A/N: I'm changing the title! Warning to all who don't have this favorited on FanFic. The title will be changed to Mercurial Medieval Misdeeds. Why so many 'M's? Because this story should be changed to M for what I think should happen :) teehee

This 'Times of a Wallachian' blah blah had too many words in it, and I've been wishing to change it for some time. It was a working title. Fear not! I will give people two chapters to adjust -this one and the next.

This chapter has haunted me for a while. But I knew I had to write it, so here it is. LEMON ALERT! Don't run hastily to it. It's a slow and steady rush.

My eyes watered from the citrusy goodness.

If anyone hates me for this chapter, or where I left it, then I've written it well. If you don't hate me, then...just...wow...I don't even...

Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, own Hellsing or the characters in it. It is owned by Kohta Hirano, Dark Horse Manga, and any other business or people who assisted in creating these fascinating characters!

.•*´¨`*•.

Confounding Confessions

Integra woke up to the sounds of birds chirping in the cross-breeze. Before sensing where she was, Integra could feel the sunlight shining on her backside. She opened her eyes meekly to the light of the window -her window in her room.

The young lady stretched her arms within the blanket's folds and sighed happily. The breeze was chilling, but it had a touching and warm familiarity to it. Winter would be arriving soon, and crops would wither, prompting farmers to save up their goods. The changing foliage always decayed beautifully, leaving in its wake a covering of snow that would begin the cycle of growth once more -plants emerging from the ice like a phoenix from its ashes. Integra enjoyed watching the cycle greatly, but a sudden flood of memories tore through her peaceful thoughts like a scythe in a wheat field.

"Oh!" she shot up in her bed, remembering the past events of the night of the explosion.

The commencing dinner.
The speech.
The shout to take cover.
Pip tackling her father and falling down a stairwell.
And then the flash of light followed by the most deafening cracks of explosions.

"Father! Mother!" Integra shouted as she began to rip off her blankets, but not before feeling herself. Everywhere ached in pain, was bleeding in scrapes, was broken and bandaged in a primitive splint, or was purple with bruises. Tears of agony spilled out across her face as a shadow appeared and thrust something hot and burning down her throat.

"The Regent is safe, if not a bit bruised and out of sorts," Walter suddenly appeared and grasped her hands to kiss them, "Shh, everything is alright." His eyes were blackened and bruised, his hair patched with bald spots, there were bandages across his entire front poking out of his attire, and his left arm was in a sling with wrappings up to his shoulder. Pip was also present with an encouraging smile and no injuries of which to speak.

Integra gasped when she herself felt bald spots across her scalp, bare and naked for all the world to see, "My hair...Where is-"

"Seras was sitting next to you, Matthias was in the kitchen sneak-eating, and your mother was trying to find the ladies-in-waiting. They are all of them now sleeping in their respective rooms, as was Pip and I. Your father is in his chambers also sleeping off his wounds. We recovered quicker than most."

"And the casualties?"

"There were many casualties. The men who tackled the Assassin closest to the barrel that exploded were killed -you saw the flying body parts of burnt fingers, a torso here, a foot there, part of a head still in its helmet. The nobles all along that side of the table were hit with shrapnel pieces of wood and killed by the blast. Anyone who was close to the barrel and had exposed flesh was burned severely and knocked into the wall. The rest of us on the other side of the room who barricaded were knocked down with broken bones or have severe burns from the fire thereafter."

"How long was I asleep?"

"About two days," Pip answered as Walter deferred to his information.

Integra felt her arms tighten and her fists clench, her eyesight even morphing into a red haze.

"Who did this?" her voice sounded deep and gravely, trickling with vengeance.

Pip smiled, "My lady, that's what we are currently figuring out. The best place for you is to be here, next to your younger sister," he looked downward at Seras with restrained adoration.

Integra turned her neck and felt it strain, but the sight of her sister sleeping so soundly caused her rage from within to simmer down to a low boil. There were a few scrapes that saddened the perfect picture of a mop of strawberry-blonde curls, and there were myriad bruises -some even continuing underneath her blankets. Her head was wrapped in bandages as well with the slightest hint of red blood peeking at the surface. The look of plain white terror had vanished and Seras's body had relaxed, at least. The balanced state of tranquility had been restored, if only for a time.

Pip's smile softened to passivity, "You heard the last words that the Assassin declared, correct?"

Integra fought through her mental barriers that were already erecting walls to repress the raw and still bleeding memories within her psyche. However, it only took her a second to remember the unfortunate name that resounded in her head over and over.

"Yes, I do. 'For the House of Poděbrady'. I do not-I refuse to believe him," she heard herself say.

Walter nodded and gave her hand a light squeeze, "His family is being investigated as we speak, my lady. We cannot blithely throw a noble house in the dungeon, but, as you recall, Lord George was not there."

"But Victor was. He was the first person I saw as the explosion rocked us and nearly split the tables in two. He raced up to me and carried me out. Victor dragged twenty others. He is a hero! He could not have done this," Integra assured him as she uncovered herself from the comfort of the warm blankets once more, only to look horrified at her blue and purple legs, one of which had the worst imaginable gash along her shin.

Pip made her drink from the cup once more, and Integra began to relax, taking the drink and gulping down the rest of it. She recognized the taste now. It was hard mead.

Walter looked up into her eyes and witnessed genuine concern and strong belief, "You recognized him from the portrait that you two exchanged of one another, and he you, as well."

"Yes, and I will not have him in the dungeon because of what some Assassin stated. The Assassin could as well be setting a family up for execution in the hope that it would destabilize our unity against the Ottoman Empire's threat!" she reasoned and inhaled for air, realizing that she had placed too much faith in her kingdom.

Walter chuckled and patted the top of her head, "My, my. Still as keen and perceptive as ever, even with a few bumps on your forehead. Fear not, Victor is in no dungeon, for it was he who dragged all of us out of the deadly smoke and fire. Were it not for his bold and daring act, you and I might not be talking here today. His father is the one in question."

A somber expression weighed down her delicate features, "His family I cannot vouch for," she then frowned at the ground, "Wait…how could Victor know about an Assassin and warn us in the nick of time if his family did NOT contract one against us?"

Walter then changed positions in his seat. At first, Integra took a moment to observe just what it was that caused it, but then she realized that it was an overhanging feeling of dread with an undertone of despair. He looked at her from an angle, which she instantly recognized as his position assumed when dealing with a very delicate matter at which she would usually blow up. Reaching down, he pulled up a full bottle of mead and filled Integra's glass, handing it to her.

"There…is another problem. Ladislaus and Vlad returned, and they were the ones who caught wind of this Assassin. It was a product from their trip to Bagamér, when Ladislaus found a scrap of cloth bearing the lion of Ismail -their sign. They both had an inkling that it was a trap to lure Ladislaus out and into the open, away from the safety of the castle."

So that is where Vlad roamed off to…Integra interrupted, "What is the problem, then?" Her head felt slightly heavy.

Walter swallowed and cleared his throat, "The problem is that they were right, and not only were they right, but a team of Assassins ambushed them and murdered everyone. They were the only survivors."

"Are they alright?" she reached for his sleeve and felt her heart beat faster with every passing second that was silent, "ARE THEY? Walter!"

"Ladislaus is beyond reach. He is all but gone to us. He is unresponsive to any stimuli we give him but he continues to breathe. Zargo, our apothecary, believes it to be a slight coma. He is still alive but he must be dressed, fed, and changed daily. He just…he just sleeps and sleeps. That is the best way I can describe it. Victor found them in the brush not a mile outside of the castle, and that was when Vlad explained to him everything that had transpired," Walter stopped talking to hug Integra.

Her eyes began to mist and then water the fronts of her cheeks like a rain flood in the spring. She choked back soft sobs and pushed against Walter, loath to receive any affection. But his grip overpowered her weak and purple arms as they screamed in pain from exertion. She gave in and succumbed to his warm embrace.

"L-let go of me," her body stiffened in hot enmity as she controlled her crying to a standstill.

He hesitantly released her and backed away, standing up. She could immediately tell that his feelings were hurt, though it took an expert to notice, "Your ladies-in-waiting shall arrive any minute to take care of you. I have some important business to which I must attend. Will you be alright here?"

She nodded, "Where is Ladislaus now?" Integra asked as kindly as she could.

Pip answered, "In the barracks. He was originally with Zargo, but his room is now filled with the injured and their more immediate needs. Farewell, my lady," he left the room.

"If there is anything you need, I am but a step away," Walter paused for a moment in the hope that she would want him to return to her, but when all she did was nod, Walter bowed, shut the door, and continued on down the hallway with Pip to The Regent's chamber.

.•*´¨`*•.

Vlad turned in his bed and heard the cot squeak in frustration at him. He groaned in pain as it felt like thousands of needles were pinching, poking, and prodding at his entire right side. They each stabbed and jabbed at his numb flesh that was beginning to sense again, staying a moment to sting his nerves and then ceasing. The man sensed that he was in a cold sweat and threw the bed sheets off of himself for fresh, cool air to seep in.

A noise that rustled in the background caused his body to stop and his ears to listen. It was sniffling -light sniffling right across from his bed. Vlad relaxed and opened his eyes to slits as he spied on whom it could be.

Integra was holding Ladislaus's hand in her lap and tracing his palm gently while another hand fed her mouth a bottle of mead. She was watching the occasional teardrop splatter down on her undergarments.

Wait. She was wearing only her undergarments? How unseemly. How unsightly for a lady of her upbringing. It made Vlad smile.

Vlad opened his eyes a little more and focused his hearing on what she was whispering.

"Why…why, why, why? Why you? Why couldin' it ha' been someone elsh? Why not some ooother famlee? Why us? Ladishlaus, if…" Integra swallowed back a lump in her throat that was battling her to reach the surface, "If you c'n hear me, you'rr t'get well. You are not to die, yeh understland me?"

There was no response. Integra gritted her teeth as the room spun for a moment. She had sat there for an hour now, watching over him, drinking her pain away, and there was no way she was going to leave without some sort of response.

"I knooow tha Walter n' the athepothecary ha' been tryin ta stimmmulate some sort o' response out of yu, and yu have beeeen less th'n helpful in givin them wha they waent. So herez yer stimululusss," Integra growled, "If yu doon't make it, I shalls turn inta a droooling lunatic, slaughterrr the erryone in my wake, n' run throuugh the streetz in my small clothes!"

She only had to wait a moment before his hand twitched and almost fell out of her lap. For a split second, she saw his eyebrows knit into a menacing frown, but it vanished all within the blink of an eye.

Integra smiled, though it was distorted from her own mal-intent, "I thought yu'd dislike tha' favorlably over everythin' else I had."

He simply looked like he was in a deep sleep. It reminded her of the times when she would wake before him and her father would make her wake Ladislaus up for breakfast. Integra would enter his room and he'd supposedly be 'asleep', but upon lightly tapping him to wake up and peering into the covers, his eyes would open and his face would liven to a shark as he'd roar to scar her. Integra chuckled dryly at the memory and as she recalled her younger self racing out of the room in tears of frustration and anger.

The levity in the room dimmed back to its dark reality as she sighed once more from his lack of motion, taking another hit to the bottle. His bandaged chest rose and fell with each passing moment, but that was the only sign she could hold on to that proved he still lived -that and his nearly nonexistent pulse. And looking at the ghastly wound as the red, with each hour, still seeped to the surface was almost too much to bear on her conscience without wanting to murder someone deserving. Though she would not admit it, the experience was agonizing. But at least he was alive. He wouldn't be, were it not for…

Her gaze shifted to another bed across from Ladislaus to another soldier who was sleeping. Bringing her brother's hand up to her face, she kissed the palm of it sloppily and returned it into the blankets to keep warm. She then stood up with a wobble and made her way silently over to Vlad. Reaching for a chair, Integra plopped herself in it, nearly missing the seat, and watched the Wallachian's movement. He was more animated than Ladislaus, turning and breathing deeper inhalations.

She sat there for a long while, unsure of what to say to the overexerted and exhausted man whose culminated efforts had brought her brother back to safety. She owed him now. She owed him a great deal.

Instead, she decided to treat herself to his handsome looks. Integra had forgotten how comely he was, her eyes taking their time as they perused his facial features, stopping at his pointed nose, sharp jaw line, and thick eyebrows.

"Harrrsh, yet ruggedly beyutiful," Integra whispered with a slack jaw as her fingers dared to trace his warm cheekbones and wander down to his collarbone. She then pressed her entire hand onto his chest and consequently felt a strong heartbeat answer to her light pressure against it. It soothed her nerves to feel something alive in his chest, much unlike her brother twenty feet away. She could barely feel anything moving underneath his colder skin.

"I…I'm at a loss fer wordz. I s'ppose yu won tha contest, Veladeemer," she wryly grinned. It fell when he did not move.

"I…yu saved mye brother. Yu did not eveeen ha' to. Ya cuda run, like any sane hyuman. In facts," Integra thought about it for a moment, "I'm fairly certain tha' Ladisshhlaus probably did order yu ta leave. Bu' yu derdnott, and I c'n only eeemagine why."

She sniffled again, taking in a shaky breath, "Whedder it wa' stubborn determllination, yer own perssonal gain, or an act o' selfless, puuure care on yer part, I 'm ignorrantly happyy."

He roused for a moment but relaxed back into the pillows.

"Ah know you'll never heer this frem me," Integra gulped and reached for his hand, "Bu' I…I…I am…humbled by wha' you've done. I owe yu that much. If therez ever anythin' yu need thatz attainable, lemme know."

Integra nodded at her piece and went to retract her hand from his chest when she realized that his own hand was atop hers. His left hand lightly squeezed her right hand, and for once she did not resist him. His lips parted and curled upward into a crooked leer as his hazel eyes opened to look upon the fair maiden.

"Touching words with your hand boldly on my chest," he murmured, amused beyond words at his good fortune that she was plastered.

She snorted, "Korrect me if Ahm wrong, bu' I believes yer the one whoz now keepin' me hand on you; not I."

"You're injured," he looked her discolored arms over and gently reached up to the patches of her golden hair that were singed and falling out. He tried desperately to conceal the anger and disappointment in himself within his tone, but thankfully she was not terribly receptive to the environment around her, "I should have been there."

"Itz nawthing. 'sides, me n' Walter epic-battled the Assassin by makin a barrier by flippin o'er the table so it abzorbed the shok wave," Integra made chopping motions with her numb arms at Vlad, who was the 'Assassin'.

Vlad laughed down a deep chuckle and slowly sat up to move her hand into his lap. She felt slightly invasive but made sure to display no outwardly sign of it.

In her impaired state, Vlad could read every emotion on her face, despite her heroic efforts to conceal them. Vlad muffled an otherwise very loud groan in his throat so as to look less hurt than he was feeling. His eyes watched her uneasy transition as she looked at his bruised ribs and bandaged right side. There was no doubt about it: the expression was concern. This pleased him greatly.

"Do you wish to see all of the wounds?" he asked, "You have already helped to heal one of them," he let go of her hand and tore the wrappings off of his chest and torso with ease, unraveling the rest layer by layer.

Integra stifled a gasp as she began to see more and more of his skin, "Holy angelsss...enticing," her eyes hungrily consumed every exposed bit, but she double took, "Oh, did I juss say tha' aloud?"

Though a big portion of it was the fact that he was noticeably tone underneath, it was also from all of the scars she saw. Like white tracer lines of clouds in the clear skies of summer, they were uplifted from his skin along his front and curling around the shoulders to his back to form jagged patterns like a puzzle piece. Fitting, since he was the puzzle of her lifetime.

"Let me show you," he smirked at her crass compliment and lifted the last piece of thick wrapping off of his chest.

She observed the last of a battle wound healing into a new, white scar line that added to his imperfections. And yet, the marking was beautiful on his left pectoral muscle. It was a testament to all of the skirmishes and battles he had lived through, each one of them telling a different tale of close calls and cheating death, of daring moves and miscalculated steps, all of which nearly ended his life but yet saved him as well. Her eyes danced rapidly from one scar to the next, imagining all of the things he had witnessed, fights that had arisen, and words that had provoked those fights to what are now held as memories within the thin strips of each scar.

Integra then looked up at him with unabashed courage mixed with four bottles of mead. Vlad realized that she was waiting on him to do something, giving him the first taste of what free reign felt like, if only for a moment.

He took her hand out of his lap and pressed her index finger gently on that scar, feeling her trace it with curiosity.

"Tell me ther story o' this here scarr," she breathed, her blue sapphires fixated on its rigid texture.

Vlad chuckled as he un-bandaged his right arm, "It was in hand-to-hand combat while mounted on Hadúr. I was fighting an Assassin when he pulled out a curved knife and plunged it into the depths of my shoulder cap, snapping the leather strap that holds my chest-plate and the cap together as it was ripped open. He then raised his arm again and struck down as I decapitated him with my sword."

Integra's eyes lit up in intrigue, "Impresspive."

He nodded silently -thoughts elsewhere and face pensive- and reached for her hand. It was then that Integra realized he had ceased holding her hand to his chest and that she was voluntarily maintaining contact with him. It was too late for her to register anything else, as Vlad had moved her index finger diagonally down to his right bicep and planted it there for her to explore. The room swirled as her head looked down at the next wound.

Integra traced the scar first, but then she felt the strong muscle underneath it. It was perfectly sculpted, as was the tissue around it as far as she was concerned.

"N' this here one?" she hummed as her thoughts took to a tune.

"This one was on the retreat as I was carrying Ladislaus away from the fray," he watched her body slump at the drop of her brother's name, "I had turned my back and one expertly deft-handed Assassin threw his last dagger at me, clipping my armor in the side and caving it in to scrape along my skin to form this."

Integra traced his arm once more and smiled approvingly. Whether it was from the close call with himself or from the fact that it was in the act of saving Ladislaus, he was unsure. It could have easily been the drink talking as well. All he knew was that Integra, the most beautiful maiden in the entire kingdom, was sharing a smile with him -someone so undeserving of the heavenly sight.

Vlad's grin widened as he watched his world entertain herself simply with his imperfections. She liked them, was fascinated by them, wanted to know of them, and, above all, accepted them. She did not turn away in disgust or fear. She did not recoil in hostile distaste and disfavor. She rather enjoyed them. It was endearing to see and enlightening for him to realize it, even though the cutest bit of drool was accompanied with the spectacle.

Integra looked up to see an expression not easily adapted to his face. For a moment, in his raw emotion, she thought she saw weakness in his strength to resist her, to act as coy as she. Integra witnessed adoration caper across his face at the most likely of moments. But what Integra did not plan for was a similar feeling of affection erupting its way to the surface within her. She battled with it fruitlessly, taking everything that was hitting her in broad strokes. However, it was too much, courtesy of the mead.

He ripped his stare away from her and exhaled slowly, "Your hand…"

Integra felt Vlad's bicep flex in response to her tightened grip along his wound.

"Oh deary," she instantly released and jerked her hands to her sides, where they should have been this entire time and wriggling to keep balance at the sudden motion.

He laughed softly and shook his head, "You surprise me so."

"I dooo?" Integra's disbelief was clear in the inquiring and slurred question.

He nodded, "More than one bottle of hard mead and you still comprehend my information, let alone remain conscious with each swig."

She waited for further explanation, or perhaps she was blanking with that deadpan stare. He continued.

"More importantly…you did not cringe away from me, you gravitated. My scars did not displease you, they enraptured you," he paused to truly look at her, without crimson-tinted glasses, "You are not afraid of me, daunted by me, or intimidated by me. You-"

Integra hushed him with her index finger to his lips, though they slightly missed their mark and hit his scruffy chin, "Shhhhhh…Stop it, youu." The demand was directed more at her mind for wanting him to continue, though he could never know that. She corrected where her finger was supposed to be, "Mah mind secretly wants yu to continyu, but doon't." Damnation…

Vlad paused, grinning at how adorable she was, but he wanted to be heard. He had to let it out of him. He needed her to hear it. He needed her to face it, just as he had.

"Integra," he murmured his liberator's name and touched her finger, feeling it move with his lips as he spoke. His hand trailed down her arm to her elbow and grasped it with a large hand.

She did not fight the touch, but what made her gasp was that he yanked her towards him in one determined pull. The action was so abrupt that she was lifted from her seat and fell halfway onto the bed. She gazed up at his up-right position and slithered away from his domineering stance.

"Weeee," she weakly said and attempted to smile.

"Now listen," his voice changed to hardened assertion.

"No, yu listen. Vlademeeer, if ther was any shrred o' humanitee in yu, you wud stop this flooishness," she attempted as she sat up as well, falling the first time and righting her undergarments. God, she was wearing her undergarments in front of him.

He paused in shocked irritation, "'Foolishness'? What is foolish about the truth, woman? You said to me not five minutes ago that you would give to me anything that was attainable," he let her piece it together, though it took her alcohol-dampened mind a minute to come to the conclusion.

Integra sensed her erupting drunkard affection morphing into rancorous hatred, "I am no attainable peerson, yu laggard! I. AM. TO. BEE. WED. SOOON. Doon't yu understand the implifcationons o' what being married are?"

"Of course I know what it means and its implications! I care not for rules. All I want to know is if this is what you truly want," his body tensed in anger, revealing more trimmed muscles on his torso, leading all the way up to his neck.

Integra found it difficult to concentrate with such bare skin shown and the hindrance of her drink, "I…It's…What're you on aboout? I'ma woman. I have no choice. I am ta be bawt. I am the propeerty of my father, soon ta be sold to Vickter."

"Victor," Vlad spat, "What a clean-nosed, silver-spooned, complacent little boy! You want him?"

"I-"

"Because I've stepped in things that looked better than him," Vlad continued, body rigid, "He offers you nothing. Riches and wealth. You will be the woman who has everything…and nothing. You will grow bored and restless of your complacency. You will hunger for action, as I do. You will hunger for adventure, as I do. Much blood will be shed in the upcoming years; that much is certain. Do you wish to be that woman in the tower, watching the world as it burns? Would you fling yourself off of the balcony to your death, a coward's death, or would you rush down the staircase, pick up your husband's spare sword, and join the battle?"

"Make no mistakke o' it," Integra bared her teeth at him, clearly insulted that he would juxtapose her next to a coward, "I'am a woman of ackshun, but my gendder dictates tha I cannot be. I don't have th' powerr to belay or countermand wha' mye father wishes. What wud yoo have me doo?" she asked angrily with the intent that he would say nothing in return. Again, her foresight was all but slain, so she did not anticipate any answer, least of all what he stated in response.

Vlad roared in anger, "I would have you take me instead!"

Integra slapped him straight across the face, "Do no EVER yell a' mee again," she watched his chest rise and fall quickly in response to its sting, but he stayed silent, "To do this," she gestured to all of Vlad as she swayed on her spot on the bed, "…ta a young woman, ta taunt her like thisss…it wud tear her down."

He scoffed in disbelief, "What is there to taunt? To taunt is to wave something that one wants without the intent of giving it to the desiring person. That is the exact opposite of what I intend to do."

"W-wha' didja say?" she sat in front of him with her hands on her hips in skepticism, though her eyes were as wide as dinner platters.

"I am committed to you!" he feverishly spoke and lifted up the blanket on his right side to expose the reddened bandage on his leg, "That wound is testament to how much I care for you. I risked my life to save your brother and bring him back. That was not borne of a desire to please The Regent and remain in his good graces. I did this for YOU!"

It was her pause that dictated the scene was too long as he leaned in and took hold of her shoulders with one good arm. Surprisingly, she resisted only once in one great heave to the side in which she nearly toppled over. That was when Vlad's right arm surged upward and created a barrier for her not to cross. He was pleased that it was healing and responded, though it might have been due to a swell of adrenaline that was now pumping in his veins. The thousands of needles pinching at his nerves subsided for a moment.

She scowled and locked eyes with him, wishing to add more scratches to the patina of scars he already possessed. Somehow, on some level, she knew that would only amuse him. She could do no more physical harm to him, but emotional damage…

Sliding his left arm around her back, Vlad gingerly brought her closer. Integra eventually felt his broad and bare chest caress her as his arms encircled as much of her body as they could. Her forehead was tickled by his scruff since he had not shaved in a few days. Integra felt his form relax and heard him sigh happily, peering down to see her expression.

Integra grumbled, tugging away from him every now and then, but also using his arms as a balancing tool, until she became used to his presence. She hated physical contact…or so she had thought; but his body was like a personal fireplace and warmed her slightly shivering self. Pressing her ear to his heart, she heard its soft and slow beating. She began to count the beats. One two, one two, one two. It was a rhythm that kept her frazzled nerves from bursting in that moment; but every time he moved she became increasingly mentally undone.

Taking another gulp of the mead, Integra found herself unwillingly placing her right hand on his heart. It was the drink, she cursed, but no words formed at her mouth. They were the two of them nearly passed words now. Upon her contact, his good hand trailed from her back to situate on top of her knuckles, stroking them with his thumb.

"It belongs to you, my savior, to do with it what you will," he murmured into her ear and felt her shudder in pleasure and anticipation.

Integra suddenly eyed him as prey and grinned, raising her face up to his, though her eyes were droopy, "Youu dare give me somethin' so valyuable, so delicate, an' so eazily crushhhable?"

"I do," he spoke without pausing to think; he didn't have to, "Despite all of your ambitions, you are still human. You will always be human and retain your humanity, along with all of the moral codes of conduct that are attached fringe benefits. I, however, have lost it." Vlad charted her burnt nose, her saggy eyes, her spotted hairline, and her scraped lips as she spoke back.

"No," Integra shook her head, still grinning, "Therez a portion of you tha' still feels, tha' still haz honor, tha' still'z human. Yer not dead 'nside yet."

Vlad shook his head again, remarking on her incredible tolerance for alcohol. Half-deformed, nearly burnt to a crisp, broken bones and patches of hair completely gone, and she was still swinging at him while half-drunk with the same determination he noticed in her the first time their eyes locked. And she was still stunning to him. My word, she was perfect.

He instantly sensed a new tone in her voice and saw a new flicker in her eyes as she giggled. It was predacious, like his. It was battling with her reason and conscience, so he quickly decided to nurse it. Vlad closed the space between them until he could feel individual strands of her coiled and singed hair tickle his nose. Their breathing had quickened as his right hand pursued her arm and shoulder, all the way up her collar bone to her neck, grasping it so that both now had a firm hold. She felt her own arms lock across his back in a tight embrace.

Wait! Stop this! Can't you see what's happening? You are to gain control of him, not allow him to control you! she thought to herself. But those same words were overlapped with others that were shushing her fears and soothing her worries. He looked too good to pass up. His body was beckoning, his lips so inviting, his skin so alluring, his eyes just daring her to make the last move. Integra couldn't resist the challenge presented to her. She was never one to back down, only to the point when it became inappropriate. But shush, dear. Those are negative thoughts, and they are to be ignored. Fear not. Nothing bad will come of this. Just fall into his arms and let him take care of you. There is nothing wrong with two injured souls bonding in the face of so much destruction. You need comfort, especially now, and he will willingly give you that. Just...fall...

Integra had fought fruitlessly for the last will of her sanity as he entranced her with his touch and the drink won. She felt herself drowning in the poor judgment of her own making. All she selfishly wanted was him -his lips upon hers, his taste, his body. Everything. She craved him; ached for him. Her conscience had been muffled with a pillow until she could hear it no longer and left it for dead, no thanks to her id's passions now flaring up inside of her.

With one soft groan, Integra moved her hands up his back to rake her fingertips across his scalp as she pulled herself up to straddle him. It set Vlad's flesh aflame as his hands dropped to press her lower back to him until their stomachs touched. He moaned in pleasure as she pressed her entire body onto him, causing Vlad to lean back onto the wall and grin in triumph.

"It remains to hang in the balance. You will decide my fate," he grated out before plundering her lips with his.

.•*´¨`*•.

That was nine pages! I had to stop it somewhere. *Sigh* so much for the smaller updates.

What just happened? They were supposed to have a fight and then Integra was supposed to leave in a cloudy mist of hatred, if not stumbling here and there a bit. Characters, why you do this? Now look at what I have to do!

I know what did it. It was Aníron, Theme Of Aragorn & Arwen song I listened to. Damn you, Elvish tongue.

I know most of you are going to hate me b/c it took 21 chapters to get them to have their FIRST KISS…but so what? I make you work for it, don't I? *evil grin*

Uh oh. Why…why are you all staring at me with eyes like daggers? Wh-what's going on? *nervous laugh* C'mon guys, I'm just…y'know, I'm just having some fun here- OH GOD THEY'RE AFTER MEEE!

*runs away*