To Spite Another God Pt. 01

"...hello," Lucy said. "M-My name is Lucy Westenra and this, um, this is Mina Harker. We're looking for her fiance."

"Jonathan?" Verona asked.

"Yes, that's the one," Lucy said, nodding.

"...Lucy..." Mina whispered.

"Yes, Mina?" Lucy asked.

"...do you think we're still dreaming?" Mina asked.

"I admit...yes," Lucy said, a growing fear spreading across her features.

The wolf before them stepped into the shadows. A woman emerged from the same shadow -- the wolf was gone. The wolf had become the woman. All of this impressed itself on Mina's brain with a kind of dreamlike ease, as if having accepting talking wolves made everything else come easier. The woman herself was tall and pale and full figured, dressed in male clothes in a glaring defiance of sumptuary laws. The outfit was painfully old fashioned, with a frilled coat and a blood red jacket, gaudy and showy in all the ways modern clothing disdained. Her breasts were rather more easily noticed than they might have been in a dress, and her hair was flowing, raven black. Her eyes, though, remained red...and when she grinned, her canines were long, pointed fangs.

"Verona Tepes Dracula," the woman said, taking Lucy's hand, then leaning down. She kissed Lucy's wrist, as if she was a man -- an incredibly forward man. "Wife of Lord Dracula, Sir Aleera and the Noble Marishka." She gestured with her hand to the other wolves, who had all become people as well, and each was as daringly defiant of norms and conventions as the last. Sir Aleera was a male...at least...Mina thought he was male...but the lithe, boyish looking figure was dressed in a sleek shift, the kind that a young farmgirl would wear, his feet bare and muddy. His hair was longer than Verona's and his smile was cheerful and carefree.

The 'noble' Marishka...was...something between male and female, their body lithe and completely nude. They had also not fully returned to a human form...but also, they were not entirely a wolf. Instead, their nose spread and their lips were twisted into a tiny muzzle and their ears extended backwards and outwards like fans -- making them look like a fusion of a human being and a bat. Their eyes glittered and when they crawled towards the two women, they crawled up the tree beside them, leaning around it to peer at them.

"A pleasure to meet you," Marishka crooned.

Mina gulped. "Y-Y...You...you are...what are you?"

"It is easier to say what we are not..." Verona murmured, her fingers taking hold of Mina's chin. She lifted her head up, looking into her eyes. "We are not humans. And we are not to be trifled with. Tell me: Are you here to kill our husband?"

"N-No..." Mina whispered. Her body felt as if it was on fire. "I...w-why would we?"

"She doesn't know," Aleera said, quietly, his voice soft.

"W-Wh...Where is Jonathan?" Mina tried to keep herself steady. She took Lucy's hand, squeezing it. "What happened to him?"

Verona narrowed her eyes. She frowned. "Your lover came to our castle, to attempt to finish up some legal work that my husband wanted to accomplish. But then when he discovered that we are not precisely what he expected, he first tried to kill our husband and, when confined for our safety, he tried to escape. We believe he fell into a chasm -- but we could not find his body." She looked away. "I am sorry, but if you came here seeking your lover, he's not here..."

Mina's eyes blurred with tears. She swayed. Fell against Lucy, who held her.

"Verona, show some heart..." Aleera whispered. "They look so lost."

"More villagers are coming," Marishka hissed. "I smell them."

"Then we'd better go," Verona said.

"Veronaaaa!" Aleera whined.

Verona let out a soft 'tsch' noise and then sighed. "Fine. Do you two want to come with us? We, unlike the villagers, will not burn you alive for being near us." Her lip curled slightly. "It's not really a great choice, when I lay it out like that."

Mina could not speak past the boulder in her throat.

Lucy spoke for them both.

"Take us, please."

Mist swept around them -- and darkness shrouded Mina. She allowed it to sweep into her and felt nothing but happiness for it.

***

Mina did not dream of her Jonathan. It was the night of their wedding, and she was laying in the modest bed that she had hoped to share with him. Her fingers went to the collar of her dress and she slowly undid it, opening it and letting it fall aside, revealing her modest breasts. Her pale skin positively glowed under the illumination of the moonlight that shone through the window and her nipples were tiny, eager rubies. But it was not Jonathan who entered. He was a shadow, moving onto the bed...but Mina felt her excitement only grow at the sight of him.

He was...elegant.

Lithe.

His hands, somehow not illuminated by the moonlight, cupped her breasts with a confidence Jonathan would never show. His fingers, calloused and silky, found the tips of her breasts and gently tweaked and teased them. His lips, soft and pillowy, pressed to her neck. Fangs grazed against her skin. Mina trembled, and her dream took on a red tinged edge as she squirmed. This wasn't Jonathan...this wasn't a human. Mina had that sudden knowledge that comes upon you in a dream, an awareness that was bone deep and yet came to you through no rational deduction.

If she made a noise, she would die.

Those fangs would rip into her throat and her blood would stain the sheets.

And so, she bit down on her knuckles as those cool fingers, those shadowed hands slid down to her hips, holding her onto the bed. Mouth to mouth. A forbidden kiss with this unknown lover. His tongue knew her mouth better than she knew herself. His fangs pressed to her lips, two hard points, reminding her of the danger. When his mouth drew back, Mina was panting -- but he chuckled quietly. His voice was queerly high. His fingers brushed along her hair, tucking it back behind her ear.

His voice was not a voice -- it was a thought.

You envied them, didn't you?

If you speak you die. Mina looked away, her cheeks burning. But her body had an answer. Her thighs spread, and her dripping, desperately eager cunt was exposed for the shadowed figure in her dream. Shame boiled through her at how intensely she wanted...what she didn't want. Those silky fingers pressed to her cunt and the thought was cajoling.

You've always felt it, at the back of your mind... shadowed fingers thrust and Mina drew blood as she bit her own lip. The pain sparked against the trembling pleasure that radiated through her body and only intensified it. Mina let out the softest whine before clapping her hands over her mouth. If she made a noise...and then a second finger thrust into her, crooking with malicious skill. Mina closed her eyes in the dream and quivered. You want this. You want to be Mina....not Mina Murray, not Mina Harker, not a woman chained to a solicitor whose biggest dreams are to own a townhouse.

The voice that was a thought dripped with scorn, even as a shadowed finger rubbed against her clit. The pleasure was so wrong. Mina had...only touched herself down there once or twice, when the need of her body was greater than what she could bear to resist. Each time, she had burned with shame and consoled herself by saying that it was just because she was alone, because Jonathan was too busy, that he couldn't wed her yet. Each time, she had been sure that it would be the last.

Now, she knew it would be the last because nothing could compare to the shadowy hand that finger-fucked her needy cunt. The words that she was thinking to describe what was being done were so crude, earthy, like the horse-stink of a stables. Lovely, in their own way. Mina breathed in through her nose, her hand still tight over her own mouth, watching as the shadowed finger grinned. She could just see that smile, like the Cheshire cat, and those little glittering fangs. Those red eyes. The shadowy figure spoke, and again, it was a thought.

Moan for me...

The fingers thrust faster and faster.

Mina found it was...harder and harder to...think...

Moan...

The voice sounded panting.

Softer.

Higher.

Mina moaned. Her back arched. Her pleasure crested...and in the dream, the shadows slipped aside and the cool pair of fingers thrust up to the base into her cunt, the fingers crooked up to either side, the thumb bent around to rub her clit, were gray. The arm was gray and feminine and slender. Her chest was not lithe like a male's -- her breasts were high and firm. Her fangs glittered. Her red eyes gleamed. And in the dream, Mina shook her head...as herself leaned over her body. The other Mina had elongated, tipped ears and ruby red eyes. Her nipples ground against Mina's and she bit down on her throat and-

Mina woke, trembling. A brilliant moon shone through the window -- she felt the groggy discomfort of having slept through the whole day. Her thighs were soaked and her heart was pounding. Mina shook her head, slowly, then managed to sit up. She was laying in a massive, luxurious bed. The windows looked out on forests -- and a brazier crackled in the corner of the room -- providing something close to warmth. The door rattled and a dry, English voice spoke through it. "Miss Murray? My name is Lambert, I am the master's majordomo. I have with me two maids who can see to your furnishings. May I come in?"

Mina rubbed her hands along her face. That dream...it...it had to have been some...kind of vile vision, sent to her by...this...by any of the vampires in this place. There were at least four -- unless their Lord Dracula was some kind of human...what? Devil worshiper? Mina repressed a hysterical giggle. She felt like she had stumbled from one kind of storybook and directly into another. Instead, she stood and said, loudly: "Yes, you may come in, Mr. Lambert, I am decent enough."

Mr. Lambert, as it transpired, was tall and thin and...yet, despite his age, looked as if he had aged quite gracefully. He retained a handsome edge to himself, and his hair was still peppery, rather than fully silver. The maids were both equally ravishing -- somewhat darker in complexion than what Mina expected. Mr. Lambert took his leave and the maids dressed Mina in a very fine gown, before beginning to clean the room. Both of them were quiet and cheerful...but Mina wondered at that.

When she emerged, Mr. Lambert said: "Your friend, Miss Westenra, is in the dining room, with my Master. He asked me to bring you when you roused."

"You could have wakened me when Lucy was up," Mina said, a thrill of fear rushing along her -- the idea of Lucy and that monster being in the same room...a dining room...she shook her head as Lambert led her through the castle. The place was sprawling and elegantly decorated -- clearly a holdover from more violent, simpler days. It was a place designed to be defended from men on horseback with bows and swords, not from cannons and artillery. Portraits were hung up, but they were all of landscapes...though some were very queer looking landscapes, places that no human had ever set foot on. Mushroom glades, cities that looked made of black stone rather than brick, and strange cloth tents in primeval forests.

When they came to the dining room, Mina felt her tension unwind momentarily. Lucy was fine, not currently being drained of her blood by Lord Dracula or his wives.

But...

She also took in Lord Dracula himself.

Mina's cheeks darkened in a flush as she felt her heart race. While his wives were...too strange for her to really know what to feel about them beyond confused flickers. But Dracula was the model of everything that Mina would have thought of, if she had been asked to describe an aristocratic gentleman. His hair was raven black and his face was handsome and sculpted with a fine attention to detail. He wore a modern suit, not the out of fashion, garish look of his cross-dressing wife, and it looked exceptionally fine on his body, which was athletic and graceful both. His lips were framed by a dark goatee, elegantly pointed at the mustaches and chin, and the odd, inhuman accentuation of his ears and fangs and red eyes only added to his allure.

Mina hated him, at once. And hated herself, for noticing him at all, when...when her fiance was dead. Or...missing. They had said they hadn't found a body. She gulped, slowly, then squared her shoulders and walked forward as Lambert stood in the corner of the room. Dracula lifted a hand. "Lambert, you can go," he said, smiling wryly. "I know how you love to stand on ceremony, but if we need anything, we can wait for the time it takes you to come calling."

"As you say, my lord," Lambert said, inclining his head.

Dracula stood, then drew the chair back for Mina...without touching it. He simply moved his hand and the chair moved itself, as if it was being drawn on a string. Mina's eyes widened and Lucy smiled, her voice bubbly and excited. "Isn't it amazing?"

"...yes...amazing..." Mina said, her voice tight. She took her seat, then looked at Lucy -- her brow furrowing. Lucy blinked.

"What?" she asked.

"You...know what a vampire is, right?" Mina asked.

"Well, there are all those old stories," Lucy said, shrugging. "But Vladimir has been nothing but an absolute gentleman."

"...Vladimir?" Mina looked at Dracula, who bowed to her.

"Vladimir Tepes Dracula," he said, his voice playful. "Once Voivode of Wallachia, current unaligned noble. Occasional researcher into the alchemical arts, and graduate of the Solomonărie. And it is a pleasure to meet you properly, Miss Wilhelmina Murray."

Mina sat down in the chair, her head spinning. The list of titles -- accomplishments -- was...impressive. "Have...you heard of...what...has transpired?" she asked, not certain how to phrase everything that had happened.

"Miss Westenra has only been up a few minutes more than you," Dracula said, casually. "And, I'm afraid, I was a mite too busy showing off..." He smiled at her and Lucy blushed, twirling one of her blond tresses like...like a school girl! Mina sat up a bit, narrowing her eyes at Dracula.

"We didn't come seeking my fiance for no reason at all," she said, firmly. "We expected him to be back in months. But...while he was away...something landed in Britain. Something from...Mars."

"Does this have anything to do with the green flashes?" Dracula asked, suddenly intent. "The ones I observed two years before?"

"You saw them?" Lucy asked. "They were in all the papers!"

"I take daily observations of the night sky," Dracula said. "It's been a hobby of mine since I had a pleasant evening with an old friend of mine -- though, I admit, it did stick better than some dinner conversations because few of those end with said friend losing a significant portion of his nose." He tapped the tip of his nose, causing Lucy to giggle. Mina clenched her jaw to not giggle as well. "So, what was it...was it some kind of meteorite? I theorized that the green flashes might be the release of immense gasses from some...volcano or something..."

"It was a cylinder," Mina said, quietly -- Lucy's smile fading. "It landed in Surrey."

She spoke, uncertainty at first, then growing more definite.

She told of the cylinder opening.

Of the heat ray.

Of the tripods.

Of the black smoke, choking and deadly.

Of the flying machine.

When she was done, Dracula slowly lowered his hand to the table.

He opened his mouth.

Then he closed it.

Then, at last, he said: "Well...I can admit...I did not expect that."

TO BE CONTINUED