by Darren Cage
“Please,” she begged.
“Do you want it rough?” I asked. “Or slow?”
“I… I don’t know…”
“Rough or slow?”
“I…”
“Catina.”
“Rough,” she whispered so softly a human wouldn’t have been able to hear her.
I obliged, pounding into her hard—by human standards. She felt incredible, but it wasn’t until I reached around and rubbed her clit that she was able to orgasm. It wasn’t much later that I was able to come as well.
Satiated for now, I pulled out. Catina rolled over onto her back and stared up at me.
“Why are you crying?” I asked, aghast. Had I hurt her despite my best efforts?
“I… I thought… I thought a man couldn’t ever get me to climax while… with his c-cock.” Her already-flushed cheeks turned an even brighter shade of pink.
“Only ever through fingers and tongues?” I asked, watching her intently.
She shook her head and then admitted, “Only my fingers.”
“Much more fun when it’s someone else’s fingers, isn’t it?” I asked, running my fingers over her nipples, teasingly tracing along her stomach, and then entering her pussy. I loved the feeling of our wetness in her warmth.
It interested me greatly that I was still able to ejaculate and that it wasn’t blood-based. My body functioned rather like a human’s, at least on the most basic of levels.
“Y-Yes,” she moaned, her eyes squeezed shut.
I had spent all of the blood in my erection with my orgasm, but as I continued to finger-fuck her, she kept her eyes shut. After weighing my options, I decided to risk it. Swiftly, I removed my flask, drank more, and, once I was able, plunged deep into her once more.
An hour or more passed before we were done. At that point, it was past one in the afternoon. How had Stela managed without me? Had she drained the man? Visited her parents’ anyhow? Would she be at my old house yet, or would she have taken the opportunity to flee?
No. I knew Stela, and that wasn’t her. She knew her limitations better than anyone, and I knew it plagued her greatly that I could feed without killing, yet she had not been able to master that delicate balance yet.
"What are you thinking about?" Catina asked almost shyly as she bent to pick up her scraps of clothes. I had done such a number on them that she could not possibly leave the castle like this. She might as well not bother to even try to put on her clothes as she would remain mostly uncovered.
"Who says I am thinking about anything?" I questioned as I reached for my clothes. I had taken to wearing an older style of dress lately, ruffled collared dress shirts, colored sport coats as if from centuries ago, vests, and trousers. My attire, I thought, matched that of a fine lord living in his castle. Why shouldn't I live life at large?
Unfortunately, my own clothes had been stained or ripped. I normally was able to compose myself so as to undress without doing this. What was happening to me?
“Your eyes,” Catina said.
I frowned, furrowing my brows. “What do you mean?”
“You looked happier for a moment. I thought you were thinking about something… or someone.”
I had been. Stela.
“Vlad, you can talk to me.” Catina shoved aside her ruined shirt and cupped my face.
“Vlad?”
She flushed. “V-Vladislav,” she murmured.
“You stay here,” I told her. “I’ll go and buy you some clothes. Unless…”
“Your closet is filled with clothes,” she said, “as is… as is the female’s.” Catina swallowed hard.
She had noticed the two coffins and assumed I was with another.
Yet, she had no qualms sleeping with me.
Maybe she wasn’t quite as innocent as she liked to pretend to be.
“Would the clothes be in your size?” I asked.
Catina's eyes widened. "It's, er, hmm…"
Confused, I exited the guest room and entered mine, not worrying if any of the other workers might see me. The hallway ended up being empty anyhow.
I walked over to the first closet, which was concealed behind a red silk curtain. Inside, I found a wide assortment of clothes in just the style I preferred. It took me only a moment to change, and then, I sought out the second closet.
It was filled with short dresses, lots of ruffles, all low cut and in the same vein as my own attire. Stela and I would be able to match. Granted, the women who dressed in similar clothes to mine would never have dreamed about wearing clothes that would reach scandalizingly high on their thighs. Their clothes would have reached past their ankles. Who wanted that?
Catina cleared her throat. “I’ll just wait in the other room,” she said, pulling tighter around her the sheet from the guest bed.
“You don’t want to wear this?” At random, I pulled out a blue dress, ruffles along the neckline, blue hearts along the straps, and matching detached sleeves with ruffles at the top, bottom, and where the elbow would be. The finishing touch was a blue choker. Just imagining her wearing this was almost enough to get me hard again, which would have been quite the feat.
Catina shook her head.
I grinned. “Maybe after a few drinks at dinner.”
“Are you asking me to stay?”
“Would you say yes if I were to?”
“I… Yes,” she whispered.
I crossed over to her, kissed her forehead, and left the castle at a swift pace for a human but far slower than even a jog at vampiric speed.
The marketplace was filled with people crowding the stalls. Fruits and vegetables of all kinds, meats, flowers, silks, clothes, jewelry… anything and everything could be found here.
Including information and rumors.
Typically, I didn't bother to walk around and purchase items. I either sent someone to purchase whatever I needed, or else I would locate what I desired and then pay for it. Yes, most of my wealth had been acquired through compulsion, but I did not feel the need to steal for every single item I needed.
This time, however, I opted to take my time, strolling about, listening to the people haggle with the merchants. By the time I located a black and white wraparound dress that I thought would cover Catina’s curves, a few conversations began to stick out to me.
“…missing people…”
“No one knows where…”
“A monster.”
“Has to be.”
“What kind?”
I stepped away from the stall, the yet-to-be-purchased dress still in my hands. The merchant eyed me, did a double take perhaps because of my outfit, and then continued with the first customer as I glanced around to see a trio of older women with dyed her talking together.
Catching the merchant’s gaze, I lifted the dress and tossed more than enough Lei to cover the cost. He held up a finger to the other customer, snatched up the bills, and returned to his haggling, waving at me.
Now, I turned back to the women. “Excuse me, but did I overhear you talking about a monster?”
The tallest one stared me down with shrewd eyes.
It was the shortest and plumpest one who answered. “Yes. My husband is a police agent, and he has been telling me about the bodies.”
“What bodies?” I asked.
The tallest one shook her head.
The shortest one dropped her gaze to the ground. “I shouldn’t say.”
"I only ask because my wife is to be moving here in a few days." I lifted the dress. "A present. I wish to know if it's safe, if it's women being targeted, if we should consider moving to another county…"
"Oh, tell him, Viorica," the third said. She was the youngest, perhaps in her early fifties.
“Is it like that Devil’s Precipice? In Prahova county, I believe,” I said, rubbing my chin. “Aren’t there supposed to be minotaurs there?”
“If that can be believed,” the eldest one said, huffing.
“Minotaurs are real but nearly extinct,” Viorica as
sured me. “This… This is something else. The bodies have been found here and elsewhere, and…”
“And?” I prompted.
“Some of them have bite marks,” she whispered.
I grimaced, doing my best to appear horrified. “From an animal, then, yes?”
“No. The mouth, the teeth… human,” she murmured, “or a human-like monster.”
“Do many others know and realize?” I asked, aiming for anger. “We need to defend ourselves!”
Viorica scowled at her friends, and when they did not move to give us space, she seized my arm and steered me over to the side a few steps. Patting my arm, she whispered, "The police are terrified. They have no leads, and they do not wish for the populous at large to know."
“But rumors and whispers… I must confess I heard something before you,” I admitted as if ashamed.
“Yes, the villagers are frightened and all the more because we do not know what the monster living among us is. But please, do not worry. We live in such a wonderful country. Do not move away. Your wife will love it here.”
“I am sure,” I murmured as she turned to rejoin her friends.
Ah, yes, there was a monster among us, and I was he. I had done well lately but not well enough it seemed. All the more reason to check on Stela. Catina would have to wait a little longer.
Chapter Eight
My first instinct was to return home—my old house. I could see if the man still lived or discover if Stela gave into her dark thirst. Instead, I headed for the cemetery.
And there she was, blond head bent down, eyes closed, lips moving. Not wishing to intrude on her time grieving her parents, I hesitated.
Her head jerked up, and her gaze immediately caught mine.
I nodded to her and then stared off into the distance at the castle.
She dipped her head in response, and I left her there. Yes, I did detour to the house. Yes, I did check to see if there was any blood in the kitchen and found none. Yes, I left my old house behind in favor of the castle.
Stela returned hours later, well after Catina and I enjoyed a meal. My goblet hid my blood, and while I did not strictly need to eat, I could stomach enough that Catina suspected nothing.
A week passed. Stela avoided me as much as possible. After the first night sleeping in her coffin, she begged to move into one of the guest's rooms. I obliged, but I must admit that when she did grace me with her presence, I greatly enjoyed how Stela looked in her short dresses. She never once remarked on the fashion, and she pulled off each one as if she had been meant to model them.
But our encounters were few and far between, and a month passed and then another. As I did not wish to dine, rather, drink alone, I invited Catina over more often than not until one night, Catina stared at me boldly, fluttering her lashes.
“Vlad,” she whispered, tracing her finger around the top of her wine glass. She had nearly an entire bottle this night, far more than she typically drank.
“Catina,” I returned, lifting my goblet.
She ignored her half-full glass. “I… We have been seeing each other for a little while now.”
I did not blink, unmoved and unimpressed. Yes, we saw each other, dined and drank together, fucked each other. A few months was hardly a significant amount of time, however.
“Haven’t we?” she pressed, leaning forward.
Long gone was her professional outfits. Catina wore a low-cut dress every day, sometimes even a corset. It only struck me now that she might be jealous of Stela, even though the two hardly ever came in contact with one another.
Was Catina the reason why Stela avoided me? Perhaps if Stela did not ignore me, I wouldn't have needed to seek out another's company. It might be accurate to surmise that I had first slept with Catina in the hopes of making Stela jealous. All of the other women I had fucked had never once stepped foot into my house, and I had only been with Catina since moving into the castle.
A relationship. Was that what Catina was after?
“Haven’t we been seeing each other for a little while now?” Catina asked again.
“For a few days,” I ventured.
Her full lips twisted into a pout. “Far more than a few days,” she said, sniffing her dainty nose.
“What is it that you want, Catina?” I asked. “A room here in the castle?”
“Actually…” She held up her left hand and, with her right, rubbed her ring finger.
I refused to gape at her, refused to reveal my shock.
“Vlad, please, marry me,” she begged. She slid out of her chair, pushing it back and falling onto her knees. “Our time together has been the best I—”
“We hardly know each other,” I said.
“I know how to make you come,” she said haughtily.
“Any woman can do that if she yanks on my dick long and hard enough,” I pointed out.
Catina winced. “You can make me—”
“Sex is not all that a marriage consists of,” I all but growled.
How dare she try to reduce the sacred vows I had made to my Mihaela. My wife left me, and so, yes, I was free to marry another, but I had experienced love with Mihaela, and I would not marry for the sake of marrying.
Catina nodded several times. Her gaze fell to her plate before she shyly looked at me again. Now, she seemed more naïve and innocent, as she had that first day.
“I might be young,” she murmured, “but I know what marriage should be like. Love and respect and honesty are what matters most, and, Vlad, I…”
I held up a hand. Love and respect, yes. Honesty… I could hardly be honest with Catina about my true nature. She was too innocent, too pure. Such knowledge would destroy her.
“Vlad, I love you!” she blurted out. “Please, won’t you at least consider your feelings for me? I know you care for me. You wouldn’t be such a wonderful, tender, considerate lover if you didn’t.”
Love. I hadn’t thought about love, not toward anyone save for my Mihaela. Love was sacred. It bound two people together, entwining their life strands.
Despite it being months and months, almost an entire year since I met and turned Stela, and although we had not exchanged blood apart from that first time, I still remained connected to Stela in a way that I hadn’t with anyone else.
Not even Mihaela.
Could Stela also feel that connection? Did she see bits and pieces of my soul, of my life’s history? Because every so often, I would see a flash of Stela’s life, and most times, it nearly drove me to find her, to help her. Her parents’ deaths aside, she had faced many other betrayals and heartbreaks. Her life had not been an easy one, and I wished I could comfort her. Taking her away from her old life might have been the best thing I could have done for her, and yet, I suspected she was unwilling to see things in that particular lighting.
Catina scowled, and I realized something in my facial expression must have given away my thoughts, which had turned away from her and toward another woman.
“You love me,” Catina declared.
I placed my hands on the table and stood. “My heart is closed to love.”
She gaped at me, her eyes a brighter shade of blue than normal as they reflected her surprise. “What do you mean?”
"I mean, I lost my love, and I do not know if I could handle that again."
“I won’t go anywhere,” Catina murmured.
"If you ask me for love, you will be sorely disappointed," I warned her.
Catina worried her lower lip but remained silent.
“Now, lust, on the other hand…” I stretched my hand toward her.
She hesitated so long I thought she might not give in, but then her almost too-warm hand gripped mine. We walked to the end of the table. I bent her over the edge, and I took her from behind, not bothering to strip either of us. It wasn't lovemaking. It was a quick fuck session, nothing more, nothing less.
Lust. That was all I could offer Catina right now.
Once we both orgasmed, I pulled out, adjusted my p
ants, zipped them, and eyed Catina as she turned around to face me, patting and smoothing her short hair.
She frowned at my closed pants and reached for them. I caught her hand and squeezed it.
“Can I—”
“Not tonight,” I told her gently.
“But—”
“You can sleep in your quarters.”
On the nights she stayed too late, Catina already had a room devoted to her. This occurred about every other visit.
“You can always wake me if you need more… lust relief,” Catina murmured. She lifted onto her toes and kissed my cheek and then my mouth, her tongue flicking out to touch my lower lip.
“Perhaps,” I told her, unwilling to promise her anything, unwilling to even contemplate love.
Love had stripped me of humanity. Love had cost me my beautiful wife and my very existence. Yes, I had been reborn, but I was now a monster, drinking and lusting as I saw fit. What kind of life was this? And I was living like a lord, pretending I was from another time, all so that I could continue to do as I wished. Since learning about the townspeople fearing a monster, I had found it in myself to go out and be among the people more, to let them see my face. I could not know which had been the first to grant me a title, but many had started to call me a count. Count Vladislav.
If they only knew I should, in truth, be Count Dracula.
I grinned despite myself, flashing my fangs. If Catina had ever noticed that my eyes changed color, she never said a word, and she never cowered in fear from me. Perhaps that was why I enjoyed having her around.
So long as she stopped about this marry talk. While I had would have married my Mihaela after only knowing her for days, I would never feel that connection again with another. Not on that level.
Or would I?
Catina smiled in triumph as she readjusted her breasts into her bra and then swung her hips as she departed the dining room.
No sooner had I heard the click of her door shutting than Stela stood before me, hands on hip. She was breathing heavier than a vampire should ever need to, but I wasn’t about to complain. Her breasts were magnificent, whiter than a dove’s feathers, and they rose and fell with her frantic inhales and exhales.
