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xstephaniebrown · 2 years

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Once upon a time in Wallachia

Hello everyone! I am glad that you are liking my drawings and fanfics.

Here I bring you something original and I would love to know your opinions, since it is the fragment of a novel in which I am working.

For her age, Yuna had extensive experience killing rampaging vampires. However, most of them were inexperienced neophytes, so confused by thirst that they used to behave just like a wild animal.

The vampire before her was wild and strong, yes, but also very smart. His eyes never left her and her weapons; the way he moved betrayed previous training, maybe even military, and the fact that he had the build of a building didn't make things any easier for her.

“Have you thought better of it?” Asked the blond with a strong russian accent, although his smile made him think that it was too late to run.

Yuna tightened her grip on the sword and lunged at him, hoping that with his size, the vampire wouldn't be so fast. She didn't manage to stab him as she had planned but she heard him hiss as the sharp silver blade passed across his cheek. It confirmed that their fighting styles were very different when he tried to catch her and she slipped behind him. He wasn't slow, but he was pretty stiff, and she would be safe as long as she didn't let him catch her.

“You little whore.” Iván growled when Yuna managed to cut the tendons of his ankle, leaving him on his knees on the ground. “So you are a student of the samurai.”

Yuna could not hide her surprise, which cost her dearly. The regeneration time of a pureblood vampire was minuscule, and for someone like Ivan, for whom pain was an old friend, it was not difficult for him to overcome. He grabbed her by the belt and slammed her hard on the ground. When he wanted to raise the sword, Ivan stepped on the blade and snapped it in half, breaking his forearm in the process and causing him to cry out in pain. Then she felt his other foot against her throat, choking her.

“I recognize those slithering snake movements.” the vampire growled, looking down at her contemptuously. Yuna watched him, feeling fear not for the first time that night. She had never faced something like this, nor had she felt so small and defenseless. “Well… Good. I know the samurai will be pleased to know that his precious apprentice did not beg for mercy.”

As if she could utter a word... or breathe. She knew that Ivan intended to kill her with a good stomp, just as he would kill a disgusting insect that barely deserved to dirty the soles of his boots. But Yuna was stubborn, she never stopped listening to it, and the idea of dying in such a pathetic way made her furious, showing the Russian a grimace of pure rage that showed her white fangs.

With her free hand she drew one of her twin daggers from her belt, which she rammed into the vampire's calf, causing him to drop her and back away. Yuna felt a strong dizziness when she stood up, because she still didn't get enough oxygen into her lungs, but that didn't stop her from throwing herself fully against Iván.

She knew that with a broken arm she had little chance; her forte had always been daggers and twin swords, and now she had only one blade to defend and attack. Ivan couldn't dodge at all. As he himself had said, she was like a snake that lashed out with lethal bites… only never enough to knock him out. Stabbing him in the heart was out of the question, since it would put her within his attack range, but if only she could reach his neck…

Just when he thought she had been able to reach him, she knew she had made a misstep, landing exactly on his hand open, which grabbed her jacket and threw her with animal force against the opposite wall.

Yuna felt her whole body crack from the impact, realizing the blow to her head a few seconds later, when she was unable to get up. She managed to hear Ivan's cruel laugh through the ringing in her ears, seeing his boots through a film of blood.

And in a moment, the boots and their owner disappeared in a blur of movement and noise.

She must have passed out, because the next thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the rotten wooden ceiling beams and off to the side, Nikolai's violet eyes.

Yuna POV

It wasn't the first time I'd been hit on the head, but I could taste the difference between the average hunter's right hook and the brutality of a viesczy who was having fun toying with his prey. Actually, it was hard for me to admit even in these circumstances that my pride as a hunter was hurt, just a little more than my body.

The last thing I expected when I opened my eyes was to find Nikki, who was looking at me as if he thought I had already passed on to a better life.

I had never seen him so worried. His mouth, usually as rigid as a white line, was twisted into a scowl that went very well with the lines around his eyes. He was crouched next to me, white hair falling over his forehead.

“Yuna” he called my name gently. “Yuna, do you hear me?”

Yeah, I could hear him clearly, but I was having a really hard time getting the words out. My brain was like a jelly floating inside my skull that didn't have enough consistency to respond.

I wanted to ask what he had done with Ivan, and how the hell he had found me in Romania. I wanted to know where Elrich and Charlotte were, and if Armand was around.

Instead, I just managed to mumble Nikolai's name, over and over, in a small whisper.

“I’m here” He told me in the same tone, gently taking me in his arms. “You're safe.”

In all the years I had known him, I’d never seen him treat anything so gently. Nikolai was a rough and sullen man who respected nothing and no one, not even his superiors in the hunting association. He was the kind of guy who slammed doors and took stairs two at a time out of patience; and now he had me there, snuggled against his chest like a precious fine china antique.

Of course, that didn't stop my body from replying with sharp stabs of pain. My arm rested on my stomach -still unregenerate- and I knew from how hard I was breathing that I must have had two or three broken ribs.

Okay, I said to myself, you've seen worse. Only right now I couldn't remember a time when I had such a hard time putting together a simple sentence.

As I tried to get over the pain, Nikolai pulled me out of the library. I didn't see Ivan anywhere, but I did see a lot of blood splattered on walls and furniture. The hallway was the same, frighteningly still and a few bodies scattered in grotesque positions.

I knew they were Armand's neophytes, those hideous creatures he had created from nosferatu blood. The smell was almost unbearable, even more revolting than when they were alive.

Trying to escape the stench, I hid my face in Nikolai's black coat, taking in the pleasant scent of rain, pine, and his unique body odor. He must have thought I was scared, because he held my head as if I were a child.

Then I caught a deep sound, as terrifying as it was familiar, for I had been listening to it all night since Armand had caught us in his castle. The growl of an angry vampire… but this one came from Nikolai.

I looked up to find his face contorted with savage rage. There was a possessive gleam in his gaze that I couldn't remember ever seeing in him.

For a moment I thought that Ivan would be ahead of us, or perhaps some surviving neophyte. In no way did I expect to meet Elrich, who was standing in the middle of the corridor looking at us.

He had a weary expression and was no longer wearing his jacket. His brown hair was tousled and two dark shadows had been drawn under his green eyes.

“Stop growling at me, Siberian bear.” he warned Nikolai, without a hint of the humor he used to have in Leeds. Then he looked at me and I wanted to ask him if he was hurt. To my surprise, his expression softened into a smile. “I'm fine, don't worry. Just a little bruised.”

Sure, telepathy. He was being really helpful now that I couldn't vocalize, but this thought made Elrich worry, coming over to take a look at me.

Nikki growled again, a clear warning that he didn't want him around, but Elrich ignored him and leaned down to examine my head. I was startled by the pain and his touch became even more delicate; he parted my eyelids to see my pupil and then put a hand on my forehead.

“She has a concussion.” He said in a low voice. I had heard that expression many times in the Leeds infirmary, every time a hunter hit himself in the head. “We have to get her out of here as soon as possible. Don't let her fall asleep.”

My concussion must have been serious, because it took me a long time to understand that he was talking to Nikolai. He was giving him instructions to get out of the castle without being seen. There was no friendship between them and ultimately my partner would be very happy to rip his head off, but even Nikki must have known that it was one thing to come kicking in doors and another to run away with an injured person in tow.

I wanted to beg Nikki to let me talk to Elrich, or at least convey my apologies to him through telepathy. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have been discovered. If it hadn't been for me, we could have extracted Charlotte without a hitch. I think deep down I knew it was a stupid idea, because the mission had been daring and reckless from the start, but I felt compelled to tell him something.

Elrich's smile, somewhat sad and tense, made me think he caught my thoughts, but after making sure that Nikolai wouldn't forget his instructions, he disappeared into thin air.

Once again I heard the growl of a vampire. A sad and pitiful one, almost like a moan of pain.

This time, it came from my chest.

Armand's castle in Wallachia was equal parts impressive and terrifying, I'd noticed that ever since Elrich made me appear in one of his chambers. However, the path Nikolai was taking was a hundred times worse.

I knew a little about the history of Romanian vampires, the strigoi, and if these children of the night excelled at anything, it was intimidating their prisoners to death.

Considering that the legends about Vlad the impaler were absolutely true, it's no wonder his impalement methods were popular with the local immortals. Although a simple wooden stake couldn't kill a vampire, it was quite useful for immobilizing them almost permanently. The pain suffered was no different from that of any human, with the exception that the vampire would always be conscious.

There were stories of Strigoi impaling their enemies deep within their fortresses, not for the purpose of intimidating large armies like Vlad, but for the sheer joy of keeping them suffering for decades.

If there was any doubt that Armand embodied a good part of those stories, it vanished as we passed through a hallway lined with cells. All the doors were wide open, for such a restriction was absurd when the prisoners were impaled on one or more wooden stakes.

Although I felt discomfort growing in my stomach, I couldn't help but take a look. There were men as thin and pale as a corpse; only a few soft moans from them proved that they were still alive. The plague was not as putrid as that of Armand's neophytes, but the blood had accumulated everywhere through the centuries.

I put my face back into Nikki's coat, and Nikki whispered a curse in Russian.

I knew that he too was affected by the smell of blood. His sense of smell had always been sharper and more delicate than average, even for a vampire, and now it was working against him.

“Aid!” one of the prisoners shouted in english. I tensed in Nikki's arms, but he didn't slow down. “Pity help!”

“Nikky.”

"No." My companion's eyes, usually a purplish blue, glowed red like two rubies in the dark. His jaw was so tense that for an instant I thought I'd hear his teeth gnashing. “Their master showed them no mercy and neither did I. We have to get away from the castle as soon as possible.”

I could have argued that we wouldn't really be safe until the sun came up, but all I could think about was those frantic screams that were beginning to spread through the cells like a miserable chorus.

I even thought I heard the plaintive moans of a woman.

“Nikki, please…”

I couldn't do much for myself. Not when it took me so long to regenerate. Elrich had just given me blood five days ago, but for some reason, I didn't exhibit the ability of other vampires to heal me from any physical injury. Maybe it was because I was half human, which was giving me more trouble than good now, or I just wasn't a strong vampire. Either way, I was completely dependent on Nikki now.

I was sure that my companion would ignore my pleas and would continue walking until he found the secret door that connected the dungeons with the secret tunnels, according to Elrich's instructions. However, without warning, Nikolai stopped.

#original work #original writing #vampires #vampirism #gothic horror #vampirecore #monsters #vamp #gothic #romania #strigoi #nosferatu #painalli #painalli art

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