Bound

Binding ritual finished, Abraham pulled away from the (his?) vampire, cradling his bleeding wrist. On closer inspection, he was surprised to see the wrist wasn't bleeding at all, and the ragged bite wound from the vampire was only a thin tracery of pink. He sat on the floor, too tired to move, and watched his vampire.

Depite its protests, despite the attempt to drain and destroy Abraham during the binding, despite the repeated and nearly-successful attempts to tear loose from the restraints, the vampire looked, well, pleased. Full and flush with a substantial portion of Abraham's blood, the vampire lay sprawled on his side on the bloody, filthy basement floor. Even unconcious, filthy, with arms and legs chained, he had a sort of boneless grace reminiscent of a cat. On his blood-stained lips was the slightest of smiles.

Abraham would have smiled, too, were he not so exhausted. He'd eaten and drunk well, knowing that the vampire intended to bite him, but the loss of so much blood was taking its toll. However, the vampire was bound to him now. He could literally feel the presence of the vampire in his mind, and some sort of control, almost like a leash, leading to the beast.

He gave it an experimental push, shoving at the connection, and was surprised-and pleased-to see the vampire jerk awake, eyes startled. Disoriented, the creature's gaze darted about, clearly not focusing on anything. Abraham felt a weak pulse come back up the connection from the creature, seeking him out and finding him. The vampire visibly calmed down at this, lying quiescent on the floor, eyes half-lidded.

Abraham pondered what this meant. The vampire himself had shared the details of the binding ritual with Abraham, then proceeded to fight him every step of the way. The initial binding, though weak, had convinced Abraham of the vampire's honesty and willingness to be fully bound. The vampire had even warned Abraham that he would fight; Alucard simply would not follow a human that he could defeat. The vampire had warned him, but Abraham hadn't realized the extent to which the vampire would resist! With Quincy dead and Holmswood still on the road, only four of the original party remained, and it had taken all four to restrain the vampire.

Silver crosses, thin slivers of holly, a twist of yew, an oak stake, and a more modern syringe and scalpel, all bloodstained, surrounded the vampire. Heavy iron manacles bound his hands and legs together, and thick chains connected the manacles to hooks in the wall and large concrete blocks. Lighter chains of silver lay on the floor beside the beast, removed as soon as he was bound. While the vampire had been cooperative as they chained him, he'd seemed to panic once restrained. All of them were nursing strained muscles and massive bruises gained as the vampire scrambled desperately, flinging them about like dolls. Even the great metal hooks in the wall, which had previously held immense heavy planks for shelves, had been bent and twisted in his fury and fear. But the four of them had held the monster down, carved the symbols into his heart as he screamed his rage and pain, and then watched his battle of wills as he fed from Abraham. It had been a horrific experience for them all.

But they were done.

The words had been spoken, the blood exchanged. The creature had given his word, bound and sealed in blood and ritual, to obey Abraham and not harm him. It wasn't so much that he would follow his word, but that the bindings prevented him from disobeying or attacking his Master.

Abraham had what was possibly the most powerful vampire in Europe, dormant at his feet, and under his command.

The question now was, what the hell was he doing to do with the monster?