Series: Infinite Love||Story: Present Unwanted
Characters: Camula, Ruthven (OC), Ryou||Ship: Camula x Ruthven, Ryou x Yuusuke
Words: 2,683/56,840||Chapters: 1/20
Genre: Supernatural||Rated: PG
Challenges: Diversity Writing, soulmate AUs, L18, 2-5 fics; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #36, 56,840; Include The Word Boot Camp, #45, tranquil
Notes: Full AU from canon. I already have a asequel in mind. In fact, I have had the sequel in mind since before I wrote this. Or even thought about it.
Summary: Once, Ryou sent Camula fleeing. But there are few things one can do without repercussions and defeating a vampire queen is one of those.

Scarlet red eyes filled his vision and a voice as soft and enticing as seduction given flesh whispered words that he couldn't understand in his ears. Ryou didn't know if he couldn't understand them because of the language or because they weren't speaking sense at all, nor did he quite find himself caring. Only one genuine thought occurred to him as cold hands brushed across his features.

No. Stop. Don't touch me.

He wanted to do more than vague thoughts that couldn't do anything. He wanted to bring up his hands and fight. He wanted to move his legs and run.

Only from the very moment that shrouded figure stepped out of the shadows ahead of him, he hadn't been able to so much as move a muscle. Even breathing seemed all but impossible.

Then between one heartbeat and the next, the words that he couldn't understand faded away and a clear, slightly accented voice took their place. This voice he understood absolutely.

"So you're the one who resisted my beloved."

Somewhere in the very depths of his mind, Ryou grasped who this stranger spoke of. Somewhat more than a year earlier, a vampire made an attack on Shou and Ryou managed to intervene in the nick of time. With the help of the creatures of his deck, he'd driven the beast away.

At the time he would have gladly killed the vampire. He'd never taken well to people trying to kill anyone that he cared about, least of all his brother, who wasn't able to defend himself. Shou hadn't ever been that strong and Ryou despaired that he ever would be.

But that didn't mean he would allow Shou to be hurt.

Again cold fingers brushed against him and if he'd been able to, he would have unleashed the full force of Cyber End Dragon on this creature that stood before him.

A soft, mocking laugh. "But you can't attack me. And you won't be able to attack her. I think she will quite enjoy having you."

That sent a shudder through Ryou. His body wouldn't move, but he shuddered nevertheless. He tried to so much as bend his fingers and hated to think that he failed.

"I would like a taste of you myself." Breath brushed against his neck and the slightest pressure of sharp fangs that he loathed followed it. Then, the stranger pulled himself away. "But that will wait until after my beloved has fed from you."

That wasn't at all what Ryou wanted to hear. He'd heard rumors that a newlywed pair of vampires had recently come to town, but that one of them might be the one that he'd driven away hadn't ever occurred to him. He'd never once thought vampires even could love, let alone wed.

Though he knew quite well that they fed. He'd seen it before: or seen the results from it at the least.

Again that touched trailed over his skin, resting at one or two places were the blood pounded beneath the surface. Every moment made Ryou want to slay this one even more than the one before.

"Let's go." The order struck at a part of himself he hadn't ever thought even existed before. "Follow, be silent, and obey all orders that I give you."

Ryou would have scoffed at the thought if the idea of disobeying could even enter his brain right now. There were a few faint whispers of that thought, but never enough for him to really claim that he could disobey. Instead, he followed the figure before him.

He did have a name for that figure, as annoying as such a name was. If he'd been asked, he would have said it. The figure, the vampire that had taken over his mind and body with little more than a look, didn't want to ask. He didn't need to. He knew what he was as much as Ryou himself did.

Master.

Ruthven guided his prize back to the inn where he and Camula had taken rooms at. Vampires of their kind seldom traveled in human style, but he'd planned this ever since he'd learned they were so close to where the one Camula loathed so much lived.

At least lived for now. Ruthven doubted that Camula would allow him to live there much longer.

Or to live at all. She still carried a scar from their encounter before, one that he'd seen on their wedding night, and if she didn't choose to deal with him properly in vengeance, then Ruthven already had made up his mind on what would be done to him.

When vampires of their kind did travel, they always chose certain inns that had long since been marked by their kind as ones that would provide the meals and safety that they needed. Very few could recognize their places for what they were.

From the outside, this particular inn looked like simply an extremely well built inn for those who had more money than sense. Four levels tall, gleaming white marble with wide windows on every floor, along with balconies attached to each suite of rooms on the third and fourth floor. The building also surrounded a garden thick with lovely flowers and bushes, complete with a fountain that rumor claimed had been blessed by a holy cleric.

To mortal eyes and even the eyes of magicians, it would have looked quite like a place where vampires wouldn't be inclined to enter, presuming that they even could.

But to a vampire's eyes…

To a vampire, the windows didn't exist at all: a well-crafted illusion that very few could see through. No sunlight penetrated beyond the thick walls. There were even more rooms underneath the inn, for those vampires who could not afford the chambers above ground. The balconies provided places where traveling vampires could stop if they needed to, though it was considered rude to do so without paying for a room.

The garden existed, but every flower and bush there provided either a scent that vampires found pleasing or a view of the same. Nothing there could be used to harm a blood drinker in any way whatsoever.

And even better than that, the innkeeper visited the slave-markets on a regular basis to purchase slaves that would be used to provide meals for his guests, as well as for himself. Few thought anything unusual about the keeper himself never appearing until after nightfall or only on cloudy days when the sun couldn't be seen. He had servants who worked the day shift when necessary.

He was also of Ruthven's blood, a clan-member some distance down the family line, working off his penance for having committed a small sin nearly a century before.

"You've returned, my lord?" The innkeeper observed as Ruthven and the human – whose name Ruthven couldn't be bothered to remember – crossed into the inn's entryway. "Are you and your lady going to require dinner tonight?"

"No, dinner has been taken care of." Ruthven said, resting a hand on the human's shoulder. "If you had something selected, then do feel free to take it for yourself."

The innkeeper's teeth flashed for a heartbeat as Ruthven headed over to the stairs. Normally he wouldn't have bothered to climb four sets of them, but with a human in tow, the choices were slightly limited. He could have brought him up from the outside but that would be a bit more difficult than he wanted to bother with.

His grip on the human's mind meant that the human wouldn't be able to resist at all, let alone to flee, and climbing four stairways would wear him out a little more. Throw in making it obvious how impossible it would be for the human to escape even if Ruthven released his mind… well, it was worth the effort.

And so they climbed, step after step, Ruthven anticipating the look on Camula's face with every moment they grew closer. Never before they met had he quite imagined how well they would fit together. He'd known that he had a soulmate, of course. He'd known that since his youth, with the timer relentlessly counting down. But to imagine how simply perfect they were for one another? That he'd never done. Hoped, without a doubt. Believed it could be? He'd never truly done that.

Curiously he glanced down toward his captive's wrists. He could see little; the other's sleeve's covered them.

"Roll those sleeves up," he ordered. Not everyone in the world had a soulmate or soulmates and he found himself quite eager to learn if tonight's dinner had one.

His lips thinned in a satisfied smile to see the mark on his captive's right arm: a wisteria vine wrapped all around it. Soulmate found and the bond accepted. How very sweet.

"Name your soulmate," Ruthven ordered. Already other ideas on what to do with the soulmate, who would likely enough come looking for their partner, spilled through his thoughts.

He also wasn't surprised to see the other attempting to resist. When it came to himself, the human couldn't resist. When it came to someone he wanted to protect, it was far more difficult to get an answer.

"Tell me." Ruthven insisted, not letting him resist. He smiled as they turned up to the final stair. "Either you tell me or I will let Camula interrogate you."

Granted, Camula would probably do so regardless. She would want to strip his mind of every scrap of information that he had in it, just to have the pleasure of causing him pain. But the human didn't need to know that right now.

Ruthven could see the anger rising and savored it. He seldom enjoyed seeing pain in others, but when it came to those who harmed the ones that he cared about – his clanfolk, his soulmate – then that was another matter altogether.

"Fujiwara Yuusuke." The human said at last. His lips sealed together after that, tight and harsh and refusing to let another word past them.

Ruthven could have torn more out of him. The idea of doing so thrilled him. But he let it slide for now. This was, after all, a gift for Camula and there wasn't any need for him to ruin it before she had her turn.

Camula wondered how they would dine tonight. While they'd had dinner ordered up during their stay here, there were also opportunities to hunt, and Camula enjoyed hunting by Ruthven's side. On their way here they'd encountered a small group of armed and armored humans, who'd dared to offer them disrespect.

Peeling back the armor and draining them of every bit of their life's blood remained one of the most pleasant moments in Camula's recent memory. She and Ruthven ran each of the terrified screaming soldiers down and ensured they would never disrespect anyone ever again. Nor would they do much of anything else ever again.

She wished they could do that again. There were far too many people who didn't realize that once a vampire chose them to feed off of, they should submit to it with as much grace as possible.

It isn't fatal. Only if we want it to. Camula tended to kill her prey but she admitted to herself that was mostly because she preferred to feed off of those who dared to attack her when she approached them.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she recalled one of those few who hadn't fought back. He'd feared her too much from the moment that he saw her. That one she might have spared, allowing him to become one of her servants.

At least the thought had occurred to her, until his elder brother interfered, driving her off with a powerful allied monster. It wasn't as powerful as true light, but the beast had definitely tasted of light, and it was far better to back off and find different prey that night. There were other reasons as well, ones she didn't care to consider.

She'd thought more than once about tracking down the offending brother and laying his neck open to the bone, taking every ounce of his blood and leaving him nothing but a desiccated corpse. Such a lovely image that lulled her to sleep many, many times over the previous year.

Before she could get started on yet another fair fantasy, footsteps sounded from the stairs outside the door. Camula turned, wondering who might well be out there. It wasn't likely to be Ruthven; he'd gone out on an errand that he hadn't disclosed the full truth of to her. She expected he planned to get her a surprise of some sort, and anticipated whatever it might be. The innkeeper was an option, but she wasn't sure of what he could want. The only humans who would be around here would be those sent to be fed from, and she hadn't sent for a snack.

The door opened, and Ruthven stepped inside. At first all she wondered was why he'd come up from there, until she saw the person he'd brought along.

It had been a year, perhaps even more than that, but she recognized the human regardless: Marufuji Ryou, the one that had driven her away. Now he stood silently next to Ruthven, eyes dulled and glazed, but without a single mark on him. She recognized the signs of a mind overwhelmed and subdued at once and glee filled her as she rose to her feet.

"Ruthven!" In a few quick steps she stood by him, arms wrapped around him and his own around hers in return. "You brought me a present?"

"That I did." Ruthven agreed, before pressing his lips onto hers. "I remembered what you said and it didn't take so long to track him down."

Camula smiled. "And here I thought that I would have to do it myself."

"We could take him home and let him run around the maze," Ruthven suggested, a gleam in his scarlet bright eyes. "It could be entertaining."

She rested one finger against her lips, staring thoughtfully at the entranced human. "That isn't a bad idea." She'd had so many ideas of what to do if Marufuji Ryou ever fell into her grip. Killing him was only one of them. She wanted to lay his mind bare and learn what he would hate and fear the most, so she could do that to him.

Ruthven leaned his head against hers. "I think he'll be a fine meal to share tonight, however. A good way to begin your proper vengeance?"

Camula licked her lips and stared at her prey. She did much prefer to have it fleeing and terrified instead of subdued and furious, but different spices were quite interesting.

Then she smiled and rested one hand on Ruthven's arm. "Release his mind. Let him be able to see and react to what's going on here. I want him to know who has him and what I am going to do to him." She'd known all that he'd struck at her with during their one interaction. She would do him the same honor.

Ruthven nodded, turning to the human. His eyes glimmered bright for a few heartbeats before he spoke.

"Awaken." A single word that echoed ever so lightly around the room. Ryou blinked, his blank features vanishing in a heartbeat, replaced by a burning blaze of rage.

She could see that he didn't have his deck with him. She glanced towards Ruthven. "You disarmed him?"

"Of course. I saw no reason for him to keep his weapons. But I have it, if you wish to return it to him." Ruthven tapped one of the pockets on his coat. "Do you?"

Camula watched as Ryou's gaze flicked fast and hard around the room. He made no movements but he was absolutely aware of the both of them. His attention shifted more and more to the door behind him. Camula could have told him something about that but chose not to. Some lessons she thought should be taught only by actual experience.

And how helpless he was without those monsters of his was one of those.

To Be Continued Notes: Oh, the fun I have in mind! But I always do, don't I?