Hey guys, sorry for the delay but I went on a brief unscheduled hiatus owing to having a bit of a mental meltdown...
back now!
-YD-
"I reckon she fancies me."
"Who?"
Distracted by his burger, Vlad only just realised that Robin was actually speaking to him.
"Ingrid."
Vlad choked, coughing on a piece of questionable welsh beef and washing it down with a slurp of cola that was being diluted by ice every passing minute. Throat cleared at last, Vlad gave his friend an incredulous look.
"What in the name of all that is evil gives you that idea?"
"Well, why else would she be talking to you all the time if not to get close to me?"
His neck still throbbed where Ingrid had bitten him repeatedly, violently. Vlad wouldn't make such a claim as to say Ingrid was attracted to him, but he was quietly confident she at least didn't find him repulsive. He was more than quietly confident Ingrid did not fancy Robin. However, he couldn't tell Robin why Ingrid spent more than three seconds at a time interacting with Vlad.
"I told you-"
"Yeah, yeah, rugby. That's just an excuse. I'm gonna ask her to the disco."
Oh, Vlad could already see the impending disaster. He considered trying to talk Robin out of it... but it would be impossible anyway, and it might also be enough to get him to leave the poor girl alone. Bats only knew how she tolerated so much attention all of the time. Vlad was quite content to only exist on the rugby pitch to most people, able to quietly get on with his unlife before the Mirror came calling.
It stayed light later in the evenings now summer was coming, a fact Vlad appreciated as it kept his dad out of his room more often. So he relaxed, illicit stash of sweets stuffed out of sight but within reach as he flicked through a book, watching the sun - his tower bedroom gave him the ultimate view of the sky. Standing up, Vlad crossed the short gap to look out properly, dragging in a breath of warm spring air. Breaths he'd not need any longer come his sixteenth birthday.
Something hit him in the face.
Blinking in surprise, he brushed a hand over and found a pebble lodged in his collar. Confused, Vlad looked down and saw Ingrid stood down the base of the castle. Naturally, he glanced to check his room wasn't too messy, stepped into shoes and jogged down to the front door. Garlic forbid Renfield open the door... Ingrid's growing senses would revolt at the mans pungent, awful odour.
"Hi? Did we... have plans?"
He was certain they didn't, but Ingrid could have made plans with him and just not told him. He wouldn't put it past her.
"No."
"Right. You uh, coming in?"
Ingrid didn't actually answer other than to walk right on in, which Vlad supposed was an answer in and of itself. She knew the way to his room already, headed up and glanced around, frowning at the open window.
"I'd close it but the sun is all that keeps my dad out."
She nodded, eyes roving down his bruised neck. Vlad could see her pupils dilate, cocked his head slightly to see how baring his throat affected her. She wasn't the only one; her skin was warmed by the climb up to the castle, blood running quicker and hotter. Vlad could smell her, unique scent pumping into the air and intriguing him as much as ever.
Ingrid crossed the few steps between them, so Vlad left himself open to her bite as he expected her to want. Instead, fingers twisted in his hair and yanked his head straight, cool lips closing over his and leaving Vlad with a stuttering heartbeat and a shot of lusting shock surging through his veins. He was numb at first, but attempted to respond though he was undoubtedly clumsy and awkward with both inexperience and the stunning event.
"Wow. Ok. Wasn't expecting that."
"I like you better when you don't talk."
Vlad shut up, save for the grunts he couldn't quite quiet as Ingrid yanked at his collar, exposing skin on his shoulder and collarbones not yet littered with marks in the shape of her teeth. Though Ingrid quickly set about rectifying it, shoving him back toward his bed and all but crawling over him, mouth wet as she bit at his lips. The suddenness of her shift from using him to ease her toothache to dominating his mouth so keenly left his mind whirling, but even if Vlad could breathe he wouldn't use the breath to argue.
Maybe to ask what changed her tune, because he really was perplexed.
Even more so when Ingrid straddled him properly, clearly aware of Vlad's bodily response to her proximity, her mouth, her teeth. She grappled with his t-shirt, growling that it didn't come apart like a school issue button up would. Eventually, she sat up and yanked it up from the waist, leaving Vlad shirtless and shivering despite the warm air as her hands splayed on his bare chest. More sharp, hungry bites left their mark on him, what little air he drew in stolen from his lungs by burning kisses. Blood, Ingrid could kiss. Vlad wasn't surprised by that fact.
"What is this?"
What on earth was he asking that for? Vlad cursed his short-circuiting brain, somehow forgetting that he wasn't supposed to say something to make her mad; Ingrid was an intensely mercurial person, changing her mind on a whim at any given moment.
"I don't know. All I know is you're the only one I... the only one who could understand."
It was a whisper, words all but breathed against him, like Ingrid hadn't meant to say it but the words slipped free anyway. Vlad let it stay at that; if Ingrid wanted only his understanding, she already had it. Who else could fathom the change she was about to go through? That a life previously imagined was all to change. Granted, Vlad had always known, but as a boy he had held on to some fantastical notion that he'd find a cure, get out of the transformation.
By now, he'd begrudgingly accepted that it was inevitable, and Vlad decided he'd do it his way however he could. Including the soy blood his uncle talked about. Nobody had to get hurt to feed him, and that was good news to Vlad. He'd work out how normal a life was possible as he went through his unlife later on. Hands flexed against his chest, not mocking his narrow frame; vampires didn't gain weight easy, though some natural muscle would develop around sixteen to help conduct his supernatural strength to the right places. Ingrid was slim too, small waist and slim thighs, though the flare of her hips and the swell of her chest were both soft, inviting-looking curves.
The longer Ingrid kissed him, the more Vlad wondered if she really had been disappointed by the interruption before. She inhaled at his throat, making a low sound in her chest that made him shudder, twitch.
"You smell different."
Definitely a vamprie thing to say.
"Your senses are changing. You're identifying me as a vampire."
"Which is hilarious" Ingrid looked up at him, amusement in her eyes "cus you don't much act like one."
Vlad felt a laugh bubble up in his throat.
"I take that as a great compliment."
"Of course you do."
The sun was beginning to set; Vlad could see it in the way neither of them were aglow any longer, pale skin lighting easy. Soon his father would wake, and probably interrupt them again. Vlad winced at the thought, especially after Ingrid had undressed him.
"We should talk some time soon."
Ingrid frowned. Her rough need seemed to have abated, though she was still half-on-top of him and he was still... aware quite physically of her.
"About what?"
"What to do about your birthday. I know you like to put it off, but it's gonna happen. A plan wouldn't be a bad thing."
He braced himself for a silent exit, possibly with a death glare to match. Instead, Ingrid actually contemplated his words, running a thumb over his bitten lip in a touch so surprisingly tender Vlad scarcely knew what to do with it.
"Yeah, maybe. I should go, my brother is a pain when I'm out past dark."
"George? That kid worships you."
"Of course he does, but he also knows everyone else does and nags me about where I've been. I can hardly tell him the truth."
Vlad still wasn't sure what their 'truth' was, in all honesty, but... Ingrid seemed to be opening up, just a sliver. He'd not push it. Not when she was quite so pleasant to feel pressed against him. She leant down again, kissed Vlad... not quite sweetly, but it wasn't the demanding assault of lips and teeth and tongue of before. More a kiss for the sake of kissing, which he was fine with.
Well, until his dad walked in.
"Vladdy- oh. Hello again. Good on you my boy!"
Head falling back with a groan, Vlad grabbed the nearest thing - a book - and launched it toward the door.
"Dad!"
-YD-
Now these two are doing the whole talking thing we can finally start to get a move on! Woo