Spring Forward, Fall Back (Alucard x Chubby! Reader)

Chapter 80 - The Road Ahead Is Paved With Confusion And Anger

Striga P.O.V.

I sat on the balcony overlooking the mountains, staring out at the scene before me. The snow glistened under the moonlight that managed to press through the small breaks in the clouds as the storm blew across the lands below. Icy winds bringing forth the rain mixed with snow pattered against the walls and struck against my face, making me squint my eyes into the oncoming onslaught. I raised my head and took a deep breath through my nose, reveling in the feeling of the wind's puny attempts at biting my face, when I felt the familiar tingle rolling up my back.

"Morana," I said as a smile slowly creased my face, "you come to see me, my love?" I then felt her arms wrap around my stomach as she pressed her cheek into my back. I placed my hands over hers, her dark skin a vast contrast against my pallor, and heard her sigh in contentment against me and felt a similar feeling roll through me. I could tell she'd noticed when I heard her soft chuckle and her cheek perk up against me.

"What do you here, my love?" she asked. "It is a poor weather night and we should be inside."

"I was just thinking to myself about this...situation." I admitted. It was always on my mind since the first meeting we had with Carmilla and her seemingly uncontrollable zeal to carry out her plans.

"I know. I've been thinking the same thing," Morana hummed. "I don't think she has all the information she thinks she does."

"I have a bad feeling, love. I have a feeling we'll be walking into a trap and have no way to get out," I mused. Something about these plans seemed off. Something we didn't see before we started. I didn't believe that Dracula was dead anyway, but this was something even more ominous that stirred my thoughts toward doom. It bothered me that we didn't have much knowledge other than what Carmilla was able to glean because that woman would only see what she wanted to in almost every situation. She would jump ahead of everything fully certain that she knew every move anyone or anything could make. Most times this worked out for her, I will not deny that, but it didn't always.

"I share your trepidation, Striga. Something about this feels wrong, like it isn't quite what it seems."

"Carmilla will never listen to us, you do realize that," I said. "She'll just tell us we're overthinking things and we should have more faith in her and her dream."

"I know," Morana said as she turned me around to face her. She pulled me so my arms remained around her and laid her head on my chest, the metal of my breastplate not phasing her in the least.

"What should we do, my love?" I asked truly confused and troubled. "I don't know that this dream of hers will come to fruition no matter how she tries to convince us...or herself."

Morana sighed. "It will most likely fail. She has too much of her plan built on assumptions rather than facts. I can only plan so much for the possibilities with the information I have, but there's no way I can confirm or deny anything she's told us. I have no choice but to go off what she's said and plan with those variables. Most likely, however, we don't have enough knowledge of the situation and we will fail miserably."

"Then what shall we do?" I asked. "Do we follow along with her, or leave now?"

Again she sighed, but this time she picked up my hand and laced her slender fingers through my battle torn ones. Her soft skin rubbed against the calluses that had been built up over my time as a vampire. She brought my hand up to her face, rubbed her cheek over my knuckles before she turned her head to look up at me. Her eyes always captivated me with their lavender hue. Long lashes fluttered as she blinked up at me, her lips puckering to lay a kiss on my fingertips, one by one.