Chapter 10
Previously: Obsidian: Ash and Moonbeams – Chapter 9
Obviously thinking it over, she tilts her head. “How do you tell? When his grandfather attacked us, he did have this voice that felt like a winter storm. His mother is different though, well, no idea how she is now, tăticu rushed her away after Quincy’s half-sister gave her all her memories back.” She uses her hands to mime an explosion around her head. “That must be hard, suddenly remembering so many years.”
Caliban gives her a curious look. “Hair colour, generally.” He points at his own. “White to light blue for winter, doesn’t always come through in mixed blood, but often enough. Also, you realize most of that made no sense to me- go on, tell me the whole story, I’m curious now!” He gives her a grin. “We do have the rest of the day while we walk back, after all.”
“And I’m clearly hungry enough to have wolf brain.” Glaring at him for a long moment, she finally shrugs. “But I can’t possibly be blood obsessed with you, so my instincts are fine. You’re okay to tell things to.” After another moment of smiling at him brightly, she nods. “White hair, yes, that’s it. Quincy of course has red hair like all dhampirs, but his grandfather has white hair, so there’s some winter fae in there. As to the whole story, phew, where to start? Best I understand it, his grandfather attacked because his mother sacrificed her little brother to bring my tăticu back to life but burned herself out with that ritual. So until now she was just a ghost, my grandfather in law couldn’t find her, but then she reincarnated into a human body.”
Pulling a face and crossing her arms but slowing down too much from it to keep at it for long, she continues. “But that wouldn’t be enough to find her, no, tăticu’s brother, Radu…” It comes out with a sigh,”…had shared his blood with me and my family had this whole fixed idea that he’s dangerous. Of course, my false husband was the worst. So they do this mean ritual, ripping my emotions right out. Anyway, grandfather notices a ritual including his daughter and shows up a few days later, shakes my castle with an earthquake and demands to see her. We had no clue at the time that he’s not actually concerned for her. I tried but didn’t succeed to lead him on a blind chase to give Mina more time to get away. My Quincy tries to step in-between his mother and the irate fae lord but he’s cackling and tells Mina she’ll pay with a child for a child and poof, off he vanishes with Quincy’s little sister because… I don’t actually know why he wanted her.”
Caliban tries to chart that sequence of events in his mind- fae lord with daughter, daughter burns out in ritual, and… “A fae reincarnating as a human? That’s a new one, that I’ve heard… I take it ‘Mina’ is the reincarnated fae in question? As to what fae want with children… Get their hands at their emotions, or use their souls for high-powered artefacts, would be the usual uses, that I’m aware of.”
He chuckles. “A winter fae, concerned about someone… Not really their field of interest.”
“Yes, Mina is my mother-in-law, once she learns about it. I don’t really know how that reincarnation or possession or so went, just that she didn’t know she’s fae, hardly even remembered my tăticu. That was sad, but she had that mean human husband.”
For a moment, her smile turns dark. “Radu took care of him. Quincy’s little sister is half fae, his grandfather took her away for a few days for us, years for her, she came back really fae, she’s my lawyer now. Oh…” She looks at her wrist. “I wonder if that contract somehow can lead them here.”
“Not soul for artefact, then… But it’ll depend how much she sold him whether she’s better off now. As for following a contract… No idea.” He shrugs. “It’s a magical link, but if it works for locating someone… you’d have to ask a mage.”
~
“Mage? Good, then Arthur’ll figure it out! If I can’t get us two off this place, then all we have to do is wait for my family to find us.”
Nodding decisively, she takes some extra-long steps, half jumps because she has started to be a bit further behind than she’d like. She’s supposed to walk in front, a half-step ahead of people she protects and he shook her hand on it, so… it just feels right.
“Half a world-tree away… and Midgard isn’t exactly known for its magical and scientific prowess- what with humans being so terribly short-lived and all. You really believe your family will find you?” he asks her, smelling curious.
Waving any lack of faith away, really, Quincy’s dismissive wrist flick is useful for things like that, Darcy nods again. “Of course they will. Arthur and Papa are not going to stop researching until they’ve figured it out. Quincy is going to learn whatever power he needs to get here with John’s help and encouragement.”
Yes, she knows that her men together will overcome everything. Her John is so very good in training dracs! He’ll make Quincy run a hundred exercises in the dreamscape if need be, and he’ll reward him. Yes, rewards are good for her Quincy. Oh, and of course that’s not all John is going to do!
“Daddy and John are going to run the barony and punch anything that’s in the way. And tăticu is going to help with anything the Court can offer… right, I guess my mother is going to help, too, she’s Principe.”
~
“Court? Principe?” The word translates oddly- something along the lines of “prince”, but also “chairperson”.
Darcy rolls her eyes before she starts explaining about her mother. He’s not sure whether that means she dislikes her, or is exasperated by her? “The Midnight Court, from what I understand the one big vampire city there is, and my mother challenged tăticu over leadership when she thought Radu was a problem. Of course, she calls herself vampire queen, but it’s really much more of a judge and mediator position, from what tăticu said.”
“Ah. Wait, so vampire was actually the correct term? What is a dhampir, then?” Caliban asks.
“Oops, silly me. I just thought you mistook me for a vampire. Mother is a vampire, Papa is human. Quincy’s father is a vampire, his mother is a fae. We’re both dhampirs, half-vampires. That’s why I said you are like me.” She grins brightly at him again, actually skips for a few steps. “Why you aren’t scary like people. I don’t like people.”
That makes him laugh out loud. “I’m less scary than people? What’s your definition of ‘people’, then?”
“Humans. But with your nice teeth and the sweet thing you said to me right there at the start, you’re definitely a night creature, a monster, like me.”
Sweet thing? He can’t recall saying anything that would qualify as ‘sweet’, but she gives him a soft smile- except her fangs are in it. She turns into a wolf for a few leaps, then that small flying one- bat, was it?, then into a small Midgardian rodent, a rat, if he remembers right, and Midgardian-shaped again. “No silly social rules that never make sense. You don’t mind that I have total wolf brain from being hungry.”
He looks at her, consternated. That display of power, and her other fearlessness towards him and then…?
“Why in the name of all the worlds would you be scared of humans?”
Blowing her cheeks out in an unselfconscious display of frustration, she sighs deeply.
“Because I tried, I really tried to get the etiquette right. I thought if I get that right then all that talking you have to do, all those social rules, can keep you safe, but… Being a baroness still really sucks. The stories lie, you know, they never talk about the endless paperwork, and worse, all those silly social events. Quincy says I’m scared of those because my mind isn’t human, that of course I can never understand why they behave the way they do. I also don’t have that empathy superpower, so how am I supposed to really get what they always want from me? Having to deal with all of them is scary and I hate it and I’d rather walk around here than through the middle of another ball!”
“Empathy superpower?” Caliban eyes her, feeling both quizzical and amused. “Also, still doesn’t explain why you would be scared of humans- What are they going to do to you if you don’t play by their rules?”
“Yeah, you know, that thing in books and, according to my men, supposedly lots of people, although that just sounds weird, that you can feel what others feel, or something. This whole ‘feeling bad for them’ thing.” She shrugs with a headshake. “It doesn’t make sense to me. Neither do humans, but if I don’t play by the rules, or pretend best I can, then I’m ruined and all that. That would be bad for poor Papa, and if I don’t have the barony, then I can’t give Arthur and John a home, and they don’t have any other.”
He chuckles. She sounds so very sceptical on the topic of empathy. “Yes, I’m aware what empathy is- not that it was any sort of superpower. And yes, many people have it. Social species, that is, to varying degrees, towards varying sorts of other beings. And so what you’re saying is, you don’t actually give a fuck about what some humans think or want or expect, it’s just useful to you and yours if they don’t know you’d eat them for lunch if it’s convenient?”
Giving him a pout and scoff, she stomps one foot down on the ground. It raises a tiny puff of dust (or ash.)
“Don’t make it sound as if I’m stupid just because apparently everybody but me knows what this empathy thing is! And no, I wouldn’t eat them for lunch. Arthur always says ‘could we not with the killing?’. He’d be upset with me if I did. And Quincy has lots of that empathy thing, so he’d not like it, either.” Then she snarls, fangs out, and adds: “But if anybody hurts them then I’ll forget to listen to them on that. Nobody hurts my family!”
He laughs. At the unrestrained petulance, and how she’s the one arguing for playing nice with the humans and then completely undermines her point with her body language and threat. Oh, she’s entertaining.
“Didn’t mean to make you sound stupid- outliers happen, guess you’re just special.” He gives her a grin. “Still don’t understand why you’d be scared of humans, then- inconvenienced by, maybe, but scared?”
~
“Of course I’m special; I’m real, not just one of those background characters.”
Gregory made her think she was, but no more. Her men saved her, let her be the monster of the story again.
She loves them and they love her and made her love herself again! Love her drac!
And hm, are dracs scared? Yes, it was scared of losing John when they were obsessed, and it is still scared, a little bit, of never seeing Radu again, but that feels different.
Maybe she just said ‘scared’ because that’s the word that always is used for princesses.
She’s no princess.
No, this needs some thinking, so she concentrates on his question and tilts her head.
“Maybe… maybe scared isn’t the right word? I think I was scared in the beginning when my false husband kidnapped me out of my room. I hadn’t ever been out of my room before, and suddenly I had to talk to people and be a baroness and I felt really uncomfortable with all of that. I much prefer being in the library not having to deal with all those humans, but then again…”
Tilting her head the other way, she scrounges her nose. “John is kind of human, and I don’t mind him at all. I love him and talking to him and all the stories he builds me in his dreamscape.”
“You sure know a bunch of interesting people… How come you’d never been out of your room? Like… literally never?” He looks like he has a hard time imagining that, she thinks. Well, she remembers that Arthur also asked her that, but he definitely didn’t add Caliban’s next words: “I’d eat whoever tried to do that to me.”
“Never! Papa tried to keep me safe from the hunters and the vampires who would try to kill me.” She sighs deeply, because she knows now why Papa was so worried. It was logical, but no, she loves her drac, she never needed healing from it. “My mother didn’t have a good start into being a vampire so Papa wasn’t sure if there’s a problem with being a dhampir. He tried really hard to find a cure. But then I got kidnapped and my drac got woken up and yes, there were hunters… but they tried to hurt Quincy, so I killed them all! And there were vampires, but Radu isn’t as bad as everybody thinks he is, and tăticu is a sweet big wolf.”
“And he couldn’t come up with a better way than locking you in a room?” Caliban pulls an unimpressed face. “Must not have been trying very hard to find another option.”
How dare he! Nobody talks about her papa like that!
Darcy whirls instantly on him, eyes flashing red, fangs barred in a full growl, and pushing a claw hard into his chest. She doesn’t care that she has to reach up, just because he’s huge doesn’t mean she’s not going to tell him what she thinks of him being mean!
“You take that back right this moment! My papa loves me more than anybody else in the world and would do anything for me! You don’t get to say mean things about him!”
~
“Oh?” Now this, Caliban thinks, is intriguing, and grins. “And if I don’t?”
“I’ll make you! Just because we run together doesn’t mean you get to be a meanie. You said you couldn’t find a way out of here on your own, so you need me as much as I need you! You’re not the boss of me! Quincy told me that I don’t have to listen to men just because they’re men, so don’t think you get to just say whatever you want with no consequences.” Still growling at him, she goes up on her toes.
He starts laughing- she’s really rather… adorable. He can’t remember ever being told off like that by, basically, a puppy. A clearly fearless puppy. “And how’re you going to make me?” he asks, grinning.
~
Her drac responds before she can even think about it, the sparking red eyes were her boosting herself in the first place, burning more blood, silly, but it’s done and it makes her move with precision when she clamps her teeth around his wrist, fangs fully extended, just waiting on her bite magic to kick in.
~
He probably could’ve caught her or shoved her back before her teeth sink home, but he’s really far too curious what she’ll do and how it’ll turn out and how it’ll feel… And he doesn’t feel her fangs, but then… Hot, fiery pain sears along his veins, and he moans, feels his eyes go heavy-lidded.
“Oh fuck that’s good, do that harder.”
~
That… was not what she had expected. But then again, the hunting bite does whatever will make him least likely to stop her biting him, so really, it is exactly what she expected, in a way. More importantly, she can work with this! Letting go of his wrist instead of going along with what he obviously wants from her, she grins up at him.
“Only if you take back what you said.”
Also, really? She has such a wolf brain right now, because hello dhampir libido… He had to be this attractive, he had to moan, ugh! Normally, she only gets this preoccupied when John is doing his workouts in front of her. Or when her men play verbal growly games with each other over what they’ll do to her. Or when Quincy has his fangs and mind in her…
Okay, fine, she has lots of times when she gets that horny. But still, ugh, she hardly knows the man!
But her instincts like him, and he has to smile at her all slow and suggestive as he purrs a: “Sure.” Ugh!
“I take it back.” Then he offers her his wrist again, because of course he wants his reward for doing what she asked him to.
She feels the blush creep into her cheeks, but well, she knows all about rewards, and… and she had a talk with Quincy. One that John commented not wanting to know a thing about, but he trusts his dracs and he doesn’t want to force them to be anything but who and what they are. John always loved her for being his wolf-girl. Quincy told her that he is no good at all at being faithful, never was, and they are dhampirs, it’s in their nature. Dracs want to feel alive. Dracs like to play.
So yes, this is nothing she has to feel bad for. Nothing that isn’t just her letting her drac be itself.
She’s hungry and stressed and misses her men. She wants to feel close to her drac and there’s something she can do for that.
“Thank you. Now lift me up so I can reach your face.”
~
He raises his eyebrows at that demand, not sure what she needs to reach his face for- but it’s certainly true that she can’t from all the way down there where her head is. So he grins and does as she asked: Reaches down and lifts her up. If that means one of his hands is under her arse- Well, how else would he get a good grip?
~
Still blushing but envisioning Quincy grinning at her for being so bold, she leans in, puts her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, and kisses him. Tilts her head the way she found with her men makes it much easier, and adds her fangs.
~
Oh, now that is downright sweet- and once her fangs are back, so is that lovely, lovely pain, searing all through him, making him hard, making his hands tighten on her, the arm he has around her waist, the hand on her arse. In addition to all its other flaws, obviously he hasn’t gotten laid ever since he got here.
~
She’s not immune to that reaction, it’s such a nice honest reaction… and it’s been a week of not getting anywhere, then grumbling, then finally shouting at Marcas… A week! That’s forever for a dhampir!
Yes, she wants to feel close to her drac and she thinks she isn’t misunderstanding anything. She could just keep running, she’d like to just keep running, and he tastes nice… But still, her men told her so specifically that it’s important to ask.
Consent. Both of them talked about how important checking in is. And she knows how much it hurts when there’s just assumptions. No, being close to her drac and knowing exactly what it wants or not, she will never be like Gregory!
So she licks the bite shut and tries to figure out how to ask him.
“Before I just let my wolf brain run away with me…”
Faltering in the middle of her sentence because she just realised something, it comes out half a gasp and half a giggle: “I don’t even know your name!”
~
He grins again, wide and satisfied- somewhat.
“Caliban the Mongrel. At your service.”
He purrs it, layers it with as much innuendo as he possibly can.
~
“Caliban? I have a feeling I’ve heard that name before.”
Looking at him for a few moments longer she gives in to the impulse and sniffs his face from up close…
Okay, that was a mistake, now she’s really horny.
“No, I’d remember that sexy…”
AH! It slipped out!
But now it’s too late, and maybe if she just keeps on quickly, he won’t notice.
“I don’t know your smell, so I must know the name from somewhere else. And I’m Darcy Rose Seward or Westenra or with Quincy and John, uh, maybe actually Harker or Basarab or Silver. But definitely Lady Rossmore, youngest of House Draculesti. And also, I’m at no man’s service! My men said that very clearly, only a man who fulfills his responsibilities is worth listening to.”
That sounds harsh, she thinks, or rather, her drac is clearly growling along with it, all defensive, because of course it made her think of Gregory and how he doesn’t deserve so much as her drac pissing in his direction!
No reason to be mean to Caliban, though, so she makes sure to smile and adds: “But I like you.”
~
Oh, she thinks he’s sexy, does she? He grins. “Why, thank you. And I took the name from one of your Midgardians- had some fun plays a while ago. Lots of dick jokes and bites at the rulers of the day. Maybe the play is still around?”
And last that he remembers, Midgardians don’t recognize each other by scent, so that has to be a, what was the word, dhampir characteristic. Or maybe it’s just the puppy.
It seems he pegged the courtier upbringing right, at least. And yes, he can’t imagine her having an easy time of it in that kind of setting, with how… straight-forward she is.
~
Great, he did notice. What is she supposed to do? She might have lost most of her inhibitions with the hunger, but she’s not Quincy, she doesn’t know how this flirting thing works! She’s seen her mother do it, she’s seen Quincy do it, and it’s impressive, but it takes words.
Blech!
With the thought of probably being really bad at this, her smile turns shy. Which she realises is silly, she kissed him but now she’s getting flustered about words… Well, of course she’s getting flustered about words; they are so much harder than emotions.
“Maybe the play is still around, yes. Quincy would know. He’s an actor, so he will get the joke you pulled with choosing that name. Is it okay if I only say Caliban, not the full title?”
“Of course.” He chuckles. “I’m not the guy for protocol- not even titles I took for myself. So how do you want me to call you?”
Huh? She’s not sure anybody has asked her that before. Not that it’s not understandable, she kind of gave him a lot of names there, even more than she normally does. “It’s a bit long and unwieldy, isn’t it?”
Chuckling while she thinks about it, her drac is giving her puppy eyes, so she reaches and tries to figure out what it likes. “Culver,” John rumbles to a happy tail wag. “Beloved,” Radu whispers to a needy whine. “Cycy my fallen angel,” Quincy purrs to a howl of love and longing.
Yes, yes, it’s obvious, even before she sighs at being rose petal and sugar doll and puit, too. And her drac nudges at her, nudges her towards Caliban. He feels so right against her instincts. Let him prove she’s right.
“I like pet names. It tells me that it’s about me, not just the name. And I like you. So, you pick.”
~
He considers that, then grins again. There’s really one obvious choice.
“Well then, puppy, do I put you down or are you comfortable where you are?” He squeezes his hand on her arse a bit- he’s certainly comfortable with where she is.
~
Puppy? “Puppy” says the doggie fishy to the wolf! She likes it! It’s playful and just like John always calling her wolf-girl, it shows her that yes, he sees her drac. He honours her drac. So play she will, and turns wolf right where she’s sitting while grinning at him.