𝐌𝐘 𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

三十五 | 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐓𝐇

adulation (n.)
adoration. worship.
admiration. devotion.
reverence. favor.

「 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑹𝑻𝒀 𝑭𝑰𝑽𝑬 」
𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐓𝐇

꧁꧂

    That evening, (Y/N) soaked in the hot water of the bath that she had drawn, running her hands down her shoulders and arms in an attempt to further warm herself considering there was no shower feature. The soapy suds covered most of her body, something she was partial to considering she still had a few faint scars from the torture methods Ferid used to put her through. Sighing, she continued to bathe and clean herself until she was done.

After exiting the bath and drying herself down, she dressed in new sleep clothes and retired to the room that Crowley had given her. It was too large for her, especially the bed, so she merely curled in on herself, huddling in the middle hoping to fall asleep quickly. Binding the sheets around her almost like she were in a cocoon, she closed her eyes tightly and tried to force her memories of her previous life out of her mind. After that day with Crowley in the snow, she couldn't help but be reminded of her family.

She missed them.

Desperately, she missed them.

However, she couldn't help but miss her lost humanity more, now reduced to nothing more than entertainment or a pet.

She sighed softly.

It's fine.

I'm fine.

I've already accepted everything.

Yet, even with that thought, she wasn't comforted. Her homesickness only seemed to grow worse, clenching her heart in a tight hold that left her feeling hollow and incomplete. It was a horrible feeling, one she kept experiencing time and time again, but by then, she wasn't sure if she could keep crying about it anymore. Therefore, she let out a slow breath as she calmed herself down.

Her eyes then flew back open when she heard the door creak open, immediately shooting upwards to spot Crowley standing in the doorway. She sat there, frozen, staring at him, while he stared at her, neither of the two moving for several tantalizing seconds. However, her mind raced with several thoughts as to why he was there, what he was planning to do, and wondering what he was thinking to even be in her room so late at night. She opened her mouth to speak, but only air came out. She tried again, and finally she was able to voice a question.

"What... are you doing in here?" She asked warily, clenching the sheets tighter. "What do you want?"

Crowley continued staring at her.

    Finally, he uttered, "I'm not sure."

"Again?" She muttered.

"Yes."

She looked away from him and down at her fingers which she nervously began to fiddle with, picking at the edges of her cuticles as a manner of distraction. She could still feel Crowley's presence, however, even without looking at him, something that only increasingly put her on edge. She hoped he wasn't there to feed again, as her neck was still quite tender from where he had punctured her before. Or, more importantly, she hoped he wasn't there to kill her, either—why he would do so, she didn't know, but the fear of it was still very real.

"I think..." Crowley started after a moment, forcing (Y/N) to snap her gaze back up to his. "...I just wanted to see you."

At that, (Y/N) wasn't sure what to say, instead blinking at him in clear surprise. She wouldn't have expected any vampire, much less him, to expression something as emotional as what he was saying, her lips parting in puzzlement from such odd developments. As the silence between them drug on even longer, she then merely slowly laid back down, shifting in position so that her back was to him. She laid there, tense, before finally allowing herself to relax after a moment by closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.

She wasn't sure why she did.

She wasn't sure of many things.

However, in her mind, she knew that the only thing she could do was sleep now.

Crowley continued to stand in the doorway of the room, his eyes softly drawing along (Y/N)'s figure covered by the sheets of the bed. He could sense her heartbeat had calmed, and could hear that her breathing had evened out. It was still amusing to him how at ease she was able to act as a human around vampires. Then again, there were many things about her that were amusing and so easily drew him towards her in unexpected ways.

Finally, he walked forward.

Slowly, he slid off his cape and slipped off of his boots before sliding under the covers with (Y/N). He shifted closer to her until he could wrap his arms around her and draw her in close so that her back was touching his chest. He pressed his nose and mouth against the crook of her neck where he had bitten her only hours before, able to feel the blood pulsing underneath her skin in a steady rhythm. It was hypnotic to him, but he refrained from feeding anymore than he had today, as he knew humans always were so fragile afterwards.

However, it wasn't her sweet blood that was so refreshing to him.

It was a human's warmth.

It was her warmth.

He had already felt such warmth when he had drank from her, but now it was different—it was so much more in this moment. It had been so long since he felt pure warmth that it sent a strike through him like he had never experienced before. Somehow, he held her impossibly closer, relishing her warm whilst at the same time, not ever wanting to let her go.

A small seed was planted just then.

A seed of dependence.

Of need.

Of absolute want.

"You know..." Crowley murmured into (Y/N)'s ear, something that sent a shiver down her spine even as she kept her eyes closed. "...I can't believe I've forgotten, but humans truly are as warm as I remember. I've missed it."

━━━━━━━━ ꧁ ♥ ꧂ ━━━━━━━━

「 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑼𝑬𝑫 」