Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Essence of Blood (1x1)

Alezander made his way over to a bookshelf, running his fingers along the spines of the books until he came across one. He pulled it from its place and flipped open its forest green cover. His golden eyes scanned the pages until he gave a satisfied sound. He made his way over to his chair and sat down.

"How about a story, to help take your mind off things?" he said. "I think you will like this one. Maybe you've heard of it?" He flipped the pages a couple of times, before reading aloud to her. The story was titled Aschenputtel, and he went on to read about a girl who, even though she was hated and mistreated by her step family after her father died and endured many hardships, went on to marry the Prince and live happily ever after.

Zalia looked at him. "A story? Okay.." She stayed in the chair, huddled in her blanket. Her eyes focused upon him as he read the story, letting the images swarm her mind of the poor girl, but how she endured it all. She liked the story.

By the time he finished, however, the girl was barely awake. "Alezander..?" she murmured sleepily, yawning. "D'you think...I'll ever find my prince?.." Her eyes closed and she yawned again. "I wanna...live happily...ever..." And without even finishing her sentence, Zalia was asleep.

Alezander looked to her as she asked the question, and smiled when she fell asleep. He closed the book, settign it gently on the table beside him and stood up. He made his way to her, picking her up gently in his arms for the second time tonight, and carrying her out of the study and up the stairs to her room. He sat her lightly on the bed, and moved her hair from her face.

"I think you will," he whispered, finally answering her question. "But you have to find and be the Princess you are." He leaned down, kissing her forehead lightly before making his way out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. He stood outside her door for a moment, rubbing the back of his head, as if in thought, but sighted, and made his way to his own room.

Zalia woke up later, hungry. She sat up, realizing where she was. She knew for a fact that she hadn't fallen asleep in her bed. She smiled a little and pulled herself out of the blankets and went downstairs to make herself something to eat. After eating, she ventured outside and around the area to pick some flowers. Why? For Alezander, of course.

She came back into the house with an armfull of flowers. "Alezander? Are you here?" She suddenly realized she might be alone. "Alezander?" After realizing the possibility that her father could be coming after her, she didn't want to be left alone.

The door to the room she was not to enter opened slowly, and as if her voice had lured him out, Alezander slowly exited the room, closing the door behind him. He looked as if he hadn't sleep, though that could hardly affect one such as himself. His eyes wondered down the hallway, before he followed it down to the stairs and sat on the top step.

"I'm here," he said, trying to put as much energy as he could into those words, though even that wasn't much. He knew these mood swings might cuase questions to arise, but at the moment, he wasn't concerned. He knew he could easily dodge answering them if he had to.

Zalia looked up at him and smiled in relief, but her smile was short-lived upon looking at him. "Are you alright?" She went up the stairs and held out her armful of flowers. "Here. These are for you." She blushed. "I feel like I'm always causing trouble for you, especially when I fall asleep like I did last night. So I wanted to show my appreciation for you taking care of me."

She looked at him, concerned. "Are you okay, Alezander? Should you go down to the cellar and drink some blood?"

It took a moment, but he looked to the flowers and smiled, taking them in his hand and lookin them over. "Thank you very much. It's been a while since I got a gift." He pushed himself up, towering over her once again. "I'm fine. Just had some troubling thoughts while I tried to sleep. I'll make my way down there now, to feed."

He looked at the flowers, truly appreciative of them. "Would you mind putting them in the old vase by my chair? That way I can look at them everyday?"

Zalia listened to him speak and she nodded a little. "Alright." She took the flowers from him and went to do as he asked, putting them in the vase. Then she went up to the bathroom to wash her face and freshen up.

Looking in the mirror however was not a good idea.

Alezander would feel a tremendous presence of power. Zalia looked in the mirror and saw the man of her nightmares behind her. She whirled around but he grabbed her by the neck, slamming her back against the sink and mirror. Zalia screamed, only to be tossed against the door by her father.

She scrambled to get away, every bit of her shaking in fear. But before she could even open the door he had her again, pulled back tight against his body. "You didn't listen to your father." he growled. "Now I'm going to make sure you never try to make friends again. Pathetic mutt."

Her father would wait for Alezander to come up the stairs, and then he'd dig his nail into Zalia's neck. "Go wild, my little beast." he whispered in her ear. "Devour." He pushed her out the door and into her bedroom.

She screamed. Her whole body was on fire with pain. Something was wrong. She felt herself slipping away, losing control. Nails lengthened into dangerous claws, teeth sharpened into fangs. Power coursed through her, uncontained strength. It hurt. She could barely think. Her eyes were clouded in red, and she only wanted one thing.

Blood.

Alezander had heard her screams from downstairs, as well as the fluxuation in power. But in his mind, he didn't see a way she could be attacked, especially by her father. The vampire should naturely come to harm when not invited to a home. But perhaps this was something different. He stood quickly, running out of the cellar and fading quickly in intervals up the stairs and down the hallways. He moved into her room, his eyes glowing crimson and his fangs bared.

He saw Zalia on the bed, her features changing slightly. His eyes scanned to room and stopped at the bathroom door. "You are an unwelcomed guest in this home. Flesh or not. I demand you leave this home, and this girl, forever. Relation by blood holds no chains on a soul."

Zalia writhed and groaned in pain, crying out from it. Her father stepped out from the bathroom and smiled darkly. "We'll see about that. Good luck with the mutt...she might have rabies." He flickered into nonexistance, but Zalia's pain didn't end. She had heard a voice. Her eyes, getting more crimson by the moment, locked on Alezander. But she didn't see him. No, she saw a potential victim. She stumbled to her feet, huffing and puffing. The pain was taking a toll on her.

She giggled and pointed a finger at Alezander. Amidst her giggles, she said one word. "Die." She smiled and took one step, but that one step propelled her instantly to him. Claws slashed out, going right for his throat. She wasn't herself. No, she was not herself at all. That was obvious.

Alezander let out a sort of growl as he looked at her father. The moment he disappeared, he turned to Zalia. What had happened to her? Something was very wrong, but he didn't know what the cause of it was. When she started giggling, Alezander had chills run up his back.

"Zalia, stop this. Control yourself," he said, as she lunged at him. Her claws slashed his arm as he raised it to defend himself, ripping his shirt and blood splattering around the wound. But it quickly healed and he reached out, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her, trying to hold her in place.

"Whatever is happening, don't let it be because of him. Don't let him win."

Zalia kicked back at him and twisted herself under her arm so she was facing him. Her clawed hand lunged for his stomach, a wild look in her eyes, but suddenly she stopped. She froze completely, and then her body started shaking a little.

"Kill...me.." she whispered, the words so hard to get out. A single tear trickled down her face, but that was all the control she had of her body. The vampire blood pulsing inside her lit up at the sight of blood and she lunged for him, claws aiming to sink right into his shoulders so she could rip his throat out with her teeth.

Whatever her father had done to her had awakened the dormant vampire blood in the halfblood's body. It was damaging her greatly, and the evidence was the little trickle of blood dripping from the corner of her own mouth. Her breathing was heavy and labored, but that would hold no meaning at all with how wild she had become.

Alezander was hardly going to give into her request. He grabbed her wrist as she brought it down, baring his fangs once again. The only thing he knew to do was to wear her down. He needed to drain her of energy, and fast. With a sudden burst of strength, he threw both of them at the bed, landing on top of her to hold her down better. His hand quickly moved her hair as his eyes wandered to her neck. It was only a second before he had latched himself onto her, letting himself devour her blood. The blood was somewhat sweet, but also disgusting, as he tasted the part of her that was a vampire. He forced himself to drink, wanting to devour enough to make her pass out.

Zalia growled and thrashed against him as she was thrown onto the bed. When he bit into her she roared and yelled wildly, struggling against him. But moment by moment, the wild yelling changed, becoming cries of pain. She was coming down off whatever terrible high her father had sent her on, and tears trickled down her cheeks. The struggling stopped, and it was only moments before she was unconscious.

Alezander slowly pushed himself off the bed, feeling somewhat sick from the intake of a half-breed's blood. They were not meant to feed off their own kind, and for good reason. He looked at her, seeing the tears on her cheeks and the blood on her neck. He felt somewhat ashamed, but he still worried that she might wake into her rage again. So he would have to make precautions.

He now sat in a chair near her bed, having cleaned her up and used long pieces of cloth to tie her to the bed. He felt bad, but he had to make sure.

Zalia woke after a time, eyes clear of wild rage. She felt weak and dizzy, and when she went to sit up, she found that...she couldn't. Naturally, she panicked. She tugged on her bonds, looking around wide-eyed until see saw Alezander.

She froze and stared at him for a moment, then shut her eyes tightly. "Let me go." she whispered, her voice shaking. She tugged a bit harder on her bonds, but she was out of strength completely. "Please." she whimpered. She was scared and upset.

He looked at her when she spoke, coming out of a daze himself. He stood silently, and looked down at her. She seemed to be back to normal, though fear was apparent. "I just had to make sure," he said, though he was still somewhat hesitant when he pulled the bindings loose.

"And sorry, but I didn't know what else to do," he said, pointing to his neck to show he was talking about biting her.

Zalia shivered a little and when he pulled the bindings away she sat up. She rubbed at her wrists and ankles, then touched her neck hesitantly. She laid back down on the bed, pulled the covers up over herself and curled up into a ball.

"I was wrong." she whispered. "I'm not the girl from the fairyale." Her voice cracked a little and she curled up even more. "I'm the monster. And monsters don't get happily ever after..." Tears were sliding down her cheeks again.

She had been through a pretty bad ordeal. Her father had come, and what was worse he had done something to her that caused her to attack Alezander! Things had gotten so bad that he'd had to feed from her and even tie her up to stop her. Zalia had never hated herself so much.

"You are hardly the monster," he said, sitting down once again. "You are more like the Princess than the monster. Everyone and everything seems to be out to sabotage your happy ending." He crossed his hands in his lap, staring at the floor as he sank into thought.

"I am the one who failed you. I said I would protect you, and in my selfishness, I let that happen. If I hadn't been wallowing in self pity... maybe I could have stopped it." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Zalia listened to him. "What if I'm not meant to have a happy ending?" She could think of no other reason why her happy ending would keep becoming a disaster. She peekeed out at him when he went quiet, scared for a moment that he had left.

But him accusing himself and putting all the blame upon himself was just as bad. She sat up and shook her head, rubbing at her eyes to make the tears go away. "That's not true! Alezander, you can't be by my side all the time. You didn't fail me at all. It was just...bad timing, you know?" She shook her head. "You weren't wallowing in self pity, Alezander, you were going to feed. You can't help that."

She reached over and put her hand on his. "This isn't your fault."