[ He's gone quiet and still. The bad kind of quiet and still, at first. They don't really talk about when things were that bad, about how even Carmilla's time was better in some ways than what came before it.

Then the tired and clingy sort of quiet. He lets Alucard guide him back into himself, mumbling against his shoulder. ]

Never occurred to me that fucking Dracula might have a watch.

[ That, that is the thing that brings him back. Because of course it is. ]

You fought fair. That matters to vampires. You're all floaty bastards who don't die.