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The moon was slowly descending down below the horizon as dawn approached, dyeing the base of the dark sky a dim blue and dull orange. The hotel was sitting like a silhouette in the dark hours of night, only gaining back its colors as the morning rays hit its exterior. On the inside, many monsters were settling down to sleep during the daylight hours, including a human. The wife of Dracula.
Ericka was finishing up her nightly routine as she was getting ready for bed. She splashed her face with cold water after removing her makeup, lost in her thoughts.
To be honest, if I hadn't taken the time to get to know Drac then I’d probably be god knows where…probably still on that stupid ship thinking that I saved the world or something…
She dried her face with a towel before trudging out of the bathroom and shutting the light off.
Come to think of that actually…a lot of what I was taught about him was completely wrong…
As she continued wandering through her deep thoughts, she collapsed into the bed and curled up in her spot, draping the silk sheets over herself and allowing them to bunch up near her head, sighing contently for a moment. She sat in silence before shifting her head over to look at the vacant spot beside her, starting to frown before glancing back over at her phone that was resting on the nightstand next to her. With little hesitation she stretched an arm out from underneath the cozy sheets and snagged it, immediately jumping over to text and tapping on her and Drac’s chat. She typed and sent with little thought.
Come
She only realized it sounded wrong after she hit the send button. A little message soon popped up saying ‘read just now’, she got three little dots before a text back.
Uhh…hello to you too sweetheart.
She could feel his confusion through the screen before quickly replying.
Come upstairs is what I meant
Almost an immediate response.
You know I don’t get off for another ten minutes.
She knew his work schedule front and back and didn’t need reminding of when he got off.
But I miss yooou bby
She texted back with numerous sad emojis, leading him to do the same.
Awww I’ll be up soon honey, can you wait a few minutes?
But I want cuddles nowwww
She added a handful of random hearts and other related emojis to her message.
You know I can’t.
She only replied with a lot of crying emojis before shutting her phone off and putting it face down on the nightstand once more and snuggling back into bed.
Ericka almost dozed off, until someone knocked and opened the door causing her eyes to pop open and dart over to see who it was. Drac had poked his head around the cracked open door, seeing her all bundled up waiting for him.
“Awww, look at you all snuggled up,” He chuckled in a playful tone, making her giggle quietly in response as he stepped in and shut the door, “it’ll only take me a minute to get ready if you could just wait a little bit longer-“ He side stepped over and pulled a lighting fixture on the wall which opened up the wall into the closet and bathroom. She continued to watch as he zipped into the room and the wall closed behind him, leaving her alone once more.
I just…he’s…he’s just so…sweet…I don’t know why anyone would tell such terrible things about him and let them go for generations…
She recalled all the lessons and lectures that had been drilled into her skull over the years about how ‘evil’ and ‘dangerous’ he was.
Well dangerous was debatable.
Drac had finished up in the bathroom and was stepping back into the main room, about to put on his long sleeve shirt which meant he was just wearing his white tank top and fuchsia pants. As he slipped it on he heard Ericka call for him.
“Hey Drac?”
“What is it, lovebug?” He asked gently, sitting on the end of the bed near her.
“I was just wondering…how…um…” She started second guessing if she should ask the question or not, him scooting up the bed and practically sitting on her legs.
“You can ask me anything, I’ll answer the best I can.”
She popped her head out of the hoodie she made with the sheets and he caressed her flushed cheek with a hand.
“Hmh…how…how dangerous do you consider yourself?”
Her question caught him off guard, but he answered nonetheless.
“Oh…uhh…I mean…I wouldn’t really consider myself dangerous honestly. I never wish to harm anyone, unless the perpetrator hurts let’s say…you, Mavis, or Dennis. Then uh…then the claws will come out.”
“You have claws ?”
“That was just an expression, but actually yes, I do.”
“Could…could I see?”
“Oh- yes, of course.”
He placed the backside of his hand in her palm and she looked on with fascination as long, pointy claws formed on the end of his fingertips.
“Ooooh, you can do this at will ?” She asked curiously, tapping the tip of one of his claws just to see how sharp they were.
“Yeah, pretty much. I try not to do it too often, it makes my fingers sore.”
“Huh. Who would have thought…” She continued studying his hand, now thinking,
I wonder what else he can do…
“What else can you do?”
“Well…that depends on what you want to see.” He tantalized, leaning slightly nearer making her tilt her head and grin before shifting her attention onto his fangs.
“Can you retract your fangs too?”
She grabbed his face to pull it closer to hers, opening his mouth to see his honed canines.
“Yus I cun.” He mumbled around her fingers as she continued poking around.
“Aww you have tiny fangs on your bottom jaw too, I didn’t know that.”
“Uh huh, I cun’t cuntrul them us much us my tup unes unfurtunutely.” He continued trying to talk around her hands.
“Can you make them longer? Like, make them grow?”
“I cun, but cun yuu tuke yuur hunds uut uf my muuth?”
“Right, sorry.” She removed her hands from his mouth and he stretched his jaw for comfort until it cracked quietly.
“Heh, it’s alright. I never really shrink my fangs as I don’t really see a reason too, and I only make them bigger when I get angry or I’m about to eat something.”
“Oh, well then, can you show me your devil face ?”
“My what ?”
“Y’know, when you get angry. I’ve never seen you get super upset before.”
“That’s because nothing you do can make me get angry at you baby.” He started swooning over her.
“I know, I know…but I still wanna see it.” She coaxed softly, guiding him closer, making him snicker.
“Hmh, alright then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He shut his eyes and his throat started emitting a deep growling noise. His fangs sharpened and grew tremendously, him having to part his mouth slightly so he didn’t puncture himself. When he opened his eyes again, the blue had blended into a deep scarlet color and his pupils were slit instead of round. The white around his irises was almost a glowing red as he leaned over her shocked face.
Being cornered by the beast she was always taught to fear, didn’t make her cower. Instead, she found it entrancing. She couldn’t even think before her body started reacting on its own, arms laced around his broad shoulders and pulling her head down to press their lips together. He immediately stopped growling and all of his attributes flicked back to normal. A soft purring vibration started warbling in his throat instead, showing his enjoyment. She felt the small vibrations and wanted to question how he could purr, when she felt his tongue slide into her mouth, distracting her from the thought. It poked around and found where her tongue was resting, encouraging it to interact.
“Dc…Drsc…” She was giggling indistinctly, him doing the same back as they continued. Things were cut short, as he somehow stretched his tongue all the way to the back of her mouth and accidentally hit her uvula. Which made her start violently coughing and retching, pushing him away as she tried to not throw up.
“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to go that far!”
“Go that far? How can you even REACH to the back of my mouth?” She spoke around continuing to control herself.
“I uh…I-…I have a prehensile tongue.”
“You have a what ?”
“A prehensile tongue. Basically it means I can control it just like any other limb of my body, look-“ Drac let his tongue unfurl out of his mouth, showing it was also longer than the average by a few inches. He made it bob up and down with a few other intricate moves before booping her on the nose with the tip.
“That’s definitely something you don’t see every day.” She admired as he crowed quietly.
“I’m guessing this wasn’t something you were taught in your lectures, hm?”
“Absolutely not, I wonder what else was left out.”
“Well, do you want to find out?”
“Fuck. Yeah.”
“So, what powers were you taught that I have?”
“Oh plenty. Like, uh…” Ericka tried to recall the lists and paragraphs about his so-called abilities, “I think hypnosis was one.”
“Ah yes, definitely.”
“Really?”
“Mhm, do you…want to see?”
She scoffed jokingly, “Of course I do! But how?- Wait! Could you like, make me run laps around the hotel or something?”
“I don’t want to make you hurt or physically exhaust yourself honey.”
“Drac I can run a four minute mile, I’ll be fine.”
He sighed, before agreeing, “ehh…alright, if that’s what you want to do.” He turned to face her and looked at her in her curious eyes. His gaze turned red and locked her sight onto him, the pulsing crimson reflecting over the entirety of her eyes, her mouth slacking slightly as she lost control over her body, completely at his mercy.
“You will run three laps around the interior of the hotel, and when you’re done, wait outside the door to this room.”
He said it in a gentler tone than he usually would when hypnotizing someone, but it didn’t have any effect on the command. She shoved him out of the way before throwing off the sheets and heading for the door, not a trace of life in her movements. She stepped out of the room, stiffly turned to the right, and started booking it down the hallway, every stride exactly the same as the last. He peeked out of the doorway after her as she robotically turned the corner and continued sprinting.
I should probably follow her in case something comes up…The last thing I want to happen is for her to get injured in some way…
Drac quickly followed her in pursuit, eventually giving up on running and just hovering next to her as she continued her route, her vision fixed on the ground ahead.
Now that I’m actually thinking about it, I don’t think running was the best option for this…
He took account of her being barefoot due to the fact they were about to head to bed before she started the series of events. His eyes crawled up her figure, observing her powerful muscles flex and relax rapidly while she charged down the hallway. He kept trailing his eyes upwards, eventually resting on her chest. Of course, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Ooh…that’s uh…that’s going to hurt later…Gah I need to stop staring!
He pried his attention off of her, but he kept shifting his eyes back onto her out of habit. The sun had almost completely passed the horizon by now, the rays beaming through the windows.
She’s going to be thirsty so I should get her some water for when-
He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and flew right through patches of sunlight that was streaming in through an open window. It was so startling he yelped and tumbled to the floor, scrambling to get out of the light. The burns were minimal and shallow, much to his appreciation as he groaned and stood up. When he looked up from his wounds he realized Ericka was completely out of sight, starting her second lap.
Well…I guess I’ll just get the water and wait for her at the door…
Not much later, he was standing next to the of their shared room with a glass of water in his hand as Ericka completed her last lap and approached the door. She stopped and stood like a soldier at attention. “Well there you are!” He chuckled, walking up to her with his fingers ready to snap and break the hypnosis.
He snapped his fingers and her eyes flipped back to being blue, her whole body suddenly convulsed as she regained control and started wheezing, sounding like she was having a terrible asthma attack while she tried to catch her breath. She stumbled sideways and Drac rushed to catch her, leaving the water levitating in the air.
“Woah! It’s okay, I got you.”
She leaned into him for support as he steadied her out, still gasping for air. “TH-…THAT WAS H-…HORRIBLE!” She shrieked through her hyperventilation, tears scumming the corners of her eyes from not being able to blink for so long.
“Honey…” He started to comfort her while she clawed closer to him, pressing her face into his shoulder,
“I-…It…It was like I was still conscious…but I was trapped inside of my own body…I couldn’t…I couldn’t do anything but…I could feel everything. ”
“Oh…I didn’t know it was like that…”
He guided her inside of their room, making the water float after them before he could grab it.
“I know I can’t do much to help, but uh, do you want some water?” He offered her the glass and she took one glance at it before snagging it, chugging it down with zero remorse. “Don’t drink it so fast, you might choke.”
She did nothing more than wave him off as she continued drinking, making him sigh and sit down on the bed, before getting an idea.
“Would cuddling make you feel better?” He offered, purple magic swirling around him for a second, catching her attention. She almost spat out her water when she saw that he had transformed into the fluffiest black hellhound with the brightest eyes she had ever seen.
“Oh-Oh my god I forgot you could shapeshift-“ She swallowed the water and set the glass down next to her phone, cautiously approaching him and reaching a hand out to brush the silky fur coating his cheeks.
“Heh heh, don’t worry, I won’t bite.” He reassured as she continued to get closer, scratching his head and stroking his back.
“You’re so soft ! I-I don’t even know how this is possible.” She ruffled his chest fur, dumbfounded on how absolutely silky his coat was.
“What? Me being able to shapeshift or how soft my fur is?”
“Both, honestly. I- you- ugh- you’re so CUTE!” She squealed, squishing his face up and making his ears droop.
“I’m not cute…” He grumbled as she kept smooshing his face and smothering his muzzle in kisses while scritching him behind the ears..
“Is there a limit to what you can turn into?” She took a quick break from covering him in smooches.
“I-…Maybe? I’m not sure. I think I can only do animals as that’s all I’ve ever done.”
“Huh, so you’ve never really tested your limits?”
“Nope, heh…”
“Do you…think you could try me?”
“Try you? Like as in-“
“Mirroring what I look like? Kinda like a replica?”
“I can try, but I don’t know how good it’s going to look.” He hopped off of the bed and whisped back into his human form, not taking his eyes off of her as he made sure to get every detail of her features.
“I’m sure it’ll look just as beautiful as I am.” She chortled as he prepared in the middle of the room.
“I sure hope so…” He mumbled inaudibly, getting one last glance at her laying in bed before magic puffed up around him, her sneezing at the sudden cloud in her face.
“Oh! Goodness, excuse me.” She wiped her nose and sniffed.
“Bless you, sweetie.”
“Thanks bab- OH WOW!”
Staring right back at Ericka, was her! He had replicated her flawlessly. The only thing he couldn’t mimic was her voice and her clothing.
“This is…so weird to see. Like, you’re ME. But you’re standing in front of ME.” She hopped up to get a better look.
“I know! I’m actually quite impressed with myself, I’ve never copied a human being before,” He started checking himself out and twirled around, “well this might have been easy because I know every inch of your body so…”
“Y-Yeah…that’s true…” She blushed and glanced away before noticing he still had fangs, “ooo you kept the fangs!”
“Oh- yes I did! Do they look good?” He grinned widely so she could get a better look.
“I look sexy as a vampire, I have to admit…” She traced his jaw with a finger and led it down his neck, not breaking eye contact as she blinked slowly. He didn’t respond but he lost his concentration, causing him to start shifting back to his normal form. First his ears popped through, then his nose, followed by the rest of him. “There you are,” She slid and laced her arms around his neck, bringing their faces closer together once more, “you’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you?”
“There’s more where that came from darling.” He growled in an impish voice, feeling her frame tremble slightly as he spoke.
“Really?” She pressed up against him and slightly hopped up in order to lock her legs around his waist, him shifting his hands down to support her, “show me.”
He stifled a laugh and started walking over to the wall, “you’re very hands on today.” She was about to reply when she noticed they were heading for a wall.
“…What-“
He simply stepped up onto the wall and stood on it, her completely relying on him to keep her from falling. “W-Woah.” She cooed out as he continued upwards, adjusting her before getting onto the ceiling so she wouldn’t crash down on her face. He sat down and kept her locked onto him, seeing her face was flushing red as all the blood was rushing to her head.
“Your…uh…your face-“
“Is turning red? We’re upside down, it’s normal.”
“I-I don’t want you to faint-“
“We’ve only been up here for ten SECONDS-“
She squealed as he pried her off and flipped her right side up, lowering her to the ground effortlessly, but she wouldn’t let go of his wrists. “Ericka let go, you’re five inches off of the ground.” She still hung on to him, kicking her legs around.
“Noo! Don’t drop me!” She cried in a frantic voice, completely making up the act.
“I’m not dropping you! I’d never do that!”
“Draaaa-“
He gently, but manually removed her dainty hands from his wrists, making her thump onto the floor. She dramatically collapsed onto her knees before falling onto her back. “Oh no! I’m down! Someone help me I’m wasting awayyy…” She flopped her arms down and rolled her head to the side, sticking her tongue out with the most dramatic death moan before going limp.
“Ericka nooo! My love!” Drac played along with her skit as he dropped from the ceiling and knelt next to her, picking up her laxxed body. She stayed still, almost like puddy in his arms, but he could feel her restraining from laughing, “wake up! Please! No! Don’t die on me! Please…” He shook her roughly to try and ‘revive’ her, making her break character even more.
“I…I guess there’s no other option…I must…” He tugged her closer and she actually cracked an eye open to see what he was going to do, “I must…tickle you!” He then reached for her vulnerable stomach and started titillating her, her finally breaking
“AAHAH! DRAC STOP- HAH-“ She was bursting with laughter as he continued his vicious attack, trying to get him to stop tickling her, but he wouldn’t stand down. She scooted out of his lap to try and get away, her efforts did nothing as he just crouched over her, pinning her legs to the floor so she couldn’t kick him off. “DR-DRAC STOP PLEASE- HAHU-“ She coughed a little from how hard she was laughing, now swatting at his hands. Eventually she got fed up and felt a loose object sitting on the ground behind herself, gripping it and chucking it at his head in hopes he would finally stop. She had apparently grabbed a slipper, but his reaction time saved him. He quickly lifted a hand and snapped his fingers, freezing it midair and just centimeters from his face. He peeked around the slipper and saw her staring at it in disbelief. “You…You can freeze objects.”
“Not just objects, I can freeze time .”
“WHAT? HOW?”
“I…don’t know? I’ve just been able to…I guess that goes with seeing the future too.”
“WH-HU- wait I thought you lied about that to impress me.”
“Uhh…no actually. I can see the future, it’s abstract though, can barely make any sense of it.”
“Huh…have you looked recently?”
“ I haven’t had a reason to, wouldn’t help much either anyway…”
“You…don’t want to see our future together? Like…if we ever have kids or something…” Her voice became progressively more hushed as she spoke.
“Oh uh- it’s not that I don’t want to, I can’t look more than about a week into the future, which I don’t think is an appropriate timeline to conceive and have children. But I also do prefer to leave as much as possible up to chance and surprise, as that’s what life is all about.”
“Okay yeah that makes sense…what aboout…half an hour from now?”
“Now that I can do, but I just need something to hold in order to help with concentration…”
He felt Ericka wiggling around underneath him and forgot that he had her legs pinned to the floor. He lifted his weight and expected her to pull away, but she crawled closer.
“You…want me to hold you?” He questioned, her nodding a yes and pulling herself nearer. He chuckled and embraced her, “alright, just let me know if I squeeze you too tight, okay?”
“Okayy…” She snuggled her face into the crook of his neck as he bowed his head, blinking his eyes until they glowed a brilliant blue. His grip started constricting onto her, tightening like a snake trying to suffocate its prey.
It’s…getting a little tight…okay a lot tighter…I can’t breathe! Too tight! HELP!
She tried crying to him to stop but she couldn’t get the words out, her lungs feeling like they were being crushed by a trash compactor. He didn’t seem to notice her struggling as his eyes were fixed on something distant, completely disconnected from reality. “D…Dr-ac…Dra-c! St-Stop!” She choked out the best she could, her speech barely audible.
“This is…odd,” Drac spoke quietly, still not noticing that he was crushing Ericka to death, “I don’t see…anything. It’s just dark, with a tiny bit of light in the corner…”
“Dr-…ac…ple-ase…” She whispered, feeling her bones starting to pop and crack under the pressure, “s-…sto-p…”
He felt her weak breath pass by his ear and glanced down, eyes instantly stopped glowing after seeing what he was doing to her.
“Oh-OH ERICKA! I’M SORRY! I TOLD YOU TO TELL ME IF I WAS HURTING YOU!”
He released her and she flopped onto her back, groaning and gasping for air. “I…I couldn’t BREATHE- how would I be able to say anything if I couldn’t breathe!”
“You could have wiggled around or something! I didn’t mean to hurt you…”
He reached down to pick her up as gently as possible, her twitching away from his touch and whimpering. She was too tired to fight back or resist so he lifted her up and rested her on the bed, pulling the sheets up over her before standing up. He trudged over to his side and sat down, his legs pulled up to his chest as they waited in the silence.
He…he could have KILLED ME. If he hadn't heard me I-…I would have died…he would never hurt me on purpose, I know he wouldn’t…but he could, whenever he wants, in various ways…
It took a few minutes before Ericka decided to say the last thing on her mind.
“…I know you can steal souls but…what keeps you from taking mine?”
“Wh-What keeps me from stealing your soul ? Um, well, first of all I love you and I would never do that to you.”
“But…what does it do to the person? Does it kill them or…?”
“Oh no no, it doesn’t kill them. But it makes them pretty much mindless and have zero sense of anything…I’ve seen it too much.”
“You’ve done it…a lot?”
“Sadly yes, I was forced by my father to learn when I was younger, it’s…not fun…”
“Oh…do souls have a taste?”
“ Taste ? Uhh…no? Not really , I suppose. All souls are different, the nicer the person was in their lifetime the sweeter their soul will be. If the person was more hateful, their soul will be more bitter. I-I dunno that’s the only way I can describe it-“
“That makes perfect sense. What do you think my soul would taste like?”
“Yours? Probably the sweetest I’ve ever tasted.” He teased, getting ever so slightly closer, her flipping onto her other side to see him.
“Well, do you want to find out?”
“NO!” He accidentally raised his voice, making her flinch, “Ah- uh- I didn’t mean to yell- I’m not going to take your soul and that’s final.”
She flipped over, making her back face him once more, “alright…fine…I guess I’ll just have to trust your word…”
A few emotions flashed across his face before he sidled up to her and tried to spoon her. She at first tried to pull away but he tugged her back, “so how about those cuddles?”
She chuckled quietly and snuggled into him, relaxing herself into the curve of his body and drifting her eyes closed as he turned off the lights. Leaving the room pitch black, the only source of light slightly drifting in through the closed curtains.