Archive of Our Own ^beta

Count Orlok had made all your dreams come true.

Not only had he taken you as his spouse and welcomed you into his home, he had ensured your bond would be eternal.

You recalled how the fire crackled as he led you through the ancient incantations, made the marks upon your skin, cast your hair, nails, and fluids into the flames. You recalled how you cried and howled as the transformation took over your body: how your teeth and bones lengthened, how your muscles and tissues stretched to accommodate them, how your organs seemed to be melting and reforming inside you like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Without any windows or sunlight, it was impossible to tell how many days and nights you spent writhing in bed, or how long your husband stayed at your side, running his cool hands over your flaming skin and promising you that soon it would end.

And one day, it did. With that, your new life could finally begin.

Your first impression was just how freeing your new form was. In the world, you had always been subject to the expectations of your sex. Sit this way, dress that way, speak this way, never fall out of line. But here in the castle, with your humanity cast aside like outgrown clothes, such rules no longer applied. In their place was newfound strength, speed, senses, power you had never known. You ran through the halls in the hours you once used to sleep, excitement surging in your veins, and wondered how anyone could possibly not want this.

Then came the hunger.

Of course, hunger for blood was part of the deal, this you knew from the start. At first you didn't recognize the faint pain in your body, dismissing it as a side effect of the rituals. But it grew into an unignorable throbbing ache, an emptiness that seemed to creep through your very bones. It was not a simple hunger for food, not a rumbling of the stomach. Nor was it lust; though the bodily sensation was similar in some ways, not even the most powerful lust leaves its victims so weak. This feeling could only be called pure appetite.

Though you knew the day would come, a part of you still feared taking this final step in your descent.

And though you tried to hide the ache, Orlok only needed one look at you to know.

With blanched face and trembling hands, you were swept into his arms and carried down the stairwell. His decisive words echoed in your ears.

“It is time.”

–

You awoke in a patch of moss looking up at treetops against a pitch black sky. You hadn't even realized you were losing consciousness earlier, but this current state left no doubt. With effort, you brought yourself back to your feet to see the count watching you from a short distance. He was shrouded, both in his usual fur coat and the shadows of midnight, though with your sharpened eyesight you could still see the lines on his face as his brow furrowed in focus.

Do you feel better, my sweet? His voice sounded in your head.

You nodded, trying to calm the trembling in your body. You knew you had gone far too long without feeding, and you knew he knew as well, but you hated for him to see you like this.

Join me. Take heed and make no sound.

Despite your current weakness, you still had the increased coordination and balance to reach him silently. When you did, he wrapped his arms around you and turned you around, giving you the same view as himself.

The two of you stood at the edge of a clearing in the woods, which contained a deer idly grazing on some grass. Young, female, a scruffy reddish-brown, a scar on her left ear from some previous scrape. She breathed calmly, her blood circulating at a healthy clip with each heartbeat. You heard it all, as clear as if your ear was upon her chest. How calm she was, believing herself to be alone.

Your stomach sank as you noticed your mouth salivating for her, and then again once you realized this was exactly what Orlok wanted from you.

“Do we not feed on humans? Can smaller animals sustain us?” you whispered. The deer chewed away, not even a glance in your direction.

“They cannot. Not for long. But it is best that you practice on something that cannot fight back.”

His thin but strong arms steadied you as your mind raced. You tried to silence the voice in your head, the human one. This was no different than a father going out with a bow and arrow and returning with venison for his family, you thought. It was your only choice for survival, and it did not matter that something had to die. This was life: you were predator and it was prey. Do not think about the peace you'd be disturbing, do not think about the gleam in her eye…

Orlok released you and lowered his arms to his sides, tacit encouragement for you to do what needed to be done. The slight shuffling of fur and fabric made the deer's ear twitch, and she took a step in the opposite direction.

You were upon her before you even had a chance to think about it.

She cried out as you forced her to the ground, straddled her back, and turned her neck to the most accessible angle. Teeth sliced through fur and skin and the first drops of blood hit your tongue, then became a stream that ran down your chin and into your throat. It tasted like your own blood from when you accidentally bit your lip as a child, but now sweeter than cherries, richer than wine, more intoxicating than any opium. You gulped and sucked and clamped down harder with your jaws, and the deer's distress calls slowly faded along with her heartbeat. Soon, there was nothing left to drink.

You pulled away with a gasp, feeling yourself re-enter your own body. The animal's corpse lay beneath you, grasped by your long, dirty nails. The front of your torso was entirely stained with red, as was the fur on the poor creature's neck. You shuddered, shivered, heaved in shock at what had happened. No, it hadn't simply happened. You had done it, operating on instincts you didn't know you possessed. You killed her. And you had never felt more satisfied.

You stood back up, with the life returned to your limbs, to find Orlok above you, staring you down. The whole time, he'd been silently watching you feed, and the expression on his face now gnawed at the back of your head. Was he proud? Disappointed? As shocked as you were?

Then you realized you knew that expression well. It was one you'd previously only seen in the confines of your walls. The way he looked at you when your clothes fell to the floor, when you gave your body over to him.

He was lusting for you after watching this?

You were quickly answered when he lifted you by the waist and slammed his body into yours against the nearest tree. The sturdy trunk scraped your back as he drew you into a deep, passionate kiss, one so long it left you breathless. When he pulled away, some of the blood from your mouth lingered on his lips.

He locked eyes with you. “You… are the most beautiful today that I have ever seen you,” he said with shaking breath.

You still could hardly think as he dipped his head to your bloodstained shirt and licked a trail up to your collarbone, moving on to your neck and stopping at the edge of your lips for another hungry kiss.

You wrested your mouth away. “But I just killed her!”

“It was nothing more than a meal,” he snapped. “Sustenance for a greater being. And there is no being here greater than you.”

Normally he would tower over you, but with him holding you off the ground you could look him directly in his burning eyes. He moved his body closer to yours and you felt his length press hard against you, causing desire to surge within.

No. How could you think of that at a time like this? You knew his nature well, but yours was not the same… was it?

Maybe you could trek back to the castle and talk this over. You could leave the deer for the morning birds to discover and the creeping maggots to take. The throbbing slowly settling between your legs could be attended to later. Though it seemed Orlok had very different ideas.

“This is the power of undeath… the energy you feel now,” he said as he pressed his thigh against your growing heat. A moan escaped your lips. He knew you too well, knew all the feelings deep inside that you tried to hide. And you could not deny that his attention upon you now, his adoration for your terrible act, was making you forget all your guilt.

Surely it wouldn't be so wrong to seek a bit of relief. You shifted your body so that the movement of his hips met your own, and you gasped in pleasure. The feedback made Orlok buck into you with more determination, his own carnal groans filling the air.

Your fangs clashed with his as you relished in the taste of blood on his tongue. So this was the monstrosity you had always been told to avoid, to curse and disavow. It was pleasure unlike anything you'd felt as the life you'd drained ran through your veins, and you wondered how you had ever been stupid enough to fear it.

You realized Orlok didn't intend to wait until you were inside, or even stop to remove your clothes. He was going to have his release right here and now, with the blood of your kill between you.

He found a spot to rub with his cock that made that familiar pressure build within you. Your moans echoed off the trees as you melted into him and his fangs rested on your neck, just barely scraping your skin. It was delicious torture being held on this edge, not knowing if he would give into temptation and dig them into your flesh.

You could only throw your head back against the tree trunk and wrap your arms around him as you loudly crashed over the edge, praising him and every step that led you here. He was soon to follow with an animalistic growl and a bite to your shoulder that sent sweet pain rushing through you.

He held you there for a moment, his breath rattling in his lungs, tasting the decadent juice that ran from the wound. While it reminded you of how he fed on you when you were human, you knew that you would never go back to that life, even if you could. Not when this feeling was what inhumanity brought.

Orlok placed another kiss on your lips, gentle this time. Two monsters bound together in the night they called home, spent and satisfied. You hoped the sun would never rise.