Final Request

Fulfilled

She was the enemy that had become his lover and now his unwilling bride.

Moments passed as he got lost in his thoughts and it wasn't until Clara began to really struggle against him that he realised he was still choking her.

With a final growl, he loosened his grip and she fell to the floor with a loud thud. Out of habit, she gasped for breath that she didn't need and collapsed at his feet.

"Be thankful I do not punish you for such insolence." Grabbing his gloves from his pocket he swiftly slipped them on taking care to push each crease into his assigned digit. "Perhaps letting you suffer alone for one night would be a good idea. Maybe once the burning engulfs you until your throat is nothing but ash you will learn not to cross me."

Clara barely saw him move as he left for the living room and tears stung her eyes as she struggled to regain some semblance of composure.

Taking his cloak the vampire took one last look at the woman struggling helplessly in the other room. His thoughts were an ocean of contradiction.

He hated her for making him weak. He despised her for all the centuries of pain she and her order had inflicted on him and his kind. Her constant presence in his life had always been an inconvenience he sought desperately to eliminate.

But damn him he wanted her now.

He suddenly realised that she was the only creature left on earth with whom he had any sort of real connection too. The history they shared was so extensive. As the centuries had passed he had become more and more alone in the world. Just like her.

The conflict churning within him was too much to bear and without another moment of hesitation, he left.

When she heard the balcony window finally click shut Clara began sobbing uncontrollably. 'This is not happening. This is not happening, it cannot be.'

She looked to her bed now adorned with a red-stained blanket and the sheets rumpled from an act she was now very quickly regretting.

'I cannot believe I let him......I let him....'

Crystalline tears fell and fell as the events of the evening replayed themselves to her. She could feel his phantom kisses on her lips, his glowing eyes boring into her soul as he moved rhythmically inside of her. His fingers stroking her hair, her shoulders, her legs and...

"OH, HOW COULD YOU BE SO FOOLISH!!" She shouted as she punched the floor. "YOU STUPID STUPID GIRL!"

The ground beneath her dented under her fist sending cracks trailing like a spider web in every direction and Clara recoiled in fear.

"God forgive me what have I done."

She hated herself for letting this happen. She hated herself for being so naive. But mostly she hated herself for giving herself to him, for allowing herself for just a moment to believe that she could ever...no she wouldn't dare think that.

But no man had ever made her feel the way he did. No man had ever made her want to do the things they had done this night. Even worse, part of her wanted to do them all over again.

Dracula had only been gone for a few moments but already Clara could feel a growing absence within her soul. The new addition to her subconscious was reaching out and yearning for him, his presence, his touch. And she wept. Each noise and breath she made echoed throughout the now-empty apartment and with each sob, the fire inside her grew harder and harder to ignore.

Her throat was dry. So dry that it hurt.

"Feed" A small voice in the back of her head purred.

The voice sounded like hers but she knew better. It was the demon that now shared her consciousness, the half of her mind now thirsting to kill and conquer.