There's some Romanian in this chapter, so I'll translate it for you here:

Miere rubin. – Ruby honey.
Mea. – Mine.
Ești al mea. – You are mine.
Asta e ceea ce ai vrut? – Is this what you wanted?
Lartă-mă. – Forgive me.
Eu sunt Dumnezeul tău acum. – I am your God now.
Țipă pentru mine. – Scream for me.

That being said, I do not speak Romanian and shamelessly use an online translator.

Enjoy.

8.12.14 - Lots of vital changes in this chapter concerning character development. Please re-read before moving on.

Give me some reviews, people. I'm hurtin for em.

Chapter 7

"Catherine..."

The girl stirred, then yawned and stretched her limbs luxuriously. Soft silk caressed her skin as she did so, and she smiled sleepily. It had been a long time since she had awoken so rested. She opened her eyes slowly.

She was lying on a bed.

Catherine sat up and looked around her quickly; someone had moved her while she was sleeping. At first, the tapestries on the walls led her to believe she was in another room at Hellsing Mansion, but then something caught her attention. Was that a… washing basin? Her eyes searched the room again. A great, unlit fireplace built of rough-hewn stone faced the bed, which she realized now was incredibly oversized and lavish. There were even pearls sewn into the down-stuffed, silken throw cover that lay draped at the end of the bed, and the bedframe itself was gilded with what looked like gold. Catherine looked up, and through the grand embroidered canopy cover she could make out a magnificent crystal chandelier hanging from a ceiling that must have been twenty-five feet high. She crawled forward on the bed, out from under the canopy, and in the dim moonlight that came through the windows she saw something that took her breath away.

The uppermost parts of the walls had been painted with the most bewitching mural she had ever seen. Fair-skinned maidens in flowing medieval gowns frolicked above her, their long hair braided with carnations and primroses. They danced in a forest, shaded from the sun that might darken their porcelain skin, and shielded from eyes that might reprove them. A quick look around, and Catherine saw that the mural covered all four walls. On the wall the bed rested against, a dark-haired maid was opening her dress to step into a pool of crystal water. Catherine's eyes moved over the white skin, the rosebud mouth, the small breasts. She was beautiful, eternally testing the little crystal pool with an elegantly pointed foot.

"Do you like it?"

Catherine started and whipped around. Alucard stood on the other side of the bed, but he was… different. Catherine looked at his clothing, now comprised of a red silk shirt and dark trousers. His hair tumbled over his shoulders, longer than Catherine remembered. She watched him reach out and run his hand over the silk bed sheets; he wore no gloves now, and his nails were long and sharp. Despite that, the motion his hand made over the bed was oddly sensual.

"I brought all of this here for you," he said, looking around the dazzling room. "The castle is old, but it can be made beautiful." His gaze settled on her again, glowing in the darkness. "You do like it," he whispered, and it almost sounded like a command instead of a question.

Catherine nodded slowly in response, her lips parted in readiness to ask the thousand questions that she wanted answers to: Where were they? Were they still at Hellsing Mansion? Why was he wearing those clothes? Where were his gloves? How was his hair so long-

"Enough," Alucard said, and Catherine absently closed her lips, all thoughts of those questions vanishing. Shadows played over his sharp features as he watched her, creating contrast that, if anything, made him eerily more handsome. He reached out with a clawed hand, beckoning the girl to come to him.

Catherine stayed where she was, pressing back into the pillows. Alucard raised his chin and narrowed his eyes. He flicked his fingers in a summoning gesture, and Catherine felt herself moving against her will. She was crawling across the expanse of silk toward him, her cotton shift riding immodestly high as she moved. She desperately wanted to pull it down, but it was as though she had no control over her body anymore.

Alucard took her hand in his as she reached him. Raising it to his mouth, he pressed a feather-light kiss against the skin. The gesture was almost chaste, but Catherine's skin still broke out in goose bumps. The vampire saw this and smiled slightly.

Catherine's breath hitched as his hand moved up to the side of her face, the sharp claws threading precisely into her hair. His thumb caressed her cheek. Catherine quailed inside as Alucard closed his eyes and leaned forward, his nostrils flaring like a wolf's scenting a quarry. When his eyes opened again, she saw that his pupils had reduced to bestial slivers. Catherine trembled, and the fingers curled tightly in her hair. She couldn't pull away.

"Miere rubin," he said so softly that she almost didn't hear.

Every fiber of her being began to scream when Alucard pulled her head to the side, making vulnerable her neck. She knew what was going to happen, and she mentally steeled herself for the pain. She tried to squeeze her eyes shut, but she couldn't make her body do even that. Instead, she found herself staring up at the maidens on the wall. They smiled and danced blissfully, ignorant of the horrifying scene below them.

Catherine felt Alucard's cold lips on her neck, and then she felt his teeth. The sharp points slid across her skin as he drew back his lips, his mouth opening monstrously wide.

Her body jolted as the teeth sunk deep into her. There was a striking pain, and Catherine cried out, but then that pain ebbed to mere pressure, and then that wonderful, pleasurable heat radiated out from the bite. Catherine's mouth fell open, her vision blurring as she stared upward. No more fear. No more pain. Just pleasure. The heat coursed through her, gathering in her heart and brain as it cycled round and round, stoking itself up again and again. She whimpered, and Alucard growled into her neck. His lips were moving against her skin as he sucked, and Catherine felt the heat rush down to build up a hot and heavy blaze between her legs. She lifted her hands, one sliding over the cool silk that covered the vampire's back, the other clutching at his hair. The pressure released abruptly.

Catherine all but shrieked when Alucard bit her again, his teeth anchoring hard in her shoulder. She arched against him in ravishment, her fingers still snarled in the thick, raven hair. As he drank from her, she reached down with one hand and attempted to pull the cotton shift upward; she needed to feel him against her, press herself into him, show him the rest of her skin in the hopes that he would want to taste it.

Alucard grunted when he felt her fumbling with her clothes. He wrenched his teeth from her flesh, drawing a mournful cry from the girl as he did so, and, with a push, he sent her falling backward into the middle of the bed. He crawled on top of her then, his knees dipping the bed on either side of her slender hips. Instead of pulling the shift over the girl's head, he grasped the center of the bloody neckline with both hands and ripped it outward, tearing the fabric open all the way down to the hem, until the shift fell open and her body was bared to him.

His eyes and hands moved possessively over the smooth slopes and willowy curves before him, and Catherine writhed under his touch. He palmed one of her breasts gently, coaxing the pink nipple to harden. The girl whined softly; it was a beautiful sound. Grasping her by the waist, he bent down and ran his inhumanly long tongue up between her breasts.

"Mea," he crooned, lathing one breast with his tongue while he groped the other. Her heartbeat was thunderous in his ears, her skin feverish under his touch.

Catherine moaned when he bit the side of her breast. She arched up again, her body feeling as though it would burn up if she couldn't press it against his cold skin. Alucard sucked more gently here, his tongue rolling over the delicate flesh, but only for a moment. The pressure on her breast released, and she watched with hazy eyes as the vampire rose up over her. Blood stained his face and neck, and Catherine felt a profound, morbid excitement in the idea that it was hers. She bit her lip, rolling her hips and reveling as his eyes flared and raked her body hungrily. When his gaze settled on her face, he pounced on her again with a vengeance.

Alucard crushed his mouth fiercely to hers, lips moving hard as they sought dominance. She was his, and only his. He forced her lips open, plundering her mouth roughly with his tongue, and she gave a muffled cry; he thrilled at the submissive sound. He dug his fingers into her hips, grinding himself against her. In turn, Catherine's little hands pulled at his hair, his shirt, his trousers. She forced her body upward, pushing back at him hard, until Alucard could take no more.

Catherine made a pained sound when he kneed her thighs apart roughly. His mouth continued to move hard against hers, his teeth biting at the swell of her lower lip, his nails scoring lines on her hips, and as the fogginess of his feeding began to fade, Catherine became more aware of the rough treatment. She didn't have time to dwell on it, though, as the sound of a buckle being undone drew her attention. Her mouth was released, and then Alucard was levering himself up to hover over her.

"Mea," he said again, but this time his voice had a feral edge to it. "Ești al mea." Catherine looked up to see the vampire's eyes positively shimmering with heat. Almost faster than her eyes could follow, he grabbed at her underwear, tore them open with his claws, and positioned himself between her legs.

He hadn't bothered to remove his clothes, and so Catherine almost ripped the silk shirt when he thrust into her. Her mouth gaped open in a silent cry as he pushed, forcing himself deeper and deeper until he was buried in her up to the hilt. She was slick with desire but her body was narrow, and so the feel of him deep inside her was as painful as it was exhilarating. Breath came to her in short gasps. She looked upward. Alucard was the picture of rapture; eyes closed, head thrown back, lips parted. When he finally opened his eyes, the unbridled lust in them brought Catherine fully out of the feeding haze. She groaned as he moved his hips slightly, the intrusion of him spreading and stretching her in a way she'd never experienced. He lowered his face to the unmarred side of her neck and pressed a cold kiss to it.

"Asta e ceea ce ai vrut?" he said, his voice a throaty whisper. His tongue slithered out to lavish her skin, his teeth nipping just hard enough to hurt. Catherine sucked in a breath as he began to thrust, his body heavy on top of her.

The fogginess from the feeding had cleared completely now, and Catherine stared open-mouthed at the dark canopy above her, little cries escaping her in response to each of Alucard's long, slow movements. She felt his teeth nip her skin again, and she gave a cry a bit louder than the rest.

"That… hurts," she gasped between thrusts. Alucard kissed the throbbing skin.

"Lartă-mă," he said, his tone gentle.

Catherine was relieved when he pushed up off of her, away from her neck. As he rose onto his knees, though, he grabbed hold of her hips and pulled her up with him. The new angle made her cry out, but only partly in pain. He gave her a moment to become comfortable before beginning to thrust again, his pace faster this time. Catherine clutched at the bed sheets, moaning at the feel of him sliding in and out of her. Drawing her unfocused gaze down from the canopy, she looked at him. He was watching her, his eyes glazed over and hooded with lust. An errant lock of dark hair had fallen into his face, but he didn't seem to notice it. He leaned his head back, a soft moan escaping his parted lips. Catherine's core pulsed heatedly.

Alucard held the girl's hips as tight as he dared, his pace quickening even more as he felt her start to try and meet his thrusting with her own. He lowered his gaze to her again to watched her intently, possessively as she moved; he wanted to catch every curl of her fingers, every parting of her lips. He wanted to see what he was doing to her.

Catherine threw her head back and stared sightlessly at the wall when he stopped thrusting and began pulling her against him instead. The way he was moving her now was rough, bordering on violent, but she didn't tell him to stop. Her fingers twisted hard in the sheets, and to keep from crying out she bit her lip. After a full minute of this, though, she couldn't stay quiet any longer. The heat pooling in her belly was so hot, and he was so deep in her, and she was so close, so close…

"Oh, God," she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Her voice turned to a drawn out cry as Alucard began pumping into her again, his pace frenzied.

"Eu sunt Dumnezeul tău acum," he rasped, his nails digging into her thighs. Catherine wailed, her body jolting violently as he rammed into her, and then her eyes snapped open. Her back arched off the bed, and Alucard felt her squeeze tightly around him, walls shuddering. She twisted the sheets so hard that the silk ripped, and then her body fell limp in his grasp. He did not stop.

The girl emitted broken little cries as he continued driving into her. Alucard knew that her body was already to the point of bruising, that she was feeling more pain than pleasure now, but he was so close to his own release that he couldn't stop. Her hands clutched pitifully at him, begging him to slow his pace, and he pushed them away. Selfishly, he hiked her hips higher and forced himself so deep that he was slamming against her core.

"Țipă pentru mine!" he howled over the girl's screams, and suddenly he lost himself. Yanking her upright against him, his jaws split open wide and viced down on her shoulder. Blood spilled into his mouth, running its hot course down his throat. His thrusting was savage now, but Catherine's voice had died out with the last bite. Her mouth hung open, her eyes foggy and unfocused; she was slipping into unconsciousness.

The last thing her mind registered before the world went black was Alucard tearing his teeth from her flesh and arching over her with a triumphant roar.

Catherine jolted awake on her belly, her skin clammy and slick with sweat. She pushed herself up, and immediately banged her head against something solid. The pain was enough to make her lie back down, but only for a moment. Turning over, she reached up with outstretched fingers. They brushed cool, polished wood.

She was in the coffin, and someone had put the lid back on.

Her claustrophobia, a severe problem since childhood, immediately gripped hold, and she scrabbled at the edges of the lid, fingers trying to find purchase. Her hands brushed a sliver of an opening between the lid and the coffin where it wasn't closed all the way, and Catherine wedged her fingers into it. The lid was too heavy, though, and it refused to slide. Panic flooded her.

"Help!" she shrieked, pounding at the lid with her fists. It didn't even shudder under the blows, it weighed so much. She screamed louder, pounding and heaving at the wood with all of her strength. Trapped. Trapped in a coffin. Catherine lay back down and sobbed hysterically.

She could only cry for so long, though, before it became hard to breathe. Catherine pressed her nose against the sliver of an opening, sucking fresh air greedily. It was somewhat comforting to know that the lid wasn't completely closed, to know that she wouldn't suffocate. And she could stick her fingers out where someone could see. Forcing herself to lay back and breathe deeply, she tried to focus on relaxing. Something tickled her cheek. Catherine reached up and brushed whatever it was, then stopped.

Her fingers felt hair, her hair, and then more of it. Too much to all belong to her. Holding her breath now, Catherine made her fingers explore further, and something like cool, carved marble made her start. She realized that she was lying on top of something. Her fingertips brushed she distinct shape of a chin, then a mouth, then a nose. She stopped reaching. Over the mustiness of the dirt, the faint scent of gunpowder reached her nostrils.

Alucard was underneath her.

At first, she held perfectly still, afraid to move or speak. But then, she whispered his name:

"Alucard?"

He didn't move.

Catherine started to shift, then stopped. She was lying directly on top of him, and while it was much more like lying on granite instead of a person, she didn't want to move too much. She said his name again, louder this time, but still he didn't respond. His chest was not rising and falling with breath, and for a moment Catherine panicked at the idea that he might be dead, and that she was trapped in a coffin with a corpse.

But did he ever breathe? Catherine couldn't remember.

She called to him multiple times, her voice getting louder. He hadn't woken when she was screaming earlier, though, and he didn't now. Getting desperate, Catherine pinched him. No response. She pinched him harder. Still nothing.

Maybe he was dead.

Trapped with a corpse.

Catherine bit back a cry and turned over to rest on her belly. She felt around the vampire's neck and head carefully until she found his ear. "Alucard," she said into it, her voice cracking with anxiety. He lie perfectly still, no breath, no heartbeat. Did his heart beat at all? It didn't matter. His cold skin and still form were too reminiscent of a corpse, and Catherine broke down.

She beat her fists on his chest, screaming at him, tearing at his clothes, and when he did not wake she rolled over to continue her assault on the coffin lid. She screamed and screamed and screamed until her throat was raw and she could taste blood. Her fists throbbed from beating them against the wood, and every knuckle on both hands was split open. Catherine collapsed, panting. Her arms dropped uselessly at her sides, resting on top of the vampire's beneath her.

Hours ticked by.

Every now and then Catherine tried to call out, but as more time passed she simply lay there and stared at the sliver opening. Through it, she watched the candlelight dim until finally it burned out completely. Everything was doused in darkness. The hours stretched on. Catherine flip-flopped between utter despair and the slightest hope that someone would come down here soon. Despite her anxiety, physical and mental exhaustion pulled her into shallow sleep again and again. Eternity passed.

And then something moved beneath her.

Catherine jolted when she felt Alucard's body stretch into wakefulness, the long limbs flexing against her. She was pushed upward as his chest swelled with one long breath. His shoulders moved, and she felt his arm lift up to push at the coffin lid. The wood groaned as it slid open, and fresh air poured in.

Catherine all but lunged upward and out of the coffin, tumbling onto the cold stone floor. She sucked in deep breaths, coughing when her throat burned. Her limbs stretched out, and she savored the open space so much that she began to weep against the hard floor; she had never experienced such torment in her life. There was a rustling sound as Alucard rose out of the coffin, and she pulled her arms and legs in so that he wouldn't step on her. His boots clicked across the floor, and then right over her head; Catherine cringed when the hem of his coat skimmed her face. She heard the table drawer being pulled open. Moments later, the hiss and flare of a match. She blinked teary eyes against the glare of the new candle.

Alucard moved over to the chair and sat down. He regarded her impassively as she sniveled and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"I thought you weren't going to wake up," she said hoarsely, wiping at her face with the back of a hand.

He didn't respond.

Catherine tugged the hem of the shift down around her legs, still trembling from the ordeal. Only one other time, when she was twelve years old, had she experienced a true panic attack from claustrophobia. Being locked in a big hope chest for ten minutes had nothing on being trapped in a coffin for eight hours, though. Just thinking about it brought the anxiety spiking back, and she shivered. A sound pulled her out of the dark memories, and she realized that Alucard was speaking to her.

"What possessed you," he said softly, "to lie down in my coffin?"

The menace in his tone scared her. Apparently, she had made an awful misstep. Catherine wrapped her arms around herself in attempt to still her quaking. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't realize that-" An image of herself trapped inside of the coffin, screaming and tearing at the lid, flashed vividly in her mind's eye. She gasped at it.

"I didn't ask whether or not you were sorry. I asked why you laid down in my coffin."

"I w-was tired," Catherine stammered, her anxiety returning. Another flash of an image, and she was suffocating inside of the coffin, the air being squeezed out of her lungs. "I couldn't g-get back up the s-stairs…"

The work was done. Alucard ceased sending the mental images and studied the girl as she began crying anew into her hands. He let her cry like that for a minute or two, waiting until her sobs died down before he spoke. "You must never open my coffin again. Do you understand?" She nodded, strands of hair clinging to her wet cheeks, and Alucard knew that she was sincere. His impassive expression softened almost imperceptibly.

They sat in silence for a moment, and then a look overcame Catherine that Alucard had been expecting and, if he were honest with himself, anticipating. Forgetting the dark fears that had consumed her only minutes ago, Catherine became her bold and brash self again, and she screamed at him.

"You locked me in there!"

The vampire smiled as she threw all manner of verbal abuse at him. If it had been anyone else, he would have pulled their spine out and choked them with it, but the sweet fury on her tearstained face amused him to no end, and the shower of insults eventually drew raucous laughter out of him. The girl stopped shouting when his laughter drowned her out, resorting to glaring at him so intensely that Alucard thought she might give herself a nosebleed. He laughed all the harder because of it.

When he had more control of himself, he fell to chuckling and shaking his head. Catherine continued to glare at him. "Why didn't you wake up?" she demanded.

Alucard smiled and tilted his head, dark mass of hair falling to the side. "I didn't want to," he told her.

"You 'didn't want to?' You mean you could hear me the entire time?"

His smile stretched into an impossibly wide grin, teeth glinting sharply. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You misunderstand. I couldn't hear you."

Catherine glowered at him as he enjoyed whatever little private joke he found so amusing. She didn't understand, and didn't care to. Turning her back to him cautiously, she tried to locate the stairs in the darkness again. She just wanted to get out of here. Her stomach grumbled, and she couldn't even remember how long it had been since she had eaten.

"Țipă pentru mine."

Catherine looked back over her shoulder at the words. She didn't understand them, but she certainly recognized them. Alucard was grinning at her still, his eyes hooded. She turned fully around to face him again. "What did you say?" she whispered.

The jagged grin split an impossible inch wider, the red eyes aglitter with mischief. "I said," he whispered back, "Țipă… pentru… mine."

How?... Catherine felt her eyes widen, heat rushing to her face as he grinned that dark, knowing grin at her. She didn't know how, but he knew. Through some vampire power or magic or whatever, he knew. The desire to scream at him for invading her private thoughts was so strong that her lips trembled, but she pressed them into a firm line instead. A sudden thought had her reaching up to her neck, feeling for bite marks, she heard him laugh at her again. To her relief, she found nothing.

Alucard stood up then, taking slow, languid steps toward her. He extended a hand down to her, his grin tempered down to a smug smile. "Come," he said, his eyes still sparkling with mirth. "You need to eat."

Despite everything, Catherine had to let him carry her up the stairs. She held herself as far away from his chest as she could, though, and her face burned with shame the entire time. After the dream, and especially now that she knew Alucard had witnessed at least part of it, she was acutely aware of every bit of contact that his body made with hers. Even the knee-length cotton shift felt too short. When they were halfway up the stairs, the mirror-door opened to allow a ray of light inside, and Catherine decided she couldn't take it anymore. Glancing up first to make sure he wasn't watching, she pulled her neckline open a little and peeked down at her breasts. She almost sighed in relief; no bite mark. Then Alucard laughed softly, and she flushed ten shades darker.

"Don't tempt me," he whispered.