Symphony's Sonata- Part II
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The reflection of the sunset glinted in Alucard's eye and he turned quickly away, leaning forward. He cast a side-long glance with his other eye on Maria, who was sitting curled up in the corner beside the window sleeping peacefully. His extensive oral autobiography had worn away the hours and he could tell she had not been able sleep very well while waiting outside his window for the past five days. He let out a sigh that was on the verge of a hiss, stood up, and placed his dishevelled cloak about her shoulders. He marked how odd she looked with her bright golden locks and pink skin against the darkness of the shadows. He now admitted to himself what he had known all along: it was she that had kept him from returning to eternal slumber.

Alucard's expression contorted into a grimace as he stepped, his heels sending a muffled resonance through the floor boards, towards his coffin. Although he did not feel much like sleeping, it was the only way he could do some heavy thinking. Much weighed on the demi-vampire's mind. Like the blood in his veins, two inner forces fought against each other until they threatened to tear him apart.

Maria Maria Maria --Aarrrugghh!! It was all because of her. Since when did he let her complicate things? The moment he put his head out the window that morning, he knew, but that could not have been, or why else would he have tarried so long? Part of him desparately wanted to be open to her, to be able to learn from her, and yet what was the price of eternity with or without knowing? Questions swirled in his head as he lay down to a nap plagued with dreams that were almost visions.


Maria sat in the midst of an endless sunlit meadow with the grass high around her. When he approached, she sprang up and bounded away like a deer. He caught her and held her around the waist. The giggling young woman turned in his embrace and kissed him, but then he felt something go wrong. She began aging rapidly before his eyes and to his horror, where before there was a spirited nymphet, he held a pathetic old hag which then became a fightful skeleton. And finally there was nothing left of her but dust between his fingers. He fell to his knees and spread his fingers against the ground. His head reeled with pain.

He looked up.
The meadow had vanished and now he stood in a town square where a mob was tying a person to a large wooden crucifix. Hearing his name being called, he tried pushing through the crowd to find her, but he was jostled back. His name was being called more earnestly now and as the crucifix was being raised to stand he could see the bound body of a woman on it....

Alucard had dreamt the latter nightmare so many times that he already anticipated what the rest was. However...

...He turned away unable to behold what was going on, and came face to face with his mother, who looked sympathetic. She began speaking to him, but he could not hear her over the cries of the mob. He spun around; it was Maria on the cross.


Alucard's eyes shot open, he inhaled sharply, and was about to sit up when Maria placed a hand on his forehead. She smiled gently.

"You were having a nightmare," she stated softly.
His eyebrows screwed together as if saying, How did you know?
"For the last few minutes you looked, well, you didn't look the way you were sleeping earlier this evening." She grinned sheepishly. She had been intently watching him sleep for the past hour, slipping out only once to buy some food to bring back and eat with him. It was dark, now, she was getting hungry, and she assumed he was too.

Alucard sat up slowly, staring at the toes of his boots. Maria decided he could use a moment to himself so she busied herself by unpacking a bundle of food she had managed to bring up. Although not visibly shaken, Alucard regained composure and stepped out of the coffin to stand behind her.

"Maria...?"
"Yes, Adrian?"
When he hesitated to answer, Maria stood up and turned to face him. As he was never the talkative type, Alucard's actions usually sufficed in speaking louder than his words, and this was no exception.

Within the blink of her eye, he had her in his arms and kissed her emphatically. His kiss was hard, nearly bruising her lips. She felt the unnaturalness of his fangs, and his hold was tight enough to crush her spine. Feeling the tautness of her body against him, he relaxed a little and his kiss became more sensitive.

Wishing the moment would continue, Maria breathed and looked up happily at Alucard to see his strange, somewhat sad expression. Seeing the look in her emerald eyes, he knew he had made the right decision. He tucked her head under his chin and sighed.

"Your wish has been granted; I will stay with you," he said, his eyes unfocusing. "But only for a time of thirteen years. After that I will leave for good no matter what you do or say and I shall never return. . . Do you accept?"

"Oh, Adrian... But--?" she started, even though, in her heart she already knew the answer to her own question. He knew it also.

"No. You know that although I am not totally immortal, I age not. I will stay no longer than I dare. Again I ask, do you accept?"

Maria was threatened with tears starting to well up in her eyes. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Hard. Although she knew his departure after a longer period of time would be more painful than if he left that very moment, she would bear it just for the sake of having him by her side.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes..." She hugged him harder.