Her Sweet Kiss | Geralt of Rivia X OC | The Witcher FF

Chapter 21 - The bruxa -

As Geralt walked, with careful steps, through the halls of the mansion, the purring was more audible than it was before. The purring that they heard and assumed it was Nivellen's cat being stuck in the ceiling. Was it really a cat, though? 

It grew louder with every step he took towards the room of the owner of the mansion. In front of the door, he stopped. The 'cat' was in this room. The cooing, the chittering it came from Nivellen's room. Maybe the cursed man couldn't tell the difference between a cat and a bat. A big bat with a human form - obviously we're talking about a higher vampire here, a bruxa. Witchers rarely take contracts on higher vampires but this wasn't a contract. This was for Nivellen's and especially Ciri's safety.

Geralt slammed the door open to Nivellen's room. The bruxa was hovering above him and drinking from his neck. The Witcher charged, with his sword in hand, towards the vampire but she quickly noticed his presence. She turned towards him and screeched. A strong shock wave pushed Geralt back into the hall against the wall. It was like Aard but longer and stronger. He couldn't go against it. The screech revealed the double rows of teeth in the vampire's big mouth which had drops of blood dripping from it.

Eventually, she stopped. Geralt dropped to his feet and several spears fell next to him, which were formerly hanging neatly on the wall as decoration. He looked back into the room to find Nivellen unconscious and the bruxa, Vereena, gone. Yet, the cooing and purring continued, again, in the ceiling. 

Geralt grabbed one of the spears with his free hand and followed the nearly not audible sounds within the ceiling. When it stopped he pushed the spear through the ceiling after which a scream followed. Then a few drops of blood. Then, the material gave up underneath Vereena's weight and the whole in it and she fell on top of the Witcher. She was trying to bite him. He caught her by the throat what resulted in her hissing and trying to free herself. He formed Aard and pushed her by that out of the window, into the front yard, mere metres away from Ciri and Roach.

She broke a statue in her fall and the snow underneath her piled up a little where she had fallen. Her terrifying from disappeared and she looked just like a normal woman. The woman who had given Ciri her new dress. The woman who spoke to Ciri this night, before she fell asleep. 

Ciri approached her and went to touch her, to check if she was alright. "Vereena?" she asked. The bruxa's eyes shot open and she gasped. "He hurt me." she whimpered. Ciri was worried. Vereena's leg was twisted in an unhealthy way and her mouth, as well as her chest, were covered in blood.

Geralt jumped out of the broken window, to follow the vampire. Vereena wheezed and her body parts twisted themselves back into their former state with a disgusting cracking sound. "Cirilla." Geralt grunted to get her attention. "She's the bruxa. Get back to Roach." he instructed her. Ciri stood in place, not knowing what to do. Vereena got back to her feet and grabbed her head to snap it back into the right position.

She turned to Geralt and screed again. He fell to the ground with a groan. Ciri approached the vampire but on second thought she wanted to make a run for her life. "Don't run." Vereena said. She turned to the princess and fumbled with her hands. "Uh... I can't help myself if you run. He's wrong. I don't want to hurt you." she explained with a helpless expression which changed back into the terrifying face as soon as Geralt swung his sword in her direction. 

She screeched but this time, Geralt was prepared. He protected himself with Quen. At the right timing, he dropped it and pushed her away with Aard. She fell into the snow and slid across the ground into a wall of snow, that was piled up against the wall of the mansion. Geralt approached her but before he could reach the bruxa she charged out of the snow as a giant bat and flew through the yard.

Geralt followed her with her gaze until she flew behind the mansion, her screeching fading. The distant screech was surrounding the house and the yard. Ciri rushed over to Roach to seek protection from the vampire. She untied the reins and held the horse close.

To a normal human, the screeching disappeared but for Geralt, there was the clicking of the echo sounds she was producing. She was behind him and wanted to fly above his head. Instead, he grabbed her leg to prevent her from doing that. She hissed and eventually managed to free herself from his grip. She flew at a house wall and after chittering and screeching, she flew off again, nowhere to be seen.

"Geralt!" Ciri called him. The Witcher sighed, stepping on the spot, going in a circle to catch her right away when seen. The clicking sound returned and got faster and faster, she was near. "Geralt!" Ciri shouted again. Verenna was approaching him from behind. He had his back turned to her to catch her off guard when he ducked and rammed his sword into her. She crashed through a statue to the ground, as a naked woman.

Ciri rushed over to her with the blue cloak she carried around with her to cover the bruxa with it. "Cirilla." Geralt said as he approached them. "Geralt, wait. Please." she said, still kneeling next to Vereena. "Get away from it." Geralt ordered. Ciri got back to her feet and faced Geralt. Before she could say or do something, Vereena had her hand around Ciri's neck and her arm. Geralt frowned, anger in his eyes. 

"I'll rip her throat out unless you leave us alone!" she threatened in a sore whisper. She started to screech but before Geralt was and step closer to her, Nivellen had pushed a wooden spear through her upper body. Vereena groaned. "I'm sorry." The cursed man said. "I'm so sorry." he repeated himself. She wheezed and turned her arms and her head with a crunch around, so her head, but not her body, was facing Nivellen. 

He gasped in fear. "Mine..." she wheezed and pulled the wooden wand so she could get closer to the cursed man. "or nobody's." she continued. She whimpers and reached out for him. "I love you." Nivellen's eyes were wide. "Love you." she repeated and grabbed his shoulder. She screeched but before she could harm Nivellen, her head was separated from her body, by Geralt's sword. 

"No!" Nivellen screamed as he watched her body go limp. He kept yelling and kneeled next to the dead body, which then caught on fire. Nivellen screamed and as the flames died down, he was a human again, freed from the prison with the boar facade. 

He looked at his hands, touched his face, his torso. "Why, Geralt?" Ciri asked in a whisper. He didn't answer. "It's wrong." Nivellen said as he kneeled now next to a pile of ashes mixed with snow. He kept yelling this sentence over and over. "The curse has lifted. You are free now." Geralt said. "Free?" Nivellen asked with tears in his eyes as he looked at Geralt with a grieving expression. "This is what you call free?" he asked and picked up a few flakes of the ashes. 

"I found her in the woods. Injured. Starving. She wasn't scared of me. And when she healed... she chose to stay. She didn't care what I looked like." he started to tell, while the first tears escaped his eyes. "And to ease her cravings, I let her feed on me. But-" he continued. "She couldn't control herself?" Geralt asked to finish Nivellen's sentence. The man shook his head, confirming Geralt's words. 

"She was a monster." Geralt said, to ease the pain maybe a little. "No. That's not true." Nivellen said and shook his head. "Doesn't matter if she was or wasn't. She loved you." Ciri now added. "Love and blood. They both possess a mighty power. Learned men and mages have wracked their brains over it for years. And they've arrived at nothing except..." Geralt explained. "...true love." Nivellen now interrupted him and finished Geralt's sentence. 

"To lose true love. That's what it is." Nivellen added and then got back to his feet. "I knowingly turned my eyes away from what she did to the villagers, because she didn't care, that I was cursed all those years ago. Not for destroying the temple. For raping the priestess." he confessed. Geralt and Ciri frowned. "Ciri." he said, as if begging for forgiveness. Geralt was the first to turn his back to his old friend. 

"Please stay. Don't go." he begged. Ciri not soon after followed Geralt, turning her back as well now. "I beg you. Use your sword. End this. For me." Nivellen begged desperately. "You're mortal now. Do it yourself."