5 comments/ 16408 views/ 9 favorites Meeting The Maker By: CelticAngel1605 The silence stretched for miles around in the open country. In the Dead of night, the sky was pitch black and starless. The night air chilled Maharani's bare throat and collar bone, her dainty ankles also chilled quite thoroughly. The crimson red evening dress she wore was splayed deliberately around her full, round hips. The folds of Chinese silk were neatly arranged to cover her slipper clad feet, which were then tucked up beneath her bottom on the cushioned carriage seat. A gust of wind sent her silk clad hand to her bosom, the fabric of her dress dipping low off the shoulders and down her front, her milk white throat and the swell of her cleavage bared daringly, framed with gold stitching. The carriage bumped and rattled along the grimy dirt road, cutting its way through the heavy night the best it could by light of one lantern. The wheels screeched and rattled with every dusty rotation, the only sound to be heard in the night aside from the incessant 'clop' of the inky horse's hooves. Suddenly the carriage came to a halt. Maharani heard the commotion above as the reigns-man cried out. "What the-" his voice cut out in a garbled, wheezing choke. She gasped, the horses rearing and bucking momentarily. Just as suddenly as the incident had occurred, there was a heavy 'thump' beside the carriage, right beneath her window, and all was silent once more aside from the wheels revolving and the carriage returning to its journey, or so she thought. "Gustav! What was the commotion! Are you well?" she called, standing and peering around the outer wall of the carriage through the window. Gustav, his wide brimmed travelers cap shading his face, and his dusty road cloak wrapped tightly about him, simply inclined his hat her way. Looking back into the night, Maharani's voice leaped in her throat as the lantern light faded away from a horrifying scene. Gustav, stripped of cloak and hat, lay back where the wagon's wheels had just left. His throat was torn open, his eyes widened in terror and glazed in death. She turned around and looked in terror at her new driver. He was looking back at her, yellow feline eyes glinting from beneath Gustav's brim, a flash of white blinding her as he smiled deviously. She was in for a ride. The driver cracked the reigns, sending Maharani's team of two careening forward into the night, their hooves galloping into the unknown. They weren't headed for home anymore. She stumbled back into the carriage' cab, shrinking away from the opening as those yellow eyes advanced on her. He nearly floated through the window, the team leading themselves. As he entered the cab, he grabbed for her, catching hold of her waist in his firm hands easily. He banged a fist on the side of the carriage, the horses stopping immediately as if entranced. He hauled her up into his arms, throwing the carriage door open and stepping out into a dark, empty graveyard. He allowed her to tumble free of his arm, hitting the sod covered path and rolling like a child's poppet. "You have one chance." He said his voice like being submerged in icy lake water in December. It was soft and low, but it clenched her insides in a frozen knot. She ran. She simply stood up on her trembling knees, and forgetting she was Lady Maharani of Moldavia, forgetting all of her courtly manners, she fled. Maharani ran deep into the twisting paths of the graveyard, the headstones and tombs creating a labyrinth around her. Suddenly, her foot caught on something and she tumbled forward. She hit the ground hard, all of the air in her lungs leaving with a 'whoosh'. As her body came crashing to the ground, her brain exploded with pain inside her skull, the back of her head glancing off of a nearby grave stone. The silhouettes and dark shapes around her swam before her eyes, which were now seeing doubles of everything. Suddenly everything faded into to blackness. The night air made no stir upon his resurrected form standing stone like and still upon the hill in the old cemetery. A shuddering breath fought to leak its way into her aching lungs, her terrified sobs racking her frail temple.His hands, so pale and smooth, wrapped around her wrists though she tried to shy away, his flesh drawing all the heat from hers with his frigid corpse like grip. His eyes were catlike and demonic, and they gleamed in the night. They seemed to...glow. Maharani trembled in fear, her body going rigid as he pulled her to her feet. Her eyes traveled the planes of his black cape, his black tunic and breeches giving him the look of an eighteenth century lord. His black hair fell in tendrils to his shoulders, framing his pale face. His pale pink lips were curled slightly, revealing deadly points, wickedly curved and sharp inside his mouth. Despite her fear he was a beautiful creature. As his face neared hers, her fear evaporated, and became something less predictable. It became wonder, curiosity. He bent forward at the waist, hanging her over backward in his surprisingly strong arms, lithe body hovering over hers. His lips neared her bared neck and as she understood her fate, she met it. Those deadly scythes inside his mouth tore fiercely through her flesh. She felt her life slowly dragging from her body. Barely hanging on to her own existence, she became aware of a coppery, heavy taste. The most wonderful feeling of numbness and satisfaction pulsed through her entire corpse. Her Corpse. Slowly, her eyes flutter open. The cemetery was gone, and she was lying upon a four poster bed, the canopy draped with heavy, crimson velvet. The same material surrounds the outside edge of the bed, the curtains pulled shut so all she can see is the place where she is lying. Her head is throbbing, and her hair has been let down from it's intricately placed ringlets, now falling haphazardly about her shoulders. Her gown had been removed from her body, and she lay in the bed in a small satin slip, a sleeveless tunic that flowed over her curves and did not end until it reached the tops of her feet. It was the strangest slip she'd ever seen. Never in her life had she ever seen a black slip with crimson ribbons lacing up the front corset. It was oddly beautiful, but it left her feeling nude and vulnerable. She decided she looked altogether too provocative. Sitting up carefully, Maharani reached out and threw back the curtains. As she swung her feet out from under the red and gold silk bed linens, she noticed how dark her surroundings are. The walls were a deep tarnished Gold color which reflected the flickering candle light gently. There were only four lamp stands of candles, each with four tiers of black candles burning softly at each of the rooms four corners. A Crimson and gold velvet day bed lay in a semi-circular alcove at the far side of the room across from the foot of the bed she then sat in. To the bed's left was the door, a black metal door, which was bolted tightly, shut. As her feet hit the floor, Maharani shivered. The floor was completely made of glossy black stone. Over to the right of the bed was an armoire. It was the height of the wall it stood against, reaching ceiling to floor. It was black and trimmed in gold with crimson jewels encrusted into its gold handles. As her head began to clear she realized she was hearing the strangest noise. It was a bubbly, gurgling noise, like a brook, or some sort of flowing water... On the right of the bed, right beside the door was a pool of bubbling, steaming water sunken right into the floor. The pool was lit from beneath the water! Maharani's heart began to race as she immediately allowed her mind to jump to thoughts of sorcery or witchcraft. The stone floor dipped at the edge of this pool, a stone basin really. It was about eight feet in width, and about ten feet long. As she realized how enormous this bubbling basin really was, she also realized how gigantic the room it self was. Since it was so dark and also lacking windows of any sort, the room didn't strike one as being the massive space it was. She glanced around again, memorizing her surroundings. There was a black silk dress splayed out across the daybed, the petticoats to match were neatly placed beside it, a mix of gold and crimson red material. There was also a pair of black velvet slippers at the daybed's foot, golden trim running along the opening her foot would slip in. She reached up and ran her fingers over her neck. No marks or bites. It had been a dream. Just then, that voice she'd heard before, a voice that turned her insides cold spoke softly from the corner near the armoire. "That was a rather nasty fall you took. You're lucky I was there writing in that cemetery or you'd have been in a dreadful amount of danger Ms..." She stood up, reeling to face him full on. Her mind whirled, and she collapsed against the post at the end of the bed in agony, clutching her skull. The tall, lean man lunged toward her. "Come sit in the water, you'll feel much better." He murmured in her ear. She realized that she must have been only half dreaming when this man had found her in the cemetery. He was trying to help her. "Thank you." She said gently. He helped her over to the bubbling water. "What lights that?" she asked, hesitating as he picked her up, letting her slip into the water, her feet hitting stone while the water was only to her ankles, his hands catching the slip and hoisting it to her knees so as not to get it wet. "It's minerals. That water comes straight from a natural spring that flows beneath this manor. I had a well dug so the water will come up through the floor, and we discovered the minerals that the water contacts and mixes with on the way up cause it to glow, but all of that sediment settles at the bottom, so it looks as if only the floor of this pool is lit." He smiled his lips thin and tight together. "It is an interesting addition, really." He murmured. Maharani sank comfortably down into the water, his hands pulling the slip over her head gently as she did. "I took the liberty of setting you up in this room. Anything you want, just ask and I'll have a servant bring it the moment it's possible." The stranger murmured. His eyes were still incredible Amber yellow. That had not been her imagination. "Wait, I... How will I get home?" she asked. He smiled at her gently. "You won't be leaving anytime soon, you need to recover. Any kind of journey right now is a hazard to you." "No, really sir. I wish not to intrude upon your privacy! Please, send for my brother and I'll have him fetch me and bring me home." Maharani said. Her body was hidden in the water which was deliciously warm and lapping gently over her skin. For some strange reason she felt no discomfort at having this perfect stranger seated beside her while she was nude in a basin of glowing water. "Don't be ridiculous. You're no intrusion at all. Actually, I'd rather have some company than send you home at any rate. Forgive me, how terribly rude, I'm Lord Aelfric Cromwell, how do you do, Madame?" He took her hand from the steaming water and kissed it. She felt the crimson flush spread over her face. That's when she noticed how pale he was. In her self-consciousness she began to examine his skin tone in contrast with her blush. He was pale as snow, with lips of failing pink and a slight blue tinge rimmed his eyes. Maybe it was her imagination, the lighting from the basin playing tricks on her eyes. "My name is Lady Maharani, Countess of Moldovia." She replied softly. He smiled gently. "Well milady, let's get you into bed before you wrinkle, shall we?" He asked smoothly. He helped her to her feet, hoisting her nude, dripping body into his arms, cradling her as he brought her to the bed. He helped Maharani get the slip back on before tucking her back into bed gently. "I'll have someone attend to you in the morning. I'll be away on...an affair concerning trades. I'll return tomorrow eve though. Sleep well Countess." He drawled in a low rumble. With that, he walked to the door, heaved it open, and turning to smile at her one final time, then retired down the hall after closing her door. That night she slept very well, dreaming of his hands on her arms as he dressed her again... In the morning, the room was just as dark. Maharani wouldn't have known it was morning save for the small, quiet woman that scurried around the room. "'Allo, Lady. Me Master 'as told me you are to 'ave free reign of explorin' the house. Breakfast will be ready in a moment. Let me know if you need anythin', my name is Gertie." The woman said briskly. She laid a silver hair brush and small hand mirror near the dress on the day bed, setting a large luminescent candle near by. Then, as quickly as she'd come, she had left. True to her word, as soon as Maharani had dressed and wrenched the door open, another small servant had bustled up and led her to breakfast. There was morning tea and scones, eggs and sausage. There was so much food she was beside herself. After she had finished, more servants appeared as if the shadows had swirled into tangible forms and cleared the dish ware away. She spent the afternoon wandering about the yards. The entire house was as dark as her room. No wonder Lord Cromwell had been so pale... The front door was a large mass of wood, old and worn with age but beautifully carved in great dips and swirls. The knob was a huge bronze curl, and the whole door was fashioned with bronze studs throughout the trim. To open it, she had to wrench with all of her might. When the blasted thing finally groaned heavily and eased backward, the intense mid morning sun filtered in and the servants all scattered. A tiny shiver ran down Maharani's back. How odd. She wandered the spacious front yard, sticking to the dense tree line to the sides where she found many wild flowers and foot paths to the garden. The cobbled path led her to the back yard amidst giant trees all trimmed in crimson flowering and other lilies and that sort. In the center of the garden was a large stone bench. Seating herself here she came to study the house it self. It was two stories high and absolutely massive. She had noticed the cathedral like ceilings on the first floor instantly, and had never dreamed it possible that there was another floor. The house was peaked here and there by turrets and gables, the entire exterior of stone. However, in the very center of the house, standing taller then every other spire and spiral was a dome. A huge, magnificent dome. It was entirely made of glass on the side that was facing her, and the entire other half was the same stone as the rest of the house. She gathered the petticoats from her dress up from around her thigh and hoisted, jumping to her feet and beginning to sprint for the house. She wanted to see that room. It was late afternoon by now, being that she'd spent her entire day wandering the landscape, and as she came inside, the warmth of the blazing torches in the stone hallway called her present chill to her own attention. She rubbed her arms, wondering where the staircase to that beautiful room might be. As she started off toward the far end of the manor, a voice stopped her in her tracks. "Milady, Good Evening!" It was Lord Cromwell. As Maharani turned to gaze upon his beautiful, lithe form in partial shadow and flickering torch light, the thought of the room fled her mind quite completely. "Good evening Sir." She replied with the tiniest curtsy. His hair was swept back with a fine length of black leather, some of it fallen from this binding to frame his eyes. He must have just exited the carriage. "Will we be dining together this evening?" She questioned. Lord Cromwell smiled indulgently before he drawled a reply in his hypnotic voice. "No Milady. I shall not dine with you, for I've already been to supper, but I will be your company whilst you dine." He inclined his head with a slight nod and extended his elbow toward her. She took his arm graciously, her heart palpitating rapidly and her stomach churning in the most wonderful way. 'Stop acting like a giddy little chamber maid!' She scolded herself in her own head. Whenever she set eyes on the good Sir she became quite incapable of talking with out tittering and giggling like a nervous little girl. Then she remembered that room. After supper she would have to investigate. At dinner the servants again appeared, bustling noiselessly to and fro with a plate of this, a dish of that. It still amazed Maharani how they just seemed to kind of form from where so ever they chose at a particular time. As she ate, Lord Cromwell sat across from her and watched. She caught him once from the corner of her eye, his tongue sliding across his lips much like a hungry predator. A chill ran the length of her spine once more. Yet, despite all of the mysteries held by Sir Cromwell, she wanted him. "Milady, I will see you later this evening. I am weary from travel and must go lay in my chambers." He said as he rose from the table. As he began to walk out of the room, his cold fingers slid over Maharani's shoulder and gently up her bare neck. He turned, looking her in the eye with an expression of animal hunger, and proceeded out of the dining hall. She left with out waiting to see the servants mutely scramble to clear her plates. The corridor ran in a long line from east to west. Her chambers were at the far end of the eastern hall, she had seen no staircase. Therefore, she thought it rather clever of herself to conclude that the staircase must then be at the western hall's end. She started down the corridor, gazing into the blazing flicker of the candles on the wall in there little candelabras. As she walked further and further down the hall, her eyes scanned the stark, graying stone for any sign of a doorway. Suddenly, a clammy, cold hand closed around her shoulder. Gasping, she whirled about. There stood Gertie. "I be beggin' your pardon miss, and I may lose me Master's favor for this, but ye be wantin' to know where the crystal ballroom is, don't ye?" She questioned. She was speaking oddly; a small, hurried whisper was all she would make of her words. Maharani nodded slowly. "Well Master Cromwell, he been forbidden the household to tell you where it is and we's to keep you out o' there come what may, but I thinks you ought t' see what's in there, I do." "Please, Gertie, take me up there." She whispered. Gertie straightened her stance, and nodded curtly. She turned to a tapestry hanging beside us and ran her fingers along its edge. Slowly, she peeled it back to reveal a door way. There was a staircase going down, and a staircase going up. Maharani began to start toward the staircase going downward, her curiosity getting the best of her. Gertie grabbed her fiercely. "No! Beggin your pardon, Missus, but you cannot be goin' down there. I'll lose my hide for sure. It's up here ye be wantin'." She led her up the steep stair case to the top landing, and through a long corridor which lead back through the middle of the house. Finally, they came to a door and stopped." This is as far as I be goin', Milady." She curtsied and turning, bustled off down the hallway. Maharani turned and grasped the large brass handle to the door in front of her and pulled. When the door opened, she gasped at what she had found. Stepping into the glass domed room one could look up into the darkened night sky and see every constellation known. That however was not the amazing secret the room held. In the center of the room, a book floated, suspended in mid air. It floated just above the surface of a small stand and it was glowing, faintly giving off the same green glow as the spring in her room. She walked hesitantly forward, drawn by the book. As Maharani gazed down upon its pages she read her name many times, in many tongues, from many ages. She read a prophecy of her life, and her previous lives, and her destiny in the next life. Meeting The Maker Lord Cromwell was a Noblemen, four hundred and eighty seven years past born by this time, as the text read. And yet it also read that when he had a mere Nineteen years to his credit, he fell to the children of darkness. He had not struggled, nor had he opposed being taken to a life of dark halls and immortality. For his willingness to serve and his faithfulness to the King of the Vampires, Lord Aelfric Cromwell was promised an ounce of his former human dreams would come true. He was promised Maharani, the countess of Moldovia. For four hundred and sixty six years he had failed when trying to court her. In her past lives he'd kidnapped her, killed her lovers, and held her brother captive. He had tried many other things in her past lives to get her to concur to love him. You see that was the catch. The prophecy said that she had to give herself to Aelfric willingly or he could not have her, and he would remain a lonely, tortured soul forever. Maharani covered her mouth, which had gone dry, and backed away from the book. "So, Gertie has betrayed me." Aelfric drawled. Maharani turned to see him standing in the still open doorway. She curtsied, trembling from head to toe. It explained why he was so pale. It explained the servants, the undead servants. It explained the green iridescence to certain things. "Maharachtadun." She murmured. Vampires, much to her brother's disdain, had been her passion and interest lately. She was well learned in the matters of the magic of the Ancient King, a power called Maharachtadun. "Yes, I am the only existing child of darkness for the past hundred years, you see. All of the old Powers belong to me now." Aelfric said lazily. He looked...defeated. "I wanted to be gentle with you. I wanted to make you love me. Now you know I am a monster and you will fear my touch." He looked at Maharani, his sorrow welling in his eyes. "In another lifetime then, love. You are free to go." She didn't understand why, but she fled. She knew then and there, standing in the glass domed room that she loved his forsaken soul, and she ran from that castle. She ran until she was picked up by a merchant's carriage and taken back to her home. But the tale of this lifetime did not end on the doorstep of her own home, oh no my friends. Maharani's brother had yet to have his say in her destiny. "Why, Dear sister where have you been?" Edwin inquired. He had flung the door wide as soon as he'd heard the clopping hooves on the damp, cobbled street out front. He embraced his sister tightly, then pulled back to take a look at her. "Never mind, I think I know where you've been. Another one of your ridiculous witch hunts was it?" Edwin ignored the opening and shutting of her trembling mouth and ushered her inside. "We found Gustav..." So, it hadn't been a dream. Aelfric had chased her through the graveyard. All of the knowledge she had gathered was still compiling and sorting its self in her mind so that it made sense. Maharani shook herself, turning to face her brother. "Yes, an animal... He stopped to fix the bridles on the beasts and something came stalking onto the road." Edwin gazed sharply at his sister. So she would lie to him. "Maybe you should go up to bed after you've gotten cleaned, and tell me when you'll be hunting again so I'm not worried out of my senses Maharani Rayne!" he scolded softly. He turned, his coat tails fluttering behind him as he glided arrogantly to the staircase. He spiraled up into the second floor of the Manor, keeping his brusque pace until he had reached the library. "An animal indeed. A blood thirsty corpse is what took that man down." He growled. Unlike his sister, Edwin was a rather pompous looking man. He was of average height and very thin. He unlike Aelfric was not lean and lithe, but lanky and prepubescent in appearance though he was nearly twenty seven. His thin blond hair fell to his shoulders and was tied back at all times by a satin ribbon, as men's fashions were favoring these days. His lips were thin as horizontal lines and his nose was a long, narrow slope perfectly set mid face. He was severe and almost beautiful until you looked into his eyes. Also unlike his sister's Emerald spheres, Edwin's eyes were coal black, and flat as uncorked ale. He was a piteous soul and a harsh master to the servants. His only true credit was that he was far beyond scholarly. He was rather clever, really. This was how he had come across an ancient prophecy and learned of Lord and Noble Aelfric Cromwell who was well beyond his senior. "Just lead me to him and I will be raised to a position of honor and glory in the eyes of all!" Edwin muttered, tracing one boney finger over the map of speculated sites where Cromwell may be dwelling. Maharani brushed her hair, having washed herself and put on fresh clothing. Why had she run? She loved Aelfric, she could not deny the feeling that welled up inside of her at the site of his sorrowful face, nor could she ignore the ache in her arms as she longed to hold him. But, she also could not deny that the realization of what he was and site of those pearl white scythes in his mouth wrought terror in her. The more she thought it over, the more she shook with rage at her own cowardice. He'd been living hundreds of lifetimes alone, chasing her, and she was a little frightened? She slammed down the brush in her hand, shattering the ivory handle. The pure bone white ornament shattered to dust with the force of her anger and was gone in a draft as soon as she unclenched her fist. She had to go back. Ripping off her night dress she slid into her riding gown. It was time to end this cycle of ignorant reincarnations. Edwin had known his sister would try and go quietly, but what he had not expected was for Maharani to slip out of their home the same night she had returned. He'd expected her to need more time to let the shock ware off and her pathetic female emotions overcome her senses. When the Captain of the guard appeared at the door of Edwin's quarters and announced that the Lady had retreated from the grounds, Edwin was taken aback, and grabbed his traveling cloak with no hesitation. "Ready my horse and fetch me my tool satchel please, Luxton." The horse's feet crashed like thunder on the stones that lay embedded on the old dirt road, the beast's legs churning faster and faster beneath it. Maharani lay flattened to the animal's back, leaning forward and urging him on. "Please, Horris, you must make haste!" she bid him. Suddenly the horse reared, throwing her from his back. As Maharani picked herself up on her elbows, sweeping her curls from in front of her eyes, she saw Horris' front hooves come plummeting back down, straight for the center of her chest. Just as Maharani tried to throw her arm up in a feeble defense, a flash of sleek shadow flitted out of the forest's edge, stepping between her and the Horse. Horris whinnied; backing up a few frantic steps, his head tossed this way and that on the length of sinewy, slender, glistening black neck. He turned and galloped away, crying into the night. "They always sense me coming, and they don't like it much. You Milady are going to have a very empty stable if you and I keep meeting like this." Aelfric stated coolly, turning his sparkling eyes to Maharani. "Where are the others?" He asked. She looked at him, confusion evident in her gaze. "Others?" "What? No stakes, no torches and pitchforks? You don't have a vial of Holy Water hidden in the valley of your bosom?" He asked incredulously. Maharani gathered her skirts and stood up, bringing herself chest-to-chest with Aelfric and with an indignant 'humph' brought the palm of her hand crashing against his alabaster cheek. "That's nothing to accuse the love of your after lives of, dearest." She seethed in a reproachful tone before grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to her, full force as her lips crashed against his, her chest heaving with a sigh of gratification. Maharani's head began to feel light, her mind spinning recklessly as her lips entwined with Aelfric's. In her passion, she failed to realize that she had slid her tongue across the dangerous stalactites hanging from his gums, and those deadly fangs had drawn the tiniest sliver across her tongue. The stinging didn't call her attention until she tasted the coppery, saltine taste of her own blood. Aelfric tasted it as well, and nearly went mad suckling her tongue and trying to unlace her dress. Maharani pushed him back slowly. "Wait, dearest. Not here. My brother... Well, if he's found me out he'll be looking for me and the forest is no place for us to be seen." Aelfric nodded at her reasoning, his chest still heaving in his excitement. He grabbed Maharani and held her tightly. Suddenly from his back, his cloak split in two, a pair of gigantic appendages ascending to the heavens from beneath it. They were wings, about ten feet long a piece, and black as ebony. They were smooth and silky, like the fur of a bat. Maharani's eyes widened. Aelfric coiled the muscles in his legs, and propelling himself upward, took flight. It was merely minutes before the two of them were landing safely on his doorstep, Aelfric hoisting Maharani into his arms and kicking the front door in as if it were nothing. The servants did not materialize as he carried her down the hall. He went to the tapestry Gertie had taken Maharani through earlier, only once on the other side, Aelfric took the set of stairs that went down... Edwin snarled in disgust as he wandered the empty wastelands that were rumored to be the ceremonial pulpits of the Children of The Night. Nothing. No ashes, no burning torches, not a single sign of this Undead Lord that would bring him unrivaled amounts of prestige, fame, and the title of a hero. "Once I have my hands on the last vampire, I will live more highly than the king himself!" Edwin murmured. He straightened the map he had been clenching and looked over the spots he had marked. He had narrowed Cromwell's hideout down to three places in the whole land, and he was now down by one. He took off into the night. His next target was the old cemetery on the other side of the god forsaken farmland he was now traveling. The horse he road understood what a fiercely important task this was and drove on with vigor. He would have his glory. Aelfric burst through the door at the bottom of the flight of stairs, still cradling Maharani in his arms. She looked around his room, gasping in surprise. The whole room was draped in silk! Black and red and gold silk, just like her room upstairs only far more elaborate. The floor was black velvet and the only light came from a hanging chandelier of lively, lit candles directly over where Aelfric must sleep. It was not a bed he intended to seduce her to. Of course, how could she have forgotten!? A gigantic black coffin lay open in the middle of the room, lined with black silk. He laid her gently down in the gigantic casket and hopped effortlessly in beside her. "Made for two." He whispered enchantingly into her ear. Maharani couldn't recall when it had happened, but there was no sign of Aelfric's wings as he unclasped the brooch at his neck, his cloak slinking from his hand to the floor outside the coffin. Maharani's breasts heaved in her efforts to breathe. Aelfric's grin gleamed in the flickering candle light. "Relax love; the worst is over for you." He whispered. Maharani's half lidded eyes flew open and burned straight into Aelfric's. He simply grinned at her in his sultry manner and continued trying to remove his tunic. His lithe body rippled in the soft yellow glow as he knelt over Maharani. "I'm already...did you...?" Maharani sat straight up as she recalled all of what had happened before she blacked out in the cemetery. "I've been one of them... you for all this time and I didn't realize it?" she queried in a small, confused voice. "You see, dearest, you aren't really a Vampire yet. That is lying dormant in you right now. It's sort of like, oh I do not know how to put this...there's still a lever I must pull, so to speak, before you are mine for eternity." Maharani looked at Aelfric questioningly. "A Lever?" She asked. He nodded, his grin broadening. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body flush against his and pressing his knee up between her thighs, lifting her skirts as he slowly dragged his knee higher until it was pressed against the dampened crotch of her bloomers. "You must bite me. I have bitten you and you have fed from me, but you must be the one to bite me when you feed or else the powers will not take you as they should." He murmured into Maharani's ear. His lips brushed her ear lobe as he kissed her neck softly. With a swift, nearly unnoticeable motion he ripped off her knickers, tossing them over the edge of the casket. His fingers unlaced the bodice of her gown effortlessly, pulling the cloth open down it's center and revealing her pert, puckered nipples to his gaze. As Aelfric finally disposed of the last of Maharani's clothing, watching intently as she worked on his, he asked her the question that would seal her fate. "There is one more catch to this odd coupling we are part of, my love. You must tell me that you want my love, or else you will not have eternity. You will merely be an undead corpse with a ravenous appetite for the arterial delights." Maharani finished removing every last bit of Aelfric's clothing and pulled him down on top of her, their bodies meeting chest to chest, Aelfric falling between her spread thighs with his lithe hips. "If you do not take me now I shall walk out that door and join a Brothel." She whimpered. "Good Enough." Aelfric reasoned, hooking his arms under her thighs and positioning his hard tool against the velveteen folds of Maharani's virginity. "There will be blood." Aelfric warned her, looking into her eyes. For the first time Maharani could see the tenderness within him. The edge his gaze normally possessed dissipated and left him with a soft, loving look in his eye as he met her gaze. "I know." Maharani answered, cupping his cheek in her warm hand. The frigidity of his skin was leaving him the more he and Maharani were joined. Either that or her warmth was leaving her, she could not tell, but the gap of contrast was closing rapidly. Without warning Aelfric pressed his hips forward, pausing briefly as he came to Maharani's barrier. She leaned up, her hand snaking to the back of his head and her fingers tangling in his hair, and she pulled him down to meet her lips. His mouth did not meet hers, oh no, instead she went for his neck, the delicious beating of his blood pulsing beneath his skin roiled under her lips and she felt herself begin to change. The power was moving into her body, taking over and she was changing rapidly. Without realizing she pushed her hips upward, crashing them against Aelfric. A sharp, almost pleasant pain rocked her whole body and in that instant, the wicked curves growing in Maharani's mouth sank into Aelfric's neck. The warm coppery liquid spilled over her tongue, flowing down her throat as she drank. Aelfric gasped in wonder, feeling his needs utterly fulfilled. He froze as the realizations flooded his mind. No more running, no more deceit or fighting or searching. No more elaborate plans. He had his love, his mate and his wife. He was finally complete. As Maharani suckled gently at the punctures in Aelfric's neck, he began to pull his hard cock back, bringing himself out until only the head of his hard-on was resting at Maharani's entrance. He slammed himself back into her wet warmth up to the hilt for the first of many times, his back and buttocks muscles rippling as he pumped in and out of her. His mate. He felt alive for the first time in centuries. He felt warmth and flesh that he was not feeding on for his own life, but to create another. He dipped his head to Maharani's upturned face as she finished tenderly licking his wounded neck, and kissed her. Their tongues collided in a heated battle, rubbing and pressing and their lips pulled at one another. Aelfric could taste his blood mixed with her saliva, and nothing ever tasted so good. His hand left her thigh, leaving hooked around his hip, and traveled between their bodies to her breasts. He began to fondle her, squeezing and cupping her breasts as they bounced with every thrust Aelfric made into her body. "I can't hold out." Maharani groaned, whimpering gently with every thrust. Aelfric plunged into her one last time, sinking his dick into her as he sank his teeth into her throat, feeding on her waning humanity. The orgasm that rocked their entwined bodies was not merely an internal reaction; the room began to shake with the power that was exchanged between the two lovers. As the ancient power of the Lord of The Children of The Dark was given to Maharani from Aelfric, the ability to feel and love completely and to feel human emotion was strengthened in Aelfric's heart by Maharani's dying mortality. As his seed left him and pooled in her womb, Aelfric knew that his love must rest for a while, she had just died and been reborn and was now forming another undead life, even as she lay sleeping. He kissed her eyelids and pulled the heavy cover from the foot of the tremendous coffin and covered his love. Hurrying, he then dressed. He had not told her this, but Aelfric knew it would only be a matter of hours before he faced the first fight to protect his new found happiness, and the prophecy did not say if he would win or not... The mist rose steadily as Edwin rode into the cemetery. His body tingled with anticipation. He could absolutely feel the nearness of Aelfric Cromwell. Dismounting the horse, Edwin began to search on foot. He strode arrogantly down the path which led deeper into the graveyard until he was amongst the old vaults, dank and gray with age and mist from the deepening night. Edwin sensed he was close, so close to Cromwell he could almost point right at where he was. His body was compelled to the right, off the cobbled stone walk way through the maze of vaults and over the grassy knoll, through a less structured gathering of old vaults. There, built into a rock facing at the edge of the woods was a large stone vault. Its giant metal doors were banged and rusted, the bolts nearly invisible beneath the years of oxidation. The entire structure was laden in decay and covered in moss and winding strands of creeping vines. As Edwin approached the vault, he felt his heart begin to race, pounding mercilessly inside his chest as adrenaline coursed through him. This was it. "I have you now, you blood thirsty daemon!" he hissed. Silently, Edwin pulled a long, thick stake of wood from the satchel he held in his left hand, dropping it and grabbing the brass ring on the vault doors. As he braced himself to heave on the massive doors, Edwin felt a stir of air just behind him. As he turned, he saw nothing but a flash of black before he found himself lying on his back in the mist-damp grass. Perched atop one of the vaults in front of him, Edwin saw a shape shrouded in black, like a man crouched with wings raised toward the full yellow moon. "And so you come for me, Lord Edwin?" Aelfric said in a soft, icy tone. Edwin staggered to his feet, an unbelievable pain rippling through his left side. He felt his ribs scrape and crunch beneath his twitching muscles. He'd already taken a hit and he had not even been prepared. The stake was a few yards away now, lying on the ground just feet below Aelfric's perch, having been knocked away when Edwin was hit. "What do you want to prove, Edwin? I have already won. I have your sister as my bride..." Aelfric stood and simply stepped off the edge of the vault, floating weightlessly down to the ground. He walked forward until he was toe to toe with Edwin. "She is with child after tonight, for sure. You can not have the last vampire. There are now three. You would not kill your own sister, surely?" Meeting The Maker "I will kill all of your kind, no matter who they are. My blood or not my blood, Maharani now thirsts for the very thing that relates us. If she must die, she must." Edwin spat at Aelfric's feet. Aelfric reached out and grabbed Edwin violently by the lapel of his tunic. Suddenly, a sharp pain coursed through Aelfric's side. Looking down, he saw Edwin's hand wrapped about the handle dagger that was buried clean up to the hilt in Aelfric's side. It was just enough of a distraction for Edwin to sweep Aelfric's feet from under him and tumble to his own knees, grabbing the stake that lie close by. He turned back and raised the stake to strike, only to find the dagger stuck straight into the ground, with no signs of Aelfric. Edwin turned frantically to find Aelfric behind him, rearing back for a kick to Edwin's hunched midsection. Edwin grabbed Aelfric's foot as it swung through the air, sending Aelfric falling onto his back, Edwin coming up quickly above him, the searing pain in his already injured side not a deterrent at all. As Edwin raised the stake and Aelfric took the breath he believed would be his last, a sickening 'Crack!' echoed through the graveyard, bouncing off of the stone vaults and tombstones. Edwin's neck snapped beneath the blow of the tombstone, and he collapsed, keeling over as the stake fell from his lifeless hand and was lost in the grass. There stood Maharani, a broken tombstone in her hands which were yet raised above her shoulder, ready to make another swing. "I really never liked him much anyhow." She muttered, dropping the stone as she gave one last distasteful kick at her brother's slowly chilling body. Somewhere in a giant house with a giant domed room, a book of prophecy wrote its final page and shut, to be opened again at a later date to ensure the knowledge of the great rebirth of The Children of The Darkness would be known by all Vampires when their time came. he night air made no stir upon his resurrected form standing stone like and still upon the hill in the old cemetery. A shuddering breath fought to leak its way into her aching lungs, her terrified sobs racking her frail temple. His hands, so pale and smooth, wrapped around her wrists though she tried to shy away, his flesh drawing all the heat from hers with his frigid corpse like grip. His eyes were catlike and demonic, and they gleamed in the night. They seemed to...glow. Maharani trembled in fear, her body going rigid as he pulled her to her feet. Her eyes traveled the planes of his black cape, his black tunic and breeches giving him the look of an eighteenth century lord. His black hair fell in tendrils to his shoulders, framing his pale face. His pale pink lips were curled slightly, revealing deadly points, wickedly curved and sharp inside his mouth. Despite her fear he was a beautiful creature. As his face neared hers, her fear evaporated, and became something less predictable. It became wonder, curiosity. He bent forward at the waist, hanging her over backward in his surprisingly strong arms, lithe body hovering over hers. His lips neared her bared neck and as she understood her fate, she met it. Those deadly scythes inside his mouth tore fiercely through her flesh. She felt her life slowly dragging from her body. Barely hanging on to her own existence, she became aware of a coppery, heavy taste. The most wonderful feeling of numbness and satisfaction pulsed through her entire corpse. Her Corpse. Slowly, her eyes flutter open. The cemetery was gone, and she was lying upon a four poster bed, the canopy draped with heavy, crimson velvet. The same material surrounds the outside edge of the bed, the curtains pulled shut so all she can see is the place where she is lying. Her head is throbbing, and her hair has been let down from it's intricately placed ringlets, now falling haphazardly about her shoulders. Her gown had been removed from her body, and she lay in the bed in a small satin slip, a sleeveless tunic that flowed over her curves and did not end until it reached the tops of her feet. It was the strangest slip she'd ever seen. Never in her life had she ever seen a black slip with crimson ribbons lacing up the front corset. It was oddly beautiful, but it left her feeling nude and vulnerable. She decided she looked altogether too provocative. Sitting up carefully, Maharani reached out and threw back the curtains. As she swung her feet out from under the red and gold silk bed linens, she noticed how dark her surroundings are. The walls were a deep tarnished Gold color which reflected the flickering candle light gently. There were only four lamp stands of candles, each with four tiers of black candles burning softly at each of the rooms four corners. A Crimson and gold velvet day bed lay in a semi-circular alcove at the far side of the room across from the foot of the bed she then sat in. To the bed's left was the door, a black metal door, which was bolted tightly, shut. As her feet hit the floor, Maharani shivered. The floor was completely made of glossy black stone. Over to the right of the bed was an armoire. It was the height of the wall it stood against, reaching ceiling to floor. It was black and trimmed in gold with crimson jewels encrusted into its gold handles. As her head began to clear she realized she was hearing the strangest noise. It was a bubbly, gurgling noise, like a brook, or some sort of flowing water... On the right of the bed, right beside the door was a pool of bubbling, steaming water sunken right into the floor. The pool was lit from beneath the water! Maharani's heart began to race as she immediately allowed her mind to jump to thoughts of sorcery or witchcraft. The stone floor dipped at the edge of this pool, a stone basin really. It was about eight feet in width, and about ten feet long. As she realized how enormous this bubbling basin really was, she also realized how gigantic the room it self was. Since it was so dark and also lacking windows of any sort, the room didn't strike one as being the massive space it was. She glanced around again, memorizing my surroundings. There was a black silk dress splayed out across the daybed, the petticoats to match were neatly placed beside it, a mix of gold and crimson red material. There was also a pair of black velvet slippers at the daybed's foot, golden trim running along the opening her foot would slip in. She reached up and ran her fingers over her neck. No marks or bites. It had been a dream. Just then, that voice she'd heard before, a voice that turned her insides cold spoke softly from the corner near the armoire. "That was a rather nasty fall you took. You're lucky I was there writing in that cemetery or you'd have been in a dreadful amount of danger Ms..." She stood up, reeling to face him full on. Her head reeled, and she collapsed against the post at the end of the bed in agony, clutching her skull. The tall, lean man lunged toward her. "Come sit in the water, you'll feel much better." He murmured in her ear. She realized that she must have been only half dreaming when this man had found her in the cemetery. He was trying to help her. "Thank you." She said gently. He helped her over to the bubbling water. "What lights that?" she asked, hesitating as he picked her up, letting her slip into the water, her feet hitting stone while the water was only to my ankles, his hands catching the slip and hoisting it to my knees so as not to get it wet. "It's minerals. That water comes straight from a natural spring that flows beneath this manor. I had a well dug so the water will come up through the floor, and we discovered the minerals that the water contacts and mixes with on the way up cause it to glow, but all of that sediment settles at the bottom, so it looks as if only the floor of this pool is lit." He smiled his lips thin and tight together. "It is an interesting addition, really." He murmured. Maharani sank comfortably down into the water, his hands pulling the slip over her head gently as she did. "I took the liberty of setting you up in this room. Anything you want, just ask and I'll have a servant bring it the moment it's possible." The stranger murmured. His eyes were still incredible Amber yellow. That had not been her imagination. "Wait, I... How will I get home?" she asked. He smiled at her gently. "You won't be leaving anytime soon, you need to recover. Any kind of journey right now is a hazard to you." "No, really sir. I wish not to intrude upon your privacy! Please, send for my brother and I'll have him fetch me and bring me home." Maharani said. Her body was hidden in the water which was deliciously warm and lapping gently over her skin. For some strange reason she felt no discomfort at having this perfect stranger seated beside her while she was nude in a basin of glowing water. "Don't be ridiculous. You're no intrusion at all. Actually, I'd rather have some company than send you home at any rate. Forgive me, how terribly rude, I'm Lord Aelfric Cromwell, how do you do, Madame?" He took her hand from the steaming water and kissed it. She felt the crimson flush spread over her face. That's when she noticed how pale he was. In her self-consciousness she began to examine his skin tone in contrast with her blush. He was pale as snow, with lips of failing pink and a slight blue tinge rimmed his eyes. Maybe it was her imagination, the lighting from the basin playing tricks on her eyes. "My name is Lady Maharani, Countess of Moldovia." She replied softly. He smiled gently. "Well milady, let's get you into bed before you wrinkle, shall we?" He asked smoothly. He helped her to her feet, hoisting her nude, dripping body into his arms, cradling her as he brought her to the bed. He helped Maharani get the slip back on before tucking her back into bed gently. "I'll have someone attend to you in the morning. I'll be away on...an affair concerning trades. I'll return tomorrow eve though. Sleep well Countess." He drawled in a low rumble. With that, he walked to the door, heaved it open, and turning to smile at her one final time, then retired down the hall after closing her door. That night she slept very well, dreaming of his hands on her arms as he dressed her again... In the morning, the room was just as dark. Maharani wouldn't have known it was morning save for the small, quiet woman that scurried around the room. "'Allo, Lady. Me Master 'as told me you are to 'ave free reign of explorin' the house. Breakfast will be ready in a moment. Let me know if you need anythin', my name is Gertie." The woman said briskly. She laid a silver hair brush and small hand mirror near the dress on the day bed, setting a large luminescent candle near by. Then, as quickly as she'd come, she had left. True to her word, as soon as Maharani had dressed and wrenched the door open, another small servant had bustled up and led her to breakfast. There was morning tea and scones, eggs and sausage. There was so much food she was beside herself. After she had finished, more servants appeared as if the shadows had swirled into tangible forms and cleared the dish ware away. She spent the afternoon wandering about the yards. The entire house was as dark as her room. No wonder Lord Cromwell had been so pale... The front door was a large mass of wood, old and worn with age but beautifully carved in great dips and swirls. The knob was a huge bronze curl, and the whole door was fashioned with bronze studs throughout the trim. To open it, she had to wrench with all of her might. When the blasted thing finally groaned heavily and eased backward, the intense mid morning sun filtered in and the servants all scattered. A tiny shiver ran down Maharani's back. How odd. She wandered the spacious front yard, sticking to the dense tree line to the sides where she found many wild flowers and foot paths to the garden. The cobbled path led her to the back yard amidst giant trees all trimmed in crimson flowering and other lilies and that sort. In the center of the garden was a large stone bench. Seating herself here she came to study the house it self. It was two stories high and absolutely massive. She had noticed the cathedral like ceilings on the first floor instantly, and had never dreamed it possible that there was another floor. The house was peaked here and there by turrets and gables, the entire exterior of stone. However, in the very center of the house, standing taller then every other spire and spiral was a dome. A huge, magnificent dome. It was entirely made of glass on the side that was facing her, and the entire other half was the same stone as the rest of the house. She gathered the petticoats from her dress up from around her thigh and hoisted, jumping to her feet and beginning to sprint for the house. She wanted to see that room. It was late afternoon by now, being that she'd spent her entire day wandering the landscape, and as she came inside, the warmth of the blazing torches in the stone hallway called her present chill to her own attention. She rubbed her arms, wondering where the staircase to that beautiful room might be. As she started off toward the far end of the manor, a voice stopped her in her tracks. "Milady, Good Evening!" It was Lord Cromwell. As Maharani turned to gaze upon his beautiful, lithe form in partial shadow and flickering torch light, the thought of the room fled her mind quite completely. "Good evening Sir." She replied with the tiniest curtsy. His hair was swept back with a fine length of black leather, some of it fallen from this binding to frame his eyes. He must have just exited the carriage. "Will we be dining together this evening?" She questioned. Lord Cromwell smiled indulgently before he drawled a reply in his hypnotic voice. "No Milady. I shall not dine with you, for I've already been to supper, but I will be your company whilst you dine." He inclined his head with a slight nod and extended his elbow toward her. She took his arm graciously, her heart palpitating rapidly and her stomach churning in the most wonderful way. 'Stop acting like a giddy little chamber maid!' She scolded herself in her own head. Whenever she set eyes on the good Sir she became quite incapable of talking with out tittering and giggling like a nervous little girl. Then she remembered that room. After supper she would have to investigate. At dinner the servants again appeared, bustling noiselessly to and fro with a plate of this, a dish of that. It still amazed Maharani how they just seemed to kind of form from where so ever they chose at a particular time. As she ate, Lord Cromwell sat across from her and watched. She caught him once from the corner of her eye, his tongue sliding across his lips much like a hungry predator. A chill ran the length of her spine once more. Yet, despite all of the mysteries held by Sir Cromwell, she wanted him. "Milady, I will see you later this evening. I am weary from travel and must go lay in my chambers." He said as he rose from the table. As he began to walk out of the room, his cold fingers slid over Maharani's shoulder and gently up her bare neck. He turned, looking her in the eye with an expression of animal hunger, and proceeded out of the dining hall. She left with out waiting to see the servants mutely scramble to clear her plates. The corridor ran in a long line from east to west. Her chambers were at the far end of the eastern hall, she had seen no staircase. Therefore, she thought it rather clever of herself to conclude that the staircase must then be at the western hall's end. She started down the corridor, gazing into the blazing flicker of the candles on the wall in there little candelabras. As she walked further and further down the hall, her eyes scanned the stark, graying stone for any sign of a doorway. Suddenly, a clammy, cold hand closed around her shoulder. Gasping, she whirled about. There stood Gertie. "I be beggin' your pardon miss, and I may lose me Master's favor for this, but ye be wantin' to know where the crystal ballroom is, don't ye?" She questioned. She was speaking oddly; a small, hurried whisper was all she would make of her words. Maharani nodded slowly. "Well Master Cromwell, he been forbidden the household to tell you where it is and we's to keep you out o' there come what may, but I thinks you ought t' see what's in there, I do." "Please, Gertie, take me up there." She whispered. Gertie straightened her stance, and nodded curtly. She turned to a tapestry hanging beside us and ran her fingers along its edge. Slowly, she peeled it back to reveal a door way. There was a staircase going down, and a staircase going up. Maharani began to start toward the staircase going downward, her curiosity getting the best of her. Gertie grabbed her fiercely. "No! Beggin your pardon, Missus, but you cannot be goin' down there. I'll lose my hide for sure. It's up here ye be wantin'." She led her up the steep stair case to the top landing, and through a long corridor which lead back through the middle of the house. Finally, they came to a door and stopped." This is as far as I be goin', Milady." She curtsied and turning, bustled off down the hallway. Maharani turned and grasped the large brass handle to the door in front of her and pulled. When the door opened, she gasped at what she had found. Stepping into the glass domed room one could look up into the darkened night sky and see every constellation known. That however was not the amazing secret the room held. In the center of the room, a book floated, suspended in mid air. It floated just above the surface of a small stand and it was glowing, faintly giving off the same green glow as the spring in her room. She walked hesitantly forward, drawn by the book. As Maharani gazed down upon its pages she read her name many times, in many tongues, from many ages. She read a prophecy of her life, and her previous lives, and her destiny in the next life. Lord Cromwell was a Noblemen, four hundred and eighty seven years past born by this time, as the text read. And yet it also read that when he had a mere Nineteen years to his credit, he fell to the children of darkness. He had not struggled, nor had he opposed being taken to a life of dark halls and immortality. For his willingness to serve and his faithfulness to the King of the Vampires, Lord Aelfric Cromwell was promised an ounce of his former human dreams would come true. He was promised Maharani, the countess of Moldovia. For four hundred and sixty six years he had failed when trying to court her. In her past lives he'd kidnapped her, killed her lovers, and held her brother captive. He had tried many other things in her past lives to get her to concur to love him. You see that was the catch. The prophecy said that she had to give herself to Aelfric willingly or he could not have her, and he would remain a lonely, tortured soul forever. Maharani covered her mouth, which had gone dry, and backed away from the book. "So, Gertie has betrayed me." Aelfric drawled. Maharani turned to see him standing in the still open doorway. She curtsied, trembling from head to toe. It explained why he was so pale. It explained the servants, the undead servants. It explained the green iridescence to certain things. "Maharachtadun." She murmured. Vampires, much to her brother's disdain, had been her passion and interest lately. She was well learned in the matters of the magic of the Ancient King, a power called Maharachtadun. "Yes, I am the only existing child of darkness for the past hundred years, you see. All of the old Powers belong to me now." Aelfric said lazily. He looked...defeated. "I wanted to be gentle with you. I wanted to make you love me. Now you know I am a monster and you will fear my touch." He looked at Maharani, his sorrow welling in his eyes. "In another lifetime then, love. You are free to go." Meeting The Maker She didn't understand why, but she fled. She knew then and there, standing in the glass domed room that she loved his forsaken soul, and she ran from that castle. She ran until she was picked up by a merchant's carriage and taken back to her home. But the tale of this lifetime did not end on the doorstep of her own home, oh no my friends. Maharani's brother had yet to have his say in her destiny. "Why, Dear sister where have you been?" Edwin inquired. He had flung the door wide as soon as he'd heard the clopping hooves on the damp, cobbled street out front. He embraced his sister tightly, then pulled back to take a look at her. "Never mind, I think I know where you've been. Another one of your ridiculous witch hunts was it?" Edwin ignored the opening and shutting of her trembling mouth and ushered her inside. "We found Gustav..." So, it hadn't been a dream. Aelfric had chased her through the graveyard. All of the knowledge she had gathered was still compiling and sorting its self in her mind so that it made sense. Maharani shook herself, turning to face her brother. "Yes, an animal... He stopped to fix the bridles on the beasts and something came stalking onto the road." Edwin gazed sharply at his sister. So she would lie to him. "Maybe you should go up to bed after you've gotten cleaned, and tell me when you'll be hunting again so I'm not worried out of my senses Maharani Rayne!" he scolded softly. He turned, his coat tails fluttering behind him as he glided arrogantly to the staircase. He spiraled up into the second floor of the Manor, keeping his brusque pace until he had reached the library. "An animal indeed. A blood thirsty corpse is what took that man down." He growled. Unlike his sister, Edwin was a rather pompous looking man. He was of average height and very thin. He unlike Aelfric was not lean and lithe, but lanky and prepubescent in appearance though he was nearly twenty seven. His thin blond hair fell to his shoulders and was tied back at all times by a satin ribbon, as men's fashions were favoring these days. His lips were thin as horizontal lines and his nose was a long, narrow slope perfectly set mid face. He was severe and almost beautiful until you looked into his eyes. Also unlike his sister's Emerald spheres, Edwin's eyes were coal black, and flat as uncorked ale. He was a piteous soul and a harsh master to the servants. His only true credit was that he was far beyond scholarly. He was rather clever, really. This was how he had come across an ancient prophecy and learned of Lord and Noble Aelfric Cromwell who was well beyond his senior. "Just lead me to him and I will be raised to a position of honor and glory in the eyes of all!" Edwin muttered, tracing one boney finger over the map of speculated sites where Cromwell may be dwelling. Maharani brushed her hair, having washed herself and put on fresh clothing. Why had she run? She loved Aelfric, she could not deny the feeling that welled up inside of her at the site of his sorrowful face, nor could she ignore the ache in her arms as she longed to hold him. But, she also could not deny that the realization of what he was and site of those pearl white scythes in his mouth wrought terror in her. The more she thought it over, the more she shook with rage at her own cowardice. He'd been living hundreds of lifetimes alone, chasing her, and she was a little frightened? She slammed down the brush in her hand, shattering the ivory handle. The pure bone white ornament shattered to dust with the force of her anger and was gone in a draft as soon as she unclenched her fist. She had to go back. Ripping off her night dress she slid into her riding gown. It was time to end this cycle of ignorant reincarnations. Edwin had known his sister would try and go quietly, but what he had not expected was for Maharani to slip out of their home the same night she had returned. He'd expected her to need more time to let the shock ware off and her pathetic female emotions overcome her senses. When the Captain of the guard appeared at the door of Edwin's quarters and announced that the Lady had retreated from the grounds, Edwin was taken aback, and grabbed his traveling cloak with no hesitation. "Ready my horse and fetch me my tool satchel please, Luxton." The horse's feet crashed like thunder on the stones that lay embedded on the old dirt road, the beast's legs churning faster and faster beneath it. Maharani lay flattened to the animal's back, leaning forward and urging him on. "Please, Horris, you must make haste!" she bid him. Suddenly the horse reared, throwing her from his back. As Maharani picked herself up on her elbows, sweeping her curls from in front of her eyes, she saw Horris' front hooves come plummeting back down, straight for the center of her chest. Just as Maharani tried to throw her arm up in a feeble defense, a flash of sleek shadow flitted out of the forest's edge, stepping between her and the Horse. Horris whinnied; backing up a few frantic steps, his head tossed this way and that on the length of sinewy, slender, glistening black neck. He turned and galloped away, crying into the night. "They always sense me coming, and they don't like it much. You Milady are going to have a very empty stable if you and I keep meeting like this." Aelfric stated coolly, turning his sparkling eyes to Maharani. "Where are the others?" He asked. She looked at him, confusion evident in her gaze. "Others?" "What? No stakes, no torches and pitchforks? You don't have a vial of Holy Water hidden in the valley of your bosom?" He asked incredulously. Maharani gathered her skirts and stood up, bringing herself chest-to-chest with Aelfric and with an indignant 'humph' brought the palm of her hand crashing against his alabaster cheek. "That's nothing to accuse the love of your after lives of, dearest." She seethed in a reproachful tone before grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to her, full force as her lips crashed against his, her chest heaving with a sigh of gratification. Maharani's head began to feel light, her mind spinning recklessly as her lips entwined with Aelfric's. In her passion, she failed to realize that she had slid her tongue across the dangerous stalactites hanging from his gums, and those deadly fangs had drawn the tiniest sliver across her tongue. The stinging didn't call her attention until she tasted the coppery, saltine taste of her own blood. Aelfric tasted it as well, and nearly went mad suckling her tongue and trying to unlace her dress. Maharani pushed him back slowly. "Wait, dearest. Not here. My brother... Well, if he's found me out he'll be looking for me and the forest is no place for us to be seen." Aelfric nodded at her reasoning, his chest still heaving in his excitement. He grabbed Maharani and held her tightly. Suddenly from his back, his cloak split in two, a pair of gigantic appendages ascending to the heavens from beneath it. They were wings, about ten feet long a piece, and black as ebony. They were smooth and silky, like the fur of a bat. Maharani's eyes widened. Aelfric coiled the muscles in his legs, and propelling himself upward, took flight. It was merely minutes before the two of them were landing safely on his doorstep, Aelfric hoisting Maharani into his arms and kicking the front door in as if it were nothing. The servants did not materialize as he carried her down the hall. He went to the tapestry Gertie had taken Maharani through earlier, only once on the other side, Aelfric took the set of stairs that went down... Edwin snarled in disgust as he wandered the empty wastelands that were rumored to be the ceremonial pulpits of the Children of The Night. Nothing. No ashes, no burning torches, not a single sign of this Undead Lord that would bring him unrivaled amounts of prestige, fame, and the title of a hero. "Once I have my hands on the last vampire, I will live more highly than the king himself!" Edwin murmured. He straightened the map he had been clenching and looked over the spots he had marked. He had narrowed Cromwell's hideout down to three places in the whole land, and he was now down by one. He took off into the night. His next target was the old cemetery on the other side of the god forsaken farmland he was now traveling. The horse he road understood what a fiercely important task this was and drove on with vigor. He would have his glory. Aelfric burst through the door at the bottom of the flight of stairs, still cradling Maharani in his arms. She looked around his room, gasping in surprise. The whole room was draped in silk! Black and red and gold silk, just like her room upstairs only far more elaborate. The floor was black velvet and the only light came from a hanging chandelier of lively, lit candles directly over where Aelfric must sleep. It was not a bed he intended to seduce her to. Of course, how could she have forgotten!? A gigantic black coffin lay open in the middle of the room, lined with black silk. He laid her gently down in the gigantic casket and hopped effortlessly in beside her. "Made for two." He whispered enchantingly into her ear. Maharani couldn't recall when it had happened, but there was no sign of Aelfric's wings as he unclasped the brooch at his neck, his cloak slinking from his hand to the floor outside the coffin. Maharani's breasts heaved in her efforts to breathe. Aelfric's grin gleamed in the flickering candle light. "Relax love; the worst is over for you." He whispered. Maharani's half lidded eyes flew open and burned straight into Aelfric's. He simply grinned at her in his sultry manner and continued trying to remove his tunic. His lithe body rippled in the soft yellow glow as he knelt over Maharani. "I'm already...did you...?" Maharani sat straight up as she recalled all of what had happened before she blacked out in the cemetery. "I've been one of them... you for all this time and I didn't realize it?" she queried in a small, confused voice. "You see, dearest, you aren't really a Vampire yet. That is lying dormant in you right now. It's sort of like, oh I do not know how to put this...there's still a lever I must pull, so to speak, before you are mine for eternity." Maharani looked at Aelfric questioningly. "A Lever?" She asked. He nodded, his grin broadening. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body flush against his and pressing his knee up between her thighs, lifting her skirts as he slowly dragged his knee higher until it was pressed against the dampened crotch of her bloomers. "You must bite me. I have bitten you and you have fed from me, but you must be the one to bite me when you feed or else the powers will not take you as they should." He murmured into Maharani's ear. His lips brushed her ear lobe as he kissed her neck softly. With a swift, nearly unnoticeable motion he ripped off her knickers, tossing them over the edge of the casket. His fingers unlaced the bodice of her gown effortlessly, pulling the cloth open down it's center and revealing her pert, puckered nipples to his gaze. As Aelfric finally disposed of the last of Maharani's clothing, watching intently as she worked on his, he asked her the question that would seal her fate. "There is one more catch to this odd coupling we are part of, my love. You must tell me that you want my love, or else you will not have eternity. You will merely be an undead corpse with a ravenous appetite for the arterial delights." Maharani finished removing every last bit of Aelfric's clothing and pulled him down on top of her, their bodies meeting chest to chest, Aelfric falling between her spread thighs with his lithe hips. "If you do not take me now I shall walk out that door and join a Brothel." She whimpered. "Good Enough." Aelfric reasoned, hooking his arms under her thighs and positioning his hard tool against the velveteen folds of Maharani's virginity. "There will be blood." Aelfric warned her, looking into her eyes. For the first time Maharani could see the tenderness within him. The edge his gaze normally possessed dissipated and left him with a soft, loving look in his eye as he met her gaze. "I know." Maharani answered, cupping his cheek in her warm hand. The frigidity of his skin was leaving him the more he and Maharani were joined. Either that or her warmth was leaving her, she could not tell, but the gap of contrast was closing rapidly. Without warning Aelfric pressed his hips forward, pausing briefly as he came to Maharani's barrier. She leaned up, her hand snaking to the back of his head and her fingers tangling in his hair, and she pulled him down to meet her lips. His mouth did not meet hers, oh no, instead she went for his neck, the delicious beating of his blood pulsing beneath his skin roiled under her lips and she felt herself begin to change. The power was moving into her body, taking over and she was changing rapidly. Without realizing she pushed her hips upward, crashing them against Aelfric. A sharp, almost pleasant pain rocked her whole body and in that instant, the wicked curves growing in Maharani's mouth sank into Aelfric's neck. The warm coppery liquid spilled over her tongue, flowing down her throat as she drank. Aelfric gasped in wonder, feeling his needs utterly fulfilled. He froze as the realizations flooded his mind. No more running, no more deceit or fighting or searching. No more elaborate plans. He had his love, his mate and his wife. He was finally complete. As Maharani suckled gently at the punctures in Aelfric's neck, he began to pull his hard cock back, bringing himself out until only the head of his hard-on was resting at Maharani's entrance. He slammed himself back into her wet warmth up to the hilt for the first of many times, his back and buttocks muscles rippling as he pumped in and out of her. His mate. He felt alive for the first time in centuries. He felt warmth and flesh that he was not feeding on for his own life, but to create another. He dipped his head to Maharani's upturned face as she finished tenderly licking his wounded neck, and kissed her. Their tongues collided in a heated battle, rubbing and pressing and their lips pulled at one another. Aelfric could taste his blood mixed with her saliva, and nothing ever tasted so good. His hand left her thigh, leaving hooked around his hip, and traveled between their bodies to her breasts. He began to fondle her, squeezing and cupping her breasts as they bounced with every thrust Aelfric made into her body. "I can't hold out." Maharani groaned, whimpering gently with every thrust. Aelfric plunged into her one last time, sinking his dick into her as he sank his teeth into her throat, feeding on her waning humanity. The orgasm that rocked their entwined bodies was not merely an internal reaction; the room began to shake with the power that was exchanged between the two lovers. As the ancient power of the Lord of The Children of The Dark was given to Maharani from Aelfric, the ability to feel and love completely and to feel human emotion was strengthened in Aelfric's heart by Maharani's dying mortality. As his seed left him and pooled in her womb, Aelfric knew that his love must rest for a while, she had just died and been reborn and was now forming another undead life, even as she lay sleeping. He kissed her eyelids and pulled the heavy cover from the foot of the tremendous coffin and covered his love. Hurrying, he then dressed. He had not told her this, but Aelfric knew it would only be a matter of hours before he faced the first fight to protect his new found happiness, and the prophecy did not say if he would win or not... The mist rose steadily as Edwin rode into the cemetery. His body tingled with anticipation. He could absolutely feel the nearness of Aelfric Cromwell. Dismounting the horse, Edwin began to search on foot. He strode arrogantly down the path which led deeper into the graveyard until he was amongst the old vaults, dank and gray with age and mist from the deepening night. Edwin sensed he was close, so close to Cromwell he could almost point right at where he was. His body was compelled to the right, off the cobbled stone walk way through the maze of vaults and over the grassy knoll, through a less structured gathering of old vaults. There, built into a rock facing at the edge of the woods was a large stone vault. Its giant metal doors were banged and rusted, the bolts nearly invisible beneath the years of oxidation. The entire structure was laden in decay and covered in moss and winding strands of creeping vines. As Edwin approached the vault, he felt his heart begin to race, pounding mercilessly inside his chest as adrenaline coursed through him. This was it. "I have you now, you blood thirsty daemon!" he hissed. Silently, Edwin pulled a long, thick stake of wood from the satchel he held in his left hand, dropping it and grabbing the brass ring on the vault doors. As he braced himself to heave on the massive doors, Edwin felt a stir of air just behind him. As he turned, he saw nothing but a flash of black before he found himself lying on his back in the mist-damp grass. Perched atop one of the vaults in front of him, Edwin saw a shape shrouded in black, like a man crouched with wings raised toward the full yellow moon. "And so you come for me, Lord Edwin?" Aelfric said in a soft, icy tone. Edwin staggered to his feet, an unbelievable pain rippling through his left side. He felt his ribs scrape and crunch beneath his twitching muscles. He'd already taken a hit and he had not even been prepared. The stake was a few yards away now, lying on the ground just feet below Aelfric's perch, having been knocked away when Edwin was hit. "What do you want to prove, Edwin? I have already won. I have your sister as my bride..." Aelfric stood and simply stepped off the edge of the vault, floating weightlessly down to the ground. He walked forward until he was toe to toe with Edwin. "She is with child after tonight, for sure. You can not have the last vampire. There are now three. You would not kill your own sister, surely?" "I will kill all of your kind, no matter who they are. My blood or not my blood, Maharani now thirsts for the very thing that relates us. If she must die, she must." Edwin spat at Aelfric's feet. Aelfric reached out and grabbed Edwin violently by the lapel of his tunic. Suddenly, a sharp pain coursed through Aelfric's side. Looking down, he saw Edwin's hand wrapped about the handle dagger that was buried clean up to the hilt in Aelfric's side. It was just enough of a distraction for Edwin to sweep Aelfric's feet from under him and tumble to his own knees, grabbing the stake that lie close by. He turned back and raised the stake to strike, only to find the dagger stuck straight into the ground, with no signs of Aelfric. Edwin turned frantically to find Aelfric behind him, rearing back for a kick to Edwin's hunched midsection. Edwin grabbed Aelfric's foot as it swung through the air, sending Aelfric falling onto his back, Edwin coming up quickly above him, the searing pain in his already injured side not a deterrent at all. As Edwin raised the stake and Aelfric took the breath he believed would be his last, a sickening 'Crack!' echoed through the graveyard, bouncing off of the stone vaults and tombstones. Edwin's neck snapped beneath the blow of the tombstone, and he collapsed, keeling over as the stake fell from his lifeless hand and was lost in the grass. There stood Maharani, a broken tombstone in her hands which were yet raised above her shoulder, ready to make another swing. "I really never liked him much anyhow." She muttered, dropping the stone as she gave one last distasteful kick at her brother's slowly chilling body. Somewhere in a giant house with a giant domed room, a book of prophecy wrote its final page and shut, to be opened again at a later date to ensure the knowledge of the great rebirth of The Children of The Darkness would be known by all Vampires when their time came.