CHAPTER 7

The days were growing shorter which suited Von Krolock just fine. Sarah still ventured outside but she wore fur-lined gowns and thicker stockings under her skirts. Her baths became longer and hotter. The time was fast approaching. Her mortal days were numbered. He often imagined the extraordinary moment. That's all it really was, maybe a minute at most, but thinking about it made him instantly hard. Increasingly he would study Sarah's neck, observe it as she spoke, ate, or experienced a little death in his arms.

It would happen in their bedchamber, on their bed; the same spot where she had lost her virginity to him would also be where she would give up her soul for him.

The moment would be sacred. Once bitten, he would consummate the occasion with a night never to be forgotten. And he would hold her in his arms and comfort and reassure her, as the changes started to manifest.

All would be well. Sarah was at peace with the inevitable. They could not have loved each other more deeply.

Yet Von Krolock continued to feel uneasy.

He wondered if it was due to abstaining from fresh human blood. Perhaps he should bend the rules a bit. Sarah need never know. Besides it would be a month or more at most and she would be partaking of human blood alongside him. He smiled at the mere idea.

He would do it. If it didn't remove his unease, he knew without a doubt it would do his body a world of good.

He spread his wings and flew to a neighboring village where he was less known. As usual, he searched for prostitutes by the river. There was only one and she was too young and pretty to kill. But the hunger that rose in Von Krolock at the sight of her would not be denied, and like a ferocious animal, he tore into her neck, sucking and swallowing as fast as he could, until she was bone-dry. He released her and she fell to the ground like a heavy stone.

Don't look at her. Go home to Sarah. But he couldn't help himself. She lay there with her eyes wide open. Von Krolock bent down and gently closed them.

This was not his usual type of victim. Prostitutes, yes, but the older, used-up ones that no could no longer make a living. It was a mercy to kill them. But this girl was too young and might have found her way back to some decent life.

Why had he done it?

He was over-hungry for human flesh and he wanted young blood. It was the absolute best and the most satisfying. It would tide him over for days. He could go back to hunting animals.

But he also knew he had chosen her as a test. To see if it still gave him the thrill and to assure himself he was still normal.

He was as much a monstrous fiend from Hell as he had been for four hundred years. He had proved that by slaughtering this girl.

And this was the destiny he wished for Sarah?

Yes. Yes! This existence was better than the alternative. Otherwise, Sarah would eventually die and be taken from him for all time. He could never go on. He would walk into the sunlight and be reduced to ashes after her death.

With a shriek of despair, he spread his wings.

He entered the bedchamber furtively, half-hoping she would be asleep. She couldn't guess that human blood, much less the blood of a girl her age, even now was splattered all over his mouth, hair, and clothes.

Sarah was fast asleep, an open book lying beside her on the bed. He smiled down at her. She had been waiting up for him, sweetly diverting herself while he was drinking the life force out of an innocent girl, whose blood would supply him with the stamina to make love. This thought made him want to do anything but.

He bathed, disrobed, and climbed into bed, laying Sarah's book aside and fussily arranging the bedclothes about her. She felt the cold sharply now. Admittedly, Von Krolock needed to do a better job keeping her warm. He often forgot to keep the fireplace lit, since he was never cold. Not much longer to concern himself with these matters though...

He blew out the candles and held Sarah in his arms.

She sighed suddenly and woke up. "Did you feed well, my lord?" She asked him in the darkness.

What a terrible question at such a time.

"Very well." He sounded curt without meaning to.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, my dearest. I'm tired. Let's sleep. I'll make love to you in the morning."

Sarah was silent and he had almost drifted off when he heard her sweet voice.

"My lord...how were you transformed?"

He hadn't expected such a question but he supposed it made sense it was on her mind, as her own transformation loomed ever nearer.

"I was attacked in the dead of night outside the castle walls by a female vampire. She was going to drink all my blood...but I begged her not to drain me." His voice caught at the memory; his grief-stricken state and his plea to live.

"Why were you outside the walls at night?"

"I was grieving. My wife had recently died along with our baby."

"Your wife?" Sarah gasped, shocked.

"My love, did you imagine a nobleman such as I would not marry and attempt to beget heirs?"

"Did you love her?" Sarah tried not to sound jealous.

Von Krolock paused. "She was a good woman. A true Christian woman. I respected her and we were kind to each other. She ran this castle like a general. A woman of great abilities."

"But did you love her? Like you love me?" Sarah's voice was small.

"No, beloved. Our betrothal was finalized when I was a boy and she was in the cradle. I was never faithful. I had several mistresses. But I was a good husband in every other way."

"And she perished in childbed? With your baby?" Sarah stroked his hair.

"My wife was ten years younger than me. I married her at twenty-five, she was fifteen. She had difficult pregnancies from the beginning. Several miscarriages for years. She didn't bear a living child until well into her twenties. We had six children..." His voice grew quiet.

Sarah said nothing, but continued to caress him, waiting for him to gather the strength to resume.

"I had a little girl who died at two and a son who lived to be three. The other four were all stillbirths. But they were still my children."

"Oh, my poor love," she soothed with tears in her voice. He shrank away from her touch and when he spoke again, his voice was bitter.

"So don't mourn too much the impossibility of future children, Sarah. You could just as easily die in childbed or lose a much-loved baby. It has been more than four hundred years and I still think about them. I wonder if they are with God and if so, if they know what their father has become and if they look down and hate me for it. And I wonder what my wife would think, for I assure you she went straight to God."

She touched his face. It was wet with tears, although his voice was strong.

"It is through no fault of yours that you became a vampire, my lord. You are innocent. They would know that and not blame you."

He scoffed. "I'm not so innocent, Sarah. I have killed thousands. I have transformed hundreds more. I will transform you."

"But I want you to. I have chosen this destiny. You know this. I want you to do it."

Von Krolock sank back on the pillows with a sigh. "Do you, Sarah?'" He turned away from her and was asleep in seconds.