Heirot

Tenele smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his back. The moonlight offered a blue hue to everything, but at least she could see him. "I don't care if you are changed," she told him sternly. "I love you. I love you no matter what. No matter how dark you go, how far you go, or how much you change. I will love you, Vlad, until I die. Even if it is not the same, as long as I am with you, in all the ways you let me, I am happy."

Her gentle, confident words took the vampire's rioting thoughts down a notch. "I don't want it to hurt you," he murmured.

Tenele smiled softly. "I don't care," she whispered. "I am your wife. I am here to share your burdens and your pain. Even if it hurts me, I don't mind being hurt." She squeezed him tighter.

Vlad clenched his eyes shut. The sobering conversation was at war with the sensation of still being inside her, still hearing her heartbeat trembling under him. "You're a very special woman," he whispered. His hands wanted to shake as he framed her cheek and kissed her, but he kept them steady.

Tenele smiled at her husband, kissing him back. "And I'm all yours," she whispered. Her legs had grown uncomfortable in the current position, so she stretched them up and around him, locking them around his waist.

Vlad moaned as her movement deepened her contact around him. He exhaled and returned the favor, pivoting inside her and slowly building up a sultry rhythm. His lips brushed her neck, teeth gently scraping, and the tense need sprang up mercilessly inside him.

Tenele moaned softly against the skin of his shoulder as he started back. It was a different pace compared to the one before, but it was no less pleasurable. "When you are ready," she told him softly, feeling his teeth on her neck. "I am here." She rolled her hips with him, moved her body to the rhythm he set, wanting that sweet release. She wanted him to feel how happy he made her.

Vlad's body reacted all too quickly to her heat around him and the feel of her pulse beneath his lips. He'd needed this so long, and letting himself think about it brought his control to its knees, along with much of his confidence. It was going to upset her, he was sure it would. After the ecstasy was passed, and there was nothing left to block off his thoughts, the memories would come. They were always sitting at the edge of his mind, and he'd unconsciously bring them further to the fore just by wanting not to.

He had to make it worth it, if he could. And it certainly felt possible at the moment. The things she did to his body... he pumped into her with a sharp growl and huffed against her skin. The tension fed his arousal and made it worse. "Ah-...Tenele," he breathed.

"Hah!" Tenele clutched at him. "Gods... Vlad..." She loved the growl. The dominance in his grip and the way he took her. It was as if he had found new inspiration, and suddenly there was no stopping him. Whatever thought had crossed his mind, she was revelling in the consequences. "Ah! Yes!" Her hands slipped off him and clutched at the grass next to them for leverage. "I'm... I'm... Vlad!"

Vlad bit back his reservations, or what little was left of them. He was going to make her head spin. He was going to show her everything she meant to him, let her feel his hunger for her and his release until it rang in her veins. He thrust into her faster, pinning her tightly beneath him. His tongue lapped over her neck, and then he drove his fangs in behind it. Her sweet blood flooded his mouth like honey, and he poured his power through her until the taste and presence of her inside his mind tore him under. He growled against her skin, cresting into a forceful climax. His groans were punctuated by sharp thrusts as he released inside her, his bite amplifying the sensation in both directions.

Tenele screamed. It was too much. It was also probably not the appropriate sound to make outdoors near the city where anyone who could hear might think someone was being murdered. But, Tenele was little too far gone for those sort of reservations. Her mind shattered, and what replaced it was a hybrid of hers and his. It was beautiful. How could he have feared this?

"Hah. Ah.." the vampire moaned as he finally released his bite to avoid weakening her. It took real effort to tear away. Her mind was as warm as he remembered. He wrapped her in his euphoric thoughts and nuzzled her wounded neck possessively. He couldn't care less if someone found them like this.

Tenele nuzzled against him lovingly. Her breath washed over his skin while her world felt buzzy and dreamlike. It was hard to focus, a combination of the ale and the fact her husband just drove her into oblivion. Tenele closed her eyes and rested in the comfort of his form sheltering over hers. She was so blissfully content she didn't hear the feet approaching, or catch the flicker of torchlight from the corner of her eyes.

"It's a vampire!" someone shouted. "You! Get away from her!" he ordered drunkenly.

Vlad raised his eyes lazily at the onlooker and the two friends who were with him. Eyes of a predator sated with his prey. "Back away, friends. We're occupied at the moment," he purred with a gleam.

The vampire smirked, but then squinted as a sun-bright object pulled from the festival-goer's pocket. "Do you even know how to use that?" he friend slurred.

"Sure. They're totally allergic to it."

Vlad could have dodged a holy object easily. It certainly wasn't close enough to hurt him yet. Every hackle raised in his body as he sensed the power pouring from it.

He was on his back. He was burning from the inside out. He was dying, one collapsed vein at a time, while icy metal cut into his scalding skin.

"Just....throw it at him!" the other tourist shouted. The first did as instructed. The aim was so bad it had no chance of hitting its target.

Vlad reacted as if it had struck him in the neck. He snarled, and a blood shield flew out around them the size of a small house. The hard red shell knocked the holy object, and the festival-goers, back hard enough to render them all unconscious. Vlad supported the shield with an unfocused ruby glare, still as death.

Tenele was disoriented by the slew of sensations and the voices, and then Vlad's reaction. Then, pain. Tenele screamed and thrashed. She couldn't discern that it was a memory. It felt too real.