Steve had been training when the vampires attacked. They were allies of his during the war, but faded back into the shadows after it ended. Now, as his team stands behind him, bathed in the purple UV light, he has no choice but to tell them.
"What just happened?" Clint asks, an arrow still poised to attack the last remaining creature in the room. The scream the last vampire had admitted when it had been hit was a shrill female voice, one that sounded hauntingly familiar.
"Vampires," the captain answers firmly. He knows something's wrong. There's a strange pit in his stomach and his heart is beating way too fast.
"Uh… you gotta be kidding me," Clint trails off, mouth open.
Steve can hear the wounded creature panting and cowering in the corner. It struggles against him, but he wraps one hand around both of its slim wrists. Using the other hand, he pulls off the cowl covering its head.
His heart drops and his eyes sting slightly as he slowly reveals his partner and secret lover. Familiar silky hair the color of blood comes into his vision first. She looks up at him, pain etched into every feature of her face. Her forest green eyes are gone, replaced with red eyes that glare straight past him. As her mouth gapes to allow her to pant, he catches sight of the sharp canines. It makes him shudder. Her skin is an almost so pale it's blue, it scares him even more.
"Black Widow?" his voice shakes as he pulls her closer. The rest of the team gasps behind him, but none move.
Suddenly, Natasha's head strains to the side and her red eyes dilate, wide and scared. "Good evening, Captain America," an accented masculine voice filters from the woman's bow shaped lips. "It has been a long time. I send this female with a message." Steve's muscles strain as his fist not holding the Widow clenches. "I offer you her life in exchange for yours." She cries out in pain and collapses into his arms, her nails digging into his arm.
"Tell me widow has a creepy voice power I never knew about," Iron Man tries to make light of the situation.
"That was Dracula," Steve answers, pinching the bridge of his nose as he supports Natasha with his other. He brushes a hand through her hair, eyes tender as he traces her jawline.
They bring her into Tony's lap, where Falcon tries to get JARVIS to scan the spy. Hawkeye tries to lighten the situation by joking. When Steve tells the Avengers that Dracula is the king of the vampire nation, he jumps right on that. "Well, great. Let me know when Frankenstein's monster and the wolf man show."
Thor comes up to stand beside the Captain. "Don't mock. There's often truth in myth." He points to himself. "Wasn't I a myth until you met me?"
Tony, as always, tries to come up with a scientific explanation, just like he'd done when he first met the God of Thunder. It only ends when the computer shorts out.
Before they can proceed with the scan, Natasha regains consciousness and lashes out. Clint, who's closest, receives what looks like claw marks on his face. The woman kicks Steve into Tony. She jumps on top of the Hulk, but before she can bite him, Thor throws his hammer. Unfortunately, Natasha is now much faster, which allows her to jump before Mjölnir hits Hulk in the face. She rides on top of the legendary hammer until Thor calls it back to himself. Steve watches in horror, heart in his throat, as the woman runs out of the hole in the wall Hulk made earlier.
"She's fighting at a whole new level!" Iron Man shouts as the team runs after her, Steve leading the way. "It's like she's a—" Natasha jumps over the plasma bolts emitted from Tony's suit and, before anyone can say anything, she runs into a mirror. It shatters and she falls on impact, unconscious.
"A vampire, like I said." Steve supports her head in one hand while the other holds up a shard of the mirror.
"Why did she run into a mirror?" Falcon asks.
"She couldn't see her reflection." He shows the team Natasha's slowly fading reflection in the piece of the mirror.
"Just like in the movies!" Hawkeye smiles. Everyone rolls their eyes at him.
While Tony tries to figure out some way to reverse whatever's changing Natasha's biological makeup, Steve watches over his spy. Well, she isn't exactly his. But before she left for her mission to Transylvania, she'd promised him and date and left him with a small peck on the lips.
He holds her in his arms, wary of her sharp teeth, but his heart is beating faster with every time her's doesn't. He stays by her bedside until it's time to go to Transylvania to defeat Dracula and win back her mortality. They take her with them because they can't have her running around New York City with a hunger for blood. She is currently curled up in a corner whispering to herself, mumbling something that no one can understand. Steve explains to the Avengers how he was uneasily allies with Dracula in the war, but now he wants something from the captain… but he doesn't know what it is.
For the rest of the journey, after he explains everything, he returns to sit with Natasha. She blinks up at him, a moment of clarity flashing across her face, before she crumbles into herself even more. The other guys give him space as he pulls her into his arms, resting his chin on her head. She's still mumbling, but he presses on her shoulder so that she can curl into his side. Steve trusts her not to bite him as he presses his lips to her cold forehead before pressing her face into his neck. The return of her beating heart is more important than his blood.
"Good evening, Avengers," Dracula stands before them in a red cape and armor looks like it was made from darkness and blood itself. The vampire king disappears and reappears in front of the Captain. "I see you received my Invitation. So, Captain, my offer." He gestures to where the Black Widow is slung over the Hulk's shoulder. "Your life for the woman's. Are you willing to accept?"
Unfortunately, before Steve can lay down his life for Natasha, Hawkeye shoots Dracula, who disappears in a cloud of smoke. "Well, that was easy."
"You have no idea what you've started."
"Because of our history, Captain, I was going to make this as painless as possible," Dracula speeds past all of the Avengers and steals Natasha right out of the Hulk's arms. "I see that my mercy is not wanted." She stands before the monster with eyes closed, but Steve knows she's more unsafe now than she was before. The longer they waste trying to get her back, the closer she is to never returning. "Destroy them all." Dracula disappears with Natasha in a cloud of smoke and, in his place, hundreds of thousands of vampires emerge from the shadows.
After posting Hulk and Thor to cover their back, the rest of the Avengers make their way inside. Steve leads them in the direction of the tower furthest from the sun. Iron Man and the Captain go on, but Falcon freezes when he hears Natasha's cry for help.
"Widow? You okay?" he calls out as he emerges from the building to find himself in a bell tower. Natasha is hiding in the shadows of the bell, which means something's off. He steps back as Natasha steps forward. She snarls, flashing her new fangs, and kicks the bell.
Falcon cries out, falling to his knees. Flacon flinches as Natasha's laughter rings almost as loud as the bell. "The sonic navigation units that run your armor make you vulnerable." Falcon continues to writhe in pain on his knees. "Great job as an Avenger, Wilson." Her tone is mocking. She flashes her fangs, lunging for the young man, but a red, white, and blue shield knocks her back, making her cry out and stumble back.
"Back away, Natasha," Steve steps up to stand in front of the young Avenger.
Hawkeye comes out from behind him, an arrow pointed right at his best friend. "He may be a noob, but he's our noob."
"Steve?" Natasha takes a step back, eyes wide with fear, her hands held up in front of her. "Help me. Dracula's controlling me." Steve steps forward, reaching out for her around his shield. "I can't stop him."
"No," Steve is close enough to touch her outfit, "fight it."
Dracula appears behind Hawkeye and knocks him out. He slumps over, still clutching his bow. "The Avenger's compassion will always be their weakness." He grabs Falcon as well and flies to the top of the bell tower. "Will more innocents suffer before you give me what I want?" He lowers them, acting as if he is about to drop them. "What do you say, my captain?"
Steve relents. "Put them down." Natasha reaches for him, her eyes wide and full of fear. She is shaking her head, although she knows he'll do anything for his team. For him or for her, he doesn't know. But he'd gladly lay down his life for his teammates. Especially her. "I'll come with you."
"I knew you wouldn't disappoint." Dracula's smile makes the soldier's blood curl.
Dracula drags the two fallen Avengers back into his throne room. Natasha follows second and Captain America brings up the rear. The vampire king begins to rant about what he wants and why he's fighting against the Avengers.
Steve doesn't want a huge fight. All he wants is the Black Widow back and his friends safe and unharmed.
"Release the widow," Steve motions to where she stands beside his throne, "then we can talk."
"You are in no position to make demands" the king says with a chuckle. He steeples his fingers and leans forward. "I have recently learned that the super soldier serum coursing through your veins… can cure me of my one and only weakness."
The next half hour is a blur for Steve. He's still worried over Natasha, but he also must aid his fellow Avengers against a newly turned Hulk. Eventually, Hulk's blood burns out the vampire in him and he falls to the ground, snoring. Dracula, on the other hand, is being burned from the inside out. Hulk's blood is apparently like liquid sunlight to a vampire. Using his shield like a mirror, Steve is able to measure out that Natasha has almost no time left before she's fully transitioned. When she has no reflection left, she'll be gone forever.
Dracula disappears with a loud, booming laugh. "The widow is mine. She will be mine forever!"
"You're coming with us, Nat," Steve says as he cradles her in his arms. Hawkeye picks up the fallen shield and carries it out to the Aven-Jet, his eyes sad as he watches the Captain and his best friend. "We're going to save you." She mumbles something and curls into him, pressing her head against his chest and clutching his suit in her hand.
When they return to the Avenger Tower, Natasha is convulsing in Steve's arms. "Tony, we don't have much time!"
"Just give me a second, Cap! I've almost got it!"
While Tony and Falcon quickly work on the antidote, Steve holds Natasha in his arms. "You're going to be okay, Nat." He puts his head close to her mouth to reassure himself that she's still breathing.
Suddenly, her eyes shoot open and lock on his. There's still that fear in her eyes, but there's also something else as well. Before Steve can pull away, she bowls him over, tackling him to the ground. Sitting on his stomach, she smirks as if she's just won the lottery. He opens his mouth to call out for help but, in an instant, her mouth is covering his. Her lips as soft and she whimpers against him, clinging to the fabric of his suit, a shudder rushing through her body. "Nat," he whispers as he manages to pull away.
"Steve," her voice is rough, "help… me…" Her eyes flutter for a moment before she collapses in his arms, a final shudder running through her system.
"Tony, antidote, now."
Iron Man runs into the medical room and laughs. "I see she hasn't lost her ability to surprise you, Cap." He sees the harsh glare Steve throws him and rolls his eyes. "Fine. Here's the antidote. This is a synthesized version of Hulk's blood." He flicks the needle full of green liquid. "It will burn out the vampire virus and cure her."
"No chance she'll, you know, turn green or something?" Clint asks as he comes into the room.
"Of course not," Falcon waves off the question before he turns to the genius. "Right, Tony?"
"Right." Tony looks at the other Avengers. Steve is sitting with his back to the wall, clutching the Widow tightly in his arms. All of the other guys can see how much he cares for her. With whatever is going on between the solider and the spy, this must have been hard for Steve to go through. "I mean, probably not, no. Hopefully not." He inserts to needle into Natasha's arm and presses down to release the liquid, making the redhead cry out and squeeze her eyes shut. "I don't know. Let's find out."
Natasha blinks. Her eyelids flutter for a moment before she can finally keep them open. She moans and a shudder goes through her body. It feels as if she's just been run over by a truck.
"Where am I?" she asks as she sits up and rubs her eyes.
"It's kind of a long story." Natasha spins around and almost falls over when she realizes she's sitting in Captain America's lap. His blue eyes are full of such concern and worry that it makes her heart speed up. "You'll be fine." His hand comes up to cup her cheek and she grabs his wrist in her hand, leaning into his warm touch.
Flashbacks race through her mind… of a shadow looming and then… She gasps and pulls away. "I remember Dracula… he bit…" Her hand shoots to her neck. "Am I a vampire?"
"You got better." Steve's breath brushes over her face. He rests his forehead against hers, a smile on his lips and his eyes full of compassion.
Natasha still has her superior sense of smell it seems. She sniffs the air and wrinkles her nose. "What is that awful smell?"
"Just in case Stark's tech wasn't as good as he thought it was," Steve chuckles, points to something over her shoulder. She looks to where he's pointing to find a garland of garlic hanging from one of the many hooks in the wall. "Hawkeye thought it'd be funny."
Natasha smiles, leaning back into her soldier's arms. "Did he make you a wooden stake too, just in case?" Steve points to the corner of the wall nearest to him. A wooden stake is laying on the floor within arm's reach. She throws her head back and laughs.
"Not that I would have done anything." Steve cups her face again. "I'll take you any way you are."
Natasha beams, a small giggle erupting from some unknown chasm of her soul. "Can we go back to doing what I think we were doing before I was cured?" She smiles slyly at her solider.
"God, I missed you," Steve mumbles against her lips and she presses closer to him, laughing against his mouth.
"Missed you too," she whispers before she swoops in and takes away his ability to talk.
So, I know this Kiss wasn't part of the poll or anything but I've just finished watching the Avengers Assemble show online and I absolutely love it. Steve and Nat don't really have as many intimate scenes together, but S01E05 is called Blood Feud. This chapter kinda has most elements from that episode, but with a closer Steve and Nat. Please let me know what you think! I've posted a new poll because the next chapter is going to be the Seduction Kiss.
Thank you to all those who review my story. I love hearing what you think about it! And go try to watch the episode because I don't really go into detail about the fight that happens, but it's pretty cool.