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She never knew a heart could beat this furiously until the moment she was walked into his castle.
She wanted to tell herself that it was nerves. That she was worried that her plan wouldn’t work. That something would go wrong, and either she would die, or Harley would die. That they wouldn’t be able to do what they came there to do. She wanted to tell herself maybe it was also partly that she was afraid. She could accept that. After all, they were marching into the home of the Vampire King, and being led around by his right-hand woman. Who also happened to be one of the strongest people she knew, even prior to becoming a vampire. Not only that, but since becoming one of the undead, Diana, AKA Wonder Woman, happened to have developed quite the taste for human blood, and for violence. She was honestly surprised that Diana hadn’t already attacked them. They were very clearly armed, her and Harley, and it wasn’t as though Diana didn’t know what they had come there to do. She wondered whether Diana wanted to kill them. Suspected she likely did. Whether out of loyalty to her king, or whether it was out of boredom, she wasn’t sure, but she was fairly certain that, if the king hadn’t ordered them to be brought alive… she wouldn’t be here dealing with her wildly pounding heart.
The Vampire King…
Nightwing…
Dick Grayson…
Her ex-boyfriend.
Her… her love.
She knew that was part of the reason why her heart was beating like a drum in her chest. She hated it. She wanted it to only be nerves or fear, but… but she knew it wasn’t. She… still loved him. And as much as she hated to admit it, and as much as she hated herself for it… part of her… was looking forward to seeing him again. She didn’t want it to be so. And part of her did dread seeing him again, because it wasn’t Dick. Not her Dick Grayson, at least. What he was now was something else. What he’d been for so long was someone else. He was a monster, she told herself. A murderer who killed without remorse. He hunted down people in Gotham for the fun of it. She should hate him more than anything. And she did. God, she hated him. But… she loved him too. And it didn’t matter how much she hated him and hated herself for loving him, she loved him all the same. Nothing could make it go away. She had tried. Oh, how she had tried. She told herself to stop thinking about him. Then she told herself to hate him. But even when doing either of those things… her heart still fluttered at the mention of his name. It sank and shattered too, but the flutters were still there. The image of his gentle eyes still came to mind at the mere mention of him. The sound of his sweet laugh. Memories of dates and moments they’d spent together before… everything. It all consumed her thoughts despite her best efforts to push them out. The dreams certainly didn’t help either. She was furious at Dick for those dreams. He already took up so much of her waking thoughts, so why couldn’t he just leave her sleeping ones alone?! She was owed that much, wasn’t she?
She couldn’t tell anyone about this dilemma, of course. What would she say? How could she ever explain to them that she was still in love with Dick, even after everything he’d done? She could barely admit it to herself, let alone figure out the rationality behind it. She supposed though that there likely wasn’t any. Was love rational? No, she thought, it wasn’t. So how was she supposed to deduce any rationality from her feelings for Dick? But it wasn’t as though that made it any better. She couldn’t simply tell them that she had no control over her feelings. Some might get it, and some might accept it but others… they would never look at her the same way. Damian… he’d hate her. Dick had killed the kid’s entire family in front of him. Had turned him into a vampire against his will. Damian would never forgive her for still having feelings for Dick, no matter how out of her control it was. And she didn’t blame him. If she was in his shoes, she’d never be able to forgive herself either. She hardly did in her own shoes.
So she was left alone with this secret. She’d told people about the dreams. Felt it was important. Dick was sending her messages, after all, and if they were going to have a shot at taking him down, all cards had to be laid out on the table. She’d left out the exact details of the dreams though. She didn’t feel they had to know those… and couldn’t bare the thought of how they’d look at her if she had told them everything. It was just another thing she’d have to deal with on her own. She was used to that now though.
There was so much she wanted to tell someone. Anyone. So much that she was keeping solely in her own head, and it was destroying her. She just wanted someone who could… help. Who she could talk to, and who understood her. But there was no one like that now, and so in silence she suffered. It was a small price to pay, she thought, compared to what so many others had lost. So, pay it she would. She could figure out what to do about her conflicting emotions later. Figure out what to feel about Dick later on. Right now… she had a job to do.
She, Harley and Diana entered a large, nearly empty room. There were tall windows covering the entire wall, and she thought that, perhaps once, it would have looked beautiful with the sun streaming in through them. But now there was no sun, and the windows only made the room feel colder. It didn’t help that there was very little in the room the distract her from the coldness of it all. She saw a couple pieces of furniture, along with a side table that had wine bottles and glasses on it. She shuddered at the thought of what could be in those glasses and tried to put them out of her mind. Instead, she turned her attention to the only area where a draft was coming in from. The balcony. She could see even from where she was standing that it overlooked nearly the entire city. She wasn’t surprised by this. He’d settle for nothing less, she thought to herself. She wasn’t surprised to see him standing on that balcony either. Always one for the dramatics.
“I’m so glad you finally made it, Barbara,” he called to her, turning to face them all. The second she saw his face, her heart gave that same flutter it did whenever someone mentioned his name, and she wanted to vomit. He looked… so much like he did before. For a moment… just a singular moment… she swore she could see those baby blue eyes she adored so much. The ones that were always so gentle and sweet. But then the moment passed, and they were replaced by the crimson color she despised. She snarled at him.
“I killed a lot of your kind to get here, Dick,” she spat. She expected this to get some sort of reaction from him, but he merely swirled the… liquid in his glass and looked over to her.
“As I knew you would,” was all he replied. He said nothing more on the matter, instead turning to Diana and saying, “Diana, you can go. And take Ms. Quinn with you, please.”
“She stays,” Barbara ordered without hesitation. She needed Harley there. Not only for her plan, but also because she needed Harley there for support. She… she wasn’t sure she could face Dick alone. Wasn’t sure she trusted herself enough to do that.
“My Lord, they are both armed…” Diana began to protest, but Dick cut her off swiftly.
“If Barbara wants her to stay, she can stay. Now leave us,” he instructed. Without another word, Diana left the room. Barbara had honestly expected her to put up a little bit more of a fight on either letting Harley stay in the room, or letting them both remain armed, but she supposed that Diana likely knew better than to fight Dick on this. He could be stubborn, she knew. Once upon a time, Barbara had loved that about him. There were so many things she’d loved about him before…
“Did you come here to kill me, Barbara?” Dick asked her.
“Is that why you are coming?”
The memory of the dream Barbara had had could not help but bubble to the surface, and Barbara shook her head. She had to focus. She couldn’t allow herself to be distracted. Not by her dreams. Not by her memories. Not by her feelings.
“I came here to stop you. If you can be stopped,” she admitted, seeing little to no point in lying to him about why they were there. She was surprised he even had to ask. She hesitated before speaking, unsure whether it was worth saying what she wanted to, but it was gnawing at her, and so she decided to ask, if only for her own resolution. “Dick, make it make sense to me. Please. How could you do all this?”
“How could I not? We have always surrounded ourselves with people who chose what was right and what was wrong, and used their strength to enforce their will. Am I really that different from Superman or Bruce?” Dick tried to argue, and Barbara felt her blood boiling.
“Bruce didn’t eat people,” she shot back.
“Who is Bruce?” she heard Harley call, and she was taken aback by this for a moment before realizing that it was an entirely fair question. She had forgotten in the heat of everything that not everyone knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne and vice versa. She contemplated answering, but then Dick began to speak again.
“No, he didn’t. But he didn’t need to, to survive. Do you remember our first date? You took me to Big Belly Burger. I don’t remember what you ordered, but you seemed to not mind eating those weaker and less intelligent…” he started, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of finishing that sentence.
“Stop it! It’s different and you know it!” she screamed at him. She wanted to punch him.
“Is it? We choose moral lines for ourselves. I eat people who are vicious and cruel to others,” he tried to justify, “You eat innocent cows and chickens that never did anything…” he continued on, and she scoffed at this. If she wasn’t so tired and fed up with him, she could have laughed at how ridiculous everything he was saying was.
“The people you’re killing, all of you are killing, they aren’t all villains. They’re not monsters,” she interjected. She expected him to continue arguing his point, but instead Dick just waved her off.
“Barbara, stop it. We’ve both been doing this long enough to know… these people you care about, they’re all just one bad day away from becoming everyone’s worst nightmare,” he said, and his voice was… softer now. He sounded tired almost. Some part of her was saddened by this. He sounded so much like her Dick Grayson in that moment, and it took everything in her to remind herself that he wasn’t.
“You’re proof of that,” she hissed at him. The sadness from before had been replaced by anger. Anger towards this fake Dick Grayson who had stolen away the man she loved and replaced him with a cold, dead husk of someone who used to be so… alive. Dick paused for a moment and drew in a sharp breath.
“That hurt. But you’re right. We were too aggressive with all this. I’ve thought it since the start. Even though I didn’t have the courage to say it. That’s why I need you. Your conscience. Your compassion. Think of how many people you could still save,” Dick said to her. It was Barbara’s turn to freeze. Save? What… what was he talking about? He sounded sincere. His voice was low and soft again. He could have been lying, of course. Trying to manipulate her… but… he didn’t… if he was… she wasn’t sure why. What he gained from this.
“What are you…” she began, but Harley interrupted her.
“Pull yourself together here, girl. He’s doing some dead-guy mind trick. Messing with your head,” she cut in, and Barbara sighed. She turned away from the balcony. Away from Dick. Harley was right, of course. He was just toying with her emotions. Playing off her feelings for him. That was all… wasn’t it?
But part of her couldn’t help but entertain the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth. Maybe he really did want to fix things. Maybe there was a part of him that wanted to change how things were. There was no saving the world. She knew that. They could turn it back to how it was before but… that wasn’t saving the world. That was just saving those lucky enough to not be turned currently. And what about those who had lost loved ones, either to the bite of a vampire or to being turned? How many people who had been turned against their will like Damian would die? They’d protect Damian if – when – the world turned back to normal. Make sure he was somewhere out of the sun. Ensure he could find food until they found a cure. But not everyone had those resources or the knowledge. How many would die if they did manage to turn things back? How many would die before they even got close to developing a usable cure?
“Help me find the path to where we can all coexist, in a humane way. If anyone can find it, it’s you,” Dick called to her from behind. Should she believe him? Believe he really did want to change the way things were? Believe that he truly did seek a way for humans and vampires to coexist? Maybe he knew that the casualties would be high should this war continue? For both sides. Regardless of whether her side won or his, the losses that both would suffer would be substantial, and perhaps he was aware of that? But still…
“You think you can just fix what you did?!” she snapped without turning towards him.
“I think we can. It might take years. Centuries even,” he elaborated. She was about to tell him that he could not undo the damage he had done. Even if he could in terms of what he’d done to the world, the emotional scars ran too deep for some quick fix. But something in his sentence caught her off guard.
“Centuries? But…” she began, trying to explain to him that she didn’t have centuries. He might. He might have all the time in the world, as far as she knew. So long as no one killed him, of course. But… but she didn’t. She was human. Did he… no… but… could he mean to…
“Babs, you damn idiot! He eats people!” screamed Harley as she flung herself through the air, pushing Barbara away from Dick and launching herself at him. Barbara’s eyes widened in horror as Dick caught her easily mid-air, grabbing Harley and hoisting her up by her throat.
“ENOUGH!” he growled. His long, sharp fangs were visible now. Despite her best efforts not to show it, Barbara could see the stark panic and fear in Harley’s expression as she looked over at the other woman.
“A little help, Barbie? We’re trying to kill the bad guy, remember?” Harley wheezed out, and Barbara raised the stake she had been carrying, aiming it at Dick. Part of her screamed at her not to do it, but she couldn’t let him kill Harley.
“Killing me will change nothing. Diana or Clark will just take my place,” Dick shouted at her, fangs still extended, “You’ve lost so much already. Think of what you can gain. Think of the good you can do if you join me.”
“I get it. He’s a pretty boy with a great ass. But he’s brainwashing you, lady,” Harley reasoned, but Barbara felt her hands quivering around the stake. Was he just lying to her? Brainwashing her, as Harley claimed? Or… was he being sincere? Could they… could she do good if she joined him? Could they make things better?
“Look in your heart, Barbara. You know I’m not. I would never do anything to control you,” Dick cooed. His voice was back to being sweet and gentle like before. It was so tempting to believe him. She wanted to believe him.
“But… my dreams…” she whispered, her grip on the stake still tight despite her shaking hands. She was looking down now, not trusting herself to look him in the eyes. The room was silent for a moment, only the sound of Harley’s wheezing and her own quick breaths breaking the stillness. Then, finally, Dick spoke.
“I visited you because I missed you. But I never made you do anything. And I never told you anything that wasn’t true. Because I love you,” he told her, and Barbara thought she might collapse right there and then. She’d prepared for so many things. A battle. Capture. An altercation. But not that. Not those words. Nothing could have prepared her for him saying those words to her. She fought tears and the rising nausea, and tried her best to keep her composure.
“Get off of her,” she hissed at him, trying to keep focused on the task at hand: saving Harley. To her shock and surprise, he did as she requested, dropping Harley to the floor without any hesitation.
“As you wish,” he responded, hands up in the air dramatically. He had one foot on a small side table, still standing close to Harley. However, despite the theatrics of it all, Barbara could tell he was keeping his distance to show her he would abide by her wishes. She was relieved by this. Harley, on the other hand, seemed less at ease.
“Took your time there,” she gasped, still trying to catch her breath. Her eyes were wide, and she was holding onto her throat. Barbara could imagine the adrenaline was still coursing through her body, and she couldn’t blame her for that panic either.
“What now? You kill me?” Dick asked her, hands still in the air. Barbara hesitated.
“I… I don’t know…” she answered in a quiet voice.
“I would never hurt you. You know that,” he tried to assure her, “But if you must kill me because of who I am…” he started, but she cut him off.
“Stop, Dick! Just stop,” she demanded, and this time, it was his turn to fall silent. “You just… you ruined everything. You took everything from me. My father. Bruce. Everyone I cared about. My whole world,” she breathed, removing her mask so she could let the tears, which were now flowing like waterfalls, fall freely. “I’m just so tired. So tired of fighting, Dick. So tired of losing,” she admitted. To him. And to herself.
“I know, Barbara. I am too,” he confided, and she knew he was telling the truth. She could hear it in his voice. The exhaustion. The heartbreak. The sorrow. All the things she was feeling… but had never been able to voice.
“Gordon, do it now!” Harley was shouting to her, and she knew she should but…
But she couldn’t.
She truly was so, so tired of fighting. She’d been so tired for so long. Couldn’t remember the last time she felt… free. She looked over at Harley, who was frantically motioning for her to stab Dick. Harley was counting on her to do it. Everyone was counting on her to do it. Everyone expected so much from her. The weight of all of it rested on her shoulders, but they were starting to ache. No, not starting. They’d been aching for so long, but everyone was counting on her, so she’d hid it from them. From all of them. Hid her pain. Her sorrow. Her fears. Her conflicting emotions. She had no one to confide in. Everyone had things they wanted from her but… no one cared about what she wanted. What she needed. She didn’t even have time to think about what it was she wanted and needed because she was just so busy doing what everyone else wanted her to do. Stop the vampire apocalypse. Save the world. Kill Dick. All these goals, all these expectations… all the pressure… and no one to confide in about any of it.
“I see how it is weighing on you, Barbara. I see the way it gnaws at you. I know that pain,” Dick told her, walking towards her now. She held the stake up defensively but didn’t move as he placed his hands softly on her arms. “I never asked for this. I was changed. I never desired this. I… I tried… tried to do the best I could…” he was looking at the ground now, and she swore she saw tears falling down onto his trench coat. “There was so much pressure. Everyone… expected so much from me. I was their King. They expected me to lead them. To be the symbol of their freedom, but I… I never asked for this life. Never wanted it. I just wanted…” Dick was silent for a moment before continuing on, “I just wanted my life back. But I knew once I’d become this… there was no going back. So, I gave into the pressure. To what they wanted. Embraced it because I thought it was my only option. Assumed it was all I could do,” he explained to her.
Then he reached up and took her hands in his. He made no effort to remove the stake from them. Didn’t even try to encourage her to drop it of her own free will either. He just clasped his hands around hers as a lover might do if their love was holding onto a cup or a phone or some other mundane object.
“But I never lost hope. Even… even when… when I thought… when I knew I could never be the man I once was… when I knew I was beyond saving… I had hope that maybe there was still a chance things could be better. I had hope that we could make it better,” he spoke in a tone that made her heart weep. “Barbara… I might be the King of Vampires, but I’m not strong. I was weak, and I cracked under the pressure. But you… look at you…” he started, and he lifted his face up to look into her eyes. His expression was one of admiration and devotion, and she could now see that he had, indeed been crying, “Despite all the pressure you have faced… all the battles you have had to fight… you came here. You fought your way here and never abandoned your fight. You never let the pressure break you. You risk your life for those you love time and time again. It is one of the many things I love about you,” he told her, and the twinkle in his eyes reminded her of the look of young love. “We can stop this, Barbara. Together we can end the fighting. The pain. The pressure. I want that for this world. I want it for us. And I know you want it too. I can see it in your eyes,” he said, his voice cracking and making it sound like a plea rather than a sentence.
“Dick…” Barbara began, but Dick gripped her hands tighter. Not enough to hurt or damage, but so that the hold was firm.
“Tell me I am wrong, Barbara. Tell me that I am wrong. Tell me that you don’t want that too. Tell me that you don’t want to try to change the world together. To fight side by side like before. Tell me that you don’t want to be by my side… and… and I shall not ask again,” he set out. The tears were streaming faster down his face now, and Barbara knew that they were doing the same on hers.
She wanted to tell him that he was wrong. She wanted to tell him that she hated him. That she wanted nothing to do with him. Wanted to tell him that she could fix the world without him, because it was true. She could. She had friends and allies who would help her. That is what they came there to do, right? Kill Dick and save the world. Bring back the sun and set things right. She could do it without him. It could be done without him. Even if he was right about him just being replaced by whoever was next in line, they could just kill them too. Keep going until whoever was in charge would listen to them. It would be exhausting work, but they could do it. There had to be some vampire who would work with them. Who could take over Dick’s position and be willing to assist them in trying to turn the world back to how it was before everything happened. But… but even though she knew it was possible…
She knew as well that she couldn’t tell him he was wrong, because it would be a lie. She did want that. She longed for it. She had tried to fight that truth for so long but now… with him right in front of her… it was hard enough just to breathe, never mind trying to convince herself she didn’t want this. Didn’t want him. Because she did. God, she did. She loved him. Wanted him. Craved him. It was wrong and she knew it was but that didn’t stop her from wanting, craving, and loving him. Didn’t stop her from wanting to accept his offer. Maybe he was telling the truth? If he was… then… then the fighting could stop. They wouldn’t have to kill anyone. They could work with the vampires to bring about a world where vampires and humans could live together in peace. If any tried to resist, Dick could simply order them to stand down. There would be no more need for bloodshed or death. No more fighting and killing. They could… finally rest. They could save the world together… help build a new, better one… and he didn’t have to die. He was offering her a way that she could still help everyone who was left to help… all while not having to sacrifice her desires to do it. He was offering her a way out. Out of the pain and misery. Of the overwhelming, crushing, suffocating pressure that threatened to destroy her. He was offering… everything.
“As you command, my Queen.”
It was true, wasn’t it? He really was prepared to give her the world, wasn’t he? He’d done everything she requested so far since they’d arrived. Had made no move to attack her or harm her. He’d been polite and kind to her. He’d been understanding. He… saw her pain in a way no one else did. She thought about the dream she’d had a while back. The one where he’d called her his queen. The one where he was going to turn her. She’d woken up in such a state of panic but not because she hadn’t enjoyed the dream… but rather because she had. She’d wanted him to do that. To turn her. To make her his queen so she could be by his side. Rule with him. She wanted it, and she despised herself for wanting it but… but here… standing in front of him in reality… with it playing out like the dreams she’d had so many times before… she wasn’t sure that she could resist it any longer. She was so tired. Of all of it. She just… wanted to give in to it.
And so, give in she did.
“Do it,” she whispered to him, and she watched as his eyes widened.
“What?” he stammered, and she had to hold back a laugh. He looked so confused and shocked. Goofy almost, like the old Dick Grayson. It seemed out of place with his whole “Vampire King” outfit, but it made it almost more amusing.
“Do it. I… I want you to do it,” she repeated, and she saw him smile.
“As you wish,” he softly spoke, and then he lifted her chin with one hand, tilting it to the side so he could have access to her neck. She expected him to go right in for the bite but instead he began to pepper her neck with passionate, gentle, loving kisses. His other hand rested on the small of her back, holding her close to him. Like a lover’s embrace. He left a few more kisses before moving back only a little bit. “Are you certain this is what you want?” he asked, and she nodded. She felt him nod as well, and then, gentle as he could, he sunk his teeth into her neck.
The pain was not as terrible as she had thought it would be. It stung at first, despite his best attempts to minimize her discomfort, but then the pain subsided. It was a strange sensation, feeling the blood leaving her body. Her head felt slightly light as he drank from her, and she was grateful that he was still holding her, as she wasn’t certain she’d be able to keep herself balanced without it. Time felt as though it was inching instead of moving at its normal pace, and while she was sure he was only drinking from her for a minute at the most, it felt much longer than that. Not only that but… the world around her seemed to fade into nothing. Before she could hear Harley’s shouts of protest but now… it was quiet. She did not feel the breeze from outside, nor did she hear the swishing of the curtains. It was as though the only things which existed in that moment were her, Dick, and her transformation.
Eventually, Dick stood up and stepped in front of Barbara. Barbara collapsed to the ground, suddenly feeling extremely weak. As though she had been starving for weeks. As though she had no nutrients in her body. Her world felt as though it was spinning, and she groaned.
“You’re dying. Drink,” she heard Dick instruct. His voice sounded hazy and muffled, and when she looked up, her vision was blurred. She could make out the outline of his wrist though, and she fumbled around, managing to grab hold of it. She sunk her teeth, which were now as sharp as his, into his wrist, and heard him stifle a grunt of pain. She drank a little, the taste much sweeter than she’d expected. Her stomach growled for more, and so she indulged her thirst. He allowed her to continue for quite some time before gently tugging his wrist, signalling for her to let go. She did, and the change was instant. Her body felt alive. More alive than she’d felt in… well… ever.
“What did you do to her, you monster?”
Her attention was brought to Harley, who was looking at Dick with hatred and anger in her eyes. Dick snarled at her, fangs visible once more and anger in those dazzling crimson eyes of his. She saw him opening his mouth to speak, but she jumped in instead.
“He gave me what I wanted, Harley. What I’d asked him for,” Barbara told her, and Harley looked… betrayed. It was a look that stabbed Barbara deep in the heart.
“But…” Harley started, but Barbara raised her hand.
“I know… but this is for the best, Harley. We can help people this way. Make a better world,” she explained. Harley shook her head.
“Oh, Barbie… can’t ya see he’s playing you for a fool?” Harley winced, and Barbara shook her head. She wanted to explain everything, how she knew Dick wasn’t lying, how she trusted him… but she knew Harley would never understand. And she’d made her choice. There was no going back. She could only hope now that, with time, Harley would come to understand her decision. She looked to Dick, hoping he’d understand what she needed, and he nodded.
“Diana!” he called, and Wonder Woman entered the room. “Please see Ms. Quinn out. Ensure she and her companions make it safely out of the city and inform everyone that they are now off limits. Inform them that a truce has been made…” he began, before pulling Barbara close to him and kissing her passionately, “And tell them that they now have a Queen along with their King.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Diana replied, bowing her head before grabbing a protesting Harley Quinn and dragging her out of the room. Barbara looked down at the ground, the pain of seeing her companion so distraught over her decision still stinging deeply.
“She will understand. They all will. Once they see the good we will do, they will understand why you did what you did,” Dick comforted.
“You did mean what you said, right? About wanting to better this world?” she asked, and he nodded.
“I did. And with you here… I think we can do it,” he replied. She smiled, but then it turned into a frown as a question came to mind.
“Dick… if… if you… if you wanted to make a truce all along… to try and make things better… why not just tell me that? Why do the round-about thing and be so cryptic? Why not just tell me when you had visited me in my dreams?” she asked him, and he coughed awkwardly. He stepped back and rubbed his neck with one hand.
“About that… I was going to ask earlier but… dreams?” he responded, and she blinked in surprise and then furrowed her brows.
“Yes. Dreams. The ones you’ve been sending me. The ones about… well… this. You know. Me coming here to kill you. You telling me I didn’t actually come to kill you. You convincing me not to kill you. You biting me and turning me into the Vampire Queen…” she elaborated. She thought about what normally happened in the dream after that, and a deep blush covered her face. She figured that he likely didn’t need all those details. That he’d figure it out from what she’d said. But Dick only shook his head.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about,” he told her, and she gaped at this.
“What? But… you… you said you visited me!” she cried out, and he chuckled nervously.
“Yes… I… might have lied about that…” he admitted.
“WHAT?!??!”
“I had no idea what you were talking about, but if you recall, I was in the middle of dealing with Ms. Quinn, so I might have made up a small fib to… move things along…”
“Oh my gosh…” Barbara groaned in annoyance. She placed her head in her hands, took a moment to breathe, and then looked back up. When she did, she saw that Dick was smirking at her. It was an amused smirk.
“So… you were dreaming of me, were you?” he teased, and Barbara rolled her eyes.
“How are you still this irritating and immature? You are the Vampire King,” she shot back, and he gasped dramatically.
“Excuse me. I am not the one who assumed that her boyfriend was sending her magical dreams with his vampire powers to try and lure her to his castle,” he responded, and she groaned again.
“Well, when you say it like that…” she sighed, but that sigh was quickly cut off when he made his way towards her with impressive speed and pinned her to the wall behind her. He used one hand to lift her chin up, and his eyes sparkled in the dim lighting.
“I am curious though… earlier when you were talking about these dreams you’ve been having… you blushed quite deeply. Tell me…” he leaned in closer to whisper, “Was me turning you all that happened in those delectable dreams of yours?”
“I…” Barbara began, her mouth dry and her thoughts jumbled.
“Because if your blush was any indication, I would guess that becoming the Vampire Queen wasn’t the only desire that found its way into your dreams, was it?” he purred, and she bit her lip.
“Maybe not…” she half-admitted, and he chuckled. The sound seemed to bounce off every wall in the room and reverberate through every cell of her body.
“Well… seeing as you did come here to kill me… and I did convince you not to… and I did turn you, and now you are the Vampire Queen… I see no reason we can’t make all your dreams come true, my Queen,” he cooed sweetly, and she shivered. Memories of the dreams she’d had night after night came flooding back, and if her heart still beat, she was sure it would be fluttering madly. She swallowed hard, but then licked her lips, drew in a breath, and answered.
“I don’t see any reason we couldn’t do that either,” she whispered to him, and she felt him smirk against her skin. He moved back and then dove in for a passionate kiss. Barbara shut her eyes, allowing the world around her to fade away. Allowing herself to be entirely in the moment. As his lips pressed against hers, and hers against his, she let herself go. Let go of the pressure. Of the stress. Of the strain. She did not know what the future held for them. For the world. For anyone. But now… she didn’t have to. Now all she had to focus on was the here and now. The noise was drowned out by the serenity of the moment… and Barbara didn’t care if that moment would last a second or a lifetime. She didn’t worry about the future or the world outside that room. All she focused on was her and Dick and what they wanted to do, because she knew that they had an eternity now to figure out the rest. There was always a tomorrow, and now, thanks to what they’d done, they had plenty more of those to fix everything. So for now… Barbara was going to do what she wanted to. Tomorrow she could worry about everything but for today… for now… she was more than happy to be wrapped in the tender embrace of the man who she adored, and who adored her in kind.
She felt his fangs pierce her lip and when he pulled away from the kiss, she saw her blood on his lips. But the sight did not bother her, nor did it frighten her. For those fangs were no longer something she had to fear, but rather something they both had. The thirst for blood was no longer something alien to her, but now something they shared. The sight of blood was no longer something that bothered her, but rather now it was something that thrilled her. That made her crave more. But more so than that… when his tongue ran over that blood and he smiled at her… she knew it was not from hunger or bloodlust… but rather from love and affection. Tasting her blood meant “I love you”. The red of her blood… it wasn’t just food to him… no… now… with their new bond… their new connection… she knew what the red meant to them. What it meant now that they both shared a need for blood. Now that they were both forever changed. The red wasn’t just food… no…
The red meant “I love you.”
And with that thought in mind, she pulled him close, tasted her own blood upon his lips, kissed him deeply, and eagerly awaited what the night had in store for the Vampire King and his new Queen.