The Vampire’s Templar

After pouring out the bathwater down a drain in the corner of the dark room, Camilla and Kagriss head back upstairs. They had been in the bath for more time than they had planned, thanks to Camilla almost passing out, so by the time they returned to their room, dusk had passed and night had fallen.

The only sources of light was a dim lamp set on a dresser and the moonlight. Dim moonlight shone through the shutters on the window, creating little lines of white on the floor and bed. Speaking of the bed, there was only one in the room.

After what had happened in the bath, Camilla didn’t feel closer to Kagriss, but was rather a bit on guard again what Kagriss might do. Normally she wouldn’t think twice about sharing a bed with Kagriss, but now, she was worried that Kagriss might not be able to keep her hands to herself and do something.

Besides, after the uneven forest floor or branches, even the floor looked comfortable.

As Camilla eyed the floor and bed, trying to decide how she was going to spend the night, Kagriss came up behind her and gave her a shove. In a room with no one but Kagriss near her, Camilla was totally defenseless. Kagriss’s push caught her off guard and sent her sprawling onto the bed.

Her heart fluttered as she fell and she quickly scrambled onto her back, just as a shadow fell over her. “Kagriss! W—what are you doing?”

Kagriss’s face was dark with shadows with the night behind her. Although she looked so innocent that for a moment Camilla even thought that the person that pushed her wasn’t really Kagriss, the way that Kagriss’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark made her cast away her doubts. It was definitely Kagriss, and Camilla’s instincts told her that Kagriss was up to something.

“Nothing…” Kagriss said, looking down at Camilla’s small form half-sitting, half-lying on the bed. 

What they did in the baths was nice, but for Kagriss, it was far from enough. She wanted to see more of Camilla, to feel Camilla writhe under her touch.

Kagriss didn’t really know what came over her recently, but compared to how Camilla acted during the day, Kagriss much preferred how Camilla acted at night. So small, so vulnerable, like a little animal that Kagriss instinctively wanted to tease and protect.

But she had to wait and be patient. Unlike her, Camilla wasn’t that interested in bodily intimacy and Kagriss was worried that if she was too direct, Camilla might be overwhelmed.

It was a shame, but Kagriss decided to temporarily soothe the embers in her heart, and the light in her eyes faded. “…but I was worried that you might try and sleep on the floor when there’s a perfectly good bed there.”

Camilla felt like she was being watched by a predator and although the feeling lifted somewhat when Kagriss’s eyes turned back to normal, it was still everpresent. Kagriss’s act fooled no one. “There’s only one bed,” she said.

“We can share it.”

Camilla shifted her gaze from Kagriss’s face to her fingers that were hanging down by Kagriss’s side, shivering as she remembered the events just a few minutes ago. The risk was a bit much. She didn’t think she could take any more. She shook her head. “The bed is for a single person. It won’t fit both of us.”

—which was a lie, since both she and Kagriss were still sleepers when they did sleep. Even a one-person bed was more than enough for them to lie down side by side.

But as she made to stand up, Kagriss placed a finger on her chest, stopping her. Kagriss smiled. “Since the bed is too small, I’ll be the one to sleep on the floor. Up until recently, you were my mistress, so how can I take the bed?”

From what remained of her instincts as a human and former man, Camilla fundamentally opposed Kagriss sleeping on the ground while she slept on the bed. She shook her head. “I don’t want you on the ground either.”

“I suppose that means we’ll have to share, right?”

Camilla’s face reddened. So in the end, it came back to the original topic and she achieved nothing. They were going to share a bed, and Camilla couldn’t help but feel that she was heading into a tiger’s den.

But she couldn’t think of a rebuttal on the spot, so she accepted her fate helplessly. Surely even Kagriss will be able to keep her hands if she made her refusal clear. On the other hand, Camilla still remembered her promise to Kagriss that they would do it once they got a proper bed.

That Kagriss ended up attacking her in the bath didn’t really change anything.

Camilla bit her lips and nodded, laying back down.

Satisfied with Camilla’s reaction, Kagriss touched the finger that had just been pressing on Camilla’s chest to her lips, her smile as devilish as ever, making Camilla shiver a bit. 

The Kagriss at night and the Kagriss in the day was just too different. It was hard to believe that they were the same person.

Although in the end Kagriss got what she wanted, Camilla felt she still needed to assert her dominance and authority, just so Kagriss won’t end up walking all over her while riding that moment.

Gathering her courage, Camilla glared up at Kagriss, putting on a solemn look. Despite her efforts, her words still came with a stutter. “I—I’ll sleep on the outside…”

Wanting to scream at her own timidity and hide her face, Camilla settled completely on the bed and turned her head away, looking toward the outside.

Meanwhile, seemingly not having heard her at all, Kagriss crawled over her without protest. Camilla felt the mattress sink under Kagriss’s weight, hearing the bed creak with Kagriss’s movement.

The creaking stopped when Kagriss laid down, but by then it had already become stuck in Camilla’s mind.

The squeaking of the wooden bed frame…something that was commonly mentioned as signs of lovemaking in more…erotic novels. Camilla had read those before, and so the memories rose to the forefront of her thoughts from the depths of her mind. With their surfacing, her heartbeat quickened.

But those that she had read were all between women and men. She never once considered that she would become a girl, much like getting in bed with another while having this body. 

Without experience or reference, Camilla began to imagine what true intimacy between two women would be like. Sinking into her imagination, her face heated up along with her body.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that when cold fingers suddenly touched her face, she nearly jumped out of her skin as she returned to the present. 

Her eyes focused. Breathing hard, Camilla realized that the only reason why Kagriss, whose body should have been the same temperature as hers, felt cold was because she was so hot.

When she touched her own face, it felt almost scorching hot, as if she was having a fever. Her thumb brushed against her neck and she felt her rapid but steady pulse, diligently moving blood up to her face.

As her surroundings came back to her, she realized that Kagriss was right behind her. 

Her own head was turned to the side, so the back of her head was facing Kagriss. Right now, Kagriss was taking advantage of that to bring her face up close. Strands of Camilla’s hair fluttered with each of Kagriss’s breaths.

“Camilla…”

“Y—yes?” Camilla answered, a bit fearfully. She had no idea what Kagriss was calling her for, and she was a bit afraid to ask.

Behind her, the faint smile that had always been on Kagriss’s face since the beginning widened. Camilla shivered underneath her touch, but the trembling did nothing to dampen Kagriss’s desires. If anything, it only made her desires flare up.

Kagriss wanted to see more and more of Camilla’s weak, vulnerable side, and she wanted it enough to become a bit impatient. She gently stroked Camilla’s face. Although she couldn’t see Camilla’s expression, she could imagine it. Wide, watery golden eyes. Small pink lips, the bottom one slightly hidden by Camilla’s teeth as she chewed it nervously.

A bit regretful for that and wanting to make up for it, Kagriss shifted her body closer to Camilla. She even wrapped her arm around Camilla’s when a sudden thought came to her. 

Didn’t humans wear special clothing to bed?

Although Camilla’s clothes were of fine fabric, the sleeves that Kagriss felt against her bare arms still felt a bit rough and stiff on her skin. When they were together under the covers like they were now, it felt a bit weird.

She propped herself up on her elbow, drawing Camilla’s attention. “Do you have any sleepwear in the moonstone?” she asked when Camilla looked back at her with her wide golden eyes.

Camilla paused, blinking. 

Her serious look of concentration when she tried to remember something was cute as well. Kagriss held her breath, trying to not let her delight show for fear of startling Camilla. She didn’t plan on letting Camilla sleep for a while yet, after all.

After a moment, Camilla shook her head. At first, Kagriss was disappointed, but it turned out that Camilla simply didn’t remember.

“I’ll need the moonstone to check.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Camilla had a hand held out in front of her. Kagriss first stopped her own blood before pulling mana away from her chest. Under Camilla’s unbelieving eyes, Kagriss cut open her own chest with a quickly-made blade of mana.

“What are you doing?!”

“Fetching the moonstone?” Kagriss pulled open the unbleeding wound with one hand and reached inside with the other. The flesh parted easily before her own hand until she found the moonstone buried deep in her chest.

“What’s wrong?” Kagriss asked as she pulled out the white rock.

Camilla’s face was pale, the rosiness on her cheeks gone. She looked like she had seen something horrifying, and Kagriss realized that perhaps… Camilla had never seen her retrieve the stone recently?

But storing things inside of her body was so convenient and secure. As a vampire with access to blood bonding, which was essentially a better version of her storage, Camilla should understand just how convenient this was.

Fidgeting a bit awkwardly, Kagriss handed Camilla the moonstone.

Still looking like she was in a daze, Camilla closed her eyes and sent her mind diving into the moonstone. Although Kagriss couldn’t personally see what was stored within, she still had some idea what was going on inside.

Slowly, blood began to creep up Camilla’s neck onto her face.