Free Web NovelChapter 19: The Shadow and the Signs
Carmilla and Malakai spent the cold night waiting out the raging blizzard by keeping each other company. To Carmilla’s deep disappointment, she ended up tucked firmly under Malakai’s arm, since he could manipulate his body temperature—rising and lowering it whenever it fit him.
She had her could resistant clothes and her being a pure blood made her naturally resistant to the could but---.
She was only supposed to stay close to him for warmth and nothing more. However, Malakai’s body felt like a warm, weighted blanket, and no matter how hard she tried to resist, her body became entirely too relaxed. Before she knew it, she had fallen fast asleep on him. It hurt her pride to admit it, but that was somehow one of the best naps she had ever had, despite them being stuck in a freezing, secluded cave in the Demon Mountains.
The next morning, Carmilla and Malakai stepped out of the cave and resumed their journey through the treacherous cliffside to avoid the Holy Order camp below.
"Hm, hm, hm, hm, mh...🎵"
Malakai was strolling casually behind her, cheerfully humming a tune.
"What is up with you today?" Carmilla asked, stopping to look back at him. "Why are you humming, huh? What’s gotten you so excited?"
"Who, me?" Malakai asked innocently, tilting his head to the side with a smug grin plastered on his face.
"Yes, you," Carmilla muttered, narrowing her eyes.
Malakai chuckled sheepishly. "You know..."
"Know what?"
"I never expected someone as cold as you to be so incredibly soft," he said, his eyes slowly traveling up and down her figure. With a thoroughly content smile on his face, he added, "Then again... I’m sure all of it would feel just like fluffy wool."
Carmilla turned her head slowly to face him. "What the hell do you mean by that?" she demanded, her voice trembling in a shallow whisper. "What exactly do you think is as soft as wool?"
"Many things," Malakai said, casually shrugging his shoulders.
Annoyed to her absolute limits, Carmilla marched right up to Malakai and aggressively yanked his collar, forcefully pulling his face down to her level.
"No, go on. Say it. What exactly do you think is soft as wool, Malakai?"
Malakai didn’t even try to pull away from her grip. Instead, he let his heavy frame relax, leaning down into the space she had forced him into until his pale white hair practically brushed against her forehead. His slitted golden eyes gleamed with absolute triumph, utterly amused by her ferocious, flustered red face.
"My, my... so aggressive so early in the morning, Princess," he purred smoothly, his voice low and dripping with amusement.
"Answer the question, demon," Carmilla hissed, tightening her fingers on his collar, though her heart was hammering against her ribs so loudly she was terrified he could hear it.
"Well," Malakai drawled lazily, his eyes slowly dropping from her face. He didn’t lift a finger to touch her, but his gaze deliberately traced a slow, burning line down the elegant column of her neck, past her collarbone, and locked squarely onto the heavy, voluptuous curve of her chest pressing against her combat gear. He let his eyes linger there for a second too long before trailing back up to her sharp purple eyes.
A content, wicked smirk played on his lips.
"Your skin, for starters," he murmured, his tone dropping into something dangerously intimate. "When the proud vampire princess finally stops snapping her fangs and curls up like a helpless kitten on my lap... she is remarkably soft. Quite pliable, actually. Your hair, your cheeks... and certain other exceptionally well-endowed places that pressed so beautifully against my chest all night."
Carmilla’s breath hitched, her entire body freezing as her face exploded into a violent, burning crimson.
"You—! I was merely utilizing you for body heat!" she stammered, her regal voice cracking as she desperately tried to find her footing in the conversation.
"Of course you were," Malakai chuckled sheepishly, his golden eyes narrowing with dark amusement. "But wool is meant to keep you warm, isn’t it? I certainly didn’t mind acting as your blanket, Princess. Especially when you started softly moaning in your sleep and—"
"Shut up! Shut up, you absolute liar! I do not moan!"
Thoroughly mortified, Carmilla forcefully shoved his chest away, releasing his collar as if it had burned her. She spun around as fast as she could, her arrow-tipped tail lashing violently in the snow to vent her sheer embarrassment. She needed to walk away, she needed to get distance, she needed—
Snap.
The playful air in the mountains vanished in a single millisecond.
"Looks like they found us," Malakai chuckled softly, the amusement returning to his voice. "We should have just killed them all and moved right through the valley."
Peering through the snow, Carmilla spotted the intruders. "It looks to be just four standard soldiers," she said, her tone instantly hardening with annoyance. "But the rest of them will be here soon. Mal, we need to leave. Go and kill them quickly before more of them show up."
Silence stretched between them.
"..."
"..."
"Mal?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you still standing there? I said—"
"I know what you said," Malakai interrupted smoothly, crossing his arms. "But I’m not going to."
"Excuse me? Why not?"
"I am nothing but a lowly demon—a helpless, Rank 2 ghost. I simply can’t do it," he said, putting on a thoroughly sad, heartbroken expression.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Carmilla snapped, her brow furrowing in disbelief. "I am only at the threshold of Rank 1! I haven’t even officially reached Rank 1 yet!"
"Not my problem," Malakai said, lazily shrugging his shoulders. "...Unless..."
"Seriously? Now of all times you’re going to try to sell me on your whole plan of signing that contract?"
"Well, if you don’t want that, we could always come to a different agreement. You could offer me something else instead."
"Not happening. Ever," Carmilla said, a look of pure disgust washing over her face.
"My, oh my. What in Chaos’s name do you think I want?" Malakai asked, putting on a fake, wildly over-exaggerated expression of innocence.
"Well, you were just saying that my body—"
"Your body?" Malakai cut her off, a wicked glint returning to his slitted eyes. "Oh, yes, how soft it is. Well, ha, I would never ask you to admit that you actually felt safe and comfortable with me—so much so that you willingly fell asleep on me."
Carmilla blinked, completely caught off guard. "..., oh," she uttered, stunned. "You just wanted me to admit that? I thought—"
"Thought what? What kind of impure things were you thinking about, little Princess?" Malakai teased, leaning in.
"I wasn’t thinking of anything!" Carmilla yelled, turning on her heel and storming off toward the approaching soldiers. "You just look pretty and stay back. I’ll go fight them myself."
"You think I’m pretty?" Malakai called out innocently, his voice echoing over the snow.
"SHUT UP!!!" Carmilla screamed from a distance, her face burning hotter than the desert sun as she drew her magic to face the enemy.
