Elijah walked into his bedroom alone, glad for the silence as he awaited Sparrow’s report.
“My Lord,” She greeted, “Lady Theia is awake and dressed. She is still healing from a bite last night and she appears confused.”
Elijah nodded, glancing back at the now immaculate room that still managed to reek of blood and sex. He’s have to let it air out.
He passed Sparrow and the sound of opening windows blanketed the relatively peaceful night that surrounded the manor.
Nik sat against the headboard of the bed where Holly slept and contemplated his situation.
Should he have come here? Probably not. Should he have maybe not decided to screw around with the Lockharts? Probably. Was he having fun? Oh, most definitely. But Holly was here now, and if they stayed here for long, the aristocrats downstairs would start asking questions when Holly aged years within weeks.
Lockhart was already asking questions and the bastard was annoying enough to not stop till he got the answers he was looking for.
God knows, no one could use information as well as he could either.
To tell the truth, he had always admired that about him. Information was the best ammunition, and Nik had known that since his mentor took him under his wing to learn the ways of the Hunt while he learned the joys of the hunter bureaucracy.
Well, he wasn’t really a hunter anymore, was he?
His brethren had accepted him despite his bitten status- the very one that said that he was now one of their enemies, even despite the fact that he had killed his vampire maker as he was being sapped from.
But now… he didn’t know whether they would accept him.
They might, just purely because of his bloodline still, but hunting vampires as he was now… it just seemed so boring, not to mention needless.
Vampires were now viable sources for the energy he needed to survive. Their very nature made it so that they nearly never ran out of energy, or at least purebloods, less pure of status vamps were almost as weak as humans- it was why ‘big-game’ hunters rarely hunted them except for training sake or they had made a mess of a human population, almost exposing themselves.
Hunting Rogues would still be fun- but regardless, the idea did not garner enough of his interest to make it seem like something actually worth doing.
Isabelle had never told him about how completely and utterly pointless certain things would feel now that he was an immortal of sorts.
Afterall, what’s the point of hunting to save humans when they lived such short lives already?
Before he had felt like it was his duty and he knew he had to hunt to perform it, but this… apathy was unfamiliar and irritating.
He hadn’t thought through what he would do when he left Isabelle and her court a week ago- he had wanted to explore for a bit because he was going stir crazy.
The life of an incubi was sadly looking like a dull one, it was probably why most of his new race spent most of their time travelling or something like that.
The thing with immortality was that when you took away the aging, you took away any semblance of meaning. Time provides life with meaning- and so everything seemed so meaningless without it.
So he had come to Rosecrest to look for something to do- all that went on at Isabelle’s court was sex, blood, and debauchery- and sure, that was amusing, but what was life without change?
Lockhart had always been amusing, and Theia had always known what to do to make him happy- who cared if she were some odd vampire princess now?
He had cared before.
But now… it was just another pointless penny in a fountain of infinite others.
He knew though that the mere thought of Theia or Elijah should have sent him spiralling into a long depression. But not now, not when the thought only resounded in the hollowed out feeling of his chest.
It wasn’t as bad as it had been before, and Isabelle had spoken to him about how even that would fade in time.
Incubi were creatures of baser emotions and amusements. It wouldn’t do to linger on such negative emotions.
Eternity would be a miserable prospect if he lingered.
Theia, she used to be the only person to be able to drag him back from those moods. He had no one when she left, not really. Sure, he had Mieren and Morgan but there was no one he could be himself with. Even among his small group of friends, his own inner circle, he still had to be this idol of strength and stability- weakness would not be tolerated in any way among them. No, weakness was for the ones who could afford it and he had never been one of those. Not when he had been heir- even to his twin he had to be the pinnacle of strength.
Demetri, I miss you.
He had thought that his twin had died when his parents did, but he hadn’t- no, he had, he reminded himself.
That ghoul was not his brother.
It must have been peaceful for Theia without him to mother hen.
He almost felt sad. Almost.
Alas, Theia was not as strong as he had given her credit for when they were younger. He could sense through the blood he had taken that she was weak and confused, and not just from the blood loss. The thrall had left her almost catatonic, and he smiled a bit at the thought of Elijah coming to try and intimidate him as he could sense the vampire prince wanted to.
He had never been one to back down from the pureblood and he certainly wouldn’t start now. Especially not when he had gained equal footing with the older Lockhart.
“Daddy?” Holly mumbled, looking up at her father with dazed eyes.
Nik looked at his daughter with kind eyes. Her conception had triggered his transition into an incubus.
She was not a succubus, nor would she ever be. She took after his mother, making her closer to a baby witch/hunter hybrid with the natural resilience of both Nik and Isabelle.
She aged like any succubus did, however, or at least that’s what Isabelle had said.
Not that he thought she’d really know- succubae didn’t have children often- fertility rates were low with succubae and incubi, it made the bond formed between the parents stronger.
Holly continued to look up at him, gradually waking up more.
“Daddy,” She said, “I want-”
“You want to go see your new friends?” He supplied and she bit her lip, nodding swiftly.
Nik sighed and stood up off the bed and she held up her arms to him. He smiled and picked her up before taking her to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
Afterwards, with Nik now dressed in a pair of black pants and Holly dressed in a pale pink dress that matched her eyes (found in her spelled backpack), they walked down the hallway till Nik spotted Lockhart coming up to him with a deadly look in his eyes.
They reached the stairs and Nik turned to Holly, “Go downstairs, I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”
She smiled and nodded happily before following his command, popping down the steps.
Elijah stood silently on the other side of the hall from the steps. When Holly had lost sight of them he grabbed Nik and pulled him into a random bedroom and threw him against the back of the door.
“What did you do to her?” He growled and Nik pouted at the vampire prince.
“Nothing that should have hurt her.” He stated.
“But it did.” Lockhart glared and Nik could practically hear him now.
“It didn’t hurt you.” Nik continued and the glass in the lamp shades cracked across the room.
Nik wasn’t impressed or frightened in the least, which seemed to make the vampire angrier.
He didn’t look it, the mask was still perfectly in place, but the room’s temperature had dropped significantly.
He was dropped back onto his feet, “Come with me.”
It was an order, obviously, but Nik humored the vampire. He followed him down the halls to Theia’s room. Shadows blanketed the hall but Nik stopped to acknowledge the ever so stoic Sparrow with a nod.
Lockhart stopped at the door, knocking once before entering.
The lights were on, and it was then that he could see the room in truth. It was not as ostentatious as Elijah’s room, it was softer and the furniture was white except for the bed which was a brown four poster with soft pink curtains surrounding it. The bedding was not white as he had thought it was before, but was a muted sky blue. It was altogether a comfortable room and he was sure it looked even better in daylight, though the shutters and blackout curtains probably obscured the light.
Theia sat in an upholstered rocking chair, dressed in a black nightgown with a dazed look in her eyes. Her waist length auburn hair was brushed, most likely by Sparrow, her red maraschino colored eyes blinking slowly as she inspected a raven’s feather between two nimble fingers.
She was the picture of a beloved pet bird- her manner sluggish, but her form still oddly beautiful in a well-kept caged sort of way.
She looked up at Elijah first, still looking dazed till she glanced over his shoulder at Nik and her eyes lit up and she beamed at him.
“Nik!” She greeted happily and he felt Lockhart turn to stone next to him. Nik stepped around the elder sibling and made his way to Theia. He kneeled before her seat and smiled at her softly, like how he used to only for her.
“How are you, Solnishko?”
She beamed at the familiar endearment, “A little tired, I’ve been out of it.”
Nik placed the back of his hand against her forehead. It was hot and he glanced at her expression to see her smile dazedly at him with desire.
He pulled it back and he turned to Lockhart, “Get the tub running with cold water and get Sparrow to bring some ice up. It’s merely a slight side effect.”
Elijah nodded and Sparrow peaked inside the room to nod before quickly making off to complete her task.
Nik took Theia’s hand and began to rub soft circles against the back of it, witholding the lure tightly. After a few moments Theia’s eyes took on the dazed effect again and she began to fall slack against the chair.
Nik looked back at Elijah only to hear the sound of the tub beginning to fill. A few moments later Sparrow came back into the room with two buckets of ice. Elijah reentered the room at the sound of his follower entering his sister’s bedroom again.
Nik stood and looked at them both, “Get her into the tub with some ice, I’ll go get Holly, she can help.”
Elijah’s eyes narrowed slightly but he nodded. He took Nik’s place beside his sister as the incubus left the room to retrieve his daughter.
Nik reentered a few minutes later with a chirping Holly at his side. She had dragged Gus to the door of the bedroom where the aristocrat waited for the little girl to come out again. Nik smirked at the scene but said little else.
They knocked on the door to the bathroom and the door opened without pause. Sparrow was tending to Theia while Elijah stood by the window. Holly entered first, her feet stomping up to the tub with Nik choosing to stand next to his daughter.
Nik put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder and Holly beamed at him. Nik smiled at the sight, “Holly, I need you to help Theia. She’s sick like Mia was.”
Holly looked at Theia and nodded, as if to herself. Nik dropped his hand and Holly placed a hand on Theia’s clammy forehead. Theia did not stir.
It was silent for a while as Holly worked. Her eyes lightened as she hummed, almost to Nik’s former shade and finally, Theia’s skin began to brighten back to her normal shade and she blinked her eyes as she came back to the waking world.
The ice had melted in the tub and the water was left room temperature. Holly stepped back to admire her work and smiled at the female pureblood. Theia blinked at the child but smiled back at her nonetheless.
Theia looked up to glance at Nik. The smile widened and it was only when he held out a large towel did she look down at her submerged body and blushed.
Nik handed the towel to Sparrow, “Here, get her dressed. We’ll-”
He glanced at Elijah, “wait outside.”
Holly, still facing the naked vampire princess with one of her thumbs stuck in her mouth, stayed for a moment longer as her father and the brown haired man left the room.
Theia glanced back up.
“What’s your name?” Holly asked.
“Theia.” the elder girl replied.
“My name’s Holly!” The small girl exclaimed.
“Holly?” Her father’s voice called through the door and the little girl jumped to her tippy toes before skipping out of the room.
“Gus is waiting for you.” His voice chided and Holly grinned.
She glanced back at Theia and waved a small hand before closing the door to see her new friend.
Theia stood from the tub and dried herself off quietly before pulling on comfortable underwear and the blue cotton t-shirt dress that Sparrow held out to her.
Sparrow braided her hair neatly with a gentle precision. Soon enough, she was presentable and they exited the bathroom to find that Holly had left with the ginger haired vampire. Nik leaned against one of the posters of the bed, while her brother chose to sit in one of the chairs by the window.
Sparrow stepped into the shadows, though Nik’s eyes briefly trailed the silent noble till they were drawn back to Theia. She was stronger, though he noted that he could never fully enthrall her again. She wouldn’t recover from that as easily as she had this time.
A pale blush adorned her soft features and her red eyes looked at him with old familiarity.
He smiled at her and she smiled in return.
“I take it you’re feeling better.” He said and she nodded, not moving from her position in the doorway. She glanced at her brother then, and damn him, Nik felt faint traces of insecurity looking at them both.
They will always be together, and you will always be alone.
Nik bit his tongue at the small dying voice in his head before placing a small mask of neutrality over his features. Lockhart didn’t notice, too enthralled by his dear one, and the siblings left Nik to twiddle his thumbs until they deemed him worthy to acknowledge again.
Nik felt hints of annoyance run through his body and he resisted the urge to let his control slip again. No, that would not be any good for Theia, not that he had cared enough about that last night.
Nik turned away briefly, throwing around possible scenarios in his mind.
He was shocked to feel a soft thumping in his body. It was slow and much too faint to be his heartbeat, but it was there and he knew it would only grow stronger as he felt himself warm up.
“Excuse me.” He called out as he made his way to the door.
Theia grabbed his hand all of the sudden and his hold on his control quivered ever so slightly as she held on tight.
He turned toward her and smmiled before patting her gently on the head, “I’ll be back, Theia. I just need to do something.”
She let go of his hand grudgingly before turning her back on him to make her way to her brother once more. Nik let the smile drop off his face as he turned away, anxious to leave the room and lay down as a wave of dizziness began to hit him ever so slowly.
He nodded at Sparrow and quickly exited, grateful that no one was in the hallway. He walked as quickly as he could back to his room, leaning on the wall for support at times.
His skin began to break out into a sweat and he felt hot, too hot. Not like his lure, but something of true physicality. He broke into the room with a relieved sigh and shut the door. Throwing off his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom where he started the tub on cool and stepped in as it began to fill.
The thumping began to get stronger and his bones began to ache.
This must be what it feels like to shift when you don’t want to.
He covered his mouth with his hand, careful to not let out any sound to alert the vampires that lived in the house. It felt like he was burning, like he needed to feed. It shouldn’t be like this! He fed from Lockhart, he fed from Theia, it shouldn’t be like this!
He groaned into his palm as his form began to flicker to a more feminine one, though apparently not far enough that he lost himself to Naomi’s.
After a moment the heat descended lower, away from his heart and lungs. It began to shift toward a more pleasant warmth that he felt pool at his hips, leaving him breathless. The cool water did nothing to hamper his growing hunger and he felt his control begin to slip and the lure began to swim through the house, his senses noting every presense.
He could sense some of them begin to respond to his lure, even as they failed to notice.
Elijah looked up as the heated sensation began to run through him again. Theia seemed fine, though she did appear to become muted.
He quickly stood from the chair. “Theia, you should go with Sparrow to the garden for now. The flowers are blooming tonight.”
She nodded and grabbed a jacket before following Sparrow out of the room. He closed the door a few moments later without a sound and followed the heat to the hunter’s room.
Of course.
He went to open the door but as his hand touched the knob, a stronger wave hit him and he felt his body begin to respond.
He pushed on further, stepping into the room and speedily closing the door behind himself. The heat seemed to have a mind of its own here, and it clouded his mind, pulling him toward the bathroom where the door was opened wide and the sound of water filling the tub was heard.
His hands pulled at the collar of his shirt and his breathing was ragged as he entered the tiled room. In front of him lay the tub with the white haired hunter facing away from him.
He stepped closer and around the discarded pants. Elijah could just make out the rapid panting of Volkov’s breath above the water.
Nikolai clearly sensed his presence, “What do you need, Lockhart?”
“What are you doing? How are you doing this?” He questioned, his mind hazy and his voice heavy.
“It’s not supposed to be happening now. I don’t know what’s going on.” Nikolai replied, clearly struggling with whatever this ability was.
Elijah stepped closer and the air pulsed again, his hand accidently ripping at his shirt, sending buttons flying over the tiled floors. His claws elongated slightly and he began to make his way closer.
Volkov was pale, a line of sweat lining his brow. He was more… androgynous in form now, and his panting breath was growing more and more desperate. His hands clenched the sides of the tub till his knuckles were straining against his skin.
Elijah looked down at Nikolai, who looked at him for the first time since he entered the room. The snowy haired man’s eyes glowed with lust and his lips were bitten raw.
The pureblood prince stepped back as Nikolai stood up from the tub. He was dripping wet, but the water quickly began to dry, leaving his heated skin steaming.
“What is it?” Elijah asked and the hunter seemed to try and shake his head clear.
It didn’t work and Nikolai stepped completely out of the tub, drawing closer to the pureblood with strengthening resolve. Elijah stepped back, hitting the vanity unintentionally.
Volkov cornered him within a single moment and his breath teased the skin along Elijah’s collar.
Elijah felt almost compelled to give in to the hunter, like it was of the greatest importance. He looked down at the shorter man and saw how the light caught the elaborate silver cuff along his ear.
Something was still the same it appeared.
Nikolai nipped at the skin revealed by the open shirt. His lips played along the vampire’s flesh and his hands pulled the shirt off with ease. Elijah was clearly feeling the effects of his aching need to consume something. He knew he needed the pureblood for this; anyone else would die like the humans he had fed off of in the beginning.
He let loose his control of the lure and pointed it in Elijah’s direction. He wanted to say that he would have preferred Theia, but in truth, even though he didn’t fully know why, he preferred the older Lockhart. It was like this deep seeded need, it ate at him slowly but surely.
He wanted both of them, but he needed him for this, and only him.
Lockhart was stock still as the lure drew him in. He was fighting it, but Zero knew that he would fail to shake it off.
The sickness was getting to Nik, his body aching and he knew he needed to feed quicker than Elijah was failing. He dropped to his knees before the pureblood and with nimble fingers undid his pants. Elijah didn’t appear to be paying any attention though, as his eyes kept staring off into the air. His breathing was ragged and his skin gave off the heat that the lure demanded.
Nik nipped at the skin above his belt line, drawing closer to more sensitive skin. When he saw no reaction from the fighting pureblood, the incubus took the vampire’s length in his mouth, looking up to see the pureblood groan and look down at him with hazy eyes.
Nik groaned against the other man’s cock as he felt waves of energy fill him, healing him and providing him with more strength. The aching feeling began to fade and even though his skin felt tight, it didn’t bother him at all.
For his part, Elijah seemed to feel no lapse in energy as he thrust against the ex-hunter’s tongue.
Nik grabbed hold of the vampire’s hips and stilled them, pulling away to stand and kiss the pureblood lightly, crawling up slowly, inch by inch.
He grasped the pureblood’s hand and dragged him into the bedroom, grateful for the second bed he had disregarded upon being given the room. Nik turned them around so that Lockhart fell onto the bed. The incubus crawled on top of him and leaned in close to his ear.
“Fuck me,” he whispered and the vampire squeezed his hips and after a moment, lined his cock up with the incubus’ entrance.
Nik wasted no time in sinking all the way down to the hilt.
Elijah blew out a hiss. Nik saw the beatstier side of the pureblood making its way to the surface and quickly regained some of the control of the lure, allowing Lockhart to come somewhat back to his right mind.
As soon as he glimpsed the vampire starting to ‘wake’, Nik began to bounce his hips up and down, gripping the other man’s cock in a tight vise.
Elijah came to, groaning and thrusting his hips against the tightness he was encased in. His eyes cleared to allow him to see the near glowing hunter riding him with his mouth nipping at his neck. He felt his fangs elongate at the prodding and he prepared the flesh along the white haired hunter’s throat.
He bit without thinking of the consequences.
Volkov’s blood was addicting, it tasted of power and ambrosia with a hint of the ever-present mint. Elijah didn’t even notice the sting of his own neck being penetrated by razor sharp fangs.
The familiar taste of Lockhart’s blood hit his tongue, feeding his own power even further. It was only after several moments that images began to pack Nik’s mind of a different time, of what seemed to be thousands of years ago.
A flash of brown hair in a broken shard of glass, a reflection of an unwanted child, thrown out into the forest away from his human family. The ones that thought him monstrous.
A couple takes him in. He grows- and they are killed by angry hunters- angry that a hunter couple would dare care for one of the beasts they were meant to hunt.
He falls in love- his line flourishes and they are held up as royalty.
He will not allow his kind to be killed by those beasts- those hunters.
He is fighting against a wave of them, but in the end he still fails.
His wife perishes and then his most loyal friends and then he too, dies.
Nik swallowed a last gulp and licked the wound, careful to never stop his movements. Elijah continued to drink from him and he was forced to rely on the lure to force him to stop.
“Elijah, stop.”
The pureblood pulled back with an almost adorable look of confusion. His eyes were hazy again, but they quickly cleared. Nik sat up and sped up his pace.
“Harder.” He commanded the vampire and their positions flipped with Lockhart pommeling Nik, sending waves of pleasure through both of them.
Elijah followed the incubus’ command with no hesitance, though he would argue later whether or not it was eager.
They were both nearing their ends, with Nik’s hunger waiting to take the rest of its fill.
“Fuck!” Nik groaned through his teeth as his hold began to slip again.
Elijah’s breathing matched his own perfectly and they peaked soon enough.
It lasted for several moments, as the hunger took its fill from the pureblood and the energy their act had created.
The pureblood fell against him, though not fully, braced against the mattress by an arm. Nik moaned as he felt the other man’s cock spurt inside him.
After a moment they both began to regain themselves and the vampire sat back on his knees to narrow his eyes on Nik.
“What was that?”627Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcOyHf0emW
‘What do you mean?”
Lockhart narrowed his eyes even more at the male, “You know what I’m referring to, Volkov. I want to know what that was and I want to know what you are.”
Nik just glanced at him silently for a moment. It was the bluntest he had ever heard the pureblood be. He sighed and laid his head against the bed, looking up at the ceiling.
“It’s called the lure, or at least that’s what I’ve come to associate it as.”
Lockhart said nothing, clearly waiting for him to continue.
Nik blew out a breath, “I’m no longer a hunter, or bitten. As for what I am currently, I’m sure you can put the pieces together.”
“What did you mean when you said that it wasn’t supposed to do that?” Elijah asked, recalling the moments that led him here.
“I’ve already learnt to control it. It’s not supposed to be able to overcome me like that.” He replied, “I don’t know why it forced me to shift either.”627Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGFAvL5orr
Elijah looked at the ex-hunter for a moment. He looked almost tired, though he could tell that he looked better than he had previously. He had even tasted the other male’s power.
“Can you shift back?” He asked and Nikolai frowned.
A sweat broke out on his paling skin and his form tensed briefly. After a moment he shook his head and took a series of slow deep breaths to recover. His skin brightened once more, but his androgynous form never shifted.
“Will it happen again?” The pureblood asked and Nik turned his opalescent gaze on him.
“I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it happening before.”
Elijah stood from the bed and Nik followed him up.
Nik glanced toward the bathroom, “Do you want to shower? I need to open the windows.”627Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9258xmEZ7p
Elijah nodded and stopped to draw a robe out of the closet to toss to Nikolai and one for himself. He closed the bathroom door with a thought, leaving the incubus to ponder his situation.
Nik busied himself with stripping the bed and dumping the bedding in a large hamper in the closet, leaving the untouched sheets on the bed. He opened the windows, but quickly shut the curtains as well he could to preserve privacy even though the the light hadn’t been on during their little ‘excursion’.
He looked briefly to the mirror and sighed when he caught sight of freshly healed skin below dried blood on his hips. The neck he could forgive, but really?
Lockhart had drunk from him. Nik wondered if he had seen as much as he had.
Those images. What were they? Was it a past life of his? Was that what Nik had seen?
Nik shook himself as the water shut off. He could save those thoughts for another time. Now, he needed to get cleaned up and figure out what was going on.
Perhaps Isabelle would know. But how to get in contact with her? He’d have to ask Holly if she had left any clues as to how.
Or perhaps his daughter could actually tell him his condition. She was getting to be relatively skilled in healing, maybe not as much as in other areas, but perhaps it would be enough.
Elijah stepped out of the bathroom wearing his robe, his dark hair still slightly dripping. He was silent for a moment.
“I’ll send some clothes up for you. I expect Theia will come looking for you soon.”
Nik nodded and entered the bathroom.
Nik exited the bathroom and discovered a fresh shirt and pants with room enough that it would disguise his less masculine body and, using a pair of sheers he found in the desk, cut the length of his hair that had lengthened during the shift.
As soon as he was done, the sound of footsteps in the hallway alerted him to Theia’s incoming arrival. Sure enough, a knock sounded before the door opened to reveal the first girl he had loved.
She was never yours. Neither of them looked at you the way they look at each other.
She blinked at him for a second before smiling. He was sure she was confused at the slight change in his facial structure, but she said nothing.
He approached her, “Let’s go downstairs. I’m sure Holly is getting on Onoe’s nerves. She’s taken a liking to his shadow.”
Theia nodded her head and they walked down the hallway and down the stairs to the sitting room where a glaring Hiro greeted them.
Inside, Holly was regaling Fitzgerald with stories of her visions and her parent’s ‘friends’.
“Mina always smells like cherries. I think it’s because that’s all she eats. Cherry flavored this, cherry flavored that. Jean likes pinching my cheeks, he says it’s because the human girls of his time used to do it make themselves prettier, but Daddy says it’s because he likes annoying me.” Holly told Gus, about to move on when she spotted her father standing in the doorway with Miss Theia.
She hopped off the couch and grabbed hold of Nik’s hand, leading him to the couch where Gus sat. She put herself between them and her father gently ruffled her hair, making the young girl smile.
Theia stood awkwardly in the door for a moment before following their example and sitting herself in the chair beside Nik.
Holly began talking once more and both Fitzgerald and Nik appeared to follow her words easily and it struck Theia that the girl was surprisingly articulate for her age.
She was Nik’s daughter? Perhaps he had adopted her, but they looked much too similar for that to be true. Theia looked at Nik, but he was looking down at his daughter with a smile of content on his face.
She had caught that look only once before, but it had passed quickly when he spotted her in the doorway at Mieren’s house. He had been cleaning his gun then, and it was one of the only moments she had seen that weight he carried lifted, if only temporarily.
But that had been when they were in school and she was still human and he was still so angry with the world. She looked at him, analyzing him for any hints of that anger remaining, but she found none.
Perhaps this young girl had changed him. Theia felt something then, it felt like the jealousy she had felt when she was human, that horrible envy that she felt every time she saw Elijah look at Blaire, even though it had been clear he only had eyes for her.
Was she really that selfish? She had found happiness with Elijah, but she still wanted Nik, why?
Flashes of the night before hit her then. Flashes of goosebumps rising along her arms and warm hands playing along her legs and up her body to tease her nipples. She was hot and her mind was so hazy with dizzying pleasure that she felt lost to this feeling. She needed more. More. She felt sharp teeth nip at the skin of her neck and her eyes catch sight of glowing white hair as they flutter.
Nik? She glanced at him to see him looking back at her. Was that concern in his eyes?
“Theia?” He asked and Holly looked at the brunette.
“You look like Mommy did for a while.” The little girl remarked before turning back to Gus.
Her words shocked Theia, but it clearly meant nothing to the child. Nik had stilled at his daughter’s words, all expression dropping off his face till a moment of discontent flashed by on his features. It was gone before she could fully register it.
The clock let out a chime as the hour passed by. Nik smiled at her once more.
“Maybe we should talk?” He asked and she nodded, standing.
They walked back upstairs. Elijah appeared out from the door to his office and spotted the dejected look on his sister’s face.
He left the door open to his office and made his way over to the cabinet where a glass of wine sat. He picked it up and took a swig before turning and sitting down in the chair by the fireplace as they fully entered the room.
Nik raised a brow at the drink, noting the warm scent of blood wine. They had both taken their fill, but he shrugged it off as another side effect of the lure.
Theia followed her brother and sat down on the couch beside him, leaving the couch beside him empty.
Nik sat down on the empty couch and waited for her to ask what she wanted. He wasn’t sure what Elijah wanted him to keep quiet about, but Nik figured that she’d figure it all out sooner or later.
Theia was silent for a moment.
“How old is Holly?” She asked and Nik leaned back into the couch.
“Physically, she’s as old as a human five or six year old, but it has been less than six months since I met her mother in person.” He answered and he saw a look of intrigue in the elder Lockhart’s eyes. Theia, for her part, seemed to be confused.
“What is she?”
“She is what her mother was when she was human. A witch. Physically, she takes after hunters, though she ages faster.” Nik informed.
“What is her mother?” Theia’s brow went up, but the look of confusion did not slip.
“You have my research, I’m sure you can put the pieces together.”
Elijah stared into him for a long moment, “She’s a sex demon?”
Nik chuckled, “That’s what humans classify them as though they are a combination of many different supernatural races. Demon, however is not one of them.”
“Then what are they called if not demons?” The pureblood prince clearly wanted answers, of that Nik was sure, but nevertheless, the incubus was not too inclined to give them to him even if a little voice at the back of his mind chirped in the opposite.
The ex-hunter analyzed both siblings for a few moments. In hindsight, he really should have noticed the resemblance between them when Theia had been human. Very little had changed about her physically, her hair seeming to take on subtle low lights and an inch or two of length while her eyes were no longer the stunning blue that they had been previously- replaced by a menacing red that would send any human running in the opposite direction. That, coupled with the erasure of the many scars she had acquired since they were young through clumsy footing or the like.
Lockhart looked as he had, with only a slight addition of muscle that had come in as he reached full immortality.
Probably not the first time if what Nik saw was true.
Nik cocked his head slightly- to be honest, he wasn’t sure if the vampire knew it himself. Theia certainly wasn’t aware, but that didn’t mean much of anything as her brother liked to keep his hand close to his chest.
“Nik?” Theia broke him out of his thoughts.
Perhaps he should toss them a bone.
“She is what is called a succubus.” He alluded slowly.
The sound of a gentle rapping sounded from the doorway as the door came open slowly to reveal his daughter peeking her head in the room.
“Daddy? Can we go to bed now? Gus said he had to spend the rest of the night ‘babysitting’ Hiro-brat.”
A loud shout rang out from downstairs before the sound of rambunctious snickers made their way into the room. Nik stood.
“Excuse me.”
He swept out of the room, nodding in passing to Sparrow before leading Holly back to their room.
Inside, he left her to wash up while he placed some of the clothes from her bag in drawers and opened the bag, glad that it was charmed to hold as much as was needed.
He scooped out some of her clothes and placed them in the lower drawer where she could easily reach them.
Holly came out of the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a purple nightgown and dragging her bear slightly above the floor. She was still growing, just as she would till her physical body finished maturing. Isabelle had guessed that it would take little more than a year, though sometimes he thought her growth faster than that.
He lifted her into bed and made to step away for his turn in the bathroom when she grabbed his hand in her own and pulled him back. She wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, her head pressed up against his stomach. She squeezed him lightly and he patted her head as he had with Demetri when they were younger.
A wave of hollow pain hit him at the thought of his twin. It was the only thing that unerringly broke through his walls beside Holly. There was not a possibility that his brother would come back despite what he had hoped for when he was still a child.
Isabelle had told him of how nothing really mattered to her after her transition. All she truly cared about then had been her continued existence and carnal indulgences. He understood why.
It was far better to be having fun than wallowing in the wreckage of the leftover emotions of your humanity.
Holly was the only one he knew would never betray him. Sad, but true. Isabelle was very flippant when it came to anyone else’s lives, so Holly had taken to him better than her mother. She loved him without error, and it sometimes felt like he was the child instead of her.
He felt the distant thumping again, but it was as if it had been constant and had only just grown stronger over the course of the night.
“Daddy, they love you too.”
He stilled at her words, his brows furrowing.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at him and tapped his stomach with a finger, matching the thumping feeling perfectly.
“I think they’ll be boys.” She continued and Nik felt lightheaded and sick.
God, she had to be wrong. She was never wrong, but she had to be this time. Isabelle would have told him about this, right?
He stepped away and headed toward the bathroom, smiling at his daughter to put her to rest.
No, no, no.
He grabbed her bag as he passed the dresser and shut the bathroom door quietly. He turned on the shower and walked over to the vanity, placing the bag open atop it and reaching within to grasp the book Isabelle had directed him to when he wished for information.
The cover was sturdy but worn, the words labeling the book had faded so much that they were illegible. The book’s binding looked ready to come apart, but Isabelle had assured him that she had charmed it to remain intact when she still had her gifts.
He skimmed its pages for several minutes before coming across a picture of an androgynous succubae or incubi with a distended abdomen, though he couldn’t tell much more than that as the being had been decorated with a ball gown of some sort which only revealed a small part of the lower torso.
He continued on for several more minutes and eventually shut off the water, certain Holly was asleep.
It took him an hour, but he found a section over pregnancy. It was written in latin, but he read it with ease due to his hunter training. The short chapter told of how rare pregnancies are to either gender and detailed the birthing process, only lightly brushing over the actual pregnancy aspect of it.
According to the book it could last as long as two years, or it could be as short as three days. Nik thought on it for a few moments, gradually stripping off his clothing and turning the water back on.
He stood in front of the mirror for a moment, angling his body to the side to analyze any change in his form. There was a small, almost unnoticeable, bump that hadn’t been there when he put the clothes on a few hours prior. The thumping had been happening before he had sex with Kaname for the second time, so clearly it had been the first time that started it.
He was certain it was the pureblood- he hadn’t had sex with another male for a month, and that had been with an infertile vampire.
He felt a wave of sickness hit him again and fell to his knees in front of the toilet, bound there for half an hour before his stomach settled again. He slid into the now cold shower with a sigh on his lips.
Fuck, Onoe was going to be a pain in his ass when he found out.’
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