A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The black-haired girl sighed in resignation at being humiliated by her little sister before giving a mental command. The ghoulified Astrid quickly responded by lying on the bed and looking up with a glassy stare.

Erik took some robust chains originating from Söl out of his storage and bound her arms and legs together. Better safe than sorry, after all.

He then went down on his knees next to her face and put his arm in front of it. Since his body was the toughest and his blood the strongest, it would naturally be him who would provide the blood she needed.

Next, Emma took position behind Erik with a gaze that said she would give it her all, although Erik didn't really expect her to have much trouble. Meanwhile, Elora disappeared into a cloud of specks and merged with Erik to make his body as robust as possible.

Erik put his hand on Astrid's cheek and looked at her with care. "It'll be good to see you again, Astrid."

He turned to the girl in the back, "Alright, Emily. Remove your control now."

She looked a little skeptical, however. "Wouldn't it be safer if I just order her to bite you?"

But Erik shook his head, "No, I'd rather she wake up with a clear mind. Besides, it might be better to let instinct decide how much blood she needs."

"As you wish," Emily shrugged, not really bothered either way, as she knew Erik would have little trouble subduing the ghoul again, should it come to that, especially because of the chains binding her.

Her eyes flickered momentarily, and immediately, Astrid lost the glassy stare while insanity flooded back. She screeched and tried to lunge forward but was unable to move much because of the chains.

However, it didn't take her long to smell delicious blood, the one substance that always occupied the entirety of a ghoul's mind, flowing through Erik's veins. And with his arm being held right in front of her face, she had little trouble reaching it.

With a sickening crunching sound and a sharp intake of air by Erik due to the pain, she closed her eyes and bit down on Erik's arm hard before sucking his blood like an electric water pump.

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Even Erik's powerful body quickly felt the drain and couldn't keep up with Astrid's demands. Any non-second-rank-Runebound would have long since been drained of everything they had.

Luckily, that's where Emma and Elora came in.

Despite knowing what was going to happen, the sickening sounds of Erik's flesh being pierced and then his blood getting slurped up made Emma nearly vomit.

Luckily, she managed to hold herself together by remembering Erik needed her help. She held out her hand, and a bright white magic circle appeared, which quickly began to bathe Erik in light and accelerated his bodily functions, including blood generation.

Meanwhile, Elora used a combination of her seidr magic and her influence over Erik's body to do essentially the same thing. Between the two of them, Erik's body was just barely able to keep up with Astrid's demands.

Although, that didn't make the experience any more pleasant.

Erik had his eyes shut tight as he ignored the pain shooting through his body that came from having his blood constantly sucked away and replaced.

During all this, Emily looked at the proceedings with a morbid fascination that slightly triggered her blood thirst and corrupted desire for murder. But she quickly stamped down on those feelings.

Yet, everyone's efforts were having a clear effect, as Astrid's gray skin was quickly regaining its pale white color, while wrinkles disappeared, and her hair regained its strawberry blond luster.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes. Insanity was quickly draining away as her ghoulish needs were finally being met, and clarity was returning to her gaze.

Yet, Erik noticed none of this, as his eyes were still closed.

She turned her head to Erik, and a flicker of recognition seemed to pass through her eyes, but she didn't stop and kept sucking hard and fast. The sound of slurping dominated the room, as no one said a word.

It took a whole five minutes of Astrid guzzling down blood like a swarm of mosquitoes in a steroid-induced rage before she finally looked like a normal vampire. She released Erik's arm from her mouth and, for a moment, looked around deliriously before focussing her gaze on Erik.

She smiled softly and mumbled, "I guess I…ended up…in heaven. Maybe here…I'll finally have you…all to myself…my love." Then, she closed her eyes and fainted.

Immediately, Elora appeared next to Astrid in a cloud of light specks. A smirk hung on her lips. "All to yourself, huh? I'm afraid not, but since you've already declared your love, we may be able to figure something out."

Hearing Astrid basically declare her love, even if she thought this was the afterlife, gave Erik some complicated emotions. 'Silly girl. She'll be in for a rude awakening.' He thought to himself.

On the one hand, her feelings proved he was right when he determined her affection for him based on his memories, and it gave him a warm feeling at the thought of this kind and boisterous childhood friend of his harboring love for him.

Yet, it also complicated things a bit, as he had first planned to take things slow with Astrid since they had both likely changed quite a lot over the years. At least, he certainly had. Unfortunately, Astrid declared her love, and now Elora had her eyes on the poor girl.

,

While his beloved partner left him a great deal of control in their relationship, despite their supposed equality, there were some things she would never budge on, and one of those was regarding women who declared their love for him.

But that was a problem for another time.

Behind him, Emma had sunk to her knees as she panted heavily. Keeping up her spell for a full five minutes had taken a lot out of her, but she smiled happily at the knowledge that she managed to help Erik.

'Sir's friend has woken up,' she thought. 'And I helped! Finally, I've been able to pay him back, even if just a little.' She looked up at his back and smiled brightly. 'Maybe I'll never feel like I've completely paid my debt to him. But that's okay.' She began to blush a little as a warm feeling spread through her body, 'I'll just have to follow him forever then.'

Meanwhile, Emily rolled her eyes as she looked between Elora, Emma, and the newly added Astrid. 'Another lovestruck fool to add to his collection,' she thought. 'How does he do it, anyway?'

Whether or not she realized her own slight blush and lost expression when she looked at Erik was anyone's guess.

Back at Erik's side, he looked at Elora and asked, with a bit of concern, "How is she doing?"

In response, Elora conjured a dark green magic circle and let its light spread over Astrid's body. Soon, she had an answer for him. "Physically, she's fine, if extremely exhausted. Her body appears to have completely reverted to that of a typical vampire."

"And mentally?" Erik questioned.

Elora shrugged in response. "I'm not sure. From what I can tell, she'll retain all her memories from her time as a ghoul, which might screw with her head a little. Especially depending on how they treated her during her time as a ghoul and how it felt to have that beastbinder sigil control her."

She grinned playfully at him, "She's still a virgin, though. Just in case you were wondering."

Erik rolled his eyes at Elora but couldn't help but feel a little relieved, which Elora naturally noticed through their connection, causing her to giggle.

Hearing her knowing giggle, Erik nearly groaned but quickly suppressed it and instead asked, "Can you seal her memories of being a ghoul?"

Elora nodded casually. "Sure. But are you sure you don't want me to just erase them?"

Erik shook his head. "No need for that. Those memories might come in handy someday. Besides, that should be up to her."

"Well, it makes little difference to me," Elora said before conjuring another dark green magic circle and pressing it against Astrid's head. Seconds later, a mark appeared, signifying the seal, before dissipating into her skin.

Finally done for now, Erik smiled, stood up, and gave Elora a deep kiss as thanks before doing the same to Emma. "Thank you, Emma. You did amazingly well."

"Ï- I-, uh, uhm, y- you're w- welcome, Sir. A- Anything you want." She stammered while blushing furiously.

Next, he stood before Emily with a teasing grin on his phase. "Well? Want a thank you?"

Emily grumbled for a moment about unfairness but then closed her eyes and leaned forward in anticipation of a reward. Yet, instead of his lips, all she found was air.

She opened her eyes and saw him walking past her with a grin. "You'll have to follow me then. You come to, Emma."

Meanwhile, Elora had removed the chains from Astrid's body and was now relaxing in Erik's soul again.