historical

Joan had been expecting Harker for a long while now. Finally, she heard her door click open.

She rushed to meet him.

"Joan, I..." Harker looked a little anxious, scratching his forearm. "I... How are you?"

Joan snorted. "Still awake, surprisingly. I should have added in the note that you meet me before midnight. I'm a pretty old woman after all."

Harker chuckled softly. "Yeah, you like Tinderella but instead of turning into a dirty girl dressed in rags, you turn into a couch potato."

They were joking around like usual but it was clear how the awkward atmosphere between them remained. Joan shifted from foot to foot, then finally said: "You going inside?"

Harker nodded, and sat followed her inside. Only the light of a bed lamp lit the room, and it only ever barely reached the edge of the queen sized bed.

Joan sat at the edge of that bed, and patted the space by her side.

"How are you feeling? You can be honest with me, I know it wouldn't have been that easy after all that."

Harker sat beside her, his knee bumping into hers. "I'm fine... The desire for flesh would sometimes spike for no reason. but I'm holding up pretty well, surprisingly." He turned to her. "How about you? You.. You shared my ascension with me."

"Is that what it's called? Ascension?" She asked. "Well, about that... I don't really feel much different other than I'm not so sleepy anymore. And I feel warmer than usual, like there's a fireplace that's keeping me warm all the time."

She touched her chest. "Except... This fireplace seemed to be within me. Does that sound weird?"

"It's not. It must be the energy you gained from me. Your blood flow might have gotten faster too." Harker guessed. "I just hope that doesn't mean that you'll be aging up faster."

Joan chuckled. "That would actually be a good thing if that's true. I'm tired of aging every other decade. I had a long run, and it's been pretty fun."

Harker took his hand. "Don't say that. There's still much to do, Joan. A lot more to see in the following years.... And I wish you'd be there to witness them with me."

Joan's eyes widened, then took her hand away.

"What about your girlfriend? Didn't she want to share beds with you? She was probably hoping for some alone time after so long..." She trailed off, as if thinking about it suddenly brought her pain.

Harker frowned. "Mina's doing well. I'm sure of it. As for now, I want to talk about you. About us."

"What about us?" Joan asked.

Harker's eyes sparkled even in the dark. He took her hand again...

And placed a soft kiss over it.

"I can't deny it anymore. My feelings for you had been so much clearer after my transformation. You see, Joan, I spent my whole life denying many of my emotions. I would hide things just so I won't bother anyone else, especially my friends and family. People that matter to me."

He caressed the smooth skin of her face with the back of his hand. "But it's different with you. You matter to me, Joan, but I want to be honest with you. I don't want to hide anymore."

Joan was obviously moved by this just from the look of her face. It was adorable how flustered she would get just from these romantic words, really.

She has a soft spot for romantics, after all. Edmund was one.

He used that to his advantage to convince her. "I want to be with you, Joan. Even if it's wrong, even if I'm not allowed to. I want you."

He went closer to kiss her, and Joan also felt herself drawn to him as if their lips were magnets of different poles...

But her doubts surfaced, and she pushed him away lightly.

"You want me, but you also want your girlfriend too, right? And you can see how much she dislikes me, Harker. Even if I'm fine with this kind of arrangement, I knew damn well that she will never be."

Harker kissed her cheek. "I'll take care of it. But I don't want to lie to myself anymore, Joan. I want you..."

He kissed her again and again, trailing his lips over her jawline down to her neck. Joan shivered a little at this, and she couldn't move for a moment. That warm fire in her heart was slowly growing and making her whole body increase in temperature.

"But Harker... Wait.... Ah..."

His hands were holding her waist as he continued to make out with her. Soon, they were tongue to tongue like she did when feeding him those sedatives. But Joan felt like she was the one being sedated as his passionate actions made her even more vulnerable. Her sense of reason was trying to fight back, but it was useless when he's being like this.

Soon, he had left a hickey on her neck. A very deep and large one, and this seemed to be her wake up call.

"Wait." She pushed him back, firmly this time.

She caught her breath and said: "I don't want to hurt anyone, Harker. I feel the same way about you, but I don't want to hurt Mina that way even if we don't see eye to eye. You have to talk things with her first, and be ready if she does make you choose."

Harker pouted, sticking his lower lip out like a kid. "I see...."

Joan opened her mouth, but closed it again. She felt feverish, and her body was still excited as she could feel the wetness seeping even through her panties and making the inside of her thighs feel slippery.

"You should go. I didn't expect things to turn out this way... We'll talk more tomorrow. I just wanted to check up on you."

Harker sighed, standing up. "I'm fine. It's a real bummer though, but I'll leave you be if that's what you really want. But before I do..."

He gave her another kiss on the other side of her neck.

"You wanted to ask me what I would do if she made me choose, right? I'm not really sure but..."

He whispered in a deep voice to her ear. "It would be a really tough choice because of you, Joan. Because I can't get enough of you, because I ache for the taste of you so badly."

Joan's face turned beet red at this, and he just left her in that state.

As Harker did, he met with Roland who just got out of his room and made some tea for himself in the kitchen. His eyes widened.

"Oh, Hark... What are you doing in Joan's room?" Roland was waiting for hot water to boil.

Harker shrugged. "We just talked. Nothing much happened than I expected."

Roland raised an eyebrow. "I see. Well, would you like to have some tea? You can just pour it over yourself if you don't feel comfortable getting close—"

Harker just went over there and drank the tea in one large gulp, and patted Roland's shoulder. "Thanks, bud. Good night!"

And he suddenly slapped Roland's ass!

Roland was completely frozen by the sudden action. But before he could even speak, Harker had already turned to go to his room, giving a flimsy wave.

"Sorry, dunno what came over me. I got no impulse control, hahaha! Anyway, have a good one!"

Roland frowned even deeper.

"What the hell is going on? First, I heard his voice from Mina's room earlier. Then I see him leaving Ms. Seward's room, and now this?" He sipped his tea.

The steam of his cup just made his face feel even hotter. "He's not acting like himself at all. Is he really alright?"

Harker just went inside his room with a wide smirk, thinking that it was really a night where it's fun to play games with people. He can't wait to get more nights like this.