CHAPTER 6

The next few days and nights Von Krolock spent with Sarah as much as he possibly could. Their differing schedules merged into a happy medium. They would sleep until noon after making love for hours the night before. Afternoons were spent apart, Sarah longed to be in the sun and Von Krolock was stuck in his bedchamber, his makeshift haven from the light. He didn't mind. It wouldn't be forever. He would indulge her until her transformation. He ordered his desk from his study moved up to his bedchamber so he could at least deal with correspondence and the mundane tasks of managing his estate. It seemed that without meaning to, he was more and more adapting to mortal ways: awake and working during the day, sleeping most or at least half the night...what was next? Eating mortal food?

Every day upon waking he arranged for her breakfast to be brought to his bedchamber, and he fed her in bed. Sometimes the scent of freshly baked bread on her tray would reach his nostrils, sometimes not. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. Once, when she had eaten her fill and left him to take her bath, he idly picked up a hunk of bread and tore off a piece. He lifted it to his nostrils and inhaled deeply. Yes...he could smell the yeast. His mouth watered for the first time in four hundred years. Before he even knew what he was doing, he shoved it into his mouth, and in the next moment, he was gagging, spitting it back onto the tray.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it any more than Sarah could drink blood. But he had wanted to. There was all the difference. Would he try again? If he did, Sarah must not know. No one must know.

Something was happening to him. He could feel it in his body. He didn't understand it and it filled him with fear. He needed confirmation that he wasn't going mad. Tonight, after dinner with Sarah, he would leave the grounds to feed as usual. Then he would visit his vampire tenants in the forest. He needed to be among his own kind.

The forest seemed to grow thicker each year. Von Krolock could barely remember when this land had been cleared for his hunting grounds. He had stopped hunting as mortals do after his transformation. He had become an entirely different kind of hunter. He needed neither horse nor hounds to find his prey. So the grounds had grown over to natural forest. There was not a man alive who remembered what they used to be, although the Count still owned the land. The vampires who lived there had built makeshift cottages and hovels and paid their rent in blood rations.

Von Krolock rapped loudly on the door of Ludwig, a vampire who was his elder by three hundred years. If there was anyone who could put his fears to rest, it would be him.

"LUDWIG!"Von Krolock bellowed when a whole minute had passed and the door remained shut. He banged on it again. No answer. He sighed loudly in frustration. Ludwig must be feeding.

Von Krolock threw his weight against the rickety wooden door and burst inside. He sat down in the darkness to wait. The cottage smelled of old, dried blood and mold. He would need to bathe with extra care tonight before bedding Sarah.

Before long, he heard Ludwig's footsteps and his fumbling with the key.

He entered and reached to light a candle, revealing Von Krolock seated before him.

Ludwig shouted and nearly dropped the candle in his shock.

"Count Von Krolock! Am I late with my payment?"

Von Krolock shook his head. "Sit down, Ludwig."

He obeyed. Von Krolock studied his fellow vampire. Ludwig had been a very young man when he had been transformed and he still retained his boyish blond looks but his face was marred by fresh blood all around his mouth. He didn't even bother to clean it off. But then, Von Krolock realized his own face was also stained with blood. So then, why was he offended?

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Ludwig sat down across from Von Krolock, who leaned forward.

"Ludwig...We have always been civil with each other. You were transformed long before I was even born."

Ludwig bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"Tell me...in your long afterlife, have you ever caught the scent of mortal food? Fruit? Fresh-baked bread?"

Ludwig wore a puzzled expression. "Why do you ask me?"

"Answer my question."

There was a moment's hesitation.

"No...nor would I want to."

Von Krolock insisted. "Never even once in seven hundred years?"

"No! I told you. What's wrong with you, Krolock?"

Ludwig rose and lit more candles. He studied his visitor in the better light, then backed away in alarm.

"Hounds of Hell, Von Krolock! What has happened to you?! Your pallor..."

Ludwig continued to stare, horrified.

Von Krolock stood up. He touched his face as if that would tell him anything.

"You look like a mortal man!"

There was a tense silence. Von Krolock laughed and bared his fangs as if needing assurance.

Ludwig made an impatient gesture. "Very well, I know you are no mortal, but the gray pallor is...you look...as if you had a beating heart! If I had never met you until this day, I would have tried to hunt and kill you!"

Von Krolock was speechless. He had no point of reference as to the change in his pallor. Far from receiving the reassurance he sought, he was more lost than ever.

"To hell with my pallor, Ludwig. I have but one final question for you." Although Von Krolock already knew the answer.

He took a deep breath, bared his fangs, and retracted them. "Can you do this, Ludwig?"

Ludwig stared at him as if he were a kind of monster, a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong.

Von Krolock's face fell. He turned wordlessly, opened the door, and strode out into the night.

He considered visiting other vampires, asking the same questions. But he was too afraid of the answers.

So he made his way slowly back to the castle, although he was longing to be with Sarah. But he needed time alone to come to terms with whatever was happening to him if that was even possible.

He entered their bedchamber, filthy with blood. Sarah was sitting in bed with the candles lit, reading a book from his library. She smiled radiantly at his entrance, showing no horror at his appearance. Now that Von Krolock only fed on animals, the blood did not bother her. He no longer needed to hide from her after feeding. All the same, he quickly ordered his bath prepared before approaching her.

"You are late tonight, my dearest. I was worried." Sarah put the book down as Von Krolock slipped off his robe and climbed into bed, nude.

"The animals proved difficult to find." He took her in his arms. "Sarah..." He swallowed. He wanted to ask her about his pallor but he lost his nerve. Instead, he kissed her passionately and they made love until dawn.

They lay there in each others' arms, not quite ready for sleep.

"I want you to tell me..." Sarah whispered. "I am ready to hear it. Tell me of my transformation. It will ease my mind to know exactly what to expect."

Von Krolock felt pained. He did not want to tell her but she deserved to know and he had promised he would explain everything.

He swallowed and closed his eyes as he spoke.

"The bite is at first incredibly painful. But only at first. Then a sort of freezing sensation overwhelms the body and one feels as if in a daze. Your heart stops beating almost at once. Your bodily functions cease. You will grow fangs, but it is different for everyone. Mine appeared immediately, for some, it may take a few days. Over time, your face changes. Your pallor, even your expression. You will still be beautiful, never fear, but you will be altered. You will have no reflection in the mirror. It will be as if you are invisible. No reflection in the water or a window, either. Trust me, I tried that. You will develop a taste for blood as soon as your fangs appear. And you will know exactly what to do with them. It is instinctual and cannot be taught. Also...You will never be able to bear children, nor would you want to."

Sarah was silent. Von Krolock opened his eyes to face her. She was lying there with her eyes closed, a lone tear escaping.

"My beloved...Shall I stop?"

"No," she whispered almost inaudibly. "Go on."

"There are dangers of course, but you know this. Sunlight, a stake through the heart, crosses, and crucifixes. Speaking of which, you will lose your soul. There is no Heaven or Hell for us. God is dead to us."

She shook in his arms and he realized she was sobbing.

"But our consolation is that we gain eternity. We will live forever, my sweet. We will never sicken or grow old. My love, our life together is just beginning! Do not despair. I will never leave you."

Gradually, her tears ceased. She opened her eyes and fearlessly met his gaze. "You said I do not have a choice."

"Indeed you don't," Von Krolock growled.

"But I want you to know that I freely make this choice, regardless of what you wish. I join you in the darkness of my own free will."

Von Krolock had never heard more beautiful words and he seized her, thrusting inside of her before he even knew what he was doing.

"Until the winter, my beloved..." And he covered her mouth with a brutal kiss.