The Archman

Chapter 44 - A Sanguinary Rousal

"Eira. Eira, wake up." Adrulac's voice slowly draws Eira out of her slumber.

"Hm?" She lifts her head groggily, the complete darkness of the room making it impossible to tell whether it was the middle of the night or the late morning. Being unable to rely upon her vision, she uses her sense of touch to find her bearings. It isn't any necessarily any easier, however, as her nerves are all focused on Adrulac's naked body, which is cuddled up behind hers.

Eira goes to turn towards Adrulac, but immediately feels that something is off. The sheets around their legs are drenched in some kind of sticky liquid.

It was already a bit damp when they fell asleep last night due to their passionate interaction, but this was certainly a lot more moisture than before. There was also a faint smell of iron in the air, adding further to the perplexity of the situation.

Adrulac pulls the covers off of him and gets out of bed, gliding through the darkness with ease, until he arrives at an oil lamp. He ignites it and turns it up to its fullest output, illuminating the dark room with a warm glow.

"Dear God..." Eira pulls the sheets off herself and is immediately met with a horrifying sight. Her lower body is covered in blotted shades of dark red, staining everything in the periphery of her waist with blood. She stares at the mess before her, her features frozen with shock.

She looks over to Adrulac, who walks over to her, his thighs and hips in a similar state of imbrued gore, though it is nowhere near as excessive as hers. He is immediately taken aback by what he sees, his surprise quickly turning to a neurotic urgency. He rushes over to Eira, tearing away the remaining bed sheets covering her and tossing them aside, so he can survey her body with an unobstructed view.

"Is it your wound?" He asks, placing a hand on her abdomen, searching for signs of an open lesion.

"No..." Eira brings a hand up to her mouth, muffling her words faintly. A devastating self-consciousness impales her with merciless precision. She'd never let her cycle catch her by surprise like this before. The fact that it would happen now of all times and in front of Adrulac of all people was nothing short of mortifying.

"What's wro-" Adrulac looks up to Eira, answering his own question through a series of quick inferences. He lowers his voice slightly as he understands what has transpired. "Oh..."

"I...I am so sorry..." Eira mutters through her fingers.

It was like all the fortitude and confidence that she'd cultivated last night had leaked out of her body. She felt more disconcerted now than she did when she first had to undress before Adrulac, suddenly becoming terribly ashamed to be naked in bed with him. She lifts her gaze up hesitantly to Adrulac, not sure how she would be able to look him in the eye after defiling both him and his fabrics.

She was expecting a reaction from him that would be somewhat similar to hers, but is confused to instead see him in a completely transfixed state as he looks down at her blood-stained skin. He slowly pries his eyes up and away from her lower body to meet her gaze. His pupils were heavily dilated, pushing his crimson irises out to the edge of his corneas.

It is as if he'd been possessed by an immense voraciousness, which lingers behind his eyes with menacing intent. His mouth hangs open just slightly as he breathes in, an action which has an almost canine element to it. Though his face can't possibly mask this ferocious hunger in the slightest, he did his best to maintain his composure. Soon, however, it is evident that his face isn't the only thing unable to disguise his appetite, as his masculine extremity quickly rises to its maximum possible length and hardness.

"Adrulac?" Eira just barely manages to squeak the words out, continuing to look up at him as she lays on her back.

"Does...does it hurt?" Adrulac asks with much difficulty, his eyes drifting back down to her hemic waist.