Meeting The Maker

Lord Cromwell was a Noblemen, four hundred and eighty seven years past born by this time, as the text read. And yet it also read that when he had a mere Nineteen years to his credit, he fell to the children of darkness. He had not struggled, nor had he opposed being taken to a life of dark halls and immortality. For his willingness to serve and his faithfulness to the King of the Vampires, Lord Aelfric Cromwell was promised an ounce of his former human dreams would come true. He was promised Maharani, the countess of Moldovia. For four hundred and sixty six years he had failed when trying to court her. In her past lives he'd kidnapped her, killed her lovers, and held her brother captive. He had tried many other things in her past lives to get her to concur to love him. You see that was the catch. The prophecy said that she had to give herself to Aelfric willingly or he could not have her, and he would remain a lonely, tortured soul forever. Maharani covered her mouth, which had gone dry, and backed away from the book.

"So, Gertie has betrayed me." Aelfric drawled. Maharani turned to see him standing in the still open doorway. She curtsied, trembling from head to toe. It explained why he was so pale. It explained the servants, the undead servants. It explained the green iridescence to certain things.

"Maharachtadun." She murmured. Vampires, much to her brother's disdain, had been her passion and interest lately. She was well learned in the matters of the magic of the Ancient King, a power called Maharachtadun.

"Yes, I am the only existing child of darkness for the past hundred years, you see. All of the old Powers belong to me now." Aelfric said lazily. He looked...defeated. "I wanted to be gentle with you. I wanted to make you love me. Now you know I am a monster and you will fear my touch." He looked at Maharani, his sorrow welling in his eyes. "In another lifetime then, love. You are free to go."

She didn't understand why, but she fled. She knew then and there, standing in the glass domed room that she loved his forsaken soul, and she ran from that castle. She ran until she was picked up by a merchant's carriage and taken back to her home. But the tale of this lifetime did not end on the doorstep of her own home, oh no my friends. Maharani's brother had yet to have his say in her destiny.

"Why, Dear sister where have you been?" Edwin inquired. He had flung the door wide as soon as he'd heard the clopping hooves on the damp, cobbled street out front. He embraced his sister tightly, then pulled back to take a look at her. "Never mind, I think I know where you've been. Another one of your ridiculous witch hunts was it?" Edwin ignored the opening and shutting of her trembling mouth and ushered her inside. "We found Gustav..."

So, it hadn't been a dream. Aelfric had chased her through the graveyard. All of the knowledge she had gathered was still compiling and sorting its self in her mind so that it made sense. Maharani shook herself, turning to face her brother. "Yes, an animal... He stopped to fix the bridles on the beasts and something came stalking onto the road." Edwin gazed sharply at his sister. So she would lie to him.

"Maybe you should go up to bed after you've gotten cleaned, and tell me when you'll be hunting again so I'm not worried out of my senses Maharani Rayne!" he scolded softly. He turned, his coat tails fluttering behind him as he glided arrogantly to the staircase. He spiraled up into the second floor of the Manor, keeping his brusque pace until he had reached the library. "An animal indeed. A blood thirsty corpse is what took that man down." He growled. Unlike his sister, Edwin was a rather pompous looking man. He was of average height and very thin. He unlike Aelfric was not lean and lithe, but lanky and prepubescent in appearance though he was nearly twenty seven.

His thin blond hair fell to his shoulders and was tied back at all times by a satin ribbon, as men's fashions were favoring these days. His lips were thin as horizontal lines and his nose was a long, narrow slope perfectly set mid face. He was severe and almost beautiful until you looked into his eyes. Also unlike his sister's Emerald spheres, Edwin's eyes were coal black, and flat as uncorked ale. He was a piteous soul and a harsh master to the servants. His only true credit was that he was far beyond scholarly. He was rather clever, really.

This was how he had come across an ancient prophecy and learned of Lord and Noble Aelfric Cromwell who was well beyond his senior. "Just lead me to him and I will be raised to a position of honor and glory in the eyes of all!" Edwin muttered, tracing one boney finger over the map of speculated sites where Cromwell may be dwelling.

Maharani brushed her hair, having washed herself and put on fresh clothing. Why had she run? She loved Aelfric, she could not deny the feeling that welled up inside of her at the site of his sorrowful face, nor could she ignore the ache in her arms as she longed to hold him. But, she also could not deny that the realization of what he was and site of those pearl white scythes in his mouth wrought terror in her. The more she thought it over, the more she shook with rage at her own cowardice. He'd been living hundreds of lifetimes alone, chasing her, and she was a little frightened? She slammed down the brush in her hand, shattering the ivory handle. The pure bone white ornament shattered to dust with the force of her anger and was gone in a draft as soon as she unclenched her fist. She had to go back. Ripping off her night dress she slid into her riding gown. It was time to end this cycle of ignorant reincarnations.

Edwin had known his sister would try and go quietly, but what he had not expected was for Maharani to slip out of their home the same night she had returned. He'd expected her to need more time to let the shock ware off and her pathetic female emotions overcome her senses. When the Captain of the guard appeared at the door of Edwin's quarters and announced that the Lady had retreated from the grounds, Edwin was taken aback, and grabbed his traveling cloak with no hesitation. "Ready my horse and fetch me my tool satchel please, Luxton."

The horse's feet crashed like thunder on the stones that lay embedded on the old dirt road, the beast's legs churning faster and faster beneath it. Maharani lay flattened to the animal's back, leaning forward and urging him on. "Please, Horris, you must make haste!" she bid him. Suddenly the horse reared, throwing her from his back. As Maharani picked herself up on her elbows, sweeping her curls from in front of her eyes, she saw Horris' front hooves come plummeting back down, straight for the center of her chest. Just as Maharani tried to throw her arm up in a feeble defense, a flash of sleek shadow flitted out of the forest's edge, stepping between her and the Horse. Horris whinnied; backing up a few frantic steps, his head tossed this way and that on the length of sinewy, slender, glistening black neck. He turned and galloped away, crying into the night.

"They always sense me coming, and they don't like it much. You Milady are going to have a very empty stable if you and I keep meeting like this." Aelfric stated coolly, turning his sparkling eyes to Maharani. "Where are the others?" He asked. She looked at him, confusion evident in her gaze.

"Others?"

"What? No stakes, no torches and pitchforks? You don't have a vial of Holy Water hidden in the valley of your bosom?" He asked incredulously. Maharani gathered her skirts and stood up, bringing herself chest-to-chest with Aelfric and with an indignant 'humph' brought the palm of her hand crashing against his alabaster cheek.

"That's nothing to accuse the love of your after lives of, dearest." She seethed in a reproachful tone before grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to her, full force as her lips crashed against his, her chest heaving with a sigh of gratification.

Maharani's head began to feel light, her mind spinning recklessly as her lips entwined with Aelfric's. In her passion, she failed to realize that she had slid her tongue across the dangerous stalactites hanging from his gums, and those deadly fangs had drawn the tiniest sliver across her tongue. The stinging didn't call her attention until she tasted the coppery, saltine taste of her own blood. Aelfric tasted it as well, and nearly went mad suckling her tongue and trying to unlace her dress. Maharani pushed him back slowly.

"Wait, dearest. Not here. My brother... Well, if he's found me out he'll be looking for me and the forest is no place for us to be seen." Aelfric nodded at her reasoning, his chest still heaving in his excitement. He grabbed Maharani and held her tightly. Suddenly from his back, his cloak split in two, a pair of gigantic appendages ascending to the heavens from beneath it. They were wings, about ten feet long a piece, and black as ebony. They were smooth and silky, like the fur of a bat. Maharani's eyes widened. Aelfric coiled the muscles in his legs, and propelling himself upward, took flight.

It was merely minutes before the two of them were landing safely on his doorstep, Aelfric hoisting Maharani into his arms and kicking the front door in as if it were nothing. The servants did not materialize as he carried her down the hall. He went to the tapestry Gertie had taken Maharani through earlier, only once on the other side, Aelfric took the set of stairs that went down...

Edwin snarled in disgust as he wandered the empty wastelands that were rumored to be the ceremonial pulpits of the Children of The Night. Nothing. No ashes, no burning torches, not a single sign of this Undead Lord that would bring him unrivaled amounts of prestige, fame, and the title of a hero. "Once I have my hands on the last vampire, I will live more highly than the king himself!" Edwin murmured. He straightened the map he had been clenching and looked over the spots he had marked. He had narrowed Cromwell's hideout down to three places in the whole land, and he was now down by one.

He took off into the night. His next target was the old cemetery on the other side of the god forsaken farmland he was now traveling. The horse he road understood what a fiercely important task this was and drove on with vigor. He would have his glory.

Aelfric burst through the door at the bottom of the flight of stairs, still cradling Maharani in his arms. She looked around his room, gasping in surprise. The whole room was draped in silk! Black and red and gold silk, just like her room upstairs only far more elaborate. The floor was black velvet and the only light came from a hanging chandelier of lively, lit candles directly over where Aelfric must sleep. It was not a bed he intended to seduce her to. Of course, how could she have forgotten!? A gigantic black coffin lay open in the middle of the room, lined with black silk.

He laid her gently down in the gigantic casket and hopped effortlessly in beside her. "Made for two." He whispered enchantingly into her ear. Maharani couldn't recall when it had happened, but there was no sign of Aelfric's wings as he unclasped the brooch at his neck, his cloak slinking from his hand to the floor outside the coffin. Maharani's breasts heaved in her efforts to breathe. Aelfric's grin gleamed in the flickering candle light.

"Relax love; the worst is over for you." He whispered. Maharani's half lidded eyes flew open and burned straight into Aelfric's. He simply grinned at her in his sultry manner and continued trying to remove his tunic. His lithe body rippled in the soft yellow glow as he knelt over Maharani.

"I'm already...did you...?" Maharani sat straight up as she recalled all of what had happened before she blacked out in the cemetery. "I've been one of them... you for all this time and I didn't realize it?" she queried in a small, confused voice.

"You see, dearest, you aren't really a Vampire yet. That is lying dormant in you right now. It's sort of like, oh I do not know how to put this...there's still a lever I must pull, so to speak, before you are mine for eternity."

Maharani looked at Aelfric questioningly. "A Lever?" She asked. He nodded, his grin broadening. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body flush against his and pressing his knee up between her thighs, lifting her skirts as he slowly dragged his knee higher until it was pressed against the dampened crotch of her bloomers.

"You must bite me. I have bitten you and you have fed from me, but you must be the one to bite me when you feed or else the powers will not take you as they should." He murmured into Maharani's ear. His lips brushed her ear lobe as he kissed her neck softly. With a swift, nearly unnoticeable motion he ripped off her knickers, tossing them over the edge of the casket. His fingers unlaced the bodice of her gown effortlessly, pulling the cloth open down it's center and revealing her pert, puckered nipples to his gaze. As Aelfric finally disposed of the last of Maharani's clothing, watching intently as she worked on his, he asked her the question that would seal her fate. "There is one more catch to this odd coupling we are part of, my love. You must tell me that you want my love, or else you will not have eternity. You will merely be an undead corpse with a ravenous appetite for the arterial delights."

Maharani finished removing every last bit of Aelfric's clothing and pulled him down on top of her, their bodies meeting chest to chest, Aelfric falling between her spread thighs with his lithe hips. "If you do not take me now I shall walk out that door and join a Brothel." She whimpered.

"Good Enough." Aelfric reasoned, hooking his arms under her thighs and positioning his hard tool against the velveteen folds of Maharani's virginity. "There will be blood." Aelfric warned her, looking into her eyes. For the first time Maharani could see the tenderness within him. The edge his gaze normally possessed dissipated and left him with a soft, loving look in his eye as he met her gaze.

"I know." Maharani answered, cupping his cheek in her warm hand. The frigidity of his skin was leaving him the more he and Maharani were joined. Either that or her warmth was leaving her, she could not tell, but the gap of contrast was closing rapidly. Without warning Aelfric pressed his hips forward, pausing briefly as he came to Maharani's barrier. She leaned up, her hand snaking to the back of his head and her fingers tangling in his hair, and she pulled him down to meet her lips. His mouth did not meet hers, oh no, instead she went for his neck, the delicious beating of his blood pulsing beneath his skin roiled under her lips and she felt herself begin to change. The power was moving into her body, taking over and she was changing rapidly. Without realizing she pushed her hips upward, crashing them against Aelfric. A sharp, almost pleasant pain rocked her whole body and in that instant, the wicked curves growing in Maharani's mouth sank into Aelfric's neck. The warm coppery liquid spilled over her tongue, flowing down her throat as she drank. Aelfric gasped in wonder, feeling his needs utterly fulfilled. He froze as the realizations flooded his mind. No more running, no more deceit or fighting or searching. No more elaborate plans. He had his love, his mate and his wife. He was finally complete.

As Maharani suckled gently at the punctures in Aelfric's neck, he began to pull his hard cock back, bringing himself out until only the head of his hard-on was resting at Maharani's entrance. He slammed himself back into her wet warmth up to the hilt for the first of many times, his back and buttocks muscles rippling as he pumped in and out of her. His mate. He felt alive for the first time in centuries. He felt warmth and flesh that he was not feeding on for his own life, but to create another. He dipped his head to Maharani's upturned face as she finished tenderly licking his wounded neck, and kissed her. Their tongues collided in a heated battle, rubbing and pressing and their lips pulled at one another. Aelfric could taste his blood mixed with her saliva, and nothing ever tasted so good. His hand left her thigh, leaving hooked around his hip, and traveled between their bodies to her breasts. He began to fondle her, squeezing and cupping her breasts as they bounced with every thrust Aelfric made into her body.

"I can't hold out." Maharani groaned, whimpering gently with every thrust. Aelfric plunged into her one last time, sinking his dick into her as he sank his teeth into her throat, feeding on her waning humanity. The orgasm that rocked their entwined bodies was not merely an internal reaction; the room began to shake with the power that was exchanged between the two lovers. As the ancient power of the Lord of The Children of The Dark was given to Maharani from Aelfric, the ability to feel and love completely and to feel human emotion was strengthened in Aelfric's heart by Maharani's dying mortality. As his seed left him and pooled in her womb, Aelfric knew that his love must rest for a while, she had just died and been reborn and was now forming another undead life, even as she lay sleeping. He kissed her eyelids and pulled the heavy cover from the foot of the tremendous coffin and covered his love. Hurrying, he then dressed. He had not told her this, but Aelfric knew it would only be a matter of hours before he faced the first fight to protect his new found happiness, and the prophecy did not say if he would win or not...

The mist rose steadily as Edwin rode into the cemetery. His body tingled with anticipation. He could absolutely feel the nearness of Aelfric Cromwell. Dismounting the horse, Edwin began to search on foot. He strode arrogantly down the path which led deeper into the graveyard until he was amongst the old vaults, dank and gray with age and mist from the deepening night. Edwin sensed he was close, so close to Cromwell he could almost point right at where he was. His body was compelled to the right, off the cobbled stone walk way through the maze of vaults and over the grassy knoll, through a less structured gathering of old vaults. There, built into a rock facing at the edge of the woods was a large stone vault. Its giant metal doors were banged and rusted, the bolts nearly invisible beneath the years of oxidation. The entire structure was laden in decay and covered in moss and winding strands of creeping vines.

As Edwin approached the vault, he felt his heart begin to race, pounding mercilessly inside his chest as adrenaline coursed through him. This was it. "I have you now, you blood thirsty daemon!" he hissed. Silently, Edwin pulled a long, thick stake of wood from the satchel he held in his left hand, dropping it and grabbing the brass ring on the vault doors. As he braced himself to heave on the massive doors, Edwin felt a stir of air just behind him. As he turned, he saw nothing but a flash of black before he found himself lying on his back in the mist-damp grass. Perched atop one of the vaults in front of him, Edwin saw a shape shrouded in black, like a man crouched with wings raised toward the full yellow moon.

"And so you come for me, Lord Edwin?" Aelfric said in a soft, icy tone. Edwin staggered to his feet, an unbelievable pain rippling through his left side. He felt his ribs scrape and crunch beneath his twitching muscles. He'd already taken a hit and he had not even been prepared. The stake was a few yards away now, lying on the ground just feet below Aelfric's perch, having been knocked away when Edwin was hit. "What do you want to prove, Edwin? I have already won. I have your sister as my bride..." Aelfric stood and simply stepped off the edge of the vault, floating weightlessly down to the ground. He walked forward until he was toe to toe with Edwin. "She is with child after tonight, for sure. You can not have the last vampire. There are now three. You would not kill your own sister, surely?"