“Damn That Impudent Dhampir” - An Alucard Tepes X OC Fanfiction (Part 10)
The next night, a messenger from the village of Danesti came to our door, alerting us that there had been night creatures spotted, nearby. Alucard and I were shocked that the battle was going to happen so very soon. Without any further thoughts or delays, we immediately prepared ourselves. On horseback, we traveled to the village, and lead Greta, and all of her villagers towards the castle. There weren’t too many of them, so keeping them inside and around the castle wasn’t too much of a hassle. We gathered around in the main hall, as soon as we returned. I stood in the middle, talking with some of the villagers. I asked them about these night creatures that they had been seeing. Their answers were pretty mundane; describing the monsters as ‘frightening’ and ‘ugly’. However, I realized, the more I chatted with these villagers… their answers did have one thing in common that stuck out to me. I was told by them that these night creatures seemed more ‘alive’ than ones you might normally encounter. A few even mentioned they thought that they had eyes that were way too human-like. I had never heard of anything like those descriptions about night creatures. I surely had never seen one with ‘human-like’ eyes, either. I bit my lip in thought, as I walked over to a far wall. I leaned up against it, staring at the floor as I contemplated the whole situation. I knew there would be a chance that some of these villagers would flee, or cower away from the fight… I glanced around, and noticed that as Greta and a few assistants of hers were wandering around. They were explaining how to use the weapons to the men and women that were wielding them. However, it looked to me as if they would have a hard time. I felt quite sorry for these people. The majority of them didn’t even know how to defend themselves properly, and now this battle was due to throw itself into motion at any time. My weary gaze traveled over to the right of the main hall. Some young children were crying, and so terribly scared. My heart ached for them, and I nearly had to hold back tears at that sight. I remembered being a young kid, and feeling that awful, terrifying feeling of true fear. These poor children would be kept inside the castle, of course, while the rest of us fought. Even so, I knew there was the possibility night creatures could still get to them. I then averted my gaze, unable to think about it any longer. I shook my head, almost violently, to keep my composure and stay alert. It was then that I realized Greta had been standing next to me. I suddenly turned to face her, and she gave me a small smile. I smiled back, subtly, almost unable to smile fully.
“You’re a half-pixie aren’t you?”, she asked me.
“Yes”, I replied, nodding.
“I haven’t seen a pixie, or a variant of the species in so long…”, she added, with an admiring gaze.
I blushed at her admiration, and I laughed nervously.
“Unfortunately, our kind is diminishing quite quickly, over the last thousand years”, I told her, with a shrug.
“Oh? Why is that?”, she wondered, tilting her head.
“Well… there’s been an extremely odd genetic mutation plaguing my kind, according to a book on our history. I read that about three years ago”, I explained. “Supposedly, lots of pixies have been born with infertility, or have been sterile.”
“That’s so sad to hear…”, she shook her head, slowly, looking very sorry.
“It’s alright. Not much I can do… however, for some reason, the relations between humans and pixies have been ever so fruitful”, I went on. “Obviously, how I got here. The catch is that it’s looked down upon for pixies and humans to be with one another, in that way.”
“There was a war very long ago, between pixies and humans. For some context, pixies are the reason that humans nowadays have magic. We brought our knowledge with us, when we left our homeland of Pierra. Humans, however, tried to take credit for what we naturally possessed and passed down to them. They decided that we were a lesser kind, and that they could do without us, ever since we gifted them what we knew.”
Greta was silent for some moments afterwards, staring at me with wide eyes. Eventually, she softened, and slowly closed her eyes.
“That is terrible… Your ancestors never deserved that. I had no idea that magic originates from pixies”, she told me. “Humans should be eternally grateful.”
“They should… however, most of them don’t even know about that war, at all, or of the true origin of magic. You very seldom find the truth, because too many of them didn’t want it in history books”, I replied. “Thought it might soil their kind’s image.”
She nodded, slowly. “I see…”
I glanced back down at the floor, and suddenly felt a nudge in my side. My head quickly whipped up, once more. I looked up to see Greta smirking at me.
“He’s staring at you…”, she whispered, subtly nodding her head to somebody in front of me.
I slowly turned to see who it was. It was Alucard. He was staring at me. However, once I looked up, he realized I met his gaze. He immediately spun around, in a flustered manner. This was the second time that I’d caught him staring at me that way, since I’d met him. I couldn’t help but blush, and smile real big.
“Heheh… isn’t he cute? Are you sure you guys aren’t more than friends?”, Greta asked me, narrowing her eyes at me, teasingly.
I immediately began laughing, and I sighed.
“No… I reassure you, we aren’t”, I answered her, honestly.
“Well, I can definitely tell he likes you a whole lot”, she pressed on.
I giggled, and shook my head, trying to brush it off.
“I don’t think so… him and I don’t actually get along too much”, I told her, my smile slowly fading.
Greta sighed, and slowly turned to look at me.
“In that case, do you guys not get along more because he is avoidant of you? Or are you the one more avoidant of him? This is important.”
I thought for a moment, but immediately knew it was mainly Alucard who made it extremely difficult for us to get along.
“It’s… it’s more him. You see, we’re only living together, because a friend of ours insisted that we do so”, I began. “We were both on our own, and so she encouraged us to give it a shot. I guess we kind of are, but… we barely talk, and sometimes it’s like living with a stranger. He’s very rude to me, a lot, and even when he’s helpful… it’s like he’s only doing it for himself—no genuine selflessness.”
She slowly nodded, and then took my hands.
“He probably just has a lot of feelings towards you, and so it makes him act out. He’s a man… of course he doesn’t want you to know he likes you so much. Men are very afraid of women, no matter what they might tell you. Besides, I’d be pretty afraid of you”, she told me, with a laugh.
“What? Why?”, I asked, laughing as well.
“Because! Look at you… you’re a gorgeous little pixie with buxom curves… you stand out amongst everybody, and that would get any young man’s attention!”, she complimented me. “And don’t think I can’t tell you like him, too.”
I blushed a ton, and averted my gaze.
She let go of my hands, and gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Keep your head up, okay?”
I nodded at her words, before she began to walk away, to help more of her villagers. I decided to make a bold move, and start a conversation with Alucard while we had time. I moved from my place against the wall, across from him, and I walked confidently in his direction.
“Alucard, hey, I—“, I started up, immediately causing him to turn to face me with curiosity.
At that moment, we all heard and felt the ground shaking, and horrible noises erupted from outside the castle. Alucard and I gasped, and gave each other knowing looks. Villagers around us clamored, and children cried. We could hear Greta’s voice over the commotion, commanding her soldiers, and quickly telling them how things would go for them. I saw couples kissing each other, with tears in their eyes, and a pregnant woman was held closely by her husband. They both sobbed, and I could sort of hear her man profusely apologizing, promising he would do his best to come out alive. I looked back at Alucard, and realized he had still been looking at me, the entire time my eyes had been wandering around.
“Get ready! Strike!”, Greta screamed above the raucous.
Immediately, we went screaming like Vikings rushing into battle. I summoned up my bow and arrows, and I flew out of the castle as fast as I could. My eyes widened at the sight outside. The sky was a horrible, dark gray. Thunder struck here and there, causing the ground to rumble. Ugly, winged night creatures flew above the castle roof, screeching their hideous noises. Ahead, villagers were already stabbing, shooting, and sparring with the creatures. One of the night creatures soaring above attempted to swoop down at grab at me, horribly scratching up my right thigh. I screamed and cursed in pain, before quickly shooting it with a poisoned arrow. This alerted the other four, and I quickly fluttered away. Once I felt brave enough, I spun around, mid-air. I faced them, head on, and shot them down. However, I didn’t realize there was a fifth one. I got the shock of my life when I was suddenly wrestling this night creature, mid-air. I held it back with all the strength I had, and I punched and kicked wildly at it. This only seemed to make it angrier, and it viciously clawed at my right ear, tearing a piece of it clean off. I screamed in pain, again, and anger coursed through me. I growled, and could feel my body heat rising. I didn’t have to look in a mirror to know I looked rabid. I hadn’t been this angry in so long. It was instinct that on a rare occasion, pixies can get angry enough to start experiencing a berserker rage, almost like a viking taking hallucinogenic mushrooms before a war. The little fangs I had grew slightly, and my eyes were now bloodshot. I wildly stabbed a poisoned arrow into the creature’s eye, causing it to screech in agony. I stabbed it again, and again until I was certain it was dead. The smell of blood seemed to egg me on, and my vision blurred with the high body temperature I acquired in my rage-filled state. With a violent cry of rage, I flew into the midst of the battle, shooting and stabbing every night creature I could. The rest of the battle felt like a blur to me, but the very last thing I remembered was how my body temperature had grown too hot from my rage state. I staggered about in the middle of the battlefield, my vision now extremely blurred. My eyes couldn’t focus properly, and I panted heavily. I fell to my hands and knees, and somebody had picked me up. I didn’t know who picked me up, but it scared me out of my wits. I thrashed in their arms, desperately pushing at them. I was afraid I was being kidnapped, or killed, or something. I couldn’t speak, so I only let out inarticulate growls and cries of anger. Eventually, though, I passed out in their arms, the last of my consciousness fading to a deep slumber-like feeling.
Hours later, I awoke in my bed, with a start. I sat up, immediately. I panted, my heart racing.
“It’s alright”, a voice from next to me suddenly spoke, and I immediately realized it was Alucard.
I slowly turned to look at him, and I sobbed slightly.
“What? Where’s everybody else? I have to keep fighting, we can’t be sitting around!”, I raised my voice, trying to get out of bed.
“No! You need to rest! I don’t know what the hell happened to you out there, but you were acting more psychotic than an animal ridden with rabies”, he scolded me, insisting I stayed in bed.
“Let go of me, you dick!”, I shot back at him, yanking my wrist out of his grip.
“Lorena!”, he yelled at me, his voice echoing through the room.
I turned to face him, with an extremely defiant glare.
“What the hell is your problem?!”, I screamed back.
“You have been out for two whole fucking days!”
I gasped, and felt a huge wave of shock wash over me.
“Wh-what?!”, I disbelievingly breathed out.
“Everything is okay, now… there were many, many casualties, but the people of Danesti—or the ones remaining—are safe and sound. You fought well. Greta even told me to tell you that she thanks you very much”, he told me, with a heavy sigh.
I sat down on the bed, and put my face in my hands.
“Come on, now… It’s okay”, he reassured me. “You don’t have to feel this bad.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I shook him off. I stared up at him, tears now rolling down my face.
“No! You must think I’m a monster, now…”, I said, sobbing harder.
He sighed, and shook his head.
“No, I don’t. You’re wrong.”
I scoffed, “Yeah, right.”
He grabbed me by my shoulders, and stared into my eyes with an intense gaze.
“I don’t think you’re a monster. I’m just wondering what the hell that was, out there.”
He raised his eyebrows at me, expectantly, his eyes not leaving mine.
“It’s… It’s a survival instinct of pixies, and other pixie variants…”, I explained. “It’s like a rage state that happens on the rare occasion that we’re under enough stress and anger. It stems from our more prehistoric ancestors, known as sprites. They came from Denmark… they were vicious warriors, and most of them were eventually vikings.”
Alucard sighed, and then an awkward smile plastered upon his face.
“Do you know what I think?”, he asked me, softly.
“What?”, I asked, with a sigh.
“I think… you were so brave. So strong. If your ancestors are vikings, that battle showed me that you’re just as strong as them, if not stronger”, he told me.
At first, I only stared back at him. I sighed, not truly believing that’s what he actually thought of me. I shook my head, subtly, as I stared at him. He just kept on staring back, his eyes glazed with a wonder in them I hadn’t seen before.
“I know I haven’t been… very good to you. I’m sorry about that”, he apologized. “I really mean that.”
“I… I forgive you. I’m just—why?”, I questioned, shaking my head with a disappointed look in my eyes.
He sighed, and stood back up.
“I guess… you fascinate me more than I’d like to admit. I’m a man of science, a lot like my father, and I strive for knowledge… however, I’ve never been so curious about anything until you came around. I-I guess you just… ever since I met you, you’ve created this itch in my brain that I can’t quite figure out. You’re just… so familiar, and something about you just draws me in”, he began. “I feel like no matter how much it scares me, I just want to know more about you… I acted out, and I’ve been so rude because I don’t know how to handle these intense feelings. I’m very sorry.”
My heart thumped in my chest, feeling like it could just soar right from my ribcage. I breathed in deep, breathing in some of Alucard’s pheromones. I stared deep into his eyes, and I slowly stood up off the edge of my bed. I didn’t know what to say, I was so touched by Alucard’s revelation. I couldn’t believe that’s all it was this whole time… Greta was right. He just was having a hard time with his emotions. I slowly reached up, and cupped his face in my hands. Wasting no time, he suddenly gave me a quick kiss on my lips. I gasped, but I smiled.
“I-I’m sorry, I just…”, he apologized, blinking, seeming dumbfounded by his own reaction, as if he wasn’t expecting to make a move on me.
I blushed, and laughed very softly.
“It’s okay…”, I replied, with a little smile. “I… I didn’t mind that.”
“Actually… neither did I”, he said, scratching the back of his neck, awkwardly.
We were silent for a while, and just stared at one another, unsure of what to say. I could feel the electricity between us, though, and it was exhilarating.
“I… I’ll be in the library…”, Alucard told me, finally breaking the silence.
I nodded. “Y-yeah. Hehe…”, I nervously giggled.
He gave me a smile, and then turned and quickly walked out. As soon as he left, I laid back on my bed, and stared up at the ceiling. I was so very happy that we finally seemed to be getting along, and I was even more happy that he kissed me. A goofy smile appeared on my face, and I sighed with pure relief and bliss. I was in love… deep love. I couldn’t wait to see where it would go.
