Where I Stand

Love Bites

Aiden.

Lambert's former lover is dirty, thin, and ragged looking. His mop of curls a little longer than Lambert remembers, and his previously near-flawless skin-- Aiden always took great care into making sure his wounds never left scars-- is littered in thin silvery marks. Where Aiden's left eye once sat, is now uneven, reddened scar tissue, but the other sharpens and focuses on Lambert in the doorway.

The sound that leaves Lambert's mouth is a broken mockery of speech. Something more akin to a cry of pain. "Aiden."

A whirlwind of feelings hits Lambert all at once-- relief, hurt, joy, and then fury as he notices the fucking dimeritium shackles around Aiden's wrists. Without thinking, Lambert launches himself across the room and shoves Eskel, who's holding Aiden in place, out of the way.

"Lambert what--"

"Get the fuck off of him."

"Wait, dont--"

Lambert grabs the chains from Eskel's grip, ignoring the other witcher's cries of warning as he lets them drop to the floor, giving Aiden the ability to move of his own accord. He hears Eskel swear, but Lambert doesn't care because Aiden is alive and here, and he's feeling damn near hysterical as he reaches for the Cat witcher exclaiming, "Aiden, you're alive!"

Aiden however, is not as happy to see Lambert as Lambert is to see him.

Aiden's green eyes-- or eye-- meet Lambert's. He bares his teeth. A wicked growl cuts through the room.

"Aiden?"

Everything happens in the blink of an eye.

Aiden launches himself at Lambert, knocking him to the floor.

Pain erupts in Lambert's neck as those sharp canines sink into his throat. He screams, thrashing in the other witcher's hold, but Aiden's jaws grip his skin like a vice, breaking the skin, choking out his air.

Black spots cloud his vision and Lambert goes limp.

Suddenly a large hand grabs Aiden's head, wrenching it back. Another hooks into the corner of the Cat's mouth, forcing his jaw open further and yanking his teeth out of Lambert's skin.

Lambert gasps, clutching the ruined skin of his throat. Something warm and sticky trickles down his neck. Vesemir yells for Jaskier to grab Swallow.

Aiden's mouth is red, blood dripping down his chin and onto the floor as Eskel wrestles him away from Lambert. He vaguely sees Eskel trace the shape of axii before Aiden collapses to the floor.

"Esk...s'kl," Lambert wheezes as the scarred witcher crouches over him.

"It's okay," Eskel says, voice panicked. "You're okay."

Lambert knows he should be panicking too, but for some reason he feels a strange sense of calm. Of course destiny would choose to end him like this. A cruel irony, just like the rest of his life.

Eskel's hand is moving in front of his face, making a motion that Lambert can hardly recognize.

"Eskel."

His vision begins to fade. The last thing he registers before it winks out is Eskel's deep voice telling him, "sleep, Lambert. I've got you."

------------------------

Lambert wakes up with pain in his neck and blood in his mouth. He's in his room, lying on the bed. Frowning, he palms at the throbbing mark on his neck, finding it bandaged with soft linen.

He's shocked out of his post sleep haze by a voice across the room.

"Tell me, Lambert." Vesemir is seated in a chair along the far wall, hand pinching his brow in frustration. "Exactly what part of feral witcher failed to comprehend for you?"