-/-
It was a form of torture…the most delicious kind; to have your hearts desire literally in your arms and still not be able to satiate your desires. Wiping the trickle of blood from Agatha's slack lips, Dracula resisted the urge lick them clean, settling for sucking the blood from his own thumb instead. It was standard fair, not something he would usually choose himself, but Mycroft had suggested quantity over quality, and Dracula had trusted him in this; it wasn't like he had a vast experience in managing anyone's health but his own.
That Agatha was responsive enough to feed, was the first good news Dracula had had in days. The first twenty-four hours they had remained at headquarters, Dracula hovering over Agatha like a mother hen as different medics came and prodded her. None of them doing any good, and Dracula had one Doctor by the throat, when he dared to pronounce her beyond help. Not willing to leave her recovery in their hands, Dracula had taken her home with him. Mycroft once again showing, just how useful he could be to their clan, by arranging this with a few well-placed words, and a regular supply of blood followed.
Slowly Agatha was improving, every day, every feed, she was less corpse like; even if she hadn't woken up yet.
"Up we go then." Dracula couldn't help but continue to talk to her, for all he knew she could hear him, and was just trapped in her body unable to respond, after whatever ordeal Lucy had put her through.
Lucy Westenra was another problem. She had woken shortly after, Dracula had removed Agatha from the headquarters, and according to Mycroft had been asking repeatedly for her sister…for Agatha…well that Dracula would never permit. Perhaps the girl child was truly penitent, perhaps whatever had happened in Lucy's mind, had bonded the pair in some way? Dracula didn't care. It was thanks to Lucy, Agatha was in this state, and Dracula wasn't going to give her the slightest chance to finish the job.
Lifting Agatha up into his arms, Dracula moved them from the living room chaise where he fed her, back into his own bedroom. The sheets were a thousand thread count, and as much as he loved blood, Dracula didn't want it on his bed linens. Settling them down again, Agatha propped up against his chest; her face tucked into his collarbone, as he rested against the headboard. Dracula reached for the book he had been reading to them.
"Now where were we…"
Only to be cut off by the sensation of nibbling…the prick of delicate fangs, and the sensation of her tongue lapping at the small cuts.
"Agatha you can't still be hungry." Dracula teased, and yet inwardly he was delighted, even if it was a reflexive action, it was the most progress he had seen thus far.
"You are going to ruin my t-shirt." Dracula observed, a broad smile tugging at his lips, as she seemed to grow in strength with every lap; sharp nails digging into the fabric of his shirt.
"Alright I don't object to a little dessert in bed, but I happen to like this shirt." Dracula chided, lifting her nuzzling mouth from his chest, earning a small growl of complaint. "Now don't be grumpy." Dracula added, as he brought one of his wrists up to her mouth, and made a small incision in his skin, before bringing that to her lips.
Agatha locked on with surprising strength and vigour, and Dracula did nothing to stifle his groan, nor the wave of pleasure that rolled over him.
"You are going to be the death of me." Dracula reflected, brushing her long hair back from her face. "How am I ever going to deny you anything after this?"
If he hadn't been so fixated on her face, he might have missed it, the brief flicker of eyelashes, and the sign of rapid eye movement beneath her closed lids. Then after a few false starts, her eyelids blinked open…the gaze beneath unfocused, but there was no mistaking those blue eyes.
"Ahhhh. No that's enough." Dracula insisted, pulling his wrist away and twisting to seal the wound; hardening his heart to Agatha's pitiful whimper. "Well hello sleeping beauty, did you have a nice nap?" He asked as he gaze seemed to focus on him, even if her pupils were still blown, still Dracula didn't expect her to answer him.
"No." The word seemed to be dragged up, and Agatha yawned, as if even vocalising it had exhausted her. "Bad…dreams."
"Ahh well then I suggest staying here with me, it is a lot nicer." Dracula suggested, unable to contain his delighted smile even if he wanted to.
"Yessss."
Settling both back in their original position, with Agatha tucked against him. Dracula enjoyed the way she nuzzled her face under his jaw, exhaling a deep breath against the several days' worth of scruff, he hadn't found time to shave off. "Do want me to keep reading?"
"Yesss." Agatha added, her tired eyes falling shut, even as she struggled to remain sort of awake.
"As you command my queen." Dracula's voice rumbled through his chest, and indulging in a moment of sentimentality, he rested his cheek against the top of her head. "Now…yes…where were we…"
-/-
She was alone, and she didn't like it. It was a childish response but that was all she was capable of right now…the other Agatha was still sleeping…the one who read books, and knew things, and was clever. The one who made them keep apart from everyone else, who forced them to go hungry, even when food was in easy reach, who denied them the things they wanted…the people they wanted. And Agatha wanted him back…she wanted him back right now.
Crying out in frustration Agatha pushed at the bed clothes, she knew where he was, she could smell him…if she could just get her body to cooperate.
"Agatha…Agatha what are you doing? Trying to escape me already?"
The relief was pure, and Agatha reached out, as if willing him to approach, and as if under her spell he did. Rubbing a towel over his wet hair, as another was wrapped around his hips, yet water still clung to the hair of his chin and chest.
"I was just having a shower silly thing…did you think I had abandoned you?" Dracula teased, yet there was a tinge of exhaustion to his voice, as though her constant neediness was draining somehow, and that hurt…it hurt to hear it.
Pulling back the hand that had reached for him, Agatha slumped back in the bed; suddenly unable to look at him, the rejection swelling up inside.
"Now this is not like you." Dracula insisted, cupping her jaw and lifting her gaze to meet his own; his frown only growing, as he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes.
"You don't like me." Agatha's voice was tremulous.
"Don't be silly, of course I like you, would I go through so much effort for someone I didn't like?"
"No, you like the other me…the clever me…you want her back."
"Of course, I want her back." Dracula reacted honestly, unable to understand why that answer caused her to cry. "She is you."
"She's half of me." Agatha tried to explain, the frustration growing when she words she needed danced on the edge of her mind…words the sub conscious had never needed to convey their thoughts before now. "That half is sleeping…I'm hunger, want, feelings…she's reading, cleverness, will…"
Tilting his head as he tried to follow what she was saying, Dracula frowned in concentration. In some ways it made sense. Agatha was here with him, her body was recovering and strengthening but when he had tried to reach her mind as before; Dracula could only gain impressions hunger and fear being the strongest. Her higher brain functions were still locked away out of his reach.
Was it possible to split the mind so completely into sub-conscious and conscious thought? Was he talking now to Agatha's sub-conscious, who was normally sublimated by the conscious mind, its voice lost to the will of the dominant?
"Well aren't you fascinating?" Dracula whispered, his head tilting as he studied her face more closely now. It was softer, had lost the habitual tenseness that Agatha seemed to carry in her brow, her expression open and guileless.
"Hello Agatha." Dracula started again, leaning closer and smiling gently at her; delighted when Agatha replied with that wide smile of her own.
Still he was surprised when Agatha reached up of her own accord, and patted his fur covered jaw with some fascination.
"You interrupted me before, I was just going to shave this off."
"Don't." It was softly spoken but there was no mistaking the command.
"Why not?"
"I like it." Agatha replied simply. "I like you furry." She added her gaze dropping to his chest hair. "She likes it too…but she wouldn't say so."
Forming the word oh, even if he didn't say it, Dracula found his delight with this version of Agatha growing; wondering just how many more secrets he could pry from her.
"So, you both like me furry." Dracula repeated, relaxing against the pillows. "Is there anything else you both like about me?"
"You smell nice." Agatha added, her head tilting as she studied him like a delicate bird. "Like cinnamon and old books…And your smile…we like it when you smile at us."
Rewarding that confession with a smile, Dracula reached up and covered the hand still petting at his beard, lifting it up to press a kiss to her fingertips. "So, I have a nice smile and smell good, that is always nice to hear."
"Do that again."
"Do what?"
"That…" Agatha pressed her fingers against his lips, tracing the edges with the tips of her nails. "We both like kisses…even if she pretends she doesn't."
Stifling a groan, Dracula swallowed hard, suddenly regretting not pausing long enough in the bathroom to pull on a pair of sweatpants; this damn towel was not going to hide anything. Reluctantly he removed Agatha's fingers from his lips, and pressed her hand down to the bedspread, where it could do less damage.
"We both missed you." Agatha suddenly added, her smile dimming, the sheen of tears back in her eyes. "We were all alone, all those years…don't leave us all alone again."
"I won't ever leave you alone again." Dracula promised earnestly, not even a hint of mockery in his tone. This Agatha didn't deserve anything but his honesty. "Not even when you push me away, I'd miss you too much."
"She pushes you away…she's so stupid sometimes…" Agatha sighed with some frustration, as though the conscious mind was the foolish child in this instance. "She wants you, but she won't let us have you."
"Believe me I have noticed." Dracula deadpanned, yet he couldn't hide the thrill of having it confirmed from Agatha's own lips. "So, she doesn't want Anderson or anyone else, just me?"
Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought, Agatha's visual abhorrence caused Dracula to burst out laughing.
"I take that as a no then."
"Very much no." Agatha replied, echoing his laugh. The desire to reach out, and touch that smile, bubbled up and so she did, with no hesitation. "You're the only one we've ever wanted like that…inside us…we waited…"
"Agatha you shouldn't do that." Dracula warned her gently, but he didn't have the heart to push her away again. Not if what he was hearing was true, as nun it would have been expected but had Agatha really waited 123 years, and kept herself just for him?
"Why?"
"She wouldn't like it."
"She isn't here." Agatha replied logically, and with such gleeful force that Dracula couldn't help but laugh again. "I want you to kiss me again."
"And I want to kiss you too." Dracula replied, it was taking monumental control not to simply take what was being offered to him. Everything he had always wanted, and yet it wasn't, because this wasn't really her, well not all of her, and Dracula wanted all of her.
"Please…"
"Agatha no…I can't, it wouldn't be right…you…the other you would never forgive me." Dracula replied simply, as he once again pushed her away, and then forced himself to stand up from the bed. It was like a physical wrench, and his own inner voice was screaming at him to stop being so stupid, and just take what he wanted.
But no, he wanted her whole, every last bit of that stubborn, impossible mind, as well as her heart and soul. He wanted her to want him and not be able to stop herself any longer. He wanted to win her, because it was something she just couldn't fight any longer, and not because he took advantage of her at her weakest. He wanted Agatha at her strongest, he wanted her to choose him, knowing all the options.
"Now I am going to finish getting dressed, you need to rest some more." Dracula insisted, ignoring Agatha's huff of disappointment.
Heading towards the bathroom, Dracula resolved to lock the door and take another shower, after all there was no reason he couldn't imagine the scenario in which he had said yes…
"Don't shave it off." Agatha commanded imperiously from the bed.
And laughing Dracula conceded that this was at least one request of hers he could indulge without guilt…and besides she liked him furry, it might even work to his advantage, when her other half finally woke up.
-/-