"Astarion!" Your legs desperately tried to keep up with the vampire you were chasing. It was clear who was used to hunting every night and who was not.
He'd been moody most of the night, perhaps understandably with him at the centre of most of the camp's jokes. Being the resident vampire spawn on halloween maybe made the holiday a little less fun.
Most of the night had been spent around the campfire, recalling spooky stories and drinking mediocre punch courtesy of the self-appointed camp chef himself. Astarion sat away from the group but wasn't trying to hide that he was listening in.
At some point in the night when things had quietened down a bit, you went to refill your cup and while you were doing so you felt a presence appear behind you and breath on your neck as someone leaned in close until you could feel their smirk on your ear and whispered, "catch me if you can."
With that the person was off leaving you to put down your cup and chase after them. You giggled as you saw Astarion cut through the forest and ran after him before he was out of sight.
It was a full moon but there were dark clouds lining the sky, shielding most of the moon from view which meant most light was blocked and all you could make out was the blur of silver curls breaking through the trees.
"Don't look behind you or the ghosts will drag you into the underworld."
Against the protests of pain coming from your legs, you pushed on even faster. The adrenaline from the slight fear you'd been feeling all night had built up and carried you along.
You could hear the rustling in front of you start to slow down and not long after Astarion disappeared completely. From the dim light you could make out some sort of rundown shack just ahead.
"Astarion?" You called out more quietly this time as you poked your head inside the building. There was a gap in the wood panelling that allowed moonlight to stream in, letting you see the only object in the room - a dusty mirror hung on the wall.
Underneath you, floorboards creaked as you entered the shack. Nothing was out of the ordinary as you eyed yourself in the mirror until the vampire spawn himself came up behind you, unable to be seen next to you in the mirror.
"Let's play a game." He placed his hands on your shoulders and rested his face next to yours - you couldn't see it but you just knew he was analysing your expression in the mirror. "Have you heard of Bloody Mary?"
You nodded, "What Baldurian child hasn't played Bloody Mary, if not heard of it?"
He moved his head to the other side of your face, "So you're not afraid?" his voice was low. You shook your head.
"Your heart-rate says otherwise."
"Oh you can detect my heart-rate now can you?" Both of you wilfully ignored the other potential reason for your quickened pulse.
"I can do a lot of things you don't know about. It's only natural to be scared," he traced a knuckle along a vein in your neck, "you are in the presence of a vampire spawn after all."
"You're giving yourself too much credit." But you couldn't lie, you felt a bit like a piece of meat as Astarion ran his nose over the same vein and breathed in deeply like you would be the most delectable meal.
"If you say so darling, anyway, back to what I was saying, I think we should play Bloody Mary."
"Both of us?"
"Well, just you really. I don't think it would work if I played it." He removed his hands from your shoulders and wrapped his arms around your waist. You instinctively lifted your arms behind you and wrapped them around his neck. "I assume you know how to play, so whenever you're ready."
You took in a deep breath and exhaled shakily as Astarion nuzzled your shoulder. You spoke slowly, as per the rules, "Bloody Mary."
"Yes." Astarion drawled out against you as he kissed your shoulder and moved to the crook of your neck.
"Bloody Mary."
"Mhm." He hummed against into your skin and kissed you again then pressed himself against your neck.
"Bloody Mary."
"Mmm." His response was more of a moan than an affirmation but he still kissed your neck then picked you up and spun you around.
"Astarion!" You giggled and kicked your legs in the air. After three spins he placed you down and sank his teeth into your neck. This elicited a gasp from you, more from the shock than the sharp pain and you reached to hold his hands still on your waist.
Although the legends romanticised vampires, you knew firsthand that having your own blood sucked out of you was not the most pleasant and putting your life in their hands was at least mildly terrifying, but you liked how it brought you closer. Besides, it was halloween and you trusted Astarion.
When he had had his fill, he ran his tongue across your neck, wiping up the last dregs, sending a different kind of shiver down your spine. He kissed the wound and then the corner of your mouth. You turned your face his way and captured his lips with your own.
You expected to be hit with an overwhelming cool, metallic taste but surprisingly you were met with warmth and a hint of brandy.
As always straight after he'd fed, his body let off some heat which you found incredibly inviting and you moved your body to face him, cupping his jaw with your hands. You traced your tongue over his lower lip and he gave you access to deepen the kiss, the first thing your tongue found was his sharp canines but they didn't get in the way
He shifted his hands to cup your thighs and lifted you up, wrapping your legs around him - you grasped at his hair for a better hold and grinned into his mouth at the noise he made.
Astarion tried to hold you against the wall but the shack was falling apart and soon began to groan in protest. Pulling away from the kiss, he chuckled, "are you thoroughly terrified, my dear?"
"Positively."
"Are you absolutely thrilled to the core?" He asked between kisses.
"I'm almost trembling."
"Has your blood ran cold?"
"It's like ice."
"Well actually," he stopped what he was doing and looked straight at you, "I know for a fact that that isn't true." Astarion came so close that his lips brushed yours as he spoke, "your blood is very, very hot."
As he leaned into the kiss, pushing you harder against the wall, the shack creaked once more and he immediately dropped you on your feet, "now what scares me is having an old box fall on top of our heads so how about we make haste back to camp, I think our companions are missing us."
"A vampire spawn? Scared of a bit of creaking? Well I never!" You feigned shock.
"Ooh 'well I never'. Oh, you didn't know did you? Really? I may be undead but I still have feelings and frankly, you've hurt mine. I'm not just your little vampire boy-toy." Astarion crossed his arms while he gave a little hmph and stuck his nose in the air.
"You're right. I guess I'll have to go back to camp by myself and find a wizard boy-toy to ignore his feelings."
"Well, maybe I was being a bit sensitive," he twirled his hair, "don't go doing anything rash. We wouldn't want you to hurt anyone else's feelings."
"I suppose we wouldn't want that." You linked arms with Astarion and kissed his shoulder. He kissed your cheek. Together you walked back to camp as the beginning of dawn spread across the forest, lighting your way.
