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Death's Embrace Kelantha's Diary
Desire
and compulsion overwhelmed me, the desire to caress his tranquil
features, to thread my long arms around his neck, to draw him to me and
embrace the lean form that so often showed restraint and resolve rather
than passion. I knew the count as well as myself, for in an inner
chamber of my soul, we had already known intimacy. Truth shone through
his eyes and whispered across his lips, awakening a similar cry within
my breast. I could feel my nerves tingling as he drew close, whispering
promises beyond my reckoning. He held the chasm of time within his hand,
his words falling like delicate strains of music to my ears, known in
my heart if not fully understood in my mind. There was a fierceness to
his eyes I had never before known, a flame springing deep within and
threatening to envelope us both. I was
leaning toward him in unspoken invitation, yet even then he did not touch me as I
desired. He
questioned me, proposing a darkness I had yet to envision but
subconsciously understood. There was nothing in the room but us, two
solid shapes in fragments of silver moonlight and flame, the fire
crackling in the distance, flames leaping and entwining as our hearts
were now. Everything seemed transfixed, under a spell of reluctant
awakening. He was waiting for my response, but I could not give it
to him. My hand lifted, dwelling inches from his face as I searched the
intention of his penetrating blue eyes. My heart was pounding and it was as if he could hear it, sense the blood rushing through my veins.
I closed the faint distance between us, bringing myself into the circle
of his arms if he would but envelope them, and whispered, �Dracula.� Then I
knew nothing but the strength of his embrace, potential as it had
to be crushing but as delicate as a child�s loving touch, and the mind
obscuring numbness of his kiss. His lips were soft and warm, caressing
mine with desperate longing. Our bodies
molded into one against the shadows, two souls desiring fulfillment that
only understanding could bring. Against my will I was giving in to the
feelings I�d sworn never to grant for another, not since my heart had
been broken so long ago. Until I�d crossed the threshold of the
magnificent castle,and stood among the torches with a figure as silent
as the grave, I�d never known true liberty and happiness. Love was a
greater bondage than any force on earth, shackles from which I could
never wrench myself. I�d vowed never to grant another mortal that
love, the undying embrace of eternity, yet my heart and soul had
given it. He was not a man my parents would approve of, nor one society
would welcome, but a dark figment of my wildest imaginings, calculating
and quiet, elegant and dangerous, a fragment of time from which all
other shadows fled, lest they too be enveloped in his powerful aura of
undivided mystery. His lips left mine and tasted my neck, savoring the tremor I gave in response. His hand fell to my shoulder, his fingers warm against the pale skin. He was moving around me, yet never seemed to leave me. I still felt his presence just as powerfully as if he held me in his arms. His hand dropped to my waist as he brushed back the dark curls from my neck. He kissed my shoulder, moving slowly up my neck. My eyes filtered closed, and I found myself remembering portions of my life�they rebounded through my mind as though holding the key to my soul, flashing one by one; my grandfather�s oddly promising words, the lessons I�d learned from the nuns, the ride in the coach and its unfortunate end, meeting the count for the first time. Moonlight and starlight blended, fissuring together with the reassurance of his embrace and the touch of his lips on my skin. Then it came, just as my hand lifted to caress
the delicate strands of his hair, an intensity of pressure that made me
lightheaded. I would have fallen against him if he had not held me so
tightly. My fingers found his hair, entwining as I lingered near
unconsciousness. It was both beautiful and horrible, this rushing
whirlwind of color and sound; I could feel my blood pulsing, hear it in
my ears� but there was more beyond� much more. I saw then what I�d
never glimpsed before, a dark world untamed by the light, fragments of
past not my own, of rivalry and assassination, of the gypsies in the
mountains and glowing lamps in the darkness. There was fear and
abandonment in this universe into which I was fading, but most of all
triumph. I saw all and than in an instant I was blind, succumbing to a
welcoming darkness�
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