Pleasure and pain

Story inspired by RP. Takes place in the 1920s, Romania, after Nicolas escapes the clutches of @marcusofrome

The fresh blood he drank ran wildly through his veins, fear and excitement mingling into something dark and familiar.  The establishment suited his needs and the needs of others like him, mortals and immortals. He felt ashamed and still he craved this. Craved something to ground him and help him put back the mask he wore so easily these days. Play a part. That’s all he had to do. Get back into some sort of rhythm of matters. Polish the act he had adopted. 

He had been found by a band of clan-less vampires. Some knew the laws, others had heard of the Covens. Nicolas decided to play on his knowledge. He didn’t give too much but asserted quickly a place for himself because he knew the rites and what had to be done. The old laws flew from his lips as easily as he had broken them in the past and he found himself enjoying being asked about interpretations.  Still, he didn’t give too much. Nicolas de Lenfent was presumed dead. For the time being, he allowed the tale to follow its course. He was Nicolas Visconti of Naples. His mother was descended of one of the noble families of Naples and his accent helped. Play the part. It became easy. Being himself was hard. 

He stepped inside the dark hall and forced his mask to stay still. Don’t betray fear. Force his blood to flow slower. All the lesson taught brought him quicker to the red door and his hand settled on the door knob with ease and calm. Memories he tried to bury struggled to lay low. Memories of blood, whips and course hands inflicting pain. Memories of screams. He had screamed. He had screamed until his throat was raw. Marcus enjoyed his screams. He played his pain for more screams. For more blood. For pleasure and pain and he took them with passion.

I feel your breath I feel something deep in my chest There's something in the way you move I cannot explain I give myself To every drop of blood you've taken My heart remains the same And I'm An utter fool To give myself to you

“What do you desire?” the blood-drinker’s voice before him slithered as he was measured from head to toe. He had learned from an early age to play on his looks. He was slowly becoming vain about his physique. Dressing according to the fashion of this age but still playing it low. Fitted pants, fitted shirts, black. He didn’t feel other colors embracing him like the black fabrics. No more reds or ivory. Black. Everything baptized in the color of the night sky.The color of his soul.

“Nicolas, all you have to do is ask. Ask and you shall receive” the man was joined by another. He counted the vampires present in the room. His eyes locked with the Turkish born vampire.

“What I always want from this place and your services. Pain. Pain and pleasure” he walked past him and began unbuttoning his shirt, steadying his fingers to finish the task. Play the part of confidence although his soul was struggling with everything he felt. He deserved this. Every lash, for every death. Their death was on him. Every treachery. On him. Every drop of blood. On him. Laurent,Eleni, Felix, Eugeni, his Santiago, his beloved Santiago. Butchered, vanished and he still looked for them, forsaking the image of the burnt theater he had found when he returned from Paris.

Nicolas hissed, straining his arms against the shackles as the whip felt on his skin. Tarik knew how to handle the leather and how to the deliver the strokes. Not to strong to brutally maim but sure enough to awaken pleasure. 

He moaned as the whip felt again and again against his skin. 

“You deserve this, Nicolas. All you had to do was to control yourself. You coward. You would be still be with them. In the arms of Santiago. His death his upon you. All of their deaths are upon you, lad” Nicolas forced his eyes upon as the all too familiar voice found its way in his mind.

“You’re dead” he wanted to sound more confident, straining against a too well skilled whip from Tarik.

“Nicolas, I will always be with you. I made sure of it. Look at you now. Still craving the pain you so well deserve. You will never get rid of me” the mocking laughter of Marcus rang in his ears and Nicolas strained against the restrains, his body chasing the pleasure from the pain. He let himself under Tarik’s ministrations. He stopped counting and stopped caring about time. He bleed and he revealed from it. He accepted the hands gliding against his flushed skin, stirring him alive.

Half a night, step in pleasure and agony before he could put back the mask he had began to wear so easily. He stood in the bathtub, the smell of blood, his and his companions filling his senses. He stood still, watching the men before him kissing lazily. Reaching for a plump hand, Nicolas turned it to meet the wrist and sank his fangs, the warm blood doing its biding. Harden the heart. Harden the heart because he would end up driving himself crazy and he needed his wits and his strength. And maybe of these nights, Marcus voice will cease to haunt him and the cravings will stop and he will be stronger and not needing this sort of treatment. Love himself more. The fact was he hated himself and loved himself with equal passion. And right now, Nicolas was constructing the image he will project to the world. The violinist had burned long ago, the man in love had perished under the whip, the violence and the abuse of Marcus, Nicolas was putting together the man he needed to be in order to survive. All the lessons learned. From Armand, from Santino, from Marcus. Before he could resurrect the man he wanted to be, he needed the man he required for this world.

To every drop of blood you've taken My heart remains the same

Bianca Solderini

- fledgling of Marius de Romanus

Adrian Malasorte

- Original VC character,

- Vampire, 700 years old,

- Born in Venice, became part of the Janissary army,

- fledgling of Marcus, former Roman General.

Marcus Severus Aquila

- Original VC character;

- Roman General born during the conquest of Dacia, circa 130BC;

- died in Dacia during the last wars against the free Dacians,

- turned into a vampire by Duras, former priest of the god Xamolxes,

- maker of Adrian Malasorte - turned him during the siège of Constantinople.

"Santino, the good Samaritan. If I wouldn't have sampled the truth in the blood, I wouldn't have believed you had become the patron saint of lost causes. However, I should bestow gratitude, you raised him well, still, you should had ripped the emotions like weeds. They weakened Nicolas, like chains of servitude. Tell me, have you noticed the changes in his demeanor? Consider them an upgrade. How you tolerated his emotions is beyond me"

“So... I suppose you would be the one who found Nicolas once he left my tutelage. I have heard of you from the mind of my former pupil... and I do not approve of your methods of teaching. You should be gone from my city.”

"My, my, my. If there isn't the lovely cherub himself. Pray tell, aren't you aware you are trespassing on owned ground?"

“I beg your pardon? I am doing no such thing.” Armand scoffed, rolling his eyes a bit. “There are no true territories anymore, or haven’t you noticed? The Prince has done away with that petty nonsense.” Though of course he knew that was a lie. Many of the older ones, himself included even, were still highly territorial.

79. What do they do when they learn about other people’s fears?

Answered here! Thanks!

The Warrior (or Hero)

Tough and courageous, the Warrior archetype helps us to set and achieve goals, overcome obstacles and persist through difficult times. However, the Warrior archetype also tends to see others as enemies and tends to think in "either/or" terms. In truth, the Warrior behaves in a relatively simple way, seeking to simply win in any and every circumstance, no matter what confronts them, including the monsters that live inside the mind and their underlying fear of weakness. Their challenge is to bring meaning to what they do, perhaps by choosing their battles wisely, by using courage to succeed, or by developing great self-discipline where needed.

Shadow Side: The villain. This will manifest itself in your desire to win, even at the expense of other people and their well-being. The villain is also active in your life any time you feel compelled to compromise your principles in order to compete, win, or get your own way. There is also the possibility of perceiving everything as a continuous battle, where virtually everything that happens is a personal slight, threat, or challenge to be confronted.

Life Goal: Win, make a difference

Fear: Weakness, impotence

Response to Problem: Slay it, defeat it, convert it

Life Task: Fight only for what really matters

Personal Gifts: Courage, discipline, determination, skill

Personal Pitfalls: Fear of impotence leading to ruthlessness, arrogance

Tagged by: @greyveined (thank you dearest <3)

Tagging: @marcusofrome || @pandoratheancient || @angelustheancient || @angelic-vittorio

This Means War

@marcusofrome replied to your ask

Armand jerked back away from the elder vampire, hissing threateningly. "Do not touch me, or it isn't Lestat you should be worried about," he spat. "You should be more worried about what my Maker would do to you if you were to harm me," he spat. "But I doubt I'll need much rescuing. If you want a war, you have but to ask for one, leave me out of it." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I may not have fought on a battlefield, but I know what it's like to draw blood on a sword, so don't you even begin to lecture me on 'wars'. A war need not always be between countries, you know."

He shook his head. "I have had enough of your grandstanding. He turned away from the other male, throwing a hand up into the air as a gesture of fair-well. "I'll be off now. Have fun with your ramblings, sir."

How do you feel now that you've learned that Santiago is alive and has been in the hands of Marcus for over a century?

"It's a bittersweet feeling. Don't get me wrong, knowing and seeing my Tiago is alive has stirred back to life my soul. It felt like I had lived so far numb, without half of my soul, without the presence, the voice, the touch, the laugh, the eyes which made me whole. Yet knowing the amount of suffering Tiago endured is agony. He didn't deserve this and Marcus delivered his punishment for my treachery hitting were it hurts the most. My beloved spent a century in his hands, a century of pain, of torture and abuse. I will not run anymore and I will face what lays ahead. I will protect and help Santiago heal. I won't abandon him. I know I don't deserve his love. Not after everything I put him through. Marcus is my shame to bear and one way or another, I will figure out a way to close this chapter of our lives and his shadow won't break and hurt anyone, anymore. I ran too many times in this life. I was a coward. Afraid of shadows and my own demons. I'm not the best nor the worst of our kind but I lived so far and defeated some odds. Might as well try and fix my mistakes. I'm not suicidal or playing the hero but I'm a realist. Many of my friends would get hurt if they would face Marcus and I'm no miracle of a vampire but I survived with that bastard enough to know his weak points. And I will use that knowledge. Ti amo, Tiago. Always and forever"

what’s a weird headcanon you have for each of your muses?

//let's see:

Nicolas - I navigate with a couple of personal headcanons for him (being mentored by Santino, being Santiago's maker and loving him, I know, I haven't rediscovered the wheel but these headcanons are dear for the way I write his story) one I actually love a lot is his power. As a mortal, I dabble with the fact he had dormant skills related to the supernatural and communicating to spirits, powers which fascinated and frightened him. I sort of navigate he has been tormented by a spirit, hence his mental degradation (maybe Memnoch) combined with his Empath powers which grew after being turned into a vampire. On his type of power, Nicolas latched and still does to certain emotions he hungers for and find a twin with what he feels. If he feels love and is loved, he wants to stay close to those experiencing this emotions. His sorrow, his anger, his fears can unleash said emotions on others, mortals and immortals, depending their skills and powers of resistance, forcing to experience these emotion to the brink of madness. He tries to maintain a calm composed behavior to numb this power often being perceived cold and arrogant.

Also, I play with Nicolas actually being interested in laws and law studies. As a mortal he had been disenchanted by how the law was applied in favor of law breakers and rich elite. As a vampire, in the early nights, he tried to use the laws to escape whatever punishment awaited for his transgressions, often ending up debating for hours with Armand.

Marcus (VC Original character) - he is jealous. Especially for having been rejected by his own maker. Although he claims he finds mortals useless, he keeps close company and is invested in military operations, reninescence of his mortal life.

I do have another characters I recently created and still discover and I will get back on this post with what I have for them, personal headcanon wise.

💭

Send me a “💭“ and your Muse will experience one of my Muse’s Memories

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He realized he had been foolish trying to escape from Marcus. He had tried nonetheless to get away from the constant punishments. He had been dragged back and received what he had expected. Nicolas laid on the stone floor, in a pool of fresh blood. He had gotten used to the ache and the pain and being hungry. He just waiting, barely moving until the flesh would stitch itself back. His mistake. He should had followed the counting of the lashes but he felt sick and he was tired and could barely speak. The offense didn’t go unnoticed and the cursed Roman General started again and this time, Nicolas counted loud, pulling at the chain holding him still, clinging to whatever stone and crack in the wall and counted until it was over and his body slumped to the floor and he closed his eyes.

He became alert when the door opened and the familiar heavy footsteps came into his vision, turned on his back like an animal, the elder enjoying the way he hissed in pain “What do you want?” he should had bit the retort but it was too late and a heavy foot closed on his ribs. He coughed, a thin blood trail falling from his lips. A broken rib, a punctured lung. Maybe. By now, he had become versed into how long it took to heal from the punishment delivered under the duress of barely being allowed to drink some fresh blood. 

“Stop dawdling,Nicolas and get up if you still hope you will sample some blood tonight” and he obeyed, lifting himself up. He kept quiet knowing this would condition the time spent drinking the much needed blood and it came from the vein of an elder, almost dying from old age and illness. He felt sick just from the taste but he knew he couldn't be picky about it. He drank as much as he could and meet his captor, bracing himself for what laid ahead.

“Come, Nicolas. Since you feel like venting up some rage, I’ve arranged a special treat for you” the special treat was a spectacle for other depraved ancients like Marcus. A mocking simulacrum of gladiator fights and his opponent was another vampire, perhaps another captive held by one with whom Marcus was speaking.

And so he fought. Fists and fingernails and fangs like they were some wild dogs for the entertainment of the powerful. All he knew was he had to survive and he did, bloodied and broken, tearing through the neck of his opponent. The one who had the other vampire who was gasping, drawing laborious breaths on the floor rose and stormed past Marcus, picking up his protegee. So much for mercy as Nicolas watch the one who lost become him, ripped apart. It wasn’t the first time nor the last. His eyes rose and meet Marcus, waiting for what laid ahead.  

What would you do to Marcus if you were powerful enough to do anything you wanted?

"I'd repay him the " kindness" he showed me and others. I am not a good man. I never was and I will never be. I am a monster. But there is a code even among us monsters. Laws. Honor. Respect. Kindness. I don't know if I will ever be strong enough to face him but I want to be able to stare back into that black, vicious soul and see him writhe in pain, in agony, see him beg for mercy. He took more from me than anyone could think and few souls know the full extent of the damage. And it's better that way. It's my shame to bear for being weak.

If I would be righteous man, I would attempt forgiveness. Believe he might be redeemed but I ask you: if you would have been broken night after night and remade into someone who disgusts you even to this day, would you forgive and forget? "

Chateau IC VC Chat || OOC

The plot as stands:

Marcus of Rome is an ancient Roman general who... pretty much hates the rule of law and order. He's been building his own army of vampires to try and take down the current regime (being L estat and court). He has lost two of his soldiers he was "training" the first being Nicolas. The second being Santiago. He has beaten, raped, tortured, and just about everything else you can think of to these two to try and break them, but they escaped. Santino is Nicolas's mentor, and Nicolas told him all about Marcus. So he's been aware of the problem for quite a while now. He sent Vittorio to the Court to keep an eye on things, but now that Santiago escaped from Marcus, Santino fears that Marcus will push his plan forward. He didn't know what aggravated Marcus (he didn't know that he had Santiago) until he was informed by Vittorio of Santiago's arrival at court. Hence why Santino is now here, trying to get the Court to see the problems that are on their very borders.

RPers involved: (If I missed anyone, I’m so sorry. Let me know, I’ll edit)

@lestat-delioncourt, @marcusofrome @eleni-de-landen, @everarddelanden, @the-marquise-de-lioncourt, @marie-theresecharlotte, @viktor-delioncourt, @monsieur-nicolas-de-lenfent, @requiemforrose, @sweetsoftsybelle, @90skidbenji, @the-ancient-cyril, @claudiaindarkness, @the-witch-queens, @tarquinblackwood, @oldfashioned-creoleblood, @the-painters-apprentice, @devilsjoy, @blood-and-ash, @of-ivory-and-gold, @thevampiremariusderomanus, @sortilegum, @silentmagia, @pandoratheancient, @opheliaroseimmortal, @immortal-chronicler, @immortalcovenmaster, @the-vampire-reporter, @the-mad-old-queen, @immortaltalamascan, @thedarktrickstersantiago, @perladivenezia

Which Greek God/Goddess reflects you?

tagged by: @monsieur-nicolas-de-lenfent​

tagging: @the-painters-apprentice​, @greyveined​, @surrenderedsoul​, @marcusofrome​, @the-realm-of-worlds-child​

Below: Maxym Bravennanson