Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Warning: suicidal references
Chapter 62
Sarah flew towards the mountains; the forests of Transylvania were dark below her.
Her chest was tight with grief but she was beyond feeling the pain.
Her senses told her that sunrise was only twenty minutes away. A feeling of calm enfolded her like a warm blanket; it would be over for her soon.
The pain, the fear, none of it could touch her now.
She blinked suddenly feeling the dark essence of the vampire surging through her body, she felt her emotions changing as she thought back to Tony… 'he was someone important to me' she thought desperately trying to recall why that was.
To the newly growing vampire he was a shadow nothing more, other such shadows were near him but they were all fading fast.
Sarah continued desperately towards the glow in the east. I'm doing this for them. She thought though she could no longer recall why she should bother with mere humans.
The human side of her was fading fast.
Less than five minutes before the first rays of sun began to appear she found what she was looking for.
A large cliff came into view; there was no shelter from the sun here. The trees of the forests had disappeared long ago, leaving a plain of grass raised high over an equally plain valley. The whole thing looked towards the east, if the vampire within her managed to take over before the sun rose or she herself let the fear over-whelm her… there would be nowhere to go.
She landed at the very edge of the cliff feeling her body become human once again for the last time. Standing here she battled against the evil within her.
Her mind was almost empty now…she frowned now and again as a face would surface and recede into the darkness…now there was only the desperate certainty that this was right.
Heat from the rising sun sent her pale skin tingling as it might on the hottest of summer days.
She sat down in the long grass and faced the dawn, frowning as intense sadness invaded her peace. Frantically she searched for its source within her blank mind.
A flickering memory of an old fear showed itself to her, "alone" she whispered.
Movement to her left attracted her attention. A deer stood to the side watching her. 'That means something to me' she thought.
Slowly it approached until it stood next to her. It lowered its head and looked into her eyes before giving her, what was unmistakably a kiss. Within her blank fearful mind the fledgling vampire heard a soft voice say "never alone." She blinked and the deer was gone.
Suddenly a searing pain hit her; she screamed at the intensity of the heat and looked towards the east, seeing the first true ray of sun breach the horizon. It was beautiful she thought through the pain.
Her skin began to smoke and she fell on to the grass, her body writhing as it burnt. She bit deep into her lip to keep herself from screaming again.
Blood ran freely into her mouth and down her chin.
At her side the bottle of Absinthe lay forgotten.
Another ray of light appeared followed by another and another. Sarah could no longer keep herself from screaming, her cries set surrounding birds in to flight.
Angry blisters rose on her skin all over her body, she screamed as they burst to be replaced by more.
Her very blood was on fire, her clothes burst into flame shrivelling and disappearing so that skin previously protected was newly exposed, burning as freely as the rest of her body.
Her hair caught soon after and she knew that death was close. She had never imagined such pain.
Abruptly a shadow passed over her momentarily blocking the sun, though the blackened corpse was unable to even register the creature that had landed between it and the sun's harsh rays.
Dracula stared down at the blackened and burnt body lying in the grass before him.
Rage filled him, how had it come to this? He had deeply underestimated this girl. He had thought it a fitting punishment that she eventually killed her own friends when the vampire took dominance and the human had truly died.
Nothing had prepared him for the possibility that she would have the strength of character to kill herself, when so many others would not fulfil the task for her.
The thought almost saddened him; certainly a flittering pity was within his blackened heart. It was this that made him remove his cloak and drape it over the body.
He transformed into his bat like visage and gently lifted his bride fledgling into his arms.
He glanced under the cloak noting with a kind of relief that the skin was beginning to heal under its protection. Satisfied that she would live he took to the sky carrying her west away from the hated sun and towards the safety of castle Frankenstein.
The sun had almost fully risen when they arrived at the castle.
Dracula stepped with relief into the shadow of the ballroom. Behind him the windows slammed shut and the heavy curtains drew themselves closed. Candles flickered into life around the walls.
Dracula could not be killed by the suns rays, he was much too old and powerful, but it did not spare him from great pain when he found himself in its rays. He relished the pain now, feeling anything especially pain, exhilarated him.
Carefully he placed his burden on to an ornate black oak sofa with blood red cushions. Some skin was removed along with the cloak despite his careful handling, but the girl beneath it did not stir.
He threw the cloak into the fireplace setting it alight with one of the many nearby candles. It was a waste he knew but the cloak would only serve as a reminder of his own stupidity and that was something he would not abide.
He looked at the girl's still form, most of her body was still charred beyond recognition, but her hair had begun to grow back.
It covered her head now and hung in golden strips, to sit above her ears. In a few hours it would reach her shoulders and remain there.
She stirred slightly but did not awaken, flecks of ash crumbled from her face revealing new pink skin beneath. He smiled slightly marvelling not for the first time at the remarkable healing abilities possessed by his kind.
It would take her until the evening and into the night to fully recover, but she would recover and finally take her place as his bride.
Carefully, so as not to disturb her, he sat beside her on the sofa.
He traced her face with his fingers removing ash where he saw the new skin beneath. Placing his hand on her forehead he began to look into her mind.
Shadows of her former life were all that remained; one by one they faded along with her human side. Dracula laughed in triumph as he felt the vampire rise to take over. He began the long task of replacing those memories that had been lost with those of his own making.