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10
Dumas woke up early that evening. He opened his eyes lazily and the first thing he saw was Nish's sleeping face. The vampire locked his gaze into the sleeping one, and didn't move, just stared. Last night, they had sex like the other night, and Dumas enjoyed it again. Nish wanted to bond with him and Dumas had to hit him when the albino was being too annoying about the matter. He apologized for it, rolled and went to sleep. Dumas didn't know if he acted good, but he knew he wasn't ready for a next mate but Nish was... well, Nish. The former Duke smiled softly when the eyes of the albino vampire opened lazily as his.
"Hey...", whispered Nish. "Sleep well?", Dumas nodded.
"Very. And you?"
"I'm sleeping besides you. That should be enough.", he laughed when his partner blushed deeply, hiding his face in the pillows. "Come on, don't be embarrassed."
"Shut up.", said and both laughed. "Damn... I just remembered...", mumbled as he stretched on the bed, rolling on the other side. "Heavens, I don't want to get up."
"Then don't.", Nish grabbed Dumas' waist and curled besides him. "Let's rest a bit before getting off the bed. Lucian and Aaron are still sleeping."
Dumas, nervous, let the albino grab his waist while he moved closer to him. It was a very nice feeling. He had forgotten about it and the soft caress of Nish's chest against his back was heartwarming. He smiled, purring when the albino started to pet his head in a tender way. A few minutes later, Perrault entered the room, floating in the air to the bed and landing on both men. The cat curled on them and smiled widely at them.
"Good evening!", she cheered. "I have some news about Nero!"
"Oh, that's good.", whispered Dumas, petting his Terrennial.
"Toasty finally let him go, and he isn't coming alone. Ernest, Kay and Bea are going to come, too. There is a very urgent thing they need to tell us.", explained Perrault.
"About?", she shrugged when Nish asked.
"Wonder what could it be...", whispered Dumas, half sleep. The warmness was calling him to the land of dreams again. "Probably something related with Lucian..."
"I guess so.", answered Perrault. "Master, you are still tired. Why don't you get some more sleep? They are going to come around midnight."
"What time is it?", asked Nish.
"Around... a quarter to seven.", the albino nodded and curled besides Dumas, who was already sleeping. "Rest well."
"Thanks, Perrault."
The Terrennial smiled and left. When she flew past Lucian's room, she noticed the open door. Being the curious cat she was, Perrault peeped inside and found only Aaron lying on the bed. He was curled under the sheets and the bed was truly a mess. The cat entered the room and found no traces of Lucian in there. Where could the dark swordsman be? She left and floated outside, in the forecourt. All was covered with a thin cape of snow. The sky was still dark and the monsters were almost inactive due to the freezing temperatures. Sniffing the air, Perrault made her way through the forecourt, following Lucian's scent. Soon, she noticed that the dhampir was in the ruins under the mansion. Carefully, Perrault entered into the dark room. She floated down on the stairs and passed by the big hall. There were a few dark hounds patrolling. The ghouls popped from the ground as soon as she stepped on the floor and the Terrennial decided to keep floating rather than walking, for her own safety.
She made her way along the Sanctum and proceeds into the sealed area, San Miguel. Perrault noticed that the closer she got to the sealed area the fewer monsters were patrolling the area, and couldn't blame them. An aggressive and powerful, dark energy was pouring from the last room of San Miguel, so strong that even the walls were cracked by it. She noticed that there were several black and crimson roots crawling on the walls, ceiling and floor. Then, some dark clouds moving slowly from the last chamber to the Sanctum. Perrault shivered in fear. Her fur on her tail stood up violently as an air wave shot her.
A low growl came from the chamber.
The Terrennial moved closer, touching the left wall with her left paw. There was someone in the chamber, she could feel it. And that power, too... She remembered feeling the same in Polidori and in her master, but it was slightly stronger than them. Who could have such energy on the planet? She shivered again when entered the chamber. It was all dark, completely dark. The skylights were covered with steam of darkness and the same crimson roots she saw before coming in, preventing the last rays of Sun come into the room.
Perrault waited in the air, barely breathing. She was scared about the being hiding in the shadows. If it was an enemy, she must tell Dumas immediately or it could be serious troubles after. The being growled again and that startled the purple cat. The clouds twitched, aware of her presence now, but did nothing. The roots crawled away from the skylights, like the clouds, and let the first rays of Moon enter. The silver light bathed the darkness in the room and a lazy silhouette was visible between it. She could see several horns growing from its head, as well as two pairs of bat wings growing from its back. Its crimson eyes glowed in the dark and Perrault gasped when the pair saw her, but didn't pay any attention to the Terrennial. As the time passed, the moonlight illuminated the whole being. There were very thin lines running on its body, as if those were its veins filled with the vampire power that was corrupting a human life.
The being was, apparently, sitting on the floor. Its whole body was covered in dark and was all pitch black. If that being was a very powerful vampire or a human transforming into one, Perrault couldn't tell because of the clouds covering it. And it couldn't be Lucian because he hadn't bit Aaron yet and he wasn't the type of person to go out and hunt a random human after mated the boy. She knew, along with Dumas, that he was going to transform once he had tasted Aaron's blood and not someone else's blood. If it wasn't Lucian, who it was?
A hiss was heard and that alerted Perrault's senses. The being had its eyes wide open and looked angry. The dark clouds and the roots were twitching and moving nervously, as if they prepared to strike and hit the enemy. The wings of the being flapped twice, the knuckles were cracked and the claws launched an attack against Perrault. She barely made it and flew out of the chamber, too scared to look back. Rushing through the Sanctum, ignoring the monsters that went behind her, ignoring everything that wanted to catch her Perrault made it to the forecourt, but didn't stop there. She kept flying until she was at the mansion's front doors. Just then, she stopped, trying to catch her breath again. Some hounds walked to her but Perrault hissed at them, floating in the mansion and closing the doors behind her.
Silence met the Terrennial. Perrault floated back to his master's room and found him already up and dressed, but Nish was nowhere to find.
"Back already?", said Dumas, smiling to her. "I thought your walks were longer than this."
"I, eh... I need to...", she shivered again and the vampire noticed it. He walked closer to Perrault and petted her head, sensing her fear. "I saw... something in the Sanctum."
"What did you see?"
"It's hard to tell... but the closest guess... I think it's a vampire, a very, very powerful one.", Dumas arched his eyebrows.
"How strong?"
"Stronger than Polidori."
"Wasn't Lucian by any chance?"
"I don't know. It was all covered with darkness and I could only see the crimson eyes, but undoubtedly it was a human transforming into a vampire."
"It's weird. Normally, vampires doesn't chose places like this to transform, since its being patrolled often and it's not safe enough for them.", he sighed, knowing he had to alert Nish and the others. "Unless this vampire doesn't fear gunslingers.", he looked at her. "How are our lovely boys?"
"Well, Aaron is still sleeping, but Lucian wasn't in the room or in the mansion."
"Perhaps he went for a walk or is trying to settle down his bloodlust.", said Dumas, knowing that the dhampir might have left not exactly for a walk.
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know. I don't wish the curse for Lucian because I have been getting along with him very well, like with Aaron, but at this rate... It's impossible even for Aaron to stop it. If he doesn't want Lucian to drink his blood, then he will go and seek it somewhere else.", answered the former Duke, worried about the whereabouts of Lucian. He hoped he didn't go into hunting without company because of the gunslinger and because after feeding, he might lose his memories for real and not be able to remember Aaron and anything they lived. That was the worst thing Dumas thought in the moment. "And I don't want that either. It is true that I saw cases in where humans stayed with their memory intact after transforming into a vampire, but Lucian might have started well but end wrong."
"So, your final decision is helping him after all?"
Dumas sighed.
"Sadly for Aaron, yes."
Said boy was still sleeping when Nish and Lucian returned to the mansion at midnight. Perrault seemed nervous around the dhampir but none of them asked her why. Lucian returned to his bedroom when the Terrennial told him about Nero's and the gunslinger's visit and Nish stayed with Dumas in the library, besides the fireplace. The temperature descended even more and there was another warning of blizzard that night. Just ten minutes to one in the morning, the former Duke woke Aaron and Lucian up, saying that he could feel some intruders trying to get into the forecourt. The dhampir stood up quickly and followed Dumas outside, while Aaron stayed inside the room, putting clean clothes on his body before leaving with the vampires. This time, he did bring the Knight with him, fully charged and ready to strike.
They left the mansion and went to the entrance, hiding behind the statues and giving orders to the hounds to go first and search for those intruders. Those intruders were no one but the gunslingers and the Dark Terrennial. The cat jumped from Ernest's arms and launched to the boy's ones, purring loudly and happily to be back with them again. Aaron hugged the cat and petted his back, happy to see him too.
"What brings all of you here?", asked Dumas.
"We have to tell you something important about the north gunslingers.", said Ernest.
"I see.", answered the dhampir. Bea walked to them but several hounds appeared before her, growling and showing their teeth. "Ah, I forgot about those..."
"It's ok.", said Bea, walking closer. She kneeled and reached with her right arm one of the hounds, but not close enough to actually touch it. "Hey boys..."
The hound leader stopped growling and started to sniff Bea's hand. He got closer to get a better smell and soon after finishing, he waved his tail back and forth. The other hounds relaxed too, and Bea could pet the hound's head without danger. She stood up and run to Aaron, hugging him tightly.
"Heavens, I was so worried!!", said the woman. "I'm so glad you are safe, kid!"
"Same.", answered Aaron. "How you been in the Guild?"
"Oh, we have been better, but we need to tell you about a certain character that might... appear under tight situations."
Nish snickered. He led the way back to the mansion and they all sat in the living room, besides the lighted fireplace, on the warm carpet. Surprisingly, Dumas curled between Nish's legs and let him circle his waist with his arms, while Aaron sat on Lucian's lap with Nero on his legs as well. The dark Terrennial soon fall asleep on them, wings folded on his back and his eyes closed, but his ears listening to what they said.
Ernest started telling about the north gunslingers and Oyan, who was currently trying to eradicate all vampires in the east cities. He proceeded to explain why he had asked for his help and Dumas and Lucian understood the leader's situation. Also, he commented about the boy that met with Oyan the same day but at morning hours and Lucian said it could be him the one that followed them when they were going to the mansion, and seemed surprised when Ernest said that he knew a few strange things about the dark swordsman.
Dumas was confident about themselves. He knew that north gunslinger's personality, and didn't fear it. Nish thought that being in the state the former Duke was, he couldn't bear a battle for five minutes. And also knew that if he said something to Dumas, he would start hitting him because of it. That's why he didn't say anything. Lucian feared about Aaron, but the boy said he could be as fierce as the north warriors. The dhampir smiled and kissed him, saying he was sure about that.
After the talk, Lucian let Aaron go with his partners for a walk in Acuna while he and the other vampires stayed in the mansion, taking care of Nero, but seemed that Perrault was his perfect nurse, because when the boy left and Lucian took the cat to his room, the female Terrennial rushed in and hugged the cat, starting to groom him with her tongue, pinning him down on the bed to prevent Nero to escape, who struggled against her. He pleaded for mercy, but Lucian grinned and left.
"Wait! Don't leave me!", yelled the black cat. Perrault's tongue rubbed his head. "Luciaaaan!!", Nero, for the first time, noticed that Toasty's torture wasn't anything compared to this.
Dumas asked Lucian to accompany him in a little walk and a little talk. The dhampir agreed, following the former Duke along the mansion and then, into the forecourt yet once again. He walked around, not talking with Lucian as he did so. Lucian noticed they were leaving the mansion's territory and went directly into a dense forest, as quiet as the night, with some crows resting on the trees and a few bats coming from the shadows. Soon, they came to a huge lake with a few stones near the deepest zone of it. A ray of Moon peeped from the thick grey clouds and illuminated the water's surface. Dumas kept walking to a stone formation at the south side of the lake and jumped on the biggest one, inviting Lucian too. The dhampir accepted it and jumped besides Dumas.
"It's nice, isn't it?", said the former Duke. "Well, tonight it's cloudy but in clear skies...", he sighed. "I used to came here with Rymer when we were free from our obligations and rest from them. In summer, the lake is filled with fireflies and crickets and during fall the red leaves fall on the waters and the sky goes very red when the Sun sets. Winter it's especial too, since the lake doesn't freeze with the low temperatures. But the water is damn cold if you thought in take bath in them.", Lucian laughed softly, smiling. "Spring... Spring is like fall. The little blooming flowers are pulled from the trees by the wind, and softly placed on the waters..."
"I never knew there was a place like this.", admitted Lucian. "I know the marsh in the south, the lakes are filled with leeches, snakes, annoying mosquitoes...", Dumas giggled. "Oh, you wouldn't laugh if you lived there."
"It's strange. Ezra told me you forgot all your childhood and puberty due to the dark powers. Why are you suddenly remembering it?"
"I don't remember everything of it. Just… pieces."
Dumas nodded.
"I want to ask... Do you really... trust me?"
Lucian arched his eyebrows.
"Sadly.", both of them laughed out loud. "You changed a lot after the last time we met. Even though Polidori lured you to kill Ratatosk and get all the power, I still think that Polidori somehow got control of you to do what he needed you to do.", he laid on the rock, hands behind his neck. Dumas copied him but crossed his legs, admiring with him the clouds on the sky. "I admit that I truly hated you for all you did but now...", he shrugged. "Aaron made me saw the other side of things. And one of the things he taught me was to not judge persons for what they did without knowing their reasons first.", he stretched up, yawning. Dumas could see his new born vampire fangs inside his mouth.
"Your fangs are cute."
"Did I hear well? Did you say 'cute'?", the former Duke groaned, but a smile adorned his face. "I thought that type of word wasn't in your vocabulary."
"Now you know that 'cute' is part of my unusual vocabulary.", he sighed again. "What are you going to do with the feeding?"
This time, it was Lucian's turn to sigh.
"I don't think I can hold my instincts down anymore.", answered with a sad tone. "I might end up losing control and attack Aaron in order to drink blood, or just run away and grab the first prey I run into.", the dhampir blinked, confused. "Prey?"
Dumas laughed.
"Don't tell me you don't know that vampires refers to humans as preys."
"Of course I know that! It just... it's a weird sound coming from me, since I don't usually do that. It really sounds odd."
"You will have to get used to it."
The dhampir grinned.
They stayed outside for a while, just staring to the cloudy sky and hearing the soft noises of the forest. The water moved slowly on the lake, the wind barely blowing. It was rare. The quietness was so rare. Where were the vampires in heat, or the ones already feeding? Could it be that they were taking cover from the next blizzard, or it was because it was too cold to be outside for most of them? Those were some questions Dumas made to himself. He had lived long enough to know how exactly those nights are and that night was sure an exception. Then, it was this other thing running in his head. The being that Perrault saw in the Sanctum, the immense power fleeing from it... The only creature capable of controlling such amount of power was Polidori, but he was dead. Lucian and Aaron took care of him four years ago. But, was there a possibility that he could remade his old body with the leftovers of the soup in the Vambery, the one he used in the beginning to play with the sweets, as he called him, on the planet to make different bodies?
But he was an Immortal. He wasn't a human at all, and what Perrault saw was a human transforming into a vampire.
Or did she?
Dumas thought that it could have been another creature who found the Sanctum safe enough to stay there for a while. What kind of creature? He didn't know, but there was a high chance it was a vampire as Perrault said. The former Duke doubt that the vampire wanted to stay more than one night in the Sanctum since it was an already taken territory, unless it didn't fear fighting the occupants of it. Even when all pointed to a new being hiding there, Dumas had this faint feeling that the one Perrault saw was Lucian. The dhampir was so close in finishing his transformation and there was a high chance that the dark powers needed to stabilize before the last step. Perhaps the release of that energy was what the Terrennial saw and felt. He wanted to ask Lucian, but he knew that the dark swordsman would lie about it.
Lucian fell asleep from the quietness, but Dumas was still musing about certain subjects concerning Nish. The night when they reached the mansion, the memories of the past flowed in the Duke's mind like a waterfall; so many happy times, so much love between him and Rymer, nothing to worry about, so perfect. The scent was still there, specially in the master bedroom, the very one that have seen a lot of things happen between Dumas and Rymer for a lot of time. The mansion itself screamed Rymer in every corner of it and he was very nostalgic about it. In a moment Rymer was there with him and in the next second, it was a blur in the mist of his past. But then, a new figure would come out of that mist and took the shape of Nish, with his warm smile, showing it to Dumas, holding him when he felt sad or upset. The former Duke sighed as he rolled to the left, facing Lucian, who was sleeping, his chest barely rising.
How did Lucian manage to overcome Ella's dead? How could he get a new chance to be loved and return that feeling? It was hard to forget your lover, but it happened eleven years ago, long time ago. Dumas couldn't understand how Lucian could move on after her dead, and how he still didn't. Was because he was emotionally weak? That would explain half of it. Being a vampire, Dumas was taught that human emotions were meaningless and useless since vampires were better than humans, and having such feelings were a sing of weakness. The day he thought that Rymer was suspiciously interesting, more than anyone he met before, the word 'love' or 'attraction' was out of his dictionary. He just thought that he made a new friend, one that perhaps wasn't going to end up killed by the gunslingers like many others did. Unknown to the Duke, the feeling was slowly growing to something else, something he knew it was labeled as a weak emotion but at the time, couldn't recognize it.
It wasn't only for Dumas. Rymer was also having the same problem, but he knew he was falling for the tyrant and cold Duke, an arrogant and self-centered bastard that only cared about himself. But the Margrave proved all of them wrong. He could see more than the thirds opinion and started to get more social with him, discovering private facts about Dumas that no one could ever think of. Rymer slowly started to feel more than a friendship with him and started to try to seduce and court the Duke. At first, the man felt horrified of something like that, specially from another man, but soon he adapted to it and loved the fact that Rymer was like that only with him. That intrigued Dumas and wanted to know why the Margrave was behaving like that, obviously not knowing that he was being courted because the other man loved him for who he was and was trying to let him know that Dumas loved him back, but was too stubborn to face that he was feeling a very natural emotion in humans and vampires, and it wasn't a sing of weakness.
It took Rymer two full years to let Dumas know about his feelings towards him, and another six months to get an answer from him. Those six months were hell for Rymer, because he didn't know if the Duke was going to risk his reputation as the cold tyrant or will give it a chance. The world of love was very, very new to the Duke and he might be afraid of entering it, but Rymer assured him that he was going to teach him a few tips, as he said.
Dumas' feelings towards the Margrave were strong and he realized it after a little chat with Virginia. Women were the professionals in terms of emotions, and no one but them could understand better what an indecisive man like Dumas wanted or felt towards a certain someone, and the Viscountess helped a lot in Dumas' decisions about his feelings towards Rymer and deciding in getting in a love relationship with him. At first, Dumas refused to get kissed on the lips and only let Rymer kiss his cheeks or forehead. Later on the Duke, after some inner struggling, let the Margrave kiss him on his mouth after a few months. Dumas felt embarrassed somehow, but the shame would soon fade away at the simple scent of Rymer, his sight or thoughts.
Rymer was an extremely patient being with Dumas. Sometimes he would go nuts with Dumas' negatives, specially the first months in where his new lover didn't want to get kissed on his lips, and calmed himself talking with Perrault or Virginia, his personal psychologist as he liked to call her. The Viscountess gave him a lot of suggestions, most of them succeeded, and finally, he could kiss Dumas on the mouth. After that, it was easy for Dumas to loose up and hang around with Rymer like a real loving couple, cuddling in public and sharing tender kisses in common places in the castle, to everyone's sight. Four years after, they mated. Perrault was very happy that her master had changed thanks to Rymer and also because he found someone to be with for the rest of his life. Besides, the Margrave was a very kind man and liked to be around him. Perrault felt that Dumas' life was going to be lightly up side down because he was trying to adjust himself to be a new kind of person around Rymer and in front of others.
After his dead, after they beat Polidori and he revived thanks to Perrault's work, he heard from her that every Terrennial could guard a bit of the already dead vampire's souls unconsciously, so it could be feasible that Ursula had a small piece of Rymer's soul in her. With the leftovers in the Vambery Tower of the soup, they should be able to revive him like Perrault did with him, but it all depended in Ursula's will and how strong was the soul in her. After four years, the power it could be degraded and even bonded with the fire Terrennial without knowing. With this, it was going to be nearly impossible to revive him. After thinking the worst thing, Dumas gave up in reviving his fallen love and ended up walking between humans again, trying to not be recognized as the Duke. Surprisingly, most vampires, the ones that weren't in the so called Circle, welcomed him and helped him in recovering from such lose. Perrault remembered a time where Dumas couldn't stand it anymore and cried in front of a hundred of vampires, yelling that he was sorry for everything he did and didn't deserved the mercy and help of them. Later on, he discovered that a child from the Guild said that the Duke wasn't acting on his own, but rather being controlled by the Immortal Polidori and that's why he did what he did. The former Duke couldn't believe that Aaron, since it was the first one it came into mind, said such things. With those thoughts, he left in finding a place where to live for now on.
"Why did Aaron started that rumor?", asked Dumas, feeling that Lucian was already awake, but had his eyes closed. The dhampir smiled.
"I thought he lost it the first time I heard him.", he opened his eyes and followed Dumas' gaze, up on the sky. Dumas was again on his back, facing the clouds. "But it had some sense in his words. When we knew that Polidori had the ability of controlling creatures at will, Aaron thought if you weren't being controlled against your will and doing things you perhaps didn't want to do. Then, I thought you were controlled since the beginning, when you were under Ratatosk's orders."
"I can assure you I wasn't."
"I figured."
"But, how is that Aaron still said that? After all, I killed his father."
"People changes in time. Even if it is a small amount of it. Why are you so confused about it? Why can't you just accept that Aaron forgave you?"
"Because of what my race have taught me about humans.", explained Dumas. "My race says that humans are revengeful and they will seek revenge when they can to avenge those killed ones by the hands of the murdered. In this case, I am. So, why Aaron didn't do it yet?"
"It's not what he was taught.", Dumas seemed lost and Lucian laughed at that. "You said it yourself. You think that way because of what your... creator or friends or anyone of your race taught you. Aaron thinks the way he does because of what his parents taught him."
"Both of them died when he was young, I don't know how they could... Oh...", interrupted himself. "Ernest and Kay."
"Exactly.", Lucian smiled. "Don't relay in only half of the truth. You might get surprised at the end. Are you done now with those questions?"
"Well, not really...", admitted Dumas.
"For fuck's sake...", mumbled the dhampir. "I'm out of here. I'm tired of listening to your complains about how humans are like this or like that."
"Then who will patiently listen to my oh so bad complains about how some humans do not do what they are supposed to do?", Lucian looked at him, with his eyebrows frowned.
"Any rock or wall will do."
But Dumas was offended by that.
"Fuck you!", he yelled, hitting Lucian on his forehead.
"Ow! Asshole! Why did you hit me?! It's true!", replied, trying to stop Dumas from hitting him a second time.
"There are better things that a wall or a rock to listen to me!!"
"Yeah! Like the people you bossed around four years ago, right?!"
The Duke snapped, and gave Lucian a hard headbutt with his horns. Lucian screamed in pain and shoved Dumas off, trying to reincorporate. His head was spinning and he could only hear his blood rushing to his ears and could only see a faint blur.
"Ow, Heavens... It hurts...", whined the dhampir, lying on the rock once more, very dizzy.
"I hope my horns aren't damaged after that hit.", said Dumas, truly worried about them.
"Don't worry, they aren't harder than my head...shit...", replied Lucian.
"Wait. That wasn't right. You should have insulted me. Why you didn't?", Dumas spun around and watched as Lucian tried to stand on his feet.
"Don't make me bite you..."
The horned vampire laughed.
"I'm not that tasty.", he snorted and helped Lucian to stand up, putting an arm around his waist and the other above his shoulders. "Besides, since when you bite people?"
"Since I have these fucking and annoying fangs. And a sudden urge to drink blood.", Lucian remembered the taste of Aaron's blood from their lovemaking and that made him shiver in excitement. "I can't wait..."
"Tsk, I was right then.", he started to walk and the dhampir followed his pace. "You are a whore."
"Oh, fuck you Dumas.", said Lucian with a smile on his face.