An Enthralling Acquisition (Mass Effect)

A/N: An Enthralling Acquisition was a commissioned one shot originally written back in July of this year. Posting it up here and now for people to enjoy!

Themes: Hypnosis, Supernatural, Master/Slave

-x-X-x-

"Miranda, update!"

Over the sound of gunfire, Commander Jane Shepard's voice comes in loud and clear. As she and the mercenary Zaeed Massani shoot at the Blue Suns Mercs currently assaulting their position, Miranda Lawson, Cerberus Operative, pours over the terminal in front of her, her fingers darting back and forth across the screens.

"… I think I've got something, Commander! There's a small amount of power being diverted to elsewhere in the facility, unattached to the refinery's operations. It seems to be containing something. I can disable power and break containment, just say the word!"

Looking over at the Cerberus Operative, Shepard furrows her brow and frowns for a moment, before glancing to Zaeed.

"Massani! Any idea what the hell the Blue Suns would be 'containing'?"

The grizzled, scarred mercenary shakes his head, even as he exchanges more fire with the mooks strafing their position.

"Not a damn clue, but if nothing else, it might get some heat off our backs! I say go for it!"

Lips thinning out, Shepard seems to consider the situation for all of a second more before nodding to Miranda.

"Do it!"

Quick as can be, Miranda diverts power away from the containment area, and a moment later is able to disable security. Whatever is contained, she blows it wide open with one last satisfying stab of a button. For a beat, nothing happens, and nothing changes. The gunfire continues and the Commander and Zaeed are forced to take cover as it even intensifies for a moment.

Then, a loud blaring alarm sounds out through the facility, and shouting from down the hallway lets the trio know that the Blue Suns Mercs pinning them down are in full retreat.

"The Hell? Can't be that easy."

Miranda finds herself nodding along with Shepard's mumbled grumbling, and quickly brings up the Refinery's security systems, wanting to get an idea of what they've unleashed. The containment are itself had been hidden behind layers upon layers of other systems, and thus wasn't actually covered by a single camera. However, the hallway outside of it was, and Miranda is able to bring that up just in time for Shepard and Zaeed to join her at the terminal.

On the feed, the three of them watch as a squad of Blue Suns soldiers run up with their guns out. These ones are fresh, definitely not the people that they were just fighting, and were obviously dispatched from nearby to try and contain the threat as quickly as possible. And it most definitely had to be a threat, because Miranda couldn't imagine another reason why they would send both this squad AND pull back those fighting their team, ostensibly to reinforce them.

The door to the containment area suddenly blasts open, unlocked by Miranda's efforts. Still, it was also a huge, metal, and most importantly powered door. A door that no longer HAD power running through it, also thanks to Miranda's efforts. For it to be slammed open like that was…

"FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!"

The squad of Blue Suns Mercs immediately open fire into the doorway, making it a little hard to see what happens next. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say it's difficult to comprehend what happens next. Because really, that many mass effect rounds should be more than enough to put down a naked human man.

Instead, said naked human man seems to barely feel them as they pass through his body and hit the wall behind him. With a snarl, he leaps forward with distinctly superhuman speed, and the slaughter commences.

"What the fuck is he supposed to be? Don't tell me this is ANOTHER Cerberus Project."

Shepard's words cause a flush of heat across the back of Miranda's neck. She knows that the Commander has a bad history with Cerberus, having spent the first portion of her time as a Council Spectre running into some of their failed projects again and again. But Miranda liked to think they'd more than made up for any past mistakes or messes that Shepard had had to clean up by literally resurrecting her from the dead.

Alas, this neither the time nor place to rehash that particular argument again. Swallowing thickly, Miranda shakes her head.

"Not one of ours, Commander. I promise you that."

She stares at the scene of violence and mayhem being enacted on the feed. The one naked, lone man makes short work of the first squad of Blue Suns, before ripping off one of their helmets and leaning down as if to inspect the face. But before he can do anything more, the next squads begin to arrive, and he's fighting his way through them all yet again.

"Well… I say we recruit him, Shepard. You're looking for badasses, right?"

Zaeed's two cents cause both Miranda and Jane to look over at the grizzled mercenary. He just shrugs at their focus.

"Maybe he's not on Cerberus' list or anything, but if he can be reasoned with, he looks like he'd be quite the asset."

Miranda isn't so sure. She hates unknown variables, and this looks like a case of a VERY unknown variable. She's about to open her mouth to give her own advice when Shepard unknowingly cuts her off with a sharp nod of her head.

"You're right. Miranda, get us a route there and let's get going. He might be able to take care of himself, but he also might appreciate the back-up."

The words of caution catch in Miranda's throat, and she ultimately tosses them aside in favor of bowing her head in silent agreement. Once Shepard decides something, Miranda has learned NOT to try and gainsay her or convince her otherwise. The fiery red head doesn't appreciate being questioned or second-guessed.

Hopefully, approaching this… thing won't get them all killed. Miranda resolves to keep her head on a swivel, as they make their way out of the room and through the facility towards where the fighting is happening.

-x-X-x-

Coffins were so cliché. But when it came to space travel, was there really any other way to do it? Of course, coffins had come a LONG way since he was a newborn fledgling so long ago. Indeed, the 'coffin' he'd woken up in this time was incredibly advanced and made of some pretty tough metal.

… How long had it been, he wondered. As he tears through yet another attacker, he tries to place their attire, their technology… but he can't. Hundreds of years? Possibly. Maybe just a hundred years or so. The last thing he remembered, there was a war. Humans had finally found aliens, and the aliens weren't friendly. The war ended almost as swiftly as it started though, because the aliens, Turians if he recalled correctly, had turned out to be a part of a greater galactic community, and they WERE friendly.

As a creature of the night, he honestly hadn't really cared about any of it. He hadn't been human in a long, long time after all. No, he was of a different breed altogether… the ancient and noble vampire.

He wondered, briefly, how his kind were doing in the greater galaxy, these days. How the Masquerade was doing, at that. It was all but impossible to hide their existence in the old ways, last he remembered, so instead they'd hidden behind science, behind super soldier programs, behind robotics and other things that could be relied upon to explain their… augments.

But of course, right now he had none of that to rely upon save for the idea that he was some sort of super soldier. And frankly, he couldn't bring himself to care about the Masquerade all that much. If any of his kind wanted to take issue with his methods, they could come find him themselves. He'd certainly killed enough would-be hunters over the years, both vampire AND human.

These though… these were not hunters. They were soldiers, that much was obvious. All wearing similar uniforms, and wielding weapons that were frankly piss poor against him. He remembered that much as well. Mass Effect.

Mass Effect weapons relied upon a strange system utilizing a mass effect field, from what he understood. To generate ammo, a weapon would shave off a projective the side of a sand grain from a huge block of metal. The sand grain was then launched at supersonic velocities at the target.

These weapons were… singularly ineffective against vampires at their base level. Something that small would punch right through his body and keep on going. He would barely feel it, like little more than a pinprick, with his regeneration healing the damage in a heartbeat.

Of course, he'd heard some things about some Mass Effect weapons being modified to create different types of ammunition. Armor-Piercing was… irrelevant. But Cryo and Incendiary… not so much. Luckily, it was always so damn obvious when they were wielding one of their special weapons. He could make sure to move in before they could even fire, and deal with them most judiciously.

Ah, it seemed that there was finally a lull in the fighting. Straightening up, he looks around and finds himself bereft of enemies at long last. The corridor is coated in blood and guts of course, and the floor is covered in bodies. Some of them are not human, he notes. Maybe they're Turians, but there appear to be at least two or three different races.

… They all die the same from having their throats torn out, however. Looking them all over, he waits a moment longer, just to make sure that there will be no further interruptions. After all, he'd thought he would have a moment to himself after dealing with the first group, only to be blindsided by their reinforcements.

But no, no other attack comes. Nodding, he finally allows himself to… gorge. He's tempted to try alien, but with no clue how their blood would interact with him, he goes for one of the tried and true humans. As the warmth flees the corpse, he lowers his mouth to the bloody rent he made in the man's neck and begins to sup, drinking deeply of the flowing lifeblood.

It has been some time since he last ate. Luckily, the legends and rumors of his kind's weaknesses, be it blood starvation, or sunlight, or even garlic and crosses of all things, were GREATLY exaggerated. Yes, a vampire needed blood to live, but in terms of sustenance, it was only necessary every few hundred years.

The reason a vampire might drink blood outside of such a need was simple, however… strength. An unfed vampire was still worth a hundred human men, but a fed vampire could be worth a thousand. It all depended on the sheer amount of blood one gorged themselves upon. And given the number of corpses in this corridor, excluding the alien ones, he was looking at quite the boost at the moment. He just needed to-

"Jesus!"

Startling, he looks up in time to see a new group of humans coming down the corridor towards him. Out of the three, two of them immediately stop and lift their guns, pointing at him, but not firing. The third however… stops but does not lift her weapon. Instead, she stares at him, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

Mm, interesting. Very interesting. The one who spoke was the male. With a scarred face, it's obvious he's led a hard, rough life. Equally obvious is the fact that he and his two female friends are not with this group that he just got done massacring. Different armor, and they haven't started firing on him just yet, even despite walking up on him in the process of feeding.

Slowly standing, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and gives them all his most disarming smile.

"Apologies. You caught me at a bad time. Can I assume from the lack of hostile actions that you three aren't with these… gentlemen?"

Rather than the scarred man speaking again, it's the red head in the center of the trio who pipes up. Her eyes are flinty, assessing even, and though she's clearly disgusted by what she sees around him… he also sees a hint of avarice in her gaze.

"No, we're not with the Blue Suns. They had you locked up for whatever reason. Do you know why?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he lets his smile turn self-deprecating, introspective even.

"Hm, never heard of them, so couldn't say. I was likely… intercepted in transit. The last thing I remember is lying down for a little nap. Unfortunate that, but what can you do?"

The red head is unaffected by his presence. So is the grizzled mercenary. But the third member of their little party, the other woman… she is reacting exactly as he would expect. Pupils dilated, breathing short and shallow, she's gazing at him with fascination… and a distinct vulnerability that has everything to do with her being one hundred percent human, and one hundred percent woman.

In comparison, the red head is decidedly NOT one hundred percent human. In fact, if his senses aren't lying to him, she's more robot than human being at this point. Someone has done extensive work on her, whether because of some horrific accident or simply because she believes in transcending her biological form.

Either way, he cannot expect to get anywhere with her by the normal means, which means he needs to play nice. VERY nice. For now.

"You got a name there?"

"Ah, yes!"

Bowing low at the waist, he clears his throat.

"I am Baron Niklaus von Zucker. Though admittedly I am without my land, my castle, and clothes befitting my station at the moment. As such, you may all call me Nik."

Their reactions to his words are as fascinating as they themselves are. The male mercenary snorts in amusement. The red head's eyes narrow ever so slightly more as she assimilates his information. And the other woman, with the raven-black hair… her eyes dart down his body, ignoring the blood staining his mouth and hands, to stare unabashedly at his cock.

"… Alright Nik. Here's the deal. I'm putting together a team, to take on a threat to the entire fucking galaxy. Don't suppose you've ever heard of the Reapers."

He considers it, but he doesn't think she's talking about the Reapers he's thinking of. Not when THOSE Reapers were an old vampire gang back in the sixteen hundreds, hanging around the streets of London and making so much trouble that he had to wipe them all out with his own two hands.

As such, he spreads said two hands apart and shakes his head.

"Can't say I have, sorry."

"It's fine, didn't expect you to and it doesn't matter. Join up with us and we'll get you out of here. In return, you help with the mission. Sound like a fair trade?"

She's no-nonsense. He likes that. And while he likely COULD have found his own way from here, he had to admit, all of this talk about saving the galaxy has his interest piqued. Besides, he can smell it on her. Even if the smell is even stronger on himself at the moment, fresher too… there's a smell of blood and death that permeates the red head. Where she goes, bloodbaths will follow. Like a murder of crows following after an army in ancient times, Niklaus doesn't doubt that following her lead will leave no shortage of bodies for him to feed on.

And besides… he hates leaving his work undone. Sparing just a glance at the raven-haired woman, he nods to the red head.

"Sounds perfect, my dear. Though, what do I call all of you?"

"Commander Jane Shepard. That's Zaeed Massani. And that's Operative Lawson. Now, come on. Our ship is this way."

Delightful. Sparing one last regretful glance down at his interrupted meal, Niklaus sighs inaudibly and follows. It's fine. Living blood is much, MUCH more satisfying to consume then corpse blood anyways.

-x-X-x-

It didn't… it didn't make sense. Miranda had been so sure, from watching him via the security feed, that approaching the… creature was a bad idea. He might have looked human, but she highly doubted he was human. Especially when they'd caught him with those fangs of his, deep in the neck of a Blue Suns corpse.

And yet, the moment she'd laid eyes on him, it was impossible to look away. Baron Niklaus Von Zucker was… he was enthralling in a way Miranda had never encountered before. Her instincts along with her intelligent mind both screamed that she was in the presence of an Apex Predator, and that her only options were to run or submit.

In the end, neither had happened. For all of the menace and danger he'd exuded from every pore, Niklaus had also proven to be quite the conversationalist. Despite neither Shepard nor Massani having the same reaction she did to him, he'd nevertheless managed to convince the Commander that he would be an asset to the crew and mission.

Miranda… Miranda had her doubts even now. And yet, she couldn't get Niklaus out of her head. She should have reported this to Cerberus already. She'd even written up the report. But she hadn't sent it in. Instead, she'd used her backdoor into EDI's systems to spy on the Normandy II's latest guest. So far, the monster in human skin hadn't done much but hole up in his new quarters and figure out how to use his terminal to look up all variety of things.

The way he seemed to need to learn how to even operate technology, and the numerous topics of interest he'd searched up were clues in and of themselves. But Miranda was having a hard time connecting the dots. Or maybe, she just didn't want to believe it.

… She couldn't put off sending in the report forever though. The Illusive Man needed to know about this new anomaly. Niklaus wasn't on Cerberus' list of approved crewmates for Shepard to recruit. Not that they intended to try and stop her at any point, but it was hoped that Miranda would be able to corral her in the direction they thought the Commander should go.

Niklaus was a divergence from the predetermined course. He was a deviation from the plan. He was… he was moving.

Miranda's breath hitches, and she leans forward in her seat to watch as he leaves his quarters at long last. As the Baron walks down the corridor, Miranda uses her access to observe him from all different angles, licking her lips. He's dressed now of course, wearing a spare set of crew clothing that covers up his… entrancing figure. She still remembered every inch of his naked body in that blood soaked hallway, however. His form was chiseled into her mind.

Where was he going? He was- only too late does Miranda realize his ultimate destination… is her. No sooner does she recognize the hallway outside of her quarters, then there's a knock on her door.

Stiffening, the beautiful raven-haired woman turns and stares at the door, eyes wide and breaths coming out in quick little pants. She's never been more afraid in her life, and she doesn't fully understand why. At the same time… she's never been more interested either. Never been more… aroused.

Licking her lips again, she slowly rises from her seat, both her terminal and that unsent report forgotten behind her. She makes her way over to the door and palms the release, letting it slide up and reveal him standing there in all of his glory. Giving her a roguish smile, Niklaus' eyes twinkle as he looks at her with anticipation.

"Well? Going to invite me in?"

She shouldn't. She knows she shouldn't. But she wants to. Oh, how she wants to. And in the end, staring at him, with him staring back…

"Yes… please, come in."

He steps past her, and Miranda closes the door behind him. Then, almost as an afterthought, she puts her quarters in private mode, so that no one can disturb her, and not even EDI can peer in without alerting her to the AI's peeping. She's not sure why she does it. It doesn't make her feel any safer, that's for sure. But she does it all the same, leaving her woefully alone with Niklaus as she turns to face him.

He, in turn, stops in the middle of her room… and then looks to her.

"What an interesting situation we've found ourselves in. I went ahead and took the liberty of catching up on recent events. Commander Shepard is a very strong-willed woman, and I now see why she's not remotely… interested in me. She's already died and come back, after all. If I didn't know better, I'd say you used my kind to do it… but no, you have no idea what I am, do you?"

She didn't. She knew he wasn't human, but she truly didn't know what he was. And yet, she feels drawn to him and terrified of him in equal measure. Miranda can't help but step closer to him, her mouth dry and watering at the same time.

"What… what are you?"

Eyes twinkling, he lets out a soft laugh and beckons her closer. She closes the distance between them, only for him to reach out and grab her, yanking her to his chest with terrifying, superhuman strength. Of course, Miranda has been trained in how to fight opponents stronger than her. She's rated to take on a Krogan Battlemaster in hand to hand combat if it came down to it, though she would never WANT to.

The point is, while she might not have been able to take Niklaus down, she could have easily slipped free of his grasp, or at least she thinks she could. She doesn't even try though, merely gasping and panting all the harder as she feels his bulge rubbing against her crotch, her chest pressing into his pectorals.

"I'm your Master, Miranda Lawson. Look into my eyes… and accept that as your new truth."

His voice is low and dark and silken smooth as it washes over her. Unable to help herself, she stares into his eyes and realizes he's right. He is her Master. She is his Thrall. This is the way things are, the way things are meant to be between her and him.

"… Master…"

As she breathes out the word, he grins a feral grin.

"That's right. Good girl. Mm, you're a very intelligent woman, aren't you Miranda?"

Still staring him in the eye, Miranda nods.

"Yes, Master. I have a Genius-Level Intellect."

Not a boast, but simply a bonafide fact. She wouldn't still be alive if she didn't have an IQ that her father considered perfect. That was her purpose after all, to be the Perfect Human Being.

"Of course. It might amuse you to know that that was partially your undoing. Contrary to popular belief, the extremely intelligent fall under my kind's sway almost as fast as the extremely dim. It's been posited that it has something to do with you geniuses being smart enough to realize you're thoroughly outmatched right from the beginning and giving in all the faster as a result."

Ah. That made sense. She had felt outmatched. Completely out of her league, even. Now though, she just felt safe. Warm, even, despite the lack of warmth from her Master's body. In fact, she's not sure how she missed it before… he's not breathing, is he?

Suddenly letting go of her, Niklaus takes a step back, smirking slightly.

"Strip."

Without hesitation, Miranda removes her white and black bodysuit. It peels off of her under her Master's watchful eye, as he enjoys the sight of her pale flesh being exposed inch by inch. Eventually, she stands before him completely bereft of covering. Naked as the day she was born, Miranda fidgets and squirms, hoping that he approves of her body. After all, nothing else matters more than her Master's approval now.

"Very good. Come here."

She steps forward again, but this time he doesn't simply grab her and pull her in to his chest. He grabs her and yanks her closer to him in a very specific way, one hand yanking her head to the side by her hair, eliciting a gasp from Miranda as his mouth comes down on his neck. She feels a pinch of pain a moment later, and then listens as he sucks her blood straight out of her veins.

A shiver runs through her, as the enthralled woman finally puts a name to her monstrous Master. Vampire, of course. She should have known when they first discovered him, but she'd been blinded in awe by his majesty. Fascinated with his mere presence, she hadn't been thinking straight enough to put two and two together.

Now though, she has all the time in the world to think as he drinks from her. Mostly, she thinks about how to best serve him… if he doesn't kill her, that is.

But no, he pulls back after a moment, licking her neck and somehow healing her wound in an instant, leaving only blemish free skin in his wake. When he pulls away, he looks a lot livelier than before… and there's a warmth to his body that was missing mere moments ago.

"Wonderful. Your blood is simply sublime, pet. And you've left me with a need for something else. To the bed with us."

He drags her over, and she happily follows. With an 'oof!', Miranda finds herself on her knees, face down in the bed. Her Master is the domineering, controlling sort, because he plants one foot in the back of her head and lifts her ass high into the air before sinking his cock right into her cunt a moment later. She squeals and kicks her feet as he sets a fast, almost inhuman pace right off the bat.

She's not sure she can handle it, not sure she can handle HIM, but at the same time… there's nothing more she wants than to satisfy his needs, to satiate his dark and terrible urges.

"M-Master! Ah, Master!"

Her wanton moans and loud cries fill the room, even as her cunt squelches, growing wetter and wetter by the second. She is her Master's Thrall, his slave, and it is her place to be used by him. But that is not her only use, and even as she cums around his cock, even as she climaxes explosively for him, Miranda is thinking about all of the ways she can help him accomplish his goals, whatever those might be.

"Master… what… what can this Thrall do for you?"

Niklaus pauses for a moment at that, her vampiric Master cocking his head to the side before returning to fucking her just as hard as before.

"That's a good question, pet. For now… I think following along after the Commander should be fun. It seems she's going to be in the thick of things for some time to come."

Miranda moans, shuddering in orgasmic ecstasy beneath her powerful Master. She nods as best she can with her head trapped beneath his foot, even as she claws at the bedding beneath her.

"Yes Master. Shepard will, nngh, need all the h-help she can get. W-Will we help her?"

She wouldn't have asked that mere hours ago. Mere hours ago, helping Shepard defeat the Collectors and save humanity's colonies was the most important thing on Miranda's mind. But not anymore. Her Master has completely usurped her priorities, and as he puts her in her place, as she submits to him mind, body, and soul, Miranda is perfectly ready to betray and abandon Shepard and even Cerberus if he orders it of her.

"… Yes. For the time being. She's an interesting creature, the Commander. I wonder if prolonged exposure might make her more susceptible to me. And even if it doesn't, there's so much to learn about the aliens aboard the ship and what makes them… tick."

With a grunt, Master cums deep inside of her, making Miranda's eyes roll back in her head as he fills her with his seed. When he pulls out of her, his foot leaves her head only for his hand to grip her hair once more. She's pulled up to her knees and presented with his cock to clean off, something Miranda does without hesitation.

The Cerberus Operative has been completely subverted, and she stares lovingly and loyally up into the Baron's eyes as the report she'd written up remains unsent on her terminal, utterly forgotten.

-x-X-x-

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