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Ravenloft: Adam: Is this...Love?	By : Manofevil Category: M through R > Ravenloft Views: 1279 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the book(s) that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Adam hated people. He had always disliked them but at times like this, he hated them almost as much as his Father-Maker. Here was yet another mob of torch lit dunderheads blundering through the frozen wilderness in pretension of hunting. He just couldn't manage to come to the mainland to forage without encountering such a band. As often as not they'd just stumble upon him, but, then again, as often as not, he'd stumble upon them; as he had this time.
From what he'd overheard, some poor soul had been summoned as a healer to look after one of the mob's sick children. When the child had taken a turn for the worse, mutterings of malfeasance began and when the child finally died, this angry mob chased him into the woods. As he recognized a few faces, Adam realized that many of them must do this often enough to know each tree as well as family.
They'd chosen a fine time of year for it, too. The first cycle of winter snows had just passed and next cycle was due to start almost any minute. The creeks and rivers were all frozen, the ground was carpeted with snow, and the trees were glazed with ice. People could freeze to death on a night like this… Not that Adam cared.
The mob's quarry had wisely headed up the frozen Black River to avoid leaving tracks but had had to walk carefully to avoid falling through thin ice. The mob, after finding no tracks to follow, had guessed this and had headed up the river after him. They'd made better time on the riverbank and were closing on the man. Adam could see him hidden behind a dead tree trunk about ten yards away.
Adam was presented with a problem. He didn't particularly care what happened to any of them but he didn't want a fight with a mob just now. They didn't present any danger to him, but no matter how many he killed, there'd always be one or two that escaped to bring another mob just as fanatical. He'd come to the mainland for food and supplies, not to fight, and if he was going back home any time soon, he needed them to just go away.
Then Adam thought of something
"Don't turn around!" Adam hissed quietly toward the hunted man's back, "Don't even twitch!" The man stood as stiff and rigid as stone and stared straight ahead. "Are you the one they seek?"
"Yes," whispered the man, still staring straight ahead.
"Fifty paces up the bank there is a game trail that will take you to the pass through the Sleeping Beast and into Darkon from there. They shouldn't spot your trail for a while yet."
"Who are you who are so willing to help a stranger in the night?" asked the man, astonished.
"One who has better things to do tonight!" Adam hissed, annoyed, "Now, off with you!"
Adam moved further back into the shadows as the man hastily made his way up the path Adam had directed him to. Adam smirked grimly when he heard the expected cry and crash. He'd tripped over that snow-covered root himself a time or two.
"Over there, men! After him!" cried one of the mob.
Adam moved still further into the shadows while the men with the torches moved quickly past him. Their quarry had a good start. He'd keep them occupied and out of Adam's way for the night at least- Unless the snow fell, in which case they'd have other things to occupy them.
Adam headed down the frozen creek toward the nearest farms. Adam never raided the same place twice unless he had a particular grudge against the inhabitants, and with the coming snow, he could expect to have what he wanted and be back to the island by daybreak. Nobody besides foolish torch lit mobs would be out on a night like this.
Suddenly he heard a noise. Adam knew full well that he wasn't the only unnatural creature stalking the Lamordian night so he stepped again back into the shadows and prepared to face this new intruder. He was not at all prepared for what came, however. Up the frozen creek, stumbling hurriedly was, of all things, a WOMAN! She was heavily cloaked against the cold and could barely keep her footing on the ice. It occurred to Adam that she might be more than she appeared to be, however, so he remained in hiding...Until she fell through the ice.
She apparently hadn't known that the wider, deeper parts of frozen creeks tended to have thinner layers of ice on them. Even the blundering mob had known that much. A few seconds of watching her splash around and cry for help convinced Adam that she was no danger and he turned to move on down the creek towards the farms.
Then the woman began to shriek.
Women could make such terrible noises when frightened. He should know. He'd heard them often enough. This one sounded familiar though... almost like... Eva? Now he was just angry. He stomped away… and then he heard it again. Adam stopped. His face twisted in rage. He had NO idea why he did things like this! It gained him nothing. If the woman saw him clearly in the light of day she'd shriek louder than this. Still, he'd rescued infants and small children and not regretted it...occasionally. Sometimes, he was just not able to leave people to their fate.
"WOMAN!" he shouted from the edge of the pond. The woman looked over and saw his silhouette.
"HELP MEEE!" she cried out.
A snowflake floated down onto Adam's nose. The snows were starting. Adam picked up a stick about the length of his arm, laid down on the ice, and extended it to her... And promptly fell through the ice. He immediately stood up finding that the water was up to his neck. That meant the woman was surely in over her head. He strode through the water and wrapped his arm around her waste from behind and hauled her up to the shore. The cold water and air had been too much for her and she was quite unconscious. The snow was coming down hard now and the wind was picking up. If she were going to survive, he was going to have to take her someplace. The farms were too far away and the people there would probably kill her while trying to kill him. It had happened before. Besides, she might not make it that far. There was only one place close enough for him to take her. It would have to be there.
Adam cast the woman's drenched, unconscious body across his right shoulder and began the journey to the hunting lodge. He climbed the steep, snow-covered embankment of the river and, at the top, found himself smashed by a violent wall of icy wind. It wasn't particularly cold to him. It would have had to be much colder much longer for him to notice; but he felt his own and the woman's drenched clothing stiffen as the water in them froze to ice. The falling snow almost blinded him and the wind bludgeoned him from alternating directions. Adam figured he had maybe half an hour before the woman froze to death.
He hunched forward against the wind and moved as quickly as he could up the mountain to the old hunting lodge. It was maybe a quarter of a mile up the mountain away from the river and in the opposite direction from that which the mob had gone. Adam knew the lodge would be both empty and unlikely to be disturbed for some time. The woman should be safe enough there should she survive the journey.
Adam plowed forward through the snow, his long strides clearing four feet at a time. He'd spent enough time in the Lamordian woods to know every tree and shrub on sight. It had never occurred to him to wonder if he could have walked the trails blindfolded...until now. The snow and wind kept him from seeing more than five feet ahead of him but he was still moving uphill. The lodge was built in a clearing at the top of a hill with its back to a rock wall. It commanded a view of the entire river valley and there was no place higher on the hill, so as long as he was moving uphill, he was likely to find the clearing and the lodge.
Finally, he cleared the trees and again the wind assaulted him, but he knew he had at most two hundred feet left. Adam quickened his pace and finally the lodge's front wall rose up in front of him and if he looked carefully, he could see the cliff wall behind it. He got to the door and began to clear away the snow. He laid the woman gently in the snow and saw a small cloud of steam rise from her mouth along with a small weary moan that reassured him that she was still alive.
The door was barred, as he'd expected it to be. He pushed hard, but not violently, so as to break the bar without shattering the door. When he finally heard the loud crack that meant the bar had broken, he shoved the door open and hauled the woman inside. He slammed the door shut behind him and braced it with the pieces of broken bar. Right now, the woman needed warmth more than light. He reached into his boot for the small blade and piece of flint he use to light fires whenever he needed them. He struck it several times, letting the sparks show him the layout of the room. He spied some matches on a table in one of the flashes and lit one of them with a spark. He then spied a candle and lit it with the match. He then had his first good look around the room.
The lodge was of sturdy construction. Built by some noble or other who enjoyed hunting, it was a rough one-room house of squared timbers with a wood shingled roof and a rather impressive stone and mortar fireplace and chimney. The floor was made of split timbers, which had been worked to an even finish. The only openings to the outside were the door through which they'd come and the chimney. The furniture was limited to the table on which he'd found the candle and matches, some stools, and two bunk-like beds on opposing walls. All of it was rough-hewn but functional, probably put there by foresters. There were also some buckets next to the door for the usual necessities and a cedar chest beside that. The only other sign this had once been a nobles lodge besides the stone chimney was a large wooden wash tub on the right side of the fireplace.
Adam picked the woman up and placed her on one of the beds. The mattress proved to be soft enough and the woman's breathing became easier. There was a large stack of firewood on the left side of the fireplace and Adam set about building a fire. He stacked some cords in the fireplace and pulled some straw from the mattresses to serve as kindling. He soon had a roaring fire. Adam suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the woman. Her teeth were chattering. She was suffering from cold tremens.
Adam had learned a smattering of medicine from his father/maker and his little vampire friend Merilee. Cold tremens proceeded frostbite or death by freezing and were always made worse by wet clothes and skin. The way to treat it was to get the victim somewhere warm and dry and remove the wet clothes, usually replacing them with dry clothes. He'd learned all of this when Merilee had save some shipwrecked sailors and then fed upon them when they were healthier.
The cedar chest was unlocked so he opened it in hopes of finding something to use. Unfortunately, there was only a large coil of rope, more candles, a tinder box, some knives for butchering game, a sharpening stone, some fishing lines and hooks, a dark lantern, a pan, skillet, and kettle, and a cake of soap. Not even any blankets.
Oh, well, thought Adam, they would simply have to do without. Noticing some strategically placed hooks above him in the rafters, Adam strung a length of the rope across the room and then approached his unconscious charge.
Adam paused, staring down at her. He was in unfamiliar territory. His experiences with women were decidedly limited. Elise Mordenheim, his father/maker's wife, had detested him and their little daughter Eva had tragically died the night he'd left his chambers for hers hoping to make friends. The only other living woman he'd ever even spoken to was his friend Hilda Von Karlsfeld and while their relationship had been friendly, it had never come to this point. His friend Merilee, who had been a child when she was killed and raised a vampire, had told him a great deal regarding the biological and social differences between men and women but hearing about it and being confronted with it are separate things. It suddenly occurred to Adam exactly how young and inexperienced he was in the ways of the world. It really hadn't been all that long ago that Victor Mordenheim had built a body from fresh corpse flesh and, using various scientific processes, given life to Adam in his laboratory, thus dooming all involved to tragedy.
The girl beneath him moaned again in her delirium. Adam realized that she was freezing while he tarried. He decided to start at her feet and work his way up, but first he untied her two cloaks and gently lifted her off of them. He hung them both from the rope across the room close enough to the fire that the heat should dry them. He started then on her boots. They were made of black leather and reached up to her knees. They were laced with rawhide and had strange high heels that must have been difficult to walk in, especially in snow. . He untied and removed them, placing them to the side of the fireplace also to dry. The woman's stockings ran up her legs beneath her dress, which was bright red, without sleeves or a collar. It was belted at the waist and worn over a white blouse, all of which were soaked- probably made of cotton.
As Adam began to lift her skirt, the woman moaned again in her delirium, this time speaking.
"Oh, Papa- I hoped you'd come tonight. It's so terribly cold."
The woman was obviously dreaming and Adam returned to his task. He lifted her skirt and discovered her stockings reached to the middle of her thighs where they were held by two straps each to a belt about her waist and nothing else. Merilee had told him once when he'd asked about the clothing she was washing that many women didn't wear anything under their skirts. Pantaloons, she had said, could cause an infection called thrush in women who didn't bathe themselves often. Adam unhooked the straps from the woman’s stockings and gently rolled the wet garments down the woman's legs- an action which elicited more moaning from her, especially when his hands brushed against the tuft of golden hair between her legs.
Adam then rolled the woman onto her side and unbuttoned her dress down the back.
"Oh, Rolf, Not from behind, Please!"
Adam thought it best to ignore her ravings and concentrate on getting her warm and dry. He slid the strap of her dress off her shoulder and rolled her back onto her back. He slid the other strap off her other shoulder and moved to the base of the bed to pull off the dress. The sodden garment came off with little difficulty and Adam hung it up with the rest to dry. He then moved to remove her blouse.
The firelight playing across her flesh made Adam pause for a second. The soaked blouse clung to her flesh like a coat of paint and the water made the white cloth perfectly transparent. Her breasts were perfectly shaped and the nipples at the tops stood out in bold defiance. Her belly was tight and her hips sleek but not unhealthily so. Her long legs stretched down to foot of the bunk where the muscles of her feet seem reflexively set for the strange boots. Her golden hair had been wound into two braids that framed her lovely face beautifully even as they began to unravel from being wet. Her lovely face was peaceful, even content, in her unconsciousness. Adam unbuttoned the blouse and peeled it away from her torso, pausing again to appreciate her voluptuous breasts.
"MMMMMM,' the woman moaned sensually, 'Yes.'
Adam peeled the blouse off her shoulders and then considered how to get her arms out of the sleeves. He finally picked her up around her midsection and slid her up the bed until he could slide the blouse out from under her. It suddenly occurred to him that he'd been trying very hard all along, not to awaken her.
Adam took one last long look at her sensual nudity and then spun away. Such things were not for him. He'd seen enough animals mating and had even witnessed a couple in a dark alley once, but he knew full well that women found him hideous. He knew what rape was, of course. Merilee had explained it to him and he'd overheard some people talking about it when he moved through town one time. He didn't want to hurt this woman and he knew well enough that there was not anything in the world he could do to make this woman want to give herself to him. Better to put it out of his mind and be on his way.
He tossed the blouse over the rope to dry and turned to leave. As he took his first step he felt his foot squish inside his boot. He was just as wet as she was. He wasn't in any danger from the cold but he hated walking around in wet clothes... or was he just looking for an excuse to stay with her? He decided it didn't matter. He might as well dry his clothes as well. If the woman didn't like it, she could put her clothes back on and take her chances in the snow.
Adam strung another rope through the hooks and began undressing on the other bunk. His boot came off and he must have dumped half a pint of water from each of them. He rolled his socks off and hung them on the rope then placed his boots next the fireplace. His boots were oversized just like all his clothing had to be. It was another thing he had to thank Merilee for. Without the clothes she'd sewn together for him in recent years, he'd probably still be wearing the rags of the few changes of clothes he'd taken from Schloss Mordenheim, his father-maker's house. It was also she who'd managed to cobble together boots big enough for his very large feet. Adam was a giant of a man. If man he could be called. Mordenheim, his hated father-maker, had apparently used very large parts to build this body for him. Pity he couldn't have fit them together in a less uneven way. Scars covered his body, most notably where his limbs were knit together and across his chest. His face was the worst, however. The flesh had been cut and knit back together in a way that made it look like a hastily made quilt. His eyes seemed to be of two different sizes and his mouth opened far wider than any normal man's mouth would. Even his hair seemed wrong. It was wiry and coarse and didn't grow noticeably nor did it fall out. It was also the only place on his body that did grow hair. He'd seen men with hair on their chest, their legs, even their faces which they called beards. Adam always seemed to notice the things that made him different from other people. Like his skin, which had a yellowish color to it and was very hard. Almost, Merilee had said, like one giant callus. Yes, Adam was definitely not the kind of man women liked to see.
Adam peeled off his shirt and hung it over the rope above him. He then unbuckled his trousers to take them off. As he opened the front he realized that there WAS one other place on his body that grew hair. His Father-maker had called it his penis or phallus. Merilee had also used such terms, too. He'd also heard sailors and farmhands use coarser terms like dick or pisser or cock. For some reason it seemed a lot larger today than at other times. He wondered why for a moment ...then he heard the wind howling outside
It sounded like a blizzard was kicking up tonight. Well, he was committed now. He could leave when his clothes were dry, he supposed, and for some reason, felt like taking a nap. It suddenly occurred to him that if the woman woke up while he was asleep and found the knives in the chest, she might get it into her head to do something foolish. Adam got up, took his trousers off and hung them to dry, then went to the cedar chest to retrieve the knives. He threw a few more logs on the fire and hid the knives under his mattress and then lay down to sleep. When he awoke, his clothes would be dry.
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Ravenloft: Adam: Is this...Love?