Soul Eater - Harbinger

Productivity

Vlad -

He could feel Seren arch her back, pushing her chest against his as he continued to tickle her sides, she had given up on trying to stay serious and let out her giggles.

Vlad took in the sound, being able to see her smile in the dim light under the blanket.

“Vlad!” She laughed, “st-stop it” he relished the sound of her laughter, the change in them both since the start felt soothing to him.

He couldn’t help but inspect her face, the overwhelming urge to kiss her was taking over, and she wasn’t denying him. He stopped tickling and moved his hand to cup her face, as she did the same. She gulped before breathing heavily, bringing her face to his and closing her eyes.

“Ahem” they both paused, Vlad quickly pushed the blanket off of them and sat upright.

Across the room stood his Mother with her arms folded against her chest. She stared at them both with a puzzled expression and one eyebrow raised.

“If it raised any higher, it would leave her forehead” Vlad smirked to himself at the entertaining thought.

“Am I interrupting something?” She asked, tilting her head.

“No, no Thalia! Not at all!” Seren defended, pushing herself away from Vlad and straightening her pyjama top out, secondly realising she was only in her underwear.

Vlad gently covered her up helping to conceal her embarrassment, and her underwear. He turned back to his Mother who rolled her eyes and moments later left the room, heading towards the conservatory.

Seren quickly excused herself from Vlad, as he watched her running back up the stairs. Vlad sighed heavily, leaning back against the sofa and covering his face with his hands.

“f**k” he whispered.

Seren -

Seren ran into her room, feeling mortified. She felt like a teen with a school crush, acting silly and out of character.

She got showered and dressed for the day before heading back downstairs to meet Vlad and Sarai. They sat around the dining table, discussing the layout of the hideout and forming plans.

Seren tried to keep her distance from Vlad, as he was sitting at the head of the table. She decided she would move away to the opposite side, facing Sarai instead. He noticed.

“So we can gain entry through the back window of the store room, the crypt is down the corridor and below” Sarai explained, annotating the map that was spread out on the table. “The brood usually hunt at nightfall, so there shouldn’t be too many lurking around”

“Good, we can go in undetected and surprise them” Vlad leant against his elbow that rested on the table, focusing on the map. “You say we should find their leader in the crypt?” He asked, darting his eyes towards Seren then Sarai.

Sarai nodded, “I believe so, he doesn’t go out to hunt with the others, they’d usually bring him back his meal.. from what I’ve observed. We need to make sure he pays for what he has done!” Sarai sounded angry, she sounded convincing at least, Seren thought to herself.

“Okay, I will go at nightfall, you will both stay here” Vlad continued, causing Seren to react quickly, “no!”

Vlad looked towards her, narrowing his eyes and frowning, “no?” He asked, sounding surprised.

“No, Vlad. I am coming with you” she protested, looking straight at him this time. “I need answers”

“Seren it’s too dangerous for you-“ he began before being interrupted by an annoyed Seren, she stood from the table and headed towards the door.

“I can take care of myself!” She hissed before storming out. She thought she may have overreacted, but this is what she came to him for. She wanted answers, she wanted justice for her family and her feelings over this man were beginning to get in the way of that.

Vlad -

Vlad raised his eyebrows as he watched Seren storm away, the fire behind her attitude intrigued him more and more. He never thought that she was weak or couldn’t care for herself, but he didn’t want anything to happen. He couldn’t live with himself if it did.

He sighed loudly before returning to Sarai again, “if you’re going to object to staying out of danger too, now is the time”

Sarai scoffed and nodded, “I want to come along too, I can be of use finding the crypt”

Vlad nodded in response, feeling like he didn’t really have a choice.

Later on that day, Vlad decided he had to find Seren. He wanted to discuss the plan with her since she was so determined to come along.

He found her sitting in front of the fireplace in the library, scrolling through a velvet covered book, on the cover it read “herbalism for beginners”, making him chuckle to himself.

“What?” She asked without looking up from her book. He stopped in his tracks, raising a brow. He had never been spoken back to by someone so feisty before.

“I wanted to talk to you about tonight” he explained before sitting beside her on the carpet. “You know we have perfectly good and comfortable sofas?” He mocked.

She flashed her eyes towards him before returning to her book, “the floor isn’t bad either”

“Seren, I don’t want anything to happen to you” he confessed, lowering the book from her hand. She had no choice but to look at him, even if she was annoyed.

“I know you believe you can take care of yourself but these creatures are dangerous, you don’t know what they’re capable of” he sighed. He watched Seren’s eyes inspecting the multitude of scars on his arms, concealed by his tattoos.

She continued to stare, running her thumb along a thick scar.

“This one if from my first ever fight.” He began, rotating his arm for her to see, “a gang of demons were enslaving villagers. My parents were teaching me at the time about our kind, when they attacked.” He explained before placing his hand over hers and bringing it to his other hand.

“I couldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to you”

She stared at their hands before placing her free hand on top of them all, she stayed like this for a moment before looking to him again.

“I like your scars” she whispered, changing the subject momentarily and sharing a small smile. “Vlad, I need to find out why it was my family who they attacked” she continued, her eyes welling up. “My home, and my family are gone, if I can learn anything against vampires, now is the time”

Vlad nodded, he understood her need for knowledge. He removed his hand to wipe the tear from her cheek. He hovered for a moment as he admired her.

“Promise you’ll stay close to me. Promise you won’t just wander off” he sighed, hating the thought of her being put in any danger.