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This story was written for Klesk! It contains F/F sexual acts between consenting adults, and some supernatural/vampiric goings on. :3

The Truth of the Blood

To the West, the morning sun shone pale and weak through a haze of thick fog. To the East, the gaping black-purple maw of the portal that connected this Kingdom to the realm of the dead crackled and rippled with dark magical energy. Glimmers of white teeth from the literal maw of the dimensional barrier flickered in and out of view, and as it quivered and stretched, engulfing and releasing the reality which surrounded it, the portal itself screamed. A long, piercing, endless scream of agony, damnation, and rage.

Needless to say, Kerra felt a looming sense of dread as she stood upon the castle balcony. There had been a time less than a generation ago, when she had been but a child, in which visiting this Kingdom would have been a sentence of almost certain death. Monsters, aberrations and skeletal, rotting armies of long dead and long damned demonic Princes had fought one another to get through the barrier, and once past it had laid waste to the peaceful folk of this realm. They had fought bravely to resist these creatures seeking to turn this once fertile and verdant land into a new realm of the dead in this reality. But it had been a hopeless struggle. The dead were eternal. Their patience, and their resources every bit as limitless as death was a certainty to all mortals. The King and Queen had known that death was inevitable. That if they did not do something, their Kingdom would be lost. Their people would be killed, or worse.

And now... now the Kingdom was one of the strongest and most powerful in the land. Yes, the gaping maw of the portal to the dead's own realm still boiled and howled where it hung, but no longer did armies come surging through with ambitions of claiming this land for the dead. Monsters and rogue individuals still passed through from time to time, but when they did... they discovered the same fate that had befallen those few living, mortal armies who had objected to the King and Queen's ultimate plan, and had tried to lay waste to the Kingdom themselves.

The people of this Kingdom were artists now. Sculptors. Carpenters. Poets. Playwrights. They did not farm, and while they worked hard in other ways to maintain the Kingdom in its new and glorious guise, the fields that had once been laden with crops so easily burned by fire or the cold touch of the dead were now galleries to display their ever growing number of masterworks. But if they were threatened, if they were given reason to take up arms, each man and woman was a veritable legion unto themselves. Hellbeasts and monsters found themselves ripped to shreds as soon as they encroached upon a single farm or village. And when the armies of the living had come with stakes and fire and silver crosses... they had awoken the morning before their campaigns against the Kingdom was about to begin to find their generals dead, and around each body crates of gold, of jewels, and of precious relics.

Vampires had no need for money. They had no need for any wealth, nor indeed for bloodshed.

The Kingdom, in its new form, had no desire to see the rest of the world join them in the Vampiric life of undeath. It only wished to protect itself. Its people only wished to live, and love, and prosper without the constant threat of the dead seeking to terrify and destroy them. And thanks to the King and Queen's choice, offered, not forced upon any single member of the population nearly two decades ago now, this land knew peace and prosperity beyond practically any other part of the known world.

Or at least... that was the rumour. For while this Kingdom desired peace and warm relations with its living neighbours, few tourists or even traders ever crossed their borders. The living here had once feared the dead from realms beyond, and now the living of the rest of the world feared this Kingdom's dead, whether with good reason or not. And Kerra... she was a part of that living world. So, she was scared. Terrified, if she was being perfectly honest. But she was doing her duty to her own people by being here. To one of her people in particular. The King and Queen's adopted daughter; once an orphan of two feline traders lost to one of the dead armies' final assaults, and now a Princess. A Princess, and since just after her coming of age at the commencement of her eighteenth year, a vampire like almost all the other inhabitants of this strange Kingdom of the living undead.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long."

A soft shriek escaped Kerra's lips, and the wine glass she had been clutching in one paw, the deep red liquid inside it untouched for fear of what she would learn it to be upon tasting, fell from her grasp. In a blur of motion, the owner of the soft, purring voice swept around Kerra's suddenly tense body, snatched the glass out of the air before it had dropped more than a foot, and rose back upright. She stood beside the other cat, the living cat, and held the glass out with a warm smile.

"Sorry for the surprise too. I forget how dull mortal senses are compared to ours. I've been able to hear your heartbeat since the corridor leading to your chamber..."

The Princess' voice trailed off as she saw the shocked, still rather fearful expression upon Kerra's face. She winced bashfully.

"Um... no offence about the dull senses thing. And sorry for bringing up your heartbeat. I guess you probably still have pretty bad associations between vampires and anything blood or heartbeat related, huh? Gosh, I'm not making a very good first impression, am I. I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I... I've actually never met another feline before."

It took to the feline Princess' final comment before the other cat managed to kick her brain back into gear, forcing herself to see more than the blazing eyes and large, bat-like wings protruding from the royal female's ornate black and blood red dress. She looked into those eyes, and saw nervousness, embarrassment, and more than a little inwardly focused frustration. She looked at that face and saw a fanged muzzle not bared and ready to strike, but one which was drawn with anxiety and dismay at having started things off on such a poor footing.

Dropping to one knee, Kerra did as she should have done the very moment she was made away of the Princess' presence. She reached out, took the cup that she had dropped and which was now being offered to her once more, and bowed her head in reverent appreciation.

"Thank you, my lady. And please, do not apologise. It is I who should be sorry, I reacted in a manner unbecoming of a diplomatic envoy such as myself."

The Princess didn't answer. Soon enough, as Kerra glanced up towards the other cat rather nervously to see what was delaying her response, she realised why this was the case. Her cheeks flushed, and to her surprise, despite the other cat's vampiric nature, so did those of the Princess.

"You know you don't have to be all... formal and stuff, right?"

Raising her hands up, gesturing at the castle and the land beyond, a small smile crossed the vampire's muzzle as slowly, nervously Kerra scrambled back to her feet, still clutching the un-sipped from wine glass before her.

"But, my lady... you are a Princess. Whether through birth or adoption, it does not matter. Indeed, the fact that you are one of my people, yet a Princess of this land... you should be shown even more respect."

Tilting her head to one side, lifting a hand and beginning to twirl a single finger through her long, flowing hair, the vampiric cat seemed to consider this. After a short while, she shrugged.

"I understand. But, respect isn't about the words you use. Well, it can be... but, it's not just about the words. It's about how you feel towards a person. Like, I respect you for your bravery. Being the first official diplomat to cross our borders since the last of those who did not wish to turn or remain amongst the turned were granted asylum in our neighbouring lands. Coming all this way not to ask for our strength in some petty war, or for riches to run some political campaign in your home land. Coming all this way to talk to me... I respect you a great deal, and from the look in your eyes, beyond the fear of what you believe me and my people to be... I see that you respect me too. So, since we both respect each other? Can we agree that it is pointless to be overly formal and measured in every word we speak? Can we agree not to take offence or declare war if something we say happens to be worded in a way that could mean more than what we originally intended?"

The princess fell silent, and giggled as she saw the rather surprised look on the other cat's face.

"Why do I get the feeling you were expecting me to be... different, somehow?"

Kerra blushed.

"Because, my lady..."

She stopped, shook her head, and started over less formally.

"Because, all we know of this Kingdom from the last two decades is whatever stories have been passed along from traders and folk tales that sprang from gods only know where. Your people, Princess... what you've become..."

Once again the winged, red eyed feline cut in.

"Vampires. You can say it. It's not a taboo here."

Brighter still the mortal cat's cheeks burned, but she nodded once again.

"Vampires are still considered evil creatures where I come from, and in most of our world. I remember when my family learned what your Kingdom had done... we thought dark forces must have been at work. We all thought the dead that had been infesting your lands for so long had finally crept into the minds of the royal family... your adoptive parents, and forced this change upon your people as a way to create a gateway between the realm of the dead and the rest of our world. Even when you continued to defend your lands from the dead... even when the neighbouring Kingdoms reported that there were no attacks, and that their own lands were safer with your ability to deal with threats coming through the great maw..."

Both felines glanced to the gaping, toothy abyss hanging in the eastern sky, and shuddered in mutual and uncontrollable disgust.

"...it didn't change the fact that the few vampires which still roamed the other Kingdoms were nothing like yourself, or those I met on my way here to meet with you."

The Princess nodded, sighing softly.

"Admittedly, not all are lucky as we are. Those who have been driven mad by the hunger... those who turned feral through their desperation, and lost any hope of regaining their sanity no matter how much they feed... it is understandable why centuries of witnessing only their impact on society has turned the rest of this world against the very idea of a vampire. But, like you said... we're different. And now that you're here? Perhaps this can be an opportunity not only for your people to learn about me... but about all vampire-kind, through your report to them."

Kerra whimpered quietly, but happily so. She nodded, and instinctively raised her glass to toast the Princess' comment. By the time she realised what she was doing it was already too late. The glass was already moving to her lips, and to stop it in its tracks would have made her fear and prejudiced worries all too obvious. Thus, she followed through. She carried the glass the rest of the way to her pursed lips, tipped it upward, and took the tiniest, most delicate sip of the rich red liquid that rippled within.

Her eyes widened. Her lips quivered. Her tongue flicked from side to side, tasting, confirming, barely believing.

The Princess saw the other cat's shock, and giggled.

"I think that bottle was taken from the royal cellars. We don't really drink wine any more, but we have thousands of bottles that were gifted to the Kingdom by the finest vineyards for years before the surrounding Kingdoms stopped trading with us. Is it nice?"

Kerra blushed, the glass not having left her lips this whole while, fighting to avoid looking un-ladylike whilst eagerly sipping at as much of the rich, utterly delectable wine as she could to ensure it continued flowing over her tantalised tongue.

"Princess, it's... oh, by the gods. It's... incredible."

The vampire clapped her hands together in glee, and turned upon her heels towards the balcony door. She looked back over her shoulder, and gestured for the other cat to follow her with a flick of both a hand and her left wing.

"I'm so glad. Come on, let me show you the castle cellar. I'll get a whole other bottle for you. Heck, you can pick out a hundred of your favourites and I will have some of the staff package it up for you to take back to your own lands. And while we're down there, I can show you just how we keep from having any of the feral vampire problems that you and the rest of the world seem so worried about."

Much as Kerra was overwhelmed by the idea of simply being presented with a hundred bottles of wine from a royal cellar, she stumbled slightly as with the same carefree and light-hearted breath the vampiric princess turned their little jaunt to hunt for wine into something much more serious. She couldn't back out now though. It was just as the princess had said. She was here to learn about her of course, but learning about this kingdom's people; how a whole nation of vampires could live and function not only in peace with the outside world but with their own bestial instincts, was just as vital. Thus, she quickened her pace and fell into step beside the princess. The vampire cat smiled at her, and though obviously nervous, she smiled back.

"B-by the way, Princess... my name is Kerra."

Slipping the wine glass, now nearly empty, into her left hand, Kerra extended her right to shake with the princess. She had been told not to be overly formal of course, but a handshake wasn't about formality. One didn't normally shake hands with royalty, after all. The handshake was a mark of respect, nothing more or less.

"Kerra. That's a beautiful name."

The princess reached out not with her own right hand, but her left. To Kerra's shock, she didn't shake her outstretched paw, but grasped it, and began to hold it within her own strong, cool-skinned grasp. Gently, almost childishly the vampire cat began to swing their entwined hands back and forth between them, and she giggled as she considered how to respond to being presented with the diplomat's name.

"I was too young to remember my own name when the King and Queen took me in. It's funny... but the name they gave me? It was before any of this happened. The changing. My people becoming vampires. My joining them when I came of age. It was before all of that, but it fits very well. Apparently I used to crawl around, nipping at the ankles of any of the staff who got close enough with my baby-teeth. So, they named me in part for that trait. My full name is far too long and dull to go into... that's true of most royal protocol, which is why since the changing we don't really follow it any more. But what I am known as by the palace staff? My people?"

She bared her teeth, long, sabre-like upper and lower canines the most prominent of all, and grinned toothily as the other cat didn't flinch or recoil in terror, but smirked curiously.

"Formally, I'm Princess Fang. But to my family, my friends... and I hope I will be able to include you in that number, Kerra... is simply Fang."

***************

It took almost twenty minutes to walk from the upper balcony of the guest quarters all the way down to the basement of the castle. In that short space of time the princess and the diplomat spoke much more. They laughed. They grinned. They continued to hold hands. And by the time they arrived in the wine cellar, all thoughts of calling the princess by her title alone were entirely gone from the diplomat's mind.

"Oh my gods. Oh my gods, Fang... look at these. S-some of these, they're decades old."

The cellar was immaculately kept. Not a trace of dust upon any of the bottles, not even the oldest. To one side of the room a couple of members of palace staff beamed quietly, thrilled to have such an eager voice lending praise to their work. They took great pride in the cellar's condition of course, but it wasn't lost on them that they were preserving a part of the castle for which there was little use to most of the kingdom's inhabitants beyond something interesting to look at. Thus, to have a mortal pair of eyes, and a mortal palette present, it was an exceptionally rare treat.

"Holy fuck!"

The curse echoed up and down the cellar, and Kerra slapped a paw across her muzzle as she realised how out of control she was becoming in her giddiness. She turned around, wide eyed and apologetic, but relaxed when she saw princess Fang leaning on a wall close by, giggling and watching the mortal cat go wild with even greater delight than the staff.

"S-sorry. It's just... these casks here. They're whisky, right? But... these dates, that would make them almost a century old. One hundred year old whisky... so perfectly preserved..."

Running a paw gently, almost seductively over the oak cask, Kerra's cheeks flushed as she heard one of the members of staff snort with laughter. Stung, she sharply withdrew her paw, face burning crimson and eyes suddenly downcast with humiliation. Before she could do anything more though, Fang was by her side. Grabbing her, holding her, and glaring over the other cat's shoulders at the suddenly unsmiling, apologetic vampires.

"Hey, ignore them. I love the fact that you're passionate about this stuff. You'd be amazed how quick that excitement goes away when you realise you have eternity to explore and enjoy all the world has to offer. Do you wanna try some? If the staff aren't too busy working..."

She glared pointedly at the other vampires present, two of whom rapidly realised they did indeed have other tasks to be working on, leaving just one behind to blankly and nervously endure the princess' gaze.

"...then I'm sure they could crack the cask open and pour you a glass or ten. I don't think I've ever seen someone drunk before. It'd be fun!"

From within the vampire's strong but surprisingly tender embrace, Kerra giggled. That sound was enough to prompt the princess to release her hold, and as their eyes met once more, the mortal feline bowed her head in warm gratitude.

"Thanks, Fang. But... I think I'll wait for now. I'd rather let you get to know sober me a little longer before you meet drunk Kerra. She has a habit of bursting into song, and I'm not quite sure you like me enough to deal with that yet."

Fang grinned, though that smile faded just a little as the two of them fell silent. It wasn't an awkward silence, but more an expectant one on Kerra's part. After all, it was perfectly well and good to enjoy the wine cellar. But neither one of them had forgotten that there was another, and much more important beverage located in this lower portion of the castle that the mortal feline was here to see. Glancing over her shoulder, not towards the now busily retreating figures of the staff but to a large set of oak double doors set into the far end of this subterranean corridor, the vampire shook her head.

"I... I kind of hoped I would be able to get you at least a little drunk, so maybe you wouldn't be so shocked by what you're about to see. I swear, it's nothing bad. At least, not by what's expected of vampires like myself and my people in the wider world. But... mortals, or so I've heard, don't do well with the sight of anything blood related."

There was no denying that hearing Fang's comments made Kerra somewhat nervous, and yet at the same time it reassured her of her own safety, regardless of how much she was going to dislike what came next. The fact that the vampire was not only willing, but purposefully considerate enough to offer her a warning and be worried about her reaction in the first place, it went against everything she had been taught about vampires; even the non-feral, blood lusting kind. She had been prepared to be greeted with a cold, callous, disciplined but morally devoid immortals; stony faced and empty hearted. Instead... she felt Fang's hand slipping into hers again, and though cold, giving a squeeze that was still intimately reassuring.

Without another word, just a gentle jerk of her head, the princess led Kerra towards that which no mortal had ever laid eyes upon. The core not just of the castle's population, but in a more abstract sense of the whole Kingdom. It was the vampire sorcerer whom her mother and father had sought out that had begun to turn the population and grant them freedom from death and its minions. But it was this... the sorcerer's greatest achievement, which sustained their new Kingdom.

Pulling the thick, heavy doors open with ease, her still lithe, buxom form betraying the otherworldly strength it possessed, Fang led Kerra into the chamber. The room was well lit, but Kerra honestly wasn't sure if she preferred it that way or if she would rather have been greeted by darkness, and spared the sight of what lay within before she could be better prepared. But... no, that was withsful thinking. There was no preparing for this. Magic, by its very nature, boggled the mind. It was all that was impossible and unnatural by the laws of nature and the world at large. And this... however horrific, was undeniably the work of pure magic. Thus, Kerra stuffed her nauseous horror down to the pit of her stomach, and instead focused on the wide-eyed, morbidly curious wonder that lingered at the back of her mind.

"My god... t-this... these... w-what... what are they?"

She took a step forward, ahead of Fang, towards the objects that filled the room. There were perhaps two dozen of them. Large, perhaps twice the size of a prize dairy cow. Suspended from the ceiling by rope and thick leather straps. Tufts of coarse, dark hair sprouted irregularly from their vaguely rounded forms, but for the most part their bodies were bare, possessing not even a true layer of outer skin, just a glistening red flesh that was criss-crossed by thick, pulsing veins and arteries. The bulbous monstrosities bore no heads nor tails. No arms nor legs. No feature to identify them as having ever belonged to any particular species from this or any other world. They were just... meat.

"They are flesh. Nothing more. Highly vascularised tissue surrounding multiple hearts, and a simple central nervous system to keep it all running. They have no more sentience or awareness than moss on a rock. They cannot feel pain. They cannot feel fear. It lives only insofar as it can die if left unattended or drained too much, too fast. They sustain us, and remove our need to ever feed on any mortal creature who would be harmed by our hunger. The whole castle and its staff. And there are more. In every village. Smaller ones in more rural communities, farms and places where it'd be too much of a struggle to expect the people to walk miles every day just to feed."

As Kerra wandered around the room, peering with ever fading disgust and ever growing wonder at these sacks of life-giving blood, Fang explained their genesis. She too paced around the chamber, though closer to the blood-bags than Kerra dared to tread. She spoke at length of the joy that came from knowing her people were going to be safe and well fed for generations to come. The freedom. The relief that came from knowing no-one in her lands would ever have to succumb to the feral hunger that plagued the vampires which most of the world knew. And of course, with every word spoken about the life-giving blood provided by these creatures, she continued to walk amongst them; able to hear, to feel those many hearts thundering and all that blood pumping around and around, just waiting to be drained.

Indeed by the time Fang's comments had ceased to be about the history of her family's Kingdom and had moved fully into her hopes for its bright, immortal future, she was running her hands over the flesh of the bags. She was licking her lips, running her tongue over her long canines and looking decidedly more excited, more eager.

"Already we have devoted ourselves to creating, not destroying. To bringing beauty to this once battle and death-strewn realm. We have an eternity... but it is important to each and every one of us to still live every day as if it were our last, like my people had no choice but to when death still faced them at every corner. Before the gift was given to us."

That same passion came across in her voice, and by the time the two women found themselves sharing the same space once again, Kerra could see a hunger in Fang's eyes.

And yet... she wasn't scared.

This realisation surprised Kerra, but not nearly as much as it seemed to surprise Fang. They were standing face to face, and as the princess realised how worked up she was getting surrounded by all this hot, flowing blood even though it was barely twelve hours since she had last fed, she blushed and turned away in horror. A hand reached out though, and grabbed her by one wrist. The mortal feline's strength was nothing compared to hers, but still Fang allowed herself to be pulled back around and made to face Kerra once more.

They looked into one another's eyes, the vampire cat's own still glowing bright red, and she whimpered softly as Kerra's free hand gently rose from her side, moving forward not just to caress the princess' face... but to run its thumb over the protruding tips of her fangs.

"I... I hope I can do a good enough job. When I return home, I mean. I hope I can make people see that... t-that you aren't what we thought. That if your people are one thousandth as warm as you, that if they would like spending time with them a thousandth as much as I like spending time with you..."

Kerra's eyes widened slightly, and she blushed as she realised what she was doing. Her hand withdrew, and though she swore that for a moment she saw a flicker of disappointment in Fang's eyes, she turned her gaze away so quickly it was hard to tell. Still though, she spoke with continued optimism, even excitement as she stared down at the ground between where the two of them stood in this blood-bag filled cellar. And still, her other hand found itself clutched around Fang's wrist, gripping not tightly, but tenderly.

"You should come back with me. Return to the Kingdom of your birth. Meet your people. Show them first-hand how wonderful you are. I... I could never do as good a job of convincing them as you have. We've only known each other for a couple of hours, and already... I trust you. I know I still have so much to learn, but what you've told me, what you've shown me... I know at the very least that you mean neither me nor any mortal harm. And that like anyone, you deserve a chance to be respected by those who are so quick to judge."

The vampire feline smiled, but shook her head, the hunger burning in her eyes lessening but not fading outright.

"It means a lot that you feel that way, Kerra. But... I'm afraid it's impossible. One of the main reasons we wish to make this corner of the world full of art and culture, is that my people know we cannot leave our Kingdom for any great duration. We may have a limitless supply of blood with which to feed ourselves, but only here. You cannot bottle blood and expect it to remain fresh, nor can our blood-cattle here travel with any great ease. It would be too much of a risk to travel and expect to find willing donors to keep any one of us fed, and even if there were those willing, even eager to help... we fear it would set a dangerous precedent. I don't mean to cast generalisations upon mortal-kind... but all it would take would be one mortal to be bitten under the pretence of being willing, then to say afterwards that they were assaulted and drained by force, to have armies knocking at our borders once again."

She fell silent, and though the vampire continued to smile as she felt Kerra's hand sliding down from her wrist to her own paw, the two of them grasping at each other fondly once again, she closed her eyes as though sinking deep into thought. The more she thought, the more her smile flickered and faded, until finally it vanished entirely. Fang opened her eyes once more, and the warm glow of her red irises seemed to engulf Kerra as she steadied herself and addressed the mortal with a calm that betrayed how nervous she was to speak each and every word.

"I... I wouldn't even think of mentioning this, if you hadn't told me how much you trusted me. I wouldn't mention it if I didn't feel the same. If I didn't trust you not to misunderstand... not to freak out."

She grew quiet once more, and only began to speak when Kerra squeezed her hand gently.

"If there was a way... a way for you to understand better, so that you could go back to your people with that knowledge, that understanding, and put it into words that you could be one hundred percent sure were accurate? Would you like to know about it? E-even if... if it turned out to be something, more than you would, or should ever be willing to consider doing?"

The mortal cat didn't even hesitate.

"Yes. Tell me, Fang."

Shaking her head, the vampire opened her muzzle to say that it wasn't that simple. Before she could though, the other cat squeezed her hand tighter still, and forced the immortal princess to meet her steely gaze.

"Fang. Don't treat me like I'm going to run away. You said you trust me. So... prove it, and let me prove to you that even if it's not something I'm interested in pursuing, I'll at least be civil about it."

Fang looked deep into the mortal woman's eyes, searching for even a shred of concern or anxious uncertainty to which she could appeal. But, to her shock, there was none left. Either the feline race from which she had been birthed were ridiculously, perhaps foolishly brave... or this woman truly was beginning to trust her just as much as she claimed, vampire or not.

Drawing in a deep breath, a purely self-indulgent, reassuring act given that she hadn't needed to breath since the vampiric gift was bestowed upon her, the red eyed cat asked the question that she had never expected in a thousand years to find herself asking of a mortal.

"There's a ritual. The Sanguis Verus. Truth of the Blood..."

She explained herself. Slowly. Patiently. And she watched Kerra listen. And slowly, surely begin to understand what Fang was offering.

She saw the mortal woman's eyes widen with shock. She saw fear re-ignite. Terror at the very idea.

And then... a little flame. Flickering, threatening to go out at any moment, but slowly, steadily growing brighter.

Her own eyes widened as she felt Kerra's hand continue to tighten its grip the more she explained, the mortal woman's hand soon trembling with the force that she was squeezing, not with fear any longer, but growing amazement. Wonder. Excitement. Anticipation.

Finally, she fell silent with a bashful whimper as Kerra stepped closer to her. So close that the two cat's faces were almost touching. So close that their breasts were pressed together, and Fang could feel Kerra's heartbeat through her warm, living flesh as the mortal feline asked her one simple question.

"When can we start?"

***************

It was almost midnight.

Moon and starlight shone through the open windows, a breeze sending the violet drapes fluttering and the fire before which the two feline women knelt flickering and crackling. A pendulum clock ticked away the seconds above the mantelpiece, and with every tick, Kerra watched another drop of blood ooze from the small cut merely grazing the vein of Fang's right wrist. The blood dripped down into the golden chalice which Fang held patiently beneath her bleeding, outstretched limb, licking her lips in excitement at the sight of the red liquid, even if it was her own. The chalice was nearly full, and with every new droplet to add to its already rippling contents Kerra found herself more and more at peace with the idea that soon she would be drinking from that vessel. Drinking the vampire's blood.

Sanguis Verus.

The truth of the blood would make her understand. It would transform her. Lift her up and carry her into Fang's world. This Kingdom's world.

It would make her a vampire until dawn's first light. Only a short glimpse into that other realm... but one which Fang believed, and she hoped, would be enough to grant her a greater understanding of what it meant to be one of the walking undead.

The clock began to strike, and suddenly the chalice was full. Fang was holding it out before Kerra's face, and the two cat's bare, utterly naked bodies were trembling in mutual anticipation. Kerra took the golden cup between both hands, and lifted it towards her muzzle. She looked not down into the chalice itself, but over its rim, to the woman beyond. She looked at Fang. At the princess of this immortal Kingdom. But... she didn't see a princess any longer. Nor did she see a vampire.

She saw a woman. A beautiful, naked, near-irresistible woman.

And she saw that woman looking back at her, glowing red eyes roaming up and down her kneeling body, with a rampant hunger similar to that she had witnessed in the blood-cattle room.

Kerra shivered, and blushed as she felt her nipples stiffening with excitement. She licked her lips, and raised the blood chalice closer to her muzzle. Closer. Closer.

She could smell it now. Coppery. Metallic. Warm.

It should have turned her stomach, but it didn't. Butterflies filled it instead, and kept any nausea she might have felt at bay as Kerra and Fang's eyes met. Both women mewled softly, pleadingly. And then, with one last deep breath, Kerra drank.

One gulp after the next, eight times in rapid succession, she downed not part, not most, but every last drop of the chalice's contents, the last few droplets running down her throat just as the clock above them ceased chiming.

She gasped.

She grunted, and whimpered as the chalice fell from her fingers, only to be snatched out of the air by one of Fang's quick and dextrous hands.

She felt her heart flutter. She felt it race. Stop. Start. Stop again. And then...

For a brief, panicked instant, a strangled cry escaped Kerra as she felt her heart cease beating within her chest, and her head began to spin as she tumbled towards unconsciousness and death. It only lasted a second though, perhaps even less, before her vigour returned. Not her heartbeat, but her life-force nonetheless. Except... stronger. With every newly passing second, stronger.

Kerra cried out as she felt a burning behind her eyes. For a moment, her vision was gone, replaced by a blinding scarlet light. And then, just as her life had returned only without the beating of her heart, so too did the cat's vision return... only, more so. Much, much more so. It was like her eyes had been squinting, and now were suddenly wide open. Like before she had been groping around in the darkness, and now could see like the whole world was bathed in midday sun. She could see so clearly, it was almost like she could feel everything upon which her gaze fell.

Mere moments later, her gaze fell upon Fang. And she saw her... truly saw the vampire princess for the first time. Playfully, Fang tossed the golden chalice into the air. Before she could stop herself one of Kerra's hands were whistling through the air at such speed that it shocked her into unleashing a strangled cry. She grabbed the golden vessel, and though she had not intended to, as soon as she put pressure upon it with her fingertips the gold began to buckle and bend under her strength.

"O-oh my god..."

Kerra whimpered softly, not in dismay, but in pure and rapturous joy.

"Oh my god, Fang. I... I feel so strong. So good. I... I f-feel... I'm hungry. God, I'm so hungry."

Sitting close by, upon a small oak table, were two glass bottles filled with a dark liquid. As soon as Kerra's eyes glanced towards them, her body was in motion. In a blur she vanished from the fireside, crossing the gap between that point and those bottles in a split-second and tearing the cork out of one with such force she was surprised the glass neck of the bottle didn't split off along with it. Gurgling, grunting in pleasure, she began to drink the thick, fresh blood that she had watched Fang drain from one of the blood-cattle not an hour before. Out of the corner of one eye she saw another blur of motion, and then the princess was by her side. Kneeling. Grasping her own glass bottle, and swigging from it with a lesser but still potent desire.

When Kerra finished her bottle, Fang was only half way through her own. She grinned at the new and temporary vampire, trembling and gasping as she fought an obvious urge, the pain of resisting it written all over her face.

"Are you hungry, still?"

Kerra wailed in desperation, nodding her head rapidly.

"Are you starving? Would you do anything for a taste?"

Fang licked her lips, and ran her tongue across the tips of her own sharp, exposed teeth. Her wings fluttered, and her eyes burned brighter as they stared deep into Kerra's own wide, crimson hues.

"We both know I'm not talking about the blood though, right?"

A shrieking mewl of glee escaped the wingless cat, and she threw herself forwards, knocking the half full glass bottle carelessly out of Fang's grasp as she tackled the other vampire woman. She couldn't have cared less about the blood. Her hunger in that regard was sated, but only to give rise to a new and visceral need. A need that had been building within her all day, but one which now was given new strength, new force. A need that she could not resist, and one that she had no desire to even try and hold back any longer.

The glass bottle shattered on the room's floor, spraying blood over the fireside rug and the two white furred, red eyed vampires as they fell to the floor together, embracing, wrestling, and kissing feverishly.

Kerra may have just died mere minutes ago by all accounts, but right then as she pressed her lips to the other vampire's own and felt supernaturally strong hands grasping at the cheeks of her plump ass, she had never felt more alive.

From that moment, mere minutes after midnight until dawn's first light, the two vampires indulged in one another. Fang taught Kerra all there was to know of her strength, her resilience, and her undead form's limitless stamina. She showed the other feline first-hand how being set free from their hunger for blood allowed their hearts and minds free to muse upon other things. Science. Nature. Philosophy. The beauty of the living, or unliving form. She showed Kerra the very core of her being, that which would continue to age, to grow wiser and richer over time no matter how her body remained frozen in immortal youth. And shamelessly, gleefully, she revelled in Kerra granting her the same privilege, one screaming, thrashing orgasm at a time.

"Yes. Yes!"

Pinned to the wall by her throat, Fang howled in ecstasy as the blurred fingers of her lover's hand jackhammered at her innermost depths, pounding on the tender flesh of her g-spot and flooding the ground above which the princess' feet thrashed with wave after wave of liquid desire.

"Mhh-hhaaah... more, please..."

Kerra begged as Fang's tongue lashed her clitoris with whip-like force, her clawed fingertips digging into the more experienced vampire's thighs as she sought to drag Fang's own dripping nether regions down onto her already glistening muzzle once again.

"Harder. _Aaahhhyes harder _! D-don't stop!"

The four poster bed in the princess' chambers lay in a broken heap, the support beams and the main frame of the bed itself shattered by the force of the two vampire's wild and uninhibited love-making. Even now though they lay upon its mattress, half covered by the fallen drapery of the bed's canopy and tilted to one side where the frame had given in under the force of Fang's thrusts. Still she humped mindlessly at Kerra, grinding their bodies together with all the supernatural force they could muster and shrieking together in senseless, joyous pleasure over and over again.

"Kerra!"

"F-Fang!"

Those two names echoed out through the castle's corridors and far beyond its balconies and turrets, out into the skies as the night wore on. It didn't matter if they had an eternity, or a lifetime, or even just those few short hours together. They made love like every second, every scream, every trace of pleasure they were able to share was the last they would ever know of the other cat. They were tireless. They were relentless. They were limitless in their desire for one another. At least, until the break of dawn.

Only then, with the truth revealed and the effects of Fang's blood wearing off, did the two find themselves finally at rest.

Kerra lay in Fang's arms, gently pecking, nuzzling, kissing at the vampire's toothy maw with her own lips as she felt her canines shrinking and the world growing darker as her vision returned to normal. She gave a whimper not of relief or joy, but of dull and muted anguish as her heart began to beat like it had never stopped, and were it not for the cooling embrace of the vampire's arms tenderly cradling her close, keeping their breasts and the rest of their bare bodies resting together, she might well have wept openly as she realised that it was over. She was mortal again.

A mortal woman. A mortal feline, with a mortal's job to do. To return to her people. To deliver a message. To tell them whether the young girl of their kind that had been taken in by the vampire Kingdom's royal family so many years ago was a wild beast, a captive, a traitor to her mortal kin, or something else entirely. To calm the minds of those who were so irrational in their fear of death. Whose lives were so short, yet were held with such righteous self importance.

She shuddered. It all seemed so pointless now. So foolish. Why were her kind... why were mortals always so scared of what they did not understand, when in truth they did not know if they were fearful of death incarnate... or life so pure and unabashed, they could not possibly hope to comprehend it.

"I wish... I wish I did not have to tell them what I learned tonight. I wish I did not have to return to my people's lands. I wish I did not even have to leave this castle. Your arms. Not for a second, even if eternity was ours to share."

Kerra whimpered as she spoke, and peered down into the gently glowing eyes of her vampiric lover. At first, Fang said nothing. She just lay there, looking up, deep into the mortal cat's own eyes. It was perhaps more than a minute before she spoke, and though her voice was heavy at first, there was a twinkle in her gaze. One of hope.

"But, you must. You need to... if only to stop any of your people from wasting their lives trying to rescue you, were you to never return."

The mortal cat nodded. She knew that was true. And if she could convince them of even more than her own safety... if she could convince them that any open minded and kind hearted mortal would be welcome within the vampire's Kingdom by its good, patient, passionate people, then maybe it would be worth it. Maybe the lives she could save would be worth having to leave Fang's side.

"When you've told them what you learned however... when your services as a diplomat and scholar are no longer required, and the rulers of your Kingdom have decided what message they want to hear from your words..."

Fang craned her neck upward, nuzzling gently at the tip of the other cat's nose.

"...then they will allow you to return to me. So that... i-if you wish, of course, I may spend more time with you. Learn more of your life. Your past. Tell you of mine. Of my own dreams for the future, separate from those of my people. And... and maybe..."

The mortal woman cut in, her voice strained with hope of her very own.

"Maybe next time, you'll taste my blood... a-and when I change, it won't just be for a night."

Fang kissed Kerra tenderly, and gave a soft, hissing purr as the other cat kissed her back.

"You would like that? You would... e-even consider it?"

Kerra giggled through their kiss, but when she spoke back it was with total, almost pained sincerity.

"Sanguis Verus, Fang. The blood does not lie. A-and... as I felt it rush through me, as it brought me to life within your arms? I knew right then, from the first touch of our bodies. The truth is... my life hadn't truly begun until I set eyes upon you, and it will only be worth living, whether for a moment or an eternity, if I can spend it with you."

By Jeeves

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