Carpe Noctum

Disclaimer: Still not mine, I tried to catch them at the artist's exit, but didn't succeed. Roman Polanski's.

A/N: Dedicated to Victoria. I can't thank her enough for the wonderful tip she gave us! You're amazing you know that? This story is going to have approximately ten chapters, I really hope to pull it of this time and reviews would really help me to keep on writing. It will only take you half a minute of your life, I'm already happy with a: "Good job". Critic is appreciated, but please no flaming.

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He had to escape! This was all a dream, a bad dream… a nightmare. Alfred tried to open his eyes but his lids didn't comply and stayed closed, scenes playing out in the darkness. Showing him things that he didn't want to see. Sarah was there, they danced, it was perfect but deep inside he could feel the dark treat lurking in the night. Just out of their sight. He was looking at her, but she was moving around and he couldn't keep his eyes on her. Like a fairy she flitted from one side to the other, sometimes disappearing completely.

His previous bad feeling proved to be correct when out of nowhere a man appeared, long dark hair falling down his back. The vampire's eyes were so dark that for a moment Alfred thought he would fall into their depths and never get up again. A little voice in the back of his mind told him that this black vampire was the Count von Krolock but he didn't want to think about that. It scared him even more… he just had to save Sarah. She was being pulled from his arms by the vampire. He ran after them but he didn't seem to get any closer. He wanted to scream her name but no sound came out of his throat.

When he managed to get her out of the vampire's grip he thought it was over. But what followed was a cat-and-mouse game between the three of them. Sarah was in his arms, and back with the vampire. Then he himself was tugged into an iron embrace. He saw Sarah stretching out her hand to him but she was chased away. Alfred could sense the vampire's breath in his neck now and the low hissing sound that send shivers down his spine. Lips and teeth caressed his skin and then the vampire struck.

When the vampire bit him it was like he could physically feel the pain, as if he could feel the blood pumping to the gaping hole in his neck and streaming out into the vampire's mouth. He screamed until he couldn't scream anymore, but still he didn't wake up. He stopped struggling and let himself fall back against the dark man.

Once the last drop of blood left his neck, he fell to the floor. Almost immediately he could feel soft hands on his face. Sarah's hands. The soft, salty tears that fell on his face told him that she was crying.

After a while his strength began to return to him and he managed to stand up. Looking at his only love scared him.. She was still beautiful, but that beauty was enhanced by the sweet smell coming from her. The smell of fresh blood running through young veins.

They danced again, and with each step it became more and more difficult to keep his teeth out of her neck. He wanted to have a taste, but he wouldn't be the first. His master, the dark vampire, wanted the first sip of her delicious blood. He heard it, like a voice speaking inside his head.

He tried to calm Sarah down by smiling at her before lifting her up. Her eyes sparkled, she didn't know what was going to happen to her and for a moment he wanted to put her down and tell her to save herself. But something stopped him. He could feel the pair of eyes in his back and he turned around.

The count's son was standing there, looking at him. His eyes were lighter as his father's, just like his hair. The long silver locks that looked like strands of an angel's hair. The young man forced him to bring Sarah forward where the black vampire was waiting, with just one look. And so he did.

As soon as he got the girl in his hands the vampire attacked. He bit her neck with such fury that he seemed like a wild animal. A predator that could only act on instincts. There was so much blood. Alfred screamed again.

With a start he sat up in his bed. He could feel the soft mattress and the blankets that were clammy with sweat. Alfred was shivering from head to toe as he thought of his nightmare. It had been so real that he could've sworn that his teeth were longer and that he was still hungry for blood. That Sarah was dead.

Tears of desperation started trickling down his cheeks and once he had begun crying there was no stopping anymore. He hiccupped through his tears, the dark still vast around him.

Then, a hand touched his face and Alfred backed away, shocked. He tried to make out the person to whom the hand belonged to but he couldn't see a thing. Again his tears were wiped away by the soft, cool hand. The gesture made him cry even more and the next thing he knew there were arms around him, holding him tight. The person sang a soft tune under their breath and let him cry until he hadn't any tears left.

The melody reminded him of the song Sarah had sung when she bathed. Three high notes, sounding clear as a bell. She was still here, she was here to comfort him and tell him that there was nothing to be scared of.

The voice eventually shushed him to sleep and the person held him until he was fully in the land of dreams before lowering him onto the bed again. A soft sigh, accompanied by the brush of cool lips against his brow were the last things he noticed.

When Alfred woke up again it was morning. A golden sun illuminated the room but there was no trace of the person who had calmed him down. He was certain now that it had been Sarah. She was the only one who could sing like that. He was sure that she had heard him scream and wanted to take care of him just like he wanted to take care of her.

His feeling of happiness was quickly diminished when the Professor announced that they were going to explore the castle and find the crypt where the vampires were resting. He tried to protest, to convince his mentor that it was really unnecessary and that they shouldn't act without thinking. But the old man had already left. When Alfred found him again he was walking on a high bridge and excitedly pointing at two sarcophagi.

Of course the young student ruined the whole 'mission', but upon seeing the vampires, thoughts of his nightmare came back to him and he didn't have the strength to drive a stake trough their hearts. He just couldn't. The count didn't look any less threatening in his sleep, and his son no less angelic.

The Professor gave him a scolding for being a weak and unprofessional assistant, and he had no choice but to apologise. There was no way that he was going to kill a vampire, as much as he wanted to… he couldn't just take a life, even if it was an undead life.