Chapter Text
The woods where quiet and peaceful, the roar and bustle of sinners that dominated in the heart of pentagram city could not intrude here amongst the sheltering trees. The soft pervasive glow of the red night sky was the only illumination amongst the dappled shadows. Carmilla bladed shoes sunk into the soft earth as her eyes began to adjust and she hummed, the small, worried noise the only sound to be heard. The trees, the earth, the dappled sky, she could not have been more out of element if she had suddenly found herself in heaven; but then that was the point.
Zestial’s eyes shone from the shadows as he watched her silently resting against one of the larger trees, the black of his clothes blended in with the shadows of the night though their design was no less discordant than her own against the forest scene. Still somehow, he managed to look entirely at home, relaxed amongst the smells and sounds that where so foreign to her. The benefit of familiarity, she supposed, the woods where his after all connected to the castle he maintained as his abode. A proper English estate the grounds spread for miles in every direction fenced by imposing dark stone walls that signalled a warning to any curious passer-by not to enter.
They would not be disturbed here and the only danger she would face tonight … well, her eyes flicked back to Zestial’s face, and she gave a small smile. He watched her hungrily still and silent, like an owl watching a mouse in the undergrowth. He had promised her a few moments to get her bearings, and he was a man of his word, still, not once did his glowing eye leave her.
She knew he could be monstrous when he wished. His visage alone was enough to terrify most people. Those who knew a little more would point to his centuries of hard-won experience with hell and its politics as a far greater indicator of his danger. His bloody history was common knowledge even amongst the lowlier sinners, all knew how he fed on the screams of his victims, how he took great joy in witnessing their suffering, and how he pursued those who wronged him with an inevitable persistence bringing destruction and pain to not only them but all those who would aid them. She was not blind to what he was, nor did not delude herself or try to envision him as other then he projected himself to be, to do so would be a disservice.
But, she knew well enough that the cover is not the book, and she had known him long enough and well enough to glimpse the pages he held close to his heart. For all he was the monster of legends; He was also a man. One who loved dearly and wholly, who was loyal to those who earnt his trust and fierce in his protection of those few souls for whom he truly cared, just as she was. It was what had brought them together pulled them from competition and placed them at each other’s side first as allies and later as partners, old friends they called themselves, but the bond went deeper by far than that.
She held his heart just as he did hers, each knew what brought the other pleasure and where for safety the lines must be drawn.
The long years together, standing side by side against overlords and angels alike had taught them how, to all but, read each other’s thoughts. She knew from the movement of his head or the twitch of a hand when he was angry or uncertain even when he hid it from all others and her mind was open to him in turn. She had no fear of him harming her not truly, or she would never have placed herself here.
He had proposed this gambit a few weeks prior, a small change of pace to their usual encounters. A hunt with her as the game and him as the tail. At first, she had hesitated she did not mind the chase, found the thought of him pursuing her exciting, but she was not some doe eyed maiden to be sort and conquered without resistance, not some pretty bird he could take without a fight.
So, she had agreed with one proviso, when he did managed to catch her, if he did, she was permitted to fight back in whatever way she wished. She could remember his chuckle, the smile in his response “I would have it no other way, bright dove, for what fun is there in the pursuit, without a little danger?”
She shivered a thrill of excitement curling in her chest and twisting down her spine they were no strangers to such games, still never before had they pursued it to this extent.
A rustle of leaves drew her attention back to Zestial as he stepped away from the tree moving across the leaf strewn ground and gently taking her hands. Her time was up, she silently cursed herself for squandering it.
“Thou art sure you are content with our plans. If this is too much for thee there is no shame is saying so. We may always retreat inside, spend the night by the fire instead,” he was always such a gentleman, even as he plotted to hunt her for sport, he worried for her comfort. She reached up to catch his cheek in her fingers tugging him down to her level a small smile on her lips and he interlaced his fingers with hers.
“I am sure mi cielo, and you know I am rarely shy when it comes making my views known. I am excited to try something new. If that changes, I will tell you.” She kissed his cheek, sweet and chaste, enjoying the way his expression softened under her touch.
He turned his head and she felt his segmented jaw shift against her palm, a gentle kiss against her pale skin. She could tell he was eager for the chase, for the fight, just as she was. His eyes glittered as he met her gaze once more pulling her touch from his cheek and releasing her hands a playful smile tugging at his lips.
“Then run,” He growled, the sound sent shivers down her spine touching something innately primal in the back of her mind. She grinned and twirled in a blur of black and white picking a direction at random she darted into the trees as behind her she heard him begin to count.
~~~
Zestial watched her black and white clad form disappearing into the trees. Flashes of light in the darkness and couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips as slowly he started to count loud enough for her retreating form to hear, at least for now. One minute was all she would get to run; to hide. He had promised her that when they had made this plan and he had no hesitancy in providing it, after all there was no where she could go that he could not follow in this forest of his. He took a deep breath the smell of the evening air washing over his senses, damp earth and dry leaves a slight chill in the air akin to that of an autumn night on earth.
He was intimately familiar with these forests had walked them often enough on his own to know the paths and trails even without sight, and so, in his mind he traced her path as her footsteps faded into the distance.
Perhaps it was unsportsmanlike to set such a challenge for her in a place where he had such an advantage but this garden, wild as it was, stood as one of the few places in hell he knew she would be truly safe. Protected from the outside world by walls he had built with his own hands protected by his enchantments and his own brutal legacy. Few risked even trying to enter, fewer left alive, none left unbound. It was the safest place in all of hell by his estimate at least for those to whom he meant no harm.
He had found over the years there were few things that compared to fear of one who sort to sneak into his domain. Sweet and warm, he could taste it on the air the moment they set foot upon his land it drew him in like a shark to blood growing only stronger the nearer he drew. The only taste sweeter than that was the taste of tonight’s quarry.
He ran his tongue across his lips as he thought of her, Carmilla, his oldest friend, his ally his partner. The way her mouth pressed against his, the feel of throat in his hand, her honeyed breath on his shoulder as she gasped and moaned, the feel of her skin twitching under his hands as he pushed her to breaking point. He let his mind wander through those pleasant memories feeling his own excitement building slowly, the count now halfway done.
The chase would be fun, a chance to track and pursue someone as skilled as her was rare. He wondered would she run all night, trusting in her legs and her stamina to keep him at bay, fleeing from him until she was exhausted, or would she hide? use her mind and her skills to misdirect him, to force him to seek her out. His fingers twitched as he imagined it, following her scent her trail tracking her to the shadows where she hid and pouncing onto her. Either way he would find her and then he would feel her claws and teeth, she was not one to go quietly she would fight with all she had.
Though perhaps not all she had. He knew she was armed, those silver shoes had shone so beautifully in the hellish evening light, but he knew with equal certainty she would not use those blades against him, not unless this fight truly became a battle of life and death.
The thought caused a surge of blood to rush southwards, his cock stirring. He had always enjoyed their fights, the battle for dominance that so often initiated their nights together. Not always bloody or even particularly violent, but oh how he did love the feel of her claws against his back. The struggle for dominance, a tumble to determine who would lead in the dance to come, and oh how they would dance, whether he led or her. His mind drifted back to the feel of her lips, her hips grinding against his, her hands on his skin caressing his shaft. His breath shuddered in his throat as his count came to an end.
Excitement tingling through his body, he opened his eyes, red pupils shining eagerly in the green orbs. The area around him was still and quiet and he hesitated for a moment. How should he begin? His body longed to rush to speed through the stages of the night until he could feel her touch once more but … he remembers an early lesson they had had together when she was young and new to hell. The sweetest things come to those who wait, to those who are steady and sure in their movement, who fear not the passage of time but embrace the power of its inexorable march.
Tonight was a gift a feast he would not taste often and so he took a deep breath forcing his body to still and his mind to calm as he reached out to the dappled shadows around him drawing them down to him and weaving them around his form sinking in amongst them as he moved slowly and deliberately towards the path he knew she had taken.
There was no rush no need to panic and fret, sooner or later he would hold her, that was inevitable, for now he would enjoy the hunt.