To Spite Another God Pt. 03

Dracula pursed his lips.

Mina found she could not resist the same impulse Lucy had. She drew her chair closer to Antoni's bed, and she gripped his other hand, squeezing. His palm was soaked with sweat.

"They used the...heat ray...and they...they captured a lot of us...I...saw them picking up the general, in his bright uniform..." Antoni shuddered. "T-The damn Russian...he screamed the whole while and...and I...actually felt bad for him..."

Dracula frowned. He stood, then left the room, pausing at the door. "Antoni is your responsibility, Murray, Westenra. Wives, come with me. We have much to discuss." He said, while Marishka -- in a more human, female guise -- walked after him, followed by Verona and Aleera. Antoni gulped, slightly, then looked at Lucy and Mina. He blinked.

"I...I was delirious last night...it...was a very strange nightmare..." he paused. "But there is one question that I have..." He paused. "You...all speak very good Polish?"

Mina smiled, wryly. "W-Well, uh..."

Lucy coughed. "Y-Yes, we're quite well educated," she said, trying to not sound evasive while sounding very, very evasive. Neither she nor Mina wanted to speak of Dracula casting a mystical spell to unweave languages and reduce them to simultaneous understanding while within the room. Of course, they'd have to explain why and how their perfect Polish vanished the instant they left the room. Instead of that, Lucy said: "D-Do you remember anything about last night?"

Antoni's entire face went very red -- and considering how pale he was, that was quite easy to watch. "Ah...uh...I...i-I was quite delirious, I shouldn't speak of the strange things I dreamed about..."

Mina looked at Lucy. Lucy looked at Mina. We have to tell him something, Lucy's thoughts echoed inside of Mina's head, as if she was hearing them. Mina nodded. Then she froze, her eyes widening.

...did...you...hear that? Mina thought to Lucy.

I...yes, I just heard you? Are...can you hear me? Lucy asked.

Yes. Good heavens. Mina blinked. Then she closed her eyes and tried to imagine something more esoteric -- she could picture more than just words in her mind, after all. She pictured a bird, flying through the air, and Lucy sneezed loudly, then laughed, and said aloud: "Ah, that tickles!"

Antoni blinked. Then he tried to jerk his hand free from Lucy's, crying out. "Oh, Goodness, I'm so sorry, you...you're a young lady, and I-"

"It's fine, Antoni!" Lucy said, laughing. He's cute. She grinned at him -- and Antoni gaped at her.

"Your teeth..." he whispered. Then he looked at Mina. Mina tried to hide her fangs -- but she had been smiling too, she had been unable to stop herself. His eyes widened. "W-What are you? Who was that...who was that man? And those women? And he said he had...wives? But one was a man? Where am I?" The questions bubbled out eagerly, but they stilled when Lucy put her hand upon his chest, gently pushing him back into the pillows of the bed.

"Shush," she said, and Antoni's mouth closed and he nodded.

...goodness, I just want to...crawl into bed and cheer him up after that dreadful tale, Lucy said, utilizing this newfound faculty to utterly mortify Mina. Because of course she did. Mina blushed, then said.

"...we're...not what we seem..." she said.

"Y-You seem to be..." Antoni shook his head a bit. "No. Sorry. It is silly of me to even..."

"Vampires?" Lucy asked.

Antoni froze.

"We are..." Lucy murmured, softly, her eyes meeting his. "Don't you notice the eyes?"

Antoni blinked -- then took a second look. It was as if his eyes had not quite wanted to see what was before them, and only now did he take in Lucy's ruby red irises. He looked at Mina, who nodded, feeling a kind of predatory pleasure at this. Part of her had wanted to keep the secret, but...the power she felt as revealing her nature was...almost intoxicating. Her finger brushed along his knuckles, and she wondered at how she and Lucy had become so effortlessly enticing. She bit her lower lip, then murmured. "We saved you. Your arm was gangrenous, your other arm was broken."

"I...remember the pain..." Antoni whispered. "A-Am I..." His hand jerked from her fingers -- his own fingertips going to his canines. "I'm not..."

"No, you're not," Lucy murmured. "Which is good, you were tasty."

"Lucy!" Mina said, trying to sound severe -- but she was giggling too much to make the idea stick. Her eyes sparkled, and she grinned, and Antoni's eyes widened and he gulped, loudly.

"That...was-"

"No. It wasn't a dream..." Lucy murmured, leaning down close. Her nose flared and she crooned. "You don't smell as if you hated it, my pretty little Artilleryman..." She paused. "You were very brave, you know?" She paused as Antoni looked away and Mina found herself crawling from chair to bed, the frame creaking slightly. Her fingers brushed through his hair and he closed his eyes.

"I was not brave..." He whispered. "I was...I was...the Fighting Machines...they dropped among us, and...I simply ran. I did not try to get to a gun, I fled, and-"

"That is why you survived," Mina said, quietly. Her fingers went to his cheek, turning his head upwards, so that she could look down into his eyes. "That is why you survived, so you might face them another day, with more of a chance to do some good. The Earth doesn't need any more martyrs." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. She felt the warmth of his skin against her lip and could smell the eager maleness of him. He was hard and he wanted her and...her skin tingled and...she tried to think of distant Jonathan. But all she could think of instead was this beautiful young man, who had been through so much...

She kissed him without a second thought. His tongue slid into her mouth and was warm against her cool one. Lucy was already sliding her dress off, freeing her preternaturally perky breasts, her nipples rosy red tips on pale, pale breasts. Her eyes were hooded and she panted, softly. "We'll take care of you, my little artilleryman..." She flicked her tongue along her lips as Mina drew her mouth back. Antoni panted, whispering.

"T-This is...wrong..."

"Why?" Lucy snorted, huffily. "We saved you this way. If you get hurt, we'll save you this way again." She lifted his wrist up, kissing his palm. Her tongue flicked along his fingeritps as Mina undid the buttons on his white cotton shirt. "It seems this is nothing but right." She kissed his wrist and he trembled -- and moaned as Mina kissed along his neck, along his chest, feeling the hardness of his muscles. He had worked hard for a living, unlike...others...and Mina's mouth traced the lines of those muscles and she delighted in them, delighted in the flavor of his skin, in the warmth of his sweat, in the eager thundering of his heart.

"B-But...she is...a...a wife?" he whispered as Mina's palm glided along his belly, pushing his shirt open more and more and more. She paused, glanced down, saw the wedding band around her finger. She paused -- and then drew her hand back. Her mouth back.

Mina thought...

And said: "I don't know if there's...a place in my life for him anymore..." She said, quietly, looking down at her finger. "But...I...can't..." She shook her head. "I cannot simply...decide that without speaking to him..."

Lucy smirked. Then watch, Mina dear, she thought to her as she casually swung her nude body up and over Antoni's thin, pale body. Her eager, wet, completely hairless cunt pressed to his dick and he tensed, freezing, his eyes widening as his hands gripped either side of the bed. Mina drew back...and her hand reached down between her thighs, her dress crumpling up a bit as she squirmed freed her own pussy. Her sex was soaked. She...wanted this so badly...her fingers glided along the folds of her sex as she watched the totality of Lucy and Antoni -- and groaned, sliding two fingers into herself as Lucy dropped herself down onto Antoni's lap, her head rolling backwards, her long blond tresses tumbling along her shoulders.

Lucy panted. "Ah...he's so...hot inside of me!" she laughed quietly. "Ah...he's so very very hot..." She grinned, then started to rock her hips back and forth, her breasts bouncing with a fetching jiggle. She was so lovely...and Antoni was no mere retiring virgin. He clearly knew something about what he was doing -- his hands reaching up, cupping Lucy's heart shaped rump as he began to thrust up into her, grunting as he gripped her, then...surged upwards. His mouth pressed to her neck, then to her nipple, sucking fiercely...

But not fiercely enough.

"Teeth!" Lucy groaned, urging.

Antoni, either due to his bonding to her, or due to the tone of voice, or simply due to his own practice...knew what she wanted, and he gave it to her. His mouth closed tighter and he tugged his head backwards, drawing her breast out a bit, taking advantage of her preternatural toughness to drive a line between pain and pleasure that no human woman would enjoy. Lucy cried out, throwing her head back, clutching his head. "Yes! Yes! Take me! Ah! Fuck me!" She moaned, her breath husky and eager. "You love fucking my vampire cunt, don't you? It feels good, doesn't it?" She growled, as wanton and crass as a dockside whore -- and Mina's face burned with delight as she thrust her finger into herself.

Committing sin on sin -- delighting her own body, wallowing in the pleasure of her female lover's form, watching fornication...

Vampirisim.

Mina cried out.

She came.

And Antoni, a moment later, groaned, and she could see the hot gush of his cum, his white seed escaping from around the thickness of his cock. His pubic hair was soaked with his own fluids and with Lucy's eagerness, and Lucy pushed herself up and off him, laughing giddily. "He's so warm and- Mina!" She groaned, for Mina had no choice, nothing could have prevented her from leaning forward and pressing her face to the forbidden place between her lover's thighs. She flicked her tongue out and scooped the cum from her snatch -- tasting her...

Tasting him.

She drew her mouth back slowly, panting, her tongue sliding slowly along her lips. "Mmm..."

At the same time, Lucy drew back, her lips dripping with blood. She smiled and made the precise same noise. "Mmm..."

And both women kissed, fiercely, while the stunned Pole sprawled, and clearly, made nice with his own guilt at indulging in this kind of pleasure...

***

Mina and Lucy were guided to the dining room by Lambert at midnight, the two of them walking in the small puddle of candlelight flung out by his illumination. Their hands clung to one another and they walked in silence, not even sharing their newly discovered mental communication. They came to the dining room and Mina had expected many things -- ranging from the simple and ornate like cups of warm blood in crystal goblets to the lurid and extreme like nude, beautiful men and women, eagerly awaiting their fangs.

Instead, what she found was remarkable in its own way. The first was overt, and drew her attention first: A meal was laid out. Freshly cooked venison. Greens. Fish. Bread. Butter in dishes. The whole spread was rustic, but also smelled delicious -- when Mina's nose flared, her new senses drew in the flavor of the whole meal into her before she had even touched it and she found that her mouth was watering and her stomach was growling with the familiar hunger that she had recalled from before her second birth. This was all so distracting that she barely noticed the second shock.

Dracula sat at the head of the table.

And was a woman.

The goatee was gone, but her features were unmistakably Dracula's. Her hair was longer, her clothes was cut the same, but an unmistakably feminine figure curved beneath. Her wives sat to either side of her -- Aleera and Verona both cuddling against him, Marishka curled up on her shoulder in the guise of a large, fox faced bat. Mina gaped, while Lucy cried out. "Y-You're...a girl?"

"I am what I wish to be," Dracula said, chuckling. "Be it Vladimir, Vladislav or Vladimira or anything in between. My wives are anything they wish." Her eyes sparkled. "I refrained from shifting before your baptisms...I did not wish to confuse you or alarm you."

"Any more than Vlade already had," Verona said, playfully.

Mina took her seat, while Lucy took her seat as well, Lucy saying: "Well, this is remarkable! ...can I become a man?"

"Yes, once you have learned how," Dracula said, dryly.

"And...this food..." Mina paused.

"It is simply food -- food to be enjoyed," Dracula said, chuckling quietly. "Vampires, like humans, deserve more than simple survival." She picked up her glass -- and when Mina's nose flared, she scented wine, not blood. She sipped, her eyes half closing, then sighed. "...Mina...I owe you an apology for fleeing from your words. I...war is not something I partake in lightly anymore. But it was foolish and short sighted. We are facing a threat unlike anything this world has seen in its entire history..."

She set the glass down. "I will begin to take the fight to the Martians. But to do this, I will need to know that my two newest vampires are trained. This will be more than the simple practice that Aleera put you through -- it shall be rigorous. Harsh. It will require you to be dedicated to it -- not merely to the pleasure of your new condition. I...wish this was not the case. Most vampires that are brought into our fold have the time to enjoy their first century or so at their own pace...that...is in its way, a lesson as well -- an education in our new way of being."

Mina nodded. "But we were turned in perilous times," she said, softly.

"Precisely," Dracula said.

Mina closed her eyes, then nodded. "I can do it."

"As can I," Lucy said, and her voice was entirely serious, entirely dedicated. There was no hint to play or cheerfulness -- only grim resolution. Under the table, she squeezed Mina's hand, her thumb rubbing along her knuckle.

"Good," Dracula said. "My Verona and Marishka will begin to probe at the countryside, to learn more than what little Antoni has told us, and so I can begin to formulate a plan. Aleera will train you...and you will determine: Will Antoni make a good vampire."

Mina's eyes widened. "A...Antoni?"

"This will be a war. A war cannot be won with an army of five," Dracula said, quietly. "The world has been changed completely by the coming of the Martians -- in the past, there were human institutions that existed to control our society -- and yours." He chuckled. "It's hard to have a factory when your workers can tear through steel and do not fear easy death, after all." She shook his head. "We can only hope that when the Hunters become aware of our actions, the Martians will have put them into enough disarray that we can fill the gap..."

Mina nodded. "What...are the Hunters?"

"Humans dedicated to the destruction of our kind," Dracula said, quietly. "For their own reasons." She paused. "The Martians seem to have focused their destruction on Europe, and...for that..." She shook her head. "No...I cannot wish the Martians, even on him..."

Lucy glanced at Mina. "Who?"

"An...old friend..." Dracula's lips quirked up in a wry smile. "Professor Abraham Van Helsing. If you ever meet him -- a...kind of...short, funny looking, funny talking Dutchman...I have but one advice for you: Run."

Mina nodded, solemnly.

"And...miss Dracula..." she paused. "What of my husband?"

"I believe my associate arrived in Bucharest, we sho-" Dracula stopped as a rattling came at the door. When it opened, Lambert stood, carrying a note.

"Telegram, sir," he said.

"You have a telegram?" Lucy asked, her eyes widening.

"No," Dracula said, wryly. "It's magic."

As she opened the envelope, Lucy and Mina exchanged a look -- both of them unsure if the strange, gender-blurring creature was in jest or not. Then slowly, they became aware of a darkening expression on Dracula's features.

"What?" Mina asked, her eyes widening.

***

The realization came with the faint conversation above him. The phantasms of his memories -- the horrifying corridors, the dark creatures, the darker temptations -- had become crystal clear as the tall, broad shouldered, country bumpkin spoke to the doctor. "Yes, his wife-to-be is waiting for him, she's beside herself with worry..." he was saying in Romanian. The language floated in his fogged mind -- he had crammed the information into his brain through long, hard study while in...

England.

Home.

"Ah, good, well, this poor gentleman has had a brain fever of the most remarkable character -- but, come, let us see if he wakens..."

He feigned sleep and confusion as the country bumpkin stood above him, speaking in heavily accented English. "Mr. Harker, sir, your fiancee, she is waiting at my lord's castle. Please, rouse yourself. Sir?"

He remained mumbling and insensate.

When the doctor and the man -- the servant of him, of the dark one -- retreated, he waited...and eventually evening fell. Darkness shrouded the place and he was able to sit up, his head feeling clear for the first time in his life. There was evil in the world. He had seen it. He had felt it. Shame burned at him as he shuddered, remembering the gleaming eyes of the creature that had seduced him -- and he knew, deep in his gut...

Evil was real.

He had to do something, before...the evil found Mina.

That had to be a lie, that she was at the home of that evil. He clung to that hope -- for the idea of his Mina, his precious, innocent, chaste Mina in the grip of the monster was more than his heart could bear. Then the faint creak of footsteps drew his attention. He ducked into some shadows in the small hotel room, leaving his bed rumpled and empty. The door opened and again, the servant of the evil stepped in -- looking in. "Mr. Har..." He stopped, seeing the empty bed. The servant stepped inside...

And he was upon him.

The struggle was fierce but comical. His limbs were still weak, his brain still addled, but in the end, fortune was on his side. The servant of evil stumbled -- and then his head struck the wall, near the floor, and there was a hideous crack and he stumbled backwards, panting heavily, looking down at the servant...at the body, sprawled out there on the floor.

Jonathan Harker gaped, his heart hammering, and felt...again...as if he finally had clarity in a life of tedium and humdrum normalcy. He knelt beside the servant and felt for a pulse, finding none. He was dead. Jonathan whispered, softly. "They can be killed..." he searched him, finding a wallet with some bills. Knowing that it was robbery didn't stop him -- desperation drove him as he stood and dressed in the clothing piled near his bed. His clothes, laundered and dried and cleaned. Then he slipped into the corridor, hurrying, hoping to reach an exit before the body was found.

His wife was in danger.

And he was going to save her -- even if he only had a few hundred krona to manage it.