His Tears, Her Demons

Chapter Three: Wine Talk

Alucard

I carried the unconscious Cristine in my arms as exited her burning home. Once I got far enough from it, I turned around and saw her burning home start to collapse." At least the bodies won't need to be disposed of.", I said to myself.

I looked down at Cristine, my usually calm and emotionless expression softened from the sight of her. Her once lovely and neat auburn hair was now a mess, her rose-tinted cheeks were puffy and sticky from what looked like tears drying up, some fresh bruises and cuts were on her once soft skin, and instead of her usual, calm expression which occasionally included a small smile; it was now hurt and tired one.

It tucked her head onto my shoulder to make her comfortable. She looked more relaxed after that. I then walked to my castle to treat her bruises and cuts so she could sleep comfortably.

" They will not hurt you anymore.", I whispered to her as if she could hear me.

When I entered my castle, I placed her in one of the spare rooms. While she lay in the bed, I cleaned the filth on her face and did what I could to treat her bruises and her cuts. Luckily, the cuts weren't severe so there was no need to bandage them.

I finished not long after, I pulled a blanket over her to keep her warm for the night. I heard a small whimper coming from Cristine. I looked at her with concern, tears streaming from her and she squirming a bit. Without hesitation, I gently placed a hand on her left cheek, whispering that she was safe and she had nothing to fear. Instead of calming down, she woke up and gasped. I immediately took my hand away from her cheek and gave her some space. She then sat up and panted, just noticing that she was in an unfamiliar place. She looked at me with her eyes widened. We both said nothing to each other. I reached in to place my hand on her cheek again to show I meant no harm. But when the palm of my hand made contact with her cheek, tears quickly streamed from her eyes. She leaned into me with her arms wrapped around me, closing the gap between us as she sobbed into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her to comfort the poor woman." It's alright, Cristine. You're safe now, they won't hurt you anymore.", I softly whispered to soothe her. I rubbed her back and kept a hold of her as she sobbed. But she eventually began to calm down. I slowly pulled away from her to give her space. Her head was facing down with a facial expression that was still sad but the tears stopped coming at least.

" Does that feel better, at least a little?", I asked her.

Cristine shook her head a yes, still carried the sad look on her face though. But it must have worked at least a little since she stopped the crying." Hm... How about I get you something to drink?", I suggested," Maybe that can get your mind off what happened at least a little. Then maybe we can talk about what happened, or if you prefer we don't have to. You can just rest."

Cristine stayed silent for a small moment before saying," I could use a drink."

I got off the bed and offered a hand to her. She looked at it then at me. As she took the blanket off her she took my hand. My fingers curled around her hand and kept a firm grip as she got off the bed. I then lead her outside of the room, still keeping a hold of her small hand.

I took her from the halls to the main hall, and finally to the kitchen. I walked in with her. I let go of her hand and grabbed one of the chairs. I pulled it out for her then tell her," Do sit down.", and she did no questions asked. I then pushed it in for her but not too much, that would have been crazy of me. I then walked to the cellar door and opened it. Before I entered, I looked at her. She looked back at me." I'll be back shortly with some wine.", I told her then entered the cellar to search for the wine. But it wasn't easy since most of the wine bottles were shattered.

After a few long minutes of searching, I finally found one. I then grabbed two wine glasses on the way back to the kitchen, hopefully, Cristine hadn't wandered off. I opened the door and saw that Cristine was still in the same spot as before, thankfully. But I sighed when I noticed her staring at the two dolls I made to look like Trevor and Sypha." Please, don't look at those.", I tell her calmly.