Chapter 19: A Vampire's Love

The sky was dark and merciless as it whipped the land with its powerful lighting and roared with the mighty thunder. The rain poured like a barrage of arrows piercing the sinful land as if smiting its corrupted residents while the winds howled brutally making the trees bow and the buildings crumble to their very foundations. The terrible storm spared nothing, not the ants that hide under the earth, nor the bears that slumber in their caves, and certainly not the men who merrily exploited the land.

One castle standing remotely from civilization withstood the punishment of the gods. The proud structure stood firm and unmoving no matter how hard the wind howled nor how terrible the sky screamed with murder, the dark stone walls remain intact and the towers persistently held to protect its master and his beloved as well as the hundreds of undead roaming inside its halls.

Adrian roamed the corridors of his home to keep his mind occupied. To keep his mind away from a certain thought. A terrible thought that must never be realized. A terrible thought that must never be executed. He bit his lips and pounded against the wall of the castle that so affectionately protected him and his predecessors. He can feel his hunger consuming his body and soon it will also consume his mind.

The storm raged relentlessly outside of his castle, more intense than anything he had ever seen before which prevented him from leaving and looking for his meals. It has been two weeks since he last tasted the blood of humans and now he's experiencing withdrawal symptoms combined with his intense hunger.

For the most time, he only slept inside his coffin to ward off his hunger and avoided seeing Ruby as much as possible. He had sent out numerous ghouls to hunt for humans but so far none of them returned. He's beginning to lose hope. If this continues on he will have to consume his own blood which will lead to him being a complete monster as vampire cannibalism often tends to be. If that happens he will endanger Ruby and maybe make her suffer for all eternity. That thing won't happen. He will put a stake to his own heart before he ever harms his beloved.

He held on to the wall as his head swirled with hunger. Endure it just a little more.

"You have a delicious meal on your table and yet you don't eat it. How stupid can you be, brother?" Adrian turned on his back and glared at the person

"What are you doing here, Lancelot?" he spat at the intruder.

"I'm here to bring you back to reality, brother. You've been starving yourself for weeks, too afraid of hurting your little pet, and taking a small bite. Even though she is a fountain of delicious phantasmal blood. Really brother, I didn't think that you'd fall so low as to love a Pe-."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, SCOUNDREL. If you ever suggest such a thing I will not hesitate to kill you!! Even in my current state, I can still destroy you!!" he warned, summoning his sword and pointing it to his brethren.

"Ooohhh, terrifying. I would like to see you try." Lancelot replied in sarcasm.

"But don't say that I didn't give you anything." Lancelot threw a vial at the Count who caught it effortlessly.

"Blood mead?" Adrian guessed looking at his brother with a stern face.

"Yes, it can satiate your hunger for a while and don't worry I didn't tamper with it. I really pity you brother. You were the one that received the shorter end of the stick just because you were born first. Auntie Elizabeth also preferred you more that's why you were the one to inherit all these riches and curses. It must have been torture to be trapped in her castle where she used to torment you along with all the girls she had raped and tortured. I wonder if you still hear the voices of the damned screaming in your hallways. But I wonder more what your little flower will think when she sees your face. Do you think she'll be repulsed or do you think that she'd jump from a turret just to get away from you?" Lancelot voiced with a devious smile. His words dripped with a lethal venom that aims to torment his mind and trigger his anger.

A starving vampire with anger is uncontrollable. Senses will all be gone once he falls for his brother's manipulation and he might harm his Ruby, his precious gem, his sweet sweet angel. No, he will not be angry. Anger is for the weak. Adrian Vladimir is not weak. He will not revel in Lancelot's words. He will keep his beloved safe. He will not take a bite of his beloved even if it means that he starves. And so he shall because he is strong and endurance is the virtue of the mighty.

"You have overstayed your welcome. I think that it is best for you to leave." Adrian said with finality in a low cold voice that offers no warmth nor recognition of family.

"Farewell, brother, and may you come to your senses." The earl said before turning into a cloud of bats and departing. Adrian looked at him with loathing before turning away.

Now he had done it. He had done the most blasphemous of deeds. He had hurt his beloved. His Ruby.

Blood dripped from his mouth as Ruby stared at him wide-eyed and fearful. His body shook as he returned her gaze afraid and guilty.

In the midst of lovemaking, Adrian had bitten Ruby's neck and drank her blood as he orgasmed inside of her. She moaned in pain and whimpered his name, looking at him with a betrayed look. By doing that, he made her nothing but a livestock which he can feed or fuck or both. He pulled away in guilt, looking at her with mournful eyes as if silently begging her for forgiveness.

He turned to leave but she grasped his hand and pulled him back. Ruby hugged him placing his head against her breasts and whispering words of comfort and forgiveness into his ear. Adrian started tearing up for some unknown reason he cannot explain, complex and heavy emotions swirling in his head and heart all because of her kindness.

"It's okay. My heart, my soul, and my body are all yours. You've taken care of me in my darkest moments and never left me. Now it's my turn to return you the favor." Ruby pulled away and wiped his tears away.

"Here, you may taste me. Even if you end up killing me it's alright. I have all my love to give and you won't run out of it anytime soon. My love is not fragile." She presented her body to him in all her nude glory and he shed tears as he accepted her blessing. An unholy being accepting the kindness of a goddess. He doesn't deserve her. No mortal man nor an immortal one deserves the kindness and love of such a being as pure as she. She's beyond sweet, she's beyond kind, she's a being unfathomable by the limited mind.

Adrian was dumbfounded for a moment before standing up and making her lay on the bed. He climbed on top of her and pushed his manhood inside of her trusting ever so carefully inside of her warm and tight sex. He parted her hair and bit her neck eliciting a moan of both pleasure and pain from her lips. He drank her blood slowly at first before turning into large gulps. His penetration also intensified.

Her blood tastes magnificent. Better than any elf or human he's ever tasted before. And the fact that he's eating her while pounding her insides is turning him on more. Ruby had shown him what true love is going as far as sacrificing herself for him. His mind is blank of anything but her taste and her pussy. He wants to cum inside her as she dies in his arms. Her life will complete his love and her blood will satiate his hunger.

He can sense her life fading as their lovemaking progressed. Ruby became more limp under him and her white skin turned paler, her lips losing their rosy color. His dick exploded, penetrating inside her womb just in time for the last semblance of life to vanish from her features and her heart stopped beating.

That was the first and the last time that Adrian had hurt Ruby. The storm passed and the ghouls were able to bring back food for him. Their relationship was never the same after that but instead of the incident breaking them apart, it had made their love stronger. Adrian could never forgive himself for killing her and feeding on her kindness and innocence but Ruby always forgave him saying that she never regretted what they did because she loves him more than her own life.

Adrian awoke from his coffin. He opened the door and stood from the velvety cushion only to be surprised by a little present. His precious gem had let herself inside his room and dressed her body in mere crimson ribbons alone and nothing else. A cute smile stretched across her beautiful lips as he went near her and knelt in front of her. He kissed her hand and stared lovingly into her viridian eyes.

"Happy 100th anniversary my dear. Can I open up my present now?" he asked holding on the ribbon binding her breasts.

"You can't unless you say the password." Ruby replied, smiling at him cutely.

"Let me think. Is it sweet tits?" he guessed teasing her.

"Wrong."

"No? Well, then it must be strawberry shortcake."

"No, you're just insulting me. You're being a meanie. Meanies don't play with my kitty!!" she pouted giving him a head chop.

"Sorry, sorry, okay. Fine. I'll say it." Adrian stared deep in her eyes with the same fire as the first time he confessed to her his feelings making Ruby's heart hammer loudly inside her chest. Even though it's been a hundred years, their feelings had never waned one bit. Yes obstacles have challenged their commitment and they have hurt each other repeatedly one way or another but in the end, they still choose to be together. Their love never bore fruit and they figured that it never will but they are content to have each other.

"I love you." they said in unison. Their lips met in a passionate kiss, desire burning in their hearts. In the darkness, Ruby can feel her heart beating his name whispering it in thousand declarations of love. His lips danced with her own in the rhapsody of their union while his cold touch roamed her body sending electricity running up her spine.

They pulled away in breathlessness and Ruby opened her eyes to find him... gone. She's no longer in his room, sitting in his bed, and frolicking with him. Bandages covered her body instead of the ribbons with which she had wrapped herself to surprise him. Pain registered in her brain instead of pleasure and his cold touch was replaced by cold nothingness. She's alone in this room. She's somewhere else from his castle and his embrace, far from him because he is long gone and forgotten by time except for her.

She sat up from the bed and stood up, wobbling slowly as she did. She supported her body with the furniture and walked towards the window where the pale full moon illuminated the room. She opened the lock and pushed the window open to feel the cold breeze that greeted her skin. She gazed up at the sky and ruminated. It was the same sky when he confessed his feelings to her. The scene is one of the most vibrant things in her memory because it was the first excitement she felt after decades of grief.

"You know. I never get to forget you." she whispered in the wind. The scene of his final hours played in her head vibrant and true as if it was the present.

It was the night of their hundredth anniversary. Ruby woke up alone in Adrian's bed still naked while the remnants of their lovemaking are still present on the sheets and between her legs. She stood up, dressed herself in her skirt and blouse before going out and looking for her husband. A shocked gasp escaped her lips at the scene she stumbled upon after leaving the room. Dead bodies litter the floor mutilated, consumed, and tortured. Blood splashed in every corner painting the brown walls with red. The scene made her gag and the smell made her puke.

Tears streamed down her eyes in grief but she held herself together and looked for her beloved. She went to the library to grab Azrael to protect herself in case anything jumps on her since the scythe is the only thing she knows how to use in his household.

She opened the door to the library and was astounded to find him there, feeding on a silver-haired female elf who was still alive and squirming. He was eating her flesh which he never did before. Typically, Adrian would only drink their blood and order the ghouls to eat the bodies. Ruby found other corpses littering the floor, all of them are young petite and blonde like her. She tried inching closer to him, evading the puddles of blood and the torn-apart corpses of young girls.

"A-Adrian..." she whispered fearfully. The vampire's attention suddenly snapped to her and he quickly pounced on her. He had a hungry look on his face and Ruby whimpered noticing that his handsome features had changed into something monstrous. His eyes turned black while his formerly warm vermillion irises turned a darker and more sinister shade of red. His teeth got longer and sharper as well as his nails. The blood from his lips dripped down to her cheek making her reel back in disgust.

"Adrian... What happened to you?" she whispered, looking him straight in his eyes.

"What happened? Well, you happened!! You let me taste your blood and even consume your life but the guilt made me miserable!! I couldn't stop wanting to eat you but there's something inside me stopping me from harming even a strand of your hair!!" he slammed his fist beside her head making her winch.

"You!! You!!" He screamed at her in rage. Ruby closed her eyes in fear of his impending move and laid still due to her inability to think coherently and understand the situation. She can't believe what's happening. It all feels surreal. She must still be in a dream.

"You!!"

"You!!"

"You!!"

"Why can't I stop loving you...?" tears suddenly fell from the vampire's eyes and dropped down to her face. Ruby opened her eyes, looking at him pitifully.

"I can't go back now. I've consumed even my own brother just to protect you. I'm turning voracious. I'm turning into a Demonic vampire as vampire cannibalism leads to and soon I will transition into a mindless evil and kill even you so you must slay me and let me die honorably." Adrian said, pulling away from her and standing up to grab Azrael. He handed her the blade and looked at her with stern eyes.

"There must be another way. I please don't let me kill you. You are the only one left with me. I can't lose you too." she begged, declining the weapon.

"I don't want to lose you as well so I'm doing this for us. Don't worry I'll always be a part of you." he spoke softly to her, cupping her cheek and kissing her forehead. His face suddenly looked pained and he nearly collapsed on the floor but Ruby caught him just in time.

"Ruby it's too late. I can feel it taking over me. I have at least ten minutes left before evil takes over. We don't have time." Alucard urged pushing Azrael on her arms.

"But... But I can't kill you. I love you. If you're going to die then... Let's be together in oblivion." Ruby smiled weakly lifting Azrael.

"No. I want you to live. If I perish nothing will remain of me. No one will remember me, except for you. I will only exist in you now. That way we'll always be together even when we're apart." he intertwined his fingers with her and whispered words of comfort. Ruby was speechless as tears flow profusely down her cheeks. She lifted Azrael with shaking hands and gave him a pleading look as if begging him to make her stop. Adrian did no such thing, he only smiled and traced a cross against his heart telling her to strike there.

It took Ruby a solid minute to execute his order and when she did, her scythe hit true to its target. She pulled the scythe away and dumped it down the floor before rushing up to him and tackling him in a hug. Adrian caught her and held his ground.

"I'm sorry!!!" she cried in his chest.

"Don't be. I can't let you disappear. This way, you'll have a chance to have a happy next life. I want you to live and find your happily ever after. I'm sorry it's not with me. I guess I'm just another side chapter but I hope that you enjoyed the time you spent with me." Adrian started fading away. His feet were the first to turn to cinders and slowly ascend to his legs. He hugged her tighter in his embrace and whispered words of comfort.

"I love it! I love every second I spent with you! And I will let those wolves chase me a thousand times again and again if it means that you'll be there to save me a thousand times more. I love you. People may see you as a villain but for me, you'll always be my hero."

"No, it was you in fact who saved me. You made me feel love for the first time in my life. We are all bound to perish one day but you are the only one who was able to bring sunshine in my bleak life. Farewell, my love. No matter how many years pass by, I love you the most.... more than anything else in the world." He said before completely vanishing into dust leaving her all alone in his castle.

A loud cry erupted that night from her throat but no one could hear her grieve nor console her sadness. She collapsed on the floor stained with his blood crying out for the gods to bring back her love. Only the darkness and the cold embraced her while the corpses he had slain rot around her. She cried and cried until the moon set and the sun rose until tears no longer fell from her eyes.

She stood from the ground and went to the balcony where the sun can be seen peeking from the horizon. When the light of the new day hit her face her golden hair had lost its brilliant color and turned silver.

"I thought that you would always be here for me but then you vanished completely. And now you only live in my memory. No heaven or hell no ghost to haunt me. Just a memory. But thanks to you I have a reason to live. Not for anyone's desire but because I want to because you showed me with your love how precious my life is. Because I'm the only one where all of you live, where all of you exist."

"Perhaps in another world, we could truly be perpetual." she whispered before turning on her back and returning to her bed. She suddenly stopped in her tracks when rose petals flew around her.

"I love you."

The ghost of her dream still lingered in her memory where his touch never left her skin. Tears poured down from her eyes at the unearthed memory opening up long-closed wounds.

"Happy 300th anniversary, my dear." A faint voice whispered in her ear passing like the wind and fading as quickly as it came. She felt ghostly cold arms wrapping around her body as her legs collapsed under her. She cried due to the sudden sensations invading her heart.

She knew that it couldn't be his ghost, that he couldn't send her a message from the grave. She had killed him with Azrael after all, killing his soul as well. Everything she's feeling is just illusions made by her tired mind because of that dream. It couldn't be real.

But... even a little bit she wanted to believe that it was really him still looking out for her even after all these years. That he forgives her and still remembers her. Even if it's just a dream that she wanted to believe in.