Author's notes: Oh, yes. Chapter Thirteen of DOOM! Ahem . . . well, anyway, just so y'all know, I am getting my own personal computer at my mom's soon, so as soon as it's set up, I can post stories more often! And as for your earlier comment about Malakai, PyrokineticFeral . . . I have no idea. We tried to explain what V.S. is to him, but I could not tolerate his oblivious innocence and I bailed. I left the big boy explanations to the boys. Heheh . . . anyway, here for your enjoyment, CHAPTER THIRTEEN!
The kitchen was alive with the sound of a familiar female voice singing along to an Evanescence cd, which was being played at maximum volume. Alucard entered the kitchen through the side door (as he could no longer simply phase up through the floor), and saw the source of the loud, haunting gothic music. Victoria was, as expected, bustling energetically around the kitchen, stirring this and chopping that and checking on this and tasting that. Malakai was sitting on a blissfully empty counter, watching her. Victoria was singing "Tourniquet" as she opened the lid of what looked like a deep fat fryer and checked the contents in a distracted manner. Alucard grinned. He silently (although it didn't matter much; she couldn't hear him anyway) crept up behind her, and just as she was about to move, he jabbed her in the sides, causing her to jump and shriek. She spun around, and upon seeing him, gave him a rather expert mock-glare as she turned down the music.
"Really, Seras. Just because you aren't a vampire anymore doesn't give you an excuse to cease being vigilant. I should think I taught you better than that," he grinned down at her.
"I know, Master. But . . . I'm just . . . so . . . happy. I finally get to do what I want to do, without worrying about being called away, or yelled at, or . . . anything!" Victoria beamed up at him.
He rolled his eyes and bent his head down to kiss her on the forehead. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. She stayed like that for a moment before pulling away and turning back to her work. Apparently whatever it was she was cooking was done.
"Aah, aah, hot, hot, hot!" she muttered as she lifted the lid.
Malakai grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from the handle, saying, "If it's hot, don't touch it!"
She stuck out her tongue at him. He grinned. Examining her hand carefully, he checked for burns. She was fine. He released her and hopped down from the counter. Alucard peered into the fryer.
"What are you making?" he asked as he stepped out of her way so she could get back to work.
"Ummm, deep fried mushrooms," Victoria replied.
"That all?"
"Of course not. I'm making dinner for everyone, not just us, you know. Sir Integra said I could make dinner as long as I cleaned up my mess. I'm also making smokey corn chowder . . . my mother used to make it for me . . . she got the recipe when she was visiting a friend in the United States . . . she changed it a bit, though . . . my dad hated spicy food, and originally, it was supposed to be spicy. And we're having biscuits. And . . . dessert will be a surprise."
"You're making dessert too?" Malakai asked.
"No, duh. I just said that," Victoria grinned.
He stuck out his tongue at her. She turned back to her mushrooms. Seeing that they were indeed done cooking, she unplugged the fryer and then shook the basket to remove excess grease. She dumped the mushrooms onto a plate with a paper towel on it and then turned to the chowder. It was not quite done yet.
This was all completely boring to Alucard, who left, saying, "I'll see you in a bit, then, Seras."
This allowed Malakai to have some alone time with Victoria. He had been holding back for all that time. He wrapped his arms around he waist from behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder. She turned her head, twisting around slightly, and kissed him for a brief moment before returning to her task (or trying to return to it). She felt him nosing her neck very gently, and felt him smile against her skin. She tilted her head slightly as she resumed stirring.
He kissed her neck and murmured, "It smells good."
"Huh? What does?" she stammered, thrown totally off track by what he was doing to her neck.
He continued teasing her neck for a few more minutes, causing her to become totally distracted. She reached up and around her head to bury her fingers in his hair. His arms tightened slightly around her waist. He kissed her just under her ear, and she shivered. But much to her disappointment, he stopped, and released her. She removed her hands from his hair and closed her eyes, sighing. She then returned to stirring the neglected chowder that was to be their dinner. Okay . . . now it was done.
"And all that's left are the biscuits. And that'll take . . . oh . . . fifteen more minutes," Victoria muttered to herself.
She switched off the heat to the stove top. She turned around to see Malakai leaning on the counter behind her, watching her with a thoughtful yet strangely mischievous expression.
"What's that look for?" she asked him.
The small smile on his lips curved even more crookedly than before. Suddenly, Victoria wondered if she should be worried. That expression meant trouble . . . well, actually, it was the look he gave her before he kissed her, and before he had explained what the Transylvanian French Kiss was, and when she had said something he had found particularly amusing. What on earth was he giving her that look for now? She glanced at him as she knelt to look at the biscuits. She silently admitted that it was a rather attractive look on him. He was wearing a dress shirt that was only buttoned about halfway up, exposing his pentacle to the world, and a pair of loose jeans. With his arms folded over his chest that way, and with that look on his face, and with him standing in that casual pose, he looked . . . she shivered. There really wasn't a sophisticated way to put it. He was absolutely sexy.
Oh, I am so glad that he can't hear my thoughts any more . . . him or Master Alucard, Victoria thought.
(AN: Oh, aren't we all)
Just then, Alucard returned. Victoria stood up and smiled at him, attempting to ignore Malakai, although his expression had changed the minute Alucard had entered the room. Much to her surprise, he approached her from behind, curling his arms around her waist just as Malakai had. She heard Malakai stirring behind both of them. She glanced at him as he walked past them to the door. She was saddened by the pain she saw in his eyes. He strode through the door and left Victoria and Alucard alone in the room. Just then, the timer dinged, and Alucard released her so she could pull the biscuits out of the oven. She set them on the stove top. And then Walter came into the kitchen.
"Ah, yes, I thought you'd be done by now. Here, let me. I'll bring it down to you, and you can clean up when you've finished eating," Walter told her.
"O-okay," Victoria replied.
Alucard followed her out of the kitchen and down the stone steps into the basement where they lived. Malakai was waiting outside her room, leaning back against the wall, biting his thumbnail.
(AN: All of you have seen a guy do this when he gets nervous . . . or when he's thinking . . . or when he's trying to annoy his mother . . . I wonder which one it is?)
Just then, Victoria really felt like being alone.
"M-master? Malakai? Ummm, I hope you don't mind if I spend some time alone this evening? I have something I need to think about. Alone. Please?" Victoria said softly.
Malakai looked at her.
"Sure," he said, and turned to go down the hall to his room.
Alucard merely nodded, and turned in the opposite direction to go to his room. The minute the two of them were out of sight, she rushed to her room and closed the door, locking it.
She collapsed on her bed, clutching her pillow tightly and then screaming into it as loud as she could. Thank God for stone walls.
"I hate this! It's not fair! It's not right! Why are you doing this to me?" she whispered as tears started to fall against her will.
She didn't know who she was talking to, only that someone had to hear her. They had started this, and she wanted them to end it, damn it all!
"I love them! I do! That's what you wanted, right? Did you think I'd be happy! Do you know how much it hurts! Do you care! It hurts to want something so much even though you can never have it. I can't have them both! And what happens if Master finds out about me and Malakai? What good could come of that? Even if they're still human when it happens, there'll still be a fight and someone's gonna get hurt! And I hope to God it's me, cause this is my fault! I can't stand it! And worst of all . . . oh, God . . . what happens if I end up having sex with one of them? If it's Alucard, Malakai will know and he'll be hurt, but if it's Malakai, Alucard will know and . . . oh, no . . . oh, God, please don't let that happen! I can't take this for much longer . . . I'm going to go insane!" she muttered angrily.
Despair saturated every fiber of her being, spurred on by her love, and because she knew it was going to come out badly no matter which way you looked at it.
"And you know what's sad . . . even though I know I can't, eventually I am going to end up having sex with one or the other of them . . . and that's actually supposed to be a good thing. Why can't I ever just have a normal relationship? And . . .oh . . . great . . . I'm whining again. I hate it when I do that! You know what! I need to cool off. I have a boom box, so I'll blare some music, change into my new pajamas, and pretend I am back home in my apartment . . . alone," Victoria said decisively.
She stood up and stepped over to the cd rack, trailing her index finger over the sides of the cd cases, trying to choose which one she wanted. She decided upon her HIM: Dark Light cd. She was in the mood for some gothic, hard rock love songs right now. She opened the slot and put the cd in the boom box. She turned the volume knob to maximum, opened her cupboard, pulled out her box of chocolate covered cherries, and changed into her light blue Victoria's Secret slip. She crawled into bed. Picking up the book on her night-stand (Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind) she opened the box of chocolate covered cherries and flipped the pages to her stopping place. When Walter came, she told him she wasn't hungry and to leave her mess there for her to clean up. Walter told her he'd clean it up. She thanked him and then resumed blaring her music. Ah, it was good to be alone.
