We walked in silence for the longest time, it wasn't comfortable but it wasn't awkward either. The areas he walked me through were dark; few servants passed us, bowing and curtsying to their Dracula. Some I noted looked especially frightened by his presence, others more comforted and pleased.
They smiled widely at me, giving curious glances once they saw my attire. I'd blush and follow hastily after Octavianus, who would grin warmly down at me as he paced onward.
Occasionally he would stop and point to a painting mounted upon the wall. Some paintings he explained were of the fallen Dracula, or of great places such as France and Spain or London and Italy. Even some exotic locations like the Amazon were depicted in the cast frames.
Most of the photos were of dragons or of Octavianus and Ekaterina. Others portrayed other of The Undying, at these photos Octavianus would pause and blow a kiss from his fingertips.
He led me down a familiar hall; on the high ceiling was a breath taking picture of a dragon. It's scales golden and shimmering like its vivid wine coloured eyes-that were actual real rubies-and diamond looking claws that stretched for meters. It's tail went on for the entire length of a single corridor, before we got to it's body.
"Now, my dear, I leave you." Octavianus grinned, crossed his leg before himself, his hand flat on his stomach as he bowed to me. He took my hand in his and kissed, before departing back down the hall. I looked away for one second and by the time I'd looked back, he had vanished.
Smiling to myself, I turned around to discover a large familiar door. I reached for the small, decorated oval handle and pushed it wide. Winding marble stairs lead me deeper and deeper into the castle's infinite belly.
Once I was finally at the bottom, I found myself in a bathroom that could have been the size of my entire front yard. Mirrors lined the entire south wall as well as the north and east; the west bore a colossal golden rack of crimson towels.
While in the center of the room, built into the floor was a grand circular bath tub. It swallowed up the majority of the floor and could have been built for ten people.
Steam curled off the bubbling pond, scarlet coloured rose petals had been showered over the glassy water giving the ice clear pool, a glorious crimson tint.
It smelt of steam, my skin growing sticky in the moist atmosphere. Yet a floral, almost mesmerizing scent moved about the air, stirring and teasing sleepy senses. The soft caress of jasmine and rose petals spread over me, the smell enticing and seductive.
Above the gigantic tub, hanging from the ceiling was a twisting garnet curtain. It never made contact with the water although it hung barely a breath away from the pond, swaying at the command of the steam.
I noticed speckles of gold twisted within the dark drapes, matching the tiled floors I stood on. They were warm beneath my sticky toes; the floor was entirely white though I could see the lightest hint of gold winding through the wide tiles.
"Are those for me?" I wondered aloud, catching sight of the clothing folded beside the tub. I enclosed the alluring water to gather the fabrics in my hands. I held a thick red towel, a matching burgundy robe, undergarments, a long white sundress-which seemingly showed more skin than my mother would ever allow. As well as a pair of black slippers and two onyx hair pins.
Peering questioningly around the room, I peeled off my night gown and listened in the stillness of rippling water and sweet scented steam, as it fell to the floor. Carefully, I stepped into the tub, trembling as the warmth of the water called to me through my skin.
I continued to wade into the shallow pond, petals swishing across the water as waves began to cover it's clear surface. It felt like I was sitting in a pool of satin, the warmth of the tub was enough to lull me to sleep if I allowed it.
I breathed in the fascinating aroma greedily, gulping up more than a fair amount of the sugary air around me. My skin drank the water so covetously, my fingers moving over the soft ripples of the tub. My hands moved over my arms, over the velvety smoothness of my skin beneath the water.
I sunk into the water until it was only my chin resting on the ease of the waves. I could feel my mind drifting, my body floating as I hushed into my own serenity. Sighing as I fell deep into the abyss of my imagination, into a bed of flowers all protected by their thorns.
Of a warm rain that tasted as sweet as sugar and felt as good as satin. I breathed the gentle waves surrounding me, letting them learn the beat of my heart.
I dreamt I was in a field, an empty grassland full of swaying green. The sky above me with littered with glowing stars, the field submerged under water. The moon casting shadows across the openness giving it an even more under-the-sea appeal.
I stood alone in the grassland, the tall rocking arms of the grass lapped at my ankles and knees. A light breeze flew over my field, bringing with it the scent of roses and a swelling stream.
Extending my arms, I felt the night's air curve around my bare skin, pull through my short hair, to send it winding and whispering around my face.
My hands ran over the gentle blades, knotting and twisting in the cool grass as I ambled through.
Opening my eyes again, I discovered the gorgeous bathroom and the luxurious tub. Unwilling to leave as I drew from the waving grassland and the enchanted petals. I slid into the robe, tying it tightly around me, when suddenly a pain stabbed into my back.
Worse than the bruises, worse than Dorian's fangs, worse than Eliani's punching and kicking, and by far worse than the stones she threw at me. With a raspy gasp I fell to the tiles, teary eyed again as I undid the knot I had just tied.
A small screech flew through my lips as the stinging made its way around me. Coiling from the base of the left side of my back and, up around my waist.
I clutched my robe as I cried; it felt like thousands of dull nails were being hammered into my skin all at once. Yelping I ground my teeth together as it slashed its way from my left side, around my waist and up my chest.
Falling on to my side, I felt my body convulsing as the throbbing ache grew upward inside of me. Formed under my skin like a flesh eating monster, until it had forked three slim paths, half way up my back.
My nails grated across the tiles, as I rolled over gasping as I turned over on to a bed of needles. Each a meter long as they broke through my back, fought through my bones with effortlessness and right out the front of me.
Curling into a ball I bit on to the corner of my robe, the fabric tasting sweet on my waggling tongue. I gnashed my teeth together until it hurt, until my entire jaw throbbing in agony.
Gasping, I felt it succumb, the pain seeping into my pores. And with one final bash of torture my world became night.
I couldn't have been out for very long, because when I awoke no one had come for me yet. No one had even heard my cries. I lie in the same position as when I had blacked out, but all of the pain had been vanquished.
Sleepily, I forced myself up, like my body was full of bricks it took me a moment to gather the strength to even rise to my knees. The floor behind me had been soiled with blood, and as I removed my robe with shaky hands I realized it was my own.
My stomach threw itself into my throat in disgust, causing me to gag and wrench away from the scene. My eyelids were stiff and my eyes hurt from all of my crying. What had happened? Everything had been so perfect, and then the moment I'd gotten out hell rose from the ashes.
I pushed my robe away, freezing when I saw myself. In the far mirror I could make out something on my skin, something dark. Without hesitation I scrambled to my feet and ran to meet my reflection.
"Oh my god." I choked. They were everywhere. The vines and the roses they were….all over me. They moved as one consistent design across my body, they came around the right side of my waist, traveled over my chest and finally stopped between my neck and right shoulder. But that wasn't all…
As I turned, I could see it really had begun at the base of my back, the violent vines moving all over me; some staggered up the middle of my back and stopped. But they all seemed to be twisting around my hips and veered down my right thigh, before continuing up my torso.
They were the same rough roses and toothed vines as Dorian's. Now that I thought about it, mine ended where his began. And his had come up his left side while mine were on my right.
They were amazing. Just like his.
It had hurt me so badly, and Dorian had slept right through the whole thing. He'd been so serene, and I felt as if I was dying. As if every part of my soul had been slaughtered, in the most gruesome way humanly possible.
How could something so horrific create something so beautiful?
Then it hit me, I would never be able to enter my mother's house like this. She'd beat me to death-and that isn't an exaggeration. As I left the mirrors I stumbled toward the stack of clothes I'd found, never once making eye contact with the mess I'd made.
I took the dress in my clammy fingers. I was careful and slow with all my motions to keep from provoking the monster beneath my flesh. Gently I brought the dress over my hips and up, it was another strapless a crimson edging making the curve of my chest. This one had no back, merely three red strands fastened around my back.
I had to wonder if these markings had been predicted, perhaps this was to show them off. Could Octavianus have known this was going to happen? I didn't doubt it.
Red ribbons wrapped around the waist line of the dress, acting as a belt. Two thick white bands were also coiled around me, hanging like a short train down the back of my legs.
I could see the vines still as they climbed out from the chest of my dress, the small show of a rose petal interweaved in front of them. They reached for my shoulders; some managed just a touch to the top of my shoulder, plummeting partially down my bicep where a rose took form.
Taking the clips I felt myself ogle distractedly at them for a moment. Seeing my shaking, wide-eyed body as these symbols claimed my skin, in every little chisel in the stones. Shaking my head I closed my eyes and began pulling few strands back.
My hair spiked out at the back because of the shortness, and the way I had it was held in the pins, but I liked it. I liked the uniqueness of the style.
My gaze wandered curiously to the clump of clothing on the floor. The burgundy robe was stained with blood, a trail smeared behind where it lay, like the depressing remains from a slug.
Chewing the inside of my lip I avoided the pile, hustling myself out of the room. Embarrassedly I climbed the stairs, nearly walking straight into Korra, one of the maids.
She gasped staggering back away from me as her hands flew to her lips. A stack of cleaning utensils clattered to the floor as her brown gaze crossed my marred skin.
"Oh!" I said, trying to subdue a raging blush as I kneeled to the wood to gather her things. "I'm sorry." I added collecting the bottle of bleach and the few rags, my nose wrinkled as I smelt the thick scent of ammonia.
My throat tightened as I fixed my eyes back on Korra. Her hands firmly clutched a small silver crucifix draping around her neck, hidden under the collar of her uniform.
I sighed examining the black ciphers that decoded themselves over my body, labelling me as the property of whoever yielded my marks.
Of course, Korra had been at every beckoning whim of my family for the past thirty years. She knew as well as anyone else who it was that had stated such prettily fashioned claim.
"You-you'll be in a great deal of trouble if anyone sees that." I whispered, shoving her tools into her chest and treading away. My legs moved quickly, whether it was mortification or just straight disapproval I felt, my body wanted to leave just as much as I did.
"I pray for you." She answered suddenly, her accent heavy as she spoke, as if she was going to be overruled by sobs. I glanced over my shoulder at her, my arms wrapping defensively around myself as I continued down the hall.
Great, I thought, more indignity for my conscience to carry, thank-you. I ran my fingers through my messily sorted bangs, my arm snapping back against my chest like an elastic band as I encroached a large group.
A commotion had begun to stir within the crowd, many of the servants appeared frightened and appalled. Intrigued, I rushed my pace; the scuffle of my slippers though weren't enough to draw their horrified eyes.
I could hear a voice, an angry….inhuman…..thirsty…. "Dorian?" My voice cracked, my eyes bulging as my stride broke, my dress swept around my legs as I looked through the assembly.
The curtains had been sloppily drawn in this one of the many living quarters where he stood. Sunlight fought to make it through the thickly weaved material of the drapes, able to slash across the floor enough to light the room a little.
My stomach heaved as a trembling hand rose to cover my lips. Dorian stood shirtless, our ebony emblem shown distinctly as it intermingled vastly over his back.
The body he held in his hands was limp, wearing the same refined and sophisticated burgundy uniform as the other servants. Her head fell backward, her throat exposed and horribly disfigured.
His one arm was locked around her waist as if he thought we were going to try and take her from him. While the other had been the death of her, his fingers tangled deeply in her black hair, his long pale claws protruding from her dark locks.
Her eyes were open still, glassy with the loss of life, wide with a frozen trauma. A streak of red slid down her dead cheek, falling upwards as her head drooped. Elisabeta.
My breath choked itself off, Dorian's arms flexed, the muscle that had been so well hidden showing for a moment. His blue veins filled with the blood of his victim, coursed happily throughout his flexing body, and his face.
My hand slid from my lips to the right side of my throat. I could not feel them, but that did not mean they weren't there. The bite marks. From the mouth I had been kissing earlier. Had I truly forgotten what he really was? What he was becoming?
Dorian turned his head to peer over his shoulder, his red eyes stabbing through the throng of witnesses and into me. My heart, I could have sworn, had stopped beating for at least three entire seconds.
His mouth was brutally stained with the blood of the poor girl. His lips parted to suck in a ragged breath, his pearly white teeth tainted by a terrifying crimson. His fangs dripped, his tongue lapping hungrily over them in a swift blink of an eye.
The body seemed to thud against the carpet before it actually landed. I couldn't swallow, afraid that whatever went down would surely come back up.
"And you love him?" Shouted Aurora, held in the arms of another maid as she wept. I jumped up my eyes parting with Dorian to fix on her, tears of my own rounding my cheeks.
I didn't answer, turning on my heels and wheeling in the other direction. Don't go! Plead Dorian through my head, my fingers digging into my ears as if I could plug his voice out.
But what I saw of him, over my shoulder did not look like the hurt voice I had heard. Instead he stormed through the group. "Pick this up." He ordered, thrusting a finger directly at Aurora, the girl wailing in her friend's embrace.
His walk was nearly invisible, and I was sprinting. He was lightening fast even when I thought I was going a mile a minute. Blood curved around his chin, his hair hanging in his face as he engaged in my pursuit.
"Don't look back! Don't look back!" I repeated frantically between wheezes. I had no idea where I was going, and still I couldn't stop myself. Never in my life had I wanted to be away from Dorian. Never had I been so truly, profoundly afraid of him.
I ran until I'd reached a door, grunting as I leaned against it, my arms shook as if I was trying to push over an elephant. Slithering through the crack I opened, I came out into the yard.
I could see nothing that wasn't green, nothing that wasn't a tree or a boulder or a garden. The immensity of the lawn made me feel like a child lost in a sea of adults, completely and wholeheartedly lost. I was an ant compared to this huge world.
I grinned to myself looking at the thick wooden door behind me, lined with golden latches and hooks. He couldn't come beyond that door.
Then…like I'd run full tilt into a brick wall, it came into my grasps. There was no sun.
My head tilted back to gape up at the tall interlacing branches and leaves. Not a single ray shone through the throng of jade, I was surrounded by darkness, shadows and obscurity. My throat constricted as I dropped my chin at the rustle of a bush, the grass leaned against the light breeze whisking by.
My eyes rounded, my heart rushing within me boom, boom, boom, boom. I caught glimpse of something grey, but only a glimpse nothing more than a shadow amongst the darkness.
I felt a ripple of goose-bumps bubble up over my arms and legs, the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight. A whimper lodged itself in the back of my throat, a shriek beginning to develop in the base of my gut.
I saw a flicker of red eyes, and before I'd had a moment to collect my next breath a wolf was lunging from the darkness. A blur of grey fur and jagged teeth and black claws whizzed through the air, as I set loose a screech.
My eyes closed firmly, my hands stretched out before me as if I could push it away. I'd managed to duck ever so slightly, but, the wolf, it never came.
My heart galloped radically behind my ribs, and slowly regretfully I began reopen my horribly curious eyes. I stared into someone's back, the identity I'd already known, even before I'd peeked, I was sure.
Pale skin blighted by perspiration, the furious pattern of glorious vines and scattered petals dampened, by his body's rain. Dark brown hair lay around the back of his neck, straining to touch his shoulders.
The pressuring power I felt him summon burnt my skin, caused my chest and back to ache and, made me gasp. The wolf sentry wriggled in Dorian's out-stretched hand, his fingers fastened around the animal's throat.
I saw the wave of a hysteric grey tail, the muscles in Dorian's back pulsed. The sentry yowled in agony before there was a haggard, crushing snap, the wolf's tail hanging lifelessly like a hangman's body. "That wasn't very bright." Dorian hissed, tossing the body aside, the wolf's jaw lulling open, it's red eyes wide.
"This girl is mine." His tone was hostile and sick, a snarl that had me quaking where I crouched. My eyes worked up the strength to wander, a gasp writhed on my tongue as I gazed into the red eyes of at least a dozen other wolves.
They cowered in fear; some of them-the ones not fully concealed in shadow-had their tails tucked between their legs. "Causing her any form of harm could be very unwise." He added glaring into the obscurity as the sentries backed away.
Seconds later, my fingertips were pressed against his chest, spreading further and further apart over his skin. Dorian's hand slid down my fingers, over the backs of my hands and down my arm.
I'd wanted to move away from him so badly just minutes ago and now, I couldn't understand why I would ever want to do such a thing.
"Not in the house." I mumbled, my lips fumbling around the words. I wanted to make my tone light but after the wolf attack and my boyfriend 'hunting' me, I didn't dare try to jest with him.
Dorian's lips fidgeted, his eyes lightened to an enthralling green, one that showed just how insanely inhuman he was.
A brighter, happier gleam lifted them from the epitome of the feral crimson craving. The one I'd seen in the field two years ago, the one that longed to bite me, to drink up my recollections and douse my light.
His eyes had always been so eager to please and accept it in return. Today I'd seen a monster in him I never had; today I thought he was going to kill me.
"Analeigh." He frowned. "I was not about to murder you." He sounded insulted; though by the way his eyes seemed to darken I knew he was trying to convince himself instead of me.
I shook my head, my impulse was to tell him he was wrong, but my conscience was telling me otherwise. Dorian clenched his teeth, his eyes closed and his brow creased. "I wouldn't have hurt you." He promised, "I only wanted a taste."
I couldn't be sure what changed in his voice, it seemed lowered. My legs turned to spaghetti, my knees wobbled as my hands clammily felt his heart beat. I couldn't look away from him, ever watchful for the sadistic change in his eyes. Dorian couldn't hurt me. He wouldn't hurt me.
His fingers curved around the markings on my shoulder, gradually making their way downward to my chest. Maybe it wasn't Dorian, the only time I'd ever felt such ecstasy was when he was biting me.
The moment that thought crossed my mind I wanted it. I wished I could accuse him of hypnotizing me, yell at him for tampering with my mind and, smack him for making me want it so badly. But I couldn't.
He'd wanted to bite me before; he'd sent me away in tears to protect me from this. Because as long as we were so closely bonded, there was no way either of us were going to be able to resist it.
Dorian brushed away the hair that had fallen out of my clips. His right hand lay on the side of my neck, while his right collapsed down my torso to my waist. I shivered, butterflies throwing themselves around against my stomach walls.
He leaned forward and like he was going for my throat, I'd begun to tilt my head back when suddenly; he took my wrist into his hand. Dorian's heart increased in speed, my own reacting to his. At it's rate I had to wonder if that would kill a human.
He lifted my wrist, another gasp coming as his nose ran down my skin. Dorian paused, his eyes piercing into mine adoringly, passionately. His grip on me tightened, his lips parted as his tongue moved over my veins I shuddered.
His breath was crisp on my flesh; I could do nothing but ogle as his fangs descended. I watched like a bystander would watch a murder, horrified and still…morbidly…captivated.
To me there are only three people in Transylvania. Those who are delighted to the point of addiction by this, compared to those who fear the very idea and, cringe away from it. And those, like me, who chose to stand between them.
People, who are so twisted to covet this, like a drunkard to liquor. Then go home and be sick because they've had maybe a little too much. That is my classification.
Thought lately, I've begun to wonder…
Dorian's lips came over my wrist to the palm of my hand, my eyes ghoulishly following him. I whined like the wolf had as he sunk into me, my fingers twitching as I felt my blood course backward through my veins.
I bit my lip as he pulled me closer, my eyes never once looking away from where he drew my life. I felt the harsh curves of his nails on my back and quivered at his touch on my skin. My hand tingled numb, thousands of hundreds of needles poking from the inside of my palm.
Dorian's eyes met mine, full of their own distorted fascination as I breathed his name. His marble brow wrinkled again, his teeth plunging deeper, my fingers flinching.
Too soon it was that he was pulling away, stanching my wound and releasing my palm. The look in his eye however, longed for more, shimmering with a dissatisfaction that made me frown. Dorian chuckled. "It's disturbing to me, how much you take pleasure in that."
I snorted. "Not as much as you." He nodded a fraction, licking his lips. "Indeed, never as much as me." He agreed, sighing unhappily as he lifted my wrist to his face.
Dorian groaned as he breathed my skin. "This truly is unfair to me, having you. I can never fully satisfy myself; my thirst may never be quenched because of you. Every second is a hell I must endure." His tone was still bantering but the agony in his eyes made me want to cry.
"I crave you Analeigh, but I can't seem to take what is calling me most from you. I want to drink and drink until there is nothing more. But, I would be killing myself doing so." He grinned ruefully.
"I would miss too much of you to fulfil my own hunger, however, I believe the more I cheat myself the more I cheat my sanity as well-" Dorian smirked "-It's disgusting how masochistic I can be."
He still held my wrist, but his eyes were on my palm where he had bitten me. "And how repulsively beautiful I am." He murmured, directing my eyes to my hand, I froze as two black dots formed in my flesh.
Dorian didn't seem at all surprised, though I fidgeted and gawked, my mouth falling open. We watched as the two dots began to enlarge, swirling around each other, creating more and more like themselves. And like some warped puzzle the each fell into each other, thick black lines that bent and entwined.
I gasped, as a rose appeared beneath my skin, budding like a living flower and spreading it's petals. Vines slid out from beneath the growing rose, merging and winding in my palm. They unfurled a little down my wrist and up my index finger.
Then came the searing pain from before, Dorian holding me still in his arm as a screech emerged from my lips. My fingers curled to form a fist, though the fire inside only fed itself more and more off my torment.
I grimaced, secreting my face in his neck while his thumb pressed forcefully on the veins in my wrist. I scuffled in Dorian's stiffening grasp, feeling hot tears as the poured from my eyes and spilt on his skin.
His thumb pushed harder, my whimpers strident and shrill, he'd cut it off. My blood circulated around and around in my hand, nursing the pain as the burning concentrated in the petals and, arms of the flower.
"Make it stop." I begged, clutching a fistful of my dress in my free hand. "Dorian make it go away." My words were slurred, my stammering and sobbing pinned my tongue in place, so it sounded more like: Dorian it away.
"I cannot love, it will be done soon." Was his saddened reply. "No, now!" I panted shaking my head Dorian sighed, his left hand stroking my back. "It will be done soon, and we will rest."
