#isaactor

I always imagine Hector as, at his core, a service top, with a big focus on service. Maybe even a bit submissive. He enjoys the intimacy, and he enjoys to serve, to make his lover happy: to him it's more important than the physical sensation, which in his mind he can achieve with his own hand lol. In that sense, he can be flexible - for example he's much rougher with Isaac because that's what Isaac wants from him.

... but the way I imagine his relationship with Isaac, the way they hurt each other and miscommunicate until the point of resentment but keep finding each other for lack of anything else that could compare, plus their mutual envy regarding Dracula's different treatment of them, might need its own post lol. I'll just say that Isaac brings the worst in Hector, even and especially when it comes to sex :3c Isaac pushes Hector to be more selfish and even relish in his friend's pain :3c but yeah, it's a special case because they're special like that.

Sorry for the digression. Point is that in my mind Hector can generally fit whatever his lover prefers, because "I'll give you my eyes and arms" is kind of how he was taught to love.

This becomes disastrous with Dracula, whom Hector serves in general. The power imbalance in their relationship can't really be described or conceptualized. Hector loves his Lord in a way that can't be labelled, as Dracula is for him everything from a mentor to a father to a Christic figure: he loves with the devotion of someone who believes he needs to earn his right to be loved. He internalized that it's imperative that he makes his Lord happy, and the more uncomfortable he is, the more he's doing a good job. And part of him may be even proud of Dracula's special attentions, because he got used to being the golden child, and he craves that sort of approval. If Dracula loves him, and seeks him in his darkest moments, and lavishes him with kisses and praises about how good he is, how intelligent he is, how proud he makes his Lord, then Hector feels like he's allowed to live.

The breaking point, for me, is that eventually Hector grows older and bolder. He starts pushing, he becomes cheekier, he asks to top his Lord. He's no longer content with being a tool: he wants to be respected. After all, if his Lord keeps calling him intelligent and talented and trustworthy, surely it means he respects him, right? His fantasy would be that his Lord will finally see him as almost an equal, someone worth listening to. And it just... never happens. It could never happen. Dracula values Hector, but not as a person. He might humor Hector to a certain point because he finds his attitude cute (cuter than Isaac's complete servility, at least), but he couldn't care less about his opinions or feelings. In Dracula's eyes, Hector is something he made with his own hands and came out almost perfectly.

In fact, allow me to be gross! Remember how in the Japanese version of SoTN Dracula threatens Alucard to wipe away his vulgar human blood to make him join his family? It's clear to me that he sees his son not as his own person, but as a mix of himself and Lisa, and the Lisa part has become inconvenient after Alucard turned his back on his father. But Hector has no such interferece :) Hector was a small, malleable human who sold his soul to the Devil and the Devil infused him with his own essence to make him transcend humanity :) and now Hector owes everything to his Lord and he better show off his gratitude :) I like to imagine Dracula seeing Hector and Isaac like his own fledglings, but Dracula favors Hector because he's more talented and because he sees himself in him... well, what he believes himself to be, intelligent and ruthless and loving in an all-encompassing way like a vampire. In short: he sees Hector as his son, but in the sense that he's an extension of himself and therefore he has complete ownership of his body and soul.

And when it comes to sex, I don't even think Dracula would be particularly sadistic or even callous. I totally see him being gentle and loving - sure Hector is more resilient than the average human, but he's still a human, so he needs to be careful. He really wants to see himself as the perfect husband lol. But it all comes off as patronizing. It's not love making between two lovers, because that's not what they are. It's Hector giving himself away because that's how he was taught to love, and Dracula taking everything he can take from Hector to feel the void in his chest left by Lisa's death and Alucard's disowning. After that, in my mind Dracula becomes terrified of losing another person again, so he takes all the measures to wrap at least Hector around his finger: there's no reason to do the same with Isaac who would already disembowel himself for him, which he finds boring, but there's more satisfaction in taking a seemingly proud man and breaking him down with love bombing (and maybe occasional threats like "the world outside wants you dead, you're safe with me") until he clings to him like he's his whole world. He, too, wants human warmth and companionship, much like Hector wants intimacy; Dracula needs to feel loved, and Hector needs to love; and in this sense, their desires match in the absolutely worst way possible. After all, Dracula is part of the reason Hector is like that :) you can call it grooming, if you want to :)

Thankfully for Hector, he eventually learns to love himself enough to understand that he deserves better than this. And I like to think that eventually, he learns to see Dracula's gentleness and kisses as what they are: a predator's way to lure their prey. A mockery. A lie. And Hector can't stand being lied to when he's always so earnest in his love. It's a twisting of his own love language... much like Dracula is, in a way, a twisted version of Hector.

Btw, I have some Draactor rants stoved away that could fit my ramblings! For example :)