The room was quiet.
The briar vines had dissolved into dust, and the scent of roses had faded, replaced by the faint, coppery smell of blood and a sweet, intoxicating musk.
I lay tangled in the bedsheets, my body feeling both heavier and lighter than it had ever been.
A deep, sated exhaustion weighed on my limbs, but beneath it, a new kind of energy thrummed through my veins.
It was the feeling of a profound hunger, but also of a power that felt both alien and strangely familiar.
I had a vampire's thirst and an incubus's insatiable desire, and they were now intertwined, becoming a new Dark side of me.
I turned my head on the pillow, finding Eleanor nestled against my side. Her breathing was soft and even, the picture of peaceful sleep.
The feral and Crazy side from the night before was gone, replaced by the beautiful, serene woman I never thought could be Eleanor.
Her face was serene, but her arm, wrapped possessively around my waist, was anything but relaxed.
It felt as strong and unyielding as the briars that had bound me.
I carefully tried to shift away, but her grip tightened.
A low, sleepy hum vibrated in her throat.
"Where are you going, darling?" she murmured, her eyes still closed.
"You're not leaving, are you?"
Her words were a gentle warning, and I knew better than to ignore it.
"No," I said, my voice hoarse.
"Just... stretching my legs."
Eleanor's eyes fluttered open. The pitch-black voids from last night were gone, replaced by a deep, beautiful crimson.
A smile slowly crept across her face, a wide, loving, and completely terrifying expression. "Good," she whispered, leaning in and kissing my cheek.
Her lips were cold, a stark contrast to my suddenly feverish skin.
"Because now you belong to me. We are one."
She said it with such casual certainty, as if she were commenting on the weather.
I pushed back the duvet, revealing a pair of fresh clothes laid neatly at the foot of the bed.
They were the same Clothes that Claire gave and the one I had been wearing.
Eleanor noticed my glance and Smiled
She reached out and traced the new mark on my neck—a small, intricate rose tattoo, with faint briar vines swirling around it.
It was the sign of Betrothal and as she touched it, the familiar scent of old roses filled the air once more.
"Ah~ I feel thirsty again" She licked her lips and came closer to bite me.
But before she could, a sudden sound shattered the calm.
"Ring! Ring!" The sound of a phone echoed in the room.
Eleanor's serene expression vanished, replaced by one of profound annoyance.
She got up to pick it up but upon looking at the screen her face darkened.
"Why is this hag calling me now!" she looked annoyed, but still accepted the call.
Who could it be for her to be this annoyed? I mused internally as I watched her answer the call.
"What do you need? I am busy," she yelled out immediately.
But her face changed after a moment.
"But it's not my fault, Argh, Alright, I am coming"
She then hung up and looked down, dejected.
Now this is interesting, I thought as I watched her dress her naked body.
"Where are you going?" I asked, and she turned around and bit her lips.
"Ah... It seems I have some business to attend to back home. Don't worry, sweetie, I'll be back soon," she said, enduring her frustration.
She seems to think of it as an extremely bad news
However...
For me, it was good news.
No, it was a godsend.
Now I can finally escape In peace.
I watched her walk toward the door, but she paused.
"Ah, yes, I forgot. You see, we have a connection because of the ritual.
It won't matter where you are; I can find you," she left those words hanging in the air as she took her leave.
Damn you, ritual!
And here I thought I could escape without any problem.
But wait... that means I could also sense the others' locations as well, right?
I tried to search for the connection that could lead me towards the other women, hoping to locate them and quickly finish this charade before dawn arrives.
I focused my desire, reaching out through the strange, new connection, and eventually found the signals.
"Ah, let's see. Hmm, Liliana seems to be still in Paris," I mused, feeling her presence, "and then the other mysterious wives are...?"
I sensed something was abnormal among the signals. One was unstable, blinking in and out, like a flickering candle about to go out.
...................................
In a dense forest
A woman ran desperately, clutching a hand to her stomach, which was bleeding severely. She stumbled to a halt as a dead end appeared in her path.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue, her eyes darting around frantically for another way out.
"How long are you gonna run away, daughter of the Witch Queen?" a voice echoed, full of mocking amusement.
She gritted her teeth and yelled back in a fury,
"Fuck you, you damn crow! If it wasn't for the poison and lack of mana, I would have sent you directly to your creator!"
The man, a figure cloaked in darkness, merely smirked.
"Dying bitch sure knows how to bark huh!"
He conjured a spear of light that looked contaminated, shimmering with dark, chaotic energy.
"I wonder who will meet his creator first, huh!" he said, and with a flick of his wrist, he threw the spear directly at her.
But before it could reach her, a magic circle appeared in front of the wounded woman.
From the center of the circle, an annoyed voice rang out.
"Fuck you, Author! So you are here!"
He sounded annoyed, alright.
Well, then, I'm taking my leave.
.........................................
My hands burned as I instinctively grabbed what appeared to be a spear of energy or light.
I quickly shattered it with brute force before it could cause more pain.
My attention was divided—I felt like I had heard that bastard's voice here, but he seemed to have escaped.
Tch.
I have more pressing issues here, anyway.
I glanced back and noticed a wounded blonde woman who was immensely beautiful, comparable to Liliana and Eleanor.
Yes, I believe she was one of my other mysterious wives.
But it seemed she is severely wounded, and the cause was standing right before me.
A fallen angel Judging by the black wings on his back
And the thought of someone daring to harm someone belonging to me made my blood boil.
Both my vampire and incubus sides were furious.
"So who are you to dare to harm my woman, a lost crow, huh?" I sneered, my eyes now red locked onto his, a fire of pure fury burning in my gaze.
"Lost.. crow How dare you call me that! And Who are you? Another one of Alucard's dogs?" he shouted in anger, throwing another light spear at me.
And I casually dodged it as it plunged itself into a nearby tree.
"Alucard? Are you talking about the one from the books or the anime?" I asked, confused by his question.
He looked relieved at my confusion and laughed at my obliviousness.
"Hahahah! Who are you, a country bumpkin, to not know of Alucard the Hunter? But I am glad since you are not from that damned clan. I guess you are just a newborn from a low-class family."
He smirked at his conclusion and shouted, "Then die!" releasing a volley of light spears at me.
I gathered my demonic energy and formed a makeshift barrier, but it shattered upon impact.
Guess I should have learned from Liliana how to use demonic energy after all,
I lamented internally as my body took the damage from the spear.
Thankfully, most of the damage got canceled by the barrier, but it still hurt like hell.
"Guess I need to rely on that after all"
I muttered, and summoned thick thorny briars, surrounding the flying crow, surprising him.
"This power... It can't be a Karnstein, but all of them are supposed to be women," he muttered in disbelief as my vines wrapped tightly around him and began to drain his blood.
It seemed these vines could suck the blood out of their prey.
"Alright, before you get sucked dry, tell me why you attacked her.
Isn't there a ceasefire between races?" I asked him as his skin already seemed to dry out.
But the rate of draining seems to be too much
"The ceasefire is wrong! The world should belong to the worthy!" he managed to shout his last words and died immediately after that.
Sigh. That's the only thing I could get.
Damn this overly hungry vine.
I sighed for the umpteenth time, blaming the vines, which reminded me more and more of Eleanor.
Both were insatiable and clingy.
"Please! Help me, cough!" I heard a weak voice coming from behind and looked at my supposed third wife coughing up blood.
Damn! Now what? Can I cast healing magic?
Hopefully I can
Or else all my efforts would be wasted...