#bastardstill

send " fangs + reverse " to have your muse bite / mark my muse. @bastardstill

"you're hungry. feed." her words were spoken low in the crackling light of their camp for the night.

it wasn't their first argument about this nor would it be the last. of that she knew. somehow she had convinced him to help the girl who's brother begged for protection of ketterdam's worst. he risked the journey from barovia to ketterdam to ask of it of the barrel's worst. a burgomaster begging in secrecy for the help of the likes of dirtyhands. she knew he was desperate. kaz knew it was a waste of time and effort. but all inej could see was a vulnerable girl at the mercy and threat of a creature much older and stronger than her. that craved not her, but lied in her veins- embedded in her soul itself. already she had sworn herself to helping ireena kolyana. if positions were- no.

once upon a time she was in such a position, but in being bought by tante heleen, a woman vying for a vampire's immortality sold her out night after night to vampires to feed on. for other humans and elves to seek their pleasures. no one helped her when her soul and freedom were on the line, but she would help ireena. someone had to stop the suffering of women at the hands of powerful men. it was when ismark kolyanovich said who it was perusing his sister that she knew kaz would find his own reasons of profiting off this endeavor. for now they had to keep the girl on the move. protect her. shield her from the very being that ruled the land. strahd von zarovich. he had many names. in whispers around the barrel and ketterdam they called him the darkling among other things. she didn't know what sort of being he was that commanded the powers he did, nor did she want to know aside from how to kill him. another task they sought to complete.

-that is if kaz didn't collapse himself from hunger. she knew little of how he became a vampire spawn himself, but knew enough to know that it was a horrific history best left in the recesses of his mind. a mind she wished would listen to reason at times rather than his schemes. sometimes she could swear he did when she spoke. other times like now, all she saw was that insufferable resilience and stubbornness. luckily she had just the same as the two whispered in argument as their charge slept curled by the fire which lit her crimson hair alight in oranges and reds. somehow he agreed and she saw the struggle in those eyes she knew so well. the agony in the decision. the aching hunger behind as she moved to sit closer.

"its not easy for me either." she admitted feeling how he hovered. how he lingered at the curve of her ear. the tickle of his breath against damp skin from the heat of the fire. it was just as much a struggle in so many ways. to not turn her head and kiss him. to not flinch at the feel of his mouth on her skin when the time came because he was not the first vampire to feed on her. the scars remained across her body as a haunting reminder and part of her naively hoped that somehow- some way that his would be different. that it'd wipe away that history which tore at her chest in ways all those teeth marks did in her throat.

even still she held perfectly still waiting. because this wasn't about her. it wasn't about how she felt or wanted. kaz needed to feed. he had to carry on with them. with her. he needed her. so she dared to turn her head slightly to meet his red eyes just a faction of a hair's breadth from hers as she quietly whispered. "go on."

because she wanted to see his blue eyes again. because she needed this as much as him. because this was as close as he'd let her get and she'd take it. she'd take his hand every time. and she waited as she felt him brush against her before that first sensation of his hesitating breath before lips pressed to her skin and she could've sworn it felt apologetic.

but it was brief, brief as the kiss melted in a moment from pressure to stinging to pain, a familiar yet different one than what she knew. dark eyes fluttering shut as she focused on remaining still, on not making a sound though a noise threatened to escape as burning stinging pain melted again into something else she dared not name. because he was so close and if she let herself feel this moment she was afraid she'd feel the full weight of his hand on her and she'd allow herself to be weak and let that noise escape. that she'd be weak and when he pulled away that she'd kiss him.

Send your character's height and I'll compare it to mine. @bastardstill

inej @ 6'3" is the perfect height to break his heart

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bc we are on hades brainrot @bastardstill

"because you're the first person i've met that's braved coming into heleen's garden." her guardian. her new so called mother kept her confined to the gardens. watched like a hawk by every nymph and creature to make sure she didn't wander off to places she didn't belong. like the rest of the world. her perimeters were clear and marked. no running away. no running back home. no escape. no one to talk to except those heleen had deemed safe which was next to none.

yet there he was.

darkness curling around his frame in sharp contrast to the lush greenery that hid the suffocating choking vines. she hung upside down from a tree branch as he stood in the shade of it while she stared wide eyed and curious about this stranger. how it almost seemed like apollo's rays of sunlight avoided him and with a reason she didn't know about. yet. she missed company. conversation. anything that didn't involve heleen. "most of the gods know better than to come uninvited. she didn't tell me she was expecting guests either otherwise i wouldn't be allowed outside to begin with."