He Took Me in the Night

Chapter VI: Kissed

“Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and thereafter she may suffer- both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.” -Bram Stoker, Dracula

Chapter VI: Kissed

I become paralysed and incapacitated as my master continues to tweak my breasts. I close my eyes. I hold my breath. I stop feeling. I don’t realise I’m crying until he recoils from my chest and his finger captures a stray tear from my cheek. It feels like an eternity flies by as his grey gaze unhinge me. He just remains motionless above me until he finally sighs.

“Look at me, slave” he demands.

My lashes flutter for a few moments before I finally reveal my eyes. His features flicker briefly with guilt until an expression of coldness settles over his handsome face like a timely frost. He tucks a stray strand of black hair behind my ear- his fingers trailing along my jaw lightly- before he gets up from the bed and stands in front of the door with his broad back to me.

“Clean,” he commands, before slamming the door behind him.

A wave of relief rushes through me as I realise my frigidness must have been a turn off for him. I’m sure he’s never been rejected physically like that before. It must have scarred his ego to have a young woman refuse his alluring beauty. Perhaps he’ll punish me later, but for now I’m safe and perfectly alone.

I pull up my evening dress to cover my chest, hating how the cold air seems to caress my bare skin crudely, and look around my master’s huge sleeping quarters. Everything besides the bed is black; the walls, carpet, dressers, curtains, bookshelf and mahogany desk. It gives the sense that I’m in a dark cave. Nothing looks out of place, disorderly or unpolished. What does he want me to clean? I’m afraid that if I touch anything I might disturb the feel of the room.

I notice a small, concealed door to my left with the word slave engraved into the wood, so I crawl off the bed and walk over to it. I turn the silver knob and pull it towards me. Inside is a tiny, dusty room. I pass through the door and sit on the white, single-sized bed. There aren’t any blankets or pillows, just a thin, rough sheet. The bedframe is metal and cold, unnerving.

Does this mean he’s never had a slave before? Judging by the cobwebs, I’m guessing he hasn’t for a while or maybe not at all. I really hope he hasn’t.

I pull my knees up to my chest, wrap my arms around them and breath out a deep sigh. This little, confined room will be my home for the year. A shiver ripples through me as a sudden gust of chilly wind hits my body. I look up to find a small wooden hatch is open for me to revel in the darkness of the night. A thousand bright stars twinkle in the black sky, the full moon subtly reflecting my time here. It was a crescent the night I was taken.

I knew the moment Lord Stoker declared that I would be a slave for his son that I was in big trouble. I’m not naïve or stupid. But I’d like to believe these people are capable of even a little empathy and kindness. I hoped that my master wouldn’t demand my body strait away, that he would give me time to accept and adapt to my new life, but I was wrong. He’s a vampire and vampires are heartless.

I cannot fathom the fact that I have bared my flesh to a man. It happened so fast. I couldn’t even decide whether I wanted more or not. But now that I’m alone, free to think things through to my heart’s content, I feel ashamed and disappointed in myself. He only saw my torso, but that’s more than anyone has ever seen before. I feel sick to the core as I realise that my skin has been inked with raw love bites.

I have to remind myself that I’m here for my family. If I had refused to come to the castle by my own free will, everyone I hold most dear would have been executed. It was futile hoping for anything other than what I was destined for. I wish I could escape, run away to my family and Erik, but I have to pay my dues like all the others before me. I have to be brave like my beloved mother was.