by Zara Novak
Claire stood dazed. Just one moment ago Wraith had been behind her, his cold hands groping at her body. He had been mere seconds from raping her. Now he was in front of her, at the far end of the library in a twisted heap on the ground. Between them was Eric, standing on a table looking down at his brother.
Wraith flung himself to his feet. To Claire this was another blur of movement, to Eric he saw every part of the motion.
“Come to play brother?! Finally!” A wild smile spread across Wraith’s face, eager that Eric had finally risen to his challenge.
Eric had no time for games anymore. Wraith had come this close to taking away the one thing in the world that was important to him. Wraith wanted some long drawn out fight, some dramatic dance where bodies would be heaved through pillars of stone and dust. Eric didn’t care for it. He could have thrown him harder and launched him through the windows into the pure daylight. He could have ignited the fool and ended it once and for all. He hadn’t however.
“Come on Eric!” Wraith’s eyes shrunk to pin pricks. The whites were large and fevered. “Fight me!”
Wraith launched himself at Eric, anticipating that this was all just some roughhousing. Eric intercepted Wraith by the throat, driving back through the air to the window once more. His body crunched against the glass. Eric moved with his full strength and speed, using the full capacity of his power that he rarely showed to anyone. It took Wraith by surprise, and his eyes were shrunk in fear now.
“Hark brother!” Wraith writhed under Eric’s grasp, his hand uncomfortably tight on his throat. “She’s just a slave! Relax!”
Eric tightened his grip further, just seconds away from feeling the trachea of his brother’s throat collapse in his fingers.
“No.” His voice was low and wild.
Wraith tried to wriggle free, but his brother’s strength was too much. “Enough! You can have her! It was just a joke!”
“If you ever touch her again, I’ll stake you myself.”
Wraith laughed at the words at first, but then his face turned ghostly white, seeing that his brother was not joking.
Eric held Wraith like that for a few seconds more, unable to relax at the idea of him being in the same room with Claire. Finally he relented and lowered him back down, taking a step back.
Wraith straightened himself out, cockiness flooding back into his face now that he was a free.
“Not worth killing anyway.” Wraith spat. “Much more fun to torture girls like that.”
In a split second Eric grabbed a chair beside him, slammed it onto the floor and thrust Wraith up against the wall once more with a splintered leg held against his chest.
“This is your last warning. I will stake you myself. If you ever touch, talk, or think about her again, I will kill you. Is that understood?”
Wraith’s whole body shook under Eric’s grasp.
“Is that understood?”
“Yes!” He snarled reluctantly. “Now get off me!”
Eric dropped the stake, and with a twisting motion he launched his brother back through the air of the library, towards the main doors. Wraith landed on his feet with ease, staring back at his brother skittishly.
“Leave.”
“This is my floor!”
“Leave.”
He pushed the word out of his throat with the whispered fire of rage. Wraith sensed he was mere seconds from final death and tore from the library, roaring in frustration as fled down the corridor.
Eric took a few breaths to steady his fury, and then his eyes were back on Claire, who stood cowering in the corner, her arms twisted in front of her naked body. He was in front of her in a second, holding the discarded bath robe that had been dropped onto the floor. He held the robe out and Claire snatched it from his hand, jumping away from him as she covered her body.
“Please! Just let me go! Please! Don’t kill me!”
“My dearest Claire.” He placed a hand on her waist and another on the side of her face, brushing his lips softly across her forehead. “I will protect you with my life.”
“I saw the bodies,” She stammered, “I saw what you did!”
“That was my brother’s doing.” He pushed reassurance from the depth of his chest, soothing her fear. Slowly but surely her breath calmed, until she could look up at him once more.
“No, but - it was, your -”
“Wraith has often been a thorn in my side. I told you that I don’t hunt anymore, and that was the truth. You have nothing to fear.”
A glimpse of hope seemed to spark in her eyes again, if only for the barest of seconds. Eric could use his full intention on her if he wanted, he could turn her into a slobbering drone that said yes whenever he wanted. He didn’t want that though. He wanted her, and if he wanted to gain her trust he had to do it the hard way.
“Promise it to me.” She said, breath shaking. “Promise me that it wasn’t you.”
Eric spoke immediately without hesitation. “I promise you. Now promise me something.”
Claire turned her head in curiosity.
“Promise me that you believe me.”
Claire’s eyes looked down, then back up at Eric, and then around the library. She weighed his words with deep consideration. After what felt like an eternity, she finally spoke.
“Look into my eyes and tell me it wasn’t you.” She said.
Eric did as she said. Claire swallowed at his words.
“I believe you.” She said.
“Really?”
“Yes. I can tell. Just looking at you. You’re fierce, for sure. You’re strong… but you’re different. You’re not him. You’re not your brother. He’s… he’s ghastly.”
“Agreed.” Eric laughed briefly and his smiled faded. “I apologize for our rocky start. Come.” He offered his hand out for Claire to take it. She looked at it, hesitating. “I’ll have Ira clean up the mess. I’ll take you back to safety.”
“I can’t - I can’t go back there-” She stammered.
“I wouldn’t dream of it my love. That was but one of my many rooms. I have another, on the opposite corner of the castle. It’s even nicer actually. A little modern for my tastes, but I think you will like it. Will you come?”
Her eyes had been in the distance, looking at something out of sight, probably playing back the dark images of the bodies. He placed a finger on her chin and pulled at it for her to look at him.
She did, and a slight smile crossed her lips.
“Will you come? I promise this is the last horror you will see here. Everything else…”
He brushed his hand down her neck, skirting the circumference of her breast. “Everything else will be pleasure.”
Claire swallowed.
“Did you find out?”
Eric turned his head in confusion.
“…about the thing that we talked about.” Claire spoke abashed, color filling her cheeks. Eric realized what she meant immediately.
“Ah.” A smile spread across his face. “Yes I did. And yes. It should be perfectly fine.” He held his hand out once more.
“Come. We have all that to look forward to and more. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
She placed her hand in his. Eric breathed a sigh of relief. She was his once again. He walked her out of the library, back toward the staircase, back to the ninth floor.
As they went he bit his lip in anticipation. He had her all to himself again, and he wouldn’t be letting her go anytime soon.
5. Claire
At first, when Claire had seen Eric in the library, she had felt thankful. Then she had felt dread.
She had looked upon Eric as a savior, and after seeing how he’d dealt with his twisted brother Wraith, it only cemented that feeling. Then she had felt the apprehension again, at remembering the bodies of the girls in the bathroom. Somehow, he had managed to find a way to make her feel better.
Once she understood that it had been his brother, and not Eric, who had left the bodies in the bathroom, she breathed a sigh of r
elief. Maybe her dark captor wasn’t that dark after all? It was bizarre, but just being in the presence of Eric made her feel safe again. Claire walked with Eric, torn between three separate emotions. There was the desire to stay with her beautiful and mysterious captor, there was the desire to slap herself stupid, and the desire to leave the castle. No matter how safe Eric made her feel, the Castle and it’s inhabitants were a danger to her. Claire felt like stepping outside her own body, taking herself by the shoulders and shaking them violently.
This place will be the end of you. Her mind screamed. Leave now before it’s too late!
She shushed the voices, pushing them to the back of her mind. She half convinced herself that she still wanted to escape, and that she was only humoring Eric by following him. The bodies, the psychopathic brother - it was all terrifying, but the part that scared Claire the most, was how she wanted to risk her own life by staying here, even if just to be with Eric for a little longer.
“Come.” He said as he guided her through the dark hallways. They were back on his floor now, but it was a part that she hadn’t seen before. Eric walked just ahead of her. He looked back and saw the fear on her face.
“Have no worries Claire. We won’t return to that old room.” He took her hand and squeezed it for reassurance.
Claire was somewhat surprised the gesture worked.
“Where are we going,” Claire asked, “If not your room?”
“I have another room on the South West corner of the castle.”
“Two rooms?” Claire laughed. “You’re spoiled rotten Mr. Belmont.”
He looked back at her, his blood red eyes twinkling with mischief. “Now that I have you, everything before was a mere shadow.”
They turned down a hallway and Eric led her through a door into another bedroom. It was decidedly Gothic, much like his other room, but this one was certainly more modern with it’s furnishings.
On the far wall there was a long window that ran nearly the whole width of the room, which was a covered in a long black blind that blocked out the light.
Eric walked into the room, peeling away from Claire.
“Bed, bathroom, TV… all the facilities you could ever want.”
“Do vampires watch a lot of TV?” Claire giggled.
“Not me.” He walked to the sleek bed side cabinet and pulled open it’s black draw, pulling out an e-reader.
“Life saver. Every book I’ve ever read is on here.”
“I thought you said Vampires and technology don’t get on?” Claire said sitting down on the bed beside him.
“We don’t usually, but I’ve never had a problem with this thing. The more basic, the better things tend to be.” He nodded at the large flat screen TV in the far corner. “That thing tends to work as long as I keep my distance. I’m not really much of a TV person.”
“Me either.” Claire said, glancing up at his face and relishing his beauty.
Eric placed his e-reader back in the draw, closing it. “Bathroom is over there, and-”
He stopped speaking, upon seeing Claire’s reaction to his words.
Claire stared in the direction of the bathroom, the sleek black door stood slightly ajar, giving bare glimpse of the dark tiles within.
She felt something clasp her back, and looking down she was surprised to see it was Eric’s hand. He brought a finger to her face and pulled at it so she was looking at him.
“Look at me. There’s nothing in there.”
He stood, walked across the room to the en-suite door and turned the light on. He looked inside himself.
“Come. I promise you.”
Claire took a deep breath and walked across the room, pausing a moment before looking around the door at the empty bathroom.
“I’m the only person in the house that has a key to this place. It’s just me and you in here, no one else, I promise. You don’t have to be afraid in here, you’re safe now.”
“I’m not afraid.” Claire said honestly. “It was just a shock seeing them, that’s all. I worked in the hospital for two years, I’ve seen dead bodies before, plenty of them. It wasn’t seeing the bodies that shocked me, it was the thought that…”
She broke off, realizing that the end of her sentence might cause offense.
“The thought that I had done it?” Eric nodded solemnly. “It’s okay, you can say that. I’d given you just cause to think that way. I was a tad bit wicked with you on our first meeting, and for that I apologize.”
They walked from the bathroom to the bed and sat.
“Am I making you mellow out Mr. Belmont?” Claire bit her lip, teasing Eric.
Eric flashed a flirtatious grin back in her direction and Claire felt her stomach flip. “I must admit, you seem to have some sort of mellowing effect on me. As far as vampires go, I like to think of myself as one of the more decent ones. There are plenty of Vampires out there like my brother Wraith. Some even worse. Vampires who run amok, killing everything that they desire without so much as thinking of the consequences.”
Claire’s throat tightened at the thought. Worse than Wraith? But he was already so maniacal…
“A funny word to use.” Eric said.
Claire looked up at him shocked, and then realized that he had read her thoughts again.
“I’d like it if you stopped doing that.” Claire said. “Reading my thoughts.”
The faintest trace of pink seemed to etch across Eric’s ivory white cheeks. Had she just made him blush?
“Are you giving me orders Ms. Eldrige?”
His voice was cold and flat, tinged with a seriousness that brushed fear across Claire’s body. She ignored the intimidation and looked past it however, realizing that there was more to him than just boyish threat. He was ashamed of what he’d done.
“And what if I am? If you’re going to snatch me out of my home and bring me here, then there are rules that I’m laying down. Especially if you want to stand a chance of putting a baby inside me.”
Claire sat up straight, and tried with her utmost intent at making her voice sound authoritative. There were points when it broke, and points when it sounded shaky, but for the most part she was pleased with her delivery. She had no idea how Eric would react, and she had no idea where this resolve was coming from, but something was driving her to put a pin in her corner.
“Very well.” Eric said, the faintest hint of a smile pulling up at his lips. “What are these rules Ms. Eldrige?”
His eyes flicked down to her body for a moment and he moved his hand across her thigh, stroking his palm down toward her knee ever so slowly.
The motion nearly derailed Claire completely, his soft fingers sending tingling sparks up and down her leg, which fizzled at the top across her groin and up the sides of her sex.
“Well, I-” She stammered, hating how much he could turn her on with just a touch. She grabbed his hand and placed it on the mattress, standing up so she was facing him.
“I want you to stop reading my mind. It’s not fair that you can read my mind and I can’t read yours. You know all my deepest darkest secrets if you want to. Why should you be the one who gets to know everything? It’s not fair.”
“Okay.” Eric said.
“And second of all, stop using your voice to make me do things…” She lingered on the word for a moment.
“Things?” Eric asked, chuckling.
“You very well know what I mean!” Claire looked around, not wanting to explain verbally. “Sexy things! You know. Stop making me do all that, it’s not fair!”
“Well I only used a little of my intention, and that was back at your apartment, everything since then has been you my darling.”
The admission stopped Claire in her tracks. “Wait, what?”
“Yes, I used a little to open you up and make you relax, but I only drew on desires that were already inside of you. Everything else has been just you my sweet.”
“But, the bath, the library…”
“All you.” Eric said, eyes twinklin
g. “I don’t like using Intention much, it almost feels like cheating.”
“What is that?” Claire asked. “That word you keep using. Intention. Is that what it’s called?”
“That’s what we call it.” Eric answered. “Others have other names for it. Most vampires possess some form of Intention, but it’s stronger in some than others.”
“Intention, that’s what it’s called when you use your voice to make people do things?”
Eric nodded. “I already told myself I wouldn’t use it on you anymore. It’s too easy to make people like me. I don’t want to do that with you. I want you to like me, not for you to feel like you have to.”
“I don’t feel like that.” Claire said quickly, afraid that she might have offended him somehow.
“I promise I’ll stop reading your thoughts. You’re right, it’s not fair for me to do so. Was there anything else?”
“I don’t know.” Claire said honestly. “I’d only thought about those two. I feel like I have a million questions I want to ask you about being a vampire, but I don’t want to load it all on you at once.”
“That’s alright.” Eric smiled. “It’s perfectly normal to be curious. Was there anything you wanted to know in particular?”
Claire thought for a moment.
“This place, you live here with your family?”
Eric nodded.
“Are there vampires everywhere?”
He shrugged.
“We don’t know. We know some things, we know of others, but we don’t know everything. There are parts of being vampire that are as mysterious to me as they are to you.”
Claire walked back to the bed, sitting down beside Eric. She leaned against his body and he wrapped his arm around her.
“And what about Wraith?”
She felt his hand tense at the mention of his brother’s name.
“What about him?”
“What’s his story, why is he that way?”
She heard Eric take a deep breath and sigh. “There are reasons for my brother’s… behavior. Reasons that you will come to learn in time. It’s not for us to discuss now however, let us move on from dark mention of my brother for now. Let us focus on lighter things.”
