An Endless Love
Not While I'm Around
After a few hours of waiting and growing incredibly bored, Portia gave Kristina a slap across the face. She was sure the human was awake – she had sensed the subtle shift in her breathing – and was pretending that she was still unconscious. Kristina's eyes flew open with shock.
"Welcome back, my dear," Portia crooned as she, with mocking tenderness, pushed Kristina's hair from her face. "You have been out for quite some time. Useless mortal, cannot do anything right! I told him not to hurt you; I wanted that pleasure. But men never listen, do they?"
"I remember you," she said weakly, trying to remember precisely when she had seen the other woman. "You were at the shoe shop that night and then again at the bar!"
Kristina looked around to see if she could learn where she was. She had no idea. She looked around and could only assume she was in a storeroom of a theatre. There was a vast range of props littering the shelves. The main question was which theatre?
Portia smiled, pleased that Kristina recalled her from all those months ago.
"You're Portia, aren't you? Erik's sire."
"I see he has warned you about me. He was smart to do that. However the silly man failed to warn you that I am more powerful than he wants to think."
"What do you want?" Kristina asked, feeling very brave to reason with the furious vampire.
Portia's eyes were red and Kristina could see her fangs when she smiled. "I want to first write my name across your chest using only my nails. Then I might pull your nails from your fingers with my teeth. When Erik appears, I am going to drain you of your blood…right before his eyes."
"Why are you doing this?"
Kristina was now shaking with fear. She hoped desperately Erik would find her! She did not want Portia to pull her nails; she liked them right where they were.
"Why?" Portia asked sweetly. She pulled up a simple chair and sat down opposite Kristina. "Because of Erik, of course, and what he did to me."
"What did he supposedly do?" Kristina did not want to know but felt the only chance she had of getting out alive was if she forced Portia to keep talking.
"He left me! When I found Erik he was useless. He was a pitiful excuse for a man. His lover had just left him for a wealthy count and he was mourning for her in that way you mortals like to do. I offered him immortality and endless power and he accepted my offer.
"After he joined me, I was the only woman in his life for fifty years. For fifty glorious years, Erik worshiped me. I taught him everything he needed to know. That was until Anastasia came along.
"Anastasia seduced him away from me! She showed him another way to be; a gentler way to take what is rightfully ours. She showed him how to take only enough blood from a human so that they would not die or become infected. She made my Erik weak. We vampires are far superior to you weak, pathetic humans. We lord over you. Erik has forgotten that.
"That Georgian poisoned Erik's mind against me! He followed her all around the globe for a few decades. My foolish boy taught the vampires he created his new way of feeding. I have not forgotten what Erik did to me. As for Anastasia…"
"What happened? What did you do to her?"
Portia bristled and slapped Kristina across the face again. Tears filled Kristina's eyes as her jaw clicked and her head was thrown to the other side. She blinked the tears away as she tried to focus on the vampire.
"I killed her of course. I took great delight in ridding the world of that soft vampire," Portia responded, pride apparent in her voice. She walked a short distance towards the shelves of props, picked up a comb and ran it through her hair.
"This has nothing to do with me!"
Slamming the comb down, Portia spun around to face Kristina. "You stupid mortal! Do you still not understand? You have seduced Erik away from me! Again I have lost my darling! I will not have it! Do you hear, I will not lose Erik again! I have no problem killing you to ensure that you cannot come between us." Her eyes glowed red with rage.
Kristina blacked out when she saw Portia advance towards her.
"Stop panicking and think, Erik!" Eleanor snapped, her own concern for Kristina worrying her. "You have a link with Portia and Kristina; you can sense both of them if you focus. You need to calm down."
It was the first time the female vampire had been brave enough to suggest to Erik that he was to blame for his inability to find Kristina. They had lost a lot of time as Erik slowly pored over maps of Greater London, looking for a name that would mean something to Portia. He had been searching since he had found her missing the previous evening and his anxieties had not decreased. His hands shook as he looked up at Eleanor. The glass of blood Eleanor had poured for him sat forgotten at his elbow.
Chastised, Erik tried to calm down, particularly when he realised that Eleanor was right. His fear was blocking his ability to find both Portia and Kristina. Perhaps that was why he had been unable to find her. He pushed away the map and closed his eyes, trying to focus.
He could not sense Portia. Frowning, Erik realised that she had to be deliberately blocking him from accessing her mind. That was not surprising considering she was more than four hundred years old. Half an hour and a great deal of energy later, he eventually managed to find a connection to Kristina, but it was weak and hazy, as if she was drifting in and out of consciousness. His heart constricted and he was consumed with fear as he imagined all the things that Portia could be doing to her.
"She's somewhere on the other side of the Thames! Near Southwark or Waterloo or Bermondesy," Erik muttered, still trying to maintain the precarious link he had with Kristina. Immediately, he pulled the map closer, looking for landmarks and tourist attractions in that area.
Eleanor looked at the page over his shoulder. "Would she take her to the London Dungeon?"
Erik shuddered and shook his head. There was no way Portia would dare venture into a place that makes a profit out of things that most people could not even begin to imagine.
He continued to scan the map.
"The Globe!" he shouted suddenly, his hands shaking with relief.
Eleanor looked at Erik.
"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner," he muttered to himself as he grabbed his coat. "It makes perfect sense for Portia to take Kristina to Shakespeare's Globe. It has been around, more or less, since Elizabethan times. She told me how much time she would spend watching his plays! She's comfortable there."
He threw the car keys at Eleanor.
"Hurry up! She has had Kristina for over twenty-four hours! We have to find her before Portia can do anything else to her!"
"How can you be so sure Erik will come in search of me?" Kristina asked impatiently.
She had been slapped, scratched and nipped at since late yesterday afternoon. The only way she could estimate the time was the fact that Portia seemed to, for a while, have lost interest in her – no doubt during the day. It was now evening and Portia certainly appeared refreshed and eager to continue her torture. Despite her bravado, Kristina silently hoped Erik would find her soon.
"He will come."
"I'm just his student. I mean nothing more to him than that."
"You're a stupid girl," Portia hissed at Kristina as she scratched her signature – an X – between Kristina's breasts. "You are so much more to Erik than that. Music teachers do not kiss their students; I saw the two of you in the park and at his house! Not only that, he tried to mark you." At Kristina's surprised expression she continued, "Oh, I know, dear, I can see the Lover's Mark he left on your neck." She used her nail to scratch a bloody circle around the Mark. "What a pity it only works to deter potential lovers."
She glared silently at Kristina for a long minute before exclaiming insanely, "Erik is my fledgling; he is mine! No one will have him!"
Portia ran her nail along Kristina's cheek, causing a trail of blood to appear.
Suddenly furious with the vampire's treatment of her, Kristina lashed out. "You're insane! Killing me isn't going to make him love you! He doesn't belong to you! You may have sired him, but I have something far more important than the title of sire." She paused as she watched Portia's eyes narrow. "I have Erik's heart. That is something you can never hope to claim. He has never loved you! He loves me!"
"Scut!"
Before Kristina knew what was happening, Portia had ripped the ropes and pulled her to her feet. Portia wrapped one arm around Kristina's body and roughly pulled her head aside with the other. Her nails dug into Kristina's scalp, drawing blood. She lowered her teeth to Kristina's neck and the pulse that was beating frantically.
Terrified and enraged, Kristina tried to fight her off by jabbing Portia in the stomach with her elbow, but Portia only tightened her grip on Kristina's scalp. Whimpering in pain, Kristina screwed her eyes tightly shut as she braced herself of the pain of the bite. Without even experiencing the pain of Portia's bite, Kristina knew intuitively that it would not be as tender as Erik's. She felt the first sharp pricks of Portia's teeth and waited to feel the syphoning sensation as the blood flowed from her artery. It never happened. The rough grip on her hair eased.
"I knew you would come and save your little mortal," Portia said sweetly as she pulled away from Kristina and daintily dabbed at her bloody lips. She sucked Kristina's blood from her fingers.
Kristina forced open her eyes and saw Erik staring at her in horror. When Portia gave her a violent shove, Kristina stumbled, trying to remain upright. She sobbed with relief and collapsed to the floor. Erik was here; he had come to save her. Erik reached out as if to touch her neck, which was now bleeding, but stopped. Too exhausted to watch the fight that was about to erupt between Portia and Erik, Kristina closed her eyes, knowing that she was safe.
"You will pay for what you have done to her," Erik said in his dangerously soft voice. He looked down at Kristina in fright. He was not sure how much blood she had lost, but seeing her unconscious on the floor simultaneously terrified and enraged him. When he entered the storeroom and saw Kristina being bitten by Portia his heart stopped. No amount of blood would have been able to prevent those few agonising seconds when his pseudo-human systems shutdown. He never wanted to experience Kristina being hurt again; his heart would not be able to stand it. If he lost her, he would rip out his own heart just for the chance to be with her.
Furious, Erik advanced towards Portia.
"What about what you have done, Erik? I am your sire; you owe me your loyalty! Instead you betray me with this mortal." Portia's nose turned up as she looked at Kristina's limp body. She gave her a vicious kick in the ribs.
Erik tried not to react when she hit Kristina's limp body, but much to Portia's delight, he winced. "I no longer see you as my sire, Portia. I haven't done so since 1937!"
Portia's eyes turned a dark shade of red as she glared at Erik. Her teeth extended as she hissed at him.
Erik smiled grimly at having incurred Portia's fury. "Ana taught me more than you ever have. She is my sire and you killed her! I will not allow you to do the same to Kristina."
Portia gave a high-pitched and patently false laugh. "What are you going to do?"
"I am taking Kristina and we are leaving. If you dare lay another finger on her, I will kill you."
Erik bent down to collect her from the floor but Portia's scream of fury stopped him. Straightening, Erik was just able to protect himself from her blow. He shielded his face with his forearm, and used his other hand to grip her by her throat and threw her across the room. Before she could hit the wall, Portia transformed into a bat.
"You cannot mean to kill me; a fledgling killing his sire is the worst crime. I cannot imagine why you would do anything so foolish for a curious mortal," she said as she fluttered around Erik's head. "First she thought you would not come and save her. Then she said that she had your heart! It is funny that you care so much for her, Erik, considering you don't have a heart."
Despite the situation, Erik smiled. So, Kristina had claimed his heart just as he had claimed hers! "That's where you're wrong, Portia." He looked down at Kristina, a tender expression on his face. "I do have a heart; I have Kristina's."
This time when Portia transformed back into a human form and lunged at him, Erik was prepared. However as he was protecting a blow to his heart, Portia slapped him across his face, sending his mask skittering across the floor. Too focused on the fight and getting out alive with Kristina, Erik failed to notice his missing mask.
"Oh, G-" Portia stopped mid-thought, covering her mouth with her hand, as much from almost saying His name as from finally seeing what was hidden beneath Erik's mask. "Oh. You're hideous! You're a freak," she said, choosing her words with care, knowing which would be most painful to Erik's ears. "How can a mortal as beautiful as she love a monster like you?"
Enraged at Portia's deliberately callous words, Erik took advantage of her shock and gripped her head in both of his hands and twisted. Portia fell to the floor, her body bursting into flames even before it hit the floor and then dissolved into a pile of ash. Erik kicked at the pile, watching the ashes drift about the room, dispersing Portia's broken body about the small space.
Erik looked at Kristina. He bent down and wiped at a trail of blood before he scooped her very carefully into his arms. He smiled softly when she burrowed into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Erik?"
"Shush, ma moitié. I'm here, you're safe now."
Erik ordered Eleanor to pull to the side of the road, as Kristina was sick yet again. He used his handkerchief to wipe her mouth and winced. The sun was beginning to rise and already he could feel its rays burning his skin. He winced and rolled the sleeves of his shirt down to his wrists, but it was too late. He had been so worried about Kristina's safety that he was just now beginning to feel the pain of the burn on his neck as well as the ones on his arms.
A short time later, although it left like a year, Erik tucked Kristina in his bed. The burns on his arms throbbed, but he pushed aside his own pain to focus on Kristina. He ordered water, bandages and ointment before sending Eleanor off to bed. Kneeling beside the bed, Erik stripped Kristina before he began to gently dab at her cuts.
He was furious with himself for not taking better care of her and for allowing her to be taken by Portia's lackey. This was the woman he loved; yet he had allowed this horrid torture. More than twenty-four hours in the company of Portia had rendered Kristina almost unrecognisable. Her eyes were bruised and swollen so badly that he could not see her blue irises. Her face and hair were covered in blood. Thin scratches covered her face and chest while bites scarred her inner wrists. The X between her breasts caused bile to rise. Erik hated himself for allowing this. He claimed to love her, yet he had been unable to protect her. He should have taken better care of her.
"No," Kristina murmured, causing Erik to stop gently wiping the twin wounds at her neck. "Erik. Only Erik."
"I'm here, Kristina," he whispered as he wiped her hair away from her face. "I won't let anyone hurt you again. I promise you, ma moitié. I promise."
Erik looked at her, silently wondering what her babbling meant. When she tilted her head to give him better access to her neck and touched the spot where he had once taken blood, he knew. She would allow him to drain and infect her…or even kill her. She would give her mortal soul for the chance to be his fledgling…to be with him for the rest of their lives. He stood up and went to stare at the closed curtains, putting some distance between himself and the temptation that Kristina presented. Once he was calm and in control of his emotions and had managed to get his fangs to retract, he turned back to the bed and continued in his ministrations.
Terrified that something would happen to her during the day if he were not there to keep an eye on her, Erik sat on the edge of the bed, prepared to keep watch over her throughout the day. But as the sun climbed through the sky, Erik's need to regenerate became too strong to ignore. He slipped into bed beside her, careful to avoid either Kristina or the sheet touching his burns. He threw his arm over her stomach and they both drifted off into an exhausted dreamless sleep.
A few hours later, Kristina stirred, her head still feeling groggy. There was an unfamiliar weight across her stomach. She looked down through swollen eyes, whimpered at the movement and then smiled weakly. Erik's arm was draped possessively across her body even as he watched her sleep. His golden eyes were filled with protectiveness that filled her with warmth. It took her a few moments to realise that she was in Erik's bed and not her own, tiny bed.
He reached out to touch her, his hands restlessly moved over her face, moving the hair from her eyes and gently touching her cheeks. He had to assure himself that she was okay. He moved – careful not to jar the bed – and pressed a series of light kisses across her forehead, cheeks and finally ended on her lips.
She tugged his mask from his face and dropped it on the floor. Tilting her head back in a silent invitation to Erik to kiss her, Kristina was sadly surprised and oddly hurt to find that Erik used his hand to cover his face.
"Erik?" she questioned softly as she gripped his wrist and tugged his hand away from his face. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw the burns that covered his forearms. "What happened to your arms?" She allowed his reaction to his face to go unquestioned for the time being, the burns on his arms being more pressing.
"I was out in the sun. Do not worry; they will heal in a few days." He turned his head away from Kristina's teary eyes.
"Why won't you look at me, Erik? Did something happen with Portia?" It was the only explanation she could come up with to explain why Erik could not bring himself to look at her. She had lost so much ground in a short time and she didn't know why or what to do. "What did she say to you?"
Erik sighed, annoyed that Kristina would not let matter rest. "My mask fell off in front of Portia."
"It fell off? It fell off! How?"
He shrugged and tried to get up from the bed, but Kristina would not allow him. She threw her legs around his, gripping him tightly. "We were fighting." His tone indicated that there was nothing more to be said.
"She didn't react well, did she? Did she insult you? She insulted you!" Eyes narrowing, she resisted the urge to vault from the bed and strangle the female vampire for what she had done to Erik. "I love you. I love who you are and how you look. Anyone who cannot see that a wonderful man lies behind your mask does not deserve to be known. I have seen that man and I know just how loving, tender, passionate and giving he is."
Erik smiled at her heartfelt announcement and turned his head to lightly graze his lips against her. She gripped his arms to hold him close but pulled back when he hissed softly against her mouth. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. She raised her hand and caressed his cheeks, smiling when he dropped a kiss onto her palm. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"I am more worried about you. How are you feeling, ma moitié?"
"Terrible. I have the worst headache!" She grimaced. "And my whole body aches."
"I will get you some Panadol," Erik said as he carefully moved to the edge of the bed and retrieved his mask. "Would you like something to eat? I have chocolate. Would that make you feel better?"
She shook her head and moaned in pain. She would have to remember not to move her head, she thought as she clutched at it with both hands. "Don't go." She placed her hand on Erik's leg to stop him from leaving.
He nodded and called for Eleanor and issued his instructions and then returned to the bed, wrapping his arms lightly around her shoulders.
A few minutes later, Eleanor entered Erik's room with a tray. "You're looking better," she said as she placed the tray on Kristina's lap. She gave her a shaky smile that showed the anxiety she was, only now, getting over. "You won't have to worry about Portia ever again."
Kristina frowned and looked at Erik. She did not understand Eleanor's cryptic comment. "What happened to her?"
Eleanor shifted her weight from foot to foot. She assumed that Erik had told Kristina what happened in the storeroom of Shakespeare's Globe. She gave Erik an apologetic look.
"I had to stop her from ever hurting you again," Erik said softly. He pushed her hair away from her neck and pressed a kiss to the scar on her neck. "She would torment us for eternity."
She continued to frown as she tried to force her bleary brain to work. "You killed her? Didn't you say that was thought to be the worst heinous crime a vampire can ever commit?"
Erik nodded jerkily. "She would have killed you. She would have killed you! We would never be free!" His eyes filled with guilt and anxiety. He had tried so hard to force down his emotions. As much as he hated Portia, he would have preferred to not to have to kill her. But he had to. Kristina's like was at stake. Knowing that he had been left with no choice but to kill his sire if he was to protect Kristina did not make the decision any easier. "I had to kill her, Kristina. She would have killed you if I hadn't!"
Eleanor slipped out of the room.
Kristina heard the door close with a soft click and pulled the mask once again from Erik's face. She touched his cheeks and pulled his head down to hers. She would not miss Portia. She doubted that anyone would. "I know you wouldn't have killed her if there was another way, Erik. You did what you had to do to protect me."
"I always will, ma moitié."
Erik handed her the tablets and a glass of water and then watched as she picked at a piece of dry toast. Once she had nibbled at the toast, he pulled her into his arms and tucked the blankets around her chin as they settled down for a nap. He pressed very light kisses all over her face until he felt her breathing became steady and deep.