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Chapter 3- Dreams
Blood. Rivers of it poured down a jagged cliff like a waterfall into a pool. She stood in the middle of it while the warm, thick blood lapped the undersides of her breasts, staining her skin crimson.
Buffy looked around her trying to figure out her location, but it was impossible, all she could see was blood.
Her body was alive, every nerve ending, the comfortably warm, syrupy consistency hugging and caressing her body in the most delicious ways. The scent was a potent combination of sugar, spice and something dark, forbidden.
It was doing something to her, yet not her, the Slayer in her. The blood called to her, called to them both. Called to them with an irresistible, melodious, dark voice. Whispering in her ear, filling her head with dark promises. A doubled edge sward.
The voice was like a lovers caress crawling erotically over her skin, causing the Slayer in her growled in approval. Buffy slowly lifted her arms.
Deep crimson coated her slender arms from mid- upper arm dripping down from her narrow palm and long fingers. Buffy stared at them transfixed, she couldn't tare her gaze from them. Color. Richer then before.
Buffy watched the blood move sluggishly down her arms. Buffy brought a hand up to her mouth, as if in a daze, and licked the blood off her first finger. It should have been disgusting, repulsive.
It was anything, everything, but.
Buffy's eyes closed at the euphoric sensation of her senses going into overload, even the Slayer's senses went over the edge of sanity, for the fist time in what seemed like an eternity she could feel.
Emotions slammed into her, through her, turning her body into a quivering mass of nerves and flesh. Buffy groaned in long forgotten pleasure. The Slayer in roared, greedy for more. Buffy cupped her hands in it and drank deep.
The blood slid down her throat with a texture like smooth, creamy chocolate and tasting like hot cinnamon and honey with a slight copper tang. It hit her stomach and flowed through her veins like whiskey, sending a burning fire through her entire being, fallowed by the most delicious cooling sensation.
Buffy was drunk with absolute pleasure.
A malicious laugh had Buffy's eyes snapping open and the Slayer on full alert. Looking around for the source Buffy no longer found herself in the ocean of blood but in a strange room.
The room was huge with a high cathedral like ceiling, which had carved demons staring down, in hatred, at the room with ruby, sapphire, and emerald eyes. The floor was shinny black marble floors with silvery white specs in it.
The fire place which was so big Buffy swore that when there wasn't a fire, as there was now, she could stand in the center of it with no problem.
It was made of marble, also black, with twin gargoyles carved into the mantel. Their faces contorted in furious snarls, the fire made their ruby eyes gleam.
There was a long light colored oak table placed vertically in the middle of the of the room, surrounded by high backed chairs . A large intricate crystal and candle chandelier. With the combination of the fire and candles cast a light golden glow over the room.
'Where am I?' Buffy thought looking around. Yeah, where are we? "You are in my home." A voice drawled. The voice had an accent, one Buffy couldn't place. The voice echoed around the room, causing the hair on the back of Buffy's neck stand up and the Slayer in her to still. Waiting. "Ok, one question down. Next one. Who the hell are you and what am I doing here?"
"That is two questions." The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows and leaned his hip against the edge of the table.
The guy was tall, a good head taller than her and very pale, almost translucent compared to his surroundings .He wore all black which seemed to make his already pale skin glow. His eyes, fringed in impossible long black lashes, were a bottomless black vortex that threatened to swallow her whole. His hair was so black that the light gave it a blue sheen. His Face could have been sculpted from marble.
High sculpted cheek bones, a straight, slightly up turned nose, and slightly amused, smirking mouth giving him the appearance and air of an old day aristocrat.
The only thing keeping hie features from being too feminine was the clef in his gently pointed chin. He was beautiful, that was the only way Buffy could describe him. Beautiful.
Vampire. Both her and the Slayer in her knew it and put up their guard. "And? I'm waiting." Buffy said impatience obvious in her voice. The stranger laughed.
"Who I am is unimportant at this time, and you are here because I wish it so." This time Buffy laughed, she laughed so hard she had gripped her sides, then sobered at the seriousness of his face.
"Your serious?" Buffy inquired. "Ok so let me get this straight. I'm here because you, the mystery vampire, wishes it?" "That is correct." He confirmed.
"Ok, so tell me something. What for?" The vampire's mouth twitched. "You. I want you. I've traveled the world a thousand times over to find you."
Buffy could do nothing but stare dumbly at him. "Y-you wanna run that by me again." Buffy stammered when she found her voice.
Suddenly, the vampire was across the room his long fingered hand wrapped around the back of her neck. In a genial but unbreakable hold.
Buffy's hazel eyes flashed emerald in warning. His hand remained were it was, but started a gently massaging her tense muscles. Her gaze locked to his. Before she could utter a syllable he spoke. "You, my little love, are the one I have searched long for. Someone with a darkness that rivals my own. My mate. You."
The Slayer in Buffy growled at the term, and used Buffy to strike out sending the vampire staggering a few feet away from her.
"Ok, for one I'm so not interested and second I don't have 'darkness' in me." Buffy denied "On the contrary you, borne from the darkness, a killer. A huntress with a passion for the kill."
"No, I'm the Slayer you know 'she who slays the un-dead?' killer and huntress just makes me sound so,"
"Striped, unmasked?" The vampire supplied. Buffy took a defensive step back. "No," Her voice betrayed her sudden nerves. "Not stripped. It makes me sound evil."
"The Slayer was wrought in the purest of dark-nesses and evil." "That can't be." Buffy denied immediately. "Oh no? Then why is it you are constantly fighting the want, the need to kill or hunt? Has not your Watcher not told you why it is you cannot sleep until you have hunted down and killed something, anything?"
Buffy looked away. It was true she couldn't sleep or do much of anything unless she hunted. "It looks as if I have much to teach you."
"What could you possibly teach me?" Buffy demanded."To hone your skills and," "I already know how to track, feel and kill demons, so thanks, but no thanks." Buffy interrupted hotly. "Do you know how to move things using only your mind? Control your pray by gripping their minds?" The vampire countered. "No, Slayers can't do that,"
"Can't they? Do you know for sure." He asked it in a way that put Buffy's teeth on edge. "Yes, Giles would have told me if was could." Buffy said through clenched teeth. "Would he?" He asked with male amusement. "Yes." Buffy snapped.
"Have you asked him of your heritage?. Of where it is you come from?" The retort Buffy had died on her tongue . She had back when Angelus was wrecking havoc and Giles had completely and smartly evaded the subject by sending her out to slay. The Slayer in her growled, feeling Buffy's distress. Less talking, more slaying.
The vampire didn't look surprised at her lack of an answer. "Ok, you've got my attention. what do you know?" Buffy asked meeting his gaze levelly. The vampire smiled.
A smile that made Buffy think of a cat in a canary cage. "I am flattered at your analogy of myself." Buffy automatically slammed down a mental block."You can read minds." Buffy stated becoming uneasy at the thought.
The vampire cocked his head slightly to the side in an almost courtly manner. "Yes I can and often do." he took a step towards Buffy, who stood her ground and put her chin out in defiance.
"A Slayer was conceived in darkness. The only thing that keeps them in line is the Watchers Council. Slayers have always been put on a short reins because of their violent and independent natures.
"It is because of this the Council found leashing them extremely difficult. So they hinder most of their power, teaching them the bare minimum of their ability. This is why Slayers die so young, because they are not permitted to learn everything they are capable of. Learning simple things like reading their opponents minds would help them find escape routs out of deadly situations.
"But when they try to, the Council exterminates them." The truth in his words turned Buffy's blood to ice. When Buffy didn't comment he continued. "The Council also exterminated slayers for finding their mates in vampires." Buffy gasped, but before she could say anything he continued.
"Slayers can only find true mates in vampire or certain types of demons. They can only bare children by their true mates." Before he could continue, Buffy intervened "How can that be vampires can't feel love they don't have souls. And they can't have children either because,"
"On the contrary, you only know what your watcher has told you. We vampires can feel what humans call love, magnified, and most of us do. But like you we, cannot have children without our true mates." He countered.
"How do you know all this? How do I know your telling the truth?" She asked raising her voice, her mind frantically trying to compute all the information. "You know." The vampire said cryptically.
She did. Somehow, part of her knew he was telling the truth. She just couldn't believe it. The baby.
Buffy's gaze locked with his, again, his eyes suddenly seemed endless. She felt as if she were falling in their depths. "Pull your hair back." His voice had dropped an octave, Buffy found herself complying.
Her limbs leaded, the Slayer in her roared in fury at the intrusion. Stop. Look away. Buffy blinked and the vampire was in front of her again.
His icy hands caressed from her shoulders down her arms, one hand rested at the small of her back, tugging her closer to him, while the other hand cupped the back of her neck massaging lightly.
He turned her head slightly to the left and spotted the mark. "You have been tasted." he growled. "He was," Buffy tried to explain through the haze. "Unworthy of you." He finished. No. Stop.
Buffy didn't know if she said it out loud or not, as his fangs tore through her neck and Angel's mark and drank deep.
The world was becoming blurry as pain pulsed through her entire body. Black dots dances in front of her eyes further obscuring her vision.
Buffy was vaguely aware of the small slurping noises the pull his mouth was making or the fact that the Slayer was raging, and tearing at her to get out.
Buffy sagged against him before he finally licked the pinpoints closed. Pulling back with what strength she could muster Buffy looked up at him.
"Who are you?" Buffy's voice was a thread of sound. "Forgive me. I am Dracula." His voice was the last thing she heard before darkness claimed her.