#heldrage

                >> ⚔️ <<              HE’D COME ON CONTRACT,   higher vampires caused many a strain when they didn’t   CARE FOR   humans and saw them either as fodder or something else.  his nose wrinkles though as he catches a scent he knew sitting   AT LEAST   a half decade or so  OLD.   he snorts,  lowering the silver sword   coated   with vampric oil.

                    ❝         CAIUS.       ❞                       

     The storm did little to deter him as he made his way along the narrow mountain path, clinging to the cliff face lest he lose his footing in the muck and tumble over the edge. He had come a long way to find this place, nestled among the crags high above civilization. Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating a darkened world and showing the building’s plain, bleached face. If not for the weather and gloomy locale, it might have even looked unassuming. But Strahd knew what awaited him within: creatures so dark as to have been conjured by the devil himself, or so the legends would have him believe. 

     But legends did not drain villagers dry, nor did they terrify quite so well as the truth. It might have been easy to dismiss it as the ravings of the uneducated, but had he not held some belief himself, he would not be here. No, Strahd knew better. He had seen it in the eyes of the people below him. It was the same look he had seen in men who were fresh from war. Horror. The stink of fear. These peasants knew it well. 

     The monsters he sought were real. The devil might have been too, for all he knew. But what did it matter? In the end, he knew what he wanted--nay, what he needed--and it was all within his grasp. He could not afford to feel fear now when he was so close to reaching his goal. A few more paces, and the path would widen. A few more paces, and he would know power unlike any he could ever hope to achieve. A few more paces...

     And she will be mine.

      Finally, he reached the door, his heart in his throat. He raised a fist to knock, but it fell away with the slightest brush of his knuckles. It was dark within, an unearthly silence reaching out to him with cold and clammy fingers. In his time as a soldier, he had seen too many similar homes and he knew what he would find within without even entering: Death, but not the kind he might have hoped for.

     His hand reached for his sword, grasped the hilt, but did not draw it. If what he suspected was true, no amount of steel would serve him here. If anything, it would keep his hand from shaking. It was now that fear began to coil like a snake within his stomach.

     The rain continued its unrelenting assault upon the house, punctuated by the periodic flash of lightning and roll of not-so-distant thunder and drenching him as he lingered in the doorway. In the brief snippets of light, he could see exactly what he was afraid to find: bodies, torn apart and scattered upon the floor. There was very little in the way of blood for such wanton carnage, he noted. Many times had he witnessed similar scenes, all of them awash with the color red. 

     The vampires were dead. Too late, he decided he did not want to know what killed them.

     A shadow moved. Human eyes could not see anything within the gloom, save for twin glowing orbs of crimson leering at him from the dark. It took everything he had to remain rooted in place, to release his hold on his sword to bring both hands up in a display of peace. Words and cunning would be his weapons here.

                        they  do  not  have  much  use  for  candle  light  ,  given  the  immaculate  vision  their  curse  has  bestowed  .  but  there  is  comfort  in  the  flicker  of  the  flame  as  it  dances  ,  illuminating  the  parchment  in  warm  glow  amidst  the  inky  black  of  the  shadows  .  pen  scratches  thoughtfully  against  the  surface  ,  angelic  head  bent  ,  brows  furrowed  in  concentration  .   

                  “      𝒕𝒐  𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒅𝒐  𝒊  𝒐𝒘𝒆  𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔  𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆  ,  𝒄𝒂𝒊𝒖𝒔  .     ”   carlisle  does  not  lift  his  head  as  words  float  forth  to  break  the  silence  .  no  ,  not  until  his  thought  is  finished  ,  the  pen  returned  to  the  well  does  he  turn  in  his  seat  .  soft  in  expression  ,  though  it  is  the  eyes  that  hold  something  hidden  .  wariness  ,  perhaps  .    “     𝒊  𝒂𝒎  𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅  𝒚𝒐𝒖  𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆  𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕  𝒎𝒆  𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕  𝒊𝒏  𝒎𝒚  𝒐𝒘𝒏  𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔  .  𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆  𝒎𝒆  .     ” 

there are no secrets in volterra. shadowy characters mill about its ancient stone facades, duplicitous motives and murderous vampires lurk through alec’s rose garden and the pavilion of innocent mortals, but all who live within the castle walls know that with aro in charge, no secret plot or hidden feeling can remain in the dark for long, at least not from the masters. as alec’s heeled boots clatter against the marble floors, so do nero and notte’s nails as the two fine beasts trot along beside him, like hellhounds beside his slender figure enrobed in black velvet. his steady graceful pace leaves stirs the air, flashing threatening glimpses of the crimson lining of his cape, just as anger flashes in his usually blank, blood red eyes. as he ventures deeper into the bowels of the coven’s fortress, the layers peel away. he allows his usual indifferent mask to slip ever so slightly to show the annoyance in the twitch of his clenched jaw and the minuscule furrowing of his brow. nero, sensing his mood swing, lets out a harsh bark that echoes through the halls as they follow in his wake.

❝  𝙞    𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩    𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚    𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩    𝙝𝙚    𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠    𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨    𝙞𝙨    ' 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 '  ❞    you    have    respect    for    aro,   yes.    but    you’re    not    willing    to    give    up    your    freedom    because    he’s    scared    of    losing    you.    you    know    that    caius    will    side    with    you,    that    he    knows    you’re    capable    of    protecting    yourself.    he    knows    this    first    hand,    knows    of    your    skills.    and    it’s    not    like    this    will    not    be    the    first    time    you’ve    lived    looking    over    your    shoulder,    and    this    will    not    be    the    last.    you    know    what    you    signed    up    for.    this    is   a    price    you    know    will    hurt.    and    you’re    not    truly    fighting    caius    at    this    point,    you’re    just    expressing    yourself,   ❝  and    i    am    sorry    that    marcus    has...    checked    out.    but    i    am    not    didyme    and    you’re   not    marcus.    if...    something    happened,    i    know    with    confidence   you    will   be    fine.    big    picture    speaking.  ❞