Taming My Vampire Servant

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter mentions cutting oneself. Readers discretion is advised.

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Lycus followed the familiar scent, which was leading towards the window. Without further ado, he quickly opened it.

"Hey," his Master's first Servant called as he leaned on the wall beside the window. He smirked at him when their eyes met, "Long time no see."

"You should have come earlier. You know how our Master misses you."

"Well… I attempted not to come back, but there was something that caught my attention. I had to return immediately."

Seeing the Vampire Servant's serious expression, he asked, "What happened?"

"I passed by a jewelry stall in Rubia Town," he explained, "Then one of the rings displayed glowed a red light. I sensed Dark Mana coming from it, and so I… stole it-"

"Stealing is evil!" Lycus exclaimed, "Do you want to taint the holy Servants' reputation?"

Sigmund laughed, amused by how Lycus reacted, "I am tainted to begin with."

"Apologies…" The silver-haired Servant said, and then there was an awkward silence between them. When he was about to speak, Sigmund cut him off.

"How is she?" he said while looking at the bright, yellow moon. He certainly missed those days whenever Ivory and him went up their roof in Greensteid Town to stargaze. 

"She's not fine without you."

Sigmund sighed, "Didn't she have Vernon as her lover already?"

"Yes, but…" Lycus was about to tell him that Ivory had been longing for him. 

On her sleepless nights, she'd cry and utter his name. However, on times when she could finally sleep, she would display a smile on her face. Lycus knew that his Master was having good dreams of her beloved Vampire Servant, because as soon as she woke up, she would happily tell Lycus about it. She was actually very lonely that they'd only meet in her dreams, and kept on wishing that he'd return.

But Lycus knew that these words should come from Ivory, not him. His Master should be the one who should confess her feelings herself and face it, rather than it coming from another person.

Sigmund heard footsteps nearing to the direction of the room, and he gestured for Lycus to close the window. 

He did as he was told, then greeted his Master, who saw him  shut the window hard.

"Ah, Master. Apologies, I was startled," Lycus switched to a different topic as to escape from further questioning. "Did you eat well?"

Ivory nodded at him. She sat on her bed, and gestured for Lycus to sit beside her.

"Master?" Lycus wondered why he was suddenly called to sit beside her. 

"Lycus," she uttered. "Do me a favor."

"I will do anything for you," he said. "What is it, Master?"

"I want you to…" Ivory pointed at the window and then to herself.

The second Servant did not expect it. Did she mean, she already knew that someone was listening to them?

Lycus stood up, then opened the window. But the Vampire already left.

"He's not here anymore. I will look for him."

When Lycus left, Ivory leaned backwards, letting her body lie down on the soft bed. As she stared at the wooden ceiling, she felt slightly excited.

What happened was, when she went to the lower shelf to put the cleaned plates, she saw him through the small kitchen window as Sigmund spoke with Lycus. At first, she was not sure, but when she took a second look, she got teary eyed. 

After pinching herself first and making sure that it was not a dream, she walked towards her room. She knew that his heightened hearing might enable him to leave once he heard her footsteps.

"Please don't run away from me, Sigmund…" she murmured to herself. She hoped that Lycus could convince him to return to her.

'Scrap that,' she thought as she immediately stood up. She realized that she shouldn't lay down there idly while her first Servant was trying to leave her for good!

Ivory ran out of her room, and then out of Precious Inn. She looked around hoping to see him. Although she wanted to use mana to jump to the roofs, she did not do it as she might be caught again by the town guards. She peeked through the glass windows of the shops, hoping that somehow, he was there. She even passed by Vernon's jewelry shop and almost bumped into him when he went out of the door, but she didn't even look back and continued on searching for her beloved Servant. 

Ivory searched for Sigmund in almost all the streets as fast as she could, until she reached the mining entrance. Upon seeing her, the town guards greeted her, and she asked them if they had seen a tall, black-haired guy or someone suspicious. They said that they had not seen him.

Not giving up, she went to Topazeon forest at the side of the mining area which was full of oak trees. While she slowly walked, she looked up to the trees, as he might be jumping from one tree to another. The moonlight passed through the gaps between the tree crowns, as if guiding her path. 

Then, she heard the rustling of leaves and immediately glanced to see who it was.

"Master!" Lycus came running to her as soon as he sniffed her scent. 

"Lycus… did you see him?!"

"Yes, but apologies if I have not yet caught him. But he's just around here somewhere. I can smell him nearby."

"Then…" As if a lightbulb lit atop her head, Ivory had a good idea. She gestured to Lycus to keep quiet. She collected vapor on her palm and using Advanced Water magic, she transformed it to water and eventually to ice. She shaped it with the shape and sharpness like that of a small knife.

Lycus widened his eyes when he saw his Master cutting her palm. He was going to stop her, but he saw determination in her eyes. She was desperate to find her beloved Servant, even if it meant hurting herself.

The smell of Ivory's blood wafted in the air. 

Sigmund had no heightened smell, but he could sense his Master's normal mana. He knew she was there because he heard them talking, but the presence of her mana was getting stronger and stronger that it was already too hard to resist. 

He felt his bloodlust awaken within him. He hopped onto the branches of the oak trees, and when he caught a glimpse of her long silver hair under the moonlight, he chose one tree where could watch over them. He finally got a good view of her, and he saw them standing on the part where there were less trees. 

However, seeing his Master letting her precious blood drip on the forest soil made him very annoyed. 

Sigmund immediately hopped down to her side, and grabbed and bent Ivory's wrist until she dropped the sharp ice she held. He then grabbed her other hand and licked her bleeding palm.

Ivory saw how her beloved Servant's eyes glowed; it meant he's feeling intense emotions at the moment. 

Tears started to form in her eyes since she missed him so much. However, she still couldn't help but to think that this might just be a dream.

"Please tell me this is not a dream," she muttered, looking at him dearly, "I missed you so much, Sigmund."

The Vampire stopped drinking her blood and tilted his head to face her, "Cutting yourself to lure me out… You're becoming bold as time passes by, Ivory."

"But it was effective," she responded with a weak smile. Her light blue irises then glowed, and she showed him her left palm. Her wound slowly healed using the Silverblade mana. "It's night time, so I can naturally do this anyway."

Sigmund sighed. He never thought his Master would play tricks on him at that moment! 

Lycus, seeing that his Master and her first Servant needed to talk privately, excused himself and went up the oak tree.

Ivory grabbed her Vampire Servant's hand and squeezed it close to her chest, "Sigmund… I regret everything." The moonlight was reflected in her light blue irises as her tears started to fall down her cheeks as if they were shooting stars. "What I want the most is to be with you."

Sigmund widened his eyes in shock. "But this is against the laws of the Goddess. We will both be punished, especially you."

"I do not care anymore," Ivory placed her arms around his waist and cried on his chest.

"But Ivory… If you get punished, the castlemen might track you and bring you to the castle. Then the Oracle might remove your mana and return it to Goddess Destinia. You know what it means, right?" He embraced her back and stroked her head gently. "Once all your mana is taken away, I will cease to exist, and we'll never see each other again."

"No... I won't let that happen!" she desperately yelled and hugged him tighter this time. "If only I told you earlier, then maybe now, I have already come up with a plan…" the Master definitely regretted the time she wasted on fighting her feelings for him. She never imagined that she'd be this brave enough to disobey the ultimate rule.

Sigmund sighed, then took a look at Ivory's face. He wiped the tears that fell on her cheek, "I have been aware of how you feel about me, dimwit. I just chose to pretend not to know."

"Sigmund… you meanie…" she sniffed. "Tell me the truth… how did you feel when you first knew about my feelings?"