White Vampire Ch. 01

Her voice was laced with an edge of desperation as if she had to make him see, make him understand at any cost necessary what she had gone through and was going through in her life. The barrels of blood, gory in one sense and life-bringing in another, spoke the truth more clearly than any words, however, could have done.

Jacob wrung his paws together and hung his head, taking his eyes off her. Yet, strangely, he held no fear that she was about to attack, regardless of how her chest rose and fell so sharply. Any male's eyes should have been following the rise of her breasts, watching her ribcage for a telltale twitch that was harder to hold back than many anticipated, but there was a line were a hunter, such as Jacob, simply could not hunt one who had been hunted their whole life, for all that remained of Marchesa's life was that as a vampire. And what kind of life was that, locked up in her own castle with little else to do and nowhere to go where she could mingle or interact with anyone as a normal fur?

She had hunted... But the fact that she had sacrificed her right to be a hunter, a predator of the night, lay around him in the barrels, clear for anyone to see. He ran his fingers through his mane, a nervous twitch, and groaned softly, acutely aware of his aches and pains. Already, it felt as if it had been a very long day and he couldn't take the mental barrage on top of everything that his body had endured.

"Well?" She demanded, slicing through the silence. "What say you?"

"I think I do," he whispered, stomach plummeting, blood roaring in his ears as his veins turned to ice. "Understand that is."

Yet words were not so easy to force out by lips that may as well have been made of rubber, for all the good they did him in enunciating his words clearly, throat thick and tight.

"This... You did not decide to become a vampire... But the death then..." He shook his head, scanning them once again as if he was sure they were going to disappear from sight at a moment's notice. "Yet now there are no deaths and, for that and your storage of so much blood, you have already saved many."

Again, he shifted his weight, although he could not quite tell whether he was shifty because of the crashing revelation or simply because his sore muscles were getting the better of him. It could have been either or but one was more difficult a situation to confront than the other.

Yet there was something that needed to be said as the canine stared him down, her gaze turning flat as if she was waiting for what she could only see as the inevitable. After all, hadn't she gone through it many times before? But he still had to try, no matter quite how his nerves shook like the beating of a trapped bird against its cage.

"I am sorry," he said quietly. "I have done you a great wrong, Marchesa, and should be fit to be tried in any manner you see suitable for one who has wrongly invaded your home and sought to end your life."

Because maybe his life wasn't worth living anymore. The stallion closed his eyes, ignoring the prick of moisture behind the lowered lids. It wasn't as if he'd ever entertain the thought of crying before anyone else, of course, so it wasn't a fear that should really have risen to the forefront of his mind.

The canine blinked and pulled back as he sucked in a breath that was more of a death rattle, blinking more often than was strictly necessary.

"You think you deserve to die?"

Jacob flinched, though wished he did not.

"I... I don't know." He wasn't about to tell her everything that was going on in her mind. "But I have, indeed, broken the law here. I was under the impression...a very different impression..."

The words were not eloquent or scripted yet, nevertheless, they seemed to hit home, Marchesa fidgeting as if needing something to do with her paws.

"What..." He couldn't get out the words that he needed to and tried anyway. "Do you...drink every day?"

Swallowing, she nodded, the glass still quivering anxiously in her paw.

"If I do not, I become thirsty. And being thirsty is the very worst thing for a vampire's control. I believe it was what happened to the one that attacked my family. Maybe he was trying not to continue feeding as a vampire but one must always have blood, although we eat other foods..." She winced. "As you saw, in the kitchen, of course."

"Yes... Of course."

How many had lost their lives to him for similar reasons? He shuddered, ignoring the strange look she gave him. And there he was listening to her talk about eating in the kitchen as if it was the most normal thing possible.

"And... How much do you drink at a time?"

She eyed what was in her paw, although the glass was not full.

"A full glass," Marchesa said quietly after a pause, perhaps having needed to consider her own inaccurate measurements. "I do not play with the quantities but, if I am feeling gloomy in my mood, more of the blood lifts me up again."

She paused, eyes glittering.

"That's been happening more often than not lately."

Again, his heart twisted for her, a welcome pain to overrule the guilt curdling through him like sour milk.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"You're the first one to say that to me."

"And have you ever said that to anyone before?" Jacob probed, lips twisted. "It's not usually something that comes up in conversation naturally."

She gave him a shrewd look.

"I've never been in such a situation that the one hunting me has not been so badly injured that they did not survive out battle," she said flatly, ears splayed. "They were usually so intent on ending my life that...well... Can you not consider it an act of self-defence by that point?"

The stallion sighed.

"Certainly so... And I am sorry for my part in it, but words aren't going to do much here anymore, are they?"

"Better words than nothing at all. Or the blade of a knife."

They fell quiet, neither quite looking at the other, although the silence was painful at best, excruciating at worst. The stallion shuffled nearer without thinking, twisting his sore paws between each other, knuckles sore and one welt bleeding. He could not remember how he'd gotten that injury, although she must have scored a hefty blow on him at some point the previous day. He had to commend her for her skill in fighting too, even though it could have been said that she had the home advantage of knowing her environment.

Against himself, he chuckled and shook his head minutely. Again, she gave him a strange look, torso tipping in towards him.

"Is something amusing?"

"No... I was just trying to make myself feel a bit better that you bested me in battle," he admitted, though it seemed silly to say out loud. "But you won square, even if neither of us was truly fighting fair."

She smiled a little at that, something lighting up in the backs of her eyes. And he rather liked how that looked, the softening of her muzzle like coming up for breath after dunking one's head underwater. And perhaps his head had been underwater for far too long, swimming blindly and clawing for the surface all the while. But what more could a stallion have done when he had only been doing what he knew best how to do? There was only so much one could do with life, the hand they were given and it was about time he, perhaps Marchesa too, played that hand.

If they had been anywhere else and they had not beaten and given their best attempt at breaking one another prior, they would have known what to do, tension crackling in the air. There could not be such true relaxation when there was too much going on in the background, the two as close as they'd ever been to one another outside of the battle.

"This..." She started and then trailed off, shaking her head.

And yet she refused to say more down that line of thought as Jacob tilted his head inquisitively, although it was perhaps because he too was loathe to break the silence, finding something swallowed up in it that one would be hard-pressed to ignore. Marchesa, however, was a more tenacious being than he.

"Jacob..." She hesitated, and he warranted that she would have bitten her lip if she'd been any other noble in any other time, something deeper shining up from the backs of her eyes. "There's..."

But she trailed off, hatefully unable to force the words from her lips as she quivered, though it was still a predatory sort of quiver.

"I didn't want..."

Yet the equine thought he knew what she wanted and, despite what she was and what she drank, he could not deny her the warmth of a living body when hers ached so desperately for a simple touch. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close, letting her shudder and tuck her muzzle into the crook of his neck, the fur on her cheeks damp with tears. Something twisted in his stomach, a gnawing sort of ache of betrayal - why hadn't he questioned more? How many had he killed because of a mere opinion on how they fed themselves? - and he tightened his grip on her, Marchesa nuzzling up to his cheek as she raked in a juddering, needy gasp.

And then things happened very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that one would not have been out of bounds to allude to magical intervention of some kind, although the canine was a vampire and not a sorceress - just a canine in need, just like him.

They shouldn't have escalated - absolutely not - but it was difficult to turn back the clock in the view of hindsight. Breathing heavily, Marchesa clutched at him like a drowning fur, struggling for breath when the water was closing above her head, fangs flashing but not for his blood: she clearly had more than enough of that. No one could have said who moved first but, suddenly, their lips came together, Jacob's ears pricked and quivering as she pressed herself to him. He tried to pull back after a moment, though his only thought, stupidly, was of her fangs as she clawed at his arms, moaning her need into his mouth.

And then she appeared to come to her senses, the sound startling her more than him, and reeled away, breaking the lustful, deepening kiss with a gasp, eyes wild and fur ruffled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't -"

Yet it was the stallion who rapidly closed that distance between them, although he could not have said quite what it was that made him through caution to the wind, disregarding everything he knew. It was not so much lust that had him bringing his lips back to hers in a softer, more passionate kiss, the shock sending his mind reeling that he really could not have felt himself accountable for his action as he gently laid the vampire back amongst the barrels of blood and kissed her neck with his velvety, equine lips.

Marchesa groaned softly, though hardly seemed in control of her own actions either, running her trembling paws down his arms as he kissed her and pushed up her skirts. There was no time to explore her body, although a deeper part of him ached to, only sate the need of his body in the reeling shock of her revelation. And, blissfully, she allowed his paws to roam higher and higher, stroking up the fur of her thighs even as he brushed it in the wrong direction, need trembling as they shook together, autumn leaves holding fast before the storm.

Everything he'd known was a lie. But the canine beneath him was real, oh so very real, and she moaned his name so sweetly that he could not have possibly imagined denying her anything as he hissed through his teeth, shaft filling swiftly with blood to full hardness. It was as if his body had reverted purely to survival in the crux of the moment but it was so hard to think clearly when everything was moving so quickly and the driving scent of blood in the air had his prey instinct clamouring for unneeded attention too.

He had to act. His cock throbbed and pulsed, questing for her entrance, as the towel around his waist fell away and he eased into her, only needing to thumb her undergarments aside as he found her warmth. It should not have been so easy but their bodies came together beautifully as she gasped and moaned, jaws hanging wantonly open to reveal those fangs of hers. And, even then, they seemed to glitter in the low light like crystal spires, alluring in their own right. He only regretted that he had not spent the time with his muzzle between her legs, although those fangs gave him second thoughts as to whether or not, blushingly, he could even imagine her mouth closing around his cock, tongue sweetly pressed up to the underside...

What was he doing? Jacob groaned and pushed the thought from his mind, the pleasures of the body overruling his mind. He could not think, not if he wanted to continue on in the moment and it was oh so very hard to stop once one had begun, his body driving him on and on as he kissed her neck and thrust. Marchesa's legs wrapped up and around his waist, pulling him in closer, and he grunted as he seated his cock fully inside her, bodies moving together so perfectly that it was as if they had become a single being.

"Oh!"

An exclamation of joy did not have to be eloquent as she closed her eyes, head falling back as she allowed him to take her as he willed. The canine had been ready for him too and her wet pussy clenched and rippled around his shaft as he thrust, grinding deep in a dim sense of trying to give her the most pleasure possible. But it was as if he was in a haze of dreaming as he kissed and thrust, working them up to a blistering climax that would undoubtedly be sweeter than any experienced before, even if he could not know that before it had actually happened.

There was nothing else for the vampire and the stallion than their bodies moving together, his shaft spreading her open with each and every powerful thrust. Although they were sensible enough to take care of her fangs, that did not stop the lucid passion between them from bursting forth, grinding and rocking into one another with increasing urgency. Jacob's breath raked painfully through his windpipe as he thrust and bucked, hips suddenly speeding up as she cried out and clutched him with sudden, raw need.

Oh, and it was so good, so very good to feel needed, to feel needed like he'd never felt needed ever before in his life. Jacob groaned. It had been so long since he'd felt the touch of female companionship that it was a wonder indeed that he knew what to do but his body remembered the roll and grind, just how to tease his fingers through the fur of his partner as she beautifully turned her cheek into his paw, tongue snaking out to bathe it softly with a kiss. The stallion trembled. Her fangs could not be ignored and yet...they no longer seemed to be all that great of a part of her as he thrust, closing the fingers of his other paw around her wrist as he drew it gently up over her head, wondering how she'd react.

Any other vampire may have then lunged for his throat, fangs flashing - and that would have been that, the end of an ill-timed liaison. He could have very well expected any predator species to react in kind to being restrained and yet Marchesa moaned and arched into his touch, seeming to welcome it as he laid his chest over hers, trusting the white vampire to bear his weight as he more boldly claimed her other wrist, both of her arms drawn up behind her head.

And neither of them cared for the cold stone beneath them pressing into buttocks and knees, a candlestick somehow uncomfortably wedged into the small of her back (perhaps from an earlier visit to the 'pantry' to drink). All that mattered was each other and Jacob growled passionately, claiming her lips with his as he kissed her deeply, every ounce of inhibition that he may have had flung to the wind as he lay ignorant even to her fangs. It was the vampire herself who had to tease him down, whisper sweetness and cover his muzzle instead in breathy kisses so that he did not kiss her quite so deeply and run the risk of letting her fangs sink into his sweetly vulnerable flesh.

The canine growled and arched, tensing as if she was about to reveal a secret that was between the two of them and the two of them alone. But that secret was yet to come and soon to be opened in their hearts, even if the truth of it was yet to blossom. His hot breath washed over her neck, ruffling her fur, as he tucked his nose down against her, desperate for more as he hammered into her, hips working and grinding as furiously as instinct would allow him.

So close...

"Jacob!"

Her crying his name was the tipping point and he whinnied as he spiralled over the edge, plummeting into something far deeper than either of them could have anticipated. His seed flooded her, forced out softly along the sides of his length as he simply could not keep himself from thrusting, Marchesa whipping her head back in a passionate howl as orgasm claimed her too, squeezing down on him as if she was trying to coax every last drop of seed out that he had to offer her. The canine was a wild creature beneath him, twisting sensually back and forth as she used her leverage on his hips to rock up into his thrusts, needing everything he had to offer and what was, of course, oh so very willingly given. Her passage clenched hotly around his length and Jacob grunted, teeth clenched and nostrils flared as the heat of her threatened to tip him into the point of blackness. Yet it would not do to pass out atop a lady, no matter how simply hot and wonderful and...

Just what was he thinking? The stallion's thoughts spun around and around and around, a dog chasing its tail in blind fantasy. He did not know what he was doing, what he was feeling, only that he wanted to cradle Marchesa into him and make right all the wrongs, regardless of the wrongs that lay so far in the past that perhaps they should be forgotten after all, lest they lurk in the wings for the remainder of sweet eternity. Had he not also done things that he was ashamed of for the sake of survival? Jacob trembled. No... He could not think of that. He had to walk on, step forward into whatever the future held for him. He could not think of what had happened long ago or mere moments ago.

But it was not what the stallion spilt into the canine that was the truth of what happened but how they clung to one another and kissed in the afterglow that tied the deal for them, paws gently cupping muzzles as their heart rates slowed, warmth spreading through them as they slowly became aware of the hard, unyielding stone beneath their bodies, giggling at their location with lurid giddiness.

"What..."

"I know..."

"It's..."

Half-sentences and whispered nothings that would mean nothing and everything once they returned to their sensibilities, everything changed beyond all comprehension. It would take a while to actually realise the reality of their situation but, right then and there, in one another's arms, they could relax and be what they were in the afterglow: lovers. And lovers why could remain or not, the future open for interpretation.

It should not have happened and yet...that had not prevented anything, not a single thing. Kissing her warmly, Jacob blinked in the spill of lantern-light, Marchesa's ears casting a shadow back behind her like the horns of a demon. Regardless of how what had happened had indeed come about, Jacob knew one thing for certain with half a heart that soared for joy and half that sunk and roiled in worry and darkness.

Things had just become a whole lot more complicated.