Fright Night 1985
Twisted Fate
Chapter Eight
Stay With Me
Thea felt a sudden rush of relief. Her worst fears were swiftly pushed away for before her eyes was Jerry. An immediate smile formed across her lips and filled within her bright but teary eyes. She rushed forward without noticing any differences for what she knew, her Lord Dandridge was alive. Nearly tackling him, her arms swiftly wrapped around his neck and it seemed it had been a lifetimes since he was last in her arms.
Dandridge was honestly surprised, hadn't expected what had obviously finally happened. It was, sadly, as if those three hundred and fifty-seven years hadn't happened, for her they hadn't.
Firstly he stood stunned, her arms were actually around him which seemed almost unreal. For all those years, those three centuries and more, he only imagined that moment with only his memories to assist fathoming what it would be like to again have her in his life.
The shock wore off and the realization finally came to him. His eyes closed and finally he embraced her. He had never embraced another with his arms in that manner in all that time. There was no other he wanted to embrace in such way but her. She was truly in his arms and it was pleasantly true that she remembered him. She was honestly the Thea he remembered.
Her eyes squeezed tight, tears of pure joy streaked down her cheeks as her hands tightly fisted against the back of his hair which was obviously shorter. Her mind was too overwhelmed to notice any differences. All that currently mattered was the fact he was there. "Thank the Lord," she sang through soft sobs, "I feared..." she paused, "Matters not what I feared." she tightened her embrace around his neck, "You are alive." She finally sighed in relief.
His eyes opened upon her words. Alive, he thought, in ways but in ways he wasn't.
Again his eyes closed, he needed to lavish that moment before it possibly became destroyed by the truth, his truth.
He tightened his embrace and lifted her up off her bare feet then heard for the first time in all those long, long years her precious happy giggle which caused him to genuinely smile. There was nothing more sweeter than the sound of her charming laugh which was made from naive happiness. He knew it was naivety because she had no idea what he had become to make that very moment happen. But right then, he wouldn't destroy that moment for it was far beyond overdue.
He stepped forward, kept her lifted off her feet, and with one hand brought the door closed. The world outside that room was forbidden to enter that long awaited moment. His darkness, his world of complete darkness was held firmly back passed those doors and prevented to trespass into the most important moment of his lengthy existence. He would hold on to that moment. She was returned to him and he refused to allow a sliver of his dark existence be known until that particular moment of pure happiness faded into the shadows.
Her arms held their tight embrace with her hands firmly pressed against the back of his shortened hair. The side of her face pressed against his, she took no notice of the odd chill he radiated in comparison to her warmth. She sniffled but her smile was broad, expressed how overjoyed she was. Her tears were no longer tears from fear or confusion but were made of her genuine joy.
"No other moment," she softly spoke, "There be no other grand moment to compete with this very one." her smile broadened, "Except, of course, the moment you proposed, that be grander." She listened to him somewhat laugh in response to her comment.
He felt somewhat tarnished, she only had days of separation when he had centuries. Her memories were fresh, just days old when his were tarnished by centuries of darkness. He survived through means of feeding the immortal curse by draining the blood of many, many lives. He sacrificed his mortal soul in desperation for the moment he now achieved. But, she wasn't tarnished as he was. She was still an Angel with the purest of souls and would such a pure soul accept his impurities?
He lowered her back onto her feet yet her arms refused to relinquish their embrace. "Thea," he spoke her name and how wondrous it sounded.
"Hmm," she hummed, her hands brushed against his hair. Her eyes frowned, finally she noticed that the length of his hair had been cut. Her eyes slowly opened and shifted, saw his hair no longer sported the traditional ponytail. "Your hair," she spoke out her discovery. Her eyes looked to his shoulder, saw the patterned shirt, then looked to the strange collar. Her hands slid back onto his shoulders as she lowered flat on her feet. Something was amiss, she thought.
Her head slowly turned as she leaned back enough to look to his face, her hands slid down against his upper arms. Her eyes studied his face, there was no difference yet there was something about the expression of his eyes that too seemed different, changed. Then her eyes shifted down, the shirt looked oddly designed; no ruffled collar, flowing sleeves, or proper waistcoat. Her hands fumbled a bit and trailed to the folded collar, studied the line of buttons down the front.
"What do you wear?" she questioned with her eyes still frowned, "And what of your hair?" her eyes shifted up and looked into his, "These differences, they be odd. I understand not what..." her eyes again studied his expression, "What happened?"
He understood the confusion within her eyes, the questions that he feared to answer. He arms drew back then his hands embraced the sides of her face. All that mattered was the recognition within her eyes though there was plenty confusion expressed as well. His lips softly smiled, to look at her face seemed more miraculous than he thought. There she truly was, the most beautiful face he would always remember and as he remembered. He almost thought he eventually deceived himself with the memories of her angelic face but there was no deception.
"What happened?" she again asked. The expression of his face gave the impression it seemed he hadn't seen her only hours ago. Her frown tensed. Had it been hours? The truth, what was the truth his expression tried to convey?
"You look at me as if..." she breathed, "What..." she felt again the rise of more confusion and fear, "Why be the reason you look at me in this way?"
How could he tell her? How could he ruin that beautiful moment by confessing the truth of everything?
"Not now," he finally spoke more than her name, "Please, don't make me tell you now."
Her eyes flinched wider and she somewhat gasped with surprise, "You speak odd. You speak not as you should."
"Please," he softly pleaded, "Let it go, for right now. This moment I've waited for too damned long to have it destroyed by the truth."
"What truth?" she quickly asked, felt her body again tremble from the confusion and fear of the truth he spoke of yet seemed reluctant to truly speak.
"No," he shook his head, "Not now."
Her eyes again glistened with tears and within his was a deep sadness that pleaded to set the truth aside. "Jerry," she softly whispered his name, "What have you done?"
He again shook his head, his hands held her face firmly, then he said, "I did what I had to do."
Her hands gently touched the sides of his face, the same handsome face. She read clearly that he had made a sacrifice in which she was truly terrified to know. She watched as he closed his eyes with a mixture of guilt and relief as her fingertips lightly brushed against the sides of his face. She studied the same face she had adored and loved for five years but there seemed a type of gap, a deep gap somewhere. Her eyes took in every detail of his features and traced those features with the tips of her fingers. Though his face hadn't changed, something in side him had, she could almost feel the tension inside him.
He forced his eyes to again open and the moment he looked to her face he watched the miracle that was her lovely smile that drifted sweetly over her lips. His fingers coiled, brushed his fingertips against the warmth of her softy flushed face then guided the back of his fingers against her tear dampened cheeks. He refused to wait another minute.
He leaned as his fingers uncoiled and combed into the underside of her chestnut hair. He felt the immediate heat of her breath breathe against his lips then the full warmth her trembling mouth finally pressed against his. That very moment, that long awaited kiss suddenly crumbled and shattered all those centuries of separation. The loss, sacrifice, and years upon years of darkness suddenly melted and dissolved the very moment he felt her lips so softly respond to that long awaited kiss.
He found her. What was once lost, was finally found. The search was over. The gaping hole that had become his existence filled. His ultimate sacrifice, his soul felt as if it had returned because again everything he had wanted, needed, and truly desired was returned to him by that very defining kiss.
Those memories of the days before the darkness named Yolanda had tried to consume him fully returned. Those years, those glorious five years where she was his world and the reason he continued to live were remembered. From the beginning when his eyes opened to look upon an angel's face then the moment she finally agreed to love him as he loved her and lastly, the moment he realized how truly she loved him when she made a vow that if he were to be cursed she would take the curse as well. And within that kiss, the vow of her love was clear as the day he realized he loved her.
He reluctantly withdrew and again looked into her lovely hazel eyes. Yes, he agreed, there was nothing but the purest of love within her heavenly eyes. Yes, he again agreed, the glisten of tears within her eyes were a true show of the love that had never changed. Perhaps, he thought, it was better that she only had perhaps hours of separation when he suffered centuries. And he finally, again, for the first time spoke those words he longed to again say, "I love you, My Angel."
"And, aye," she responded, her voice whispery, "I love you, My Lord."
He again genuinely smiled then praised, "Those were the most beautiful words I have ever heard."
She smiled, no matter what changed, the one truth she knew was how much she loved him and the truth within his eyes was he loved her. She took a step forward and again wrapped her arms around his neck. "Those words," she spoke then promised, "You shall not cease to hear."
Her love for him was stronger and greater than what dark truths that loomed over them. No matter how dark those truths might be, she would never cease loving him with all her heart, mind, body, and within the depths of her soul. She witnessed a dark truth the evening Yolanda laid the curse down over him in a failed attempt to take him away from her and she continued to love him as he continued to love her through such darkness.
He again embraced her, felt the love he knew would survive. Again he lifted her off her feet then shifted on his and stepped towards the fireplace. Far too long he waited and waited. For too long he suffered in bitter loneliness. He survived just to see to the survival of their love. From that moment on there would be nothing or nobody to again attempt to break them from one another. He proved that not even time itself could destroy what was meant to be. And he also proved, just because he gave his soul to the darkness, it did not hinder his ability to hold firm his love for another. His Angel was deeply embedded inside him as a mortal man and it carried into immortality.
Again he lowered her on her feet against the fur rug. Immediately he again brought his lips against hers. Centuries he had lived without her kiss, without her. To hold her against him again after so long felt nearly unbelievable but thankfully she was real and there in his arms. No more need for memories to carry him through further years of immortality. He had her forever by his side just as their love. He vowed right then and there within the silence and depths of his thoughts, they would be forever and nothing would again rip them apart, not time or death. She was to be his eternal angel. Every call of night he would rise and be gifted the image of her angelic face. Yes, he thought, mine forever until the end of time itself.
She sensed so much difference in him, yet there was much that was the same. Her concerns were desperately pushed back by the depth of her love within her heart for him. What was sensed, she sensed before, that night Yolanda played her wicked card. But also what was sensed, his love hadn't changed, it remained strong inside him. Yes, she feared the truth but that very moment was of greater importance and she sensed, especially for him.
By the manner his lips passionately kissed hers, she sensed he had long awaited that moment. How long? She refused to know right then. The truth would come when it was time. And for her, it too felt as if it had been a long, long time since the night she witnessed that darkness couldn't relinquish true love.
And with the kindness in her enduring heart, Thea refused to destroy that precious moment with fears or concerns. She pushed back everything different, strange, and uncertain. Always she had done as her heart beckoned which in turn led her his direction many times though her mind and conscience begged and pleaded her not to. And so, with an open heart solely devoted to him, she allowed herself again led in his direction. Always his direction from the beginning and to whatever end there might come.
Led in his direction, her own passion ignited, the same passion that led her to his bed chamber the evening he proposed. That ignited passion developed firstly in the manner she eagerly returned his kiss. Her heart refused to acknowledge the chill of his lips, so similar to that fateful evening he was almost taken from her. Yet, though his kiss was physically iced, the passion was not. His passion was the same, identical yet, perhaps even more heated than before, nonetheless it remained and for that she was thankful.
Her breaths were heavy, induced by that rising passion but his were not. In fact, she recognized he had no breath, no heave of his chest but yet there was still the passion. The further she allowed herself deeper into his drawing direction the more her mind told her he was again as he was that night but it was her heart that pushed her passed those differences. She could breathe enough for both of them. Her body could become heated for both of them. Her heart could beat enough for both of them. If that was how it was meant to be, she decided, so be it.
He drew back, reluctantly, and again looked into her beautiful large hazel eyes. He felt her hands press against his chest where he knew there was no beat of a heart to be felt. His eyes glanced down at her firmly pressed hands then again looked into hers. He became amazed, knew she felt that vacancy within his chest, but the love remained in her eyes and again she gifted him the brilliance of her caring, always loving smile.
Her hands lifted and again lovingly and gently touched the sides of his face. She read clearly the surprise in his eyes and softly spoke in reference to that expression, "I care not." she gently tapped her left hand fingers against his chest, "Because there be no heartbeat does not mean there be no heart." She knew what he was and in her heart it made no change for she continued to love him. She watched closely as the expression within his eyes softened then she again spoke with truth, "I love you," she lifted on her tiptoes, "That shall never change or diminish no matter what you have become," she held her eyes with his, "For, with or without your heartbeat, you still be My Lord and love."
His eyes studied within the depths of hers and each word she spoke was pure and nothing but the truth. He stood perfectly still, nearly enraptured by the very expression of her eyes. The strength of her love within her eyes were as hypnotic as the supernatural strength within his own. His eyes remained focused with hers as she lifted higher on her tiptoes. He felt her fingertips gently touch against the sides of his face as she neared her lips to his.
There was an awe to have someone again kiss him of their own will and desire. The gentleness of her sweet kiss touched his lips. Had he truly forgotten what it was like to have such sweetness, gentleness, and loving tenderness given through the form of a kiss? Sadly, it seemed he had and the kiss that she right then gifted him, helped dissolve any further concerns or fear that she would reject him because of what he became those centuries ago. That kiss truly gave him the belief that what he had done for them was not done in vain.
Their kiss deepened, again his long awaited moment grew in strength. His arms swiftly gathered her firm against him as he had longed to feel, her arms raised and embraced around his neck. No more longing. No more waiting. His hands pressed firmly against the stiff back of her bodice then embraced her firmer and severed their kiss. He pressed the side of his face against the tousle of her chestnut waves.
He wanted to feel her warmth that radiated from her mortal body for a final time. He desired to hear her deep breaths against his ear and feel the heave of her chest one final time. He simply needed for a final time to feel the sensation of her rapid heartbeat. His head turned and he took in the sweet scent of her mortality mingled within the soft strands of hair and throughout every inch of her life heated and filled body.
His hands firmly slid back against the cinch of her waist, both hands firmly pressed upward against her corseted abdomen. His right hand found the powerful beat of her heart through the nearly burning heat across the lift of her breasts. His left hand continued upward and moved against the side of her neck.
He listened closely to the deep sounds of her breaths and felt the heave of her chest against his right hand, mingled with the powerful beats of her heart. His left hand moved back against the drape of her hair then his fingers started to gather the chestnut flow away from the left side of her neck. He slightly leaned back and brought his lips grazed against her exposed ear. "Sing for me," he requested with a soft tone, "Sing that song you sang to me when you held me tight in your arms." He never forgot that song, her sweet voice encouraged him to stay.
She knew the song he requested, her lips softly smiled. Her arms drew back and her left hand moved down and rested over his against her chest. Her eyes closed, felt the motion of her own breath as her hand gently rested over his. She softly started to hum as she lifted on her tiptoes then turned her head and rested it against his shoulder.
He kept his eyes closed, heard her soft hum. He guided her hair over her right shoulder.
Her hum drifted into those sung words, "If this world be wearing thin and you be thinking of escape." she sighed, felt his lips softly kiss against her ear, then continued to whisper the melody, "I shall go anywhere with you, just wrap me up in chains." she tucked her other hand between them and rested it over hers that rested over his and continued, "But if you try to go out alone, do not think I shall understand."
"Stay with me." he spoke before she could. He always remembered those three words that were repeated in his thought for three hundred and fifty-seven years. He repeated in request, "Stay with me." He felt her heartbeat begin to race and the sensation of her take a deep breath.
She slowly exhaled and breathily whispered, "Always."
His eyes snapped open upon her response, the red and shades of orange consumed his eyes. His right hand pulled from beneath hers as the other fisted the gathered length of her hair then nudged her head back from his shoulder. His right arm swiftly embraced around her and held her firm against him. He guided her head further back and listened to the sound of her erratic breaths.
Her eyes opened and looked into the truth within his, those unnatural colors vibrant. She held both her hands fisted against her chest, her heart pounded nearly uncontrollably as her chest steadily heaved. She watched his eyes study hers then shifted in study of her face. She too remembered those words she said to him that night which seemed just moments ago. If you be meant to be forever this, she remembered clearly those words as they repeated in her mind, then I vow to be forever with you. She meant those words because an eternity with him was better than an lifetime without him.
He saw the recognition of her vow clearly in her eyes then he asked, "Forever?"
Her lips slightly trembled but formed a soft smile and she replied, "Aye, forever." her smile broadened but held its softness, "Aye, I shall stay with you forever."
No more waiting. No more longing.
He swiftly brought his lips to hers as in the form of sealing her vow. He kissed her warm lips for the final time. He had already felt her heartbeat, heard her breaths, and felt the warmth of her body for a final time. His lips shifted from hers, her head turned. His lips pressed against the warmth of her cheek for a final time. Again at top slope of her neck he kissed that mortal warmth for a final time. For a moment he lingered and indulged for a slight moment longer the feel of her warmth. His lips drew back as his head tilted back. His lips parted and unveiled the grown fangs.
Her eyes remained open as they glistened with tears yet across her lips was that sweet smile.
Down he brought his wide mouth and into that tensed muscle then into that heated flow of her blood his fangs penetrated.
She gasped the moment she felt the pierce of her flesh and blood. Her hands tightened their fists.
He held her against him, his fangs stayed deep and the flow of her blood passed his lips. Through those punctures he sensed each pulse as her heart continued to beat erratically. He strengthened the tension of his immortal embrace, she again gasped. His arm held her firm. He bent his knees and bit by bit he guided her down onto hers. He heard her breaths grow heavier as that sensed pulse heightened and quickened.
His hand loosened its grip of her hair and simply supported her head. Forward he leaned, kept his fangs deep. He kept her from dropping against the floor, carefully lowered her onto her back. His arm slipped from around her the moment she was against the fur rug. He kept his mouth latched and continued to take her mortal blood. His right hand found hers that rested limply against her chest. He gripped and held her left hand, felt the chill of the ring but also the chill that began to envelop her body.
Then he sensed the pulse suddenly weaken, her breaths barely audible and barely felt against his hand that held hers.
Her eyes peered into the dancing flames of the fire. She felt the life within her heart wain. Her eyes focused then gradually her visual of those bright colors began to blur. Her fingers weakly embraced his. She felt the breath begin to struggle in and out from her weakening chest.
He waited patiently, felt the pulse become barely a flutter and her breaths barely motion within her chest. He quickly drew back with a gasp. Of all the blood he had consumed through those centuries, there had been none like that of the one he loved. He left inside her a miniscule but sufficient amount of blood that would carry from those punctures the darkness which would consume her as it had consumed him, twice.
Her eyes grew vacant, the pupils contracted and consumed the hazel within her eyes just as the curse, his curse was carried throughout her body. Barely a heartbeat and breath. Then, barely life was left inside her. Her fingers loosened their subtle grip of his then both hands dropped from her nearly vacant chest.
His eyes shifted, again that lovely dark shade of brown, and looked down at her, his Angel and soon to be immortal Angel. He lowered, brought his blood salted lips to her ear. He knew from experience that words could be heard through the curse's process. He whispered, "I love you," he shifted his lips then pressed a very gentle kiss against her chilled cheek followed he again whispered, "Forever. We stay forever."
His head turned and pressed the side of his face against hers. His eyes gently closed and he whispered, "I have loved you for over three hundred and fifty-seven years and," he softly smiled, "I will continue to love you, My Angel, forever."
No more waiting. No more longing. No more misery. No more wanting. No more needing. Again, Jerry Dandridge felt alive, again, because of an angel.
(Author)
*sniffle-sniffle* I was teary eyed writing this! Though most scenarios when a vampire gets their suck on, it's typically brutal. As displayed in the film Fright Night, Jerry Dandridge always had a more suave approach and I will never forget the enduring look of his eyes the very moment Amy kissed him willingly. And so, I played heavily with that more enduring side Chris Sarandon beautifully portrayed as Jerry. So, what ya think? Was this sweet in a screwed up vampire way? What next? Hmm? Maybe it'll take me another week to tell ya! :D
FRIGHT NIGHT FOREVA!
