Chapter Three



“Well, here we are,” Darrien announced as the carriage pulled into a circular driveway. 
It was so dark outside.  It felt like if you whispered something out loud, the quiet-still of the night would shatter into a million pieces.  I looked out the window of the carriage.  Not a single city light was in view.  Darrien had asked me if I wanted to have a late night supper at his home.  I wasn’t prepared for what my eyes would feast upon when I stepped out of the carriage. 
Darrien gracefully picked me up, as if I weighed nothing at all, and lowered me to the gravel driveway.  When I gazed around at my surroundings, I thought I was in a different country or perhaps a different world. 
He reached for my hand and led me up the marble stairs of the gigantic castle-like mansion.  I found it so hard to believe that such a mansion was residing just on the outskirts of the city.  I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.  The smell of fall and winter entered my soul.  It was if I was under some kind of spell.  I didn’t feel strange.  I actually felt like I was returning home.
Darrien opened the double doors to his home and I walked into the hallway ahead of us.  My footsteps echoed in the grand hall and I slowly spun around to look at all of the antique furniture, murals, and tapestries.  Candles were lit all along the walls and in the chandeliers hanging above our heads.  The ceiling seemed to be miles away from where we stood.  I wondered to myself what it would be like to live in a place like this all alone.  I know I would be lonely and perhaps paranoid of the shadows.  There were times when I was absolutely terrified of the night and especially of shadows.  As I got older, that fear turned into a comfort.  I lived for the nightlife. 
“So, what do you think?”  Darrien’s voice brought me back from my wondering.
“It’s huge!”  I said.  My voice echoed throughout the room.
“It’s been in my family for almost 300 years.  Of course, it’s modernized now.  When I inherited it, I began making renovations.”
He took a hold of my hand.  “Here, come with me to the parlor.  I’ll fix you a drink and tell my cook to prepare a meal.  I hope you don’t dislike steak.”
“No.”  I said, not really sure, what I was saying no to since my mind was somewhere else at that moment.
I sat down on a maroon settee and watched as Darrien poured us each a glass of wine from a small bar sitting underneath a huge tapestry of a unicorn.  An elderly man in a standard uniform tuxedo entered the room and nodded his head to me.  Then he walked over to Darrien.  I could barely hear what Darrien was asking the man.  The man bowed, turned towards me again, and bowed.
“Welcome to Le château du Sang, mademoiselle,” the butler said to me.
“Jackson is my butler.”  Darrien announced then walked over to me and handed me a lead crystal glass full of burgundy wine.  “He used to be my grandfather and father’s butler.  I like to think of him as a second father.”
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” I said with a smile.
Jackson turned and went to some other part of the house.
“Do your servants live with you?”  I asked.
“Just Jackson.  My driver, Ren, he lives in the servant’s quarters at the back of the house.  He’s a very private man, so I rented out the servants house to him, so he could live in luxury as well as come to me at my beckon call.”
“That seems somewhat selfish.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.  In time though, you’ll get to meet my friends and other relatives.  Hollise, my cousin, is due to arrive in a week.”
“Where is she from?”  I asked then took a sip of my wine.
“My dear cousin, Hollise is from everywhere.  She’s what some people would call a gypsy.  She lived with me for over a year a while back.  It’s a long and boring story to hear about.”
I got up from the settee and walked around the parlor looking at all of the beautiful décor.  I felt as if I slipped back into time.  I did take note that most of the furniture and paintings were from the late 1800’s.  A few Renaissance items decorated some of the walls, such as a coat of arms with two swords crossing each other forming an "X" at the center of the emblem.  There was even a suit of armor standing in a lonely corner of the hallway.  I wanted to see what the rest of the house looked like, but figured that Darrien wouldn’t want some dopey teenager tromping around in his beloved home wearing a pair of combat boots.
“I can show you around if you like,” Darrien said as if he had been reading my thoughts.  “Actually, I thought you’d like to stay the night.”
I turned quickly to him and gave him a hard look.  “Look, Darrien, you’re really nice and charming, but I’m not about to have a one night stand with you.”
Darrien looked confused at first, then he laughed.  “Oh, my dear, lady, I did not mean that I wanted to take you to bed with me.  I was going to give you your own room.”
My face turned beet red and I looked away from him embarrassed.  “I’m sorry, I just thought…”
“Not to worry, my dear lady.  I may have kissed you, but that doesn’t give me any rights to seduce you.”  He walked over to me and placed his hands on my waist.  I felt dizzy and unsteady.
“I’d only seduce you if you wanted me to.  Never without your permission.  But I cannot lie and say that you don’t stir me with your beauty.”
I laughed even though I knew he was being serious.  “You sound like you’re stuck in a time warp.  I don’t think there’s a man on this planet that speaks like a gentleman.”
“You must remember, I used to live in London.  I haven’t allowed the American ways of speaking to taint my English speaking or manners.”
He turned me to face him and I felt like someone was probing my brain or something.  I felt drugged.  Darrien’s face began to leave trails.
“I’m not feeling well.”  I said handing my empty glass of wine to Darrien.  “I just need to sit down or something.”
“Here, ” Darrien said guiding me to a maroon couch that matched the settee.  “Lie down here.  Perhaps you drank your wine too fast.  It’s one of my oldest burgundies, so it could be more potent.”
“Oh, why didn’t I know that?  I knew that wine was the strongest I’ve ever drank.  Not that I haven’t had stronger drinks and drugs.”  I giggled.  Perhaps I was drunk.  Oh Hell, I was having fun.  And maybe, sleeping here wasn’t such a bad suggestion.  I wouldn’t even mind it if Darrien tried to seduce me.  It certainly wouldn’t take much to get me all hot and bothered.
Darrien took a sip of the dark red liquid from his glass, then set both of our glasses on an end table next to the couch.  I closed my eyes and imagine Darrien kissing me.  Then gently caressing me.
His lips were colder than mine.  But I invited them to dance across my lips.  I slid my tongue into his mouth and ran it along his teeth.  I could taste the wine from both of our mouths.  My hands trembled slightly as I reached out and unbuttoned his jacket and shirt.  I ran the palms of my hands up and down his tight, masculine, hairless chest.  Gently, I scratched his skin.  Every time my nails scratched him, he sucked in his breath and kissed me harder.
“Oh God, Raven, I want you,” he whispered.
“I want you too,” I replied.  I didn’t care anymore.  Michael would never want me like this.  Darrien was perfect for me anyway.  I don’t know why I felt that way, but it felt right.
“Let’s not do this here,” Darrien said.
I opened my eyes and saw how his eyes seem to glowing.  Maybe it was the wine that made me see his eyes were glowing.  Or perhaps the fire in the fireplace was playing visual tricks on me.  Before I had a chance to say no, I was in Darrien’s arms and he was carrying me up one of the large curved marble staircase.
I had no idea where we were in his gigantic house, but I knew I was about to lose my virginity.  I noticed a glass of the burgundy that we were drinking was sitting on the nightstand.  Darrien wasn’t paying any attention to me.  He was going around the room fixing the curtains and lighting the gaslight candles that hung from the walls.  The poster bed I was sitting on was decorated in gold and maroon silk.  I took the crystal glass on the nightstand and quickly downed the wine, then I put the glass back on the table.  The wine made me feel dizzy so I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes to prevent the room from spinning.  I certainly didn’t want to get sick in front of Darrien.
“Raven, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” I heard him say to me.  I smiled, but kept my eyes closed. 
That’s when I felt him climb on top of me.  My eyes snapped open and I gazed into his eyes.  I could feel he was completely naked.  It didn’t take him long to undress me.  He took great care to fold my clothing and place it on a silk covered chair next to the bed.  His eyes seemed to be on fire when he looked down at my body.  I wrapped my arms around him and brought him closer to my body.  He kissed my harden nipples,  sucking at them then biting them.  My legs wrapped around him and I used them to pull him even closer to me.  His kisses lowered and found the very center of my body.  I tossed my head back and forth while my body thrashed all over the bed.  The noises that came from my mouth sounded almost inhuman.  My moans turned to growls.  I felt like I was floating, yet I felt something else boiling inside my body.  When I climaxed, I felt him slide himself into me.  I gasped expecting to feel pain, but felt total and complete pleasure instead.  My body moved with his as we made wild and passionate love. 
I opened my eyes and saw he was staring into mine.  My gaze fell from his eyes to his neck.  That’s when I felt the pain.  My mouth suddenly expanded and grew new teeth.  Not just plain teeth, but fangs.  Sharp and deadly fangs.  I ran my tongue over them not believing that I suddenly grew fangs.  But they were real, as real as my body, my blood, my hair.  I felt like I was having a dream, but I wasn’t dreaming this.  I also wasn’t dreaming that I felt strange hunger pangs for the blood that flowed through Darrien’s veins.  I wanted to pierce his skin and drink his blood.  What the hell was going on with me?
“Do it, Raven!  Bite me!  Please,”  Darrien moaned.
I pulled his neck to my mouth and licked the salty skin.  I couldn’t explain what was going through my head at that very moment, all I knew was I wanted to taste his blood.  Not just taste it, but drink it.  I opened my mouth further, pressed my newly grown fangs on his neck, and heard a popping noise.  At the same time I pierced Darrien’s neck, I felt a sharp jab on my neck where Darrien had been kissing me.  I wasn’t sure what was happening.  It was as if I was hallucinating.   
I closed my eyes and drank deeply from the wounds on Darrien’s neck.  Suddenly, I found myself standing in the middle of a field.  I was having one of my weird visions again.  I could tell because the colors were not as vivid as real dreams or real life.  The sky above me was dark and the air smelled rank.  It smelled like rotting bodies.  I looked all around me and discovered I was alone.  Although, I knew I wasn’t alone.  I could feel and smell other people.  I looked around at my surroundings again.  Then I spotted Darrien.  He was fully dressed and standing no more than 100 feet away from me.  I saw a woman standing beside him.  I don’t know how she got there, but she wrapped her arms protectively around Darrien.  Where the hell was I?  I turned around quickly and saw Chella standing behind me.  She didn’t look like the Chella I knew.  Instead, she looked totally different.  Her short pixie-like hair was now long and flowing.  She wore a sheer blue gown and a crescent moon crown sat upon her head.  It was decorated with some kind of silver glittery ivy.  The ivy was twisted along the headpiece.  In her right hand, she held some kind of white staff that was taller than she was and it was decorated with the same crescent moon emblem, except there was a large glowing blue gemstone sitting at the very tip of it.  She smiled and nodded her head.  She tried to tell me something, but I couldn’t hear her.
When I opened my eyes again, Darrien was lying next to me drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.  I, too, was in the same state.  I was confused about what I had seen while we had made love.  No, not while we had made love, while I had drank Darrien’s blood.  I had a sudden dread that I wasn’t just a strange and unique young woman.  I was more than that. 
“You’ll soon learn in time who you really are, Raven,” Darrien said.  He sat up on his elbows, then propped himself and  turned towards me so he could stare into my eyes.
“Who are you?”  I asked.
“All in good time, Raven, all in good time.  For now, my love, sleep.  I must leave you though.  I need to get prepared for work.”
“But you didn’t get any sleep!”  I declared.
“Not to worry, love.  I do this all the time.  But you,” he smiled, “you need some rest.  There’s a bathroom just beyond those French cut doors with a tub to die for.”  I looked at the French doors.  “When you get up, take a bath.  I’ll let Ren know you’ll need a ride home later on.”
I had a sudden dread that Darrien was going to avoid me.  Use me, then toss me aside.  I wanted to leave right then and there.  How could I’ve given up my virginity to a man I don’t even know!
“Raven, it’s okay.  I’m not using you.”  Darrien said as he slid his legs out from underneath all the covers on the bed.  “So, please, dear, don’t leave.  I invited you out for the night and well, I didn’t expect to make love to you.  I knew I was attracted to you, but it must be something more for me to get so careless like that.”
“I believe you.  I guess then I’ll see you later?”  I couldn’t hide my disappointment.  I wanted to snuggle up in his arms.  I was somewhat afraid to be alone in this grand home of his.  I was also afraid of the nightmares that haunted me while I slept for the past few years.  It seemed like the older I got, the more vivid and violent my nightmares became.  I knew the dreams were trying to tell me something, but I didn’t want to know what they had to tell me. 
Darrien ran his hand through my red hair.  “How ‘bout this, I’ll sleep with you until you fall asleep, then I’ll go and get ready for work.  This way, you won’t be scared.”
I smiled.  “How did you know that I was scared to be alone?”
“I can see the fear in your eyes.”
“Oh,” I said.
Darrien crawled back into bed with me and wrapped his strong pale arms around me.
“Sleep well, my lady.”