Thank you so much for the kind words on last chapter! I got way more support for this story than I thought I'd have. I'm so grateful.

Okay, let's put our thirsty witch energy on hold and focus…

- Lucy Heartfilia (AKA Lucy the Celestial Valkyrie)

Well, we may be just the vampires to keep him from getting what he wants.

- Natsu Dragneel (AKA Natsu the Salamander)


Lucy came undone the minute the vampire charged into the alley. His body a sculpture lovingly carved, his shoulders and arms on full display, and his abs defined in his skintight top. His confidence radiated in everything he said with a sense of humor she hadn't expected. Natsu Dragneel was entirely her type, but he was a vampire. He moved so her back pressed against the cool surface of the stone alley wall. His touch heated her skin, and his lips softened enough for her to see the tips of his fangs lengthen. Her body hummed for more. The feeling took her aback. Centuries of hunting and killing leeches honed into her before she froze into her immortality, yet she craved something so taboo. She reasoned it was her lack of a sex life, but even now she wasn't so sure. His dark green eyes the first feature she noticed on him, clear and bright. He wasn't some bloodlust vampire driven crazy with memories, which meant he couldn't be Horde, so what was the problem? Why not pop her cork and run back home to Val Hall?

"Are you listening?" He grinned and revealed more of those fangs she found oddly sexy. What was wrong with her? She tensed, ready to kick him right between the thighs and take off toward the street, but the tight feeling in her sex gave her pause. Her sisters would tear her apart if they knew she got physical with a leech. Somehow the forbidden made this more appealing. If she wanted, she could give in at any moment, like Hades' extended hand to the underworld. Natsu leaned in close to her ear, his soft breath gave her shivers, and brushed his lips against her skin when he spoke. "Your scent is driving me crazy." She relaxed and moved into his touch. Wait, He's breathing. Lucy whipped her head back and collided into the wall. "Whoa, there," he said and placed his hand over hers to gently move her head away from the stone surface. "Okay, so no ears, I got it." His low chuckle ran down her body like the lightest of touches.

"How are you breathing?" All the lore knew about brides and vampire blooding. Most of them searched their whole immortal lives and never found their true fated one. Was he cheating on his bride? Playing with her to come home to his real lover? There was no way she was his. No way he could be breathing because of her. Natsu's face softened, and his eyes focused on her mouth.

"A gift from you and fate." The words said as though he told her the weather. His blooding a simple fact that he believed with conviction. A conviction so clear she didn't ask to confirm it, and for once, she had no come back. "I'd rather ask if you want this before I continue." His jaw clenched with restraint. A blooded vampire would not be able to come for the first time without his bride, the need supposed to build inside like an inferno. She was either the luckiest woman alive, to have the hottest male she ever saw ask her for consent to ravage her, or the most cursed to have him be a vampire. Natsu trailed the back of his hand against her cheek. The gesture soft and stirred something inside her. Did she want a relationship with a vampire for all her immortal life? No. Did she want him to grind her into next Tuesday?

"Yes," she said. He cradled her head in his palm and pressed his lips against hers. She sucked in a breath from the mere heat of the kiss. Lucy pulled him closer until she felt his length pressed against her. He caught himself on the wall on either side of her. The image of her body sliding down his, sheathing his shaft, invaded her mind like an obsession. As if answering her call, he moved to rock against her. The friction, even clothed, felt electric. A flash lit up the sky and a rumble followed, her Valkyrie gift of lightning revealed through her emotions. She heard the crushing stone where his hands met the wall and trailed her hands along his arms and down his chest. His skin hotter than she expected in the chill of the night, body tight with tension. Lucy expected his kiss to taste how her mouth did in war, saturated in the coppery flavor of blood. Yet, his mouth was a reverie, a warm place to curl up next to on a wintry night. His lips called her like a siren, caught her so off guard she felt her body meld against his in surrender. Her mind a whirlwind of guilt and exhilaration. Natsu was intoxicating.

"I'm tracing you to my place," he said between breaths. She nodded her head and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They were in a dark room. Lucy's stomach flipped with the trace, but she had no time to dwell on the feeling. Her back pressed to something that felt like a wooden door and rattled with their weight. His hands hitched under her legs and pulled them around his middle. Lucy needed him closer, closer. They were a million miles apart. His kisses were rougher, his hands explored her sensitive skin. His fingers dipped into her top and grazed her awaiting breasts. Pleasure shot down her spine. His lips trailed her jaw to her exposed neck. To her surprise, she tilted her head for his lips and rolled her hips into him. A groan rumbled against her neck. They weren't close enough. She would go up in flames. The room illuminated before the crack of thunder. He moved her toward a bed in the darkness. His hands wrapped around her as though she would scurry away. What a fool. If only he knew how much she needed. Their bodies never close enough. Between clothes, between skin, she felt her body tune to him. Natsu lowered her down on the bed. She held back her frustration when he pulled away. The air against her skin chilled and she craved his heat again. What was wrong with her? Her mind in a fog of them. Lucy clutched at his arms as his hands found the hem of her top. She moved before he had to ask and felt him pull the material from her body. Her shorts and panties followed. The bed dipped and a candlelit beside them. Natsu moved his hand away, but she didn't find a match. His eyes pitch-black took in her bare skin. The darkness of lust spread across even the whites of his eyes.

"Perfect," he said. Lucy squirmed beneath him with impatience. There was no coming back. This vampire would take her over the edge.


Lucy's eyes were like liquid mercury, bright in his darkened room. Whatever she was, it wasn't a fey. Thunder cracked and lightning lit the castle room. Natsu had waited his entire life for this moment, and she didn't disappoint. Her body soft and pliant beneath his hands. Instinct roared for him to taste her. He trailed his hands along the inside of her thighs, so they splayed wider for him to fully fit between and lifted her leg over his shoulder. Their eyes locked as he trailed kisses toward her soaked curls. When his mouth met her skin, she arched her back. Her mouth agape, yet no sound left her lips.

"Gods, your scent," he said. His voice was low with soft praises as he kissed her damp folds. Never enough. He'd devour her. His fingers spread her for him to dip his tongue inside. He practically came with the squeeze of her walls around him. He'd last. He'd do it for her. One of his calloused hands gently wrapped around her breast and circled her nipple with his thumb. Lucy's face softened in her ecstasy, her brows coming together in the need he could read in her molten gaze. He flicked his tongue up to her waiting nub as he pinched the hard peak. Her hips lifted to meet his tongue. Natsu couldn't help but grin. When Lucy's soft cries slipped his name, she had grabbed a handful of her other breast. He groaned at her shameless gesture. Everything inside him screamed to satisfy her, his bride. He yanked her harder against his mouth. Intoxicating. He was a dying man finding salvation inside her. His new emotions slammed into him, needy, possessive, and drunk on her scent filling the air. Bite her.

"Please." Lucy moaned and rolled her hips to fuck his mouth. He stroked her clit with his tongue, her sweetness trickled down his chin. Her voice stoked something primal inside him as he thrust against his own bed sheets. He nearly lost control between her legs, her form arched into his touch, so in tune with her body. Natsu slipped two fingers inside her. He held back a moan at the feeling of her walls clamping down on his digits. She cried out as she rode out her climax against him. As if her ecstasy were his own release, he came harder than he ever had in his long life. When one wave stopped, he coaxed her to another and another. Her legs quaked against him, instinct hungry for more from her, but her exhaustion became his own. He placed languid kisses against her skin as they stilled. He pulled away and stripped his soiled clothes. His limbs like lead as he crawled up her body. He pressed his face into her hair and wrapped his limbs around hers. Lucy's eyes closed; her breathing heavy in her fatigue. Natsu took in her scent, wanted it all over him, and sank into the bed. He hesitated that night to bite her. He craved to bury himself inside her when he marked her. The need heightened with their bodies pressed together, but the sun lifted from the horizon, and she slept against him. They lay there, the only sounds their breathing and the light patter of rain. A blanket of comfort surrounded his body, and for a moment, he felt peace. Natsu replayed the events like a daydream. He couldn't believe he had come in his pants like a teen. This woman, whatever she was, would be the death of him.

He awoke to an empty bed and the sound of a book falling to the floor. Natsu sat up, fangs out, ready to kill whoever snuck into his room. He met Lucy's caramel gaze, her naked body sitting at his desk with a book in her hand.

"Sorry, it slipped," she said. Observing her amid his things was surreal. Her presence was rarer than anything in his collection. He sat up; her eyes followed the sheet that trailed down his body. Her eyes flashed silver before he scented her.

"Lucy, I'm going to need you to calm down, unless you want me to drag you back into this bed." A flush dusted her cheeks, but her eyes narrowed.

"Stop being weird and smelling me."

"What are you doing?" he asked. She eyed the book and placed it back on the desk. Other things had shifted around on the wooden surface. For once, he wished fire wasn't his gift. He'd pay a small fortune to know what she thought. She tilted her head to the newspaper clippings.

"Who are you looking for, Natsu Dragneel?" Unlike every other person who asked that question, she sounded genuinely interested. He thought about his reply. As much as he wanted to trust his new bride, he chose to withhold his father's existence for now.

"Someone important to me." She raised a brow but didn't push further. When he spoke to her, a sense of comfort settled into his bones. As though her mere presence was enough to fill the hole many had left, or he wanted it to. She stood and collected her clothes. Her body mesmerized him as she ambled about the room. Disappointment sat heavily when she wrapped her top around her breasts and squeezed her hips into her tiny shorts. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving. Where are we anyway?" Lucy padded to the window. "Mind if I look?" Natsu nodded, and she peeked behind the curtain. A slanted ray of light illuminated her face for a moment, as she took in the scene below.

"You're in Fiore, my home." The word home tasted wrong in his mouth. Was this his home? A paper clipping slipped from a pin above his desk and fell to his chair. His home was a person, not a place.

"I have to go," Lucy said snapping the curtains shut. Her eyes were wide, and her fingers fidgeted with her top.

"What's wrong?" Natsu stood up and shook out his messy hair. There was no taming the strands. Her heart raced in his ears, but not from anxiety, as her eyes flickered molten mercury. A flush spread across her face. "If you would rather stay here," he said gesturing toward the bed, "I wouldn't say no. I don't have anywhere to go until sunset." She devoured him with her eyes, but a frown drew her lips.

"I need to—I need a few things." She stood straighter and flattened out her clothes with her palms, ready to leave. Natsu knew two things. First, Lucy was in a panic over being there. He could feel it in the way she adjusted her weight in her feet and glanced at the window. Whatever she saw there, spooked her. Second, she found him as attractive as he saw her. Lucy came with him willingly last night; she didn't hate him. Fate had chosen them to come together. Even so, he couldn't take away her freedom and keep her there.

"I can only trace to a dark place." He opened his wardrobe and pulled on fresh clothes. Lucy's eyes were on his body, but her mind was far away. She ran her fingers through her hair several times. "We're going to have to work on that worrying thing you do."

"I do not." Lucy wrapped her arms around herself. "At least not until recently," she said. The amusement he felt in the alleyway bubbled to the surface. He could take her to that spot again, as it would have coverage from the sun.

"Whatever you say, Lucy the Worrier." Her eyes widened.

"You better stop calling me that!"

"Why? Afraid it will catch on?" Lucy kicked at him playfully. He dodged easily, but could feel the power behind it, and took a mental note to avoid her kicks in the future. Natsu didn't blame her for the fear. If enough beings in the Lore called you by a tagline, it would etch into the living book of the Lore as a historical record.

"Very funny," she said. While her tone was indignant, her smile said something else. Natsu decided he liked this expression better than the last. It wouldn't take long for him to engrave this expression in his mind to keep for later. A gem he could keep, like the ones on his windowsill, to gaze upon when he felt lost. He pulled on his pants and slipped his feet into shoes.

"I can take you to the alley. It'll be dark there." She nodded and took his hand.

The alley was as dim as he thought it would be. The sound of soft footfalls and chatter among shop keepers and patrons drifted through the morning air. Fatigue raked at his body, but from practice, he felt able to push the feeling aside.

"Tracing feels awful." Lucy leaned against the alley wall, the same one he had her against the night before. His body hardened from the idea of doing it again.

"Better than passing through dimensions," he said. She raised an eyebrow and found her equilibrium. The gesture reminded him of himself as a child learning to trace for the first time. Igneel would laugh and tell him the same thing. Better than passing through dimensions. He told himself he would find out what that felt like. As though the challenge of it set his soul aflame. He had to know that he could do anything his father did, and in time he did. Traveling through dimensions as difficult as his father had said.

"Is that your tagline?" she asked, pulling him to the present.

"What?"

"Natsu the Dimension Walker."

"I like it, but no." Natsu couldn't help but grin. He loved his powers, the best gift he ever received from his father, and one he would repay him for. The guidance and patience his father showed him set in his memory.

"What is it?" she asked. Natsu held out his hand in front of him and allowed the fire inside to wrap lovingly around his fingertips and dance across his palm.

"Natsu the Salamander," he said. Lucy's eyes were saucers, and his fire flickered in them. The thrill that came with her reactions sent him looking for more ways to impress her.

"Some power you have there, Salamander," she said. Natsu closed his palm extinguishing the flame. His tagline came from the mouths of the Horde and demon mercenaries. A name that sank into his skin like a knife from her lips, a sinister whisper of the persona he never wished to grow into. Yet, it lived along the pride he felt of his gift.

"Call me Natsu."

"Well, Natsu, I have to go." Lucy moved toward the bright street. "Maybe, you can show me more of those powers of yours sometime." Her words held finality, but he waved to her anyway when she walked toward the street. Fate would bring them together again. He told himself he'd see her soon.

She was out of sight when he traced back to his room. Natsu planned to face plant against his bed for the day but found a large figure loom over his desk.

"If you really wanted to see me beat my meat that bad, all you had to do was ask, Gajeel." He barely withheld his laughter as the man jumped back from the sound of his voice.

"Fuck you, Salamander. I was just looking for you."

"Looks an awful lot like snooping through my stuff to me."

"I was passing the time with your piles of shit. What is that scent? You have a woman in here?" Gajeel wrinkled his nose and sat down at his desk chair— where Lucy had sat.

"What do you need?" Natsu slouched against the edge of his unmade bed.

"Looked into the Rufus guy. He was a whack job."

"No shit." Natsu rubbed at his temples. He had to explain to Zeref and Sting why he hadn't made a kill last night. Telling Gajeel about Lucy didn't sit horribly to Natsu, but telling the others sounded like a terrible idea. He had no way of protecting her, and he felt on edge without her.

"I assume you haven't killed your target yet." Gajeel produced a throwing knife from his palm and proceeded to aim at his wardrobe. The metal easily slid out from under his skin, a vampire gift like Natsu's.

"Find anything useful, Black Steel?"

"Hell yeah, but I need something from ya before I can spill." Of course, he needed something. Nothing was free and all everyone wanted was a piece of his time. "I want to kick the shit out of that brother of yours and take the throne." Gajeel's voice dripped with malice and eyes seethed. Natsu burst into laughter.

"What do you really want?" A loud thud came from his wardrobe as a throwing knife sank deep into the wood. "Come on now, Gajeel. That dresser never hurt you."

"I'm serious." The man turned to Natsu with a fierce red glow in his eyes. The look froze the fresh blood in his veins.

"I don't know why you want it so bad. Have a beef with the king?" Part of him still refused to use his name, to acknowledge him as his brother. He didn't deserve that title.

"It's not him I care about. He has an oracle I need."

"You don't have to go in fangs out just to speak to the oracle. Why would you want to claim the throne?" There was something he wasn't telling Natsu. Gajeel let out a long breath and the crimson shade in his eyes flickered to his usual onyx.

"Let's just say I can't get my mind off something she saw, but I can't meet with her. Zeref is keeping her to himself, refuses to let anyone else speak with her."

"He's strong, Gajeel."

"Coming from you? That must be true. Never heard you back down from a challenge." He rose from the desk and stood in front of the door. "Whatever, if you don't want to join me, I guess I'll just take the information I know to our heinie-ness."

"You won't tell him shit."

"Oh, I won't?" Gajeel raised a pierced brow.

"You hate him as much as I do."

"To get you to help me, I'll tell him everything." Gajeel's voice was a threat, low and ominous. This meant a lot to the vampire. If Sting knew about Natsu's failure, it would mean more trouble from him and Zeref. They'd keep a tight leash on him. The freedom he worked so hard to achieve would pull out from under him. Lucy's life could be in greater danger than it already was.

"Fine. I'll help you." Gajeel's grin spread across his visage like a blood vow. He wouldn't allow Natsu to forget this moment.

"So, someone murdered your guy. The being that murdered him, get this, was a Valkyrie." There was a jaunt to his step as he turned the desk chair around and straddled it.

"How do you know that?" The Horde stayed far away from the Valkyrie. Natsu had only met one in all his life but never saw their powers firsthand. He only knew the legends. If they were true, she would be a formidable foe.

"A few witnesses said they saw him talking to Ultear the Queen of Time, a hell of a sorceress before he had a busty blonde bunny follow him."

"What the hell does he need to talk to Ultear for?" Natsu heard her name in passing a few times among the Horde.

"Dunno. Could be something to do with his memories." Something sinister was going on in the Horde. The Minstrel's murder wasn't an accident if someone sent a Valkyrie after him. Now, they find he was getting his nose into some sorcery. All the sorceri were allies to the Horde, but was it his business with Ultear that cost him his life? Not to mention the weakened state Zeref was in. "Ah, you're already putting it together." Gajeel's grin was predatorial. His body leaning into the chair with impatience. "Something is brewing in the Horde. Ol' Zeref has been too preoccupied, with whatever he's using the oracle for, to see it."

"He must know something is going on. He knows about the Minstrel's death and warned me about the killer."

"What are you thinking?" Natsu didn't know how involved Zeref was. As the king of the Horde, Zeref not only had to know what the Minstrel was up to but also put Natsu up to the task of cleaning up his mess. Seeing through the Dark Wizard's plans was not usually this easy a feat. While he disagreed with Gajeel about Zeref being in the dark about the Minstrel, he agreed that the Horde king appeared preoccupied. The image of the vampire with dark sunken eyes and unkempt appearance weighed heavy to the side of distraction. Natsu never saw him this way. In fact, Zeref paid attention to the way he stood before his young brother. His appearance reminded Natsu of himself while he searched for Igneel. The years before he met Gray disappeared from his memory in a haze. When the forebearer found him, he was what Gray called a "malnourished orphan with an attitude." That realization felt like cotton in his mouth. Zeref was on the hunt.

"Whatever Zeref is after, he wants it badly."

"All the more reason to take him out, retrieve power, and reclaim our freedom." Gajeel was leaning into the chair so heavily that two legs lifted off the ground. His excitement was palpable, and without realizing it, he said Natsu's favorite word. The usual sense of mischief that felt so absent to Natsu rose up in force.

"Well," he said, "we may be just the vampires to keep him from getting what he wants."

"That's what I like to hear." Gajeel stood and slipped the chair beneath his desk.

"By the way, how did they know the blonde was a Valk?" Natsu asked.

"My informants said they knew her, and she was asking around for the Minstrel with her cute little pointy ears." Gajeel squinted up at the ceiling in thought. "I think they said her name was Lily, no, Lauren, or—"

"Lucy." His freshly beating heart froze in the cage of his chest. He should have known. No wonder he had never seen her in the club before. Even the lightning and thunder from their night fell suspiciously into place. He avoided the Valkyrie. The only one he ever met was a busty redhead. Amid war, Zeref secured the Horde crown and met with her to declare a truce, taking Natsu with him as his right hand. It stood out to Natsu that she had come by herself to meet two vampires of their strength. He never cared about the status quo, or who was on what side, so he felt nothing but respect for her at the time.

"That's what it was! How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." Natsu's mouth burned the way it did when he lied. He didn't want to think about this. He needed to speak to Lucy and figure out what he was going to do. A million ideas ran through his mind. They could stage her death or make a scene somewhere, so people believed he had killed her. There was no way in hell he would kill her for the Horde. Her safety his top priority. He'd go back to the alleyway and track her scent. "I'm leaving." Gajeel's eyes narrowed. Natsu saw the lightbulb go off in the vampire's head.

"The blonde bunny is your bride!" Gajeel leapt forward when Natsu traced from the room.


"Cana, remind me again, why you are coming?" Erza asked. Lucy slumped in the passenger seat of her sister's matte black Lamborghini. The interior smelt of the rich leather seats that hugged her body as soon as she sat. Cana scrolled through her smart sat phone in the back seat. The last time Cana was in this car she ate fast food and, in Erza's words, smeared greasy fingerprints all over the leather. She firmly had kicked Cana out, and no Valkyrie heard the end of it. One thing Erza loved more than her collection of armor, was her Lambo. Many immortals acquired a lot of money over their long lives. Erza was a collector who cared a lot about her car.

"Entertainment, of course." She continued to run her black painted claw over her phone screen.

"You know what would be super entertaining, Cana?" Lucy said. This time, her sister looked up from the screen. Her long brunette hair fell in waves over her shoulder and she ran her fingers through it.

"What?"

"If you had given me my bounty money!" Lucy had already lectured Cana about the prize money, but the soothsayer chose that moment to have a vision and completely ignored everything Lucy said. Cana scowled and went back to her phone.

"I told you. I don't remember any prize money or bounty for that matter."

"Why do you need the money, Lucy?" Erza asked.

"I don't. It's the principle of it. She said I couldn't kill the Minstrel and put a bounty on it. I proved her wrong, and she conveniently forgot to pay up." What disappointed Lucy wasn't the absence of the reward money, but the recognition. All her sisters were strong and successful in some way. Centuries ago, Erza had won a war by herself. Even Cana had seen her fair share of battles, of strength. Lucy had none of that. She'd leapt out of Val Hall at an early age in search of power, of war. Each time, she'd show up to Val Hall with not so much as a pat on the back. She knew they were stronger than her, and praise wasn't exactly a Valkyrie's strong suit. Yet, she craved it. Lucy whipped around and stretched to smack her sister. Cana swatted at Lucy's hand and backed closer to the tinted window just out of reach.

"Will you two quit it!" Erza said.

"If she hadn't sent me on that stupid bounty, I wouldn't have to deal with Horde vampires!" Lucy said.

"I don't care, you're both giving me a headache."

"Just admit you liked it!" Cana said, making herself as small as possible in the seat to avoid Lucy's claws.

"Like what? I'm on their hit list!"

"Didn't look like he was trying to murder you to me." The look Cana gave her said it all. Keep trying to kill me and Erza will know you sexed it up with a vampire. Lucy's mouth opened and closed like a fish, and she turned in her seat. The warm air from the heater whipped her hair into her eyes. She cursed her God and Goddess for giving Cana the power of a soothsayer.

"You are so delulu," Lucy said. Erza's eyes were straight ahead and her posture said she hadn't heard a word they were saying.

The purple Victorian home was a welcome sight. Lucy bounded out of the car as soon as Erza hit the brake and climbed up the front steps to knock on the door.

"Hello, Miss Lucy!" Juvia said. Her pale blue hair braided in winter jasmine and a crown of them topped her head. Her smile died when Cana peeked out from behind Lucy. "I think Miss Levy is in the study." The witch's voice shook.

"Of course, she is," Lucy said. Juvia nodded and dashed back into the house toward the kitchen. Lucy allowed herself in and the Valkyrie followed into the familiar house.

"What did you do to her, Cana?" Erza asked.

"Just had a vision about her future lover. No idea why she took it so hard," Cana said. Lucy couldn't blame Juvia for fearing Cana's visions. They were never wrong.

"I wonder why," Lucy said. Her eyes narrowed toward Cana, who stuck out her tongue and followed Lucy up the stairs.

"Why in the world did she choose to live in a study?" Erza asked when they reached the third floor.

"Think of it this way. Wouldn't you love to live in a room full of armor?" Lucy said and lightly knocked. She heard no sound of the resident inside.

"Touché," Erza replied. Lucy turned the knob and peeked in. The study was a busy mess and clearly, someone lived among the tomes. The bed pressed against the one bare wall and appeared untouched. The books littered the floor and little empty teacups stacked on top of a tiny desk by the window among some of Levy's framed pictures of the coven. The rest of the room consisted of floor to ceiling bookshelves.

"Levy?" Erza said.

"Is she even alive in here?" Cana asked one of the shelves, trailing a claw across the spines.

"Hello? Levy the Bookworm!" Lucy called.

"That's Levy the All-powerful! Don't keep using that tagline," Levy said peaking from around the corner of a shelf. She wore a pair of red spectacles that hung from the end of her nose. Pansies and primrose tumbled from her tousled hair. She had a cup of hot tea in one hand and a book in the other. Levy's words reminded her of Natsu. "Lucy the Worrier" looming over her head like a curse. She felt a pang in her chest for using one like it on Levy.

"Dually noted. Now, if you are free, I need your help."

"Who doesn't?" She sipped her tea and set the rest on her desk next to the empty stack. Her gaze fell to the women behind her. "What brings the Valkyrie to my study?" She lifted a blue brow at Cana clutching a book to her face. The cover revealed her holding it upside down.

"Remember that warding spell?" Lucy asked.

"Change your mind?" Levy said. Erza picked up around the room and set things in their places. When Lucy told Erza that she needed a warding spell, she had said she'd keep it a secret from the others, who would tease her for all eternity for it. The last thing Lucy wanted to do was have them all know she hid behind witchcraft. Though, she saw no other choice but to tell Erza. Cana, of course, already knew about her predicament and slid into the car as soon as Erza revved the engine.

"Ran into a Horde assassin last night, so I think it would be better if I lay low." Lucy moved so Cana could scoot over to the desk. The soothsayer pushed teacups to the side so she could sit on the desktop. Levy deadpanned at the Valkyrie but said nothing.

"I bet you did," Cana said studying the book in her hands.

"Well I'll need another witch, but that's not a problem. I'll be able to keep them from tracking you, but I can't promise you'll be completely invisible from them. You'll have a sort of barrier around you as well." Levy turned to Erza, who ceased cleaning to listen to Levy. "I added that last part myself a while back." The witch grinned and lifted her chin. She pushed books aside as she scurried toward the door. Witch hazel fell around her as she went. Fresh flowers grew where the others vanished. Lucy had known Levy for a couple centuries but still found herself in awe of her powers from time to time. The witch peeked out the door and lifted two fingers in front of her. Small blue sparks flicked up her hands as she moved them through the air. The word "megaphone" manifested through her fingertips and hovered there. Levy pressed the letters to her lips. "Juvia!" She called. They all covered their ears from the sheer volume. The walls shook, a few books fell to the floor, and a teacup nearly shattered had Cana not grabbed it. "She'll be here in a moment," Levy said into the room. Her voice boomed louder shaking more bookcases and sent books tumbling.

"Take that off your mouth!" Lucy said.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Levy whipped her hands across the words, and they disappeared. Footsteps pattered up the stairs in the new silence.

"You gave Juvia a fright!" Juvia said pressing a palm against her chest and out of breath.

"That was fast. We need to do a warding spell for Lucy." Levy pointed into the room. Erza politely said hello, but Cana had her gaze out the window. Her eyes glazed over in her usual lack of lucidity.

"Okay," Juvia said wringing her hands.

"Juvia! Cana won't bite you. Don't bring that rain in here!" Levy nudged Juvia from the doorway and into the hall. A small storm cloud had formed above her head and threatened to downpour.

"Juvia's sorry." Juvia flung her arms above her head to dissipate the cloud. "Hope you're alright, Miss Lucy."

"I'll be fine. I appreciate the concern," Lucy replied. Levy rattled off a list of things for her fellow witch to get that Lucy didn't understand.

"Oh goodie," Cana said perched on Levy's desk overlooking the window, "Lucy, your man is here." Lucy felt the earth shift beneath her.

"What?" She leaped to the window and squashed her face next to Cana. Sure enough, Natsu stood beneath the precarious shade of a tree just in front of the house. Another man stood beside him. He was taller than Natsu with long black hair down his back and angry-looking piercings. They yelled at each other, but she couldn't hear much through the glass.

"You have a man?" Levy asked trying to push Cana out of the way. The man pushed Natsu and laughed when he stepped into the sun. A puff of smoke wafted up from Natsu's skin and he moved back into the shade. He pushed the other vampire back, who seemed more bothered by the burn.

"Your man is a vampire?" Erza had squished her way into the window and glared down at the men below. Lucy had to do something even if they couldn't come into the house. She turned to the women beside her to tell them, but Erza's hands were already at the window pulling the glass up.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a bride?!" the tall one said. His voice was deeper than Natsu's and had an edge like a knife you didn't want to touch.

"Why is it your business?" Natsu said. All the women turned to Lucy.

"What?" Lucy said.

"The one with the long hair is hot as hell," Levy said. Eyes moved quickly to the witch crouched at the end. "What? Only Lucy gets to bang a leech? I want one." She appeared positively giddy at the window.

"Okay," Lucy said, "Let's put our thirsty witch energy on hold and focus on the two Horde vampires on your lawn."

"Yes, let's focus on the fact that Lucy banged a vamp," Cana said flipping a page in the book she carried.

"I didn't bang him!" Lucy could feel the heat rising in her face. Was what they had done considered banging? Asking the others was out of the question.

"Lucy!" Natsu called. Lucy closed her eyes and willed that they would be gone when she opened them. "Hey! We have to talk!"

"This isn't happening," she said.

"Why would Miss Lucy bang a vamp, as Miss Cana said?" Juvia added. She had wiggled her way between Lucy's legs and gazed out the window from below her breasts. They must make an interesting sight. The Valkyrie and witches pressed together to fill the window of the highest tower in the witch coven's home.

"Lucy!" Natsu called again.

"Oh, maybe I can give him my megaphone," Levy said. Lucy opened her eyes to glare at her. A smirk spread across the witch's face.

"Will you be quiet!" Lucy said down to the vampires. Both men fell silent and Natsu's smile returned.

"Oof, he's handsome," Levy said. A sting flared up in Lucy's chest at Levy's words. Lucy chose to believe the witch said this about the tall dark one and not about Natsu.

"I need to speak to you!" he said.

"Go home, Natsu!" she called back.

"Oh, first name basis? Nice." Levy poked at Lucy's cheeks and chuckled.

"I need to talk to you first!" Natsu persisted.

"Why can't you do that another time? I'm pretty busy." Lucy reminded herself it wasn't a lie. A warding spell loomed in her future.

"Who's your friend, Natsu?" Levy called. Lucy clamped a hand down on the witch's lips. The friend smiled from below and waved up at them. The gesture appeared so out of character for the studded intimidating vampire.

"Who, him? He's not my friend." Natsu pointed with his thumb at the man standing behind him, who hit Natsu on the shoulder.

"Name's Gajeel," the friend called. Levy wrenched Lucy's hand away from her mouth and waved to him.

"Now that we're introduced, can I come in?" Natsu asked.

"Go home!" Lucy imagined herself buried in the dirt beneath the house—never to emerge for all eternity.

"Wait, I know him," Erza said. Her thumb and index finger pressed against her chin in thought. "Yeah, in a war a few centuries ago. A new king came into power, and I met with him, the Dark Wizard. I believe they're brothers. Though, I don't remember his tagline."

"Natsu the Salamander," Cana said. She turned the living book of Lore in her hands to reveal a weathered page with an illustration. The drawing was of Natsu. His chest bare, flames engulfed his body, and his gaze fearsome. Levy whistled low.

"I need to speak to him. Lucy, can you convince him to come to Val Hall and stay in our dungeons?" Erza asked.

"What? Why?" Lucy asked with heart racing in her throat. Would she kill him? Was her trepidation over Natsu's wellbeing or that she cared about his wellbeing at all? Not to mention, Erza would never allow a Horde vampire anywhere near Val Hall, nevertheless underneath it. The idea that they had met before intrigued her. What was he like back then? The illustration Cana held struck her. Sure, he appeared as though he would burn you down and use your finger bones for toothpicks. Yet, there was something else simmering there just under the surface. His room, filled with clippings and trinkets, revealed his desperation. Who was he looking for that made his expression look like this?

"His brother may know what the former king did with Mavis," Erza said.

"Erza, you can't be serious," Lucy said. When Mavis the Fairy Tactician, and the queen of the Valkyrie, went missing, Erza had stepped up to fill her place. The weight on her shoulders immense. "What makes you think they'll tell the truth?" Everything that day felt bizarre. Waking in a vampire's bed, finding out he lived on Horde lands, and Erza persuading Lucy to allow two Horde on Levy's lawn to accompany them in their dungeons.

"There's no need for that, Miss Erza," Juvia said, "We have a dungeon here."

"What? When did you get a dungeon?" Lucy asked.

"Here's a better question. Why would you need a dungeon?" Erza said. Levy clapped her hands together.

"Of course! I almost forgot we had them installed in the basement. Good thinking, Juvia!" Levy slapped her coven sister on the back. Some of Juvia's flowers at her crown fell into her face. "For those pesky clients that won't pay up. You know what I mean." Levy elbowed Lucy and pointed to Cana.

"Are you accusing me of something, witch?" Cana sneered and closed the book in her hands.

"Yeah, like how you gave me a bounty and never paid up! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be in this mess," Lucy said and pointed toward the vampires in the yard.

"So, what do you say, Lucy?" Erza asked. The woman beamed at her idea to question them. The image of Natsu tortured for information rose up with her pulse. How much did she care for the vampire below Levy's window? A crooked grin on his face hidden beneath the shade of a tree in the middle of the day just to speak with her. She cared a lot and she didn't know why.

"Fine, but I will be part of any questioning you do," Lucy said. She made it a point to sound bothered by the idea.

"Perfect." Erza clapped her hands together and grinned. "It's decided."

"You can come in," Lucy called down to Natsu, whose face lit up like a child given a gift. "But you have to stay in their dungeons." His face fell.

"Why the hell are we staying in a dungeon?" Gajeel said.

"Our safety," Erza said. Her voice carried a sharpness to it that Lucy knew well.

"Okay," Natsu said. His eyes set on the front door, shaded by the porch overhang.

"What? Hold on. We're not staying in a dungeon," Gajeel said, grabbing Natsu's arm.

"I need to speak to Lucy." Natsu's face stern from the view of the coven window.

"One-track mind, that one. I'll go open the door, so they don't get all crispy," Cana said. Erza already turned toward the stairs.

"I'd hate to see those handsome faces messed up by the sun," Levy said. The flowers in her hair were blooming at a higher rate than before. Some of the petals drifted down to the floor like autumn leaves. All the women practically bounded to the stairs. The clatter of their footsteps and excited voices traveled down with them. The events that transpired were an exciting welcome to break up their mundane. Lucy remained at the window. Gajeel continued to tug on Natsu but traced out of existence with him toward the front door.