Chapter Text
(Rimuru’s POV)
I hate humans… their arrogance, their greed… their repugnant fear of the unknown. It’s not a surprise I get a lot of people who came to my palace due to that fear, to slay me. I truly didn’t care for those ignorant fools, they challenged me to some duel for the gods to witness my fall, even though it has been centuries since I’ve done anything even close to killing innocent humans since I had discovered a way to purify animal blood, so humans were none of my concern anymore.
These days I was just a bored vampire lord, looking for a way to make my life more exciting, I had even taken on painting, ME, the least artistic person I know, even If I only know a couple more vampire lords…
I thought I had lost my will to strive for anything anymore. I was a recluse, hated by the ignorance of humans and the other lords were also not what I’d call friends. I thought that by solving the biggest issue vampires have, having to drink human blood to survive, I would be able to be able to befriend humans… how wrong could I have been, the ignorance and fear placed on them by radical ideas and religions formed around the hunt of vampires was stronger than reason.
This is all why when he barged into my castle, his killing intent and powerful magic leaking from his body, I thought that it would be a boring day, how naïve I was at the time, for this human would spark something inside me.
Our fight was what I would consider the usual “I shall vanquish you source of evil!” he would cry out, and I would reply with my usual pleads of “I have literally done nothing in over 2 centuries” they wouldn’t listen. However, it started to feel different soon after, as always, I was holding back, I don’t take pleasure on mindlessly killing, I take a defensive stance, dodging attacks neutralizing techniques with my magic and doing small counters when I’m given the chance to create space between us. He noticed that he saw my intentions of trying to talk things out, this human was different, or so I thought at first… “You’re underestimating the mighty storm adventurer Veldora? Kuahahahaha!” he shouted.
I palmed my face as I couldn’t believe someone would come to the wrong conclusion using the right method and then I felt a shiver down my spine. The pressure on the room grew, I felt electricity rise through the vicinity. ‘So annoying, now he’s powering up? And this power… I won’t be able to hold back anymore as well… this human is getting on my nerves!’ I thought at the time, as I also decided to unleash my powers, I had no intention of killing him, however if it were up to that, self-preservation was something I was more interested in rather than a handsome, dumb human.
The battle was draining to say the least, I had never faced an opponent that was so powerful, he was even stronger than most of the vampire lords I had faced before. Since my vampire powers were at full output I had a clear vision of what was going through their mind… he pitied me, his heart was filled with sorrow, I wasn’t able to read thoughts, but it was the first time I had experienced such a mix of emotions, he had a clear killing intent and at the same time it felt like he was about to break down crying.
This had stirred up such an internal conflict for me that for the first time in centuries I was heavily injured by one of their attacks, his sword had pierced through the side of my belly, nothing fatal specially for a vampire, but I was losing valuable blood. As a last-ditch effort, I unleashed a wide range attack in the hopes of blocking his line of sight. It had worked, as I jumped behind him his focus had been on my main attack, he realized what happened too late, and as I was about to throw the killing blow, he smiled back at me, closing his eyes.
My heart had stirred, my soul was shaken, my emotions were all over the place, but I did not hesitate… well, not entirely. At first, I was going to kill him, however my curiosity took over, also it would have been a pity to kill such a handsome and skilled man, right? I knocked him down.
As his unconscious body flopped to the floor, I was also not doing so good, the loss of my blood, the usage of my last resort technique did not come without a hefty price to pay, I was losing consciousness, my head was spinning, and the thirst, ugh the thirst I had forgotten about for so long came back.
My vision was red, I could tell I had bloodshot eyes, my wound was spilling my blood everywhere still, I need human blood… My fake blood was good to preserve myself, but human blood was necessary to heal wounds and calm down after a frenzy.
The pain was unimaginable, the sharpness and electric wound on my side was combined with the gut wrenching feeling of the hunger. I was constricting in pain, I held back the feeling of puking and that’s when I saw it, the perfect shape of the mound that was his neck.
He was wearing light armour, a padded shirt with loose pants, I figure as we were fighting that he valued being able to be swift and precise. But my mind wasn’t thinking about that, all that flooded my head was the shape of their neck, their collarbone, everything in that zone. Before anything else came through my mind I plunged myself at his body, and my mouth immediately bit down onto his neck. A mistake.
As I started to suck the blood out of his veins and his blood touched my tongue, it happened. I was no stranger to human blood, I had some very old, curated blood I sometimes treated myself to, each bottle of that “wine” carried a precious memory and I enjoyed the taste, this was NOT that. The taste was burning my mouth, it tasted like fire and lightning, it also carried a way more subtle after taste, it tasted… lonely? It was the only way to describe it, I just wanted more, I longed for more of his blood, and I did suck out of him a good amount, feeling drunk with every single drop. Then I snapped back to reality, I wasn’t about to kill him. No in my head this human was way more interesting than anything that had happened to me on the last few centuries.
I was worried about him trying to fight me as soon as he regained consciousness, so I decided to lock him up on a cell on my dungeon, every vampire has a dungeon, it’s not that I want to have one, also mine is empty so who even cares!
After locking him up on magical shackles my head had too much, I was still a bit drunk from his blood, and I was heating up. My wounds had been healed to a point where I was in no danger of bleeding out, but I was lightheaded, my body collapsed after locking the door of his cell into the cold floor of the dungeon.
A searing headache was the first thing that I felt as I slowly regained consciousness, I didn’t know how long I had been out, but I could feel that I was thirsty. I felt a shake rock my body to it’s core, it was the thirst, it was worse than I immediately thought, I quickly got up and ran through to the cabinet near the stairs to the dungeon, quickly shuffling through my vials trying to find my makeshift blood, the human blood I had stored was on my dormitory, floors above.
I couldn’t find it. I ran across the hallway, through the cells, to a small lab I had deeper into the dungeon. I scrambled through my things, desperately looking for something, anything… there was nothing. I panicked slowly losing my mind again, sight turning red, and my impulses were getting more difficult to control.
That’s when I heard it, a voice that warmed my soul like a sweet summer sun, a lifeline tossed to me by the same human I had held captive for God knows how long said “Come use my blood, quickly!” He shouted through the corridor, and I didn’t think twice about anything, I ran, and I quickly fazed through the metal bars, and I jumped him.
At the time I was seeing red, I would have done that to anyone, but I later came to realize that I was getting addicted to his blood.
As I bit down on his neck I felt it again, the taste of his blood, the stormy, sweet sun that made my body burn up and down, that feeling I was only just familiar with, but it felt melancholic to drink it again. I unknowingly longed for this.
I heard him groan, it probably was painful as I bit the same side as before, something you shouldn’t do if you wanted a painless experience for the recipient.
My mind and thirst quickly were quenched, and I was back to being myself, so I quickly realized how dangerous what I was doing was, I was so close to someone, who even thought was shackled, was close to killing me not too long ago. I quickly jumped back and phased through the metal bars again. I looked at him, analysing his heart again, and no bad intentions were found again.
“Why?” I quietly asked, almost whispering to myself. He was panting a bit, probably since getting your blood sucked out is not the most pleasant experience “Haa… you looked like you were in trouble” he panted out before breathing again and continuing “I help people in need, no matter what or who they are… In our fight I learned that you weren’t an evil being.”
Well finally someone noticed, but why did it had to be this idiot of a human, idiot and beautiful. I blushed to my thoughts before containing myself and replying to him.
“What do you mean I’m not evil? I’m a vampire.” I said very sternly and looking at him dead serious.
“And? Sure, before coming here I was sceptical, but once I arrived at the towns around this castle, I heard a lot of stories” he paused for me to respond, but I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.
“You see, I asked around, for information that I could use to prepare myself, and I heard stories about you providing what they called “black medicine” to those that came to you in need. Now I’m not a scholar, but even I know some basic science.” Another pause to breathe and continue “I also heard that they thought you discovered how to achieve immortality, since you hadn’t gone to the town to find some blood in centuries” he gave me a curious look and now I decided to speak for myself.
“I didn’t discover how to become immortal, I only discovered how to process animal blood as a substitute for human blood” I said matter-of-factly. His grin widened and a slight giggle escaped his mouth “See? Not evil then!” he also said like it was the most natural and common thing on the world.
“You are so unbelievable, you are saying a vampire lord, who was killed thousands on their lifespan is… a good person?” the words came out of my mouth bitter, and it disgusted me. “And you are saying to me that an adventurer that barged into someone else’s castle, and tried to kill them is?” He gave me a serious look, and I could feel his heart fill with guilt “who decides these things? Right, wrong? Good and evil? In my eyes you are a good person, I won’t go back on my word” he grinned “not something I’m good at.”
My heart was moved, this person puzzled me, I’ve never met such a kind soul and I wanted to know more about him. But this feeling was not long lasting as his shy grin slowly faded away and I could see sweat run across his face, he lost consciousness, and my heart sank.
I quickly opened the gate and ran towards him, falling to the ground beside him, my heartbeat was beating fast as I checked his pulse. It was slow, a good sign, I had taken too much blood out of him, a shiver was the next thing I felt from him. Not good not good.
I broke off the shackles from the chains and I took him upstairs, quickly getting him to my living room and setting him next to the fireplace, throwing a blanket on top of him to try to maintain his temperature and lifting their legs, to help them with blood flow.
I had only known this human for less than a day, but my mind was telling every fibre of my being to not let him die, his condition didn’t feel severe, and he had time to recover from the first bite, so it was most likely a mild case of blood loss.
For the very first time in centuries, I felt my eyes warm up. The feeling was overwhelming, and before could try to blink to keep me from crying, tears ran down my face. I didn’t make any sound, but I was in distress, I leaned into their covered body and sobbed on top of them “Please don’t die human, you are the first one in centuries to give me hope” I said the first thing that came to my very blurry mind.
“Name’s Veldora, and don’t worry I’m not dying from such a pitiful condition” he replied as he looked at me, my heart skipping a beat as his golden eyes were pinned to mine. I had never experienced such a strong gaze, and it was short lived as he passed out again.
This idiot of a human was able to steal a smile from me! An all-powerful vampire lord! Not only that but I was also blushing from that gaze.
Now I was invested in learning more about this human who had rocked my world in a day. I got up and went to a cupboard in the living room to grab a flask containing some of my purified blood and I also grabbed some water and limes, I poured a the water on a separate glass and squeezed the lime juice into it, I also grabbed some sugar I had on a clay pot and I poured it to the glass.
I placed both his glass of sugar and lime water next to my blood flask and I laid next to him, my heart was razing, my gaze was locked onto his sun-kissed skin, his blonde hair, his marks on his chin. He indeed was beautiful I thought as I laid on top of him, feeling his sweaty yet cold skin. I felt his heartbeat and before as I heard a weak random beat, it had slowed down and it remained constant, I sighed with relief as I slowly closed my eyes and let sleep take over.
I was surrounded by darkness in my dream, a vast empty darkness, I was barely able to see my hands. “Hello?” I asked as I moved around the vast emptiness, “murderer…” a small whisper was heard. A chill ran through my spine as it was heard again “Murderer…” the chilly voice whispered through the air again, and a feint red light started emanating from afar. “MURDERER!” the voice screamed as the red light enveloped me as I was suddenly back on the ground. A very familiar muddy ground, my body was frozen in place, remembering this event, I started shaking, knowing what came next.
“MURDERER!” a woman screamed at me, I looked down, I was smaller, and my hands were covered in blood, well, all of me was covered in blood. “You’re nothing than a cold-blooded murderer!” the woman screamed at me as she threw a rock at me. It hit me on my cheek, making me fall to my side. The feeling of my bones shattering under my skin was too familiar, the pain was an old friend I didn’t want to see, so I puked, I puked on the blood covered floor repeating to myself ‘this is not real, this is not real’.
“Oh, but it is, this is YOUR reality” the lady was now in front of my face, too close. “This is the life you chose, wasn’t it? You chose to be a monster!” as she said those words her skin started to deteriorate, small strips of flesh coming lose and falling to the ground as her skull was revealed. “You will die cause that’s what you deserve, my arrogant little…”
I was not able to hear the last words, as I jolted up from my sleep. I was shaking and I had tears on my eyes, the smell of blood and dirt was still on my mind, the pain on my cheek was lingering. “Are you ok?” I heard it again, a voice as sweet as honey, as beautiful as a melody, it saved me again. I looked at him with teary eyes as his hand cupped the side of my cheek “you know, I thought vampires had bloody red eyes, but yours are a sunset amber colour” with his thumb he rubbed away a tear “you are beautiful”.
I blushed harder than I had ever before in my life this stupid human was just so obscene, how could he say that to a lord of night, a vampire lord, a being so old it was probably alive before his ancestors were conceived.
“Did the blood loss give you brain damage? Serves you right!” I tried saying as a retort, but it came out of my mouths as a silent complaint, my heart was still shaken from the dream.
“You’re beautiful, my powerful and old vampire lord” he smirked at me. I cried, I was too overwhelmed, and my feelings were, just weird. He embraced me fully, letting me cry on his chest as I was just vulnerable, crying vulnerable on the hands of an enemy I had just fought. “You’ve been alone this whole time, haven’t you?” his warm hand cupped my cheek once more “I’m sorry”.
I heard those words, and something inside me broke, it was like something I had yearned for so long was finally given to me.