A Taste Of A Vampire

“I have yearned for him every day and every night, and finally he has come to me. Last night I could not sleep for the fires burning in me for him, and I crept out of the house and into the garden to sit in the moonlight and try to cool myself with the night air. I knew I shouldn’t have gone out alone, but it didn’t stop me. My bed is a lonely and wretched place to be without him. I was sitting on the bench beneath the old oak tree, and suddenly he was there, behind me, and I never even heard him come up to me. I only knew he was there when he spoke my name quietly, and then I was on my feet, facing him. I didn’t act as I should have. I admit that. I threw myself into his arms and held him so tightly, and he held me in return. I cannot begin to express what it meant to feel his arms around me finally, after wanting him for so long, after needing him as much as I have. His eyes were greener than the sea, almost on fire it seemed, and when I begged him to kiss me, he did. His kiss took me to other places I never knew existed, and it felt as if everything in the entire world had stopped for the moments that his lips were on mine. I wish it could have stayed that way for an eternity. Our kisses grew more passionate, such as I never had imagined. His mouth took mine, kissing me there as well as my neck, and the feel of his lips, and tongue, and teeth was mesmerizing to me. I told him that I love him, and pleaded with him to be mine. I told him that it might be brazen of me, but I didn’t care. I wanted to marry him, I wanted to be his lover, and for one blessed moment, I thought that he was going to agree to it and take me to be his own, but then the world ended. My world ended. He said that he could not be with me. He wished that he could, but he could not take me away from the life that I had at Grayson, and from the chance at a happy marriage with Giles. I pleaded with him, telling him that I wanted no one but him, but he only kissed me once more, and then seemed to vanish into the darkness of the night like a silent mist. I called out to him, but he was gone. I knew he had meant it. I knew that he would never take me from Giles. My heart is shattered, and I am devastated beyond repair. I know of no cure for the desperate heartache that has engulfed me. My one true love, the love of my lifetime has gone, and I must either marry Giles Grayson, or die of a broken heart.”

Claire was transfixed by the words, reading them over and again, and after she had nearly memorized them, she went on to the next entry.

“The morning after Nathaniel left me, I discovered two strange bite marks on my neck. They are an equal distance apart and are punctured beneath the skin. There was no blood on my clothing or on my bedding. I could only guess that some spider or other thing must have landed on me while I was sitting beneath the oak tree the night before. I’ve never had any bites like these. I feel all right, and they appear to be healing slowly, but Giles is adamant that we call the doctor if they aren’t gone in two day’s time. Nathaniel may have turned me away, but he still haunts my every waking moment, and my every dream. Giles is as sweet and kind as he can be. He thinks that whatever bit me might have poisoned me, and that that is the cause of my low spirits and an illness, which is in truth heartache, though I dare not admit that to him. He has insisted on bed rest until the wounds are healed and I am feeling better. I will never feel fully myself again, for a part of my soul has gone and will never return.”

Claire closed the book with a frown and lifted her hand to her neck, feeling the two puncture marks that she had sustained. She had also thought that they were caused by a spider, although she had never seen a spider bite like the one she had.

She rose from the chaise lounge and went to the bathroom to look at them again. They were healing and fading, she noticed, and she ran her fingertips over them, wondering what they had been caused by. Her mind turned to Nicholas, as it had done so often, and she wondered where he was and what he was doing, and she wondered how she was going to keep him off her mind and out of her dreams when she returned to New York at the end of the week. She would never see him again, and whether they had made love for real or if it was just a dream, she already knew that leaving him so far behind was going to also leave a black hole in her heart that would never be filled again. She knew just what Elizabeth was feeling. She felt the same way about Nicholas.