#the Dracula bram didn’t want you to see

[itty-britty-blog]

This seems like a good time to remind the world of Makt Myrkanna, or Powers of Darkness, the insane Icelandic Dracula fanfic by Valdimar Ásmundsson that managed to pass itself off as just a regular translation for OVER 100 YEARS and no one noticed.

Anyway, it’s a great read, check it out

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Final Girl.

Pairing: Yandere!Chrollo x Reader (HxH).

Word Count: 1.4k.

TW: 'Girl' Is In The Title But Reader Is Gender Neutral, Death and Blood, Mentions of Guns, Manipulation, Implied Kidnapping, and Spoilers for the Ninteenth-Century Novel Dracula.

The night you met him was, by no coincidence, also the night you learned what it meant to feel your blood run cold.

‘Met’ might’ve been an exaggeration. You didn’t meet him so much as you stood still and stared at him – lumbering down the hallway, clutching a gore-splattered butcher's knife, his suit disheveled and stained with a dark, blotting substance you couldn’t bring yourself to put a name to, in your fear-induced paralysis. With the manor's high ceilings and dim lighting, he seemed impossibly tall, his black eyes blank and terrible, his smile manic in a way that sent a chill up your spine, that left you frozen where you stood and unable to run as he came to stand in front of you, as he raised a hand and—

And pointed to the book tucked under your arm, a yellowed paperback beaten to hell and back from weeks of loving abuse. You’d spent hours wondering if you should bring it with you, if there was anyone else on the face of the planet who’d be stupid enough to bring a book to a mascarade ball, but you figured you’d have to step out for a breath of fresh air at some point, tonight, and phones weren’t really an option at this kind of thing. Looking back on it, you struggled to remember why you’d spent so much time agonizing over something so inconsequential, especially when whoever found your body likely wouldn’t pay it a second glance. “Is that—” He started, pausing to wet his lips before correcting himself. “Is that Bram Stoker’s Dracula?”

You blinked several times, shifting your weight. “It is,” you managed, eventually, just before the point of no return. “I… I’m only a few chapters in, though. They’re only on the second blood transfusion.”

His smile widened. “I’m reading it for the second time, now. That’s one of the best passages - you can practically feel the dread mounting in the prose.” While he spoke, you stole another glance at his attire. With your shock beginning to fade and your nerves given a few seconds to cool, you could see that he clearly hadn’t just walked out of a crime scene. His clothes were wrinkled, but not torn, not displaced the way they would’ve been if he’d been in a real fight, and he was covered in a cartoonish amount of (presumably fake) blood. He couldn’t have meant for it to be realistic, not unless you were supposed to believe he’d bled twenty people dry on his own.

He must’ve noticed you staring. His rambling trailed off into an airy chuckle, his free hand drifting to his blood-soaked shirt. “I’m afraid I might’ve misread my invitation,” he admitted, with a slight shrug. You were almost in awe of his nonchalance. Showing up to a masquerade ball in a costume fit for a b-rated haunted house would’ve left you catatonic for… god, the rest of the year, at least. “That’s how I found my way back here, actually. You can understand why I wouldn’t want to stay in the ballroom for very long, considering I’m dressed for a very different party.”

“No, no, that makes a lot of sense! I mean, a costume party would be more in-season.” You felt like an idiot. You could only hope you hadn’t looked as scared as you felt. “Honestly, I’m just surprised they let you in with a prop.”

He glanced to his ‘knife’, too, as if he’d forgotten he was holding it. “Oh, this little thing?” He took the blade in his free hand, bending it downward. Unceremoniously, it snapped into two pieces as easily as if it’d been made of little more than tin foil and plastic - which, to be fair, it probably was. “Most people struggle to see me as a threat, for whatever reason.”

��The doormen probably just felt bad for the strange man who showed up to a charity gala covered in blood.” You spared a small smile, then genuinely brightened, taking up your novel and fishing out the spare mask you’d shoved between the pages while you were getting ready. He should’ve counted himself lucky that you could never be bothered to find a real bookmark. “Mine came in a set of two,” you explained, signaling for him to bend down. A little too easily, he obeyed, stooping just low enough for you to work your spare mask over his head. It was cheaper than anything you would usually like to show off – the base simple black cloth, the embroidery meaninglessly gaudy, the main body kept in place by little more than a simple white ribbon that never seemed to sit just right, but he accepted your offering with a grateful hum. “It’s not much, but—” You paused, buttoning his suit jacket, doing your best to make it look a little less like he’d just walked out of a bad slasher movie and a little more like a tragically color-blind, but ultimately well-dressed party-goer. “It should get you through the door.”

He straightened his back, and you thought you might’ve seen something spark in his dark eyes. Then again, it could’ve just been the moonlight. “I don’t think I ever got your name.”

Oh, right – that was something most people did before offering to fix a stranger’s clothes, wasn’t it? You rushed to introduce yourself, and he did the same. “Chrollo Lucilfer.” And then, offering you his hand, “Perhaps I’d be more warmly received with a plus one?”

As hesitant as you were to slip back into the ballroom on the arm of a disheveled stranger who’d already made an impression of his own, it would’ve broken your heart to turn him down. That, and you might’ve had a weakness for disheveled strangers who fell on the more handsome side of the spectrum.

You laughed as you threaded your arm through his, letting Chrollo guide you back to the main event. A second passed with only the sound of your footsteps and distance music to fill the quiet, then another. Eventually, you broke the silence. “It’s very well-written,” you started, trying to fight the urge to fidget. “But… I don’t think I’m the right audience. I care too much about Lucy. Seeing her go through so much and knowing she’s not going to make it is just—” You sighed, shook your head. “It’s agony. Especially when the villain is literally in the title. I mean, I know the characters don’t know that, but still.”

“The benefit of a voyeur's perspective.” For all his glowing praise, he didn’t seem very offended. “I think the dramatic irony is part of the appeal. By the time the tension breaks, it’s nearly too painful to keep going.”

“Which is exactly why it hurts to read,” you groaned, slumping into his side. “I get why it’s happening, but I just can’t stand spending so long on the build-up knowing how it’s going to end. It probably doesn’t help that Lucy’s one of my favorites, either. Well, aside from Mina, but it wouldn’t be fair to compare her to the author’s self-insert.”

The two of you came to a pair of rounded oak doors. There’d been a pair of attendants stationed outside when you left, but Chrollo didn’t seem to mind shouldering it open himself, ushering you inside with a smile and an idle gesture. You took a second to steel your nerves, still not entirely prepared to throw yourself into a very crowded room filled with very loud music and very eager socialites, then crossed the threshold, coming face to face with—

Carnage. Pure, unadulterated carnage.

There were bodies everywhere, each corpse mangled and bruised and broken in every possible way. Dark blood and broken glass covered the formerly pristine ivory floor, and the walls were painted with the remnants of gunfire. A few people were still standing – the murderers, you figured, judging by the blood on their outlandish clothes, the weapons in their hands, the indifferent agitation written across their expressions as you stared at them in horror, as your heart threatened to give out for the second time that night. The tallest man you’d ever seen pointed a hand-held machine gun in your direction, but Chrollo found his way back to your side, resting a hand on your shoulder as he spoke. “Hold your fire,” he said, casually, as if you weren’t standing at the edge of a bloodbath. As if he’d known what he was leading you into. “I think I’m going to keep this one.”

You didn’t say anything. You couldn’t speak. You couldn’t move. You couldn’t breathe. The air hitched in your throat as he brought a hand up to your chin, tilting your head back and forcing you to meet his unblinking stare. You’d been right the first time. There was never anything his eyes could’ve been but terrible. “I always did like Mina.”

There was never anything he could’ve been but a monster, prowling for his next kill.

“I guess I just have a soft spot for survivors.”

[gay-dorito-dust]

damian wayne fluff pls

Damian didn’t have much of a childhood, at least not a one he could look back at fondly and proudly. So whenever he saw you indulge yourself in an adult colouring book had him was conditioned into thinking was boring or childish, and yet he would still find himself missing something that he couldn’t put his finger on without becoming irritated.

‘Damian?’ Your voice brought him out of his thoughts as he looked over to you, seeing that you had stopped colouring to stare at him with concern.

‘Yes?’ He replied, not liking the fact that he has been interrupted from his reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

‘Would you like to colour in a page of this book with me?’ You asked as you gestured to the book in front of you and Damian scoffed, going back to his book. ‘No, I don’t partake in childish activities.’ He responded.

‘Is that what you believe or what you’ve been told to believe when with the league of assassins?’ You said all of a sudden and Damian bristled as his eyes darted to every possible corner of the room, almost as though the aforementioned league could be overhearing your conversation from their hiding spots.

‘What makes you say such a thing.’ Damian hissed as he moved to look at you but you were far more interested in colouring the page of your book, hyper aware of the stare he was giving you but you didn’t care you just wanted him to know what it’s like to be normal, even if it was for five minutes. ‘I just think you deserve to do something that you can look back on and remember that not everything is bleak and downpours of rain, it can be warm and golden.’ You shrugged your shoulders as you finally allowed yourself to look over at Damian, who had a conflicted look across his face, and you couldn’t help but bring your hand over his and squeeze reassuringly.

‘It’s okay to let the walls down Damian, you’re not there anymore, you’re with me and you can find yourself here if you feel comfortable enough to do so.’ You continued as Damian closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He knew he was in a safe place with you, that he didn’t doubt, but he couldn’t just bring his walls down all that easily even if he wanted to and he really wanted to. However he didn’t know how to without relapsing into old ways that’ll end in you being pushed away as a result; he was scared of how things would end for him if he dared to open his heart just a little.

‘What good would that do me?’ Damian says sharply. ‘End up with everyone I know dead because I decide to give one person an ounce of trust and let them into my life?’ He adds and he felt you squeeze his hand again but also the caressing of your thumb against the back of his own. ‘You’re a great judge of character Dami, you wouldn’t have trusted me otherwise and I’m grateful for that, but have I made you distrust me yet?’ You questioned him and Damian knew that you knew the answer to that, and it was no.

He looks at your hand and squeezes back softly, making you smile, before he gestures to your colouring book. ‘Is the offer to colour one of your pages still available?’ He asks and you were quick to share your colouring pencils with him as you presented the book before him to pick a page of his choice. ‘Oh absolutely.’ You replied as you made yourself comfortable next to him as the next hour you and Damian spent colouring in pages and making the other laugh.

[bindeds]

[ BITE ME. ] : 1k words » LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR X FEM READER. — lucifer sees you reading dracula by bram stoker and apparently he thinks it’s one of the best things that came out of giving humans free will. so he indulges in it.

#tags. biting (obviously), vampire teeth, replication of the seductive nature of vampires, suggestive, blood sucking, blood, explicit consent

a/n. thank you so much for 100 followers! i was supposed to disclose what i wanted to do for 100 followers but i promise i pack a lot of punches! stay tuned for that post bc i will be doing a LOT of things for you personally!

mlist. request something! :>

You were completely and utterly trapped in the jaws that belonged to Lucifer Morningstar as he lifted your chin. His eyes dropped to half-mast as your neck had been exposed to him, the clean skin glowed under the odd lighting of the hotel.

“What’s that you’re reading, honey?”

It’s an amazing thing, whatever it is he’s doing to you right now. Forget the heat rising to your cheeks. Forget that you’d complied to the fact that your neck is very vulnerable in the current state he held you in; your delightful book had still been sitting open and comfortable in your lap with your hand still holding onto either side so as not to lose where you left off. And Lucifer …

Well, he kneeled before you on the bed you shared with him, but he most certainly kept that small distance from your book instead of putting it away.

He leaned back a little, and you get a good view of his striped waistcoat and the way it curved around his … well endowed chest.

He grinned. “Dracula. I like that about you.”

“Dracula?” You couldn’t help but let out a breathy chuckle. “You like Dracula about me?”

“Oh but you must know that’s no laughing matter. Dracula … is one of the best things humans have ever done with their free will. Don’t even talk to me about vampires …”

Your breath hitched. His thumb froze where it hovered over your bottom lip.

“Vampires …” he repeated in a mutter, as if to think aloud.

You scrambled to hold up the book where you could see it, seeing as Lucifer still had your jaw held high and to the side. But the way you could barely keep the book from spilling from your hands had been more than enough to give you away. Fuck, in this pathetic state, you should have been the one kneeling.

Lucifer hovered just below your jaw. His lips parted, and you shut your eyes to embrace the sensory input of his touch completely; his breath fanned and spread across your skin like casting a thick fog over an abandoned island.

“Do you want to be bitten, my love?” His lips gave the faintest flicks against your skin as he spoke. “To be tasted?”

“Maybe,” you said, and it was nearly a sigh when the way he held you was a vice. Your blood vessels ached to be invaded, to be cut off course.

“Hmmm?” He dragged out the syllable like the tease he was. Then two ends like daggers poked you, threatening to tear through your surface.

They relented soon enough, gliding down instead of sinking into your skin. Your muscles blew ice cold at the lack of a threat.

“What about now?” Your name reverberated deep in his throat, the sound caressed your ear like the sweet thing you were in Lucifer’s hands.

You knew for a fact that this couldn’t have been real. Either that, or Lucifer had reformed his teeth just for this moment, in which case, the more you thought about it the more it didn’t seem all that surprising, the way he would do anything to get you flustered.

He pressed damp kisses along your jaw and down your neck.

“I could do this aaall day, my doll,” Lucifer hummed lightly. He finally let your chin fall to its natural position, only for your eyes to fall on him. His face.

His teeth.

Sure enough, they had turned a completely straight row from cheek to cheek except for the two pointed canines—they were the only teeth that shone in the light.

“Luci …” you sighed, releasing a breath like it was a prayer.

And Lucifer was listening.

He drew closer to you, his lips inches from your own.

“Your fantasies are mine to fulfill,” Lucifer soothed, his hypnotic voice slithering to your head and plucking every coherent thought you had left. “Anything is yours for the asking, you just name it.”

“Please, bite me,” you found yourself pleading softly. You bit your lip, averting your gaze. That was sudden, even for you; your tongue flicked faster than your brain could react. “I—I need you to bite me.”

“Good girl,” Lucifer beamed as his grin returned to him, and he wasted no time as he ducked down to your neck and planted chaste kisses in a concentrated spot where your jugular sat with anticipation.

You tilted your head to the side to allow him better access, and his hand instinctively supported the side you tilted on. You allowed yourself to rest in the warmth as your shoulders eased up.

“This is going to hurt, but only for a split second,” Lucifer warned in a deep voice. “Then, I will give you nothing but pleasure.”

You gritted your teeth as lightning struck your neck and your hand tightened on his wrist. He stroked his thumb up and down your cheek, and it did well in easing the pain before the dam of rigid pain gave in and pleasure took its place—took all the places.

His tongue lapped at the wound, teeth still anchored in your neck as you felt a bit of yourself, your cells, blood, muscle strength seep out of you steadily. Your head began to spin, but your limbs fell weak at the sensation that had you on the precipice of something you couldn’t name.

Then, his teeth slipped out of your flesh as his tongue took care of the rest—the forked edges covering more ground as if to seal the wound.

“How was that?” Lucifer pulled back immediately, a bright smile incorporated his face as thin trails of blood dripped down to his chin.

Your head had still been knocking against the edges of your skull, but you managed a smile and maybe a bit of a lightheaded chuckle nonetheless. When you readjusted your legs on the bed, trouble swiped cold between your thighs. Oh, well. What were you expecting?

“Kiss me,” you said.

“Sorry?” He asked. “Honey, there’s still blood on my HMMPH—”

You engulfed him in a kiss as you pulled him by the neck and fell back against the bed. He tried to stabilize himself but it didn’t even take another minute more before both of your clothes were as good as trash on the floor.

[drewsarms]

𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི dearest!reader x journalist!rafe

➜ For these two lovely characters. If you guys have ever since Bram Stokers Dracula then you’re familiar with these two anywhoo I hope you guys enjoy!! Oh I also didn’t prove read so if there’s some mistakes I’m sorry about that !! :(

➜ warnings: mentions of seduction, Rafe being a little subby, 18+ mdni

You knew you had to have Rafe from the moment you saw him. He infatuated you. Maybe it was his demeanor. Or maybe the fact that he was a mortal. Somehow, some way you felt drawn towards him. He was a quiet man. Never said more than a sentence or two. Couldn’t even look you in the eye when you’d say something. Almost like he was scared. But what was there to scared of? It’s not like you’d hurt him.

As the night grew colder and quieter so did your neediness for Rafe. You weren’t getting pleasure from your husband Dracula. He was always worried about other things and it saddened you to think about it. In the beginning he was so loving and sweet but that was all over now. You had a new feeling that was coming over you. The wind blew in from the open windows making your white nightgown slowly rise up. The wind tickled against your thighs making you rub your legs together. You started to moan as you closed your eyes thinking about all the things you wanted to do to Rafe. Your back arched off the bed as you continued to rub your thighs together. The feeling that you had for Rafe was becoming unbearable. You had to do something.

You rose about from your bed top toeing down the hallway to Rafe’s bedroom that he was staying in. You knock softly only to hear a faint “come in”. There he was. Sitting at his desk writing away in his diary about his last few days while he was visiting. His glasses were perched on that perfect nose that you couldn’t help but imagine how it felt rubbing against your clit. His brows furrowed as he continued to concentrate. “I hope I’m not bothering you.” You spoke out breaking the silence. The only noises to be heard was his pen hitting the paper and the wind howling against the window. “No. Not at all.” You walk further into his room shutting the door behind you. You didn’t understand how a man that sexy could have ended up in your home. Under your fingertips. “Was there something you needed miss”, he questioned in that low drawl. You were now standing behind him, closer to his bed. “Why don’t you take a break?” His hand stops moving. He sets the pen down. “I’m fine. Thank you.” You began to walk closer to him now there was only a centimeter of air between the two of you. You guide your hands up his back and snake them down his chest. You lean down to whisper in his ear, “please rafe. You seem so tired.” You began to kiss and lick at his ear lobe. As you looked down you could see the bulge growing his pants. He stood up turning to face you. You circle around him only to be in front of him with his back now facing the bed. “Lay back on the bed.” You whisper. He looks back as to reassure your question. “Go on Rafe. Lay back.” He slowly sits and rolls his back down onto the mattress still looking up at you. He can see right through your sheer nightgown. Your tits sitting softly against the material with your nipples poking and rubbing against it making them even more sensitive. He could see the entire outline of your pussy and it made him wonder about why you even wore it. You get on your knees and start crawling slowly towards him, pushing his legs apart slowing while running your hands against either side of his leg. His breathing starts to become shaky. You sit up between his legs, leaning over to press light kisses against his stomach. Your nipples sliding softly against the bulge in his pants. You begin to run your lips down his stomach licking at his happy trail. You smile when you feel him grow harder against your nipples. As you move down further you look up at him. Your lips right against his clothed cock. He’s looking at you wide eyed. Like he’s in a daze. You pucker your lips against his bulge and start licking sweetly against it, making his pants now appear a darker color. You can see a wet patch start to form just where his tip is. He bucks his hips when you lightly and gently bite at his cock, swirling your tongue around it. “Please miss. We can’t.” Rafe whimpers out. Of course you knew how wrong it was. As an immortal you could not control yourself but you had to have him. “Do you trust me Rafe?”

・・・・・

Your hips are making a rhythm that Rafe can’t keep up with. The way you were bouncing up and down on his cock made him feel so good. The way you were moaning sounded like music to his ears. “Oh, shit. That feels s-so fucking good.” You leaned down to lick at Rafe’s earlob, whispering to him about how good his dick feels. You knew he was getting close. “Give in to me Rafe. Please give in.” That was enough to send him over the edge, he started to pant and whine about how good your pussy felt around him. You kissed his cries away. This is exactly what you’d been wanting since the first time you saw him.

Taglist: @shawtycoreee @nemesyaaa @fae-of-prey @drewstarkeys-world @justafangirls-blog @rafecameroninterlude @drewspinkbunny @starkeysprincess

[ghostie-in-wonderland]

The Bookworm

fluff; gn! reader

Rin Nanami was a quiet girl. She looked very similar to Kento. She loved reading, which quickly became a problem. Her older sisters are so loud that Rin had become a master at hiding and finding ways to ignore them to be able to read. This resulted in every day being a near impossible game of hide n’ seek. Yuji met Rin at the twin’s 6th birthday party, because for once, Rin wasn’t hiding or at her grandfather’s house. The first time Yuji babysat the twins and her for Kento and (name), he called (name) crying because he couldn’t find Rin and didn’t want the both of them to be mad at him. (Name) informed him to not worry. They told Yuji all the different hiding spots Rin preferred the most, and then mentioned to just shout that if she came out, she could get a new book at the store. The moment Yuji mentioned the book store, Rin was out and in front of him, having been hiding in her parents’ closet. 

After that first time Yuji babysat, Kento and (name) came home to see the twins, Yuji, and Rin passed out on the couch. Yuji had makeup all over his face and a book in his lap. Rin was leaning on his torso, his arm wrapped around her. The twins splayed out with Kyoka leaning on his shoulder, and Natsu laying her head on his lap. (Name) took about eighty photos, making their favorite their phone lock screen before Kento woke them up. Kento secretly has the same photo as his lock screen.

Another time, (Name) made the mistake of leaving their copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker on the coffee table. Rin did not sleep for a week unless it was in her parents’ room with the lights on. Kento was snappy that week with Gojo and (Name) had to deal with a lot of complaints from the white-haired man. This includes how mean Nanami’s comments about Gojo’s recklessness have been. (Name) had to deal with an unsurprising amount of sass from Rin. Rin definitely takes after Kento in the amount of sass that she has welled up in her. 

Speaking of Gojo, he learned quickly that Rin would be his favorite. Why you may ask? She was cool with whatever Gojo was doing and would hang out with him because he would buy her as many books as she wanted. Often times when (Name) and Kento are both working, Rin would be hanging out with Gojo, Gojo talking or joking and Rin occasionally saying something while she read. 

Yuji isn’t sure whether or not Rin likes him and it stresses him out. He wants all of the Nanami’s to like him. Rin does, Yuji’s just not used to someone hiding from him. Rin enjoys Yuji’s kindness and his willingness to help her hide from her siblings (mainly the twins). Yuji enjoys the 5-year old’s willingness to listen to him ramble. Rin will sometimes ramble to Yuji, which is some of the only times she talks, and a majority of the time it’s about the books she’s reading. Yuji loves listening to her talk, especially because he knows how little she talks to most people. 

Rin is a daddy’s girl. She adores Kento so much. There have been times when (Name) has walked in to see the two reading in the living room together. (Name) often teases Kento that Rin is his little shadow. Kento usually retorts that the twins are (Name)’s little shadows with how mischievous they can be. This usually ends with (Name) laughing and leaving the room, calling for the twins. They left their husband and daughter in peace for the time being, distracting their two troublemakers. 

[autumnmobile12]

The Vampires in Castlevania

Vlad III Dracula Ţepeș (Impaler) was a real person.  He was a Wallachian voivode who was born sometime between 1429 and 1431, and he died in 1476.  The exact manner of his death has been lost to history, but the common belief is he was beheaded in battle and his head was sent to Sultan Mehmed II in Constantinople as proof of his death.

As for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, some historians are starting to doubt the prince was the actual inspiration for the famous vampire.  One of the reasons for this is Stoker was a very thorough note-taker, but none of his notes for writing Dracula mention Vlad III or any of his lifetime achievements/atrocities.  So it’s possible Stoker only chose the name ‘Dracula’ because he knew it translated as ‘son of the Devil.’  Further reading - Dracula: Sense and Nonsense by Elizabeth Miller.

Carmilla is the name of a lady vampire in the novella Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu, a story that is actually older than Stoker’s novel.  It features a lesbian relationship between Carmilla and the protagonist, Laura, and was written as a criticism of the Victorian view of women, specifically repressed sexuality.

Varney also comes from a book.  Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood was a penny dreadful written by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest.  (I haven’t read this one all the way through, but there is a scene where Varney is struggling to get over a garden wall, and I think that’s hilarious.  Not exactly apex predator material.)

Varney:  You think you have me stymied, don’t you.

Trevor:  No, I think a garden wall has you stymied.

Lenore is the name of a German poem written by Gottfried August Bürger.  It’s about a woman named Lenore who curses God because her beloved did not come back from war, so Death kidnaps her to reunite them, effectively condemning her soul for eternity.  It’s not about a vampire, but the poem has had a hand in influencing vampire literature.

Anyway, does anyone else really want to see Lenore cheering Trevor on in the last battle?  Or stealing the knife and ending Death herself.  Cause I do now.

The closest thing to a vampire in Viking folklore is the draugr, although this creature is more of a restless ghost than what we think of as a vampire.  They haunt the graves of the dead and guard the treasures they acquired in life by driving humans insane, drinking their blood, eating their flesh, and other nasty things.

Side note:  I’m really curious as to what led Godbrand to becoming a vampire.  Immortality didn’t really play a huge factor in Old Norse culture since the Vikings believed a glorious death in battle was the one and only way to go to Valhalla.  Other deaths that were deemed shameful or unworthy landed you in Helheim, which I really need to address further in a separate post.

Japan also doesn’t have an exact vampire equivalent, but they do have some yokai spirits that have vampire-like characteristics, including but not limited to:

Nukekubi:  A flying head that detaches from its human body at night and attacks people to drink their blood.

Rokurokubi:  A similar creature to nukekubi except the head doesn’t detach but rather travels from the body via an elongated neck.

Nure-Onna:  The ‘drenched woman’ is a large serpent with the head of a woman that drinks blood.

Personally, I would have loved to see Cho’s head fly off to attack someone simply to see Sypha, Alucard, and Trevor briefly panic.

[ewingstan]

So the whole idea of Twig’s setting is that instead of writing Frankenstein, Mary Shelley figured out how to reanimate and stitch together life. I have some ideas for how this would go if he chose a different author:

Tick: Instead of writing The Time Machine, H.G. Wells creates a....you get the picture. The Lambs are agents of a British Crown who want to ensure a future goes their way. Think Ars Paradoxica if the government didn’t just use time travel to ensure things went their way, but to ensure the world looked the way they wanted it to. Also would probably have a lot of future beings/technology taken from potential futures that will now never be.

Bite: Instead of writing Dracula, Bram Stoker discovered how to use blood for longetivity and enhanced abilities. The lambs are thralls for a vampiric Crown Empire, ruling over a populace they see as cattle. Wildbow gets in weekly Reddit arguments disputing any perceived antisemitic themes.

Maze: Instead of writing House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski figures out how to use people’s own psychology to bend the geometry of 3D spaces, creating rooms larger on the inside than on the outside and able to grow in novel ways. This gets adapted into attempts to improve housing, create unlimited storage, etc., but the psychological nature of the process creates a memetic chain reaction in which people who learn about the existence of such abnormalities accidentally impose it on other rooms and buildings in less-controlled fashions. The result is a world where most inside spaces are inhospitable labyrinthine worlds unto themselves, occasionally collapsing in on themselves as their inhabitants die and leave no psychological imprint to continue growing off of. The only known way to impose some control over your living space is to create layers of meta-narrative over your own relationship to your home, which allows for more nuance and control to be wielded against the expanses. The lambs are a group of specially engineered psychologies meant to impose meta-narratives onto psychological spaces in ways that render the spaces more habitable (or at least more useful) to their handlers, but run into problems as the narrat[  ] begin to get [         ] by the spaces they’re depl[   ] against.

Meta: Instead of writing Worm, John C. “Wildbow” McCrae figures how how to use tissues from a dead space entity to give others—

[saraanzu]

bsd speculation: what’s up with this girl in bram’s flashback from 107.5, and what can we learn about her from dracula?

(prefacing this with some rambling… actual analysis starts after the readmore)

107.5 came out the same day as the s5 trailer and it was right after an exciting mersault chapter which is the vastly more popular pov and it was a whopping 9 pages - it was bound to be disliked. I won’t pretend a 9-page chapter isn’t disappointing (no idea why recent chapters have been so short - I hope they get a bit longer again when s5 is done airing?) and I think it’s fine to prefer the mersault storyline but I’ve also seen some god-awful takes about this chapter.

aya and bram aren’t side characters! they have been core to bsd’s plot ever since their introductions (in aya’s case, her re-introduction) and you can dislike them all you want but it’s objectively incorrect to claim they aren’t important to the story.

I also don’t agree with the take that 107.5 didn’t further the plot at all - obviously not a lot can happen in, again, 9 pages (that’s 1/3 the length of 107!) but aya deciding to remove bram’s sword and him actually encouraging her to do it even when he doesn’t believe it’s possible and previously told her not to is a huge turning point in the story! 107.5 certainly isn’t a favorite of mine but I will say we’ve had (slightly) longer chapters in recent months that had more exposition and setup with less plot.

I’ve seen some people worry that, because bram pictures someone who looks like aya in what’s presumably a wedding dress, bram and aya’s relationship is going in a creepy direction. I want to make it clear that no matter who this flashback girl is, even if she’s bram’s dead lover and/or aya in a previous life, I highly highly doubt that anything weird is going to happen between bram and aya. their relationship hasn’t been set up like that at all, in fact bram has parallels with aya’s father and he explicitly sees her as a child (more on that later) (look. bsd is not above using some Weird Tropes. in particular, the tanizakis and mori come to mind (and in mori’s case, it doesn’t even really function as a reference to the irl author - vitas sexualis has nothing to do with pedophillia!) but it’s important to mention that, while I wish those tropes weren’t in bsd at all because they’re unnecessary and add nothing of value to the characters, they are ultimately gags and nothing more. they don’t really set a precedent for how weird asagiri is willing to get when it comes to legitimately serious plot points.)

okay! got it all out of my system here’s the actual post

part 1: the dress

personally, when I first read 107.5, I didn’t think this girl was in a wedding dress. my initial assumption was “this must be bram’s daughter, she’s wearing some sort of tiara and bram was a nobleman”. but looking at it again, it does resemble one, and we should consider how bram’s backstory might reference dracula.

“the brides of dracula” are three seductive vampire ladies who live in count dracula’s castle and attempt to feed on jonathan harker early on in the book before being stopped by dracula, who chastises them for trying to eat harker and feeds them a human baby instead.

while they are known as dracula’s brides in pop culture and are often portrayed as such in movie adaptations, they go unnamed in the original novel and their relation to dracula is unclear. from what we see of them they refer to each other as “sisters”, although perhaps not in the literal sense. two of them have dark hair and are described as having similar facial features to dracula while the third is blonde, which may imply the third is dracula’s wife and the other two are his daughters. I imagine they’re pretty vague and mysterious on purpose, they could be dracula’s wives/sisters/daughters, or even just some vampire ladies crashing at his house.

however, I don’t think we should disregard details exclusive to adaptations of dracula and only focus on the original book when thinking about bsd. film adaptations of the book are actually more influential on dracula’s perception in pop-culture than the book itself, so it’s not unlikely that asagiri would reference elements that appeared in adaptations but not the novel.

so, because of “the brides of dracula”, I think it’s quite possible this girl is indeed a bride. she does look a bit young for it, but I’ve seen others say they think she looks older than aya, so I guess that’s subjective (and people would get married younger in bram’s time I suppose).

that doesn’t mean she has to be bram’s bride - again, the “brides” in the original novel have no explicit relation to dracula and could easily be his daughters or sisters, and I really do think her being his daughter instead makes more sense thematically.

part 2: her relation to bram

I believe bram subtly parallels aya’s father in a few ways. aya’s dad is verbally and physically abusive, and he berates aya for not being good at traditionally feminine activities. he doesn’t see her for what she is, a child, and instead expects her to be a perfect traditional woman.

right before we see this flashback, bram is surprised by aya’s age, and comments that she is “too young to even use a spinning wheel” (also a traditionally feminine activity). both of them question aya’s desire/ability to be an ally of justice but for different reasons: aya’s father finds it unladylike while bram finds it too big a task for a little girl (he is also sleepy)

I didn’t understand the point of this scene’s inclusion before, but in retrospect I think it serves as foreshadowing for bram’s flashback and demonstrates how he and aya’s father both associate aya with dead people, but this causes them to treat her differently.

aya will never live up to her father’s expectations because she can’t compete with his idealized memories of the dead. her own accomplishments are irrelevant in his eyes because she isn’t enough like the wife and daughter he lost. I suspect his grief is part of the reason he’s so horrible to her in the first place.

it’s the opposite case with bram. in his eyes aya does compare to someone who he remembers fondly, and the end of 107.5 implies that’s the very reason he’s okay with aya pulling the sword out.

I don’t necessarily see bram as a father figure to aya (to me he’s more of a weird creature who’s sort of grown fond of her after being unwillingly dragged around… but hey, who says that can’t be a dad?) but I do think it’s possible that this mystery girl was bram’s daughter in the past because of how he parallels aya’s father.

(note: she has normal human ears rather than pointy ones, but bram was turned into a vampire by his ability and wasn’t bitten or born as one, so I don’t know if he’d necessarily pass down his vampirism to his children. he also may have developed his ability after becoming a father, or his daughter could even be adopted).

part 3: her relation to aya

the most common idea I’ve seen to explain the resemblance between these two is that aya is a reincarnation of this flashback girl. introducing reincarnation out of nowhere seems a bit random even for bsd, but surprisingly this theory does have some basis.

in the movie bram stoker’s dracula (1992), the character mina harker, jonathan’s fiancé, is a reincarnation of dracula’s long-dead lover, elisabeta. dracula recognizes her as a reincarnation due to their resemblance and mina agrees to assist him, still harboring feelings and memories from her past life. it’s fairly common for dracula adaptations to portray dracula and/or mina as having romantic feelings for each other, but this isn’t really the case in the novel, and elisabeta is entirely an invention of this particular movie.

so, aya being a reincarnation of a girl bram once knew could work as a reference to this. I did say previously that I think it’s possible asagiri will reference adaptations of dracula and not just the novel, but I’m not so sure he would make something specific to one particular adaptation a major part of bram’s backstory.

personally, I’m partial to the idea that aya’s ability will be introduced soon, and her resemblance to this flashback girl may have something to do with it. (the ability idea and reincarnation idea aren’t inherently contradictory, aya’s ability could very well be reincarnation)

this theory by @jo-dieeee suggests that aya’s ability is called mirror, due to the discussion of mirrors in 107.5 and the book above.

mirror: the fiction and essays of koda aya isn’t actually a book written by irl koda, nor is it just a collection of her stories. it was written by ann sherif and discusses koda’s life and works, including some translations of her short stories in the second part. however, the existence of this book and aya emphasizing mirrors in 107.5 is quite an interesting coincidence! whether or not it’s called mirror, I’m fairly confident an ability reveal is coming up.

it’s also worth bringing up that aya’s resemblance to this mystery firl might not have a supernatural explanation at all. it could easily be an artistic choice simply made to indicate that bram is reminiscing about someone who aya reminds him of. I’m not too into the reincarnation idea myself.

[pynkhues]

https://x.com/lestatdelioncat/status/1858608673855336516?t=KsAra9iHb3aUiMDx21TF2w&s=19 I dont understand what Jacob meant by this and I definitely would argue that Louis isn't the most vampire but that Claudia is

Mmm, yeah. My interpretation of what Jacob’s saying there is that Louis has an enormous capacity for self-indulgence, and its because he has that, that he has to restrain himself so fully. That makes sense to me, I think we see that in 2.05 in particular between all the boys and the drugs, but I think we also see it in how he bottles things up until they explode out of him and he does things like murder the Alderman Fenwick in a pretty gory and performative way, and, y’know, swims the Mississippi to get at Lestat (in more ways than one!)

Does that make him more vampiric? I don’t know if I think that does, but it begs the question of what you think determines a vampire’s core characteristics? It’s an ever-evolving archetype, and has definitely gone through a lot of iterations in the last twenty years in particular, but I think if you’re looking at the origins in traditional gothic literature, Louis is in many ways the quintessential vampire.

So! Let's have a look at that.

The origins of the vampire

The concept of a vampire in literature was actually created in the same summer retreat that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in, which is a delightful little slice of history. You can read more about it here if you’re interested, but the nuts and bolts of it is that a freshly-divorced Lord Byron, his doctor, Dr. Polidori, as well as Percy and Mary Shelly, and Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont (who was pregnant with Byron’s child, a child he really didn’t want), went on a summer retreat to Switzerland together, and basically just spent months reading each other ghost stories which ultimately culminated in Byron suggesting they have a competition to see who could write the best one.

Hilariously, none of them really wrote a ghost story – Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and Byron actually wrote two things, although he only finished one – a poem called The Darkness which is effectively a dystopian poem about the end of the world – and his unfinished project was a novel about a dying man who swears he’ll be resurrected to visit his friend after he dies.

It's this that’s actually taken up by Byron’s doctor, Dr. Polidori, who turns it into the 1819 short story, The Vampyre, with the lead character being heavily based on Byron himself.

In Polidori’s story, it features a man, Aubrey, observing his rich, sexy male friend, Lord Ruthven, who has superhuman strength and can’t be killed by bullets, and who seems to keep seducing women important to Aubrey right before they mysteriously die. Basically Aubrey slowly realizes through mounting dread that Lord Ruthven survives by drinking the blood of innocent women.

I’ve talked a lot about the Byronic Hero (and how I think Louis embodies the trope), so I won’t go too much into it here, but my point is that the original concept of a vampire is inherently built on those romantic ideas of class and wealth (which is important for reasons I’ll get into shortly), sophistication and intelligence, hiding in plain sight and seduction, and is generally understood to have queer subtext which many read into the relationship between Aubrey and Lord Ruthven (Ruthven literally seduces and murders Aubrey’s lover and his sister, isolating him to his companionship). He’s also inherently Byronic, being first started by him, and later based on him – Byron truly isthe I-don’t-know-if-I-want-to-be-him-or-be-with-him guy of literary history, haha.

Building on the origins and evolving the metaphor

It was the late 1800s though when some of the most genre-defining stories were published. The two biggest being Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1871) and, of course, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). The genre had evolved already at this point, but the archetype actually didn’t change all that much. In fact, the vampire as someone who is rich, predatory and seductive became character traits that became metaphors in and of themselves, namely as a class metaphor. This was started with Lord Ruthven in The Vampyre, but it’s really expanded here, particularly in Dracula, who’s understood in the context of the 1890s to represent the solitary nature of monopoly capital that sucks the life from the labouring classes. He hoards his wealth through land and gold, and preys on the working class.

There’s been a lot written on this, so I won’t labour the point, but the understanding of vampires as symbols of aristocracy and capitalism has always existed, and I know that we joke about Louis being the first vampire capitalist, but it’s actually not true. Capitalism has always been a vital part of the genre, because class has always been a central tenet of classic gothic fiction, for better and for worse.

Wealth and class is also central to Carmilla. It’s set in the 1800s in Austria while the wealth gap between the rich and poor is increasing, and Carmilla comes from an aristocratic, old money family. She benefits from being rich, and she uses her social power as a rich aristocrat in order to seduce and prey on people in the lower classes. Again, the entwining of wealth and class is really prevalent, but interestingly too, Carmilla’s the most explicitly queer of all of these early vampire stories, with the lesbian relationship woven through it effectively textual, but Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu also posits two means of being turned into a vampire, which is kind of uniquely interesting to me.

One is the way we know – vampires turn vampires, but the second is that vampires are people who’ve been rejected by God, whether due to suicide, as explicitly stated in the book, or excommunication from the church for a sinful life. While this hasn’t literally carried forward much in the genre, I do actually think its still there. The elements of sin and quote-unquote ‘corruption’ are still threaded through most vampire fiction even today, and while hedonism is more common in modern vampires, there are elements of misery that feel pervasive. The idea that vampires are born either through being turned, corrupted or dying by their own hand is just one that I find really interesting, and I think also speaks a bit to elements of the Byronic Hero that the vampire is inherently steeped in as an archetype.

…And evolving some more

It was actually Anne’s books in the 70s that relaunched vampires into the stratosphere popularity-wise, and they did evolve in theme and metaphor as a result. Vampires are understood to be manifestations of current anxieties, which yes, in the 1800s was the rise of monopolistic capitalism, female sexuality and homosexuality, and in the 70s through 80s became metaphors for anxieties around STIs, the AIDS crisis, and addiction in particular, but these themes of class and misery never left the genre.

That said, the Vampire as an archetype in and of itself was also informed in this period really by the Milton’s Satan archetype which has gone on to form the modern concept of the anti-hero. I talked a lot about the Milton’s Satan archetype here in terms of Lestat, but the important thing to note is that it holds to the idea of a protagonist as a fallen angel who becomes a hero-villain, hedonistic, vain, proud and horribly, terribly human.

So, do I think Louis’ the most vampiric of the vampires?

Yeah, actually. In a lot of ways, Louis marries all the foundations of the traditional vampire. He’s as wealthy, intelligent, and seductive as Lord Ruthven was, but he really feeds into the late 1800s vampire as a symbol of the parasitic nature of monopolistic capitalism and landed wealth. He chooses to be solitary and rejects community, he’s using women’s bodies to keep his family in wealth, he’s hoarding and commodifying art and wishing death on artists to increase profit, he’s gentrifying San Francisco, he’s turned in a church on a night he likely would’ve commit suicide, tying back into Le Fanu’s idea of alternate ways of vampires being turned, hell, he’s even doing drugs with addicts in the sprawl of the seventies, using his social power over Daniel by flaunting his wealth to get him into a room with him.

And he’s a Byronic Hero. So he’s miserable while he does it, haha.

That joy in the hunt that Claudia has to me is more like Lestat’s, which I do think as I said in the Milton’s Satan / Fallen Angel archetype post is more tied up in the demonic than the vampiric, traditionally speaking. There’s definitely crossover though, especially as Milton’s Satan has informed the modern anti hero, and vampires are generally always anti heroes in modern fiction. I don’t think Claudia necessarily is a Milton’s Satan either – I’ve said it before, but I think she’s a true Gothic Heroine – but she definitely has some of those attributes of a fallen angel, particularly in the sense of hedonism and perversion of form and family.

In a lot of ways, it’s part of the fun with Claudia – she gets these elements of both Louis and Lestat, and gets to be her own thing too. Her vampirism is its own unique monstrousness, but I don’t think she plays as cleanly into the traditional vampire as Louis does.

I'll leave it there, because this is way more than you asked for, anon, haha, sorry. Hopefully it's interesting.

[infitsovermisfits]

(working title) Alucard x Reader

((posting to see if people would be interested in reading. Lol))

sOME info before we start: 

I know it’s fucking slow at times. I wanted to mimic the gothic style of writing where there’s pages of nothing but i cant physically write boring stuff that long or i die so :p

Gender-neutral reader!! I tried to keep them as genderless as possible to give everyone the same experience and be inclusive to everyone :) i love this man and so should you all

Going by Bram Stoker’s Dracula canon and Netflix show canon because this very quickly became an obsession of mine and i needed to get this out as fast as possible. I’ve never played the games (rip) so im sorry for any inaccuracies or anything like that :( this is largely self-indulgent and you can’t tell me what to do.

enjoy!

There was an uncharacteristic stillness in the air tonight. The crescent moon hid beneath swirling grey clouds, as footsteps slowly and rhythmically crunched through the path in the forest. White puffs of air crystallised and floated away in the cold, drifting from your lips as you huddled in the dark cloak around your shoulders. 

This wasn’t just a nice stroll through the forest. There were no more nice strolls through the forest- not since Dracula’s night creatures became a permanent threat in the darkness. Nowhere in the world was safe anymore, you reminded yourself. You were just as equally at threat here, in the middle of a forest, as you were in your bedroom. You knew that first-hand. 

The sudden rustle of birds taking off, high into the sky startled you into freezing in place, chest rising and falling in utter fear as you watched the birds disappear into the sky. If you didn’t freeze to death soon, surely your heart would give out by the time you found any shelter. Standing like this, under the fragmented shadows of the bare trees, you never felt more alone. 

A low growl brings your attention to two glistening blood-red eyes. This was it. Your death staring into your soul and baring its fangs, saliva pooling under its slow and careful steps. Hunger coursed through its veins and the only thing repeating in its brain was to kill every human.

As quickly as you could, you yanked the silver dagger from its holster under the cloak, backing away slowly as more of the creature revealed itself. Wolfish in form, its mouth stretched uncharacteristically wide for such a creature. It’s heckles stood quill-like and its six, scurrying paws reminded you of an insect. Heart hammering in your chest as it let out a deep roar, you could only do one thing. Turn on your heel and run. 

Your urgent breaths; the sand, the gravel crunching beneath your feet; the fast-approaching six-legged creature just behind you. A sob escaped at the feeling of its hot breath tickling the back of your neck, droplets of saliva burning like hot acid against your freezing skin.

All around you, a tunnel of darkness led to a shadowy building at the end- though this felt like some cruel joke or illusion as it appeared farther and farther away. And then suddenly you were flying through the air. And then suddenly, your knees met the dirt. And then suddenly the creature crashed into you at full force, flying into the air and coming to a stop just a few meters ahead. 

Lifting yourself with a groan, you let out a wince as you collected yourself. While you remained, glued to the ground as if on a mouse trap, your eyes grew wide. In a matter of seconds, the creature was up and snarling, growling more. Snapping its jaw at you and revealing flashes of a pointed tongue, you scrambled to your feet. Your only salvation was behind it, though you had no doubt you’d be meeting your God through the jaws of the beast before you.

And now it was pouncing.

The only thing you thought to do was to raise the hand with the dagger up, shielding yourself with only your forearm. Expecting the sting of its sharp jaws to wrap around at any moment, you let your eyes open slowly at the sound of a metallic swing. 

A long, silver sword whirled through the air and suddenly pierced through the creature's head, pinning it to the floor like a toothpick. It gurgled some more, snarled once again and its hot, smelly breath expelled onto your face. At that, bile rose in your throat and all at once, the last scraps of your stolen bread emptied themselves from your stomach. 

“Oh dear,” Was the last thing you expected to hear in a surely haunted forest in the middle of the night. Here you were, moments ago, about to be eaten alive. And here was the most pleasant, soothing voice that’s ever met your ears. A man’s, monotone voice, seemingly void of emotion. You’d at least expect some witch, who now expected your everlasting loyalty to her in fear that she’d transform you into a familiar- though perhaps she was using this form of a… Beautiful man just to trick you into that. 

A frown lined his pale lips, appearing almost grey in such darkness. His complexion was the colour of moonlight, surrounded by swirls of golden hair. His grey eyes looked down upon you as he appeared to study you- an equally curious sight to him, it appeared. He was seemingly unaffected by the cold that rattled your bones- in tandem with fear- wearing only a white shirt, unbuttoned to reveal red scarring slashing his alabaster chest, and rolled up at the sleeves. It was neatly tucked into his pants, however, accentuating his slender appearance. There was a single blond curl across his forehead. He let out another sigh. Unlike you, he was breathing evenly, hardly exhausted from the slaughtered beast next to him. You could feel the still warm blood pooling beneath your arms, holding you up from the ground. 

Remaining silent for a few more moments, his expressions seemed to shift so quickly you could hardly make them out. Though you realised too late he was likely waiting for you to say anything, you were utterly speechless at the sight of him. Speechless, and entirely untrusting. Because why would such a beautiful man be here to rescue you? 

Perhaps he was thinking the same of you? Why anyone would find themselves so deeply lost in a forest like this at the beginning of winter? So far from their village too… Why on Earth had you found yourself here?

Unexpectedly, he shifted in his stance- where he was standing directly forward before, he stood sideways now- and even held out a hand. Though you took utterly too long to process that he was even offering you a slither of help, his expression didn’t change. He remained curious, observant, cautious. Lifting a blood-stained hand, it took you a moment to place it in his. Eyeing the dripping red liquid as it rolled down your arm, you grimaced. Glancing at his face to expect the same disgust reflecting back, you surprisingly didn’t find it. In fact, he moved his own hand forward so that when you lowered yours just slightly, it slotted into his. 

Despite the blood, you could feel the cold touch of his fingers. They wrapped around your hand securely and with surprising ease, he lifted you up off your feet. Steadying your shaking legs, you let out a few puffs of air, still trying to collect yourself. Eyeing the corpse of the night creature suspiciously for any movements, you felt his hand slide from yours as he examined the blood that you’d transferred to his palm-

“I’m so sorry,” You spoke, finally. His cold gaze shifted to yours, eyes just as lifeless as the creature next to you. Without saying anything, he whipped his palm on his pants. The blood still remained, 

“You humans don’t tend to venture this far into the woods on your own,” He spoke, and somewhere deep inside you, a warmth began to spread. Such a soothing voice from such a strange man who appeared out of thin air. Surely, he was a witches thing, “Not unless you are searching for death,” His eyes landed upon the creature who’d tried to eat you. Wordlessly, he now looked to you, 

“I wasn’t searching,” You answered his unspoken question, “I…” And you told yourself that the shaking voice, which just so happened to be yours wasn’t afraid but freezing cold. And the man before you stared, for a moment, before his brows slightly creased. You would have missed it if you blinked. But as much as you searched for a reason as to why you were exactly here, the words died on your tongue. Embarrassingly, you only let out a slight groan, before promptly shutting your mouth. When you swallowed, you could still taste the vomit. 

“You are far from home…” He pointed out, or was he thinking out loud? For such a quiet man, who appeared to calculate in his own mind so much before he spoke, he likely wouldn’t, “In the middle of the forests of Wallachia. The last I checked, unless you were a monster hunter, you wouldn’t venture so far into the night… Alone,” He looked from the creature to you with a curious gaze. Somehow, he began to slowly consume all of your thoughts until your mind was swirling. Who even was he? 

“Woruń,” You said suddenly, blinking in surprise, “I’m from Woruń,”

“You’ve made quite the journey,” He pointed out, and you could only nod as you dryly swallowed. With the twitch in his eyebrows again, you guessed he was conflicted. His head briefly turned to glance at the light at the end of this tunnel you stood stuck in. You took the chance to stare at his hair. In this light, it looked dull, its beauty dimmed by some darkness in the air. And all too quickly, he turned back to meet your still wide-eyed gaze. You stood so close to him. You should be able to feel his warmth, “There is a castle nearby. It belonged to Dracula Tepes. I will lead you to it,” He said. And without waiting for so much as a confirming nod from you, he turned and began to walk.

Two options were clearly laid out before you. To follow this man- your mystical saviour into the unknown castle of Dracula… Or meet your fate at the jaws of a creature such as the one bleeding below your feet. Stepping out of the line of the flowing blood, you looked back to the man. Without a second thought, you followed him. 

Wordlessly, you met his pace. You had no idea where to set your eyes upon- him; your feet; or the castle that was slowly being revealed to you. Still obscured by the shadows the branches held before it, as if trapped behind a cage of brambles, the man stepped forward and reached his arm out underneath them, pushing them up to allow you to duck under. As a thank you left your lips in a breath of crystalised, foggy air, your gaze became transfixed by the sheer magnificence of the building before you. 

Abnormally tall, the clouds swirl around the highest towers. Some appear only connected by thin bridges- floating in the air and defying all of the nature surrounding it. The slate gleams in the moonlight, its smooth surface shining in the soft blue way that night cradles the world. It looks like something out of a fairytale, yet simultaneously nightmarish. The iron bars that line some of the windows shine, and the ones that aren’t prison-like are composed in a mosaic fashion. 

From the sharp points, no flag flies. They seemingly only exist to pierce the sky, or at least threaten it to do so. There are a few walkways, and incomplete balconies. Entirely void of life, it looks so out of place among the shrubs and greenery of the nature surrounding it. It reminds you of the night creatures- or the apparent owner behind you. Finally, as your eyes pan across the giant metal doors, your eyes are transfixed by two rotting corpses upon wooden stakes, driven through their bodies and protruding from their mouths. Entirely naked, their greenish flesh is pecked at by ravens, and you swallow the lump in your throat as you cast a sideways glance at the man. At least he won’t attempt to eat you…

“It’ll be warmer inside,” He says, sensing your gaze that you quickly avert back to the castle. He walks forward and like a blind dog, you follow him slowly, keeping a few paces behind him. As you approach the steps, you eye one of the corpses- a woman. She smells, “Don’t mind them… It is a rather long story. Not one fit to tell a guest,” And this smooth voice seemingly enchants you further, as you find yourself continuing up the steps. You finally register a clicking and groaning sound, and turning to stare at the door you notice elaborate mechanisms involving wheels and cogs that work all on their own as they slowly open the doors. Though none of this makes sense to you, though it is all so unnerving, this stranger is too captivating to run from. Too beautiful to take your eyes off. Perhaps when he does kill you and stake you, it won’t be too bad. He comes to a stop and casts a glance over his shoulder to watch you slowly climbing up the steps, chest still heaving as you watch the doors fully open before him. 

Once you reach the final step, you stop to take it all in. And this stranger turns to face you, puts a hand over his breast and extends the other one with an open palm towards the castle. He bows, in an act that all too quickly surprises and oddly warms your stomach, like some good vodka, and speaks in a soft voice, 

“Welcome.”

[twistedtummies2]

Top 15 Werewolves

If there is a specific trifecta of truly classic monsters - a Terrible Trio as iconic together as they are separate - it would undoubtedly be Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Werewolf. The interesting thing there is that, while “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” are specific creations, the werewolf is more woolgathering. (Ha-Ha! Sheep puns for the win!) There is no Bram Stoker or Mary Shelley novel for the werewolf that everyone looks to for inspiration and remakes, reimagines, or re-adapts over and over again. Yet, at the same time, the idea of the werewolf is older than either Dracula or Frankenstein and his progeny: werewolf myths can be traced back all the way to Ancient Greece. That’s older than even most vampire legends! And that, dear readers, is probably why this list proved…challenging. I could go on and on about the symbolism of the werewolf, the themes present in most werewolf tales, the appeal and evolution of the concept, and so on…but I’m not going to right here in this introduction, for two reasons. First of all, because I will have ample room to bring those things up throughout the countdown…and second of all, because I just want to state OH MY FREAKING GOD, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS TRYING TO MAKE THIS LIST. This was sincerely one of the most frustratingly tricky lists for me to sort out that I’ve ever made. There are multiple reasons why, but it ultimately comes down to two major ones: first, much like with vampires, I haven’t seen every single werewolf-related thing under the Sun. So I knew there were a lot of really popular werewolves that I couldn’t rightfully include simply because I don’t know anything about them. Second, for the ones I DID know, it was hard to figure out what would make certain characters count, and what would help determine who ranked higher than others. There were just a lot of different factors to consider. Just as there were two major issues that made this difficult, I ultimately made my choices based on two points. First, I decided to exclude characters who were anthropomorphic wolves, but weren’t necessarily werewolves: to qualify, the characters in question had to either shapeshift from a more human form to a more wolf-like form, or - if they were in the same form all the time - the human side had to be more the focus. Second, I simply asked myself one question: “What characters do I think of most when I think of werewolves?” That was really the plain and simple point, and I tried to approach my rankings based on that: this is not a list of the “hottest” or the “coolest” werewolves, and it is not a list of the most sympathetic or the scariest werewolves, nor is it - for a change - a list about which ones I’d rather play or write for the most. I’m still not sure the ranking here is in any way definitive. If there are wolf characters you don’t see here that you really love (I KNOW there WILL be, frankly), the chances are high that I either just don’t know them, or they just didn’t make the cut because, again, this was a very difficult list to sort out in general. If you don’t like it, make your own. :P With that said…in honor of Halloween, here are My Top 15 Favorite Werewolves!

15. Grimm, Caesar, and Douglas Wolf.

From the games “A Villain’s Twisted Heart,” “Ozmafia,” and “Lost Alice,” respectively. I decided to include all three of these characters in the same spot because a.) I like all three of them roughly the same, and b.) all three of them have a lot in common. Grimm, Caesar, and Douglas are all “anime boi” type characters, all of them originate from fairy-tale themed romance games from Japan, and all three of them are their universe’s version of the Big Bad Wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood.” All three also start off the stories they appear in as villainous characters: brutal, vicious, murderous monsters, who will gobble you up as soon as look at you. However, in all three cases, as their stories in the games go on, you do see more sympathetic sides to them; in the cases of Grimm and Caesar, you even have the option and ability to fall in love with them. Douglas remains a villain to the end, but that’s about the only EXTREMELY major difference within the trio, at least that’s worth noting for this countdown. While I love all three characters, and the obvious eye candy cannot be ignored, I frankly don’t tend to think of “sexy anime guys” first when I think of the word “werewolf,” so I decided to place them very low on the list. Sorry, for any (if any) who were hoping they’d be higher.

14. Keaton, from Fire Emblem.

Yet another “anime boi” character. (Don’t worry, if you’re not a fan; they won’t be in great abundance from this point on.) I’m not SUPER familiar with the Fire Emblem universe as a whole, but I AM fairly well-versed with at least one character, and that is Keaton. He is the leader of a pack of lycanthropes referred to as “Wolfskins”: a tribe of barbaric, man-eating hunters living in the mountains of Nohr. They are able to shapeshift from an appearance that looks basically human, but with some wolf-like traits, to huge, hulking, grotesque monsters that are even more wolfish in form. At first, Keaton is an enemy of the main characters, but he ultimately becomes an ally and a friend and joins forces with the heroes on their journey. Keaton is one of those characters I love who effectively has two different sides to his personality: on the one hand, he’s a bloodthirsty sadist who makes no secret of the fact he enjoys tormenting his prey, and even collects the bones of some of his victims. On the other hand, however, once he comes to trust you and care about you - which is absolutely possible - he suddenly becomes flat out adorable: just a scruffy, silly puppy dog who likes to act all big and scary, but really is a softy. The funny part about this is that neither side is a facade for the other: Keaton is both a savage beast and a sweetheart, and that dichotomy is just so interesting to see at work.

13. Eddie Munster, from The Munsters.

From Japanese gaming guys, to suburban USA; what a segue. “The Munsters” was a 1960s sitcom series, inspired by the popularity of “The Addams Family,” which was going on around the same time. Though it only lasted two seasons, the show made a big impact, largely due to its interesting premise: it featured a family of Universal Monsters, interacting with the normal folks of the American town around them. While the original Wolfman - here called “Uncle Lester” - did appear in a couple of episodes, the most prominent werewolf character of the series was Eddie Munster: the daughter of Herman Munster (Frankenstein’s Monster) and his lovely bride, Lily (Dracula’s Daughter). How they gave birth to Eddie is beyond me, but regardless, Eddie is probably the friendliest and most adorable werewolf you could ever meet. The character didn’t start off that way, though: in earlier ideas for the show, including an unaired pilot, Eddie was a vicious, bratty little gremlin. However, by the time the show officially aired, the character had changed into a loving, happy young fellow who simply enjoyed spending time with his dad and was never seen without his beloved werewolf plushy, Woof-Woof. The character was originally played by Butch Patrick on the TV show; like other Munsters characters, Eddie has been reimagined and reinterpreted a few times over the years, but not a single version has really had the success that the original had.

12. Jiro, from Kamen Rider Kiva.

And now we return to Japan, though this time in the world of live-action media. I’ve mentioned “Kamen Rider Kiva” a couple times this month, and on other past occasions, but for those who don’t already know: the long and the short of “Kamen Rider Kiva” is a Japanese superhero show themed around Universal Monsters. One of the main characters of the series is our resident anti-hero, Jiro - a.k.a. Garuru - the last of the Wolfen Race. Most of his most prominent appearances take place in the past scenes of the series, set in 1986. For much of that section of the series, Jiro is an antagonistic presence; unlike Universal’s Wolfman, he isn’t a tortured soul tormented by his animal nature, but instead a cynic who sees the world of humans as corrupt and filled with folly. He enjoys devouring people whole, especially young women, and is as seductive as he is dangerous. However, as the series goes on, he shows more and more of a noble side to his character. By the time of the present day in the show, Jiro has changed his ways, and now works alongside Riki (the Frankenstein Monster character) and Ramon (the Creature From the Black Lagoon) to assist the main protagonist, Wataru, on his quest to defeat the vampiric Fangires. In his human form, Jiro was played by Kenji Matsuda. As Garuru, he was played by Seiji Takaiwa.

11. Man-Wolf AND Werewolf By Night, from Marvel.

Just as Marvel has had many wizards and vampires, it is also home to multiple werewolves. And just as I credited two vampires from the comic company in the past, I’m going to credit two werewolves. First, there’s Man-Wolf; a recurring foe of Spider-Man. The Man-Wolf is actually John Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson. John is an astronaut, who was transformed into the monstrous Man-Wolf thanks to a mysterious ruby he found while exploring the Moon. (As you do.) The jewel was grafted to his skin, and though it was eventually removed safely, John has returned to his Man-Wolf form off-and-on throughout comics history. Next, there’s the Werewolf By Night. A couple of people have held this title, the first and most famous being Jack Russell: a man whose entire bloodline is plagued by the curse of the werewolf. Initially a drifting beast of ambiguous alignment, the Werewolf By Night now uses his lycanthropic abilities to battle other supernatural terrors and criminal powers. While neither character is a household name, both have shown up in other media multiple times; Werewolf By Night, for instance, recently got a very interesting short film adaptation in the MCU, where Jack Russell was played by Gael Garcia Bernal. As for Man-Wolf, while John has appeared multiple times, his werewolf alter-ego isn’t QUITE as common. His most popular appearances have been in cartoon shows like “Spider-Man Unlimited” and “Ultimate Spider-Man.”

10. Ethan Chandler, from Penny Dreadful.

“Penny Dreadful” was a Showtime series that was made in homage to the various characters and tropes of “Ye Olde Gothic Horror.” The main cast consisted of a combination of original characters, as well as figures from famous works of dark classic literature, such as “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” Ethan Chandler - played by Josh Hartnett - was sort of in-between. At the start of the series, Ethan is a gunslinger working as a performer for a Wild Bill style traveling show. He leaves show business - albeit reluctantly - after being offered a job as a bodyguard by the two main protagonists of the series, Vanessa Ives and Sir Malcolm Murray. Ethan thus joins them on their quest to find the vampire that kidnapped Sir Malcolm’s daughter and Vanessa’s friend, Mina, and thus the series is set in motion. However, things take a turn when it’s revealed Ethan has some dark secrets of his own: his real name is Ethan Talbot, and he is - what else? - a werewolf. (Interestingly, while Ethan’s true name was inspired by the Wolfman, Josh Hartnett’s werewolf makeup was inspired by an earlier Universal werewolf, the Werewolf of London.) As a man, Ethan is a charming, heroic, attractive fellow, albeit not one without flaws. When he becomes a werewolf, however, he turns into a feral, monstrous beast that has no other purpose but to kill. As a werewolf, Ethan recognizes neither friend nor foe, simply lashing out in bestial fury at anything and anyone that enters his path. As the series goes on, Ethan’s werewolf nature becomes more and more a focal point of his character, eventually leading him on a journey back home to America, where he must try to come to grips with the ghosts of his past. While Ethan’s actual werewolf form didn’t show up very often throughout the show, this just made the moments where he gave in to the beast within all the more impactful and interesting.

9. Jon Talbain, from Darkstalkers.

I’ve brought up Darkstalkers two or three times throughout this month, and it seems I must do so one last time. For those who don’t already know, this classic fighting game series was a tribute to the Universal Monsters, with characters inspired by Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, the Creature From the Black Lagoon, and others. Jon Talbain is our resident werewolf of this universe, and while I actually only recently got into this series and its lore, I actually knew about Talbain for a long time. The character seems to be one of the more popular in the franchise, and I’d seen a great many pieces of fanart featuring him long before I actually looked into the games and spin-off materials. Talbain is a bizarre combo of the Wolfman and Bruce Lee…no, seriously. Those were the two separate influences on his character. Talbain has been plagued by the werewolf’s curse since birth: his parents were a human and a werewolf respectively. He has lived as an orphan most of his life, as his mother died in childbirth, and his father apparently left early on. Talbain finds his lycanthropy a curse, as he is shunned by human society, which he has since formed a bit of a grudge against. While not necessarily evil, Talbain sees humanity as corrupt, prejudicial, and untrustworthy; he doesn’t go out of his way to hurt people, instead hoping to find a way to fight his primal urges, but he has no love for humanity as a whole. Now, that’s all well and good, but your probably wondering where the Bruce Lee side of things kicks in: to try and keep his powers in check, Talbain took to studying martial arts, and his moveset in the games, and his taunts, are inspired by Lee’s, with a bit of supernatural spookiness thrown in here and there. I think it’s the exposure to the aforementioned fanworks, before even learning much of the universe, that gets Jon so high in the ranks; I always liked the character’s design and the bare basics of what I knew from those pieces, and learning about him AS a character has only intensified that interest.

8. The Three Werewolves from Van Helsing.

Yes, once more we return to Stephen Sommers’ less successful attempt at managing the Universal Monsters, following his generally more lauded work with “The Mummy.” A critical and box office failure, “Van Helsing” - a tribute to classic “Monster Mash” movies of the 40s - nevertheless gained a cult following, and while it has its fair share of detractors, it also has a decent number of fans. I suppose you can count me as among them, since I do consider the movie to be something of a guilty pleasure; it’s completely over-the-top and insane, and that’s part of the fun. While characters like Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster are prominently featured, the film chooses not to adapt the Wolfman specifically, and instead gives us three different werewolves! The first is an unnamed, somewhat older-looking lycanthrope, whom Dracula sics on the last members of the Valerious family: Anna, one of the main protagonists, and her brother, Velkan. Although Velkan succeeds in slaying this werewolf, it is at the cost of becoming a werewolf himself. In his werewolf form, Velkan ironically becomes a puppet of Dracula, until he is slain by Van Helsing. But the cycle continues, as Van Helsing himself ends up bitten by Velkan in the process. This leads to a climactic final battle, where a werewolf Van Helsing duels the demonic King of the Vampires. While the CGI in this movie is notoriously “meh,” I’ve always loved the actual character/creature designs, and the three werewolves of this film are among the first I think of when I think of werewolves in general. Incidentally, Will Kemp - the actor who plays Velkan - is most well-known as a dancer; I say this because he later appeared in a ballet version of “Peter and the Wolf.” Somehow, I doubt this casting choice was a coincidence.

7. The Colony, from The Howling.

“The Howling” was a 1981 horror movie, based on a bestselling novel of the same name. I actually HAVE read this novel, for a change…BUT, I’ve only read it once, and it was a long time ago, so I really don’t remember a whole lot about it, sadly. As a result, I can really only judge the movie, but thankfully the movie is pretty good. The film is considered one of the key essential werewolf movies ever made, as it took the concept in a very different direction from most. In many past werewolf movies, the focus of the story was on the singular, outcast werewolf, who was usually depicted as a tragic figure: possessed by a literal inner monster they couldn’t really control. “The Howling,” however, changes things up: the story focuses on a young husband and wife, traumatized after an encounter with a sadistic serial killer called Eddie Quist. To try and recover, they head to a place called “The Colony,” a secluded countryside resort. It turns out, however, that the people who live at the Colony are all werewolves, and among their ranks is none other than Eddie and his family. There is nothing remotely tragic about most of the werewolves in the Colony: instead, the idea of the animal within is taken in a more twisted direction. This pack of wolf-people believe they are superior to the human race, and gleefully embrace their dark sides with wicked abandon; to become a werewolf, in their minds, is to embrace the carnal, primal, powerful sides of themselves. They are truly free and in control of the world around them. It’s an interesting and genuinely scary direction to go with the concept, and the film led to multiple sequels…none of which I’ve seen, and my understanding is that most of them suck, sadly. But hey, at least one of those sequels had Christopher Lee in the mix, so I guess they can’t be ALL bad.

6. Leon Corledo, from Curse of the Werewolf.

When Hammer studios gained Universal as a North American distributor, they were given access to use more characters and concepts from the classic Universal Monster franchise for their films. Their one and only werewolf feature, “Curse of the Werewolf,” is usually overlooked, sadly, with many dismissing it as just being Hammer’s version of “The Wolfman.” I find this incredibly saddening because - while certain story elements are shared between the films - the two movies are extremely different, and this film takes the concept of the tragic monster in its own unique direction. Played by Oliver Reed (in his first starring role for a motion picture), our werewolf of the hour is Leon Corledo. His lycanthropy is a supernatural affliction that has infected him since birth: his mother’s tragic and extremely brutal life and death have apparently led to his blood being tainted with some evil curse, which manifests itself in the form of werewolfism. Leon gains a taste for blood at an early age, and struggles to keep his vicious, predatory side at bay. As he grows older, Leon finds that the love of a beautiful woman is able to tame his inner monster, but his struggle with his cursed nature remains a hard one. Reed’s first starring performance remains one of his best, in my opinion, mixing powerful ferocity with a gentle vulnerability. While the explanation of the werewolf’s curse is a bit bizarre, the actual trials poor Leon must endure are among the most harrowing of any movie monster.

5. Jack Howl, from Twisted Wonderland.

Well, if you know me, and you know about this game, then this really shouldn’t have been a surprise. For those who are not aware already, however, “Twisted Wonderland” is a Japanese-made mobile game themed around Disney Villains. The premise has the main character getting transported to a parallel universe, where they end up staying at a School of Dark Magic, with different houses themed around seven of those villains. Throughout the game, you encounter characters based around “The Great Seven,” as well as some other Disney characters. Jack Howl, however…he’s an anomaly. Jack isn’t really based on ANY Disney character in question. He seems to be more a tribute to just…ALL the wolves Disney has given, with references to the pack from “The Jungle Book” and the more vicious predators from “Beauty and the Beast” both being made at different points. While these may have inspired Jack, he is, in essence, a totally original character. Jack is a bona-fide werewolf, able to shapeshift from a sort of “beastman” form (pictured here) to a massive silver-white timberwolf. He is also quite possibly the most adorable werewolf in history since Eddie Munster. While he looks tough and tries to act standoffish and surly, Jack is basically just a big puppy dog. Despite his constant insistences that he doesn’t really care about anyone and isn’t out to make friends, he gets attached to people quickly, is always eager for praise from those he respects, and has a strong code of personal honor (which often gets him into trouble as much as it gets him out of it). In short, he’s a big softy who tries to seem meaner than he really is: always a fun character, in my books. It’s more my love for the game, as a whole, that lands Jack so high up in the ranks, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a warm spot in my heart for this wolf-eared sweetheart.

4. Professor Lupin, from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

While there are a couple of werewolves in the Harry Potter universe, by far the most famous is Professor Remus J. Lupin. In the third book of the series, “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” Lupin is introduced as…well, quite frankly, the only GOOD Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts has ever seen. He’s supportive of his students, friendly to his peers, and ends up forming a close bond with Harry. This is partially because Remus and Harry’s father, James, were best friends in school. As a result, Lupin feels a certain responsibility towards Harry, trying his best to keep him safe. Ironically, however, it turns out that Professor Lupin is a potential danger to Harry and his friends, himself: it’s revealed that Lupin is a werewolf, and he goes from one of the main protagonists of the story to a major antagonist in the climactic chapters of the novel. Much like with Ethan Chandler and many other classic werewolves, once Lupin transforms, he changes from a good and amiable man to a bloodthirsty monster, who recognizes no friends. While Lupin has a special potion or medicine he can take to keep the wolf at bay, it is only a temporary fix. If he runs out, or just accidentally forgets to take it, you can imagine the consequences. As a result of this terrible tension, Lupin ultimately resigns from his teaching duties at Hogwarts (continuing the running gag, if you want to call it that, of Defense Against the Dark Arts always being the class with the worst luck), but he remains a major character in later books. The same goes for the movies, where Lupin was played (as pictured here) by the great David Thewlis.

3. David Kessler, from An American Werewolf in London.

This is yet another “essential werewolf movie” in the ranks, which made a big impact on lovers of the concept back in the year of our Lord 1981 - the same year as “The Howling.” (I’m sensing a pattern.) However, while “The Howling” took the concept to its frightening extremes, by making the werewolves murderous monsters without a shred of human decency, the titular character of “An American Werewolf in London” is both one of the most tragic werewolves ever put to the screen, while also being one of the most utterly horrifying. The story begins with young David Kessler (played by David Naughton), an American graduate student, on vacation in Yorkshire. He is accompanied by his friend, Jack Goodman. While backpacking across the Moors, the two are attacked by a werewolf. Jack is savagely killed, while David is bitten and forced to become a werewolf himself. As the film goes on, David is haunted by the ghosts of Jack and his own victims, as they try to convince him to commit suicide, since only the death of the werewolf can free not only David from the curse, but also release their souls. While the film has a deliciously dark and wicked sense of humor, it is still, at its heart, a horror story, with a somber ending and a very disturbing edge. The realization of David’s werewolf form, and the transformation he undergoes, is widely regarded as one of the most horrifying in cinematic history. I am heartily inclined to agree.

2. Bigby Wolf, from The Wolf Among Us.

Let’s take a brief tangent to discuss the fairy-tale of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Many scholars and historians have suggested that the classic fable may actually be one of the earliest examples of werewolf fiction. After all, people certainly believed in werewolves at the time, and how many normal wolves can wear human clothes, speak human language, or are large enough to swallow a little girl and her granny alive? Whether this is true or not, it is not uncommon for reimaginings of the story to envision the Big Bad Wolf as a werewolf: I already discussed three such examples with the “Anime Boi Trio” at the start of the countdown. They, of course, are not the only instances: enter Sheriff Bigby Wolf, the main character of the video game “The Wolf Among Us,” based on the “Fables” comic series (which I have not read). The game is essentially a noir-styled murder mystery story, with Bigby as our resident hard-boiled detective of the hour. In typical fashion for such an archetype, he smokes, drinks, and is equal parts grumpy and sarcastically snarky. However, unlike most such examples, he’s also a werewolf: a rarity for film noir. (Unless you count Sam Spade. No way someone that cool is human.) Bigby is able to transform from a human form, to a sort of half-human form, to the “werewolf form” shown here, and finally to a giant feral wolf that’s bigger than an elephant. The story of the game once again plays with the idea of our protagonist battling his inner demons, but with a different twist: Bigby can’t change what he is, nor does he really wish to. HOWEVER, his struggle is more with his villainous past and the darkness still inside him. He’s the Big Bad Wolf, the bogeyman of many legends; that’s a hard thing to deal with when your job is to save lives and try to make amends. Being a Telltale game, the players can choose just how nasty or how nice Bigby really is, but regardless of which direction they take him, he nevertheless seems sincere in his desire to do right. It’s an interesting twist on both the fairy-tale figure and the idea of the werewolf.

1. Larry Talbot, a.k.a. The Wolfman.

Our number one pick is the entire reason WHY I set up this list the way I did. As I said before, this countdown was never about the “sexiest” werewolf, or the scariest werewolf, or anything else like that. It was simply about what character or characters came first to mind when I thought of that word. And, let’s face it…for both myself and a lot of other people, Larry Talbot - the Wolfman - is that character. The 1940 film, entitled “The Wolf Man” with a space in the middle (contemporary spellings go back and forth between that and it all being one word), pretty much established the classical lore of the werewolf that so many of us recognize today. And while it was not the first movie to tackle lycanthropy, nor to depict its protagonist as a tragic figure who was more fallen hero than true villain, it was the first to make an especially potent impact. It is because of this character and this movie that werewolves are so particularly recognized today, and the influence of this one figure cannot be overstated. Lon Chaney Jr. and his performance are an important part of why; several other people have played the Wolfman in remakes and reimaginings of the character and story (such as Benicio del Toro and Jonathan Gries), but Chaney’s performance remains the most iconic, and the one that set the bar for how so many other werewolves would be portrayed. Larry Talbot is a good and fairly normal guy who finds himself transformed into a monster against his will, and while the stories of other famous Universal Monsters got warped and went into crazy territory as the series continued, the Wolfman actually remained fairly consistent throughout his run, helped by the fact that Chaney was the only person to play the character through the entire franchise in its original years. While the films and his makeup/costume do show their age, they’re nevertheless still classics for a reason, and I doubt very many of the other characters on this countdown would even EXIST if he hadn’t set the standard. For that reason above all else, Lawrence “Larry” Talbot takes the cake as My Favorite Werewolf. Case dismissed.

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

Dr. Wilfred Glendon, from Werewolf of London.

Predating the Wolfman, this is one of the earliest werewolf films, and almost as iconic. While it has its merits, however, I think that actor Henry Hull’s performance in the main role is a bit stiff and stagey, which brings the character down a peg.

Cornell, from Castlevania.

Despite being a huge Castlevania fan, I’m weirdly not very familiar with Cornell, by virtue of the simple fact I haven’t looked that much into most of his appearances in the franchise. Ironic, isn’t it?

Free, from Soul Eater.

This anime/manga series is basically what you’d get if you put Tim Burton in charge of…well…an anime/manga series. Free is a recurring figure, and he’s a lot of fun, but I just tend to think of other characters first. This may partially be because it’s been a long time since I rewatched this show…I’ll have to get on that in the future. :P 

There are a TON of other werewolves I could name, but after this point they kind of all conglomerate into a lupine glob of interest. Again, sorry if characters you loved didn’t show up. Who are some of YOUR favorite werewolves? Feel free to name your picks below!

[fuckyeah-beringandwellsfics]

🎃 13 👻 spooky 🧛🏻 Bering and Wells 🧟 fic 🩸 recs! ☠️

Here is a list (under the readmore, ordered from short to long) of spooky and/or Halloween-themed fics: short ones and long ones, AUs and casefics, something for everyone! Feel free to add your favorites in reblogs or replies!

Bite Me (858 words) by @tigerkid14 Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Summary: Kinktober 2017 prompt: biting; Myka and Helena were apparently affected by a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula and have a chat in the aftermath.

I have wanted to know you, lover of books (1463 words) by @purlturtle Chapters: 1/1 Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Summary: Honestly I love the "I didn't know where else to go" trope, and this morning I had an undeniable inspiration - I've teased vampire!Helena before, but this is a different vampire!Helena. Then again, can there ever be enough vampire!Helenas? No there can't, so here we go. (also available as a podfic!)

Halloween (1493 words) by @madronash Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Summary: Created for Bering and Wells Appreciation Week 2022, Day Three: Special Occasions/Holidays/etc. Could also be called Fright Night: Fake Blood

Dreadful Tower (2042 words) by @nerdsbianhokie Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Summary: Half-living animatronics, a fear of drowning, and a Jenga tower. A fun night off for the Warehouse agents.

I Ain't Afraid of No… Artifact? (5298 words) by @amtrak12 Chapters: 1/4 Rating: General Audiences Summary: The Ghostbusters meets the Warehouse 13 team! or Three Times it was an artifact and One Time it was actually a ghost. Includes background Toltzmann and Erin cluelessly being really gay for Myka.

Dawn of the Dragonborn: Heart of a Hero, Heart of a Predator, Heart of Dovahkiin (8907 words) by @tryingthisfangirlthing Chapters: 5/? Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Summary: A vampire. A Dragonborn. Two women, a little in love. Coffee? Mead? Or maybe save the world… M'aiq'a is an investigative agent for the Penitus Oculatus, the Emperor's personal bodyguard, sent to Skyrim to try and figure out what's behind these damned vampire attacks that killed her foster brother. Hlenea, clutching an ancient scroll and beset by gargoyles, is the woman she quite literally unearths, sought after by vampires and hunters alike. 'Beware of becoming the very thing you despise' has never been more true. Never mind falling for one… But centuries of unlife make for layers of secrets, and trust is hard to come by. The world is running out of time, and they will both have larger roles to play than either of them ever wanted…

Nightmare Warehouse (11709 words) by @anandabrat and @starshipblueberry Chapters: 14/14 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Summary: Once upon a time, like two weeks ago, starshipblueberry said I’ve got this idea about Nightmare Before Christmas and Bering and Wells, and I said, “That’s a fabulous idea. Can we Good Omens it?” So we wrote in patchwork, one day each trading off. We weren’t supposed to peek. It was supposed to be like Christmas. That didn’t even last a day. We texted each other back and forth for hours. We left each other breadcrumb trails to follow or ignore. We thought we had the ending sorted out like five different times before we actually wrote it.

Transient (38674 words) by @tantedrago Chapters: 14/14 Rating: Mature Warnings: Major Character Death Summary: AU: H.G. Wells wakes up in a house without knowing who she is. Slowly, she realises that people can't see her and don't react to her: Helena is a ghost. The literature professor Myka Bering buys her house. As the American moves in, HG slowly falls in love with her. But there is still this problem with her being dead and unnoticable to other people. But with Miss Bering, something is different.

Aye, Zombie (57793 words) by @ifourmindbeso Chapters: 13/13 Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Summary: Bering and Wells Zombie AU. Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, but in another universe where the Good Friday agreement never happened. What if Myka was the former villain? This is the result of a particularly vivid dream of mine, which may or may not have been aided by large doses of (prescribed) painkillers. So if it reads like a bad trip…that’s why. Trigger warnings for pretty much everything you can imagine - violence, assault. Also, lots of swearing.

What Goes Around Comes Around (That Halloween Story) (61467 words) by @purlturtle Chapters: 13/13 Rating: General Audiences Summary: Myka rolled her eyes at him – but she couldn’t be mad at him for long. Steve was way too good a friend to begrudge a bit of teasing. “Shut up,” she said, but her heart wasn’t in it. “You did save the damsel in distress. And her baby.” “Shut up,” Myka repeated, this time with a bit more oomph behind it. “There are worse meet-cutes, you know. Wait till Claudia hears of this; she’ll heart-eye all over it.” “Shut up!” Myka laughed.

The Courtship of Christina's Mother (73987 words) by @jdaydreamer3 Chapters: 5/5 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Summary: Myka Bering is content with her life as it is. A well-respected architect of a flourishing business. She doesn't have time for love. Or so she thought. Then fate steps in and knocks on her door in the form of Helena Wells and her daughter Christina. Love is inevitable.

Illustrated Misdeeds (99633 words) by Felix_27 Chapters: 18/18 Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Summary: Post Season 5. Myka, Pete and Helena have been reunited for their first mission in some time. Tension is a little high as the artifact chase has them following a familiar traveling carnival that has desires of its own with horrible consequences.

Death, or something like it (104700 words) by @ifourmindbeso Chapters: 26/26 Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Summary: Sheriff Myka Bering lives in a small town in Mississippi. Children are dying in the most horrible way possible, and she has no idea why - until she meets the vampire. The vampire who senses something different about Myka. Suddenly, nothing in Myka's life makes sense, and she faces a battle to save her town from a wave of darkness - from both within and without.

[ask-codeearasure]

The Outer Realms --- Chapter 3

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Chapter Three:

Equivocation

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“Remember my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.” - Bram Stoker (Dracula)

—-

Carrot and Edge hadn’t seen Dream or Ink in over a week. It was starting to get concerning. There was no telling where they were, and it was bad enough that the two of them couldn’t really open a portal into that strange white void that they tended to explore. The two of them tried to use their magic in conjunction, but got nothing. Not even teleporting worked out. They also realized that if they did get there, they’d run into a problem with the possibility of death. They’d be trapped there.

Carrot was starting to get nervous and wasn’t sure whether or not his new idea was going to get himself killed or if he’d be walking into a trap. As he walked through the halls of the queen’s castle, he thought about how he could best go about convincing her of his idea.

Hey, ya know, I was thinking, that doodlesphere place is dying out and that guy stole our only hope to leave, maybe I could borrow a soul or two and try to get it back that way?

He stopped when he got to the outside of the throne room. He was asking to be incinerated. He couldn’t see any other way. If he didn’t convince her, he was either going to get himself killed in that room, at worst. At best, he was going to have to look for another job.

He didn’t know what to do at this point.

“Where the fuck is Dream?” Carrot mumbled to himself.

—

Dream stared at the burning AUs, watching as they crumbled and disappeared into nothingness. That glitch wasn’t like anything or anyone he had ever seen. To think they mistook him for their Error was an issue. And this was what he called mercy…

One of the corners on the pages fell to the floor. Dream caught it but it crumbled away before he could think to do anything else. This was not just cruel, it was diabolical. He couldn’t understand the impostor’s justification.

He needed to find Nightmare. If anyone had a lead on this person, it was him. He supposed he was going to have to find the most negative AU he could at this point. It would increase his chances of finding him. —

It took about an hour before he saw anything interesting, but it wasn’t a sign of his brother. It was a great sense of negativity regardless, despite its small size. It was a white fox with red and dark indigo markings that looked like clouds, walking with a small basket of food in its mouth. There was an inkling of the thought it was definitely more than it appeared, but Dream closing the gap between them didn’t provoke a response.

“Hello?” he said.

The fox looked directly into his eyes with unnatural, ruby red orbs. It took a seat, perhaps with the thought they would be here for a while. Definitely has an extent of sentience.

That’s unexpected. Dream thought. I’m standing here talking to a fox radiating negativity, but there are stranger things in the multiverse.

“Can you speak?” he asked.

The fox remained silent and stared at him.

Dream sighed. “I’ll take that as a no….”

They stared at each other for a short moment. Dream gently lifted the creature, ignoring the weakness the negativity spread to his hands. “I’m sorry, I need a lead to my brother and you’re the best bet I have right now. But I also don’t want you to get hurt…”

He needed a plan, and seeing as the fox still didn’t give any signs of discomfort or any indication that it wanted to leave, he set it back down, then gave himself a seat next to it. Very few times did he ever need to seek out Nightmare. If anything, it was the Lord of Negativity who relentlessly hunted him down, and he did not discriminate who got hurt when Dream was in his sights. 

While Dream was stuck in his thoughts, the fox tipped over the basket and dug out what looked like a bun, maybe a pastry, and chewed on it patiently. A moment after, it decided to get another one and place it in the guardian’s lap.

It was feeding him.

“Oh… thank you.” Dream said.

He got the bun and took a bite, pleasantly surprised at the red bean filling. He looked at the fox and mumbled, “Why are you radiating so much negativity if you’re so… nice and calm?” Dream reached over and pet the creature, a tingling numbness cursing his fingers.

He remembered the time Carrot had what he called vodka, claimed a shot of it could get someone drunk if they were what he called ‘lightweights’, he supposed that the fox was comparable to that vodka. It was just a pure concentration of negativity, and very little positivity to numb the effects. It was impossible to even try to figure, considering the creature couldn’t talk.

He lost himself in his thoughts, but suddenly everything went dark. He looked around and saw the fox, its ears folded back. It looked over at him and got a bit closer. Dream stood up and readied himself, summoning his bow and breaking it into his blades he steeled himself for what was about to come. 

Dream opened a portal next to the fox, pointing the creature in its direction.

“Go. I don’t want you to get hurt. Please.”

The fox shook its head, remaining where it stood.

“Please go…”

The fox sat down as if to say ‘No, I’d rather stay here with you.’

Underneath their feet, the ground rumbled, vantablack negativity crawling over the stark whiteness Dream had become accustomed to. The equally blank sky above them faded the same shade.

Dream tightened his grip on his twin swords and breathed in. “Nightmare?” As if on cue, the shape of the negative lord surfaced from the depression, the weight of the negativity heavy, almost crushing on Dream’s shoulders. Nightmare’s grin was the first thing to flash before him, a dark, satisfied chuckle echoed throughout the void. “Hello, brother. I was wondering where you went.” Dream flinched, but held his ground. “Nice to see you too.”

The fox growled at Nightmare, peeling its lip back to bear its teeth as if knowing that Nightmare was not someone to tolerate, let alone trust. Nightmare’s grin only widened, his eye fixated on the positive guardian before him; the canine was but an afterthought. A miniscule feature, despite its complicated, swirling emotions. “We both know you don’t actually mean that. Underneath that gentle mask, your efforts are in vain.”

Dream ground his teeth together, stepping in front of the fox as if to shield it from Nightmare’s overpowering gaze. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, dodging a swipe from one of his brother’s tentacles, then slicing clean through another. He was on a mission. What he needed was to convince a standstill out of his opponent.

“Where are your friends, brother?” Nightmare purred, an unsettling rattling sound. “Have you been abandoned? Or perhaps you left, knowing this struggle would have them meet their end?” The elation Nightmare felt was twisted, a corrupted form of the emotion usually associated with happiness, pure glee. The best move Dream could take was to make a distance between them, knowing Nightmare would follow. There was no doubting why Nightmare tracked him down so quickly this time. With the vast majority of the Doodlesphere emptied by that other “Error”, there were barely any other options of negativity for the corrupted being to feed from. Ignoring the fox chasing after them both, Nightmare continued in determined pursuit of his prey.

“Right now is not the time to fight!” Dream yelled. “There is a reason the Doodlesphere is losing so many universes so quickly! If you help, we can continue this later!”

Another wave of negative force knocked Dream off his feet, Nightmare looming over him, his body having grown to an intimidating height. But for once, he froze in his efforts, but not without sustaining a burning grip on Dream’s ankles, forcing the guardian to bite back a wince.

Nightmare’s eerily bright blue eye searched him, as if to scan his entire being. Another rumble shook the ground, but there he remained regardless. He could finally kill Dream, here and now, and everything would suffer in his absence, regardless of the limited number of universes now. He could end it all. “I disagree, dear brother. Why give you another chance to live, when the obstacle at hand is you and only you?”Nightmare shrunk, returning to his usual height and shape, but yanked Dream down to the floor so he could continue standing over him, relishing in how his own existence rendered his target into a simple puddle of agony he could watch directly. “We have continued this game for far too long. Saving what is left of this existence is pointless.” The grip on Dream only tightened, suffocating him as Nightmare’s tentacles slowly climbed up his legs and arms. This was perhaps the dumbest decision he has made today. “Your effort will get us nowhere. Besides, was it not your goal to save the multiverse from all its suffering, in spite of my own? I died because of you. I suffered to keep you safe. YOU ARE IN DEBT TO ME!”

Suddenly, Nightmare screeched, an overwhelming roar covering the noise of several golden throwing stars striking off the tentacles around Dream, causing them to turn to dust, and several more gunshots were barely audible. Nightmare tugged himself away with a multitude of holes struggling to close themselves up.

Where the fox once stood was another skeleton. They wore a rather ornate red, indigo, white, and gold kimono with snow-white fur around the collar. They held two more handfuls of shuriken, and sent them both a polite smile.

“I’m afraid Dream-Sama doesn’t owe you anything.” the stranger said softly. “I will not allow this to continue further.” They summoned a golden scythe and charged at Nightmare, swinging to slice the being in half.

Nightmare narrowly dodged, pieces of negativity crumbling off his body with what Dream recognized as an effect of the weapons the stranger used on him. As Nightmare responded in kind, aiming to slice the odd skeleton’s head clean off, Dream dragged himself to his aching feet and summoned his bow, jumping away from a now multitasking Nightmare to avoid a lopsided smack across the void.

The stranger dodged the attack and cut through it before teleporting the scythe away and exchanged it for a set of thick chains, bright gold and radiating positivity, almost sickeningly so. Another shot rang out and tore through Nightmare, but another quick glance at the stranger gave Dream another nugget of information- they didn’t have a firearm on their person. So where were the shots coming from? Nightmare’s roars of outrage only doubled in volume and disastrous effect on the void, forcing Dream’s body to tremble with weakness against his will, even as Nightmare’s own state was deteriorating as well. Reaching out to whatever positivity he could, to the shock that he now sensed to much coming from the stranger’s weapon, Dream drew on that strength to form his arrows, and not a second to lose, shot three into Nightmare’s back, interrupting his next attempt at dismembering the intruder before him. The negative lord screamed this time, the darkness he initially entered with flickering away at the edges bit by bit in rapid succession, gaining speed the more Nightmare deteriorated. If he was trying to get a word in, Dream couldn’t determine what he wanted to say.

The stranger used his magic to fling glowing chains around Nightmare, reeking of positivity, but certainly not Dream’s own. “I suppose your time in that poor body is finally at its end. I do hope you understand this isn’t as personal as you believe it is.” They summoned a golden spear that radiated twice as powerful as the chains. Raising it up, Nightmare was impaled.

A final shot rang out as silent footsteps echoed. “Really, thiz waz that problem Klezmer mentioned. Ha… Skill issue iz far more accurate of a description.”

The darkness broke around them, the speaker looked like Killer, a far… shorter version of Killer, with a strange black uniform, and held a gun that had golden smoke flowing out the end. They blew the smoke away, then sent Nightmare a disappointed look.

Dream felt like he was going to collapse any second, but pushed himself to approach Nightmare, splitting his bow back into two swords. His brother was worse for wear, his body married to the floor and partially melting into it, the rare sight of white bones showing up here and there amongst the boiling corruption that has been covering it for centuries. Nightmare’s eye was rendered unfocussed, now absently staring in Dream’s general direction. The guardian swallowed down his nausea, then turned to address the two strangers. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

The Horror-like giggled at the question, it was almost menacing, hiding his mouth as he did so, “Oh no, I’m quite fine.”

“Zat idiot did hurt me the last time we met but it wazn’t much…. Not like this.” he aimed the gun at Dream.

BANG!

In shock, Dream didn’t process what just happened. He took one step back, then another, before he lost balance and dropped his swords, landing backwards at a painful angle. Distantly, he heard Nightmare’s beginning laughter, distorted and clear, and it quickly mutated into manic cackling right before the dark lord teleported away. No, he couldn’t lay down. Not now. A shaded cloud formed around Dream’s vision, and he finally brought his hand up to his chest to check his throbbing soul, his glove coming away caked in red.”

“Oh, don’t act like zat,” the Killer look-alike complained, “You’re not going to die.”

The skeleton in the kimono snatched the gun out of the other’s hand, snarling, “Idiot! Why did you do that!?”

It seems politeness was off the table.

“Simple,” the soldier smiled, “I felt like it.”

“You felt like it?! Edelweiss….” the growl was deep and demonic.

“Izanagi, don’t look at me like zat, you know it’z better to keep zese things balanced. We infected zat monstrosity, and so it’s only fair to do ze same with Dream. Zey’ll balance themselves out… maybe.” Edelweiss glanced at the suffering guardian to confirm his train of thought, “Yeah, zey’ll balance zemselves out.”

“You don’t know that!” Izanagi hissed. “That venom has far more power than any of the–” he looked like he was heroically holding back the urge to strangle the gunman then and there.

“I know zat!” Edelweiss said, as if offended by Izanagi’s statement, “I barely used less zan a drop. It can fit on ze tip of a sewing needle. So don’t blame me for hiz pain.”

“Why I oughta…” Izanagi’s grip on the gun tightened to the point the weapon snapped in half. “It’s one thing to use countless weapons filled with a Level one of Violence of venom and one drop of venom with a LOVE that is immeasurable.” Izanagi looked at Dream with an expression filled with worry.

Their words were nothing more than muffled blurs to the guardian, their exasperated expressions and gestures falling flat in terms of meaning. Dream could not pay as much attention as he should have, his head spinning and pain weighing unbearably on his body. Agonizingly, Dream dragged himself back up, failing to hold back a groan. He squeezed his eyes shut, and attempted to summon any degree of healing magic available to him, but got no results past his shaking hands flickering with dim light. The dizziness and nausea only built, this alien but sickening feeling creeping outwards from his chest. He had to leave. He didn’t know where, not when he could barely think as is, but he couldn’t stay here any longer.

With the last bit of willpower, he reached out towards the positivity of Underswap.

[justagirlwholikesadam]

Reunited

Summary: He finally found you and he won’t let you slip away from him again. 

Warning: mentions of death, vampire sex, stalking, being a bit of a creep, smut, dubcon a bit, blood blood blood, a dash of necrophilia i think. a bit of grammar error. Used a line from Bram Dracula the movie.

A/N: I wrote this because Adam Driver needs to play Dracula. Enjoy!

»»————-　♡　————-««

You knew someone or something was following you. You could feel a presence near you for a while now. It’s been weeks with the same feeling. Whenever you were out, shopping or even going to work you felt like you were being followed then the dreams started to occur. The dreams would start off with you being inside of an old, decaying chapel with the walls and pews rotting. The dream would be so vivid that you can feel the cold air in the chapel as you walked to the altar. There was a man by the altar, you could never see his face but he was always there giving his back to you. Whenever you were about to face him, the dream would shift. 

The white ceiling and bright fluorescent lights would be beaming down on your face. You were being rolled on top of a gurney. Shouting and the sound of machines beeping bounced off the peach colored walls of the hospital made you feel uneasy. The dream will shift quickly to another scenario. You were running with someone in the woods. You would look behind your shoulder to see a group of men chasing you in the woods. You were pulled closer to the man you were running with when a gunshot was fired. 

The dreams had gotten so violent and horrific you started to wake up in a cold sweat and tears streaming down your face. After the second week of these dreams, you started to notice things around your apartment were missing or certain things would be out of place. Clothes or jewelry would be missing then your bed would be made. It was the fourth week when your coworkers had invited you out for drinks. You immediately accepted wanting to have a drink and try to forget everything going on. You didn’t tell anyone about these dreams, you just hoped they would go away. 

You let out a sigh as you walked down the street, you should have gotten a ride back home after drinks with your coworkers but you had told them that the fresh air would do you good. Crossing the street into an empty alley you came to a halt. You always took this shortcut to your apartment but tonight something was off. You held on tight to your shoulder bag. The feeling was starting again. You had the feeling of someone staring at you but nothing compared to the night before. You felt a presence in your bedroom, rolling on to your side in your sleep. You opened your eyes and sat up right away when you saw a figure at the corner of your room quickly turning on the lamp on the nightstand. You looked back at the corner and saw the figure was gone. 

The feeling in your gut screamed at you to go the other way but all you wanted to do was to go home. You took a deep breath and quickly walked inside the ally. There were only two lights, one from the beginning of the alley that you just passed and the other one at the end. You can see cars passing by and a few people walking by as well. You felt a bit at ease when the street light provided you with a bit of light so you wouldn't trip on your face. You were halfway through the alley when you stopped. You heard  footsteps behind you. You felt your heart drop at the sound. You held your breath when you looked down at the pavement and saw a shadow next to yours, it was bigger than your shadow.

“Don’t be afraid.” Your eyes widen at the sound of the deep voice behind you. You felt a hand grab your upper arm making you cry out. The person behind turned you and pushed you against the brick wall of the alley. 

Before you can shout out, the person covered your mouth with his hand. You looked up at him, he was tall and he was handsome. Skin like a porcelain doll, beauty marks were scattered all over his face. His nose was large, below you saw a pair of pink lips. He had a bit of stubble over his chin. You looked back at his lips.  You have never seen such inviting lips before. Looking up, you saw his eyes were almost black. You knew his hair was a dark color, it blended so well in the dark

“Finally found you. I was looking everywhere for you.” He said softly, making you flinch when he got closer to you, his hand was still over your mouth as he leaned down. You frowned at his words.

“Don't shout, okay?” He tells you. You nodded, he removed his hand from your mouth. 

“Please don’t hurt me. Please.” You told him, making him shake his head at you. You whimpered as his cold hands cupped your face. You were shocked when his thumbs glided over your cheeks. His touch was so gentle but yet his large fingers were cold.

“Look at me.” He pulled you from the wall with your face in his hands. You clenched your hands on his forearms. Your nails digging into the leather jacket he wore. He dragged you into the middle of the alley where the light was a bit brighter. 

“Look at me.” He commanded. You started to feel a sense of comfort as you stared into his eyes. You saw a hint of red glowing around his iris. 

“Sleep now.” Your body obeyed him, you shut your eyes and fell in his arms. He leaned down to pick your lower half in his arms. He began to walk down the alley. You wanted to shout, you wanted to cry but all you can do is let out a whine. Seconds away before falling into the abyss of a deep sleep, you heard him speak. 

“I finally found you, my love.”

The sound of wood crackling welcomed you out of your sleep. Opening your eyes you saw a large collection of pillows around you, all of them were different shapes and colors. You sat yourself up on the bed pushing the blanket off of you. Your eyes widened by how enormous the bed you laid on. Carefully you began to push yourself off the edge of the bed, moving the pillows to the side. You shivered as your toes touched the cold concrete floor. You walked away from the bed and let out a shocked gasp by the room around you. Room looked like it came out straight from a catalog of the medieval age. The fireplace at the end of the room burned providing some kind of warmth. You looked around your surroundings, hundreds of candles were lit around the room. The candles were placed around the bedroom. The wax of the candles softly dripped onto the gold trays that were underneath. You couldn’t find any window, there were enormous red velvet curtains covering the walls of the room. 

‘What the fuck is this place?’ You told yourself as you walked to the fireplace. You jumped at the sound of a door unlocking. You noticed a door near the fireplace opening. 

You froze when you saw him, the stranger. He leaned against the door frame as he stared at you. He was barefoot and wore a black tee along with dark jeans. You blushed under his gaze, no one has stared at you like him. He looked down to your chest then to your bare feet. You just then realized as you looked down at yourself, you wore a nightgown. A gown that was completely see through. He had changed your clothes while you slept. 

‘What kind of nightgown is this?’ You told yourself as he stared at your breasts through the gown. He could see you trying to cover your breasts with your arms as you looked at him with a red face. 

Without noticing from your embarrassment, his eyes lowered to the patch of hair that rested on your mound. You heard him inhale loudly, his jaw clenched hard. He could smell you. He can smell the fear and excitement running through you.

“It’s your favorite nightgown.” You looked at him with curious eyes when he spoke. He pushed himself off of the door frame and shut the door behind him with a bang.

“The nightgown. You were thinking what kind of nightgown it is. It’s your favorite.” He said it so nonchalantly that it scared you. 

“I think you have me confused.” You said looking around, trying to find a way to escape. 

“No.” The man said, shaking his head as he walked toward you.

“It’s you.” He said as you walked away from him but failed. He was too fast for you to even get away from him. You gasped when he push you against the cover curtain walls. His hands gripped your hips hard making you wince. You placed your hands on his chest trying to push him off but he didn't budge. 

“Who are you?” You asked looking up at him. You instantly regret asking him that. He was staring at you with those black eyes again. 

“I've been called many names.“ He spoke as he leaned against you. You felt his lips against your forehead, you gasped when his hands went down to your ass as he pulled you against his chest. He squeezed your ass giving it a slight shake. The gesture sent shockwaves throughout your whole body. 

“Names?” You asked as he pulled his lips away from your forehead. You tried to ignore his hands on you.  

He hummed as he kept touching your ass. You whined under your breath by his action. He started to lift the gown from behind, all the way up to your hips. He let out a satisfied groan when he felt bare ass. 

“Adam, Kylo, and Ben.” He mumbled under his breath as he bunched the gown into his fist and held it against your hip. 

“The list goes on and on.” He continued. 

You were about to push him away when he grabbed the back of your legs. You cried out when he lifted you. Your legs wrapped around his hips he leaned you against the wall. 

“Please.” You let out a sob when you felt your bare cunt against the front of his jeans. You move your hips trying to get away from him but all you did was rub more against his now hardened cock. 

“Your pussy is so warm.” He told you as you kept moving your hips trying to get away. He dropped his mouth open slightly and without a word he leaned down to your chest. You can feel his wet tongue; the thin fabric of the gown was wet from his open kisses. Your hands wrapped around his shoulders in fear of falling. He gripped your ass harder when he felt you shift. His long dark hair covered his face. You saw it reach down to his shoulders as he stood up a bit to lean over to your other breast. His teeth nipping at your nipple make you wail. 

“Fuck.” You cried out. He moaned as he pulled away from your breasts and began to kiss your neck.

This was wrong. Completely wrong. Your mind was telling you to push him, hit him. Make him free you at once. You needed to leave. You wonder how long you have been here. How long have you been asleep? Was your family looking for you? Your friends?

“Relax, my love.” You froze when you heard a voice inside your head. 

“You hear me, don't you?” You realized Kylo had stopped kissing your neck and looked at you from the corner of his eye. 

“Yes.” You answered inside your head. Kylo let out a wide smile, showing his white slightly crooked teeth. He was quick to carry you towards the bed. He threw you to the bed like a rag doll. You quickly turned around and started to crawl away from him. 

“Noo!” You screamed when you felt his hands on your ankles. You gripped the sheets as he pulled you to the edge of the bed making a few pillows fall over to the floor. 

You began to kick and waved your arms. 

“Stop!” He yelled at you as he grabbed your wrists with one hand and held them behind your back. You groaned from his large frame over you. The edge of bed sank under his weight. He moved his hips as he gripped your wrists tightly making you cry out. 

“Please. Don’t. Please. I’m not who you think I am. I’m Y/n. Please. I’m Y/n.” You cried to him. You gasped when given a harsh thrust against your ass making you curl your toes. 

“It’s you, my love. You promised you would remember. It’s been so long. I haven't had a woman’s touch in so long. I only want you.” The stranger whined to you as he kept grinding against you. You shut your eyes when thrusting against you once more. You could feel you cunt getting wetter. 

“It’s me.” He said pushing himself off of you and letting your wrists free. You gasped when he grabbed your legs and flipped you on your back. You frowned when you saw he was naked. It was impossible that he removed his clothes so quickly. You stared at his broad shoulders and toned stomach. You can see his happy trail leading to his cock hanging between his lean thighs. 

He was thick with neatly trimmed hair around. You saw a visible vein on the side already throbbing. You quickly closed your legs so he wouldn’t see your wet cunt through the gown. Wincing at his rough touch he grabbed the hem on the gown. The sound of fabric was so loud it scared you. You were open to him. He spread your legs, his hands lower to the back of your legs. He pushed the back of your legs to spread over. He had you in a mating position. 

“Please! Please!” You cried out as you felt him lower himself on you. He looked at you with a smile. You shook when you felt his cock against your cunt. 

“Draga mea, eram atât de singur fără tine.” (My love, I was so lonely without you.) He tells you before moaning to you as he places a hand next to your head and uses the other to stroke himself against your cunt. 

“What?” You cried at the foreign language he spoke. You didn’t understand him. 

He slapped the head of his cock on your cunt a few times. You licked your lips at the wet sounds he made as he slapped against your cilt. He groaned as he saw your clit peeking out of your folds. He bumps the head of his cock against it making you moan. He played with your slick.

“Kylo.” You yelled remembering it was one of the names he told you. He looked at you when you shouted the name. He froze and stared at you. 

“Lubirea mea.” (My love) He whispered as he placed both hands on either side of your head. 

“Yes.” You told him, looking up at him. You had no idea what he said but by the look of his face he looked so happy. 

“Please, Kylo. Let me go.” You begged as your hands went up to cup his face. Moving his hair out of his face as you begged him once more. You thought probably by doing this gesture you will make him stop. Kylo slowly dropped down over you. Your hands never left his face as he used his arms to cage your head. Those black eyes stared at you again. It scared you and you  looked away from him. You stared at the curtain walls ahead of you. He took a deep breath as he kissed your cheek. You dropped your hands and gripped the bed sheet. 

“It’s been too long since I last saw you. I missed you. Your face, touch, body. Your soul.” He whispered looking down at you. Your brows knitted together when you looked at his face. He looked like he was about to cry. 

“Please.” He begged you. 

“Please. I need to be inside of you. I want to feel you..” He said as he started to kiss your neck. You let out a gasp when licked the side of your neck and made his way to your face. 

“I missed you.” He told you as he kissed the corner of your lips making you cry. He stopped when he saw the tears. 

You begin to sob louder when you feel him licking your tears away. You didn’t understand why you felt so heartbroken by his words. His large body was between your legs. His cock rested against your cunt. Your cheeks and eyes were red from crying but your lower half had a mind of its own. You knew it was wrong but why? Why was your body reacting in a different way? 

“Please.” You whispered to him, grabbing his face harshly making him look down at you. 

“I’m scared. Please.” You said looking into his eyes. Hoping that those words will get through him and stop this craziness. 

“Kiss me and you won’t be.” He told you. 

“I won’t stop. You told me to do this. Don’t you remember?” He questioned as he moved his hips making you gasped when you felt his cock slide between your folds once more. 

“You're so wet.” He groaned as he leaned down to your face. 

“Your body remembers.” He tells as he bumped your nose against your cheek.

“Kiss me.” He pleaded as you looked at his eyes, your heart started to slow down and your mind started to go blank as you kept staring at his eyes. You didn’t get scared when you saw red glow around his pupils. 

“I have crossed oceans of time to find you. Now that I have you. I won't ever let you leave.” He told you. 

You met his lips with yours and kissed him, opening your mouth to let him in. You felt it. Pure adrenaline and warmth spread deep in your chest. He was rough and needy with his kisses almost like he was dying. He kissed you like you were his only salvation. 

You cried out when you felt him nip your bottom lip. You pulled away when you tasted cooper. You looked up at him. His lips were stained red with your blood. You saw his tongue lick his bottom lip. He let out a low moan after licking his top lip.  

“Fuck.” 

You shouted when he thrust inside of you without warning. You threw your head back as he stretched you out. You grabbed his shoulders tightly, holding on for dear life. You felt him pushing more into you. He moaned loudly as he gripped your outer thighs. He looked down to see your pussy wide open on his cock. 

His eyes darken as he could hear your heart beating faster, your sweet blood rushing through your veins as you moved your hips. He could see your breasts bouncing from his movements. 

“Fuck..oh.” You cried, bringing your head up to look up at him. He was surprised when you held on his neck and pulled him for another kiss. He gladly kissed you back. His tongue played with yours as he began to pull out and push himself back into you. 

His chest puffed in pride with every whimper you pour into his mouth. He began to thrust repeatedly into you at a harsh pace.

With no strength left to push him away, you let him consume you. You let him use you. It felt too good with every thrust you could feel him deep inside of you. His balls slapped against your ass, his grunts above of you made you clench tightly around. You whine when you pull the back of your legs towards your chest. He grabbed your legs, letting it dangle on the crook of your arms. 

You looked at him and saw he was staring at you with hooded eyes. His mouth parted open as he moaned. 

“Feel so good! Missed you. Missed this pussy.” He moaned as he dropped a leg down to bring a hand to your chest. He tweaked your right nipple with his thumb and index finger. 

“You’re so big.” You cried out with a whine as you felt the head of his cock hit your g-spot. Your toes curled as he hit it again. You felt his fingers go up to your lips. Without thinking you grabbed his wrist and opened your mouth. You welcomed his large fingers into your mouth. He let out a whine when you started to suck on his large fingers. You sucked his index and middle finger in as he fucked you. Whimpering and drooling on him, he felt himself about to cum. It’s been too long. Too long since he fucked, too long since he felt a woman’s touch, your touch. 

You look just as beautiful as he remembered years ago. You haven't changed a bit, hair was a bit different but same eyes and the same pretty lips. You took him the same. 

He looked down at you, he let his fingers slip out of your mouth and dragged his fingers down to your chin, to the middle of your throat then between your breasts. He laid his hand flat on your stomach. You were about to cum too. He can feel your stomach tighten with every thrust he gives you. He found your pussy, his fingertips touching the soft hair. He groans under his breaths as he touches your throbbing wet clit. 

“Please.” He heard you cry out as you began to move along with his thrust. 

“Doing so good, Iubirea mea. You take me well.” He praises you. 

The sound of your wet sopping pussy was loud. He started to breathe loudly when he felt you dripping down his balls as he swiped your clit under his thumb. 

“Oh..Oh..Kylo. Yes, Iubirea mea..” You cried out with a nod when you felt your orgasm coming near. 

His eyes shot up to you and saw you with your head thrown back as you gripped the sheets beneath you. You told him, Iubirea mea. 

He quickly rubbed your clit faster and harder making you cry out. He was going to make you remember. He’s going to pound the memories of both of you together. He’s going to cum deep inside of you so you can remember everything. He knew he had to turn to you now. He wasn't going to lose you again. Not like last time. 

Not again. Never again. He won't lose you this time. 

Moaning loudly as your orgasm hit you like a ton of bricks, your eyes widened as you came over his cock. Clenching around his cock so tightly you felt him lean over you. He let out a ghastly growl and let his mouth drop open, his canines grew into sharp fangs. His eyes turned into pitched black, his large fingers turned into sharp claws as he gripped the bed sheets, ripping the sheets. 

You let out a scream as you saw the man in front and inside of you transforming into a creature. His face was the last thing you saw before he went for your neck. His fangs sank deep into your neck. Your cries turn into moans of pleasure as he keeps sucking your neck while he thrusts slowly into your sensitive cunt. 

Nails rank down his bare back, all you can hear was the sound of ringing. You felt like you were high, your bones turning into jello, arms and legs felt heavy. All you felt was his thick cock sliding in and out of you. The bed moving from his harsh thrusts. Your clit rubbed against his pelvic bone.  

You felt weaker, your hands dropped on to the bed as sweet pleasure from between your legs disappeared and the pain from your neck grew. 

Unable to say anything or move you just stared at the ceiling. You felt the bed shift underneath you as he moved you into the center of bed. Tears pool in your eyes as the pain grows stronger. It felt like your body was on fire.

“I know, lubirea mea.” He whispered as he gently removed himself from you. He was back into his normal form. He looked down at your cunt. You were dripping, plump lips slick with your cum. He couldn't help but lean down to licked your slit, sucking your clit clean. He gave a kiss inside your thigh and quickly got up to work.

His large frame quickly placed pillows near the headboard of the bed. When he was done, he gently grabbed you. He hummed to you and kissed your cheeks. Your vision grew weary. Spots began to appear, you were losing breath. You moaned from the pain. 

He groaned as he leaned against the pillows where the headboard is. He had pulled you on top of him. His hard cock still stood up as he saw your blood dripping down from your neck to your breasts. Your legs were on either side of him. He lets out a groan as he slips into you. He pulls you chest to chest. Your head laid on his collarbone. 

“You’ll feel better.” You tells you as he started to fuck you from underneath. 

He wraps an arm over you keeping you in place as the other hand squeezed your ass. He continued to fuck you and the pain was disappeared by pleasure but you were still feeling out of breath. Your vision was going dark as he fucked you hard. He heard your heart stop when he came inside of  you. He let out a loud moan as he held you. He looked down at you to see you, your eyes were closed, lips parted open. He shut his eyes and enjoyed his orgasm. His hand gave your ass one last good and hard squeeze before going up to rub your back softly. Your dead body laid on top of him as he still remained inside of you. 

He opened his eyes and waited as he stared at the fireplace ahead of him. He held you in his arms. He brought his hand to his blood stained lips. He let a small whine as his claws grew. Bringing a claw to his lip he scratched his bottom lip. Dark blood ran down his chin to his bare chest. He brought his hand to your face. You’re already getting cold, it’s working. He lifted your face up as he stared down at you. 

“My beautiful love.” He said. 

He pressed his bloodily lips against yours. He kissed you. He sucked his bottom lips letting the blood pool in his mouth. He opened your mouth to let his blood drip into yours. Proud of his work, he finished it off with another kiss. Swirling his tongue with yours coating it with his blood. 

You knew you were dead. You had to be dead because why would you be standing in front of a chapel. You stood in front of the entrance, tall wooden doors were in front of you. You can see the crosses engraved in the wood. 

You've been here and seen these doors in your dreams before. Pushing the doors open you stood in awe at the chapel. It was different from the one in your dreams. Your eyes roam at the pews then at the walls it wasn’t decaying anymore, everything looked brand new. Magnificent biblical paintings hang from the walls. The clerestory windows near the paintings were lit up from the sunlight. You looked ahead and saw a man at the altar. He had his back towards you again but he wore silver armor, his helmet was by his feet along with his sword. 

You walked to the altar and stood next to the man. It was him, the stranger, the guy who fucked you and bit you. He had tears running down his face. He was dirty and bloody. He looked like he just had to come back from a battle. You saw him sob as he looked away from you then to the ground. You followed his graze and gasped. 

There you were on the floor of the chapel dead. The gown you wore was wet with blood. You saw him fall down on his knees and let out a scream. You look at him as he picks up your body and hugs your dead body. You cried out as a pain shot through your head. You knelt to the ground due to the pain. You shut your eyes tightly as memories came back to you. 

You were young when you met him, he was called Adam. Heir to a throne, you were his betrothed. You were happy with him until he had to leave for war against his rival. You killed yourself when you heard the news that Adam was not found when the war was over. He had died, everyone told you. Two weeks had passed and you couldn’t take the pain anymore but Adam came back, he was alive and survived. People told him you were spending your days in the chapel, praying for his soul. He had gone on a treacherous journey to stay alive and one back to you. He had to tell you right away that was alive. He had run into the chapel to find you. He found you on the ground with your throat slit open, knife still in your hand as you bled on the ground. The guards and the priest found him wailing over your dead body.

Adam desecrates the chapel and renounces God right then and there. He had prayed to God to keep you safe while he was making it back to you. He grew angry at God and made a deal with the devil to give him powers to avenge your death, to kill all those people that told you he was dead. He sold his soul for you but of course when making a deal with the devil it came with a price. He became a blood thirsting vampire.  

You laid your head on the ground of the chapel screaming as you remembered 200 years after your death he found you again. He found you in England. You were about to be wed, he couldn’t let that happen. He introduced himself as Phillip. He made you remember about your past life with him but he didn’t turn you in time. Your husband found both of you in bed. Furiously, he gathers a group of men to kill Phillip in the woods but before he could kill Phillip you jump in to save him. Once again you lay dead in front of him but in your final moments you beg him to find you again and make you remember no matter what. 

About 7 decades later he found you once more but in the states.  He found you in the southern states working in a diner. He introduced himself as Ben and to his surprise you fell in love with him without the need to remember. So he didn’t say anything about the past until he felt horrible for not telling you the truth. One way or another you were going to figure out his true self. So the following night, he was going to tell you the truth and ask if you wanted to be like him. 

He had asked you to come to his place. He wanted to pick you up from your house but you told him and you didn’t mind the drive. He waited but you never came, hours later he received a call from the hospital saying you were brought in. Ben rushed to the hospital and was told you got hit by a drunk driver. He cried when they took you to surgery. He was sitting in the waiting room waiting for the surgeon to come out. He stood up when he saw the surgeon enter the waiting room. He knew what had happened when the surgeon approached him with a face. He can hear the surgeon's heart pounding. He can smell your blood mixed with hibiclens soap. You had died on the operating table. They were unable to bring you back, you bled to death. He wanted to see your body. Ben had learned from others like him that he can transfer you even after death but it was the sound of crying that made him stop. He noticed your family walking into the waiting room and asking the nurse for you.

Ben stood a few feet away from the funeral, your family did for you. Ben couldn't do it, he couldn't take your body. He left the funeral as they placed your coffin on the ground. He kept walking away vowing that the next time he found you. He wasn't going to let you slip away from him. 

It took him a long time to find you again. Too long. He was growing restless every year. He traveled through states and countries for you. He couldn’t find you. 

He went back to his hometown where he had resided years ago. He was driving down the street one day, he stopped at the light and froze when he saw you crossing the street. He felt his chest was about to explode. There you were. You had a smile on your face as you talked on the phone while walking. You quickly walked across and began to walk through an alley. 

So he stalked you for a few weeks, found out where you lived, and where you worked. He often found himself standing in your room at night staring at you. He liked watching you sleep, the sound of your breathing and light snores. He would walk towards you and hold his hand out above your head. Manipulating your mind so you can dream about your past life. 

He would walk around in your apartment. He would touch everything you own. He would lay in your bed to smell your sheets. Pressing your pillow deep into his face. The first time he laid on your bed, he started to sob as he brought your comforter and sheets close to his face so he could smell you. He noticed you were catching on. You would look over your shoulder every now and then. He had to act fast. He didn’t know how long he could control himself. 

He stared at the fire as he held you in his arms. You are safely tucked under his chin. Hands touching your bare back. It’s been a while now, he kept touching you, holding you in his arms. He let out a toothy grin when he felt your body starting to move. 

He did it. He turned you. 

You opened your eyes, feeling so sore you gently pushed yourself up. Groaning when you subconsciously clenched around his cock. He bit back a moan as you opened your eyes while moving your hips. He stares at you as you let out a yawn and look around. You had dried blood on your mouth and chin. Your eyes are larger now, he can see the red ring around your pupils.  

“My love.” He calls out to you softly. His hands were on your hips as you looked around. You looked down at him, Kylo stared up at you with a smile. He was mesmerized by you, his eyes were wide as he stared up at you. You were about to speak when you let out a cough, you felt your throat dry. You were so thirsty. You shut your eyes when you felt him shift under you, the head of his cock was rested on your sweet spot. 

“Thirsty?” Kylo asked as his hands went up and down your body, he couldn't stop touching you. 

“Mmmm.” You moaned as you nodded, placing your hands on his chest moving your hips back and forward. 

“Come here.” Kylo said, grabbing your wrist to pull you down to his chest. You watched as the nail of his index finger grew into a claw. Kylo had dragged the claw over his chest. 

“Hurry.” He says, pushing your head to his chest. You knew what to do. You moaned as you licked his cut. Your hips swayed in happiness, licking up his blood. 

“Good.” He told you as you rose up from his chest. His cut was already healed, he brought one your hands to his lips kissing your knuckles then your palm. 

“I missed you. I couldn’t find you for so long.” You gave him a nod and leaned over to kiss him. You licked the dried blood from your lips. 

“It has been too long,” You mumbled against his lips. 

“What should I call you now?” You asked, pushing his locks of hair behind his ears. 

“It’s been Kylo for years now. Kinda got used to it.” He said kissing the side of your temple. 

“Kylo.” You repeated his name with a smile. He grinned when he saw your own fangs growing. 

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note: If you did not finish but feel you read enough to form an opinion, you may choose a ‘Yes’ option instead of 'Partly' (e.g., Yes, I didn’t like it). Interpret "neutral or complicated" however you like, I intended this category to be a broad option between like and dislike.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

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