Over time, we became less human and more... divine.

Kain nearly passed over the low form of Raziel’s crouched body in the moonlight, but then Raziel stood, loosing a plume of fine frost from where it had settled on the other vampire’s skin and armor. It glittered in the air like silver dust, before being caught up by the frigid breeze. Sound echoed strangely in the empty roadways, off the ice and outlandish artificial stone.

…

The bats peppered the rooftop in a wide cloud, rather than a clustered stream. Reforming was always a painful process; now made inelegant too as Kain half-slipped on the frost-coated shale tiles. A quick flick of his blade buried it between the tiles, anchoring him as he tucked and folded wingtips back into his body.

Watching Kain dissolve into a cloud of bats wasn’t a surprise—but the haphazard and rather inelegant method of his landing was. Raziel was hard-pressed to keep his amusement from showing as he watched Kain laboriously reform and attempt to keep his feet on the treacherous rooftop. Perhaps he should have gone down to the street after all…


Golden eyes snapped open, wings flaring outward instinctively as Raziel felt his feet leave the floor, borne upward by a surge of vampiric strength. He hissed in surprise, hands leaving Kain's head to dig into his shoulder and curl around the nape of the other vampire's neck with strength just short of crushing bone, talons gouging deep. Yet for all that, Kain's mouth had never left his erection. And in this precarious position, Raziel could not fight free without doing himself grievous harm ...

Raziel growled under his breath, hunched over and shuddering in Kain's grasp, uncertain of the other vampire's intentions. Instinct warred with knowledge—how dare a fledgling take such liberties! with a deeper memory, my sire, mine, who owns my loyalty, my obedience, my flesh ...

In his single-minded focus, Kain had not anticipated the sudden and unbalancing spread of Raziel's wings, brushing the wall and ceiling with their stretch. Hands descended to his shoulders, the back of his neck… and cut, grating, bone deep. Kain froze, forcing his jaws not to close on that blind shock of pain, unable to withdraw -- the edge of one talon a bright slice of hurt just over the space between his vertebrae.

Illustrations for the Strangers In A Strange Land RP fic that I’ve been rereading regularly since I was 20, whose authors raised the bar on the quality I expect out of my Ao3 Rated E reading experiences to the fucking stratosphere.