Greetings one and all! Fair warning I will be attempting a slow burn sort of romance with this particular story so I may not get straight to the smut. But fear not, it shall not take twenty chapters or more to reach that point. With warmest regards, enjoy the beginning of this new story.
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The sky was progressively growing darker, threatening heavy rain as Alexander stared across the tiny valley at what he'd discovered. It wasn't on any maps, nor did there seem to be any roads leading to it, it was simply there, carved into the side of the mountains. A monument to the human will and desire to leave their mark on just about everything.
Alexander was looking at a castle, one that was certainly quite old and though age had dulled some of its appeal, it was still a rather beautiful sight. Soaring towers, exquisitely wrought windows and black iron fences or decorations lent the structure a feeling of prestige that simply wasn't matched by modern architecture.
Now Alexander had seen many beautiful buildings in his lifetime and it was quite the lifetime indeed considering he was far, far older than the average human. See, he isn't truly human anymore, and this would be perfectly exemplified every full moon. He is a werewolf and this has afforded him the chance to witness the advancement of the world in ways that no mere human could ever truly wish to match.
However, immortality does come with some drawbacks, the obvious one being boredom of a most extreme variety, which is why he'd taken to traveling the world and was now picking his way through the mountains of Romania, seeking out places that were either untouched by humanity, or had long been forgotten. This place it seemed was the latter, and he was most intrigued indeed, especially considering what kind of stories had been birthed in a country such as this.
So with a sniff of the air, the straining of his hearing, Alexander put his six foot five frame into motion, carefully picking his way down the side of this tiny valley. He may be a werewolf, but broken bones still hurt and took time to heal unless he had a fresh meal on hand. And while he did so thunder boomed in the distance, causing him to hasten his descent.
He had the unfortunate luck to not quite make it to the castle before the heavens unleashed their watery wrath upon him, much to his displeasure. But the castle was right there and now that he was closer it was far larger than it had first seemed.
Making it to the front door he didn't even bother knocking, the place was clearly abandoned and thus he pushed the door open and stepped inside, shuddering violently and shaking cold water off his body with a soft growl of discomfort. Now though he had shelter, as rickety as it might be, it was shelter all the same.
Now he took the time to look around, and it was every bit as grand as it looked from the outside. Tattered, moth-eaten banners hung from tall columns, old and rusted braziers or candelabras lined the way deeper into the castle and it all had this musty air of antiquity to it. It made his nose twitch and itch, causing him to sniffle now and then in an attempt to alleviate the feeling. He didn't know who the castle had once belonged to; if any descendants of the former masters still roamed the Earth, they were missing out on some prime property.
Pulling out his cellphone he took some pictures, mainly for later when he had access to a computer and could research the castle, if any sort of records existed of it that is. The banners themselves proved to be the most interesting things in this room, for they still bore the faded crest of whomever had occupied the place. A stylized V wrapped in thorny rose vines, simple and beautiful in its own way, yet gave him little information on who exactly owned this castle.
Still, it was something he could look into later and though he wanted to do nothing more than get out of his soaked clothes and start a fire, his curiosity got the better of him and he continued to explore the castle, pausing only to look at the large and quite faded portrait that hung at the far end of the entrance hall. Though he couldn't see all of it thanks to time taking its toll, he could see that the subject was a quite well endowed woman with deathly pale skin and black lipstick covered lips, but that was the extent of what he could see, for the rest of her face had been eaten away by moths and weather. Still, just looking at the portrait sent a shiver down his spine in a not so unpleasant manner.
Peering into the rooms he came across, he saw many things that seemed outwardly normal, dining halls, barracks for guards and soldiers, servants quarters and what he assumed was a stairway down to some dungeons. Every good castle needed a dungeon. Finally, after climbing a set of spiral stairs he found what was clearly the master bedroom, which was more than just the bedroom it seemed. There was also a connected study, bookshelves filled to the brim with musty old books that he was certain would be illegible, and if they weren't then he still wouldn't be able to read Romanian anyway. He knew just enough to get him around the country and that was it.
The room itself was quite nicely furnished, the bed looked to be in passable condition as much of its foundation was made from stone, while any embellishments were done in wood and metal. He doubted it'd be very pleasant to sleep on anymore, the mattress was probably quite awful these days. That said, back when the place was occupied it must have been quite the room.
