𝗫𝗜𝗔𝗢'𝗦 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘
My heart was pounding violently, and I felt as if it was going to pop out of my chest as Barbatos brought his face closer to mine— so close in fact that I could feel his hot breath brush against my cold cheeks.
I wanted to push him away, but fear struck me, making me unable to move away from him, and all I could do was sit there helplessly.
I'd never felt such a horrible panic rise up inside of me. I fear no vampire—, but witches are a different kind from that of a blood sucking bat. They're creatures that can do anything.
From turning a man into a frog to completely destroying a country. Most of them could be considered pure evil. The devil even-, and I was staring at one right in the face.
I'd fucked up.
I messed up the entire mission by having my identity revealed; and it was barely the end of the first month since I first arrived here in Barbatos' arms.
He only continued to inch closer to me, examining my face. His hands were pressed against my cheeks until they slid down to reach for my throat. His soft, slim fingers gaped at my neck as I flinched.
"Mhmm~...!" My voice managed to squeeze out of me. His eyes that followed his hands down to my throat suddenly looked up at me with a pleased look.
My breath hitched as he pressed his thumb into my pulse— and once I finally snapped out of my trance, I tried to push him away, but he caught my hand and stared at me with a grin.
By the looks of it, he was obviously enjoying this— getting a kick of laughter out of my fear.
"Aww, I thought someone such as the great and almighty Alatus would put up more of a fight in a situation like this." He smiled, holding onto my hands and bringing them closer to him as he let my palm slide against his chest. "But look at you now," He cooed.
I flinched, snatching my hand back as I shot him a sharp glare.
"Don't touch me." I snarled, feeling no need to play around with him and pretend to be a helpless, naive little boy anymore.
"Don't be so harsh, Xiao. I thought I taught you better then to raise your voice at me." He said, putting a finger up to my lips and hushing me. "You'll wake up Dvalin, and we wouldn't want that to happen, now would me?"
I pushed his hand away from my face.
"How'd you find out who I was." I questioned him, getting straight to it without hesitation.
"Well you made it quite obvious, don't you think?" He chuckled, folding his arms and pushing back on his seat before looking back at me. "I mean-, seriously. The way you handled this whole thing was a complete mess. From your terrible acting to the incident at Mondstadt with that alchemist. Not to mention how horrible you are at hiding this elixir."
He brought his hand up, waving it around both mine and his face as the substance in it splashed around the sides of the glass bottle with little bubbles forming in it.
"On top of that—, you aren't even a witch hunter! I mean-...oh god." He rubbed his forehead, letting out a sigh. "What were your superiors thinking sending a vampire hunter over to Mondstadt to hunt down a witch?"
He—.. was right, actually. I was just blindly following orders. I have no clue why they couldn't just send off a talented witch hunter from Mondstadt to do the mission? If they were in need of a witch hunter from Liyue, why not call up on someone like Keqing to take the job?
She was an actual witch hunter, and a professional one at that to top it off.
"I don't know why they sent me to do this job instead of some other witch hunter. I was just following orders from Rex Lapis—"
"Rex Lapis?! That old fool?" He laughed, sneering. "Oh fuck me. That bastard has gone bonkers." He flicked a speck of dust off of his white silk shirt, brushing against to make sure it was clean. "I swear that moron is just doing all of this to spite me."
I clenched my fist, getting up and grabbing his collar.
"How dare you disrespect the name of Rex Lapis in the presence of one of his loyal subordinates-"
"Calm down, you're getting a little too close for my taste." He joked. "You wouldn't be speaking so loyally of him if you knew what he really was."
"What do you mean by that?" I gave him a puzzled look, but he only smiled back at me.
"Sit back down. I'll make us some coffee." He chirped, forcing me to let go of him. My eyes followed him across the room as I tried to stay cautious of him.
"So what will you do with me now that you know who I really am?" I questioned. "Are you going to strip me of my skin and leave me to die in the forest?"
"No, not at all. I've grown quite fond of you, Xiao. I'm not sure I have the heart to kill you."
He stayed quiet as he poured in the hot water into the clay cups. I got up, walking towards him with a sharp dagger in my hand.
I came up from behind him, holding it up to his neck as I placed it directly to where his throat was.
"You may have gone soft on me, but I won't hesitate to slice you in half." I threatened, pressing the blade up against his skin.
He gave me a side look before looking down at the dagger.
"Knife play? Kinky." He jeered.
"Don't turn this into some sick joke, Barbatos. I'd not playing around with you anymore. I will kill you." I vowed.
"You don't have the power to do so." He said.
The dagger ripped itself from out of my palm, and flung backwards, grazing my cheek with a mark as it hit the wall with a thud.
"You forget where you stand next to me, Xiao. Remember who I am before you go around threatening me with a dull blade."
"It's Alatus. Not Xiao." I reminded him, backing up away from behind him to give him some space as he turned around with a tray in his hand.
"Alatus isn't a cute name at all. Xiao is much more fun to say." He walked ahead of me, motioning me with his head to follow him back to the living room.
"So what was your purpose of this mission? I know it wasn't to assassinate me because if it had been, you wouldn't have come out to seek for me in such a childish form."
"—..More likely, they would have sent you as how you are now in an attempt to seduce me, and then strike me." He stated, setting the tray down on the table gently as he took a seat.
"That's oddly specific. Has it happened to you before?"
"Few times only." He shrugged, taking a sip. "Say—, where did that strange little blue bird that always follow around you go? I haven't seen it since-"
"—Since the witch burning in Mondstadt. I lost contact with it after you suddenly teleported us away." I explained to him, a bit agitated that my only connection to speaking with Rex Lapis was lost on that day.
"Would you like me to head over to the Capital and fetch it for you?" He asked, tilting his head as he spoke.
"No need. It probably retreated back to Liyue—." I said before cutting myself off from talking. I shouldn't be giving the enemy information! What the hell was I doing?
"What's this? Cat got your tongue?" He joked, setting down his cup which was now empty, as mine had laid untouched.
"I'd be a fool if I continued to keep yammering on like this." I turned my head to get his gaze off of me.
He leaned in forward towards me, grabbing my chin and forcing my head to twist around to face him.
"No, go on. I like hearing you speak." He insisted.
Barbatos pressed his thumb onto my lip. I opened my mouth, biting it until he retrieved it back. He looked at it as my drool was smeared on it.
He wiped his thumb down on his pants, glancing back up at me.
"We should send off a little present over to Rex Lapis to assure him of your safety, to show that you're still alive and the mission is continuing on smoothly." He brought up. It was sudden, catching me off guard for a second there.
"That's surprising to come out of your mouth. Why though?" I hesitated, suspicious of him.
"I don't want them finding out that I know your identity, and I want them to believe that things are fine over here so they don't interrupt me, that's all~." He explained, humming to himself. "Since your little pet is gone, I can replicate a dove to send it over."
I nodded, feeling that that was believable enough.
"I'll write him a note stating that I'm fine." I said.
"We should sent him a little gift as well," he insisted while I fetched a sheet of paper and a feathered ink pen.
"What kind of gift do you suggest we mail him?" I questioned, confused on what he was thinking.
Barbatos pointed over to the blue eyed doll sitting down lifelessly on the shelf. It was that of the same one we had gotten from the toy shop.
"Why not that?" He grinned.
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𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗗 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡'𝗦 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘
"My Lord! We've received information about Barbatos from Alatus!" A solider ran up to him carrying a present box and letter slipped in an envelope.
Rex Lapis turned around as his hair brushed past his face. His eyes widened at it and he rushed to get it. With a bow, the solider handed it to him as he carefully ripped the letter open and reached his hand down to unfold the thin, delicate paper.
Inside it read,
My dear Lord,
Do not fret. The mission is carrying out as planned, and Barbatos suspects nothing of my identity. He poses no such threat as far as I can tell, yet he is reluctant on teaching me magic, or showing me the secret behind it.
Sincerely,
Xiao
Rex Lapis sighed in relief, his stiffening position relaxed more as a gentle smile took its place on his face. His gaze flickered over to the present box now which was laced in a silken red velvet ribbon bow, and its wrapping was a pure white.
He unknotting the red ribbon and lifted up the cover of the box. Inside laid a porcelain doll with one teal blue colored glass eye, missing the other, wearing a bright pink ruffled dress with a big satin white bow tied around its neck. The Doll's head was filled with curly blonde hair and a frizzly pink hat.
"Strange.." he mumbled, picking it up and examining it. "Alatus sent me this? Is it some type of code?" He wondered, looking at it closer.
Suddenly, the jaw of the doll began to move, and he nearly dropped it.
"Ah—" he gasped.
"Ahaha! So this is the Great Ruler of Liyue? Rex Lapis?" A jolly laugh came from it. He froze, staring at the porcelain doll's face in disbelief.
"All I see is a poser. A once mighty man reduced to shambles." Barbatos sighed, his voice was airy, yet the sentence hit Rex Lapis in the head like a brick.
"Barbatos-...! You—?! How did you-" he stammered, unable to make proper words.
"Oh Morax. What were you thinking sending out a vampire hunter out of all people to come and trick me? If you people really wanted to find out the way to a witch's weakness, why not tell them yourself instead of hunting me down to find that sort of information out?" He coaxed, his playful voice was irritating for Rex Lapis to bare to hear any longer. "I swear, you're doing all of this just to spite me. I thought all witches were supposed to love one another, yet it seems that that's just a hoax."
"Keep your voice down." He hissed, shaking the doll to make it stop talking. "I left you a long time ago."
"Why such a sour tone? I've missed you so much." Barbatos spoke.
"As if." Rex Lapis scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Giving me the cold shoulder, huh? Don't you love me—?" Barbatos sneered, taunting him.
"You shut that mouth of yours. I want nothing more but to watch you burn." He growled, his eyes piercing into the doll as if it was Barbatos instead.
"I can't believe you've tricked the people of Liyue that you're some sort of kind and hardworking man, when in reality, you're a witch at heart—"
Rex Lapis threw the doll to the ground in a fit of rage as the head shattered. The clay glass shards covered the floor as the tealed blue eye rolled out towards its empty head as he crushed it with the heel of his foot.
"That fool." He hissed, grumbling to himself under his breath, pushing his hair back as his fangs grew sharp. "I swear.. he'll be the end of me."
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