Buried beneath the earth, he twisted in agony as her fear and pain tore through him. Trapped he roared futility as she whimpered his name, every instinct fighting against the paralysis of the sun that held his body safe in the soil as hers was tortured.
Her soft mortal flesh so vulnerable to the hate of the inquisition, her every breath was labored in his ears as she struggled. He should never have come back for her. He had led the devils right to her door. Every cut of a blade, or burning flesh he felt with her.
Bursting through the soil as the last rays of the sun slid from the sky, He shot out over the tree tops, his enraged battle cry echoing out over the small town, the shutters and locks slamming into place as he landed the cobblestones cracking under him as his glowing eyes glared at the houses around him.
Tonight he would break his promise, tonight he would feast again on the blood of mortals, starting with those hiding on sanctified ground. Turning his back on the peasant’s that cowered in the dark of the homes he approached the tall oak doors of the abbey.
Her need for him beating against the insides of his skull, the beam locking the door closed splintering with the force of his single blow. The robed men turning from their worship, as he stepped forward, ignoring the burning of his feet as he crossed the blessed ground.
“You will all die” he hissed, as the wind whipped around the simple church, the candles blowing out as his glowing eyes looked at each one of them, marking them for a painful death. Priests scattered in every direction. Their fear not even coming close to the terror that sounded in her next cry.
Frustrated he let the priests run, leaping over the pews to land on the alter, the large cross hanging over the door that lead to where they were keeping her, making his curse echo in the high beamed ceiling.
The Pain shooting through his feet was nothing compared to the obstacle in front of him. In all of his hundreds of years the cross the symbol of his mortal faith had been the bane of his damnation.
Proof that he was as soulless as the legends said, a monster, damned to hell. Proof until he met her, her soft blue eyes always twinkling as if she knew some marvelous secret that he did not. The light to his darkness and she needed him. Stepping forward, resolved he grasped the steel cross, the flesh of his hands contorting with pain as smoke started to escape out from between his fingers. Gritting against the agony, the pulled the cross free of the door, tossing it to the side, with a yell as his burnt palms tore open.
He ignored the priests that peered at him from their hiding spots, as he turned to open the door, the sound of her pain filled scream making him forget everything else. With a howl of rage, he flew down the steps ready to tear apart her tormenters
The stake flying across the small room, taking him completely by surprise as it pierced his heart.
Stumbling backwards he looked down at it confused as he fell. His limbs stiff and unresponsive as the priest’s dark hem filled his vision. His rage beat against his own skull as the older man rolled him over to his back. Frustration filled him as the priest peeled back his lips to examine his fangs. His gloved finger tracing its length and outline before nodding apparently pleased.
“At least three to four hundred years old” he spoke over his shoulder. But it was her voice that answered calm and confident.
“He claimed it was more like five hundred” Staring up at the old mans impressed face, he couldn’t believe his ears nor his eyes as her beautiful, unmarked face appeared over the priest shoulder, her light filled eyes now cold and calculating as she stood looking down at him.
Whistling the priest smiled as his hand patted the vampires face. “Your best one yet” Glowing at the praise, her skin luminous in the candlelight, He couldn’t help but stare.
How was it possible? He had felt her pain and terror as close to his heart as if it had been his own. Yet she stood in front of him, not a dark hair out of place. A coy smile dancing at the edges of her mouth proud of her betrayal. He had turned his back on his own kind, leaving them to fend for themselves while he had come for her. What a fool he had been.
"Oh don’t look at me like that" kneeling down she held his wrist out so the priest could insert the copper tubing into his vein. Her eyes deliberately avoiding looking at the burnt mess his palms had become in his effort to reach her.
"You’re not the first vampire to be so easily fooled” smiling she smoothed his hair back from his eyes as his blood slowly started to fill the decanter. The glee on her face as she stood watching it filling cut him deeper than the stake buried in his chest.
"It’s amazing" her sweet voice dropped low "how much power just one sip of your blood will give us,”
Foolish girl, he would have gifted her with far more than a temporary stolen power rush. His blood more potent then she would ever know. He had been willing to turn his back on the dark powers thazt resided deep within him, to walk away from the dark delights anything to have spent the rest of his life at her side.
Even going so far as to weaken himself by feeding only on animals to show her how he would change for her, his star, his light.
His temptress, his betrayer.
"You ...will..all...die" he forced the words through his lips enjoying the spike of concern on her face as she turned to the priest.
"Should he be able to talk?" her voice was tight as she moved away from him.
"He is older than the others you've ensnared" the priest dipped his fingertip in the blood spilling into the glass decanter, his eyes closing in pleasure as he tasted it. “ with age comes power, good for us useless to him”
They had no idea, even he had forgotten how truly old he was. Watching the hurt confusion fade from his eyes replaced with the coldness of a hundred years of survival, she bit her lip. A habit that he had found endearing, a nervous reaction, good to see it hadn’t all been an act.
"Hurry it up" her prompting came too late as he let himself fade into mist, dispersing around the stake that fell uselessly to the stone floor.
Appearing behind the priest first, his burnt hands wrapping around the man’s head, snapping his neck before dropping him to the floor, backing slowly up the stairs her eyes wide, hands held up in front of her warding him off as he turned and slowly followed.
"Tell me again how powerful you are my love" he asked his voice a low hiss as she backed into the closed door.
"I’m ...Sor" catching her around the throat he sank his fangs into her neck for the first time, seeing the long borrowed years etched out in the memory of her blood. The faces of his fellow vampires, men like himself, helpless on the floor at her feet to feed her power, her youth.
Draining her deeply, he lifted his blood covered mouth from her skin, trailing a finger down her cheek as she looked up at him, her tear filled blue eyes forever searing into his mind. Laying her gently onto the floor, he ignored her raised hand as he stepped out. Moving more out of instinct than skill as he deflected the feeble blow of a brave priest, slamming the man into the alter he snarled.
"Do your worst demon" the priest spat at him.
"As you wish" Fangs flashing in the dark the priest's scream was short lived.
Leaving the burning town behind him, He walked his face bathed in moonlight as the smoke billowed around him. He was a creature of nightmares, of hell, more demon than man. Yet as he walked he couldn’t stop the tears of blood that rolled down his cold cheeks.
The End~
