Stitched Up Hearts (Alucard X Fem! reader)

Worthless City

(Six years prior)

Lisa was taking yet another trip back to that worthless city of Targoviste. She went there, often enough, to use her alchemy skills and help the people there. Of course, you'd been at the castle long enough to know how often she went there, and that she typically went alone. This time however she requested, albeit with a firmness that made it feel like it was more of an order, that I go with her on this trio. "Let the men have some alone time, they need to work on some things around the castle while we're gone." she had insisted, helping me pack the clothes and everything else i'd need for the stay. "I need some help around there anyways, and who better than a girl who knows her way around the city?"

With that I found myself traveling back to the dreadful city I thought I had escaped from for good. The streets were as filthy as I remembered, though not as muddy as they were when I left since it was no longer winter. The spring and winter seasons were always disgusting in the city, making the dirt paths soak through with melted snow and rain, causing you to slip.

Instead, in mid summer shutters were open wide and mothers with their daughters sang happily as they did the washing and the cooking. Street vendors were calling out from their carts, or bartering with customers over prices. It looked so different in the daytime, so simple, the daylight making it seem inviting and friendly. I knew better, I knew what the city looked like at night, and the people who lived in it spun a different tale.

It was easy for me to remember my way around, nearly nine months away from it having no impact on my memory. I recognized faces, easily, passing by someone I knew frequently. I saw a couple of the women who wandered around town often as well as some business owners. I had no interest in helping these people through alchemy, and I even told Lisa as much. "No good will come of us meddling around with other people's health. They'll suspect something ungodly is going on, they'll accuse you of witchcraft or crimes against the church." I warned her again and again, knowing all too well the damage that loose tongues can cause, even more than weapons.

"Yes, but people are suffering here. You've seen it first hand. If it is in my power to help them, and I do nothing, would that not be considered harming them?" she rebuffed my concerns with various versions of that statement, brushing off my worries. I knew this whole healing business would be the death of her, people from places like these didn't care for progression. I knew she had to have the same concerns I did, she was not stupid enough to believe there weren't already rumors circulating about her. She didn't want to worry me, or care for what the consequences were as long as she was helping people.

I heard a man's voice call my name, though I tried to ignore it. Things were easier that way, it was a habit I've grown accustomed to in the city. Sometimes if you ignored them long enough stupid men or pushy women would just leave you alone. "Y/N! Is that you?" the voice calls again, louder now. The sound of it makes me want to vomit all over the cobblestone. "I know you can hear me." Edvard caught up to me, his steps falling in line with my own. "You disappeared on us, you little devil." he smirked in a way I;m sure he believed to be very appealing, but in reality only made his mouth look several sizes too large for his face. Adrian had a much prettier smile, it suited him perfectly. Adverts black eyes were beady, and lined with short pale lashes that made him appear like he had none at all. He looked like a rabbit.

"Is this a friend of yours Y/N?" Lisa curled an eyebrow at the man, the look on her face making it clear she thought very little of his appearance.

"Far from it. Don't worry, he was just leaving." I shot a glare toward the man, hoping it would get him to leave me alone.

"Oh now, don't be like that. Pretty things like you ought to be nicer. You look older than last time I saw you." Edvard was over twice my age, and known among the ladies at church for being perverted as well as cruel. His knobby hands often found their way up peoples skirts, or any other place he could land them. "Where did you go, hm? Finally found a man who's willing to have a filthy girl like you for a wife?" he tried reaching for my face, likely aiming to turn me to face him, like I'd seen him do to many other women who were too weak or scared to stop him.