(I was telling some dude about this vampire movie I was going to see, and he told me to forget about the movie. He said he could tell me the story of some true vampire tale he insists actually happened. Not sure to believe him but it sure sounds true. More exciting than any movie if you ask me. So now I'm asking you. What do you think? Could it be true? He swears it is.)
"Tick tock, tick tock..."
The sound of time dissipating on the grandfather clock pendulum annoyed her fractured thoughts.
Melanie had been long aware of the magical legends associated with the curse spewed out by her dying fiancé. He would be back to reclaim her on the one year anniversary of his untimely death, and consummate their interrupted marriage.
"Pitter patter, pitter patter..."
The sound of mice feet again, tip toeing in the darkness as though they had a right to be there, which of course they didn't, despite the tasty fallen morsels of yummy custard pudding she had devoured for desert.
A sudden wind chilled her shoulders, causing her to pull the blanket up a little tighter around her long slender neck.
She turned onto her side to check the elaborate stained glass window to make sure it hadn't been opened by some visiting entity. It remained tightly shut and locked. She heaved a sigh of disappointment into the chilly night air, watching the fog like cloud rise from her lips like steamy vapors.
Her reflection on the wall mirror was still radiant and beaming, showing off lush, thick lips that were naturally cherry red and that had never been kissed by any creature, mortal or otherwise. Had she been able to consummate her union to Vladimir a year earlier, than undoubtedly his fangs would have pierced her milky white veins, rendering the full length mirror incapable of capturing her image. But the sprinkled hemlock in his wine had cruelly kept him out of her longing, loving arms. Until hopefully now...she wondered if there was any truth to his deathbed declaration that he would be back in exactly one year. That one year was now up, and this very night the curse appointed time for the blood free corpse to claim his virgin Melanie.
"I want you, I need you..."
A lingering whisper, leftover from a year old death, captivating her itching ears. It echoed in haunting swirls, reminiscent of a time when her impossibly handsome fiancé had been poisoned by Jade, his jealous male rival brother. Jade had made it clear upon the morning of their honeymoon, that if he couldn't have Melanie, then no man could, especially not his brother, Vladimir.
The near skeletal remains of her fiancé still graced the stone catacombs in the basement below, entombed with diligent leeches that kept the withering body atrophied and ready to disintegrate with dust.
Melanie had long since thought about sneaking out of her room at night, and descending the spiral iron staircase that wound perpetually downward, reigniting his heart with a gentle slit of her wrist, but Jade had place a permanent guard upon the catacomb door, forever barring her entrance.
"Clomp clomp, clomp clomp..."
Loud, melodic footsteps, unmistakably belonging to the man she had scorned and smitten. Jade! The one she was certain had spiked the wedding wine with heart stopping hemlock, allowing him to cruelly entomb Vladimir's incredibly handsome and buff body, allowing it to rot away amongst the rats and the vermin insects that loved to nibble incessantly.
"Damn you Jade," she whispered bitterly. The grandfather clock pendulum had long ago struck midnight, rhyming off the twelve chimes that were supposedly to have brought her precious fiancé back to life. Only he had not yet appeared as anticipated, and the sudden single chime now struck by the pendulum heralded the arrival of one o'clock. Perhaps Vladimir's desperate assertion he would return to claim her exactly one year later, was merely that, a hollow promise that would linger unfulfilled for time and eternity.
The heavy oaken door, interwoven with re-enforced iron, creaked as it swung open.
Jade stepped in, his jet black hair dangling triumphantly onto broad, tempting shoulders. His rippling abdomen and muscular pecs shimmered in the moonlight that shone brilliantly past the stained glass window.
"Don't you know it's customary for a person to knock before entering a lady's room," she spat out.
Jade shook his head but still managed to brandish a smile despite her stubborn defiance and petulance.
"Still the smitten bride, whose wannabe lover was snatched so cruelly from your arms a year ago this very night! You're still not wallowing in the delusion that the rotting Vladimir can come back to life and break free from his restraints and leeches? His heart, severely laced with hemlock, shall never beat again."
"He will come to me just as how he promised," Melanie managed, her voice wavering as she brushed a fat, solitary tear that strolled down her astonishingly pretty face.
"As Vladimir's younger brother, I am rightfully next in line to claim those things which belonged to him, of which you are one. You must give up this nonsense and take part in planned nuptials that shall bring us together forever."
He bared his fangs, sending shivers of hate and spite racing along her spine. She would rather die than give in to his unwelcome advances. Still, she was well aware of the palace protocol. Her starving family had sold her into eternal slavery, a role she accepted as the future bride of Vladimir, only it was his cold hearted brother that was destined to take her in his arms if her poisoned fiancé could not raise himself up again.
"Vladimir swore on his deathbed he would raise himself again this very night, and take vengeance on you, then claim me back as his loving bride."
"Sheer and utter nonsense," Jade shouted. "You would do well to remember that I can have the flesh whipped off your back if I so choose, right to the very bone. But it is such a very pretty flesh, and it shall belong to me this very night. The customary year of mourning is now officially up. Bathe yourself in oils and perfume your body. I shall be back at precisely two o'clock, and you shall give up your virginity and mortality to me or you shall be lashed to the very death. Do you understand, my pretty, human wench?"
"The only thing I understand is that Vladimir shall return and when he does, your heart will be squished to dust in his powerful hand."
"You have one hour to prepare. And you had better please me in every way, or I shall put your beautiful face inside this iron cage with a hungry rat."
He flung the iron cage down onto the ground, sending shivers along her frightened spine. Official palace protocol had given her one whole year to mourn and remain a virgin, but her year was now officially up, which meant she now belonged to Jade, and he had the power to do with her whatsoever he pleased.
"One hour," he reiterated sternly, his black eyes like evil pools that resonated with lust and desire. "I shall puncture your pretty little neck, then make love to you the whole night through. Your voluptuous, sumptuous body shall belong to me forever, and you shall bear my heir. Do you understand?"
She wanted to spit in his face but he was all out of patience. She merely nodded.
He stepped forward, clutching her cheeks in between a thumb and finger. "Say it, wench! I want to hear you say it!"
"I...I shall belong to you in just one hour."
He let go of her and the anger subsided. "Good. I can make things so pleasant for you if you co-operate, and so painful for you if you don't. I will leave the head cage here so you ponder over your fate should you fail to please me."
