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Shrill cries broke through the air, her eyes stinging as she rushed past countless burning cabins and market tents. Ash swirled across Belmont Village like an infernal tempest; she could barely make out what was in front of her. Then came the smell, a deathly combination of smoke and rotten flesh. It was suffocating. Her gaze hardened, right arm covering her nose as she ran toward the chaos, darting to the left as a falling, cindering plank nearly crushed her whole.
You’ve got to be joking.
The sheer number of them—she could hardly see the villagers beyond their ranks. Night creatures, around four dozen or so. Where did they even come from? Just the night prior, she and Greta had secured the perimeter, yet here they were, with sickening dark gray skin, glowing orange eyes, and large serrated claws. Most resembled a wolf of some kind, but two-legged and completely without a snout, rib cages jutting out of their torsos. The issue wasn’t their height, for she realized they were hardly taller than Sypha. No, it was their sheer speed, slashing and shrieking at anything they could find.
The taller ones were the main problem, ten to twelve-foot-tall monstrosities with an absurd amount of muscle. The stone pathways crumbled beneath their feet as they bounded towards the village square. She could hear her heart slamming and the voices of the panicked villagers around her. Before she could continue forward, she heard her name yelled from behind. Recognition flooded her, turning at the sound of Greta’s voice. Winded, the brunette came to a stop before her, hammer and blade in each respective hand.
“Stragglers.” Greta took a deep, shaky breath, then exhaled, blood staining the hem of her green tunic. “We still have people back there.”
“Where?”
“The treeline. You’re faster than I am. I’ll catch up.”
“No,” she cut in hurriedly. “The majority are—”
CRACK!
The two spun at the booming sound, narrowly spotting Trevor through the fiery smoke, nearly two dozen villagers and a very pregnant Sypha behind him. The towering night creatures surrounded them, many of the villagers holding their pikes tightly, the small children whimpering as they hid behind their mothers and fathers. Swiftly, the smaller minions burst forward at the huddle. Trevor quickly flicked his whip, catching four in one blow. A resonating explosion erupted, and the ground trembled from the ferocity, the Belmont managing to keep the incoming horde at bay.
“Go help them.” She sounded infinitely more confident than she felt. “I’ll handle the others.”
A pause, then her friend nodded.
“Bring the bastards back alive, will you,” Greta said. “And don’t take too long.”
With that, she took off.
***
Night creatures.
The stragglers were night creatures.
“‘People.’ Some fucking people, Greta,” she whispered to herself angrily. One of the five creatures rushed straight at her, blood dripping from its maw. Hidden up her sleeve, she grabbed and tossed a consecrated dagger straight at its head. The blade jammed into its gaping mouth, innards turning a molten orange as it screamed.
She raised her arms to shield her face from the debris, grabbing another dagger from her sleeve when she lowered them. The creature had disintegrated, her blade clanging to the ground. Its compatriots had smartly backed away from the explosion. They hissed at her, their shrieks so deafening that her ears rang. One of them, a particularly ugly thing with horribly rotten teeth, repeatedly banged a foot on the dirt. Again and again, louder and louder. The other night creatures began to do the same, their feet stomping in unison, almost as if—
They were charging, preparing to attack.
With her weapon firmly in hand, she sprinted at them. She felt the wind blow past her ears, the creatures howling as they bared their claws. Her grip on the hilt tightened, the blade’s metal extending, and what was once a small dagger became a mighty scimitar. The creatures shrieked and scattered from their huddle. They, however, weren’t her target. Mid-rush, she swiftly hooked her boot under the hilt of her fallen blade. Using her momentum, she launched the dagger up high in the air, then slammed it with the flat of her scimitar like a club, sending it flying straight at one of the creatures.
SNAP.
The creature’s screeching ceased as the dagger pierced directly between its eyes. That familiar orange glow grew infinitely brighter beneath its grotesque skin, and the second monster disintegrated. Only her blade remained in the wake of dust, gleaming on the forest floor. Snarl after snarl sounded around her. The three remaining hell beasts frantically rushed at her from three different directions, effectively pinning her in the middle. She spun around on her heel and squeezed the scimitar’s hilt twice. As if by magic, the weapon shifted back into a dagger. She flicked her wrist, and the blade flew straight into the creature’s gaping chest. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and it burst into smoke. She couldn't help the smugness that coursed through her veins. Behind her, the remaining two roared, and their bones cracked and flesh squished as they jumped, horrendous claws aimed for her head.
She smirked. Got you.
With ease, she unsheathed two daggers from her sleeve and jutted her arms upward—only to be pulled by her coat from behind tightly.
Her vision blurred, and her back hit the earth with a loud THUD; the air wrenched from her lungs. Devastating aches shot up her spine, the daggers nearly slipping from her hands. Her heart lurched, grip reflexively tightening on the hilts. Both blades accidentally extended into scimitars again, jamming directly beside her ears. Her elbows slammed into the dirt, and it took everything to bite back her scream. Not to twitch, not to cough. One wrong move, and there went her head. Distantly, she heard strange, muffled noises. The snarling of the creatures. A metallic hiss in the air. The crunching of dirt. Everything was so loud, the ringing in her ears unbearable.
Then, she heard nothing.
Gritting her teeth, she sat up with a pained groan, blades tight in her hands, and her eyes widened. The heads of the night creatures rolled toward her, decapitated from their bodies a ways away. She looked up, and her blood ran cold at what would usually be a pleasant sight.
“Adrian?”
She rose to her feet unsteadily, her body aching, brows furrowing, with her mind running a hundred miles a second. Why hadn’t he announced himself? Better yet, where had he been this whole time? She stepped forward, wincing at the pain raging along her spine. Alucard glanced back at her before turning toward her forgotten blades. His cape dragged along the dirt as he walked in their direction. She took a step forward, expecting him to hand her them—
—only for him to swiftly toss the daggers at the corpses without a moment's notice. Their bodies exploded on impact, dust and ash flying about like a cyclone. She dropped the scimitar in her right hand, covering her mouth with her arm. A scratchy, itchy feeling shot down her throat, coughing so harshly her eyes instinctively squeezed shut. When the dust finally cleared, she peeled her eyes open, lowering her arm.
Alucard was gone.
***
He threw her. He actually threw her.
Just thinking of it managed to irritate her more than the burning, gargantuan corpses littering the earth. They smelled like shit, too, which only made things worse. The villagers kept filing in and out of the de facto medical hut, some bloodied and limping beyond measure. Her throat tightened when she saw Greta tending to the wounded. But even then, despite the people she adored needing the utmost attention, she couldn't get him out of her damn head.
Where had he been? Why wasn’t he with Trevor? Her mind rattled, remembering Sypha—how she could go into labor at any moment and couldn't defend herself. That, and the others. The women, the children; how all the villagers were surrounded by nothing but scorched buildings and towering nightmares. Trevor had stopped the horde from causing any major structural damage, while also managing to gather enough manpower to contain the smaller hell beasts. She had dealt with the outliers. All in all, the situation could have spiraled much worse than it had, for they were decisive. Efficient. Until he showed up—until he fucking showed up and tossed her around like a rag doll instead of a person. Disregarded her safety. Undervalued and completely overlooked her strength when she had the battle completely under control. Not to mention how shamelessly late he was.
She wanted to help the others, wanted to help clear the damage, but she couldn't bring herself to calm down. Couldn't stop the fury coursing through her veins, covering her face with her hands and sighing into them in agitation. She forced her arms down and looked to the smoldering buildings one last time before turning, walking past the castle doors and into the foyer, unaware of the figure trailing behind her.
Her name rang in the soundless air, and she stilled, fighting back another sigh as she faced him. He was unscathed, of course, not a hair out of place. The rays of the evening sun faded as the vast double doors shut tight, leaving the two of them alone amongst the countless array of candles. She shook her head at him as he approached. “Why didn’t you help the others?”
“Trevor could handle them,” Alucard replied simply, stopping before her with an indifferent expression. She scoffed in disbelief, unamused.
“They were surrounded."
“Greta was there to support him.”
“What was Greta supposed to do?” Her hand waved around frustratedly. “Whack a twelve-foot-tall behemoth on the head with her hammer?” His brows furrowed, lips parting to reply. “No,” she cut him off harshly. “There were, like, twenty night creatures surrounding them. Twenty.” She shook her head again, eyes alight with anger. “Sypha is nine months pregnant, Adrian. Nine. Months. She could go into labor any day now. You were supposed to stay with Trevor and protect everyone!”
He clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he eyed her with annoyance. “We dealt with them, did we not?” Alucard retorted in a low voice. “The creatures of the night are dead, are they not?”
His audacity was incomparable. A sneer formed along her lips. “If—”
“They are,” he interrupted coldly. “All of them. Sypha is unharmed, as is Belmont.”
“If Trevor wasn’t as good as he was,” his interruptions were getting on her last nerve, “everyone might’ve died—died because you didn’t trust me to defend myself.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” The gold in his eyes flashed in the candlelight, but she wasn't intimidated.
“The others were completely surrounded. The few I was dealing with were puny in comparison. You couldn’t trust me to deal with fodder?”
He let out a sharp sigh, his own eyes narrowing. “They had—”
“Trevor,” she answered quietly, no longer needing him to finish his sentence. There it was. She knew it. “They had Trevor, and I needed the almighty Alucard to come to my rescue.”
“Enough of your tantrum." Alucard's glare was piercingly frigid. "You’re acting like a child."
She stared at him, really stared at him, and all she could think about were the bleeding villagers in the medical cabin. Defenseless, innocent people who wouldn't have been put in such positions had he believed in her. The thought made her throat tighten, jaw clenching as bitterness consumed her. “Couldn’t trust your own woman to kill a bunch of worthless shitbags while a group of defenseless people relied on one man against an entire night horde—”
“Enough.” Alucard's voice echoed throughout the foyer in a chilly tone that left no room for reply, the undercurrents of his power palpable. The raging hurt inside her turned into icy fury, for he was the one who screwed up, yet here he was, trying to silence her into submission. Her hands curled into trembling fists.
How dare he? She turned her back to him and disappeared through one of the many castle corridors.
***
Wet. So fucking wet. It was hard to think with her face smushed into the drool-drenched pillow. Breathe, breathe, breathe—by God, was he making that difficult. His cock slowly slipped in, then out, then back inside her hard. She shuddered, gasping at the way his fingers circled her clit. The sheer weight of his body pinning her into the sheets ransacked her stomach with butterflies. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
How did it get to this point?
She took him in full, eyes unfocused and staring at the wall. His lips brushed her left ear, body heated and heavy atop of hers, hips rutting against her ass as his cock disappeared inside her cunt repeatedly. “All that talk,” Alucard mocked, voice low and husky, riddled with ruin. He grunted, exhaling sharply after a harsh thrust, “so much talk.”
“Fuck you.” A loud gasp left her lips when he pinched her clit, sheathing himself inside so deeply she nearly cringed. It was suffocating with him on her like this. Her fingers grasped at the sheets frantically—her only salvation.
“I am.” His cock dragged in and out maddeningly. “And quite easily, at that.” Her brows furrowed, jaw clenching as she tried to raise her head and see him. “Feel how wet you are,” Alucard cut her off before she could speak. “How well you take me.”
She wanted to say something snarky, to tell him that he was the one who couldn't keep his hands off of her, but she just couldn't, her brows softening inadvertently because of how ambrosiac his damn fingers were on her clit. Her head collapsed onto the pillow again, right cheek flat against the linen as breathless pant after pant escaped her when his hips moved faster. She felt like she was losing her mind. “Adrian,” she mewled, biting her swollen bottom lip. “Fuck… like that.” A hushed, labored breath sounded from him at her words, and she almost missed the yes he whispered along her spine. His pace slowed, and she knew he did it deliberately based on the languid, sardonic way he trailed his tongue along her shoulder. “I hate you,” she gritted out.
“Don’t lie,” Alucard replied while panting, his breath kissing her heated skin. “Especially while I’m inside you.”
His tone irritated her beyond belief, so smug and arrogant. The spite coursing through her veins took control of her body before she could think, and she forcefully squeezed around his cock. Alucard sharply gasped, a soft, involuntary whimper escaping him, his movements coming to a debilitating halt. His forearm collided with the mattress. She startled, her gaze snapping to his arm as the sound echoed throughout the room. He was as still as a statue, then without warning, nearly all his weight dropped atop of her, the breath knocked from her lungs as he pinned her deeper into their bed. Alucard moaned hoarsely, and she felt the exact moment his liquid heat pumped inside her, his body shuddering as he tried to stifle his gasps along her shoulder. Her cunt squeezed in appreciation.
His shaking, his moaning, the sheer amount of spend he just plugged inside of her—she clearly affected him more than he let on. She tried to sneak a peek at his face, to catch the way his eyelids fluttered as he came back from omnipotent delirium, but he was faster. Alucard slipped out of her, and she huffed in disappointment, his ropes of come slowly oozing out as his sweaty, delicious frame pulled away completely.
Dazedly, she tried to push herself up, only for him to latch onto her hips. She yelped and clawed at the sheets as he dragged her to the edge, leaving her legs dangling helplessly off the bed. Abruptly, Alucard flipped her onto her back, and her cheeks flushed—she felt so exposed, and he manhandled her like it was the easiest thing in the world. Her legs closed instinctively while she tried to see his face, but before she could gauge his expression, Alucard dropped to his knees. Those large hands grasped and parted her thighs; a strained breath wrenched out of her. She quickly sat up on her elbows, nearly kicking him by accident. With a heated glance, he dove his face between her thighs and closed his eyes when his tongue met her core, the flat of it dragging along her folds, drenched in white. The sounds had her burning.
Fuck, he was eating his own come out of her.
Her leg kicked his back reflexively. Alucard chuckled, the sound vibrating against her cunt. Her hand tangled in his hair as her head flew back, her fingers pulling on his blond locks. She shakily held his face to her center. He let out a quiet groan, kissing her clit like it was her lips. She tugged at his hair in spite, and his eyes partly opened, meeting her gaze. The heat in his eyes had her core throbbing even more. Those soft, delicate looks he’d always give her were nowhere to be found. Molten gold stared back at her, nearly overtaken by abyssal black pupils. Those long lashes fanned his cheeks way too prettily for her liking. She hated how good he looked, wanting nothing more than to get away from him—from his piercing gaze. Not that he’d let her; his mouth was attached to her cunt as if he were bound. Alucard's tongue dragged down her flesh before moving up, up, up and flicking her clit, sucking on the bud harshly. “You—” she choked out, yanking his hair harshly after a particularly eager suction. “You damned…”
Whore, she thought. He was a whore lost in reckless abandon, drunk on the taste of her. He liked it, she realized when his hands gripped her thighs tighter, fingertips sinking into the soft flesh. Alucard liked slurping her cunt like she were the sweetest fruit, devouring her whole until there was nothing left. He liked leaving her wanting and waiting for more, all at his beck and call. That he liked fucking his tongue inside her dripping hole as if it were his cock when he was balls-deep inside her a mere minute earlier. Their combined spend was a succulent wine meant for his lips alone. Her eyes squeezed shut, back arching as her fingers roughly pulled his hair.
It hit like a raging storm, like a typhoon that had no intention of letting anything pass—so brutal that her head spun and her vision blurred. She vaguely heard a low rumble through the ringing of her ears, that delicious feeling against her core never letting up as she came on his tongue. Shuddering, she collapsed atop the bed, hands falling beside her head as she gasped for air, her heart pounding wildly.
She came back to reality after what felt like both a millennium and an instant. Her eyes tiredly opened, staring at the ceiling. Their bedroom reeked of sex and sweat, and the soiled bedsheets clung to her stickily. She lifted her head, heart stilling when she zeroed in on him. Alucard sat on his knees before her, his lips and cheeks a rich, dusky pink from his sinning, body bathed in silvery moonlight. His chest rose and fell with every steady breath; it felt as if she were staring at a painting. Though none of it mattered in comparison to his eyes. God, those eyes. She never wanted them off of her. It was as if he could see straight through her being, down to the very bone. No matter how hard she tried, there was no hiding from him. No pretending. It was almost unsettling how his eyes held her captive, spellbinding without any arcana. How she couldn’t escape the way his gaze demanded both nothing and everything from her.
Her legs curled in front of her protectively, harsh aches rushing along her thighs and hips as she scooted further from the edge of the bed. She had to get away from him. Alucard raised an eyebrow as he rose to his feet, his gaze calmer than it had any right to be, her earlier disdain and rage reawakening inside her mind. She was angry with herself more than anything. How could she let him manhandle her after the stunt he’d pulled—let him get his way so handily despite blatantly disrespecting her standing?
Alucard settled onto the bed. Her eyes traced the scar slicing across his torso before dropping lower to the pearly bubbling at the tip of his rigid length, hardened and ready. When she looked back up, his eyes were already waiting, steady and insolent. A low, smug huff slipped from his lips, and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the look off his face. She wasn’t falling for it. Not this time. An awkward silence stretched between them for several beats, and she couldn't find it in herself to fix it. He was the one who tossed her to the ground when the situation was entirely under her control. Why did she have to speak? He screwed up, and a few mind-blowing orgasms weren’t going to fix things.
She must've been hiding her ire poorly, as the faint smirk on his face slipped off. Her name left his lips, but she didn’t answer, couldn’t trust herself to. Alucard sighed, threading his fingers through his hair while staring out the window before meeting her eyes again. They looked different somehow. Quieter; less haughty. “I want to be inside you,” Alucard said, and fuck did she hate him sometimes, hating the needy way her core clenched even more. His tone was so different from earlier; the three-sixty from passive-aggressive to gentle nearly gave her vertigo. She honestly thought she'd heard incorrectly, expecting another bite, another mocking quip.
“Say please,” she retorted before stopping herself, the anger and panic inside her heart fusing into an electrifying feeling she couldn't quite place. Alucard froze, and her gaze trailed to his chest again, plush and riddled with messy hickeys.
“Please,” Alucard murmured slowly, her eyes jumping to his own, her heart racing. Damn him. Why did that work so well? There was something in his voice that gave her pause, and she nodded once despite her better judgment, needing to hear it one more time. She wanted him to beg; needed it. Alucard smoothed his hands down her thighs and eased her legs apart with considerably more tenderness than earlier, leaning down and resting his forearms beside her head. She habitually locked her legs around his hips, his long blond hair now a curtain hiding them from the rest of the world.
He pushed in so much slower this time, a soft breath leaving her lips as her eyes fluttered shut. Alucard let out a low exhale in tandem, goosebumps blossoming along her skin at the sound. It was hot, only progressively getting hotter the deeper he sank inside. Her eyes peeled open as she looked up at him in a daze, her heart stuttering at the sheer need in his gaze while her nails dug into his broad shoulders. How she despised him, how she loved him rotten. Alucard's eyes squeezed shut as his mouth fell open, small, quiet breaths escaping him. She couldn’t look away from his lips, glossy and swollen with tiny crimson indents from the tips of his fangs. Gasp after gasp left her, his tip constantly brushing that delicate place over and over, her core tightening around him instinctively every single time. He looked so fucking good, those golden eyes all dark and pretty and far-gone.
Her fingers tangled in his hair when his teeth nipped at her throat. Her eyes fell shut, his lips replacing his fangs, kissing the faint bite mark then the sweet spot beneath her ear. She shuddered, and a shaky sigh escaped her. Alucard groaned as his thick cock surged in and out of her cunt with ease. “It’s for you,” he breathed out as he parted from her neck. “Entirely.” Her cheeks darkened, tilting her head away from his face, closing her eyes as she took him in full, the noises of their coupling obscene. Her nails scratched down his back violently, Alucard sighing while her walls swallowed his cock in a sweet, familiar embrace repeatedly, sinking inside her with horrendous ease.
They stared at each other in a blissful daze, his thin brows furrowing as small moans left her. Low, delicious pants escaped him before his cock started slamming inside her brutally, branding itself. Alucard's eyes closed, letting out a shaky moan and a broken whisper of her name. She felt him jamming into her over and over and over again, creamy sounds permeating the air, a loud keen rushing out of her. “Yes, don’t stop.”
“Fuck,” Alucard groaned breathlessly, his eyes clenching shut as his pretty, airy moans graced the air as she pumped her hips in time with his. His cock was covered in his earlier spend, dribbling down her ass, puddling atop the sheets beneath them. She didn't care, not when he fucked her like that—
“Oh my God,” she gasped, eyes rolling back as a harsh breath forced from her lungs, his tip kissing that perfect place inside her.
“Yes,” Alucard rasped in the sexiest way she had ever heard. “Yes." His head dropped to her clavicle, sucking on the skin, hips smacking against hers, his usually chilly body sweaty and heated and so fucking good. He gasped against her skin, his voice muffled and vibrating, cock fervently ramming in and out of her sopping cunt. Alucard let out a low, needy groan, lifting his head and brashly pressing his lips against her throat, mouth slightly agape as breathy moans left him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding his face against hers as their hips fucked against one another’s desperately.
“Make me come,” she pleaded. “Make me come, Adrian—I need to come.”
“Come,” Alucard replied hastily, his lips sloppily kissing her jaw. “Please.”
***
“Are you still angry with me?” Alucard asked quietly. She peeled her eyes open and took him in blearily, her mind almost entirely melted away as she relished in the sweet aftermath of her pleasure. He was staring right at her, lidded eyes filled with unmistakable longing. She softly exhaled through her nose, tilting her head to the side as she finally began to process what transpired. Shame bubbled inside her gut, her throat and jaw tightening in shame. “I know you can handle yourself,” she heard him whisper from beside her. “I’ve never once doubted that.”
Her eyes closed. She wanted to believe him—hell, some part of her did believe him, but after what happened, she didn’t know what to think, or what to feel. The words unimportant, weak, and foolish blared within her mind, and her heart sank. She was foolish, indeed, considering she let him fuck her brains out after the shitstorm that was earlier. That, and easy; wretchedly easy. Perhaps that was how he viewed her, an easy little thing he needed to constantly pamper and watch over, fight battles for—
His arm slid over her stomach, drawing her from her thoughts. His torso pressed into her side, and it took everything she had not to flinch when his breath kissed her clavicle, soft blond hair grazing her shoulder. He was warm.
“I’m sorry,” Alucard murmured against her throat, voice barely above a whisper. She turned her eyes on him again. A tiny voice inside her mind screamed that his apology came too little too late, and perhaps she should have listened. Given it some more thought. But she knew, deep down, that she would always be a fool when it came to him.
“Don’t do it again,” she answered quietly, eyes taking him and his angelic features in. “Please.”
He imperceptibly leaned into her touch, his eyes softening even further as he nodded. “You have my word,” and his genuineness touched her heart. Raising a hand to his cheek, she brought his face to hers. Alucard let out a quiet exhale, his shoulders relaxing as he melted into her kiss. Their lips moved sweetly against each other, her free hand returning to his scalp and softly carding through his golden locks, lingering for a breathless moment before pulling away. Alucard let out a low hum in appreciation, laying his head atop her chest.
Lulled by his steady breathing, her eyes drifted shut before snapping open as a forgotten thought struck her. "What took you so long earlier, anyway? Where were you?"
His response was muffled. She raised an eyebrow, repeating her question. Alucard sighed into her skin after a long pause—and she barely, barely caught his words.
"I was asleep."
Of course he was.