Author: Silver Star
E-mail:
Genre: romance/alt. reality
Rated: R
Disclaimer: standard
Searching
as it twists up inside me
(again)
I can only reliquinsh my will
let it happen
haunts me still
drives me anguished
standing without identity
breathless looking over the canyon
searching endless to find
what I know not.
poem excerpt by natia99
October. 4001 AD. Morning.
Serena stood on the cliff overlooking the sparkling river far below. The wind was gentle against her skin. The village nestled away behind her.
The people were peaceful and lived in harmony with their surroundings. They had been very kind to her when she arrived. Feeding and clothing her, trying to bring her back to life.
But there was no life without Darien. He was her harmony. Her balance.
She took a deep breath and stepped up to the edge.
"You're not going to jump are you?" A sweet voice cut through the silence, startling her so she almost fell. But his dark power caught her and steadied her. Even though the man himself was still standing some feet behind her.
She turned. The dark vampire from the tunnels, the oldest that had tried to
seduce her, stood there. His long black hair was glossy over his shoulders.
His smooth skin surprisingly beautiful.
She looked into his eyes, "Seiya..." She said, knowing his name before he spoke it.
He arched an eyebrow, "Indeed. I am impressed." He bowed before her.
"You are wise and powerful--and yet so young."
He stepped closer to her, "I am one of the oldest vampires--nearly as old as the one that converted Darien. I have known him for a long time. Hundreds of years actually."
She stared at him a moment, "Why should you care if I jump?"
He smiled, "Because of Darien of course!"
"What about Darien?" She asked softly, sadly.
"He is trying to die. I have never seen a vampire try this before. You see, you are quite a powerful telepath--though you do not realize--and your voice haunts him."
Her eyes filled with tears, "How can he die? Isn't he too powerful?"
Seiya shook his head, "If he remains still, in the darkness for long enough, he will turn to dust..."
"But--but--what can I do?" She cried desperately, "He won't be with me!"
Seiya held out his hand, "Come with me...I will take you to him."
And in a blur he had her back in the tunnels, just outside his door,
"If you both wish to die..." He whispered pointedly.
Then he was gone.
Serena pushed the door open to Darien's room and walked in. It was pitch black and her eyes were some time in adjusting before she made out the outline of his figure, standing against the back wall, arms curled up like a corpse. Eyes closed.
"Darien!" She cried out brokenly, running to him.
His eyes fluttered open and he stared at her in surprise, "Sere...?"
"What have you done to yourself?" She cried, gathering his feeble body into her arms.
"Why didn't you go to the moon?" He asked softly as she wrenched his stiff arms apart.
"I will not go anywhere without you! I do not wish to live without you beloved!"
She watched his eyes fill up, "Neither do I Sere...death is welcome without you. But,
we can never be..."
She shook him passionately, "Do you wish to be mortal again?"
He started as she guessed his one wish.
"Yes..." He said, voice choked with emotion.
"Then there must be a way!" She cried.
He looked away then, trying to hide a sudden truth and her eyes widened.
She froze, "Th-there is a way, isn't there?" She practically whispered.
He would not meet her gaze.
"THERE IS!" She cried angrily, shaking him by the shoulders, "Why didn't you tell me!
Tell me now, what is it? Whatever it is--"
"No, it is impossible! It could never work!" He said desperately, imploring her, "And if it failed, the price would be too much for me to bear!"
But she was immovable. He could see it in the firm set of her posture. She simply stared at him waiting.
He sighed, and then conceded defeat.
"We must make love..."
She frowned, "Make love? But we already have--"
"No no my love. We must make love and I must finish...I must..." He took a deep breath, "I must release..."
She was thoughtful a moment, remembering that he never had.
"Vampires never reach release when they bed their victims...their blood lust overwhelms them first. It is...irresistible...but if a vampire can make love to a woman who he loves truly and who loves him truly and finish...let physical desire be enough...ignore the unearthly desire...then he will be mortal again..."
He paused, "He must also abstain from blood...for a long, long time."
She gazed wide-eyed back at him, "Have you?" She asked timidly, heart pounding in her chest.
He nodded, "Yes."
She did not hesitate, pulling him towards the bed, "Then that is what we will do. Our love is true. I know it is! I love you Darien!"
She tugged at her dress.
"No, no, you do not understand, I cannot resist!" He pulled her dress back up her shoulders,
"I cannot resist and if I don't I will kill you! I could not bear it!"
But she grabbed his shoulders, "There is no life without you! Do it!"
He stared at her sorrowfully a long moment, "I do not know if I am strong enough my Sere."
"I know you are..."
"I love you..." He said aloud, not in her mind. It sounded very sweet.
Then he stepped back, standing still a moment, eyes closed.
"I must release all my power." He warned.
She nodded and lay back on the bed, slipping off her dress. He shut his eyes and let out a deep breath and the room was filled with dark, smoky looking tendrils that swept out from his aura and tangled round whatever they touched.
She watched enraptured as they slid up the bed and touched her skin before he did.
His eyes glowed brighter and she was frozen by their gaze--only jerked away by the
sensation of his magic touching her, stroking her...
He came to the bed slowly and bent over her as she pulled away his clothes and then his lips sought hers in a strange comfort.
It had been centuries since he released his magic, and it was overwhelming. So was his desire for her. And her blood.
She felt the kiss deepen and for the first time, his surrendor to desire. His smooth control was gone and his hands trembled as they touched her.
She shivered. This was even better. Knowing at last, that she made him feel.
He reeled back suddenly, and his face revealed he was battling between his twin desires. His eyes rolled back a moment and then she watched in astonishment as they changed...the blue was replaced by an eerie red. He kept blinking it away but it returned. His teeth had extended but he bit them back and seemed to gain control. His face returned to it's near-human expression and she drew him back into her kisses.
Beloved...you are so strong and beautiful to me...we will have the perfect life together...on the moon...you will be my husband and I your wife...and someday I will have your baby...
Her words made love fill his touch and with his magic released she could read his thoughts clearly. As he slipped inside her with a low moan she pushed into his memories...there were so many...so many years of being a vampire.
She kept going back...back...through the torturous years where he fought for control over his demonic new power. Back to his first horrific moments of vampire...back to the man he had been before.
A kind young man, on a farm...some ancient time before. Living with his loving parents, preparing to own his own farm...She watched him smile and laugh with his brothers and sisters. He was beautiful.
And then...a dark woman had crept into his room in the night. An evil woman.
Her fiery red hair nearly glowing in the moonlight. She desired him for he was
handsome. Very handsome.
And she stole him away to her dark cave and tied him up. Hypnotizing him and then making a slow, deliberate effort of converting him. She possessed him and bit him over and over...seducing him against his will--though he begged for mercy...it was horrible.
And at last...after countless nights of torture...she left him there, tied, broken,
and vampire. He woke and the full horror of what had happened to him overwhelmed
him and he wept...
Serena felt her eyes fill with tears,
Beloved...what a cruel fate...
She pulled back through his memories and saw the same evil vampire return and try
to seduce him again. But he refused...over and over again until finally striking out,
throwing her back with his dark magic. After that, she never returned.
Though a sudden memory of Seiya mentioning her had her wondering if he had not intervened.
She had an odd premonition that Seiya had killed her. That Darien was an old friend of his.
She stumbled across a memory of Seiya telling him--just after he had met her,
"You've gone and formed a soul-bond, you foolish man!"
"What do you mean?" Darien had asked.
"With that girl. She is your soul mate. I have not seen one in centuries. Not
since ancient times. But you are cursed vampire. It will only cause you suffering.
She will haunt you now, and drive you mad when she is gone."
Serena felt Darien's inner heartache at his words and tears surfaced again.
Then she found his love for her and caught her breath. It was beautiful. Perfect.
True. Complete.
Beloved... She murmured into him in awe.
She pulled back until she was aware of the room and her own pleasure again. They had been making love for a long time now...
She stayed deep enough in his thoughts to sense what pleasured him and did. Touching him the way he wanted to be touched. Moving beneath him and steadying their rhythm until his face changed, focused on the driving rush of their pleasure.
Sere... She felt him trying to restrain the dark magic from her name...trying not to seduce her with his spell--though it came naturally--much more naturally even then being human. What did twenty-five years compare to thousands?
But his eyes fluttered open to reveal they were red once again, and his teeth fought their way out. The room swelled with his power...ancient, dark, evil...and overwhelming to him...
Just a little longer beloved... She murmured into his mind, as her own pleasure began to overwhelm her...if this was the end, then they would die in ecstasy.
His hands gripped her legs as he pressed fiercely into her...losing himself more and more. Gasping with pleasure...the blackest of his magic spilling out until she was out of her mind with it...seduced completely.
And so was he.
He struggled and fought and prayed...but the grip of the evil that possessed him was far reaching...controlling his body. His once-soul held only his eyes...and the emotions of his mind...so that he was racked with agony at his body's urge to hunt...
He tried to focus on the pleasure of her body against his...but it only strengthened his blood-lust until he couldn't bear it...he felt his body betraying him.
He arched back and cried out in agony, "God forgive me! I can't!" And then, with a swiftness of movement that betrayed how ancient he truly was, he tilted her back to bite her neck, his body no longer his own...
But just as his teeth nipped her neck, he felt her release, sharp and fierce beneath him, arching her small body into his with involuntary rapture.
And something about the movement caused his own pleasure to peak. And then he felt the once-familiar rush...the strong sensation of it and his eyes froze in awe. It had been so long he had forgotten...
Serena fluttered back to awareness as she felt his climax and smiled, looking up at his
still twisted face. She was blind to the red glow of his eyes, the sharp reach of his
teeth...she felt only joy,
You did it...beloved...you did it...
The words sank in slowly and his eyes filled with such sudden innocence, tears pierced her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
Then, in a burst of unnatural light, all his magic fled from him, making him cry out sharply as he lost control of his body. His teeth receded back. The red vanished from his eyes and the soul-glow from them spread slowly through his body...his soul was free to possess his flesh once again...and then it dimmed and he was released, collapsing into her arms unconscious. Mortal again.
She felt the heat return to his body and the noises he was suddenly able to make again.
His light snore, the rumble of his stomach, the beat of his heart...she smiled.
He was alive.
Some hours later he awoke in Serena's arms. She was still holding him, running her fingers through his hair, and down his back...the actual sensation of this was what woke him fully.
"Sere...?" He managed, trying to pull himself up, feeling heavier without his magic.
"Yes my love?" She smiled, "How do you feel?"
Memories flooded his senses then and he cried out sharply, "Sere! I almost--I would have--"
"But you didn't beloved, you didn't." She soothed, then she pulled him closer to her again, "You are free now, and we can spend our lives together..."
His eyes filled up with tears then, as he gazed down at her sweet face, "Sere...you are so precious to me..." He finished in a whisper and she kissed him--carefully at first, but then with a passion that answered his worry of only his magic being able to seduce her.
She welcomed him back to her body warm and tender. And for the first time he didn't have to worry, didn't have to exercise control. He smiled at her, the sensation of her skin against his making him realize he was warm again...blood ran through his veins...his blood...
And then her legs wrapped around him and he knew only pleasure...his pleasure...and looking down to her face...her pleasure as well.
Can you still hear me beloved? She said softly into his mind.
He smiled again, Yes, my Sere...
She smiled back.
I have always been a telepath... He confided.
She pulled him back into a kiss and he murmured soft things to her, in voice and in mind.
And then he let his thoughts drift away as the simple ecstasy of love making overtook
him.
"I had forgotten..." He moaned against her and then met her eyes full of love for him.
She giggled then--a real giggle, "I'll be sure to remind you often."
And the thought of that...of sharing this with his love every night...overwhelmed him.
She felt the wave of love rush out of him and her smile faded as she enjoyed the
rapturous sensation.
And I love you...beloved... She murmured back.
And some hours later they emerged. Rough cotton clothes failing to conceal that they were both mortal.
Darien tucked Serena protectively behind him, "We are too far into the tunnels Sere..."
She shivered.
But then Darien shut his eyes and called for someone. Someone who appeared in an instant.
Seiya.
He grinned bewitchingly at them both, and then arched an eyebrow, "Why Darien, I do believe you are mortal again!"
Darien smiled wryly, "Indeed I am. I am sorry that our friendship cannot last longer than this lifetime old friend."
Now Seiya smiled, "It will endure. It will endure. What do you wish of me?"
"There is somewhere we need to go--can you take us there?"
Seiya bowed and held out both his hands.
And then, in a blur of light, they were back to the same mountain village...the one that smuggled people to the moon.
Seiya smiled at them again, "Goodbye..."
Then he was gone.
Serena looked after him wonderingly, "What an enigmatic man...he holds no compassion and yet, calls you friend and shows you fierce loyalty."
Darien smiled, "Seiya respects me. He admired my exercise of control--he thought it was a show of great strength. And once, a very long time ago...I saved his life."
Serena nodded.
Then Darien took her hand and led her towards the village, "Let's go start the rest of our lives..."
...my beautiful Sere... He finished in her mind.
She smiled and they walked away together.