Taming My Vampire Servant

Ivory gulped in fear. "I… I apologize, I am lost!"

The man's voice responded, "Do you want full control of your mana?"

She widened her eyes in surprise. She didn't expect him to mention it. "Yes, of course!"

"Why?" he asked. "What is your driving force and inspiration? Why do you want power?"

"I want to win the Servant Competition and give my family a better life, and…" she got teary-eyed, "I don't want to be a burden to my Servant and friends!"

"If you want control of that strong mana, you must finish the challenge that I am about to give you."

"Challenge? What kind of challenge?" 

"If you can guess who I am, I will grant you the permission to use that mana freely."

After hearing about it, Ivory deduced that the man might have something to do with her mana and was a powerful being, and so she nodded, "Okay, I… I will try."

"Before you go, let me heal your feet."

Ivory sat on the ground and stretched her feet near the entrance of the den. Under the bright moon, her feet glowed, and when she took a peek, the wounds had already healed!

"Same place, in your dream. See you next time..." the voice then faded, and when she opened her eyes, she saw herself in her own room in the attic.

Ivory quickly sat and reached out to her feet, bending it to see her sole.

"What's wrong?" Sigmund asked.

"I… I dreamed that my feet were bleeding…"

"It's just a dream. Don't worry."

Ivory nodded at him, then she lied down once again. She felt that it wasn't just a dream, but something to do with her mana. She decided to consult it with Lycus the next time they meet.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She went back to sleep, and this time, without a dream.

…

The next day, Lycus visited the Sprucemint family for breakfast. He brought with him deep-fried crispy beef tripe which he had cooked earlier, while Anne had prepared her usual acorn soup and boiled sweet potato that the kids dug up with her the other day.

"Why do you look like our sister, are you also our brother?" the eleven-year-old Gracie asked him as her curious doe-like eyes peered at him.

Lycus chuckled, "No, but you can call me your brother, if you'd like."

"I want to call you brother, too!" Flynn interrupted, "Remember, you promised me you'd teach me cool combat moves!"

"Now, now, Flynn, Lycus will not teach you if you won't finish your meal," Gordon told his son. "If you want to be as strong as your sister Ivory, do not be picky with food."

"Sister is the strongest Master of all! I want to be a knight in the castle if she becomes a Royal Knight!" the thirteen-year-old boy said, and the adults chuckled, pleased that in his young age, he already had a big dream to look forward to.

"I will wait for that to happen," Ivory commented. "Let's both protect our kingdom!"

They had a pleasant conversation as they ate their breakfast. Afterwards, Gordon asked Sigmund to help him gather firewood deep in the forest. He hesitated at first because Ivory would be left with Lycus, but she told him not to worry too much, so he went with her father.

Ivory and Lycus sat on the log behind the house. She told him about the dream she had.

"You think it's just a dream? I feel like I should take the challenge seriously."

Lycus nodded, "You should do the challenge. Use all the elements in your dream. All that you see there. They'll serve as clues."

"Hmm… Clues?" she looked up at the blue sky. "The oak forest… the moon… the large den?"

"If you have other dreams, it may serve as clues as well."

"My other dreams- Oh!" Ivory realized something. "Do you already know who that voice is?"

"Of course, but I will ruin the challenge if I tell you."

"Geez…" she sighed. "I have to recall my other dreams then."

An hour later, Sigmund returned with her father, and as soon as he dropped off the cart of firewood in front of the house, she immediately looked for his Master.

Sigmund first peeked behind the house, and saw Ivory laughing with Lycus as they sat side-by-side on the log. He clenched his fist as he felt jealous with the view.

When Ivory turned her head, she saw her Servant with a frowning face, "Sigmund, you've returned!" she waved her hand.

The jealous Vampire Servant then said, "We still have to pick some fresh leaves for your tea time with Lucius' mother later. Let's go now."

"I thought I asked you to pick up some leaves on the way."

"I… forgot."

Ivory chuckled. "I didn't know you can be forgetful sometimes," she stood up, then went to his side. "Bye Lycus, see you around!"

Lycus waved his hand. When Ivory turned her back on him, Sigmund glanced at him, then smirked.

Sigmund followed Ivory from behind as she looked around while they walked.

"Oh, nootka rose leaves!" she ducked and sniffed it first. "This is it."

With her small hands, Ivory touched it, but she accidentally touched its prickly stem. 

As blood oozed from her pointing finger, Sigmund immediately approached her and grabbed her hand. "Dimwit. Why are you so clumsy?"

Without second thinking, he placed her finger into his mouth and sucked it.

This made Ivory blush, "Th-Thank you, it's okay now-"

But having a taste of his beloved Master's blood plus him feeling jealous because of Lycus' closeness to her made him crave for her blood. He pulled her onto him, his left hand grabbing her hair at the back of her head, while his right hand grabbed onto her waist.

Ivory gasped as she was startled when her Vampire Servant bit her neck. Sigmund let his wet tongue graze on her fair skin whenever he sees blood trickling down. 

"Sigmund… Why…?" she murmured.

He paused in sucking her blood, his crimson red irises gazed intently into her light blue irises, "Do I really have to explain every time when I do this to you? Your body and blood is mine, after all," he grinned. "You're my Master, and I am your Servant. It's your responsibility to feed me with your blood."

"Sigmund… I know, our agreement when we had the Contract Ritual-"

"And I don't want to see you getting any closer to Lycus."

Ivory was confused, "But Lycus is my relative- Oww!"

Sigmund didn't let her finish and instead savored the fresh blood of his Master.

"Uhm…" she patted his back, "Please stop… We still need to pick leaves for tea!"

The Vampire paused once again, then whispered close to her ear, "I lied. I already picked them for you."

And so, Sigmund continued to drink his Master's blood. It was not for replenishing mana, but he wanted to make it clear to her and remind her that she belonged to him. The Vampire Servant was not afraid at all if someone would see them. After all, using his heightened hearing, he could easily know if footsteps were approaching. 

Ivory slightly trembled and gripped Sigmund's cloak, "Mmmgghh…" she muttered, not minding the rustling of the bushes near them.

From the bushes then came out some squirrels who curiously looked at them with their round eyes. 

"Sigmund… They're… watching…" Ivory whispered when she saw them, but Sigmund only tilted her head using his hand and bit the other side of her neck. She screamed due to both pain and pleasure she was feeling, and it echoed in the quiet forest.

After the Vampire got satisfied with the blood he had consumed from her, she took her hand and led the way back to their house. They returned to the attic, and they made sure that the bleeding had already stopped before she wore her casual dress. She also prepared the leaves for their tea-time with Miss Diana Goldwine later that day. She wore a black long sleeve top underneath the plaid turtleneck brown ankle-length dress with a thin fabric rope tied on her waist. On the other hand, Sigmund wore his usual cropped muscle shirt and pants.

Ebleu fetched the two before lunch time. They went to Megalia City and proceeded to Diana's residence, which was a bit far from Goldwine's mansion. The guards let Ebleu's carriage enter and after he unloaded Ivory on the front door, he and Sigmund went to the stables under Lucius' request because his mother had a trauma for Servants. Ebleu then challenged Sigmund for chess, and that was what they played while waiting for further orders.

Ivory was led by Lucius to the driveway and passed by the rose bushes, which she was delighted to see. Her eyes then widened in amazement as she finally had a closer look of the two story mansion with asymmetrical exteriors and neutral color palette in front of the bushes. 

Lucius glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the cute expression displayed on Ivory's face. He led her to the doorway and opened the smoky blue door. They passed by the airy open hallway with wood flooring before heading to the marbled dining counter, where Diana had already set up.

"Welcome to my humble home, Ivory. I hope the food is to your liking," Diana said as she gave her a clean set of fork and knife. 

"I'm sure it is!" Ivory exclaimed, then started choosing which among the meat dishes she'd like to eat first.

"I told my mother that you love meat," Lucius told her. "Let's eat. Take a seat too, mother."

As the three of them started eating, Lucius opened up, "Mother, there's something interesting that Ivory and I have discovered."

"What is it?" asked Diana as she sliced the pork on her plate. 

Seeing that Ivory had been busy munching meat while she listened to them, he continued his story, "Father saved Ivory when she was still a baby."

"Saved?" she looked at her son curiously. "Why, what happened when she was a baby?"

"Her whole family was in trouble back then, and some people wanted to get rid of her. So her father asked the General for help," Lucius said. "She was hidden in a fruit crate loaded in the Sprucemint family's cart. They raised her like their own daughter."

"Oh, what a small world," Diana giggled, "Maybe both of you are destined to be friends after all."

Ivory gulped water and she decided to join the conversation, "I wonder if my parents can still recognize me after all those years."

"Don't you have the birthmark of Goddess Destinia? I'm sure it can help in recognizing you," Lucius suggested.

Diana nodded, "Yes, he's right," she grazed another slab of bacon onto her plate. She added, "Where's your birthmark, by the way?"

"Ah, it's…" Ivory hesitated. But she knew they were waiting for an answer, so she finally said, "... in my inner thigh."

The knife Diana was holding suddenly fell on the ground, and its metallic sound echoed in the room.