A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik felt a sharp sting in his neck, followed by a somewhat unsettling sensation of having his blood sucked away, but he was used to that by now, thanks to Astrid.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

And it wasn't like there were no benefits to him.

Seraphina's body was firm, yet soft in all the right places, and it was wrapped around Erik tightly as she gulped down his blood with relish. At the same time, her eyes fluttered, and a pleasured yet muffled moan escaped the lips pressed against his neck.

Erik grinned slightly, and finally took his arms from behind his back, to wrap them around the vampire. One arm he kept on her back, but the other snaked down to her incredible ass, which he immediately started to knead and fondle.

His grin widened when he felt Seraphina respond to his touch and begin to moan louder.

This was what he enjoyed the most, even if it was a little ambivalent and contradictory to what he claimed to want for his wives. On the one hand, he wanted those he cared about to have independence and freedom, but on the other, he immensely enjoyed it when they relied and depended on him.

He certainly enjoyed it enough to compensate for the feeling of having his blood sucked away.

Meanwhile, Emma looked at them with a smile, Emily with a grin, and Astrid with a slightly jealous pout.

A few minutes later, after she finally had her fill, Seraphina released his body with a gasp. The rush of energy she felt rampaging through her body caused her to pant and stagger backwards, out of Erik's arms. When she hit the couch behind her, she dropped down on her ass and leaned back as far as she could.

Erik watched her with an amused grin, and quickly noticed she was shaking slightly with a crazy grin on her face. "Fuuck," she half-sighed half-groaned contentedly. "I feel like an addict who fell of the wagon"

She looked up at Erik with a strange expression, "You really do taste ridiculously good. And this power flowing through me is like nothing else I can think of… Really, what is it that makes your blood so ridiculously good?"

Her question caused Erik to grin, and shrug casually, "It's just my natural handsomeness spilling over into my blood."

"Uh huh, right," Seraphina rolled her eyes even as she continued revelling in the feeling of finally having a belly full of Erik's blood again. Fortunately, Erik felt none the worse for wear, as his Runebound, Elora-powered body was perfectly capable of keeping up with the blood loss.

Erik, and Emily behind him, smiled at her defiance. "I can see you're feeling better already," he smirked as he turned around to sit between Astrid and Emily again, before accepting his tea back from Emma.

The vampire's face fell as she was reminded of her current situation, but she nodded and sat up straight after finally having fully recovered. "Yeah… I haven't had this much energy and focus since your blood ran out," she muttered softly. "Finally, my thoughts aren't a jumble anymore."

"You seem almost unhappy about that," Erik smirked, while leaning back, crossing his legs, and sipping his tea. Meanwhile, the others watched their interaction patiently, and Elora reappeared on his shoulder.

Seraphina shook her head slowly, and with an uncertain frown. "Not… unhappy, per se. I'm just starting to accept I'll probably never be free of you now."

Erik smiled softly, "And that's a bad thing?"

She shrugged a little helplessly, but then fell silent. Erik didn't say anything either, as he and Seraphina looked at each other. Finally, the vampire made a strange observation, "You know, I never figured you for a tea person. I expected you to like a stiff drink."

Erik raised an amused eyebrow at her sudden question.

"You're not wrong," he chuckled and shook his head. "But you know how hard it was to find alcohol that would affect me when I lived on Söl? Arcanist bodies still improve, but far slower than ours, so by the time I reached second rank, I already needed alcohol meant for fifth rank Arcanists to feel anything."

He raised his teacup and shrugged, "It wasn't worth the expense, so tea is a decent alternative."

"Oh?" Seraphina suddenly grinned teasingly, as if knowing something he didn't. But then she was surprisingly forthcoming with the information. "You know, the Council has been experimenting with Runebound alcohol. You could try asking Katya for a recipe."

Surprisingly, it was Emma who reacted the strongest. "Oh! Master, I could make that for you!" she exclaimed with a bright smile as she clapped her hands excitedly.

Although it hadn't been her focus by any definition of the word, Emma had been practicing alchemy a little in the crafting hall over the past year.

Erik chuckled and nodded as he turned behind him, "Sure, Emma. That would be lovely, I'll contact Katya later to ask her about it." Next to him, Astrid appeared to be equally interested.

But first, they still had other things to deal with, which caused Erik to turn back to Seraphina with an amused smirk. "Thank you for that. But you do realize you'll need to do better if you're trying to distract me from the kraken in the room?"

The raven-haired vampire's face turned wry as she shook her head, "Not trying to distract you, just trying to buy some good will."

Her expression hardened, before she continued, "I know I fucked up… and I know you saved my life by endangering yourself and the others. So if there's anything I can do to apologize and thank you, please let me know."

This Seraphina was truly a far cry from the one they'd seen before. This one was colder, more distant, but not unfriendly, and certainly more like the Seraphina they all remembered.

Erik nodded appreciatively. "I do have something that I'll need you to do, as both punishment for endangering us, and to show your gratitude for saving you."

He shrugged with a hint of amusement, "To be honest, had it been just me, I would simply consider it the cost of being a gentleman, but my harem council has decided there need to be consequences, and their opinion is important to me."

"Harem council?" Seraphina wondered with a hint of incredulity, but also with appreciation, as she panned her gaze between Erik's wives. She liked the fact Erik's wives came were so harmonious. She'd seen a number of harems in the Council, but they usually were somewhat hostile towards each other.

Discover stories with empire

"That's right," Erik chuckled. "It was news to me as well. Good news is that they decided my decision to save you was a good one. The bad news, is that they want something from you in return."

"But!" Erik smiled mysteriously. "Even the bad news comes with a little bit of good."