Powerful, Beautiful and Without Regret (series) by songlin (explicit)

[the-hobbet.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SHERLOCK BBC
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Length: long
Author on LJ: song_lin
Author Website: songlin on AO3
Why this must be read:

I seem to be on a vampire kick. In this AU Sherlock is a vampire and John is a recently turned werewolf in a world where vampirism and lycanthropy are treated like chronic diseases - medicated and controlled.

Powerful, beautiful, and without regret perfectly describes the writing as well as being the title of the series... savage, passionate, and gorgeous.

And oh yes, Moriarty is even scarier as a vampire.

He opens his eyes. John is sitting at the foot of his bed.

"You know it's positively terrifying when you're like that," he says.

Sherlock frowns. "Like what?"

"You know. Eyes closed. Not breathing. All...limp."

"I've been dead for over a century, John. You can't be surprised that sometimes I look it."

"Well, you’re damn well preserved. You have to give me the name of your mortician." There’s the brief twinkle of a smile before he sighs deeply and looks away.

Ah, yes. "This isn't working. I’m sorry, I just can't," etcetera...

"You're barking," he says.

Sherlock freezes, cold and unblinking.

"Suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Little kids pull pigtails, call names. Apparently hundred-and-fifty-year-old vampires try to convince you to kill them."

Sherlock leans forward almost imperceptibly, fingers tenting on top of the mattress to balance him. “John,” he says in a low voice, "what--"

John puts up a hand. "No. Wait. Not done." He rolls his eyes toward the ceiling. "Is it always like this? For you. A fortnight, and you're... obsessed?"

Sherlock unsticks his tongue from the roof of his mouth. "I...no. No. Never. It's never--this has never happened before. Not like this."

Something in his mind is screaming for him to stop, but it's too late now. Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and all that.

John scoffs. "I don't--"

"Never," Sherlock repeats vehemently. He clenches his fists in the sheets because otherwise, he will probably touch John, and he doesn't trust where that would lead just now.

John meets his eyes. Sherlock's lungs still.

"Okay," John says calmly. "Tell me about it."

He blinks several times very rapidly. Sherlock can hear his pulse fluttering faster in his neck and thinks about how quickly it would flow out his veins and--

"There. I’m asking. What...do you want?"

Sherlock tilts his head back against the wall and shuts his eyes. It's easier that way, not looking.

"I want everything, John," he says finally. "I told you I wanted to see you destroy something you--something you want, and that’s only--the very smallest part, John, you have to understand that. I want to watch you kill, because I want to see you lose that tiresome battle against your baser instincts. I want to drink from you, enough that you go weak and breathless and can't stand properly, but I don't want to kill you, because then you'll be gone and the thought of never being surprised by you ever again makes me want to strip off all my clothes and go naked into the sunlight and wait until it burns me into ash. I want to touch you and keep touching you all through a transition, so I can feel what is happening inside your body when it literally betrays you. I want to know what you smell like in the hollow of your neck when you wake up in the mornings, and taste it, because that’s when and where people are most like themselves, so don't you see, John, you cannot let me have these things."

His hands are trembling at the end, so he clamps them tighter in the sheets. John has gone very silent. He licks his lips.

"So what you want," he says at last, "is me."

Sherlock gasps in a breath. "...yes."

Warning: there is character death in the last story - as heartbreaking and beautiful as "Alone in the Water." Don't skip the series if you can't handle it - it is really a stand-alone and the series is completely satisfying if you stop at the end of the 8th installment (the notes give ample warning).

Powerful, Beautiful and Without Regret