Lord of the Vampires (10 page)

I climbed into the great iron tub and knelt beside him, the liquid catching my waist-length indigo hair and setting it afloat like lazily drifting seaweed. Beneath the wavering water, my skin shimmered, phosphorescent white beside his darker, drabber skin. The warmth was delightful.

Behind me, I heard Elisabeths voice, edged now with unmistakable excitement; and I knew then that I would be capable of doing what I wished in her presence without shame. Do not be alarmed, sir, she said. It is simply our custom to let the women bathe after the men. It is considered quite proper

But the Englishman hovered near the tubs edge, knees and shins pressed against the hot iron, fingers gripping the rim. Please, missa towel! I am rather uncomfortable, for in my country, the custom is decidedly different.

I moved closer until our legs touched; he recoiled at once, splashing water everywhere in his desperation. I knew then that his decision to be faithful to his betrothed was unfortunately a sincere one and backed by great determination, so I reached out with a dripping hand and turned his stubbled chin towards me.

His will was strong, but not unduly so; the instant his gaze met mine, he fell under my glamour and sighed, content to be relieved of all troubling inhibitions.

You are the most exquisitely beautiful creature I have ever seen, he whispered, and reached for me.

We kissed, pressing our lips together feverishlyhe with passion enough to meet mine, as though he, too, had been denied the experience of love for two decades. I thought I should go mad, so great was my yearning for his body and blood; my hungry kisses turned quickly to tiny, rapid nips upon his neck and shoulders. He rose, groaning, and lifted me with him so that his kisses might travel downward from my face to neck to breasts.

I moved backward then, to his dismay (for he reached after me in desperation), and leaned against the tubs side, beckoning him to come to me. This he did and, even under trance, experienced a temporary confusion at what precisely should transpire next: my Englishman, it seemed, was a virgin. But when he pressed next to me, I hopped up to sit upon the tubs rim, and wound my knees round his hips.

Intent on showing him how it was done, I had quite forgotten about Elisabeths presence until she appeared beside usnow incandescently naked, and more gloriously so than I. I found myself gazing deep into her electric-blue eyes, simply astonished by her beauty. As taken as I was with our houseguest, I was even more taken by her bare flesh, aglitter like fresh snow in the sunlight. And, I confess, by her breastslarge and full, yet firm as a young maidens, their milky whiteness crowned by nipples as delicately pink as cameo. I yearned to reach out and touch them, but was so startled to find myself lusting after a woman that I held back, and instead watched as she assisted the Englishman in his efforts to explore new territory.

As, her fingers tightly encircling him, she guided him towards me, I tilted my hips to permit him entry; at the instant it occurred, he gasped in astonished joy, the purely grateful sound of one who at last knows:
Ah, so
this
is what I have so long been denied!

He began to thrustwildly, urgently, filled with such unbearable desire that he could hold back not at all; I, too, could not restrain myself, but clung to him in desperation, crying out with each movement. In my delirium, I was but faintly aware of Elisabeths arm between us, her thumb and forefinger a tight ring grasping his member at its base, that its increased firmness might grant my lover and me more pleasure.

But too soon, too soon, he arched against me, crying out as I was flooded with internal warmth. At that instant, my urgent desire gave way to an even more urgent hunger: I bit savagely into the warm, wet skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder and drank blood sweeter, more ambrosial, than any I have ever drunk, for the taste was enhanced by the Englishmans intense virginal ecstasy and by my own hungry longing.

He moaned, arching now with a victims delight, for to receive the dark kiss is an infinitely sensual pleasure.

Tear him! Elisabeth cried beside me. Tear him, make him bleedVlad will not know!

I tore with teeth sunk tight into his flesh (taking care to stay clear of the neck, lest I inadvertently kill him), shaking my head as a dog does when it has caught a rat. My lover groaned again, for pain was joy to him now. Strong dark blood spattered upon my cheeks, my eyelids, my chest and hands; I drank. Drank until I was drunk, until I was blind, until I forgot myself and my surroundings utterly, deaf to all save the slow throb of the Englishmans heart.

I would have continued mindlessly until its beating stoppedbut strong arms pulled me away. I looked up, blinking like an owl in the lanterns glare, and saw Elisabeth, catching the young man as he fell, lifting him from the water, laying him upon a linen towel spread on the floor.

Beautiful Elisabeth, her face spattered with English blood.

No angel, no goddess, could dare aspire to such loveliness. And then she put those strong hands round my shoulders, beneath my knees, and lifted me from the red-tinged water. I clasped her neck, Psyche rescued by Eros.

And when she had set me down beside my lover with infinite gentleness and proffered me a towel, she knelt between me and my fainted victim and with relish rubbed cheeks and tongue, breasts and belly, against his wound, covering herself in his blood. Then she dipped her fingers into his wounds and reached, dripping, to paint my smiling lips, my belly, my breasts. The latter she approached with great delicacy and a feathery touch, spiralling slowly inward from the outside of one breast until she reached its centre. There she lingered, tracing ever smaller and more inward circles until I could bear it no longer and shuddered in delicious anticipation, my legs writhing against the cold stone as if they yearned to escape.

But my heart would not let me.

It was already a contented captive, even before Elisabeth bent down to embrace me. I was sated with blood, dreamy and dazed by the thrill of feeding. But when she pressed her mouth against mine and I felt her tongue work hard against my lips, savouring the blood there, I realised that my hunger had been appeasedbut not my physical desire.

Was it the forbiddenness of our love that filled me with a hotter fire than I have ever known? I reached up to press a palm against her back, another against the nape of her neck, and pulled her down upon me. It was then I experienced another revelation: that today, for the first time in my eighty years of existence, I had experienced love as it was meant-warm flesh against warm flesh.

She kissed my face, my breasts, my belly, using her tongue to clean each area with sensual, deliberate grace. Then she rose and reached for the Englishmans wound again; once more, she dipped her fingers in his blood.

I cried out softly as she (my hands tremble so at the memory, I can scarce write) put those bloodied fingers betwixt my legs, and wiped the blood at the place where the Englishman had so recently been. Then with those fingers she entered me, and bent low again to lick away the blood.

I remember little else except for the instant I fell out of the world into that great and glorious abyss of pleasure, so distantly aware of my own screams it seemed as though someone else had made them.

Yet as I lay, eyes closed, undone by delight, I
did
hear the sensuous cries of another: Elisabeth, my darling Elisabeth, who lay beside me. I smoothed damp curls back from her forehead until she recovered and opened blue, blue eyes to smile at me.

I leaned down and kissed her tenderly. Then we two entwined our arms and held each other for a long silence.

At last, I have what Vlad long ago promised me but never gave: an eternal lover.

When finally we rose, I looked down at the sleeping Englishman, and saw that the wounds inflicted upon his shoulder had entirely healed.

Elisabeth took me out into the sitting-room, where a half-dozen large trunks sat beside another half-dozen suitcases, and opened one. For herself, she took out a stunning silk dressing-gown of pale yellow edged with broad eggshell lace; for me, a dressing-gown of electric-blue satin trimmed with black velvet. Together we returned to my chambers. At the open door, I stopped, and exclaimed in dismay:

But Dunya! We have forgotten about poor Dunya!

Elisabeth patted my shoulder reassuringly. She will have many more chances; as long as I am here, she cannot starve into oblivion, regardless of what Vlad might do. But for now, my darling, it is best that no one else know about our secret meetings.

I sighed in reluctant acquiescence, though in fact I felt it utterly selfish to deny my trustworthy little servant a chance to feed.

At the unhappiness in my downcast eyes, Elisabeth put a finger beneath my chin and tenderly lifted it until our gazes met.

Go and rest now, she said soothingly, and when night comes, you will rise again so that Vlad does not suspect. I doubt he will let us meet then, but I promise you that I shall do everything possible to convince him that you and Dunya
must
feed. And if he agrees, then you can give your supper entirely to her. Pausing, she brushed my lips with the lightest of kisses.

As for you, my darling Tomorrow, if it pleases you, we can watch the sun rise together.

The thought so gladdened me that I cried out, Oh, Elisabeth! I shall love you forever!

And at that, she smiled.

* * *

9 MAY 1893.

Once more, I woke to the sound of Elisabeths voice, and to the sight of her glorious face.

Last night I can scarcely remember, save that I was happy to see that, as Elisabeth had said, Dunya was still looking and feeling strong. This was a comfort to me, as I still felt guilt over not having invited her to yesterdays feeding.

Ah, but yesterday noon I remembered then and remember now, and each time I do, I blush. Last night I did not see Elisabeth; I suspect Vlad felt obliged to keep her in his presence for lack of trust, and for my sake, she would not disobey his order to eschew my company.

It is just as well I did not see her then; for even in Vlads presence, I would not have been able to restrain my joy at the sight of her.

My darling, Elisabeth said softly, and reached down into my casket to smoothe a hand across my forehead and cheek, as tenderly as a mother would caress her child. It pains me so to see you sleeping in thisthis contraption. Vlads limitations are
not
yours, though he might wish you to believe so. Will you not stay in my bed?

I will do whatever pleases you. I took her hand from my cheek and kissed it.

It will please me to have you with me.

Her statement pleased me, but in truth I listened to it with but half my attentionfor I was gazing beyond her at the unfettered window, and seeing there the first rosy rays of dawn streaming through pearl-grey clouds.

Eager as a child, I turned to her. Can we go outside? Now? I want to see it!

Its drizzling, I fear, and at any moment will begin to rain harder. She touched a hand to her carefully arranged golden curls as if the mere mention of the weather might ruin them.

I dont care! You can stay hereI just want to be out in it.

At the first three words, she tossed back her head and laughed indulgently, and remained smiling as I finished. Ill go with you, my dear. I had no inkling you felt so strongly. But if you wish it, then it shall be done!

And so I took her hand and climbed from my ghoulish resting-place, and together we walked the same path we had taken the day before. Her yellow silk dressing-gown and the dark blue satin dressing-gown she had given me rustled softly against the floor. As we walked, she turned to me, her expression one of unmistakable appreciation of my body, and said:

That looks quite beautiful on you, darling. You may keep it, and I want you to pick out some of my dresses for you to wear; Dorka can do any needed alterations.

You are so kind, Elisabeth! I felt literally aglow with love, as though my heart were a great furnace, kindled at last.

And you are so beautiful, my Zsuzsanna

At last we arrived at the great wood-and-iron door and pushed it open. I drew in a breath at once of the damp fresh air, and marvelled at the fine misting drizzle. Beyond lay a grey landscape, and a grey, clouded sky.

True, I was disappointedhow beautiful the drizzle would have looked, asparkle like diamonds in the sunshine. Even so, I was so glad just to be out-of-doors in the day that I stepped forward, wanting only to stand in it, to feel the cool water against my face, my skin.

But when I tried to run over the threshold and skip down the stairs, I cried out in even deeper disappointment; for, try as I might, I could not move farther than the doorway, held back by an invisible force.

I could not go outside. In bewildered desperation, I looked to Elisabeth for help.

What I saw quite surprised me.

She, too, stood in the doorway and, with a vehement Hungarian curse, stomped her small slippered foot. As I watched, the whites of her eyes reddened to scarlet, ruby against sapphire, the contrast eerily pronounced against the paleness of her skin. It was the only time I have seen her look unlovely, and it quite startled me.

Indignant, she wheeled to face me. He fears us! And so he has taken to
this
pitiful magic She waved in disgust at the doorway.

But I had utter faith in her abilities; had she commanded me to walk upon water, I should have. I waited for her to stride past me, to step boldly outside, then permit me to do the same.

She did not; she lingered beside me upon the threshold, her expression indignant. She could go outside no more than I. My disappointment was complete, for I had honestly believed her omnipotent.

Because of the doorways angle, I could not see the sun rising in the rosy clouds, nor the snow on the distant mountains; with these, I should have to content myself by gazing through the window. But I leaned forward as far as I could, extended my arm through the doorway, and turned my palm to the sky.

There I felt sweet, soft rain, cool and gentle upon my upturned palm; the drops splashed upon black velvet upon which they beadedand deep blue satin, which they darkened. There is something soothing about rain during the day, and something mournful about it in the dead of night.