Looking up, you can see the vampires trying to figure out how best to traverse the slippery slope and continue their pursuit of Rupert and yourself. He quickly scrambles to his feet, extending his hands down to help you up. "We need to get a head start Love." He begins to run, pulling you behind him.

Hair plastered to your head and wet branches slapping harshly against your skin, the two of you run seemingly endlessly through the darkness. Your hand is on your side, covering the stabbing pain there as you attempt to drag in air to keep you going. Blissfully, Giles stops for a moment, looking around. "Hopefully, they’ve given up," he says between panting for breath.

"Not worth the trouble?"

"It’d be nice." He smiles back at you. As he turns to face forward again, he seems as though he’s spotted something.

"What is it? Vampires?"

"No… looks to be some sort of a roof. We should get a better look." Once again, he leads you into the dark unknown.

As you near it, it becomes clear that what Giles has found is a barn. In fact, he seems to have found some kind of abandoned farm. The barn, as it happens, is in considerably better shape than the nearby house which seems to have been the victim of a fire.

Giles turns to you. "Well it might be leaky but I warrant it’s dryer in there than it is out here."

"Not to mention nice lockable doors."

"You read my mind." Hand in hand, you carefully approach it. Nearby, Giles locates an old storm lantern with some oil still in it. He fishes into his pockets for a lighter and hands both to you as he tries to work the latch-handle free on the doors. After a few tries, you get the wick to take to the flame and quickly replace the glass. Giles pushes the doors open and takes the lantern from your hands. He holds it before him in one hand, and takes your hand in his other as you enter the barn.

Inside, you can see that the place hasn’t been abandoned for all that long. Cobwebs have just started building up in the stalls and the bails of hay that are around aren’t long past being fresh. Giles gestures with the lamp. "Ladder there. I’m going to go check out the loft. If it’s suitable, it’s the best place to stay for the night." His smile is gentle. "Back in a moment." To the side of the doors, you spot a long metal bar. You turn , close the doors and walk to the metal bar. Lifting it with some effort, you slide it through the metal brackets bolted to the inside of the doors. "You can come on up Love."

"I’ve bolted the doors Rupert," you say as you make your way to the ladder.

"Good girl," his voice carries down to you. By the way the light above seems to be swinging, you can tell that he’s found somewhere to hang up the lantern. You wrap your hands around the worn wood of the ladder as you take your first step up. It creeks miserably beneath your feet. With a cringe, you take another step up.

As you’re looking at the top, Giles peers over the edge with a smile. He extends a hand down to you. "Come on, that’s it."

By the time you’re on the forth step, you can reach his hand. Taking hold of it, you ascend the ladder with more confidence as his grip on you strengthens with every step closer. Soon you are over the edge and in the loft. Lit by the glow of the lantern, you can see that Giles has been busy. He has unbundled hay from some of the bails and covered the ground with it, and then taken blankets and laid those on top.

"Help me pull the ladder up." The two of you take hold and haul the ladder up to hang on hooks on the wall beside you.

"You think we’ll be alright up here?"

"I think we’ll have plenty of warning if we’re not," he says as he removes his shirt to reveal muscle toned arms and a lightly hair-sprinkled chest that send through you the first bit of warmth that you’ve felt in an hour. As he begins to unfasten his pants, you stand again and clear your throat.

"Um… not that I’m not enjoying the view, but what exactly are…"

He grins at you, totally unembarrassed. "We can’t sleep in these wet things love. We’ll catch our deaths. We need to hang the clothes up to dry overnight."

"Um…" you nervously fiddle with the buttons of your top. "E-everything?"

"I guess it depends on how soaked through we are?" He slips his pants down and goes about disentangling his feet from them. He is wearing boxer shorts and you can tell he really is quite drenched. You can see the flesh tones clearly beneath the near transparency of the wet material. Feeling flushed now, you remove your clinging top and shuck your water-heavy pants. When a stray draft catches your skin, you shiver. Your underthings are just as saturated as your companion’s.

"W-what now?"

Rupert looks at you. "I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have to go full on I’m afraid. It really was bucketing down out there."

"I’m fine," you say flatly, trying to hide the shiver of your lip.

He catches it. "Come here." Slowly, you do. He touches your arm, feeling the goosebumps there. "You’re freezing." Before you can deny it, his hands have traveled down to the narrow strip of cotton across your hip. "And you’re soaked."

"But…"

He covers your mouth with his own. You’re so involved with the kiss, that you almost don’t notice when he unhooks your bra and slips it from your body. As you’re about to pull away and make some faint protest, his large warm hand comes to caress the chilled skin of your breast. As he squeezes the flesh almost rhythmically, the protest turns into a muffled moan against his mouth.

Rupert pulls away from you with a smile. Before you can get too shy, he hooks his thumbs in his boxers and sends them to the ground. You can see that even that small kiss has had as much of an effect on him as it has on you. He kneels, smiling up at you, and tugs your panties down your water-slick legs.

He stands again. Taking your hands in his, he helps you to sit on the blanket. Hurriedly, he gathers all the underclothes and hangs them on the railing next to your other garments. As he does so, you are afforded an award-winning view of his backside. That muscle tone extends farther than his torso, you observe with a smile.

He comes to lay beside you, skin touching yours. You smile shyly. "This is just for warmth right?"

Rupert grins at you. He kisses your shoulder, lazily trailing his fingers along the side of your hip. "I’m certainly feeling warmer. You’re not?"

You reach tentative fingers out to pet his chest hair. His breath catches a little as your fingertips find his nipple and circle it lightly. "Maybe you’re not close enough yet?"

He closes the minimal gap between you until his front is pressed flush against your own. He nuzzles against your neck, kissing up to your earlobe. "Better?"

He takes you with another kiss before you can answer him.

Have a Wonderful Monday!