Chapter Seven: Attachment.."It is said, that the root of all pain and suffering is attachment."
-BuddaHow quickly a year can pass when your with someone you cherish, however, I still hadn't figured out if the relationship between Adam and I, that I'm so dearly drawn to was unrequited or not. That evening, outside of Atlas, he'd fallen asleep in my lap and he'd been sleep talking, just simple words, we weren't able to hold much of a conversation, but, during the night, I asked if he loved me, to which he simply replied "No", like it wasn't a big deal. It's completely possible that he just didn't hear me and his answer had nothing to do with how he actually felt. More than likely I was just jumping to conclusions, I shouldn't be questioning his affection towards me, I know by his actions that he loves me. Which is why I hadn't repeated the question while he was awake. I didn't want to upset him, I also don't want to know the truth. Even if his affection is false, I want nothing more than to enjoy it for a bit longer.
Adam needed me, regardless. Kandola needs to be stopped and we are the only ones who have taken notice. Though our pursuit in Atlas was left in vain, we still had done a considerable amount of damage to their plans. Ligero and the rest of his group had just vanished off the map, we no longer had any trace of him, Snow or any of the lackys. Adam had come up with a bizarre conspiracy theory that they were operating underground, using double agents in the White Fang to do so without being caught. Sure, it wasn't impossible, but I still severely doubted it. At least from the members in Adam's unit, we all knew what Kandola is capable of, we all witnessed it.
~~~~
Currently, my life wasn't bad at all, the last week Adam and I were taking a small break just outside of a village between the Vaccuo and Vale territories, not exactly what I would call a vacation, but it's been peaceful and we've been able to get some alone time. The weather wasn't bad, it had been sunny most of the week, but the last couple days, clouds had started moving in, and the later it grew today, the darker and more accumulated the clouds became. A storm was possibly moving in.
It wasn't too hot either, the perfect temperature, I even left the arcadia doors open to our bedroom, so the breeze could flow through, while laying on the bed, enjoying my newest book, 'Calystegia's Library'.
I heard the familiar sound of Adam's boots clacking against the wooden floor as he flopped onto the opposite side of the bed, grabbing the book from my hands and turning it around so he could read.
"He quivered, being tormented by desire, growing desperate with each passing second. Calystegia was lost in thought, perhaps if she deprived him now, he'd beg for her attention, oh how she would love that satisfaction. Yet, Silas wasn't about to let his sweet flower take control, quickly he acted, flipping her to her back, pinning her shoulders to the bed, before driving his tongue deeply, to which erected the most raw, intense and absolutely delicious noises of pleasure from his lover." Adam stopped reading, and handed the book back, careful not to lose track of the page I was on. "Yeah, sounds like something I'd do."
I closed the book, setting it off to the side, before standing and leaning over Adam, "As if you don't like to be teased." I replied with a snarky tone."
This was one of the rare occasions he actually didn't have his mask on. I still hadn't figured out exactly why he insisted on wearing it practically every second of the day. There was a small scar under his left eye, I figured that was part of the reason. This was another concern of mine that I haven't addressed, not wanting to bring up any bad memories. I only wished that he knew how beautiful he was, his eyes were so captivating, such a deep green, like the shadows of a forest.
Our gazes were locked, he knew I was staring into his eyes, normally, he'd get frustrated and leave the room, but so far he hadn't moved a muscle. Adam's hand reached up towards me, caressing my cheek, before bringing my face down to his for a kiss. He must've been in a romantic mood. "The townspeople say the storm passing through tonight, is going to be rough. They're already preparing." He relayed the information to me. "We're high enough from the shore, that flooding won't be a problem for us. However, there may be an uprising in grimm. Tourist season can be hectic around here, people aren't used to some of the storms Mistral gets and traveling newbie hunters will mistakenly take the first line of defense against possible grimm, thus attracting more if their fear gets to them."
Adam sat up, turning towards me. "We should train before the storm gets to bad, so you know how to handle Mistral terrain. .. I don't want a repeat of Atlas, you could have been killed." He reminded me of when that huntsman grabbed me, using me as a shield so that Adam couldn't attack him. Adam was in such a bloodlusting rage that he had nearly killed me himself, luckily he managed to regain control realizing that I was in front of that man. I nodded giving my agreement and we started heading out, after getting our gear ready.
My training had been intense the last couple weeks, the very reason I was not considering this a vacation. He taught me techniques to break through grimm armor and even aura, though I haven't managed to get his aura to even sway. Another tactic he taught me was to force my opponent to show their semblance, so I could easily asset it and work around it to defeat them. Yet, another feat that I failed to accomplish against Adam.
~~~~~
We stood around thirty feet from each other in the garden, both in our combat stances, ready to strike. I had yet to figure out how to strike Adam, his semblance was tricky, he used impacts to charge and once charged, he released a devastating blow. This attacking him and blocking him was out of the question, he only became stronger. The only chance I had was dodging, and waiting for a one shot opening, but he was quick, making it hard to just dodge, I had a few new scars to remind me that tactic didn't work. I needed to catch him off guard in order to deliver my strike.
A smirk played across his lips, adding to my irritation. But, I kept calm, realizing this was both an intimidation tactic and used to make me blindly attack him out of frustration. He also used this technique to force someone into blocking, thus strengthening him. However, when Adam unsheathed his blade, moving to strike with a horizontal blow, instead of catching his blade with my own, as my reaction would normally be, I allowed my semblance to activate, taking the blow for me as I ducked under, he followed through with a overhand, diagonal swing, I quickly pirouetted to the side, adding a backflip, mid-spin to avoid Adam's strike to my feet. As I landed I had to immediately kneel, my right leg swept behind me to barely dodge another horizontal strike, followed by a series of mid-sweeps, which I could only keep stepping backwards to avoid.
It truly was not a chore for him to get the advantage over me.
He was hard to keep up with, somehow, he knew ways to just wear you down as you were trying to figure out a way around his defenses. I thought that I had seen an opening behind him, but his reaction time is impossibly quick, he through Wilt over his shoulder, causing me to clash with him, twice. I was distracted by the fact my katana had connected to his sheath, that I hadn't seen Adam turn, swinging his blade, it was either block it with my cleaver or take the hit.
Slowly I started forming a plan, in order to win fights against stronger opponents, I needed to start fighting dirty and the only way I could think of catching Adam off guard would be if I got hurt. So, I waited for him to take another swing, catching his blade with my hand rather than my weapon, allowing my blood to spill. His eyes widened, his concern for me would hopefully be his downfall. "Blake, are y-" I took this second to use my semblance, jumping over his shoulder, spinning, aiming my blade to just barely graze him, this was training after all. Adam turned, grabbing my hand, pulling me close to him before planting his lips to mine, his blade placed at my side, allowing me to feel the cold of his steel, seeing how easily I would have lost if I was not fighting against him. "So close." A smile played across his lips. "Yet so far…"
Understandably, I was a bit bitter about my loss, I hadn't planned for Adam to catch on so quickly, and I should have. He told me that if I planned on winning, I should have stuck him as I was leaping over him, that he wouldn't have expected. So he took me inside, bandaging my wound, he kept rather quiet not looking me. Concern was building up, why was he so worried?
"Blake..." He whispered my name quietly before looking up, meeting my gaze. "Are you afraid of me?"
Was I afraid of him? Well, in a sense, yes, I think he could tell by my silence that this was the case. He was a very formidable opponent and his mood swings were pretty intimidating at times. "That's fine. I guess I can be a bit... Intimidating." Adam replied on que, as if he'd read my mind.
I let out a sigh, swinging my leg over his lap and tightly hugging him, hoping to calm his nerves a little. He returned my embrace, it was quite comforting. I realized at that moment that ever since he'd read that portion of my book, I'd been yearning for him. My lips brushed against his ear before whispering, "Intimidation can be a good thing…" I used the best sultry tone I could manage, hoping to turn him on. "Oh?" He pushed me back, standing with me, locking our gaze as he looked down into my eyes. "Well, miss Belladonna, If you want to convince me, you'll have to get on your knees."
The mission was successful, my bull is horny. I did as he asked and slowly descended to my knees. Adam fumbled with his belt, struggling to get it undone in his current state. An amused chuckle escaped my lips as I easily unhinged his buckle, working my way to my prize. "You want me to suck this right? Cause it feels good in my mouth?" Adam loved when I asked simple, silly questions like that, it fueled his superiority complex. He'd taken his member into his hand, stroking it, putting a finger to my lips, I watched him in wonder, like I'd never seen anything quite like it.
Our relationship over the past weeks had evolved from having casual sex to playing a more dominant and submissive role. Adam was my alpha and I was his submissive, and I didn't mind one bit. He was always careful to not cross any boundaries I might have.
"Open..." He commanded, and I obeyed slowly, dropping the finger from my mouth, opening it a little, sticking my tongue out as it wided. I had to receive my gift graciously, least I face any consequences. "Good girl, take it deep for me?" He requested, as if he planned on giving me any choice. Adam placed his hand on the back of my head, easing himself in.
I was ordered to keep my hands behind my back as he pleased himself with my mouth, he threatened to tie me up if I didn't do as told, part of me wanted to disobey, wondering what kind of punishment he had in mind, but I remained a good girl and did as he asked.
His first load came quickly, sending warm strings of his love down my throat. "Drink up." Adam removed his member. Swallowing his seed had become second nature for me, at first it was difficult, the taste always threw me off and my nervousness didn't help. Now, it was easy for me and I had grown to like the salty taste.
A malicious smile played across Adam's lips, "Stand a show me that you should get desert." I think it goes without saying that my 'desert' was the favor returned, which he often did regardless. Adam's hand caressed the side of my face before his lips locked with mine, our tongues colliding. "Good, nice and clean."
His hands slipped under my jacket and shirt, unclasping my bra, easily removing everything before reaching down to work on my pants. Adam pushed me to the bed, climbing over me and slipping his hand down my pants, feeling my clit and the shiver that went with it, followed by the yearning whine I let escape. "And what would this kitty like her master to do for her? Maybe I could kiss all your sensitive spots?" He placed his lips to a nipple, sucking on it, while, removing is hand to unbuckle my boots. "Blake, while I was in town earlier, I picked up something for you." I was curious, since he was bringing it up in the middle of foreplay, I assumed it was something sexual. "Well, it's more for both of us." He added, reaching for one of the nightstand drawers and pulling out a box, handing it to me. I quickly opened it, wanting to know what he'd gotten for us now. It was a lacey, black and lavender choker, with two violet stones on either side and in the center was a bow, a small silver bell hanging from it, wit my name engraved on it, a heart replacing the 'A' in my name.
"Do you like it?" He replied, taking the collar and fashioning it around my neck. Of course I did, but I had decided on teasing him a bit, maybe getting a punishment by disagreeing. "Well-" My sentence was cut off by the roar of an Ursa.
Adam had leaped up from the bed, instantly grabbing the pants he'd only kicked off minutes ago. "Sweetheart, I can fend them off, but you may want to get dressed in case there is a horde. You know how the citizens of Vaccuo can get when storms get too harsh." He commanded, grabbing his sword and heading out on the balcony, it was easier to jump down rather than walk through the house.
The rain had just barely started to fall, there's no way Vaccuo civilians could have attracted grimm with their panic already, there had to be another cause. I easily threw on my clothes again, making sure everything was tightly buckled before grabbing Gambol shroud, heading for the balcony as well. I hadn't heard much commotion, but Adam was surrounded by the monsters, effortlessly taking them out without a complaint. I leaped down joining him, also effortlessly taking the grimm out. Some of the grimm already had wounds, their armor broken and scarred. "Adam!" I called out, my katana impaled in a beowulf's skull. "Don't you think this is too easy?" He took out a few more grimm before responding. "I was thinking the same thing, keep your guard up, this isn't just a random attack, this was planned."
We kept fighting, no signs of anyone else close by, just large amounts of different species of grimm. Stronger grimm had been attracted by the fighting and now we did have to put a bit of effort into our battle and we were getting worn down, slowly growing tired. Two people against hundreds of grimm never really lasted long.
It was only a matter of time before I made a mistake, allowing an armored Ursa to collide with my blade, taking a 30ft plunge down the hill, a man stood before me as I made it to my feet. "Well, look at what the cat dragged in."
"Ligero…" I muttered under my breath, readying my weapon.
He smiled, shaking his finger. "Now, now dear, you and your friends couldn't take my underling, what make you think that you can fight me, by yourself?" A laughed came from him, as he unsheathed a chain sword, lined with dust. It's safe to assume this is his altered dust.
"Do you believe in yourself? Better yet, do you think Adam can handle himself against my top fighters? It's too bad you're all the way down here."
With the knowledge I possessed about his semblance and Adam's lesson, I quickly put together that this form in front of me was most-likely just his fucked up necromantic semblance. All I needed to do was inflict enough damage or wait for a quick decapitation opportunity. I started with a quick collision with his blade, pushing his attack back, slipping behind him, before turning and colliding with his blade once again. I shoved Ligero away, hoping to use an underhand swing to catch him off guard, Ligero wasn't the type for such easy tactics, he easily caught my blade with his. He swept his blade under my feet and thanks to my semblance, I leaped over his attack, transforming my katana into its sickle form, throwing it behind in and pulling it back, leaving a gash over his spine, a nice payback for the wound I was still mending from Snow.
Ligero, grabbed my hand, forcing my sickle to the ground, his blade keeping my weapon pinned down. So I delivered a roundhouse-kick to the side of his skull, reclaiming my sword. I combined my katana and cleaver together, this time slashing downwards with all the force I could manage, barely missing him as he stepped to the side, I followed through by swiping right with a dust charged attack, my blade missing him, but the shockwave from the energy making contact with his chest. I continued the assault, using a multitude of dust charged attacks, knocking his blade back with each blow, hoping to get a lucky shot.
He leaped back, landing on a stone pillar, that I easily destroyed with a gravity attack, Ligero jumped off, landing behind me, I turned to face him as he charged me, jumping into the air, hoping to catch me off guard with an aerial attack. Once again thanks to my semblance I was able to dodge the attack, catching his weapon with my own, using the force of his attack against him, shoving him back. Ligero charged me again and our weapons collided in a fury of assaults.
During our battle, we wondered pretty far from the area where I had fallen. I wasn't exactly sure on how to get back, but I needed to worry about that when I wasn't about to lose my head. It seemed that Ligero wasn't going to let up on his assault anytime soon. Knocking him off balance, I took my chance to jab my blade into his throat, but he moved at the last second, fueling my rage.
"JUST DIE!" I hollered out in frustration.
He stood, a smirk playing on his face. "You kill one lowley pawn, and now you've got a big head, huh?" Ligero commented on when I had struck Ochre down. "Adam didn't seem to happy about that, he was worth so much more to you alive, wasn't he? I heard your conversation, wasn't Adam just a bit upset with his little kitty?"
It was true, Adam had gotten upset with me about Ochre's death, during our walk to Sienna's camp. He had called my actions reckless, which I admit that they were, but I had only acted so suddenly in order to keep anyone else from getting hurt. That's also why I wasn't too bothered when Sienna had delivered the same speech to Adam that he'd given me.
"Well, he'd be glad if I got rid of you!" I remarked, readying myself to attack once again. He didn't speak again and instead decided to let his sword talk, clashing into mine again and again.
I needed to find an opening worthy of striking a final blow.
Finally I found my shot, he held his sword, taking an upper strike, I ducked under his blade, swinging mine behind me, laying it on my back when he decided to switch directions, I pulled my katana free from the cleaver, swiping it across his stomach, creating a gash.
"You bitch!" He hollered, backing away from me. Now all that was left was for the finishing blow, severing his connection. I lifted my blade, combining them again, this was the first time I've ever decapitated someone, so I wasn't sure exactly how much force to use, in order to cut through his remaining aura.
As I swung, I felt someone grab my hand, taking my weapon and returning to its sheath. "What do you think you're doing? Killing someone with valuable information again?" He turned me around pinning me to a pillar. It was Adam?
"You know as well as I do that it's just a body, he won't tell us anything!" I pleaded, wondering what had come over him.
"That is why I keep proposing an alliance between us, Adam." Ligero chimed in. "This girl would rather go against your orders and slaughter us, rather than following simple orders."
Adam was quiet for a moment. "You…..are correct.." He agreed to my dismay. "Are you fucking serious, Adam!?" I screamed, struggling to get out of his grip. " He doesn't care about anyone but himself! He wants to hurt people!" I needed to find some way to knock some sense into him.
"But, haven't you been doing the same thing? You never perform difficult tasks for the White Fang before you met me, before you /wanted/ me. And now you're killing in order to please me?" I couldn't believe that Adam would say such a thing.
I thought for a moment, everything that he'd said sunk deep into me, angering me. "If you even think about joining this freak, I will make sure that your followers are stripped away from you. The highleaders will not stand for this!" I pretty much blurted everything out without thinking.
"Don't you worry, darling, I don't plan on letting them live." Adam replied, a cocky grin on his face. A gasp escaped, I quit struggling, just staring at Adam in disbelief. "Did you think that by dating you, I didn't have any ulterior motives? Dating Ghira's daughter can get one man so far in the White Fang, Sienna did help get me to you, but I no longer have use for any of you." He kept my hands gripped tightly, pulling me with him to a cliff overlooking the ocean. "A-Adam…." I whined, piecing together what he planned to do. "Adam, you don't have to do this… I can help you...I can get you to Kuo Kuanna…" I was saying anything I could think of to plead for my life.
Ligero walked over to us, that same wicked grin lining his face. "Poor little Absinthe, just like her, your love ends in tragedy."
The next thing I knew, I was plunged into the water, by the man I loved. My heart ached, I didn't even want to struggle against the crashing waves, but I needed to survive, to warn my family and Sienna. There was only so much my weakened body could do against the waves and I easily lost consciousness.
To be continued…..