ok so you may have seen this fic before - it was called 'an eternity' and it was a drabble. after a while i've realized this could have fit into this series a bit better than just being standalone, BUT given it wasn't written in this series' style, it DOES feel a little different compared to how the other chapters are. i do apologize for that! please let me know if it feels strange at all. i can rewrite it.
so it shall be the wolf he sees - teeth that are sharper than any steel and a mouth hungrier than any beast.
death sweeps over like a fog on the ocean, or the mist of a cold harrowing - it is a veil that finds a moment in time to remind oneself of what awaits them, be it an arrow's eye or the hungry jaws of a wolf. it wraps over his wrists and keeps him still, pulse paused and crushed together. bladimir, in a single moment, feels -
not fear, not fright, not acceptance, not defiance, but a sudden awareness, an awakening, a moment of reality. he stares at masks that merge together, split apart and dance in moonlight dyed red. white fur, black fur, both wet with blood. what is it that bleeds upon the lamb? is it the wolf's open mouth, teeth slick with gore from his most recent hunt? it is a dark red, white and cherry, the colour of mourning and the colour of passion.
a passionate kill - he stares at the two avatars of death, and one steps forward, taunting.
you think you will live forever with your blood magic? the Kindred are the only eternal! what are you to think you could outlive the constant! your arrogance enrages me!
then the wolf shall devour his body - the blood that rests inside him will be preserved as all else, blessed with an immortality that cannot be simply banished away. it is not him, yet is it also him; an existence through life's virtue. vladimir is not a virtuous man, neither is he holy, but he holds a gift of life's essence.
blood is what continues our existence - that what we must gorge ourselves upon to prolong life, stain our teeth with a crimson and drool down our mouths a sanguine beauty. he thinks upon his death, and how it must come bloody, and how it must come violent.
(did you know he doesn't want to pass it on? he will discover he is not the only one left, and still be as greedy as he wishes.
would he burn his body? but knowledge is beyond all importance.
he hungers for flesh, he hungers to kill, but he also hungers for knowledge. would he deny the privilege of secret magic out of spite for his own existence?
vladimir turns and dances with the wolf, a spirit that chases his heels in the lamb's respite.
eternity is constant, yet also, eternity is but a moment - long enough for one good joke.