You are my Liberty, I celebrate the day that you changed my History
Vampire Hunter Adam x Vampire OC
1, 2, 3, and 4, more to be added (eventually)
17th century, November 23rd
It had been a few days since Adam had come to Vassis and in that time, he had spent a lot of it cooped up in the cathedral with Ophelia.
He told himself it was because it was cold, because snow had begun to pile up outside, that he was tired from all the traveling he had been doing, but really it was because he had been avoiding seeing the mayor again.
He was trying to rack up that sweet sweet gold and he figured if the mayor saw him again before he completed the mission, he'd have a whole new set of problems.
It wasn't so bad being inside. He had explored a lot of the old church in the last few days.
There was a large courtyard in the middle of the building with a fountain. The water inside of it had frozen over and the stone had a thick layer of frost. The land surrounding the fountain had been covered up by white snow and he could barely see anything underneath except for a few tiny white flowers that managed to peek through.
There were also several untouched offices and a confession room, even a library. If it wasn't so obviously an old place of worship, he would have thought that this was a small castle.
Today, he was sitting in a room that had been turned into a parlor. He was on an old chair, his boots propped up on the arm rest of another nearby chair as he read through his tiny vampire manual he had brought with him along his journeys. He had read it a million times before but recently he had been adding in some new information.
He had been living close alongside Ophelia and he had learned more from her than any old book to be found in a library or bought off of an old hunter. The ways to kill them were well known and almost fool proof, but for how much was known about their everyday lives and feedings, it was unknown or entirely wrong.
For example, it was widely considered factual that vampires would burn up with too much sunlight. In reality, most vampires would get sunburnt or had an aversion to light in general, but Ophelia liked to lay nearby windows that brought in sun like a black cat outside sunbathing.
As long as she had some sort of cloth over her, it was fine.
Adam scribbled stuff down in his little notebook, pausing in between words and entries before he looked up at the vampire who was napping on the couch a few feet away. She told him she didn't need to sleep but the amount of times he'd walked in on her passed out cold somewhere was astonishing. Her face was pleasant as she dreamt, nose twitching every once in a while when he moved just a little too loudly.
His chest filled with warmth as he gazed upon her sleeping form, all curled up with red lips parted slightly. The softest snores coming from her lips.
You know, she also said there were no spells she could put him under but how else was he to explain the stirring in his chest (and his groin) whenever she was near? He hadn't known her that long at all, there was no way he could've fallen for her. Not that fast, not that hard, not that soon, without some sort of magical interference.
He shook the thought off, looking away from her to continue jotting down words and scribbles.
A few more minutes passed, maybe even an hour before the sound of horse hooves clopping outside snapped him out of it. Adam looked up and over to the window and when he couldn't see, he sighed and set down his notebook before getting up.
The chair creaked gratefully to the lack of weight as he sauntered over to the windowsill to look out. He searched for the source of the sound, only to see a large carriage being pulled down the street towards the cathedral.
It was decorated in some fancy family crest, one that he recognized with nobility. His eyes narrowed.
Why would some noble come here? Was it because of Lady Winefield and her family's death? The mayor?
A million questions formed in Adam's head and he was so wrapped up in trying to figure out the answers that he completely neglected to notice Ophelia had also gotten up and was now looking out the window next to him.
"Oh, it's Count Ulysses." She hummed and Adam nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What the fuck!? Don't sneak up on me like that Holy shit." He yelped, shooting her a glare.
Ophelia just flashed him a smile before she looked back down at the crowd forming below.
"Heh, sorry." she chuckled before turning her attention back to the carriage. "Lady Winefield was one of his wife's maids, I think the head one actually."
Adam grunted in acknowledgement, leaning against the window sill as the carriage drew closer.
He expected it to pass them by, head straight to the mayor’s house or even the house where it all happened but he wasn't that lucky.
The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the church and Adam cursed under his breath.
"What do you think he wants?" He turned to ask Ophelia but she was gone.
Adam blinked, looking around before he heard her voice down below.
"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully, running up to the count like he was an old friend.
Count Ulysses stopped in front of the gates that she actually unlocked and stepped out of.
She was going to get herself killed.
Adam cursed under his breath as he turned away from the window and ran out of the room and down the stairs.
His heart was thumping in his ears as he ran through the halls and finally ended up outside.
The two seemed to be caught up in friendly conversation when Adam arrived, breathing ragged and shoulders heaving with an intensity.
The count was also old, completely white headed with a small mustache and beard. Nothing like the grand beard of the mayor who seemed to be nothing more than a show off. The count was wearing a black cloak that draped over his shoulders and covered his body completely, the only thing visible being a sword that protruded slightly and the crest on his chest.
They both looked at him, the Count giving him a once over before he turned back to Ophelia.
"I see you found another one." He told her calmly.
Ophelia sighed and nodded, "More like he found me."
Count Ulysses smiled, "They always do."
Adam didn't have time to ask questions when a strong hand was suddenly shoved into his grasp. "Hello Adam, good to see you." The count shook his hand firmly while Adam hesitantly shook it back.
"Hello, may I ask how you know my name?" He curled a brow, looking at Ophelia.
Count Ulysses straightened up, leaning closer to her.
"You haven't told him yet?" He whispered not-so-secretively.
"Do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to deal with that?" Ophelia whispered back, voice strained.
Now he was *really* confused.
"What are you two whispering about?" He muttered. He was getting really tired of all of these secrets.
"You're secretly a reincarnation of Adam, the First Man of creation." She said with a deadpan expression.
"What? Stop making shit up."
Count Ulysses sighed and nodded somberly. "I see what you mean."
A while later, the count was in the cathedral at the table. Calmly drinking tea with the vampire and it's hunter.
"Are you here about Lady Winefield?" Adam spoke up after the second cup of tea and casual banter.
Ulysses straightened up as if he was remembering he had business to attend to.
"Right.. Yes. Pardon me, I got caught up in catching up with Ophelia here."
Adam clicked his tongue, resting his head on the palm of his hand as he watched them exchange like old pals.
"Ophelia has been helping my family for generations, she's a great help. Excellent vampire hunter, excellent friend," he put his hand on her shoulder, "That's why I let her live here. I own this land afterall."
His mouth tasted bitter and he glared daggers at the hand, he didn't hear a word he said, too busy trying not to march over there and smack him off. He didn't care how good of friends they were, he'd asked him a hundred times not to–
Adam stopped, realizing the train of thought from his words. He'd asked him a hundred times? When? How?
He didn't even know this old geezer. Yet, looking at the way Ulysses held his tea, a weird, irritatingly familiar ache throbbed behind Adam's eyes. It was like a Bible verse he'd forgotten the words to, playing on a loop in the back of his head.
"We are sad about the Lady's death of course, but we are glad you got to it first before anything else happened. It would've been a shame if more young women were turned into vampires."
Adam shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts and looked over at Ophelia who simply nodded. He felt disoriented. A little nauseous even.
"It's my duty, I have a job." She spoke with an air as if she'd done nothing of value. Nothing noble.
The count laughed loudly and Adam grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes and deciding he'd rather look at the cobwebs than the old man. This guy pissed him off in ways he never thought imaginable.
As if almost decades worth of pent up rage flooded his veins when he looked at him.
"I'm sure he would be proud of you if he was here."
Adam looked up finally and noticed the air had thickened with almost visible tension. Not from his dislike of the count but as if Ulysses had said something wrong to the vampire.
Ophelia stared down at the tea cup on the table in front of her, eyes hollow and heart heavy.
It was uncomfortable considering the man in question he was talking about had been killed by her hand.
"...Yes. I'm sure he would be." The vampire mumbled, pushing her teacup aside before she stood up. "Well, if that's all I am sure you have plenty of other business to attend to. I will keep an eye out for any other disturbances but in the meantime, please excuse me."
She walked out of the room, the door shutting heavy behind her. Adam sat in silence with the Count as he tried to process whatever was happening.
"Ah, I always forget that it strikes a nerve. I hope she forgives me." The older man sighed, rubbing his beard.
Adam shot him a glare. "Maybe it's best if you leave for now."
Ulysses nodded in agreement and stood up, adjusting his cloak.
"Please offer her my apologies, I will be off now. Take care of yourself, Adam." He headed towards the door but Adam followed after him. He needed some answers before he was gone for who knows how long and left alone in this frigid cathedral with the mysterious vampire.
"What do you know about her late husband?" Adam asked as they got to the front door. Ulysses didn't even look surprised by the question and stopped, offering him a half hearted smile.
"I think that's something you should ask her about, it's not my place but.." He looked towards the gate where his carriage was waiting. "I know that he loved her very much."
Adam found Ophelia in the courtyard, laying on her back in the snow with her eyes closed. If Adam didn't know any better he'd think she was some sort of life like doll or a corpse frozen during winter.
He shuffled over, snow crunching under his heavy boots and cold biting at his ears.
He stood over her but said nothing, watching as her chest rose and fell with every breath softly. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and sat down at the edge of the fountain, looking around the courtyard.
The little white flowers he'd seen earlier caught his attention once more and he cleared his throat.
"Those flowers, what are they? The ones that look like little white bells?"
She didn't open her eyes when she answered him. "Snowbells. They don't usually bloom until some of the snow has melted towards spring but the ones here always sprout and bloom earlier."
A gust of air whooshed into the courtyard from above and Adam held up his hand to keep some flurries from hitting his eyes. The flowers danced in the wind gracefully, undisturbed by the flakes.
Ophelia sat up, her eyes finally opening but still looking just as far away as ever.
"They mean hope, rebirth and a bright future but because of the association with winter they can also mean 'I wish for Death'."
Adam snorted softly, hopping off the fountain and trudging towards her.
"Guess that's the perfect fucking flower to be growing in your sad little church, huh?" he murmured, offering her a hand to help her up.
She smiled softly, taking his hand and letting him pull her up.
The two walked over to the back gate of the cathedral, exiting and walking down by the bank of the frozen creek that ran through town just behind it.
The snow crunched under their feet as they made their way down to the edge.
A stuffy silence had settled over the two and Adam found himself wanting to ask her a million questions. If only he hadn't met the stupid girl he would've been three towns over by now doing what he did best, killing vampires.
What a mess he'd become. Standing beside one in the early sunset of winter with his hands shoved in his pockets. Defenseless. He was just asking to get mauled by her.
"You never asked me why I killed him." Ophelia suddenly said, crouching down to pick up a nearby stone and skip it across the frozen sheet of ice. Adam blinked at her, momentarily snapped out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" He asked, shuddering slightly from the chill that ran down his spine. He wasn't sure if it was from her question or the biting cold.
"My husband. You never asked why I killed my husband."
Adam watched her skip another stone before he turned his attention to the wooded area across the water, losing himself to the scenery instead of the conversation. It felt too vulnerable to look at her while they were talking right now.
"Shit, I dunno. Guess I was just already freaked out from the bloody shirt you keep wantin’ to hear anymore about your dead bastard." Adam shrugged, acting like he didn't care when in reality they both knew he was a nosey son of a bitch.
Ophelia made a noise that sounded like a hum of agreement or a hum of disapproval. It was hard to tell with her.
"A long time ago, my husband and I were vampire hunters together. We were new in town and had gotten a lead from somewhere nearby that a giant nest of them lived just beyond those woods over there."
She pointed at the trees he was staring at right now.
"Everything was going great. We were killing vampires left and right, being awarded massive amounts of wealth for the dwindling population. We even got a place of our own to stay." Adam looked at her from the corner of his eyes, watching as she subtly nodded her head up the road.
"It was where the mayor lives now. Damn bastard.." She mumbled before she continued. "Life was good. Until we got too confident and too sloppy. I got bit."
She sat on the snow with a loud *flop* and Adam begrudgingly turned to face her completely.
"I broke out into a horrible fever.. as one does a few hours after being bit. You either die from it if you're a man or you get turned as a woman. I fought so hard to keep it inside me."
Her gaze seemed to glaze over as she recalled the moment, her lips pressing into a tight line.
"He stayed by my side the entire time despite me begging him not to because we both knew what was going to happen once the transformation was completed."
Yeah, Adam knew what happened. The new vampire is overcome with bloodlust and attacks the nearest person to feed off of them. A man was sure to die, a woman had a fifty fifty shot at either being turned or killed themselves.
"I was so thirsty. So extremely thirsty. I was throwing up water and seizing like I was being possessed. My husband wasn't much for sentiments or even saying the kindest words but I could tell it was breaking his heart."
Ophelia looked up at him and for a slight moment, she seemed to feel sorry for him. It made him uncomfortable. Why was she looking at him like that when she was the one who went through it all?
"He had chained me down to the bed to prevent me from lunging at anyone or him but after the sixth hour of me crying, screaming, begging him to just kill me already so I wouldn't hurt him, he unchained me and I pounced on him."
"Every single one of my senses were heightened. I could hear the rush of his blood through his veins, his heart hammering in his chest and the frantic sound of his breathing. I could smell his fear and pinpoint exactly where the best part to draw blood from his neck was with just a glance."
Adam swallowed hard, averting his gaze to stare down at the ground instead. His mouth suddenly felt dryer than a desert.
"Even unchained and on top of him, I was still trying not to bite him. I was trying to get away from him but he held my wrists." she sighed softly, the ghost of a smile on her face.
"He was a big guy, massive like a mountain, and he was having trouble keeping me still."
"He told me that he loved me and he couldn't stand to see me suffer anymore but he felt like he was selfish for not wanting to kill me. He couldn't kill me even after all the vampires that we'd slain together."
A vampire hunter couple, one gets turned into the very thing they hunt and the other cant even put them out of their misery. How tragic.
Sounded like some shit he might read in a soppy romance novel.
"You're not sane when you first become a vampire. All you can think about is how you need to drink, how you need to drink or you'll die..."
Adam thought back to the large blood stain on the shirt he found and it suddenly made sense.
"In fact, he put his hand on the back of my head and just told me it was okay and that it'd be alright. Before I knew it, I had nearly drunk him dry. I killed him."
Her lips quivered slightly, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight.
Adam stood in stunned silence, feeling awkward and much too large now beside the frozen creek.
Her story made a weird feeling bubble in his chest. It was uncomfortable. It made him feel hot despite the fresh snow that was now falling from the sky.
She had a way of making him feel uncomfortable whenever she talked but it never made him want to leave her behind.
He looked up, watching the snowflakes drift down towards them like graceful pieces of the clouds themselves. A few landed on his dark brown eyelashes as he breathed out, his breath fogging up the sky in front of him.
"Gave you all his blood, huh?" He finally asked, looking back down at her.
The snow had collected in her hair, the bright white flakes standing out against her dark hair. Ice crusted her eyelashes but she didn't seem to really care.
"He was so weird.. he was convinced he would come back for me one day. That if he died before me I'd just have to wait and he would find his way back to me." She scoffed, using her sleeve to dry her new tears and scrub the ice away.
"I didn't believe him. I was so lonely when he died. I spent thirty something years trying to kill myself. I lived on the streets, I didnt have a solid place to stay and everyone was always trying to kill me. I lived off animal blood and the blood of criminals."
Adam finally took a seat next to her, still a few feet away but closer now.
"Then one day this guy got attacked by a vampire, a traveling farmer from another village." She clenched her legs tighter.
"This farmer from the next town over rolled in, got himself attacked by a vampire, I saved him because I've always attacked the others. As soon as I looked at him though," Ophelia paused, taking a deep breath as if she was remembering it all over again.
"I realized he had the same face and voice as my husband."
