#vampire hunter andrew

[fortheloveofexy]

I can't stop thinking about vampire hunter Neil.

Neil, who is both Wesninski and Hatford, two of the oldest vampire hunting clans to still exist. Neil, who was taught the art of the hunt by his mother, but the only thing he learned from his father was brutality and fear.

Neil, whose father turned traitor and gave himself to the Moriyama coven, becoming a vampire in pursuit of power. Neil, who was going to be turned too, whose mother took him and ran before that could happen

Neil, who's never stopped moving. never stayed in one place too long, never settled anywhere. Who's killed more vampires and thralls than he can count, most of whom were acting on his father's orders. Neil, who sleeps with a stake under his pillow and keeps silver bullets in the chamber.

Neil, whose bullets are blessed and who carries holy water, who believes in God and hates Him, blames Him, but will use whatever tools are at his disposal to take down a vampire, faith and belief be damned.

Neil, whose mother kept him alive until she was bitten, whose mother ordered him to kill her before she turned. Neil, who was taught to trust no one, vampire or human. Neil, who couldn't bring himself to keep running after Mary was gone, who wanted nothing more than to stand still for once, just to see what it was like.

Neil, who met a vampire that offered him protection, whose old friend convinced him to stay. Neil, who fits right in with this coven of misfits, this family. Neil, who realizes that not all vampires are monsters, who knows that humans can be monsters too.

Neil, who sees how Andrew takes people in, how he keeps them safe and shields them, and wonders who is shielding you? Neil, who sees what no one else does, who understands how terrified Andrew is of being left behind.

Neil, who shares his knowledge of hunting vampires, bit by bit, teaching his new family how to defend themselves. Neil, who finally has a place, a home. Who is, for the first time in his life, happy.

Neil, who risks everything to protect his family. Neil, who hands himself over to Riko, knowing he'll be turned and enslaved for eternity, that he won't be able to escape like Kevin did. Neil, who by some miracle, escapes anyway, with Riko dead and his humanity still intact.

Neil, who gives Andrew his heart and his blood and everything he has, and Andrew giving his in return. Neil, who will never become a vampire but will stay with Andrew forever, or for however long forever lasts.

[doodle-blight]

Is that all you got?

[andrewmoocow]

Just watched KPop Demon Hunters tonight, and hearing my parents call it "Buffy the Vampire Slayer but with K-POP" might have given me an idea.

Rumi: Buffy

Mira: Faith

Zoey: Willow

Bobby: Xander

Jinu: Spike

Baby: Angel

Abby: Warren

Mystery: Jonathan

Romance: Andrew

Gwi-Ma: The First Evil

How much am I cooking here?

[vxmpirehunterd]

A scene from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust for those who aren't familiar with the series, and want to know what D's voice sounds like.

[roxysretrodrive-in]

Retro Trailer: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

Warning: Some Flashing Lights & Images after the :50 second mark.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with the uploader nor the creators of this trailer.

[scoobydoodean]

sorry if you already answered this before but is your issue with dean’s ending the fact that he died or just the way that he died?

I mean... both? And even more than that?

The way that he died is ridiculous. He died in a freak accident on a rusty nail, taken out by vampire #3. The manner of his death is sorely lacking in dignity and respect that a character like Dean deserves after 15 years of fighting. It's like killing Tony Stark at the end of Avengers by having him slip on a banana peel during a fight and crack his head open. Jensen actually had to fight to have Dean die on his feet instead of laying on the ground. They tried to deny him even that. Dean says outright that he doesn't want to die. He doesn't die sacrificially, or for any reason other than a small, unfortunate accident, and I think that's genuinely sick, and I think there's absolutely nothing to appreciate about it in any way, and every single person who pretends it was somehow profound or touching? I still want to punch them in the face, and it's been four years. It was ridiculous and meaningless and stupid and I genuinely could not stand to watch Supernatural for two years straight after seeing it.

Aside from how he died, there's the fact that Dean didn't want to die, and that he was finally (allegedly) free from the author of the story and that freedom was instantly taken from him. When you write an insufferable meta season where you reveal that an evil god has been authoring the characters lives all along, then have him defeat the author... you end that story by placing the rest of that character's journey back into his hands and refusing to write the rest of it. You don't kill him young and bloody and use his brother's mourning as a backdrop to show the rest of his days have been written out for him by you into eternity, locking him into your vision of his future as the author of his life. The fact that the series ended that way points to the notion that the Winchesters didn't actually beat Chuck in the end—that he was still writing their lives—that he killed Dean and punished Sam. Nothing about that makes me clap my hands in giddy enjoyment at a dark and twisted ending. It's like... pretty much the number one illustration of all the things I despise most about Andrew Dabb's particular brand of sloppy, hair-brained meta drivel plots grounded in nothing but his own boredom, mean-spiritedness, and ego.

Add that they killed a character who suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts for most of the series that way, while he cried and said he didn't want to die and begged his brother not to leave him to die alone. Add that Dean's death sucks the meaning out of Cas's sacrifice, because Dean didn't even make it six months, and his presence at the final battle with Chuck wasn't even important since he was just there to be beaten bloody along with Sam as a distraction. Add that they suck the found family (a very Dean specific theme) out of the finale. Add that Dean's death in this context means that Sam is a failure—that he failed at the number one thing he wanted most. Add that it causes Sam so much grief that he never recovers, and can't stomach doing the job he grew to love doing most—being a hunter and a man of letters. That after setting Sam up to become a leader, they have him abandon everything and mourn in a bad wig for the next 50 years or whatever.

Dean's death isn't just ruinous in of itself. It poisons everyone else's ending.

And that's all I really care to say about it. It's not a topic I enjoy thinking about or writing about actually. I'm not interested in arguing or hearing from anyone who pretends it was good or profound or meaningful. It genuinely ruined the entire series for me. I only came back here because The Winchesters undid some of the things it tried to do. If not for that, this blog and all the meta on it would not exist today.

[fanfics4all]

Kinktober 2024 Masterlist

Day 1- Temperature Play: Toy Otto x Fem!reader Day 2- Voyeurism: Lou Chan x Male!reader Day 3- Public Sex: Barry Allen X Fem!reader Day 4- Sensory Deprivation: Negan x Fem!reader Day 5- Bondage: Derek Morgan x Fem!reader Day 6- Anonymous Sex: Jamie Hunter x Fem!reader Day 7- Bruising/Biting: John Murphy!Vampire AU x Fem!reader Day 8- Flogging: Oliver Queen x Fem!reader Day 9- Food Play: Fred and George Weasley x Fem!reader Day 10- Overstimulation: Sub!Ambrose Spellman x Dom!Fem!reader Day 11- Knife Play: F.P. Jones x Fem!reader Day 12- Breath Play: Savitar x Fem!reader Day 13- Role Play: Callie Adams-Foster x Male!reader Day 14- Gangbang: Draco Malfoy x Blaise Zabini x Theodore Nott x Fem!reader Day 15-Teasing: Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki x Fem!reader Day 16- Cock Worshiping: Daryl Dixon x Fem!reader Day 17- Squirting: Bellamy Blake x Fem!reader Day 18- Foot Fetish: Archie Andrews x Fem!reader Day 19- Fisting: Caliban x Fem!reader Day 20- Cunnilingus: Brandon Foster x Fem!reader Day 21- Shower Sex: Spencer Reid x Fem!reader Day 22- Thigh Riding: Tommy Merlyn x Fem!reader Day 23- Breeding: Malachai x Fem!reader Day 24- Somnophilia: Roy Harper x Fem!reader Day 25- Pussy Slapping: Leonard Snart x Fem!Allen!reader Day 26- Pegging: Jesus Adams-Foster x Fem!reader Day 27- Angry Sex: Rosita Espinosa x Male!reader Day 28- Phone Sex: Luke Alvez x Fem!reader Day 29- Uniforms: Octavia Blake x Male!reader Day 30- Sex Pollen: Harvey Kinkle x Fem!reader Day 31- Cock Warming: Severus Snape x Fem!reader

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played Urban Shadows ?

By Andrew Meideros, Mark Diaz Truman

Urban Shadows is an urban fantasy tabletop roleplaying game in which mortals and monsters vie for control of a modern-day city, a political battleground layered just under the reality we think we know. Vampires, faeries, hunters, and wizards fight to carve out a piece of the streets and skyscrapers, ready to make deals with all those who have something to offer.

[this-isapen]

I Never Told You What I Do For a Living

Pairing: vampire! hozier x vampire hunter! reader

Warnings: none really

Word count: 2,362

Andrew is a vampire. His wife is a vampire hunter. Neither of them know about the other's true life, and tensions rise when they find out.

read on ao3!

fic under the cut

Text:

“Let me go,” I growl at the handful of vampires surrounding me, trying to make it come across as more of an order than a plea. The last thing I needed was for these pieces of shit to have the satisfaction of me begging for my life, my freedom.

I don’t quite know how I got myself in this situation; I’m good at my job, usually being able to hunt them down and move on before the bastards knew what hit them. But tonight was different. Maybe I had miscalculated, or someone had messed with me without me realizing. All I know is one second I was ready to strike, and the next I was being restrained and threatened.

I just hope that if these fuckers kill me, Andrew isn’t left wondering what happened to me. I haven’t exactly been honest with him about what I do for work; he thinks I’m a security guard with odd hours. I suppose in a way, that’s not too far off from the truth – more omission than anything else.

“And just why would we do that?” taunts one of the vampires holding me down, grinning evilly. “No sense in letting a hunter run wild, trying to kill us at any given moment.”

“If you’re going to kill me, at least have the courtesy to make it quick so I don’t have to suffer the torture of you talking to me.” I try to resist them, but my attempt is futile as all my weapons were several feet away, very much out of reach with the grip they had on me. Struggling only makes it worse, but I’m not going down without a fight.

The one I’d been talking directly to bares his fangs, readying himself to rip out my throat, when another voice joins the commotion.

“Let her go.” It’s an order, one they seemingly can’t resist, though they don’t appear too happy about it. At the very least, it makes them hesitate, which buys me a few extra seconds.

“You want us to let the hunter go?!”

Unfortunately for me, they still haven’t loosened their grip nearly enough for me to reach any of my tools. Worth a shot.

“I will deal with her myself,” the new voice counters. “Have a few questions that need answering before any of you kill her. Now, leave.” It was authoritative, commanding. There was an edge to the order that dared the others to even think about disobeying.

The vampires reluctantly leave me, muttering angrily to themselves. I brace myself as the figure comes out of the shadows slowly towards me, too stunned by what had just happened to make a break for it. He crouches down, meeting me at eye level. Those kind, familiar eyes... There’s no way this was happening right now.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on, angel?” my husband’s soft voice is unmistakable this close.

“ Andrew?! I can ask you the same thing.”

He smiles at me in acknowledgement, reaching forward to cup my cheek in his soft hand. “Are you hurt?” he asks tenderly, apparently examining me for possible injury, his thumb tracing my cheekbone.

“I’m alright,” I murmur. “But Andy, what the fuck is happening? I – you're one of them?!” The sharp fangs protruding from his mouth suddenly catch my attention.

“Yes, darling.” his answer is simple, concrete. You’d think I had asked him if he wanted pasta for dinner with how casually he replied.

My world seems to be spinning out of control in front of my very eyes. There is no way my husband, the love of my life, is a vampire and I didn’t know. I can’t reconcile that; my sweet Andrew cannot be one of them. And even if that was the case, how would I not have picked up on that? I notice everything about him; why would I not know?

“You’re a fucking vampire.” Saying it that bluntly makes it feel somehow less believable.

“You’re a hunter,” he replies coolly, seemingly examining the ground. Did this not bother him? Or was he just holding something back? His reaction is impossibly hard to read, blurring my interpretations of the person I thought I knew so well.

“How the fuck-”

“Not here,” he cuts me off before I can finish asking my question. “We’ll discuss this later, at home.”

“But-” I start to interject, but he stops me with a sharp look. This was a side of him that I certainly wasn’t used to.

He tilts his head slightly, seemingly listening for something. “They should be far enough away now that your pathway is clear, but just to be safe – run. It’s too risky for us to leave together; I’ll see you later.”

“Andrew-”

He grabs the bag containing my hunting tools, shoving it urgently into my hands. He still wants me to have them?

“Go.”

His tone doesn’t leave any room for argument right now, so nodding, I get up and head back towards home.

I pace our living room for a while in a futile attempt to make sense of the situation. How the fuck was he a vampire? He didn’t appear fazed by my being a hunter when he was instructing me to escape – did he somehow figure me out before I picked up on him? If that were the case, why wouldn’t he say anything to me? My head is practically spinning as the questions pile up.

He finally returns about two hours later, and I’m ready to start arguing before he even has both feet in the door. Before I get the chance, he walks directly up to me and presses his lips to mine, holding my face in both his hands. There’s something so tender and loving in his kiss, making me momentarily forget the events of tonight.

“You’re seriously not hurt?” he asks softly, forehead against mine. His question is sweet, protective. Always a worrier, that one.

“I’m okay,” I assure him. “Promise.”

He seems to accept that response, pulling away from me slightly.

“Andy.” It’s all I can do right now to begin this talk. How does one confront their partner about being a vampire?

“Yeah... suppose we have a lot to discuss, huh?” I can tell he’s nervous, uncomfortable with the idea of having this conversation.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I start.

“Same question.” That isn’t much of an answer, but fine. He’s rubbing the skin of his hands raw as he waits expectantly for my reply.

“I assumed you were unaware of the existence of vampires, and I was hoping to keep it that way. I wanted to protect you,” I confess. That was true; I hadn’t wanted to stress him out with the existence of the supernatural world, figuring that the less he knew the better.

“Me too, plus I... I didn’t want to scare you away.” There’s an insecurity hiding behind his admission, which cracks my heart wide open. He was worried I’d be scared of him? “I hope you know I would never want to hurt you.”

“I know, baby.” I was struggling to wrap my head around this, but I knew his words to be true. He had more than proved that tonight, freeing me instead of letting me get murdered by those despicable... no. Could I really think about them like that anymore?

“I love you more than anything,” he says as if he’s afraid I won’t believe him.

I notice he’s averting his gaze, and I reach up towards his face, making him meet my eyes. “I know. I love you too.”

He covers my hand on his face with his own, trying to secure it in place. His eyes close softly as he turns his head just enough to kiss my palm.

“Honey?” he asks timidly. “What does this mean for us?”

“I don’t know that I have an answer for that right now, Andrew,” I sigh shakily. This is a variable I had never once considered, so now I wasn’t sure what this meant for me, let alone us. “I mean, if I know I can trust you, does that mean my entire worldview has to change? There’s just a lot I’m going to have to process, a lot to think about.”

“Just promise me that if you kill me, I can at least die holding you,” he mumbles against my hand, seemingly holding back tears. He... sounded like if it came down to it, he would let me kill him. Andrew hadn’t been a fighter, ever, but not putting up a fight for his life was an entirely other thing. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

“Baby, I’m not going to kill you.”

“Why not? I’m one of them, like you said.” I hadn’t realized how much this was affecting him, like he feared me.

“Yeah, well up until a few hours ago, you were just my husband.” I lean up, kissing his cheek. “Who I love very, very much,” I continue with another peck.

I thought that my entire universe crumbling would make me more unsure of my relationship – we'd both been lying to and hiding from one another for so long, but there was something almost poetic about it. In a way, it was all done for love.

“And you could easily have killed me tonight, baby. But you didn’t, and that makes me think I can still trust you,” I point out in an attempt to calm his anxious mind.

“Of course I didn’t fucking kill you!” He seems mildly offended at my suggestion, totally not the response I was hoping for. “I - when I realized it was you, it didn’t matter anymore. I wasn’t going to let anybody hurt you... I know that sounds ridiculous, because you’ve murdered so many of us, but...”

“Andrew... if you didn’t know it was me, would you have?”

The look on his face tells me all that I need to know. The thought stung, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t say the same. If I’d been in position to fight, I would have killed him without hesitation if I didn’t know it was him. The thought terrifies me, wondering what tonight’s outcome would have been if things had gone just slightly differently.

“Baby?” he asks, voice cracking. “Why do you do it?”

“I’m trying to protect people, Andy. I don’t want to see innocent lives be lost to creatures they don’t really stand a chance against.”

“We’re not all bad, though,” he argues, sounding a bit sad as he stumbles over his words.

“I can see that now...”

I really don’t know how to comfort him in this situation, this unexplored territory. It doesn’t help that his reaction is totally confusing, shifting from concerned to sad, maybe even angry.

“When I heard your voice... I – I thought they had gotten the wrong person, that you had gotten caught up in this somehow...”

“Andrew...”

“I should be fucking angry with you!” he shouts, startling me before shooting me an apologetic look. “But... I’m just, I don’t know, hurt? But I’m also just so goddamned relieved that you’re safe.”

“Back there, you... you gave me my weapons back. Why?”

“Because you deserve to be able to defend yourself, love.”

His teary eyes meet mine as he continues. “Even now, knowing all this shit... I would never be able to forgive myself if they had killed you. A lot of them are much more, ehm, impulsive than I am.”

“Andy,” my voice cracks slightly. His name feels like the only thing I’m capable of saying right now.

He sighs, shaking his head. It takes everything in me not to hug him tighter than ever and tell him everything would be alright. How could I, when I didn’t know where we stood right now?

We remain awkwardly in the living room, occasionally stealing anxious glances at one another. Where the fuck do I go from here?

“I know it won’t solve anything, and I know I definitely don’t deserve your forgiveness... but I am sorry, baby.” I manage to find my voice once more, though it sounds smaller to me than I ever thought it could.

The expression on his face is impossible to decipher. “I just...” he mumbles, a tremble in his voice. “I know it’s not fair to ask you stop.”

I want to get defensive of my work, but I hesitate. I try to picture separating these two lives again, but I’m only tormented by images of staking the heart of the man currently standing in front of me. “Andrew, I... have a lot to figure out about all of this. But if it’s any consolation, I think that means at the very least I’ll be taking a break.”

“Don’t feel obligated just because-”

It’s my turn to cut him off. “This isn’t because you’re asking me to. This is because I need to rethink some things.”

Apparently, neither of us know what to say next, the tension of tonight’s events fully exhausting our dialogue.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” I finally say, a yawn accentuating my statement.

“Oh,” he replies, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll make up the couch.”

I raise an eyebrow, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

“I mean, I figured you don’t want to share a bed...”

“I-” did I want that? On one hand, all the lying and hiding that had come to light made me hesitant to indulge in that intimacy. But on the other, I was exhausted and the comfort of sinking into his arms was incredibly tempting. “If you don’t hold me, I’ll kill you,” I chuckle dryly, wincing at my attempt at humor.

Before he can respond I add, “Uh, kidding. In case that wasn’t obvious.”

I hear his breathy laugh before feeling his lips on my forehead. “I know.”

He takes my hand, intertwining our fingers, and leads me to our room. There was a lot I didn’t know, but those thoughts are immediately silenced as I’m enveloped by the familiarity of my husband and my blankets. Figuring everything out is a problem for future me.

[rosalinesurvived]

Aftg vampire au where the hemmicks (and aaron+nicky by default) are hunters and andrew in foster care was turned by drake and then nicky runs away to live with erik who’s also a vampire and aaron goes to meet andrew in a really sketchy location bc andrew’s been mostly feral + dangerous ever since drake turned him and makes a deal with him that they’ll stay together so andrew kills tilda and turns aaron and aarons really fucking angry bc he thinks andrew killing tilda was like a blood sacrifice for his own turning and not andrew’s revenge against her because of what she did to aaron then nicky (still human) leaves erik persephone style to take care of the twinyards + reintegrate andrew back into normal society

[doodle-blight]

(WIP) it needed to happen

[briabooknerd]

The Vampire Hunter and the Heiress

The Werewolf Hunter and the Apprentice

Shari L.Tapscott

Jake Andrews

Steal a Swordmaiden's heart

Forest of Scarlet

Wild Fae Promise

Night of Secrets

Tara Grayce

[sombra7567]

Drew my beloveds today-

Characters are Andrew and Dawn from Jessie Love’s series “The Hunter and The Vampire”!

Sketchy versions

[the---hermit]

2024 reading wrap up

books I read (rereads in green):

Nature Human Nature And Human Difference by Justin Smith

Resurgir curated by Lorenzo Incarbone

Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman

The Pornographer by Restif De La Bretonne

Storie Brutte Sulla Scienza by Barbascura X

Only Dull People Are Brillian At Breakfast by Oscar Wilde

A Day Of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

The Ballad Of The Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

Notes On Camp by Susan Sontag

The Prince And The Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Oh! Il Libro Delle Meraviglie by Leo Ortolani

Dubliners by James Joyce

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

Il Grande Ratolik by Leo Ortolani

Emmeline Pankhurst by Mariapaola Pesce and Paola Zanghi

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

The Vampyre by John William Polidori

Passage On The Secret History Of An Irish Countess by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

The Daughtest Of Salem by Thomas Gilbert

Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Mysterious Study Of Doctor Sex by Tamsyn Muir

Apt Pupil by Stepehn King

Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Miti E Leggende Dei Celti by Mila Fois

A Psalm For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers

The Southern Book Club's Guide To Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Quando Muori Resta A Me by Zerocalcare

Storie Di Merda by Barbascura X

Richard II by William Shakespeare

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Norse Mythology graphic novel volume 1

Norse Mythology graphic novel volume 2

A Prayer For The Crown Shy

short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Something Is Killing The Children volume 7

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

Life Isn't Binary by John-Meg Barker and Alex Iantaffi

Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

L'Idea di Medioevo by Giuseppe Sergi

Due Racconti di Vampiri - shoet stories by Frederick Cowles

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

The Fall Of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

The White People by Arthur Machen

The Road - the graphic novel adaptation by Manu Larcenet

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

What Fiests At Night by T. Kingfisher

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

L'Importanza di Chiamarsi Oscar Wilde by Licia Cascione and Tommaso Vitiello

Questioni di un Certo Genere by il Post

The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Storia Degli Stati Sabaudi by Andrea Merlotti and Paola Bianchi

I Belli Hanno Rotto Il Cazzo by Barbascura X

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Re:Dracula

The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi by Shannon Chkraborty

Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe

The Forbidden Harbor by Stefano Turconi and Teresa Radice

Sacred Bodies by Ver

Seghe Mentali Cosmiche by Barbascura X

Costituzione by Maurizio Floravanti

Bi by Julia Shaw

Governo by Paolo Colombo

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

A Babbo Morto by Zerocalcare

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

A Dog's Heart by Mikhail Bulgakov

the books I have dnf-ed:

The Last Man by Mary Shelly

Venerdì 12 by Leo Ortolani

The Dreamchatcher by Stephen King

Night Man by Leo Ortolani

La Donna Senz'Ombra by Hugo von Hofmannsthal

[billdenbrough]

this is the start of something else & has just been laying about only seen by mina but i figured there’s enough of it that it could go here too. so a snippet of some monster hunter aaron & vampire kevin kevaaron, as a kind of … tangent (au of an au? lmfao) to that last fic posted

Aaron will later say it’s Kevin’s fault, and Kevin will strongly disagree, but privately, he’s willing to acknowledge that Aaron may have a point.

In his defence, Aaron is just so fucking cute when he sleeps. It’s like it all fades away, the dry expressions and eye rolls and every other marker of Aaron that Kevin finds cute in motion, but makes something in his chest ache when he’s asleep, face free of all the trappings of its personality.

He looks – young, meaning unburdened, meaning at ease.

It still makes something in Kevin tremble, the way Aaron trusts him like this. He’s not Andrew’s level on edge, but he’s still got walls taller than he is, and from what Kevin’s gathered, he’s not good at letting people in past them. He hasn’t figured out how.

But here is Kevin, let in somehow. Here is Kevin, trusted anyway.

It’s unprecedented in general. It’s completely unbelievable when considering that Kevin’s a vampire, but here he is all the same.

Aaron stirs. “Stop being creepy,” he mumbles, but he doesn’t sound like he means it. That could be because he’s still mostly asleep, of course, but Kevin chooses to interpret it as a joke. So funny, that Aaron.

“I’m just looking at you,” Kevin says.

Aaron huffs, shifting a little beneath Kevin, rolling his shoulders before letting out a contented sigh. “That’s weird,” Aaron points out sleepily. “‘M not – ” He yawns, then continues, “Not riveting.”

“I have forever,” Kevin reminds him. “Looking at you is one of my favourite ways for the time to pass.”

That makes Aaron crack open an eyelid, giving Kevin a reproachful look. He’s sleepy and tousled and fucking cute, though, with his fluffy hair sticking up in directions and his cheeks sleep-rounded and rosy, so it’s not very effective.

“You’re terrible,” he complains. “Can’t just say—” He continues grumbling something, but he’s burrowing into Kevin’s chest, which makes it difficult to decipher. “Like, I can hear you.”

“Yeah,” Kevin says, “that’s kind of how conversation works.”

The exhale Aaron lets out is unfairly long-suffering. “This is your fault,” he says, in the world’s sleepiest, vaguest warning.

“What’s m—mmph,” Kevin starts to ask, before being cut off by Aaron’s lips on his, chastely kissing his questions right out of his mouth.

“I probably have morning breath,” Aaron says, huffy, but it’s quiet and small, just for them, caught between their lips, and Kevin feels alight with it. “Your fault. You couldn’t be normal enough for me to wake up and let my impulse control kick in.”

“Morning breath is pretty bad,” Kevin says, trying not to smile and failing completely. “But I like that you couldn’t resist kissing me. That feels correct.”

Aaron groans, patting the bed around them until his hand comes into contact with a pillow, which he immediately flings into Kevin’s face.

[maryasmorevna]

to take your mind of the foreboding WH movie adaptation disaster: Are there actually some non-English gothic titles you would like to recommend?

ohhhhh, what a good ask!

now, i'm actually not that well-versed in the gothic genre as i'd like to be, and if anyone has more recs they're welcome to add them to my list. but still, let's begin with:

gaston leroux, le fantôme de l'opéra (+ andrew lloyd webber's musical - which is hugely popular, as it should be! - and i'd also recommend the 1925 silent movie with lon chaney. it's probably the most faithful film adaptation of poto... too bad for that ending tho. there's also a prequel/retelling book by susan kay called phantom, which is very good - but not flawless - except i heavily dislike christine's characterization in this one; you can always read until the counterpoint section and call it a day)

victor hugo, notre dame de paris + the musical adaptation by riccardo cocciante. it's in french, but i also enthusiastically rec the italian version - you can find both of them on yt!

so, besides these two super famous classics, there's the poem the demon by mikhail yuryevich lermontov. you can find an opera rendition of it by anton rubinstein.

speaking of opera, béla bartók's bluebeard's castle - aka a gorgeous adaptation of the fairy tale by the same name. this version is particularly excellent, and there are also a lot of good album recordings on spotify. musically-wise, tho, it's maybe not easily accessible to people who aren't already familiar with opera...?

charles gounod's faust (again, an opera!) and various non-english versions of the story, like goethe's. by goethe there's also the poem der erlkönig. here a beautiful musical rendition by franz schubert.

panna a netvor aka "the maiden and the monster", my favorite beauty&thebeast movie adaptation. it's a 1978 czechoslovak film, you can find it here on yt with eng subs. and idk if i would say it's gothic but there's also the jean cocteau 1946 film + another french one filmed in 2014 starring léa seydoux and vincent cassel.

fyodor dostoevesky, the double

carlos ruiz zafon, the shadow of the wind (which i enjoyed, but i wasn't personally crazy about, though)

it's not gothic - it's magical realism, actually - but fans of the genre would possibly like gabriel garcia marquez's one hundred years of solitude for its themes

again, not gothic (i've seen it labeled as "dark academia" but. for some people anything is ~dark academia, including dostoevesky and the picture of dorian gray, for some unfathomable reason), but i'd rec vita nostra + its sequel, assassin of reality, by ukrainian authors marina and sergey dyachenko. there's an english translation and an italian one for my mutualiani, plus a third and final book coming out in, maybe, 2025.

the cabinet of dr. caligari + the man who laughs starring conrad veidt (😳😍) - the latter is an adaptation of the victor hugo's novel by the same name

for other movie recs, the original nosferatu + dario argento's suspiria (which has also a more recent remake by luca guadagnino of challengers fame)

fosca by igino ugo tarchetti. didn't read the novel, but i watched the musical adaptation by stephen sondheim, passion, here (and that's in english). again, idt if it's gothic or even gothic-adjacent but fosca's character has been compared and contrasted as a female version of the phantom of the opera by musical theatre fans, so. here it is.

now, for things i didn't personally watch/read so i can't vouch for them, but they seem all well-written/made nonetheless and belong to my unending list(s) of books to read/films to watch:

vampire hunter d. (anime)

john ajvide lindqvist, let the right one in (novel + movie adaptation)

marina enriquez, our share of the night + things we lost in fire (novel + short stories collection)

(mind you that these recs conflate a lot with the horror department. but i still think they could be interesting for gothic fans)

two book series that are written by english authors but i think they deserve more attention:

mervyn peake, gormenghast

jonathan l. howard, johannes cabal (which contains huge references to faust, dracula, and works by poe and lovecraft. the protagonist has also become one of my favorite characters of all time, i've fallen in love with him at first... page, i guess lol)

and that's it! again, if anyone has any other good rec, please feel free to add them!