Togetherness
This summer an oppressive sultriness prevailed, which was always attended by the loud chirping of the crickets. The air was flickering and made the busy hiker imagine the strangest images in the distance, while the lifesaving fresh water for the country's population became scarce. The cheerful chirping of the birds ebbed away continuously with each passing day, the majestic panthers lay listlessly in the tall grass, mostly to save energy, and yawned in exhaustion, knights refrained from donning their massive armor, and the heads of the sunflowers hung limply towards the parched farmland.
A tall, slender man with rolled up sleeves and trouser legs walked along the field in the blazing midday heat and looked lovingly at the woman whose back was turned towards him. Her blonde curly hair was pinned up, revealing a slender tanned neck with a multitude of beads of sweat on it, running down in curving paths. The white cotton tunic stuck to her body while she used her hoe to try to prepare the dried ground.
Without any further ado, he dropped the spade and sprinted the last few meters to her. The blonde-haired woman gave a surprised outcry when he tore her down and pulled her into an intimate embrace. He smothered her sound with a passionate kiss, while his hands longingly followed her curves through her sweat-soaked clothes. Greedily he stroked her salty tasting lower lip with his tongue and laughed as he was tenderly bitten by her. "You realize that everyone out here can watch us, don't you?"
Her cheerful voice caused butterflies in his stomach, just like when they first met. He skillfully brushed some locks of the woman's hair behind her ear and gazed at her lovingly. " And if the Duchess herself were to come by! Everyone may see that I love and desire my wife above all else! Mireille, you're the best thing that could happen to me in this life!"
The woman giggled happily and snuggled closer to his chest, ignoring the sweat. " My darling! Let's stay together forever. There is nothing that can ever keep us apart." With his brown eyes, he gazed at Mireille's face and wished secretly that this moment would never end. For all eternity.
As unobtrusively as possible, he let one of his hands slide down, but before he could touch her voluptuous breasts, she slapped his fingers decisively. "First business, then pleasure." Teasingly, she pressed her lower body against his, which made him groan loudly in agony, before she rose with a sigh and extended her hand to him.
His lips still curled into a suggestive smile, he took her narrow hand. "Tonight you are mine! I will caress every part of your body and..."
With reddened cheeks Mireille pushed him playfully. "That's enough! You'd better concentrate on the field work ahead of you rather than playing the love-crazed fool!"
With a transfigured look he watched as Mireille resumed her work before he turned around and, breathing heavily, made his way back to the dropped shovel. The prospect of the strenuous field work put a damper on his good mood, but they would both enjoy this evening.
Dettlaff's jaw seemed almost to burst from the tension, while his bright blue eyes looked down at her and at no time let go of her face. "Humans," Livia blinked as the vampire broke the silence with a calm voice, "are strange creatures. Your lives are so short and yet you waste your time on work and war. Material things seem to be of very high value to you and your strong selfishness drives you to betray your nearest ones. I wonder if a person is really capable of holding sincere feelings for others besides himself."
Livia blinked several times in disbelief before she stared bewildered at the vampire's petrified face. Her heart was pounding almost painfully against her chest, while her hands were barely trembling. An indescribable cold took over her body and seemed to pull her into a never-ending black hole. The alchemist swallowed before hesitantly replying in a broken voice: "Dettlaff, I...". The unpleasant buzzing in her head had been present since the beginning of this morning, but during the conversation it seemed to increase steadily, almost driving her out of her mind. Sharply she sucked in the air and tried to concentrate on the conversation as best she could.
"Don't you want to travel with me anymore?"
Dettlaff pressed his lips tightly together, while in his eyes lay a deep sadness. "There is nothing I desire more than your closeness, but last night I almost did something unforgivable." His gaze glanced briefly at the blood-encrusted dress on the floor before he stared at Livia with open despair. "The smell of your blood has been driving me mad since last night. Even now it is present in this very moment. I don't want you to see me like this. Livia, I already hurt you! This..."
"I told you yesterday that I accept you for what you are!" The young woman hardly flinched noticeably. Her tone, caused by the piercing headache, turned out to be much more aggressive than she had intended, while Dettlaff's controlled state seemed to slowly crumble. His face reflected more than clearly the inner conflict he was in.
"You want to tell me that the entire human race is mendacious and deceitful, and what about you? Stop with your evasive explanations and bring your concerns to the point! Do you want to continue the journey with me? Yes or no?!"
The young woman was not sure whether it was the bright rays of the morning sun or whether Dettlaff was actually losing all color in his face. His whole body began to shake as he continued to try to restrain himself. However, Livia didn't give him time to gather his thoughts and continued angrily: "I know you're a vampire, damn it! Even if Regis doesn't want me to offer you my blood again, I did it yesterday and would do it right now and do you know why?" She took a deep breath and literally spat out the following words: "Because I'm just a fucking human who's all about intrigue!"
Livia's voice became continuously louder until she finally screamed at the vampire in a shrill voice. Her shoulders trembled as she gasped for breath in rage and stroked her temple with a brisk movement. The headaches coupled with her excessively emotions literally overwhelmed the young woman.
Inwardly she was not only angry at Dettlaff, but also at herself. She did not want to blame him and let the argument get out of hand. Instead, she wanted to reassure him by telling him that she didn't think he was a monster, no matter what he wanted. She trusted him and had the desire to help him accept himself. The vampire seemed to be lost, even in this moment. His anger was unmistakable, but she always had the feeling that it was mainly directed against himself.
A deep growl elicited Dettlaff, while the look of his blue eyes seemed to bore into the young woman's face. His chest rose and fell at short intervals while his nostrils flared. There was nothing left of the elegant, reserved and attentive man. Dettlaff was beside himself with anger and made this obvious by transforming into his vampiric appearance.
"That's enough!" His voice was now even deeper than normally and appeared to Livia much louder than usual. "You don't have the slightest idea of what you're offering to me, HUMAN!"
Livia burst out with a guttural cry full of frustration. "You are unfair, did anyone ever tell you that or did no one dare to do so because you are an oh so powerful vampire? Do you really want to accuse me of being human? I did not choose as what I was born!"
"Neither did I!" He came closer to Livia with gnashing teeth. "You're different from most people, but you lie to me too!"
The young woman's eyes widened in horror and incomprehension.
"I want to understand you, but every time I think I'm getting closer to you, you distance yourself from me! You do things I cannot predict. I thought that during this journey I could better understand what is going on inside you humans, but I have the feeling that exactly the opposite has happened!"
Gasping, the young woman took a step back when the vampire knelt before her. "Livia, I don't understand. Why aren't you afraid of me? Why do you want to travel with me?"
Meanwhile, the woman was shaking all over and was unable to answer anything, while she looked down at Dettlaff in bewilderment. The abrupt and at the same time unforeseen change in the situation simply overwhelmed her.
"I asked myself these questions everyday at the beginning of our journey, but finally I came to a decision." The vampire's white eyes took on the pleading expression of a child as he mustered the young woman before him. "I accept that you are lying to me. You may use me as you please but please," Dettlaff lowered his head resignedly and closed his eyes, "do not leave me. Don't leave me alone." His last words were little more than a faint breath.
Silence reigned in the clearing. A mild breeze was blowing over the fields, making the germinating grain dance, while in the distance the mating sounds of the partridges had silenced. The almost picturesque calm stood in stark contrast to the chaos of emotions that defiantly shouted out to her in her mind to give Dettlaff the coup de grace for his hurtful words. With her lips slightly open, she breathed in and out a few times and tried to collect herself despite the unbearable pressure in her head. The surroundings seemed to blur, but that only interested her secondarily. Her focus was solely on the vampire, who continued to wait with closed eyes for a reaction on her part.
Groaning, she threw her head back and let herself sink to the ground, her eyes still fixed on the bright blue sky. After a while she broke the silence with a soft whisper. "Why do arguments between us always end this way? You say that you want to understand me and every time you are convinced that you want to come closer to me, we move distant again. Do you think I feel different with you?" Sighing, she turned her attention back to the vampire. His white colored eyes watched her while he breathed clearly through his broad nose.
"I also ask myself several times a day what I could do to better understand you. You are so...," the young woman faltered briefly before she could find the right words to continue. "Unlike anything I have encountered in my life up to now. I don't care if you're a vampire or a human. Dettlaff, I want to understand you better. You asked me before we left, why you can touch me and I won't back down from you."
Livia slid closer to him on her knees and embraced him gently. Tenderly she stroked his back and noticed the play of his muscles under the thick leather coat. Every part that her hands touched reacted to her by noticeably contracting in the affected area. The vampire's body radiated a pleasant warmth, while he, like a drowning man reaching for a raft to save him, pressed the petite woman to his body. His wrinkled nose stroked hesitantly along the sides of her neck, taking deep breaths in an attempt to absorb her sweetish scent in its entirety.
Livia shuddered when she could feel the vampire's firm leathery skin on her body and tilted her head to give him better access. His breath faltered for a moment while his claws carefully ran through Livia's hair. The large paws gripped her head and he pressed his nose tighter against her neck. His lips caressed her delicate skin, with the pointed tips of his fangs pressing against her neck.
Confused, Dettlaff blinked as Livia gently but firmly pressed her hands against his upper body to free herself from him. The vampire's rapid heartbeat was reflected in the strongly pulsating veins on his face as he almost panicked to look at her. "Livia, please forgive me if I did something wrong. I didn't mean to be pushy. I didn't mean to..." He broke off in the middle of the sentence when he recognized his dagger in her hands.
A hint of a smile lay on her lips as she stared at him with a warm look. "Dettlaff, you may touch me because I trust you. You're not a monster because you want my blood. Nor can I give you absolution for your past deeds, but I can help you to shoulder this burden and to live with it. You have already helped me countless times and saved my life. Now I will be there for you."
Before Dettlaff could intervene, Livia cut open the scar that had remained after the incident with Sebastion. He looked in horror at the thick red lines that were trying to find their way to the ground along the young woman's narrow wrist.
Livia continued to look him in the eyes, while she slowly stretched her wrist towards Dettlaff. "Now you don't have to hurt me anymore to get my blood. I already tasted yours, now it's your turn." "Livia..." Dettlaff's deep voice was full of longing, while his beastly face tensed up. His extremely striking white eyes seemed to lose themselves in her green as he almost reverently embraced her tiny hand with his. "You belong to me as I belong to you."
The young woman's voice was little more than a whisper as she repeated the vampire's words. "And you are mine as I am yours."
Dettlaff bent down to her wrist before he stopped close to the wound and caught the smell of her blood. Slowly, almost agonizingly slowly, his lips covered the last distance and gently kissed the injured part of her skin. Livia sucked in the air while her whole body suddenly stiffened. With her free hand she supported herself on the ground to keep her balance.
Dettlaff's very tender kisses traced the individual blood vessels before he regularly returned to the open wound with his pointed tongue to taste the small red pearls emerging from it. But after only a short time he paused panting loudly, kept his gaze fixed on her wrist and brought out with a pressed voice. "Breathe."
Livia flinched when, according to Dettlaff, she noticed the unpleasant pulling in her chest. She took a breath through her nose several times before she grasped his chin with her free hand and could feel his pointed jawbone. "Dettlaff."
The vampire's posture tightened noticeably when he looked up hesitantly and, with his pupils dilated, looked anxiously for disgust or other feelings of rejection in the young woman's green eyes. What he found in them made him pause briefly in an attempt to control his emotions. " Livia."
With a deep, throaty growl, the vampire pounced on her and dragged the surprised young woman to the ground with him while he pushed his nose into her wavy hair and buried her delicate body under his. The claws rested on her narrow shoulders, while the sharp points made deep indentations into the hard ground.
Livia's delicate fingers moved through the vampire's raven-black hair, stroking gently over his scalp. When Dettlaff looked into the young woman's face, his heart seemed to stand still for a few moments.
A warm smile lay on her lips and was also reflected in her green eyes. "How could I ever be afraid of you?" Her voice was calm and had lost its pressed undertone. "You're still the Dettlaff I know. Your eyes express so much more than words could ever describe, the little curls in your hair and..." she bit her lower lip with an embarrassed smile, "... your pointed ears look insanely good."
With one hand she grasped a larger tuft of the velvety soft hair and clenched it tightly, while the other gently stroked the veined forehead, exploring the unusual texture of his skin. The vampire paused and looked at the young woman beneath him with a vigilant gaze, seemingly trying to internalize every movement of her facial expression. Her cool fingertips continued to run across his temples, tracing the outer curve of the auricle before she paused at the tip and poked it several times with a spellbound look.
Livia literally had to force herself to turn her gaze back to Dettlaff's face. His pupils were still dilated, his mouth slightly open, which made the monstrous fangs stand out more clearly. Meanwhile his upper body pressed irregularly against hers due to his almost panicky breathing. He reacted to her blood. Even for the inexperienced alchemist it was obvious that the vampire was doing his best to hold back from her. In a fluid movement, her hand moved from the tip of his ear to his cheek, which she soothingly enclosed with her little hand. The pronounced cheekbone filled almost her entire palm. "Dettlaff, I trust you."
At that moment Livia thought she could see into the innermost depths of his soul. The mighty being appeared vulnerable at once and seemed to be able to break if she made an impetuous statement. He wished for nothing more than to be accepted and loved by another being.
Dettlaff pressed his lips tightly together, causing a conspicuous grinding of his fangs, before he broke eye contact with her and nestled his head against her upper body, while his body began to tremble. The vampire remained in this position in silence for some time before whispering a soft "Thank you.".
Livia gently stroked his hair, while the sphaera sensum, which had rolled out of her trouser pocket after Dettlaff's stormy embrace, shone next to her at head level in a bright white light.