Chapter Three:

Monty went up to bed that night with the taste of sherry still lingering on his lips, ready to try and get some sleep after Phoebe's insistence. He had left his wife downstairs in the library where she was quite content reading her book until she felt tired.

Monty slipped under the covers, closing his eyes and tried to fall asleep, although his thoughts were still consumed by Sibella.

How did she die? Why didn't Lionel call him sooner? Had she suffered? Monty cringed at the thought of Sibella in pain. He had wanted to know the details though, as if to try and piece together how and why this terrible tragedy had happened.

Lionel had been little to no help in that department. He had claimed that Sibella's death was a family matter, and that family matters stay private. The old goat hadn't even had the decency to tell Sibella's parents what had truly happened. He had hidden that from them. It was disgraceful if Monty was being honest. Lionel had been nothing but a greedy man who had seen Sibella as some sort of trophy wife that was meant to be preserved and controlled. It had made Monty's blood boil to have seen them together, to see Lionel's arm wrapped around Sibella's waist tightly.

Monty wondered briefly if the old man had done Sibella in, if he had been using this sickness excuse as some sort of ruse to hide the truth. But with Lionel now dead, Monty guessed that he would never know.

He shut off the light and attempted to sleep. After a few hours, his sleep was interrupted by a rapping sound at the window. Not knowing if he was still dreaming or not, Monty walked over to the window to see what was causing all of the noise. He yawned as he opened up the window, expecting to see a bird or something pecking at the glass, but instead he saw Sibella, sitting there on the slanted roof.

"Monty!" she cried, surprised that he had opened the window.

Monty stood there, stunned.

She looked just like she had in his previous dream; still beautiful, still heavenly, and still sparkling. Her pink dress hurt his eyes as he looked at her, the color was so bright against the night sky.

"May I come in?" she begged him, her voice sugary sweet.

He blinked and then smirked at her request, drawing himself out of his stunned state. He couldn't help himself, the act of Sibella asking for permission to come in was hilarious to him.

"You've never asked permission to come into my house before, why are you starting now? Are you to ask permission to come into my bed next?"

She frowned, not amused. "Monty this isn't funny! Why are you being so nonchalant about this? I had expected a different reaction from you…"

He shrugged, "This isn't the first dream that I've had that you've come back."

He moved and let her in, though she was looking at him suspiciously, her eyes narrowed. He closed the window behind her and turned to face her, smiling. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, Monty took her in his arms and kissed her hard.

"I just want to kiss you again before I wake up," he murmured in her ear as he pressed his lips to hers again and again.

She finally pushed him away gently, looking at him like he was a madman.

"Monty, you're not dreaming," she told him slowly. Her tone was serious but he wasn't listening to her. He kissed her again, but it was this time that he realized that there was something off about her. Her lips were cold, her skin was cold, and she wasn't breathing.

She backed away from him.

"Monty, you don't want to get too close to me," she warned, "You smell so delicious and I don't want to hurt you."

He stepped towards her anyways, ignoring her wishes, and grabbed her hand tightly.

"I'm not afraid. I'm going to wake up before you hurt me anyways," he told her. She shook her head at his damned stubbornness.

"Monty, this isn't a dream, please listen to me-" He cut her off again.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, attempting to run his fingers through her golden hair, trying to touch her again, but she stepped out of his reach.

"Monty-"

"I wish you weren't dead…."

"Monty, I'm not-"

"They buried you, I saw-"

"Monty!"

He stopped at her exclamation and for once let her finish talking.

"I am not dead, Monty," she started. "I was sick though with some illness the doctor couldn't explain or save me from. I came down with the sickness soon after I had visited you and Phoebe. My carriage had been in a wreck and I hadn't been rescued in several days. By the time the police came and found us, I was already quite sick. It only got worse from there. And then one night I remember I was half delirious, I heard the door open and I thought it was you or Lionel coming to check up on me, but it wasn't. The next thing I knew someone was whispering in my ear that if I was going to act like a monster that I was going to become one, and then I felt a sharp pain at my neck… but I don't remember anything else after that, except for when I woke up in my own coffin and-"

"That's impossible," Monty interrupted, stepping towards her, "This is just a dream. You're dead my love."

"No, Monty, it's true. I'm not dead, I am some sort of monster, a murdering monster," she told him.

He took her hand, and tried to kiss her again but her lips curled back and revealed her sharp fangs. He stopped and stared at her teeth for a moment, the realization sinking in.

"I want blood, Monty. I crave it," she told him softly, but she kept her distance away from him, "I am a monster and this is real."

His eyes wandered over her, seeing that she wasn't as angelic as she had been in his dream. She was here, right in front of him.

"I don't understand," he whispered as he staggered away from her.

She looked at him, "I don't understand it either, Monty, but you have to trust me."

"You're alive again…" he murmured, "I buried you, I read about your death in the papers!" He started to pace around the room, trying to wrap his head around this.

"I know, I know Monty." Sibella stayed where she was.

"Did we bury you alive?" He asked, looking horrified, "Did we make a mistake?"

"No, no darling, I really was dead. I just… I just came back as this…" she gestured to her teeth.

He shook his head, "This can't be…. Sibella what happened during that time that you were caught in that rainstorm after your carriage accident? What do you remember? Did someone poison you or something? How could this have happened? Vampires don't exist!"

She opened her mouth but she had no answers for him.

"Monty, it's all a blur, all I-"she stopped suddenly, freezing up. Phoebe's footsteps were echoing across the house.

"I have to go," she whispered fiercely, "I'll come back tomorrow."

"No, please stay, I need to know what happened," he begged.

"I can't. I'll come back tomorrow," she promised. She vanished through the windows again, and Monty watched as she disappeared into the woods, becoming nothing more than a faint memory as Phoebe opened the door.