was wine.

I sit up in my bedroll, my eyes automatically finding their way to Astarion's tent, and I see him standing there, already awake. He looks lively, healthy as he flips through the pages of whatever book he's reading now. Then, sensing my gaze upon him, his eyes flicker up to meet mine, his stare piercing and unwavering. Without saying a word, his crimson orbs tell me that they remember everything - that even know, behind those eyes, Astarion is still thinking about that moment as he looks into my eyes.

I feel the warmth of my blood squirming beneath the surface of my skin, and I glance away quickly averting his seductive gaze. I can't help but feel like he's toying with me again... trying to make me feel things... and I hate that it's working. Though I can't figure out why. Perhaps he really does like me, but he doesn't strike me as one who would fall for someone so easily. Maybe he's using me... gaining my trust so that he can partake in my blood more often to give him strength. Or perhaps he's afraid I'll abandon him, a sentiment I can relate to all too well. Either way, I only wish he knew that he didn't have to play these games to hold me in the palm of his hand... I'm starting to think that 'Astarion the man' already has my full  attention regardless of what ever else he has to offer.

----

We take another detour that day. Wyll tells us he's finally picked up on the trail of the she-devil he's been hunting, Karlach. He's traced her whereabouts to a location northwest of here near a place called Waukeen's rest. It's not too far, so we decide to head out, no Shadowheart in tow this time. She stays behind letting us know she has something important to attend to. I know it has to do with that mysterious artifact she keeps guarded and away from prying eyes. I've seen it though, when she was unaware. A strange, glowing metal object with many faceted sides. Each surface of the object is inscripted with alien letters. Ones I have never seen before and cannot decipher.

So later that morning, Astarion, Gale, Wyll and I set out in search of Karlach. We follow the road up north. The path is old and well worn with decades of weathering... perhaps centuries. And the stone bridge ahead is no better for the wear, cracked and crumbling in the center where it should fill the gap between our side of the river and the other side. Though the gap is not too far, we find that we are able to jump over it with ease, putting the blighted village south of us, out of sight, a new road ahead in the distance.

But before we can take another step, something in the atmosphere shifts. Like a foreboding presence nearby... surrounding us... every particle in the air is charged with dark power. Then, as if being sucked into one single point before us, those particles coalesce in a powerful implosion. And then, as if out of thin air, a tall man is standing in front of us, his presence every bit as imposing.

"My, my, what manner of place is this?" He says, looking at our surroundings. With his rich attire and his dark hair slicked back he looks like someone important. And though he looks every bit as human as me, there's something almost... devilish about him.

"A path to redemption," he continues as we listen in stunned silence. "Or a road to damnation? Hard to say, for your journey is just beginning. What would suit the occasion? The words to a lullaby, perhaps? 'The mouse smiled brightly: it outfoxed the cat! Then down came the claw, and that, love, was that.' They do know how to write them in Cormyr, don't they?"