𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 ⌜𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼 𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿⌟

32. 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗦

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 32. 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗦, 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗛𝗔𝗗

Welcome Back!

𝗜𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 painful.

It was painful to be holding yourself back from attacking any human that passed by you. It was painful to keep yourself planted on the ground, even when you caught a whiff of someone. It was painful to keep yourself from becoming animalistic.

It was your one rule. You would forget about becoming a vampire if you had to ingest human blood. You could tolerate animal blood. It still gave you all the strength that you needed. But human blood was off of the list. You didn't care what other properties it had, what things it had that could make you stronger—none of it mattered to you.

You felt like you were going to die. Your body was freezing, but you felt like you were pouring in sweat. Your knees were pulled to your chest, your arms wrapped around your head. Your thoughts were cloudy, and your head was spinning. You couldn't focus on one thing, your mind was always running back to the people who passed down the street outside.

Everything hurt, and everything ached. You wanted nothing more than to just curl up and die there. But something in your mind was keeping you from doing so.

Your hunger, perhaps? But, you would never satisfy it. You'd rather starve to death than get another taste of anyone's blood. Your stomach churned at the thought.

Was this the feeling Dio first had? That day, when he used the mask on himself in the Joestar manor? Was his craving this strong when he smelt the blood from the officers there? Did he hurt this badly?

You would never know the answer to that question. Dio made his choice the moment he decided to purposefully use the mask on himself. You weren't as fortunate, however. You were thrust into this position, with no way to turn back or chicken out.

Sometimes, you wished you would have died before you met Dio. There were many other occurrences that could have ended your life, but you always managed to slip by the hair on your arms. The times when you were face to face with a police officer, listening to them debate your sentence before they chose to spare you, and give you a few lashes on the arm before shoving you off; you were always so small. They could never bear to kill you.

But you wished they had.

You wished that you were hanging from the noose in the square of London. You wished you could hear the shouts from the other townspeople as your hearing faded out. You would have loved to see their faces as your vision darkened. And you would have loved them to see the grin on your face as your consciousness slipped.

But alas, the world was cruel to you, and you were stuck living in Hell. You were stuck like this until you fucked something up and finally got yourself killed.

"Y/n?"

The soft knocking on the door made you finally look away from the boarded windows. The library was full of dust, the musty smell making you feel even sicker than you had in the past few days. The knocks were much more gentle than what Dio had been doing.

"Y/n are you in there?"

Slowly, you rose from the floor. Your legs were weak, along with the rest of your body. You placed your hand on the wall to keep yourself up, your lips parting shakily.

"Buck..?"

Your voice was just above a whisper, raspy and weary. But the man on the other side of the door heard it. The knob twisted and the door creaked open. Your eyes landed on him as he stepped inside, his normally stoic expression flooded with concern.

"Jesus, kid. You look rough."

"What are you doing here?" You asked, watching as he entered the room. "If Dio finds you—"

"Dio is occupied with other things at the moment," He said, his eyebrows lacing together as he approached you. "My concern is you. When was the last time you had any sort of blood? You're weak and can barely hold yourself up."

Buck slipped his arms under yours, allowing you to rest against him. When he felt your body lean against his, he wrapped his arms around you. Your forehead laid against his chest, your eyes slowly falling shut.

"I know what you did, Y/n. And while I'm not proud of how you proceeded with it, I'm glad you finally gave that bastard a taste of his own medicine,"

Your body twitched against his. His smell..."Atticus...where is he?"

"Safe. He's with Echo. We haven't heard from you in weeks. We were worried," He said, moving his hand to cradle the back of your head. "You've been starving yourself."

"I don't wish to feed," You said quietly. "After what I did...I don't want to taste any more blood."

"You need it to survive," He said, pulling you over to sit in the chair. He kicked at the fireplace and stirred the wood around before picking up the pack of matches from the table. "I know you feel remorse for what you have done, and that is a good thing. You say you have no humanity left, but you regret your actions. Whether you believe it or not, you still have a human side, Y/n."

You watched as he started a fire, the warmth flooding over your icy body. Buck stood and retrieved a small vial from his pocket. He walked to where you sat and sunk into a crouch in front of you.

"Buck..."

"I know you don't want this," He said, removing the cap. "But I won't sit around and let you die. You still have lots to do."

He held your chin in his hand and you stared at him for a moment, conflict clear in your eyes. After a few moments, your eyes fell shut, and your lips parted.

"There you go," He said quietly, bringing the vial to your lips. He poured the animal blood into your mouth and held his hand there when you began to gag. You wanted nothing more than to spit the disgusting liquid back out of your mouth, but Buck wouldn't allow it. After a while, you had forced the blood down. Buck removed his hand and smoothed it over your hair instead.

"Where is he?" You muttered, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. You could feel some of your strength beginning to return.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," He sighed. "But the Joestars have come to Egypt."

Your gaze flashed to him. "Why are they here?"

"Dio," Buck said, rubbing his hand over his hair. "He's cursed Holly Kujo, Joseph's daughter. She's in critical health and if they don't kill Dio, he will kill Holly."

"Where are they now?" You asked.

"They're still traveling; Dio hasn't made the journey easy for them," He replied. "He's been preparing for their arrival, setting traps up to thin their group out before they arrive. But you are in no state to intervene. You're weak and you need to regain your strength."

"No, I need to get to the Joestars," You said, standing. "Take me to them."

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 32. 𝗘𝗡𝗗
𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 3 𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗬 2024
𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗗

A WHOLE ASS YEAR LATER AND I HAVE RETURNED!