The musk of damp leaves dominated G’raha’s sense of smell as he stumbled through the woods. The twisting paths around him were sloppily painted with shadows and moonlight that made his head dizzy as he tried to navigate. At each rustling in the abyss and creaking from the branches above, his ears pivoted to catch any clue of identity to what may be following him. And something was, he was sure of it. A beast of immeasurable determination and hunger that wouldn’t cease until it had its prey.
G’raha darted around the tree trunks in hopeless randomness knowing full well he was likely running in circles, but too afraid to let what was chasing him close the distance. However, as much as he tried, the more the aura of doom grew, the more the need to surrender was consuming his every sense. It was hopeless.
A slick rock underfoot threw him forward and his arms braced for the impact of the ground. Instead, however, a force grabbed the back of his coat and jerked him upright with unnatural quickness. Light-headed and disoriented, the miqo’te shook his head thrashed about trying to fight off the grip holding him off the ground. And just as he inhaled to cry for help, a gentle whisper tickled his ear.
“Are you quite alright~?”
G’raha stiffened at the familiar drawl and whipped his head back to see luminous blue orbs drinking him in. Several blinks to refocus his vision brought a scar and messily combed short hair to view in their red tones. And then that unmistakable smile…
“Y-Yes! Japhinne, I was looking everywhere for you!” G’raha exclaimed and clung to the elezen.
Japhinne cooed as she slid talon-like nails along his spine that played him like a piano, “Oh, I have been here all along, my darling~ You have nothing to fear.”
But he did as he remembered vividly that Japhinne rarely kept her nails so long and something felt peculiar about her presence. A reaffirming inhale came up short with a scent lacking its usual potency. It was technically Japhinne, and yet–
Her grip tightened as he attempted to step back and his heart raced with urgency. Each squirm was met with a squeeze and he winced.
“L-Let me go!”
“But you smell so divine and I’m so hungry~ ”
A lump caught in the miqo’te’s throat and he pondered for a moment what hunger she could be referring to. The unbuttoned silky blouse —which he swore had been buttoned a moment ago— barely cradling her bare breasts and the tormenting hand traveling under the waist of his pants would suggest her typical sexual hunger. That he would surely welcome and would indulge in freely as soon as they reached the inn. However, it was when two sharp pricks as she leaned down to kiss his neck that sent shockwaves of alarm and the truth of her appetite.
G’raha kicked and whined in protest with inaudible pleas for mercy on his tongue. He knew the tales of vampires from the stories and myths he had read in his lifetime but never did he expect to come face to face with one of the beasts. And in the form of his love...
Or had she always been and he never knew until now?
“Now, now,” Japhinne hushed his whimpers and licked along the artery scaling his neck, “I won’t hurt you, my darling~ Just a little snack to quell my craving~ I’ve been so good to not give in all this time. I think I deserve a taste…”
“B-But, I’ll turn,” he said as he shook in her arms, “And what will become of you if you drink allagan blood? I won’t allow–”
The train of thought lost its way and he succumbed to a pleasing scratch at the base of his tail with a mewl. Butterfly kisses tickled along his jaw and down his throat that had his lips parting with their own thirst. G’raha knew he had to resist and fight, but more and more he found himself becoming compliant with her will. Venom in her saliva perhaps that was intoxicating him? Or maybe a persuasive arcane spell he was weak to that he had missed her conjure? Of all the possibilities the still coherent processes of his mind could gather, he conceded that he couldn’t deny the probability the concepts were merely excuses. A part of him wanted this.
Why?
Deep inhales followed the chilling heat of her lips and left goosebumps in their wake. Like a feral animal, she tracked the veins of his body, tearing away any blockade of clothing with the hook of her nail until he was left bare as a babe in the moonlight and shivering for her embrace. Love nips marked his flesh for potential drinking locations and the anticipation grew as she brushed over each one with her nose, sniffing and licking her lips. G’raha felt like a piece of fruit in the market, ripe and ready for that first sinking of teeth.
And just as she returned to his neck with a strong arm embracing the small of his back and mouth agape to flex her fangs, she suddenly stopped. His hands clawed at the back of her blouse with need and he groaned a complaint which was silenced with the pressing of her nose right by his unguarded ear. Her sniffing tickled the inside of the shell and he arched with the jolts dancing down his back. The ear folded and quivered, but she forced it back with a more intense investigation.
“Japhinne!” G’raha gasped as he felt his ears and cheeks burn with a flush.
“The blood here smells so sweet… ” she breathed out.
“T-There?! But they’re so sensat- ahhh… Aah~!”
A warm tongue blanketed the inner lines of his ear before the blissful tug of suckling pulled his eyes back. Fangs had yet to prick the thin skin and were preoccupied teasing more blood towards the surface, overloading the nerves in pure paradise. Kisses felt like a spark of heaven while the heat from a devilish giggle was a wave of euphoria. And just as his mind began to numb from the bombardment of pleasure, a sudden mouth on his neglected ear nearly caused his soul to ascend.
Japhinne hadn’t swapped her targets, however. She was thoroughly working and nibbling while a new, second Japhinne lapped away with a feverish vigor that caused his knees to buckle. Two pairs of arms anchored him upright and held him in place with no hope of escape and his moaning was far from even suggesting he would ever wish to flee. Instead, he grasped harder onto his captors and panted their name with heightened octave with each repeat. Squished between them, he could think of no better way to join the undead than in their embrace and at the mercy of such devilish tongues.
And just as the pleasure reached its peak and fangs locked ready to pierce the aroused skin with a pop, G’raha suddenly shot up out of bed in a cold sweat.
Chest heaving, he frantically looked around the bedroom and raised his hands to check his ears for any sign of tampering. To his shock, one was sensitive and drenched. He was just about to leap for the nearest mirror to check his body when a small snore broke his half-asleep panic.
Sprawled out on the mattress with a massive drool puddle next to her face was Japhinne looking peaceful as ever if not slightly annoyed at the loss of her spooning partner. Reality sunk in and pulled G’raha back to his senses with a calm of relief. Who knew the combination of All Saint’s Wake celebrations before bed and a partner that often nibbled on things in her sleep would cause such a bizarre dream? Though, he conceded, it wasn’t unenjoyable, to say the least.
Still, to ease the off chance whispering in the back of his mind, G’raha gingerly raised the corner of her lip and checked her teeth.