CHAPTER TEN: Be My Love

Roxanne Drew waited for Barnabas Collins on the long white beach that ran along the coast. The chilly night air was made all the colder by the ocean, but Roxanne, being a vampire, took no notice. Her blue eyes stared down at the deep black and violet waves as they gently hit the shore. There was not much wind, only a little calm breeze that let Roxanne's long, nearly transparent shift cling to her slim body. She was a solitary figure, standing alone on the sand. The full moon cast a strange, dreamlike glow on her.

"Oh Barnabas, Barnabas," Roxanne murmured softly, "Come to me. I know how you cannot live without me, just as I cannot live without you. We are one being."

She needed him badly, that was all she had thought about through all her pain, all her suffering, and all her sorrows. But what was it that she really wanted? Blood? No, that wasn't it. Blood was just a vehicle, blood she could get from any being that walked the earth and still breathed. Then what was it she desired? Love. That was it, plain and simple. Barnabas was love to her. He had been so kind to her. His eyes, hazel and sad, they said to her "I love you" the very moment that she first entered their gaze. It was so long ago, ages and ages in the past. But, there was no forgetting love. Even touch was unnecessary, though it was sensual, just as blood was, all she needed was to be with him and have him with her and hear him tell her over and over and over how much he loved her.

Barnabas was walking up the beach toward Roxanne. He wore, as always, a proper suit and tie, as well as his elegant overcoat. He carried his silver cane in his hand. Such a gentleman, so proper, so refined. Suffering. Why was he suffering? Didn't he know what it was like at last to be happy? How could he not be happy, now that they were together at last? He was standing only a few feet away. The wind had picked up and it whipped at Roxanne's hair. She stepped toward him.

"Why are you so sad?" Roxanne asked him, "Why aren't you happy? We are together."

How simple. Just being with him. There was no question for her.

"Don't you see what you are doing to me?!" he was on the verge of rage, but suppressing it, "Night and day, all I can think of is you! Every time I close my eyes, I see you! What have you done to me?"

"Nothing," her voice was sincere, full of tenderness. I was the truth, she had not used her power to charm him, enslave him to her, and bind his will. Roxanne had not even thought to do that to Barnabas, it was obvious to her that he loved her and would come to her. She had not even used the vampire call to summon him to the beach.

"Then what is happening to me? Am I mad?! How did I come here? How did I know that you would be here?" So many questions.

"I thought you would know that as well as I. We are as one, Barnabas. There is a bond between us that is eternal. Our souls are mated." She reached out her lovely hand and stroked his cheek. He sighed as she did so, the merest touch from her was ecstasy. Barnabas remembered holding her hand the night before, he remembered leaving his body and existing in a world just with her.

What would it be like to kiss her again? It had been over a century since that last kiss, before her untimely death. Barnabas quickly put such thoughts away. He could not give in. It would mean death or undeath to give in.

"Don't be afraid." She said. Was she reading his mind? Or was the bond between them so great that when they touched, their minds were one? She continued, "You mustn't be afraid of me, Barnabas. You must never, ever fear me. I love you."

She had said it. It sounded so meaningless to say it. He knew that she loved him without her having to speak. Still, it did not matter, saying it, however meaningless, let out the great waves inside her.

"I love you, Barnabas." What a clear, beautiful voice, "Tell me that you love me. Let me hear you say it. Oh, I see. You are still afraid. Don't be! Tell me that you love me, just once! If you do just that much, I'll leave here. I'll go away and you won't have to see me ever again!" She turned away from him, a little tear ran down her face.

"No! Roxanne!" He yelled, fearful that she might actually go, like a passing dream. "Please, don't go. Do you want to hear that I love you? I do. I love you. I love you."

Roxanne whirled around, she had such grace. His strong arms and large hands were holding her. She was cold and he was warm, warm and alive. Would she take that warmth? Would she bring him into her world, a world that he had at last escaped? He was gripping her tightly, like a woodland nymph or fairy a mortal had caught and dared not let go, lest she escape into the fairyland.

"Barnabas," Her hand reached up to caress his face again, "You are mortal, and you are alive. I can't take that away, not after how you're hungered for it and finally have it."

"No, I don't want this life anyhow. I am not happy, Roxanne. You can tell, everyone can. Even dear Julia can tell. Life is so lonely, so cold."

"You have been to my life, it is colder still."

"It doesn't matter. Etre mon amour. Do you know what that means? It means Be my love." He was holding her as tight as he could. His lips touched hers. It was a thrilling kiss, passionate and sensual and innocent and sinful all at the same time.

With strength that seemed impossible for one so fragile, Roxanne broke away and brought her wrist to her mouth. Then, with a mouth still warm from Barnabas, she kissed her wrist, still cradling it in her other hand. Then, with a swift flash of fanged teeth, she had drawn blood. There was no pain for her in this act, none at all. Roxanne reached her wounded arm up toward the moon and Barnabas watched transfixed as her vampire blood trickled down the smooth white flesh. Roxanne's eyes met his.

Barnabas's mouth was on her arm, traveling up the rich flow to the source of the font. Shocks of pleasure rippled through his body, not localized, like making love, but in every fiber of his being. His lips reached her bleeding wrist. He heard Roxanne sigh with intense happiness and pleasure. The moments that they spent like that seemed an eternity.

Eternity. That is what they would have.

It was over. Barnabas released her arm, which was now healing the self-inflicted wound. They kissed again, over and over, the taste of vampire blood in these kisses, yet still, they were the same as before.

Her kisses made their way down his cheeks, and neck and then she was ripping at the fabric of his immaculate dress shirt. His chest was covered with dark hair, starting to gray a little. Barnabas felt a sting above his heart, not unlike two sharp needles plunging into his chest. He looked up at the full moon, and shouted at it.

"Fates! I defy you at last. I love this woman and she loves me!"