They'd done it. They'd acted like teenagers, and drank all night.
She'd waited until it was thick in his blood, drank straight from a red-stained, sweet smelling bottle. And for the first time in centuries, she felt intoxication as much as vampirism would allow her.
Lukas was trashed but he thought it was worth it, his tolerance still strong from his life at the club prior. She'd fed him, too, cooked something to sink into his tummy before hand so he wouldn't get too sickly.
Now, they were laying on the front lawn, staring up at a clear sky and giggling like school-kids. They'd talked, laughed, cried already and now; they were merely letting the liquor take it's course and pry them open to each other. As the galaxy bathed them in moonlight.
Lukas swore he'd never seen her light up, like he did under a full moon. He'd never heard her laugh so hard, rasp so genuinely; never seen the tears in her eyes from her jaw cramping with her smile.
He'd cried once already just from admiring her and when her skin tinted a pale blue, she looked like a divine from another planet. Entirely away from earth, somewhere far beyond what such a simple asteroid had to offer.
Mina had faced the same reaction. Felt the same joy build in her chest as they rambled and followed each other like lost puppies around their home. She'd learned so much about him, listened to stories that took her through a dozen different emotions but all the while; she fixed on gemstones that could sink ships and turn up lost in the ocean.
He turned so pale, so ghostlike, the color of lace on dresses, in attics. His eyes looked lively, bright; like he'd been a child of the night all along. Lukas looked so much more grim, more manly, when the lighting sloped his face and proudly gave up his experience and age. Newfound stubble had lined his jaw and it suited him, a shadow across his face that spoke of a leisurely lifestyle. Freedom to do and look how he pleased.
When they looked at each other, they paused, held glances of two kinds of adoration behind hooded eyes and fluttering lashes.
He'd reached out for Mina's cheek, pulled her closer when he rolled onto his side and left the hundredth kiss on chilled lips they'd exchanged since she'd gotten off work.
He pushed back straightened hair, felt it slip through his fingers as he tucked it behind her ears. He tasted like brandy, a liquor that stained her memories but she lavished when it was candy coated with his lips and flavor.
"I like it both ways, but natural is my favorite.." He commented softly, when they'd parted for his sake of breath.
"Yeah..? You like the wild look? This took me hours so it's staying for a while, but I thought it'd be a change."
"I like the fact I can run my fingers through your hair and not pull any curls out.." Lukas mused, a small hiccup parting his lips and earning a bashful grin. "A-And I bet.. with how long your hair is, i-it'd make a nice, thick braid to w-wrap around my hand while we f-fuck."
Mina couldn't help but laugh, as he muddled with frustration now that he'd contracted the hiccups while trying to say something so sexual. "You make a good point, just a funny one when you're being electrocuted by hiccups."
"F-Fuck you! It's because I kiss you too long and hold my breath-"
"You have a nose, Lukas, why do you hold your breath?"
"I don't know! B-Because! Because breathing is t-too distracting, I just want to f-feel. Your lips, your t-tongue, your teeth.. I just w-wanna feel it without anything else in the w-way."
Mina felt such a building urge to laugh, it was almost incontrollable, but he'd moved a heavy hand to rest against her head and thread through the forcefully heat-sorted curls. Her piqued smile faded, despite how broken his words were and how much his body jumped with ridiculous contractions.
"D-Do you have anything like that? T-That you do, because you just w-want to tune into the feeling?"
She hadn't remembered closing them, but she opened her eyes to look at him again and realized the answer was in the motion itself. He held his breath to feel her when they kissed and she closed her eyes to feel his hand in her hair.
"When you play with my hair, or run your fingers through my hair, I guess I close my eyes to make it feel stronger. To tune into it and really feel it." Mina replied, shifting closer to lift his jaw higher with a curled hand; guiding him back to herself for another uncoordinated kiss.
When they were both too dizzy to go on, had to rest on soft grass and each others limbs, his lips tilted with another smile and she mirrored the emotion without thought.
"So you like it, that's why you do it to me so much, isn't it?" He asked in curiosity, lazily drifting fingers in small circles around her head.
"I suppose it is, I know how nice it feels so I like to instill that sensation." She whispered, head lulling against his hand and prompting it to become more active when she caught his attention. "But the sound of your heart does the same thing to me."
"I think that last kiss, took my hiccups away.." He stated against the conversation.
"It's because you held your breath again," Mina assured with an amused grin.
"You're probably right," Lukas gave a longer pet this time, extending his arm with hair between his fingers until he'd run to the ends. "Close your eyes, just enjoy it for a minute.."
She obliged the suggestion, laid against his bicep while he traced through her hair, ran along her hairline. Her skin prickled with goosebumps, waves of calm raced down her body to meet every end of her nervous system. It invoked pleasure, relaxation, such comfort it made her feel warm with a sleepy haze.
Then she heard it thumping. A little faster, harder than normal but so steady and rhythmic, like a drum for a silent chant.
"I think, sometimes, I've already died.." Lukas whispered and the morbidity of his comment startled Mina's eyes open to look at him.
"I can't imagine this shitty life giving me someone so beautiful, and so miserably perfect." He lamented, voice dropping octaves the more he softened to keep up his words like they were bound in secrecy.
"I don't think an angel would blow you in the shower- but the sentiment is still sweet." It was her turn to make him laugh, but he easily fell back into the same endearing look when she'd closed her eyes again and couldn't see it.
"It's miserable because I don't have forever, to spend it just like this, looking at the woman I want to spend the rest of every second of my life with." What he was suggesting, curving in through his voice, she hoped it was the alcohol talking. She couldn't imagine turning him. Stealing his humanity away. But she'd never sat and thought about him dying from something inevitable, instead of preventable.
"We have time.. plenty of it, before you have to think like that."
"I'd ideally like you to still want to fuck me instead of leave me in a nursing home," The tension was smoothed with another joke and a laugh before he spoke again. "But I want you to think about it.. about turning me.."
"We'd never be able to get drunk again, like this," Mina tried and yet when she looked at him, he was staring so intently it almost embarrassed her.
"No.. but I'd still let you drink from me," Lukas had traded hands, curled the one she'd been resting against around her to change his pattern up. He wove through long locks, scratched along her scalp in such a way her shoulders fell.
"Vampire blood doesn't taste good, not to other vampires.." She informed briefly and he couldn't stifle his snort.
"Neither does blood washed in tequila and brandy, but sometimes, when you feed, it's not about the taste and I can tell..." His voice held amusement but his words weren't exposing, she knew she made it obvious when she just wanted to be close. When she wanted to touch, be close, have an easy introduction for sex; she drank from him. Sipped against his skin, bit in to turn him on and licked as it barely slid out of his body.
"Kind of like when you pet through my hair because you know it feels good..." He'd shifted to light scuffs, soft rakes in a methodical pattern from crown to nape. She'd gone limp, bordered sleep the deeper she fell and gave into the toxic alcohol.
"Can we.. keep talking about it in the morning..?" Mina mumbled in a heavier daze, barely able to focus when he scratched over fading tattoo ink on her scalp and brought tingles of bliss to each deadened nerve.
"Yeah.. Yeah we can talk about it more in the morning." Lukas was content with her answer, the fact she hadn't shut him down made him smile. She wanted to consider it when they were sober, gain more depth on their mutual thoughts and feelings and it was only responsible of her.
"Kiss..?" She asked again, blindly reaching for his face and finding his head to pull him closer. Another soft exchange was given and she rolled closer into him, hooked him with her leg and snuggled into his chest once they'd parted lips.
"We should go inside.. if we're going to sleep.." He tried, adamantly suggested with no motivation in his limbs to act. Not once he'd started generating heat against her and felt the same bliss start to push and pull through his hair. “I don’t want you getting sunburnt..”
She'd snaked up to mimic his movements along his head, dainty fingers carding through raven strands and following the curve of their wisps. It really did feel good, in a way he wasn't able to describe.
"Nuh-uh.. we're camping.." A silly, barely audible mutter from the vampiress.
"Yeah.. I guess we're camping."
-
Their domestic life is the cutest thing I’ve ever written and I love every second of it. /sob/ Now if they can just survive to get there.
Thank you for the req Lunar! <3 It’s always a pleasure. I ended up kind of tying it into both of them; but more primarily Mina.
Emoji ask from [THIS] ask game. Still taking them, so feel free to anyone who may want to ask!
I had a dream last night that Luka was a sentimonster and he showed up to my how's with Mina Ashido from bnha, who was an anti-sentimonster, which is apparently a being created to hunt and kill sentimonsters. But they'd fallen in love. Dream me was very intrigued
all of these are drawings from last year (2023)!!!! i’m gonna talk about each of them under the cut, so if you aren’t interested you can go about your day ❤️!
1: The Bakugou headshot. A style experiment!! i was trying my best to mimic elijahpiejah’s (instagram) style at the time!! it was a fun exercise to study what was unique about his style 😊
2: D&D KrBk ft. Mina. This was for a D&D bang that i was in. Unfortunately, my partner never finished the fic so i just have this pic based on one of the scenes in the outline.
3: Rody/Deku. Lukas inspired me to doodle this one if i remeber correctly. i think it was also one of the first sketches i did when i got my new drawing tablet!!
4: JirouMomo. a doodle on New Year’s Day just after midnight that was drawn in the dark lol. power went out at my friend’s house as we were hanging out 😂
5: Cherri and the Aro/Ace flag. (i designed this specific ateo/ace flag. it’s free to use if you want) tried making a profile pic for june last year but i never ended up using it. might this year who knows?
6: KrBk Shark Teeth Zine piece. this was for a Kirishima-centric zine. everyone’s writing or art had to involve kirishima and his teeth in some way hehe. I decided to draw Bakugou piercing Kirishima’s paired labrets aka snake bites!
that’s all! thank you so much if you read this far, you’re a real one. you get a gold star! ⭐️
Hello one and all, alters and headmates! I am Charlie! I like to make lists! I also hoard names! Are you looking for a name? GREAT! You can send an ask and request a specific aesthetic or origin of name, or you can look at my list!
With that said…
…Cracks knuckles…
Findo
Tach
Tails
Flicker
Tracer
Kat
Iris
Blu
Brick
Arlo
Sammy
Artie
Finn
Stein
Aleksandr
Vora
Olive
Luna
Nyx
Cyrus
Qrow
Orian
Cello
Onyx
Skye
Grim
Opal
Dawn
Azure
Fish
Bones
Poppy
Bronze
Eggs
Sparky
Specs
Snickers
Trout
Navi
Bingo
Chili
Bandit
Stripe
Busker
Socks
Brandy
Frisky
Winston
Lucky
Chucky
Bently
Judo
Rusty
Max
Honey
Indie
Calypso
Striker
Merle
Moxxie
Vex
Ant
Bugger
Bee
Spider
Tails
Hook
Indigo
Amber
Coco
Coral
Scarlet
Ivory
Jade
Ruby
Emerald
Chuck
Loden
Copper
Hamelin
Neo
Shepard
Cinnamon
Visor
Macalister
Soul
Hack
Hiccup
Flynn
Rider
Astrid
Jay
Raven
Robyn
Bolt
Dagger
Viper
Tracer
Cornwall
Flock
Sapphire
Crystal
Ghost
Mochi
Trick
Catra
Rose
Raven
Flip
Chani
Racket
Red
Crimson
Dragon
Runt
Scotch
Tellie
Gator
Croc
Crow
Goat
Duck
Creeper
Kuma
Jet
Jeep
Draco
Poppy
Sombra
Raine
Squish
Spike
Blaze
Ender
Drake
Sandy
MK
PJ
DJ
CJ
MJ
King
Creak
Shadow
Clay
Dusty
Miles
Dart
Willow
Antonius
Husk
Moth
Cypher
Jin
Yin
Yang
Daisy
Gray / Grey
Alistair
Halo
Angel
Cake
Fennec
Fox
Null
Lull
Bastion
Lucky
Sun
Star
Cosmo
Tweety
Vox
Nerys
Sonic
Bark
Birch
Oak
Cherry
Blossom
Peaches
Velvet
Shell
Coffee
Valley
Fang
Moot
Redpath
Pudding
X
V
Jr
Ether
Fig
Trunk
Joy
Frogger
Snowflake
Snowball
Snow
Jumper
Racket
Flare
Vendetta
Loonie
Coin
Six
Eleven
Tropica
Stelina
Mojave
Ink
Sud
Fender
Zero
Pollen
Wysteria
Page
Ozias
Rex
Tortch
Buck
Nickel
Stripe
Lynch
Tramp
Wolf
Pup
Tank
Jhariah
Kharma
Zenith
Sparrow
Prism
Lemon
Mune
Lamb
Pyke
Diamond
Parker
Graves
Fizz
Nugget
Melody
Tink
Blight
Fangless
Ambress
Vulture
Eclipse
Luka
Bangle
Constance
Constantine
Sommar
Babble
Clank
Bobble
Chipper
Aidan
Slate
Tin
Twire
Zephyr
Silver
Misty
Faunus
Atlas
Birdie
Brook
Cedar
Chip
Coal
Daisy
Ember
Faye
Fate
Fern
Flint
Harmony
Helios
Ivy
Junx
Kit
Lyria
Phoebe
Piper
Lady
Beacon
Elos
Rumble
Ida
Cross
Zed
Scootie
Smidge
Clauger
Happy
Sonny
Hath
Soldier
River
Song
Clawtor
Videl
Legen
Onen
Chunk
Reid
Pop
Cobra
Cash
Clover
Saris
Volante
Donna
Belladonna
Gale
Chopper
Morphias
Vidia
Loft
Kape
Levi
Licker
Howl
Dustin
Newt
Creek
Breezy
Polaris
Blight
Archer
Sirius
Warren
Dream
Goon
Cookie
Ranger
Amity
Jericho
Viggo
Besko
Asra
Alice
Olaf
Mossfeld
Issic
Missy
Rascal
Creasy
Nonya
Hex
Pita
Miguel
Manuel
Rayburn
Daisy
Dash
Lucky
Becky
Steele
Cylo
Featherstone
Kingston
Netherfield
Reacher
Saltburn
Quick
Rubble
Dust
Brimstone
Humble
Ado
Grover
Norvanos
Leshy
Blade
Cooper
Calcium
Her girlfriend Darcy Olsson is also a canon lesbian!
Ghoul from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a transmasculine biromantic gay man!
Elle Argent is a canon trans woman who currently identifies as abrosexual!
Barney Guttman from Dead End: Paranormal Park is a transmasculine gay man!
Uraraka Ochaco from My Hero Academia is a bisexual demigirl!
Denki Kaminari is a polyamorous pansexual person!
Mina Ashido is a questioning panromantic genderfluid demigirl!
Kyle from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a gay demiboy!
Perfuma is a transfemme demilesbian!
Rabbid Peach from Mario + Rabbids is a polysexual transfemme rabbid!
Rotor Walrus from Sonic Archie is gender questioning and queer!
Trixie Kitsune from Pirates of the Foggy Waters is a polyamorous bisexual cisfemme person!
Serena from Pokemon is a gender questioning bisexual demigirl!
Silver from Sonic IDW is a panromantic demiboy!
Valentine de Villefort from Gankutsuou is a heteroflexible gender questioning demigirl!
Samson Rodgers from The Mystery in Crimson is an unlabeled panromantic asexual trans guy!
Beth Taylor from Monkart is a transfemme nonbinary aroace trixic spring/bambi lesbian!
Willow Park from The Owl House is a demipansexual demigirl!
Hunter is a bisexual nonbinary person!
Gus Porter is a biromantic moon bi asexual demiboy!
Dick Grayson from The Lego Batman Movie is a gender questioning trans demiboy!
Varian from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure is a demiromantic bisexual nonbinary demiboy!
Darcy from Amphibia is a nonbinary demirose bi lesbian!
Cody Gizmody from Paw Patrol is a polyamorous pansexual demigirl!
Pakas from Miniforce: New Heroes Rise is an aroflux omnisexual intersex nonbinary transmasculine libraflux xenogender intramasculine demiboy!
Leo from Dinocore is a pansexual intersex nonbinary boy who uses they/them, she/her, and he/him pronouns!
Vee is an unlabeled asexual intersex nonbinary libraflux enby who uses they/them, she/her, and it/its pronouns!
Barbara Gordon/Batgirl from The Batman (2004) is a bisexual cisfeminine person who uses she/her pronouns!
Skara is a questioning demigirl who uses she/her pronouns!
Sous Roas from Dragon Ball Super is a polyamorous demipansexual gyneromantic transfemme lovegender softgender nonbinary genderfae demigirl who uses she/her, they/them, love/loves, and ae/aer pronouns!
Hop is a futch nonbinary intrafeminine genderfluid libraflux bi lesbian who uses she/her, it/its, and claw/claws pronouns!
Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls is a pansexual xenogender demigirl who uses she/her, they/them, and he/him pronouns!
Gia Moran from Power Rangers Super Megaforce is a bisexual cisfeminine person who uses she/her pronouns!
Luka Millfy from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is a pansexual cisfeminine person who uses she/her pronouns!
Tracey Sketchit is a bisexual demiboy who uses he/him and she/her pronouns!
Sophocles is an unlabeled demiboy who uses he/him, volt/volts, it/its, and they/them pronouns!
Lillie is a demirose questioning demigirl who uses they/them and she/her pronouns!
They are all in a friendship group!
dni link | requested by @in-an-oddballs-imaginative-mind
so a rundown of some of the re: dracula casting because they just scooped up some bigger names in british podcasting and i only learned about it because of the spooky archive podcast man
Felix Trench as Renfield, known for his role as Rudyard Funn from Wooden Overcoats. No notes, fucking great, thank you.
Beth Eyre as Lucy, known for many many things but her role as Antigone Funn from Wooden Overcoats is my personal favorite. Also, great vibes for the Bloofer Lady.
Karim Kronfli as Dracula, known for many many roles but for TMA fans that's Simon Fairchild babeyyyyy he's got a great voice, especially for someone who at the start is acting very polite and interested but will also crawl up walls like a lizard
Graham Rowat as someone somewhere in the cast, I mainly know him as The Owner from The Hotel (yeah he's definitely known for other things but yknow. he's really good in the hotel) and im hoping for weird guy who talks to Mina in the cemetery but ill take anything he's really fun
Alasdair Stuart as the captain of the demeter, known by many for both his podcast PseudoPod and of course for TMA fans, Peter Lukas. Just slap a sea captain hat on that guy.
fuckign Jonathan Sims as John Seward. jon seward
Not as familiar with her, BUT:
Isabel Adomakoh Young as Mina, much more into the stage theatre and audiobook zone. Featured in the Heartstopper netflix adaptation, performs as a drag king, lots of credits I am not familiar with but focused strongly on queer performance and activism.
Giancarlo Herrera as Quincey, I know that he's a cowboy in Caravan which I have not listened to. But cowboy.
Lukas and Mina but role reversal? Mina is enslaved and Lukas isn't. Feel free to take this wherever you'd like to go, just thought it would be fun to see. 👀
I'm going to spice this and make it align with their personalities under the situations. Lukas is very go-with-the-flow given his lifestyle and Mina was extremely cold and bitter when she was enslaved. So consider this a glance into the past for Mina and what Lukas would have been if he'd never gotten strung out on vampire blood.
-
He'd heard about it, the club that had vampires that would feed you blood. It was low cost, cheaper than a Dr’s visit and could cure anything from a cold to an std.
But it was risky, addictive to the human body if you drank too much.
Lukas was of a mind he was different, could manage to control himself. He thought the idea was gross, he was afraid he might even be too nauseous once he arrived to even partake. He'd never drank or smoked, exercised regularly and slept as much as time allowed between work and school.
But 40$ was cheaper than medical care. Cheaper than medicine and possibly being too sick to attend a week of work and being late on rent. Having more lectures turn into a blur because of his attention drifting back to his pounding head.
That's what brought him to Grim’s, at 7:30pm on a Sunday. When he needed to be nose deep in a paper due at midnight.
"What brings you here?"
"U-Uh I-I'm sick and I heard I could- get vampire blood here?" Lukas rattled, teeth clattering from the fever dripping sweat down his forehead.
“That’ll be 40$, through the double doors and pick a green light.” Boney fingers snatched the money from his and he turned to push through the metal-barred door.
As soon as he did, the atmosphere changed. Neon lights were illuminated through the darkness and fog hung low in the large, spacious hallway. At the end, a pulsing nightclub that despite the early hood, still held dancers, he could see their silhouettes.
Slow steps took Lukas through the hall and he stopped at the first green light he found, reaching for the knob to let himself in. The door pulled heavy and when it closed, he was left staring into what seemed to be a small suite.
A bed, a couch, it seemed worn but livable and despite not seeing an inhabitant, he’d paused in the entryway to scan around. It felt wrong, like he’d entered someone’s room without them knowing, or like he’d walked into the wrong hotel room.
“Hello...?” Lukas called out and heard a rumble come from the other end of the room in response; his body flinching when it sounded like something fell.
He was starting to get fearful now, the deadening silence only being filled with the exterior bass coming through the floorplan. Morbid curiosity lead him closer to the sound, freezing when another rumble was made and he was left staring at another half-closed door.
From what he could see, it looked like a bathroom.
“Is someone i-in there?” A small cough ended his sentence but he found the strength in his legs to walk forward, finally met the doorframe with a nervously resting hand. “Hello?”
Another slap, this time against a tub, he could tell by the way it thumped and echoed. Someone was inside but not saying anything, for whatever reason, they didn’t want to be seen.
Lukas swallowed back the paranoia that balled up in his throat, finally pushed the covering open on it’s hinges and when he did; he gasped and seized up in a coughing fit.
Sitting in the basin of the tub was a woman that looked around his age, from what little he could see of her face. Her eyes had been covered and tape was sealed tightly around her mouth in several binds; her arms bound behind her as well.
Every joint down her legs wore more binding tape and stuck both limbs together like a mermaid tail, feet bound in mock fins and a shallow amount of water pooling around them.
When the door opened, she’d flinched and pushed back with what mono-leg she’d been given.
“F-Fuck... Shit- do you need help?” Lukas cursed in a trembling breath, forcing himself closer and stopping just beside the tub. He watched her cock her head in such a way he knew she could at least hear him; however at the sight of blood dripping down from the bindings around her eyes, he wasn’t sure if she could still see.
“M-M-My name is Lukas- I’m not here to hurt you, I swear- do you want me to let you go?” He stammered, fighting through the fact he was shaking for two reasons now. Primarily fear, now that his body had dealt so long with his fevered chills.
Another cough, he tried to cover it in his elbow and deep in his sleeve. Like he risked some chance of getting the woman before him sick.
As soon as Mina heard the door open, heard the wracking cough, she knew she was in for something different. She’d heard him call out through the place like he’d just entered someone’s home, listened to the way he rasped around his words the closer he got to her.
His heart was off the charts. But it was weakened, something was weakening it.
When he’d offered to free her, she wanted to say no. She wanted to tell him to leave her alone, she’d get it herself, but she’d been in the same spot for hours now. The club had been quiet, it always was on Sundays. The doors before her got the most customers, she hadn’t gotten one for most of the day.
This strangers unprompted kindness might be her only ticket out.
Kindness always came at a price though, the way he sounded said he needed blood. A new fix, perhaps he was jonesing, itching for the next reup and that’s why he was in such bad shape. His health probably relied on their services.
Lukas looked around the bathroom for something sharp, anything that seemed like it might cut through the copious wraps of adhesive plastic. He opened small cabinets, empty drawers and finally found a pair of field scissors in a dusty first aid-kit. It had been cleaned out of bandages and bottles of sanitizer were crusted over but the shears still seemed in good shape.
“I-I’ve got some scissors to get the tape,” He announced, finally coming to kneel at the tub in a not-so-graceful plop. His eyes rolled for a single moment, he clutched his forehead in the meantime and still squinted towards the captive woman.
She’d shifted further away from him, startled like a wild animal when he’d reached out to touch bruised knees.
“I’m sorry- I-I-” Another wracking cough and Lukas fought to clear his throat. “I’ll make it quick.”
Mina had already braced, despite his words. Braced for pain, for impact. For something to happen with those blades in his hand. The moment she heard metal peel back on metal and insinuate the arms had opened, she was certain they’d meet her skin. If she was right and he needed blood, she was perfectly served to him to get it.
What surprised her though, was a sudden snip and inch by inch, she felt the aching tension at her knees start to release itself. Another snip and she jumped with the sound, only to have her thighs push back apart in sheer freedom as he unbound them.
Next her calves, then to her ankles where the faux ‘tail’ had been created on her feet. At last, she felt her legs fall in fatigue, skin unsticking from some of the tapes by gravity alone.
“Y-Your mouth next, okay? Please, don’t bite me- I-I’m just going to help you out,” Lukas reached up with shaking fingers and she flinched when they touched her but stayed still while they gently flicked at the corner of the tape.
It was wrapped so tightly, no concern for her hair stuck inside it and he knew it would hurt. She had to know, understand there was no way to make it comfortable.
He unwrapped her head and when it met the strands, he gave another small tug and she jolted at the sensation. Two more wraps and finally, he peeled it off of her lips and revealed bloodied saliva that had dried around them.
“H-Hand-s..” She muttered from dry chords and voluntarily leaned forward. When she did, she heard him gasp and drop the scissors out of his grip. Tears pushed out from under the binds around her eyes and she hated the sound of how pathetic she’d been made.
“P-Please, it hurts..” She heard herself begging, leaning into the kindness this stranger was offering and just the position alone put stress on her injuries.
When the vampiress leaned forward and revealed her arms, Lukas couldn’t contain his shock at the damage that had been done from such a simple pair of cuffs. Her skin was ringed with black, charred in deep indents and blood streaked down her bare back.
Scars laid deep in her skin, patches of flesh turned turgid and bubbled from whatever had been done to her. From the base of her neck down was a plain of different textures and colors; dark skin scarring in whites and pinks.
It was cruel, how the key had been left in the lock but her hands had fallen too damaged to bend and twist it. They sat limp, paralyzed, from how badly the silver had burnt through her. Where it had laid against her spine was no different and tufts of white bone and seeping liquid showed from the wound.
He felt sick, sicker than he’d felt before. His gut churned with acid, he shivered with fear and anxiety and fever combined. He’d never seen anything more disturbing and he’d already said that to himself three times in this single experience.
He should have just gone to the doctor.
Lukas wasn’t afraid, though, of the metal that had damaged her so badly. He still reached out and twisted the key that sat nested in the lock, freed one hand before the other and when both fell limp; he paused to see her start to wrack with silent sobs.
“Are you.. o-okay?” A stupid, human question and yet it still felt so nice to hear. So genuine, so concerned for something that was a factual part of her life.
“I-It just h-hurts..” She whispered through gritted teeth, dragging her arms back from her sides and laying them in front of her like she’d inspect the damage. She didn’t remove the tape though, there was little point when she still couldn’t see.
“Do you want me to get t-the tape off your eyes?” He asked aloud and she shook her head.
“No, it sounds like you’ve seen enough.” Mina contested and his shoulders hung at the grim thoughts that lingered behind the sentiment. “You should just drink from me and leave, once you do, you won’t feel so bad about what you’ve just seen.”
“I-I’m not going to drink from you- Y-You’re hurt! You need a doctor or to be taken to a hospital-”
Mina laughed. Such a bitter, haunting chuckle of forced humor. “Do you really think if I’ve been left here this long, they’re going to call me a doctor?”
Lukas’ lips fell shut and she heard the snap. She’d taken the wind out of his sails, stolen the rug out from under him, he had nothing else he could offer to say.
“You’ve already paid and you’ve helped me...” She tried to entice, to soothe not only her own conscious but to hope he’d leave her enough time after he drank to fumble her way through cleaning herself. “Are you sick..?”
He’d started to answer but his body did it for him, a wracking cough coming from his sore lungs and he still tried to deny why he’d come in the first place.
“I-It’s just a cold- I let someone convince me to come here for it and it was a mistake-”
“...You said your name was Lukas, right?”
“Y-Yeah, Lukas Jade Verino. B-B-But my friends call me JJ.. o-or Lulu- I don’t really mind..” He was somewhere between the anxiety of a date and an interview; thrown into a horror movie and staring down the spots on her body that continued to change and heal now that he’d unbound her powers.
She might get to see his face after all.
“Lukas.. You don’t need to be here. You don’t belong here and I need you to understand that.” Mina spoke slowly, counting and weighing each word while he still dared to give her his attention. Colors shifted behind her eyes and light mutated, trying to tune in and reform what the last client had done to them.
“I-I know, I shouldn’t have come here but- I’m glad I did because you needed help..” The human replied gently, closing the lid to the toilet beside the tub and perching on it like he was anxious to even sit down.
“I’ve met so many of you, Lukas.. You don’t understand.” The vampiress denoted almost sadly, like she’d seen too much for her heart to bear. “Decent, hard working people.. that come in to cure something and never.. ever stop coming back..”
“I-Is it really as addictive as they say..?” He inquired with a morbid curiosity and watched as Mina slowly uncurled from her hunch, started to take tension off her aching back as it did it’s best to flesh over.
“Our blood is poison.. such toxic, toxic poison and humans don’t care. They taste it and their bodies can never forget.. It turns people into monsters, rapists, beasts far worse than we could ever be..”
Lukas made grim sight with her wounds as she spoke, watched layers of bruises turn yellow and fade back into her skin. Handprints on hips and thighs had started to disappear, dead cells started to flake off her wrists. Just because she wasn’t human, gave them the right to torment her, treat such a flesh-covered creature like she were made of nothing but plastic.
Humans were demented, if they did this without care before they’d ever tasted blood.
“They’d beat me black and blue if they ever heard me telling a client they shouldn’t drink,” Mina lamented, voice having softened as her body started to regenerate and function from it’s post-morbidity. “But I don’t like seeing humans get strung out and turn into husks of greed and gluttony..”
“That means you’re different then too... doesn’t it?” Lukas asked, arms folding in on himself to shelter out the cold of the central air. “If you don’t like it, that means you don’t want to, which means you’re a lot better than the people that keep you here.”
“Being better in this place, doesn’t mean what it does in normal life, Lukas. Being better, having higher morals, just means they smear you into the mud a little deeper and try to break you in a little harder.”
“That’s not fair though, you shouldn’t be forced to live bad if you’re a good person-” He started and it felt childish, the way he clipped his sentence and looked down in shame and resignation to his cause. “I-It isn’t fair..”
Mina reached up with spasming, weak hands and peeled the edge of the tape from her face; swapping hands halfway through when she wasn’t strong enough to pull it completely off yet. When her lashes cracked open from blood and ocular fluid crusting them shut, she saw a bleary sight of her legs laying in the chilled remains of water. It took a long moment of focus, but her vision had cleared and the blindness had reversed from their trauma.
When she turned to look at him, his face pinched with tension and a grimace at her features; trails of blood and milky fluid dried in smears down her face. But her eyes, her eyes were a bright mint green, just like he was looking in a mirror.
“Life isn’t fair.. but you can help my reality become a little less grim, by making sure I don’t see you again.” It felt sad on her tongue, when he had so much potential to be so tender, had already been so kind. Her gut lurched with need, swirled to grab her attention and begged her to accept the pull towards the humanity he still treated her with.
It was painful... To tell herself no, to something so close to her grasp. She could tell by the way he was looking at her, observing, visibly disturbed; she’d be on his mind for the rest of his life. She already knew if she begged, looked a little more pathetic, she could get him to come back time after time, with or without hooking him with her blood.
She’d have company. A companion. A listening ear, a shoulder to cry on. He’d smell so sweet holding her, he’d be so warm when she couldn’t stop the chill from invading the core of her bones. How sweetly he’d treat her, how innocently she could lose him to pleasure she doubted he’d ever felt before.
All reasons, he deserved to be with another human, another kind that wasn’t trapped in rapacious sin. Kindness, needed kindness or the kind, become cold.
“I can still cure you, if you’ll let me pay you back for freeing me..”
“I-It’s okay.. I-I can get some pills at the store..” Lukas assured, watching as the woman turned onto her knees and avoided using her hands to prop herself onto the sidewall.
“I promise, I won’t give you enough to hook you, just enough to kill the symptoms.. It wont even be a mouthful..” Mina knew it was dangerous, to even tempt his body, but now that she’d laid eyes on him she knew how truthful his appearance was. Didn’t look very old, but wore the smears of purple under his eyes that said he’d been pushing past his limits for a while now.
“Close your eyes.. and open your mouth.. That way you don’t have to see it.” Mina offered and they exchanged a lingering pause before she watched the young human fearlessly follow her instructions.
Long black lashes fell shut and lips parted softly, making it hard to fight the curl on her lips. He trusted her so easily, made himself so vulnerable in the presence of a beast.
She slit the tip of her finger with an opposite nail and once it pearled up with red, she slid the digit past warm lips and smeared it across his tongue. His eyes clamped shut, jaw twitched with tension but on instinct, he closed around her finger and gave such a soft suck to cleanse it. It had to have been less than a teaspoon, just enough to tint his mouth red, when he swallowed to clear it and the vampiress was quick to withdraw.
Mina had made a promise and in exchange, she hoped he’d follow through with his.
It started with the scratchiness on his throat but blossomed into more; sliding down his stomach to soothe into it’s basin like alcohol. A tiny trail of fire, that made a warm, explosive tidal wave.
“Go home and rest, if you start to feel high, masturbate. The endorphins will make it go away with so little in your system.” Mina informed and so casually, too, like she’d just given sound medical advice.
“A-Ah thanks.. I-uh..” The moment she saw it, the way his pupils widened, how his shoulders slumped a tad, it worried her.
His skin brightened, the wear under his eyes had cleared up and he looked so much more refreshed than when he’d come in. It made her feel better, to know whatever it was he was suffering had been taken care of. But the look on his face, the way he started to stare at her, she could tell.
Lukas swallowed when his mouth felt filmy from her blood, but he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. She just didn’t realize, how intensely he’d been staring from the beginning, or she would have known it wasn’t so out of place to do it face to face.
Her heart hurt, with what she was about to do. For his sake and to keep him out of the club, for as long as it worked it’s magic. While he was high, while it would hurt and sink in. While the trauma of her wounds and existence were heavy on his mind.
“Get out.” Mina mumbled, only turning the last bit of her words loud enough for him to hear much change.
“Are you sure.. you’ll be okay?”
The vampiress reached out with increasing strength and grabbed his neck with carefully positioned fingers. She dug in, slammed his back against the porcelain he’d been sitting on and she was met with a look of betrayal behind jade eyes.
He winced in pain, lids widened in surprise when he saw her face crunch with self inflicted anger. Her nails dug into his throat, pierced the skin but met blank tissue beneath it and when he cried out and writhed, she was satisfied.
“I-I’ll leave!” Lukas strained, hands grabbing hers that had wrapped around his throat. “I-I’m sorry!”
“If you ever come here again, I’ll fucking kill you!” She shook him, slammed him backwards enough to be convincing. Threatening, make him hurt but how carefully she did so; was supernatural. She listened to his heart, his insides, his bones. Every creak, every gasp; she knew exactly what she was inflicting on him and she held herself back for the show.
She didn’t want to hurt him. She wanted him to live, freely, from her blood and the club and everything inside it. So she needed to make sure he thought twice about coming back. It wouldn’t take much, when he seemed so naïve and fragile.
“Do you understand me?!” She gave another slam, dug deeper into the cuts that tried to heal around her fingertips.
When Lukas looked at her snarling lips, looked past the curls that hid her eyes, he saw tears dripping off the edges of her chin. Her fingers shook a little, arms trembled with pain and fleeting strength. It somehow felt worse, to know she was hurt by her own actions, or perhaps the fact he’d accepted her blood.
“...I understand... I won’t come back, I promise..” He spoke with a layer of grief edging his voice, right before she grabbed him and sent him tumbling onto the floor.
When he hit the ground, he got up and he couldn’t manage to turn back when he’d started rushing towards the door. It closed behind him and he didn’t stop his sprint until he was out of the club and back onto the side-walk just in time for twilight.
Lukas wheezed with breath, reached up to feel smears of warmth where she’d been digging into. He wasn’t bleeding anymore, not with how it dried against his fingers.
Something about him though, felt different. His vision felt clearer, he picked up a dozen different scents, half of which churned more bile in his aching gut. His nose was clear, his chest no longer felt tight and raspy. Sweat was cooling on his clothing from the breeze outside and he was left staring blankly at the entry sign.
Grims: Girls, Guys & Grub Club!
He couldn’t imagine, why such a place existed, in the open public eye. Where sentient, immortal creatures were trapped and bound by whatever laws kept them there.
Where they were tortured, maimed for human pleasure. Where you could do whatever you wanted to another life and walk out the same doors you walked in.
As he glanced at his watch, his head hung a bit lower at the thoughts of returning back to his apartment. He still had a paper due and still had such little motivation, even less, now that he’d seen what he’d heard about for so long. He was left with more questions, less answers and now; every person that recommended the place made him spike with anxious tension.
What were his friends, coworkers, doing to the people inside that club?
How many of them shed blood, tortured and pulled apart their lives for a handful of pocket change?
Now he had to live knowing, first hand the horrors that each zone and boundary protected them from. How he could live a few miles away and never see a single atrocity, but walk into a door and find a glimpse of what hell looked like.
A hell that felt so familiar, so personal, like he’d lived it himself in another life.
@ember-writer tagged me for this one; go check their first lines here.
Rules: List 10 first lines of chapters, scenes, or short stories, and tag 10 people
'It was the pain that woke him.'
- The Art of Empty Space, Ch. 5
'She inhaled sharply - to scream or to laugh, she didn’t know - but the monster clapped a large, bony hand over her mouth.'
- Ambition is a Lonely Tower, Ch. 5
'I have always been here.'
- A Haunted Home (short story)
'The ocean breeze brought with it decay: rotting seaweed infested with sandflies, drowned fish with oil and eco caked in their gills, algae and mildew and rotting wood.'
- Dead Roots, Dark Water, Ch. 8
'Art is neither creation nor destruction; it is transference.'
- The Art of Empty Space, Ch. 12
'The silence amplified everything: the squeak of rusty nails in the boards beneath Luka's feet; the rat-a-tat rattle of the loose panes in the windows; Jules's unsteady breathing as they tapped on their phone; Luka's own stammering heartbeat.'
- I Am Alive (short story)
"Okay, so here's the plan: we roll up on HQ, storm in, suckerpunch Torn right in the nose—"
- Dead Roots, Dark Water, Ch. 13
'Ariana bustled around the small kitchen, heating the oven, chopping vegetables, and opening bottles in a flurry of organized chaos that left Mina feeling profoundly useless.'
- Ambition is a Lonely Tower, Ch. 1
'Sixteen is too young for his life to be over.'
- You Up? Ch. 1
'Time and space floated around and through him.'
- The Art of Empty Space, Ch. 10
and a bonus line (or two), because i am insufferable:
"The monster is not your enemy." A half-crushed note, written in his own hand: the only familiar thing in the room where Lienzo awakened.'
- The Art of Empty Space (V2), Ch. 1
no pressure tags for @ryns-ramblings, @byjillianmaria, @moondust-bard, @zmwrites, @liv-is, @kaiusvnoir, @isabellebissonrouthier, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @starscribes, and @kaiafosterwrites, plus an open tag for anyone interested