Orlando glanced up from his drink. "Sorry. Just thinking." "About the meeting?" Elijah pushed at his chopsticks. "You were great in there. I'm sure Karl's going to be really happy with how it turned out." "He is." "You talked to him? Oh...right. That whole 'in your head' thing." "Yeah." Orlando grinned, remembering everything else he had done and said that afternoon. Karl had certainly enjoyed it. And Harry.... The grin faltered, and Elijah was fast to pounce on it. "I know that look. What's wrong this time?" "Like I said, just thinking." Orlando took a sip of his drink. He did not want to have this conversation. "About?" Christ. Elijah was like a dog with a bone. And when that pixie face became all angles and that jaw was set just so -- like it was right now -- Orlando knew his friend wouldn't rest until he had the answer. "Harry." "Again?" Elijah snorted quietly. "Why don't you concentrate on Karl and forget Harry?" "Can't." If only it were that simple. Orlando's life was never going to be simple again. He knew it. But, he had the strangest feeling that it was going to get a lot more complicated. "Sure you can." Elijah looked suspiciously at his platewhen the waitress set it down in front of him. "What'd I order anyway?" "Suikyo-yaki. Same thing I did." "Su-what?" Elijah was eyeing the meal as if it was going to bite him. "Suikyo-yaki. It's miso-grilled salmon," Orlando explained. He pointed towards first one dish and then another. "And that has seaweed in it...and that's wasabi." "Seaweed? I'm not eating seaweed!" "Yes, you are. No, not that much, dork! That stuff's hot!" Orlando laughed as he watched Elijah struggle with his chopsticks. "Here, like this." "Since when are you the expert in chopstick usage?" Elijah frowned as Orlando, eyes dancing with laughter, reached over and curled Elijah's fingers around the thin bamboo sticks in the proper position. "Since Dom gave me a crash course last week." "Lucky you," Elijah muttered. Orlando simply smiled at him. "So why can't you just forget Harry?" "Because he's bonded to Karl, too," Orlando said, his smile falling away entirely. Elijah's eyes widened considerably and he stared at Orlando, food momentarily forgotten. "Bonded? But I thought...." "It's not a pet/vampire bond. It's similar, but different." Orlando slowly chewed a bite of salmon, trying to gather his thoughts. "I don't know what it is exactly." "Then how do you know about it?" "Viggo told me." "Viggo? Mr. Scary Head of the Council Vampire from the ceremony? Jesus. How'd that happen?" "He came over Sunday night, and we talked. He told me a little about Karl and Harry and why Karl needs us both." "Sounds to me like Karl wants to have his cake and eat it, too." Orlando just sighed. "No, it's not like that." He took a deep breath, tried to explain something he didn't fully understand himself. "I think it's got something to do with the bonds, but Karl isn't...complete? He's not complete without both of us. He needs Harry to...to be stubborn and fight him, and he needs me to be the exact opposite." Elijah's eyes were thoughtful. "Kinda like a boulder and a willow branch?" "Something like that." Orlando nodded, instantly wary of the sly smile on Elijah's face. "So...can we beat him with both?" Orlando blinked, and then his laughter caused heads to turn in their direction. When he managed to compose himself, the laughter dying down to a few stray chuckles, he pointed at Elijah. "You are evil." "I know." Elijah smirked, clearly unrepentant. "Seriously though, you're okay with that?" "No, I'm jealous as hell because I want Karl all to myself." Orlando frowned at his plate. "But it's stupid to be jealous when Harry's had Karl for 800 years and I've only had him for a week and a half." "True. So why are you thinking about it?" "Because Harry was there when I talked to him this afternoon." "I see." "Not like that." Orlando glanced up at Elijah, then resumed studying his meal. "They were in a Council meeting. But Harry could 'hear' everything Karl said, and we...I, um...was..." "No, don't tell me!" Elijah held up a hand, wrinkled his nose. "I think I can figure it out. I don't need details." Orlando flushed, shifted in his seat, tried not to recall the details himself. Just a few more hours and they'd be on the plane back to L.A. Thank God. "Anyway," he said, ignoring Elijah's snickers, "Karl was distracted. I don't know what Harry was doing or saying, but I could tell that Karl's full attention wasn't focused on me." "And that pissed you off." "Not really. I wasn't thinking about it at the time. And then after...it hurt, but the idea that Harry might have known what I was doing...and thinking about what he might have been doing...that was so fucking erotic and --" "Whoa, whoa! Put on the brakes." Elijah laughed. "No details!" "Sorry." "No, you're not." "True." "Knew it." A brief pause. "You're a sick person." "I know." "Very sick." "Yeah, but you love me." "Dunno why." "You want my body." "Keep dreaming!" Orlando waggled his eyebrows in response, and they both dissolved into laughter, trying to muffle the sounds with their napkins. "So what are you going to do?" Elijah asked after they calmed down. Orlando shrugged, then smiled as the waitress removed their plates. "Not much I can do. I'm bonded to Karl until one of us dies -- and I'm not even sure that would break it. And Harry's bonded to him, too, so...I just have to accept it and move on." "Sounds pretty fucked up to me after what Harry did to you at the party." Elijah watched as Orlando dropped a credit card on top of the bill. "Nice of Karl to foot the bill for all this." "Karl's not," Orlando said with a small smile. The smile widened when Elijah picked up the card, read the name imprinted there, and whistled softly. "This is yours?" "Yeah." Another tiny shrug. "And there's no limit on it. My salary as CEO covers everything." "I'm impressed." Elijah stared at Orlando for a moment. "You're getting more like Karl each time I see you." "What?" "You're a lot more comfortable with the money thing now." Orlando looked at Elijah, startled. Huh. He really was more comfortable with the money now. And with the power he had. Amazing. "Yeah, I guess I am." A pause, barely a heartbeat in length. "I'm going to talk to Harry when we get back. Alone." "Is that a good idea?" "Probably not, but I have to do it. If I don't...I'm always going to be terrified of him and that...that won't be good for Karl. I can't do that to him." "It won't be good for you if Harry gets all pissy again and kills you." "He won't. In fact, he'll tell me exactly what I need to know." Orlando wished he felt as confident as he sounded. "And just how are you going to make him do that?" "Easy." Orlando snapped his fingers as they stood to leave. "I'm just going to ask him." Onto Part Three
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