Chapter 4.

By:R.G.F

The loud crash of metal hitting the floor had woken Delphine up. She shot up and immidiately turned her attention to the direction of the crash. Delphine noticed one of her employees standing in the doorway. She was in tears, "Ma'am you've returned safely." The employee cried out. She ran to Delphine's bedside. "Of course I am safe I've been here haven't I." Delphine said. She had thought that the few nights that she had spent with The stranger were just to odd to be real.

"No Ma'am. You have been missing for two weeks. No one could find you anywhere. The police wouldn't do anything. Every one had given up hope, but not I ma'am I knew that you would return to us. I prayed to God for your safe return." The employee said. She wraped her arms around Delphine. Delphine was confused; even if the time she had spent with The stranger wasn't a dream she knew that it was only a few nights. "You can stop crying now I am fine." Delphine said. She tried to pull the employee off of her, but the employee was persistent. "Ma'am these are not tears of sorrow. They are of joy to see you again." The employee said.

"Yes well either way it's making it awkward." Delphine said. The employee released Delphine from her grip. "This makes no sense I was only with him for a day or two how did it turn into two weeks?" Delphine asked herself. The employee gasped at Delphine. "You were with him." The employee said. Delphine ignored the woman's remark. Delphine stood up on her feet. "You say I was missing right?" Delphine asked. The employee nodded. Delphine noticed that her foot didn't hurt. There was no way that her ankle could have healed in just two weeks.

In a crazed panic Delphine jumped on the edge of her bed. "Do you have any idea what this means. If in fact all that has happened to me isn't a dream?" Delphine said. The employee shock her head. "Neither do I." Delphine said. "I don't like not knowing things. Especially when I should know them." Delphine said. The employee grew uneasy in the presence of Delphine's crazed moment. " I don't suppose many people do." The employee said. "Quite so." Delphine said. She dismissed her employee so that she could be alone.

Delphine sat up in her room all day. She was thinking about the past two weeks. She was trying to piece the moments that she could remember. She continued to do so until she heard a knock by her window sill. She got up and opened the window. On the other side of it was The stranger. He was wearing the new face that she had seen in what she thought was her dream. Sshe stood at her window whispering to herself 'How could this be real?'. The stranger had let himself in.

"If this is real then you really are a monster." She said. The stranger chuckled at her remark. He seemed to think that it was a humorious question. "Of course I am I thought we went through this." The stranger said. He gave Delphine an odd look. "Yes well you're simply going to have to forgive me I seemed to have mistaked reality with imagination." She said. She toke a seat at the foot of her bed where he soon joined her.

" So the Noble's, You really ate them?" She asked. The stranger nodded with a thirsty grin on his face. "Are you here to eat me then?" Delphine asked. The stranger put his hand on Delphine's face to move her neck closer to his lips. "Not quite." He said, he kissed her neck and let go of her face. "You see I recall our carrage crashing. It killed the couchman and all the horses. That's why you were out for two weeks, and now it seems that you don't remember a thing. What a pity." He said. Delphine sat at the edge of her bed. She was lost in the sea of her thoughts. She desired to know the mannor of creature that The stranger was. Was he like the monsters that she was told to fear?

"That's why I chose you." The stranger said. Delphine looked at The stranger with an odd look on her face; it was confusion. "I have met many brave souls in my journeys. All have coward in the face of my true nature. That is all but you." He said. He toke her hand in his. "What manor of creature are you?" Delphine asked. The stranger grinned at her. "I am an old creature sometihng that the church called a vampire. A damned creature, who shall one day be returned to the devil who created me." He said. "You see I was once human like yourself many years ago. Now I have no heart to keep my blood warm or to keep my skin living like your's." He said.

Delphine stood up and paced the floor in thoughts. Her steady silence fasinated The stranger further. He watched every step she toke, sitting on the edge of his seat ready to pounce like a preditor. "Why?" Delphine asked. She turned around to face him. "Why?" The stranger asked her. He asked as if he didn't think delphine was ready for a proper response. "If you are truely a vampire. Why do you spend your time with a poor liar like myself?" She asked. The stranger stood behind her. He stroked her blonde hair. "Time means nothing to me. Nor do lies; on the contrairy I find them enjoyible to pick at." He said.

"Then you must want something from me then surely." Delphine said. The stranger tilted his head when he head her remark. "I want nothing more than to watch you grow and marry. Maybe even have chrildren of your own where I will continue to watch them in their lives. " He said. Delphine chuckled at his remark. " Your immortal time must mean little to you if you want to watch me." she said. The stranger held up his hand so that she would be silent.

"As I recall, before the carrage crashed regretfully. I had asked you what you wanted. Do you know what it is you told me that made you more irresistible to me?" He asked. Delphine turned to face him; her eyes widened. "You told me that you wanted to own it all. everything from pennyless pubs to wealthy mansons that only the rich could afford." He said. The smile on his face revealed his fangs. "I want to watch you grow up to accomplish this desire of yours on your own." He said. Delphine chuckled at him. "Then let's enjoy the show while it lasts my dear sweet Count." She said. she held out her hand, and The stranger toke it.