Fan Fiction ❯ Daughter of Venus - the Vampire Rosaline ❯ He can have you ( Chapter 7 )
7
A
nother dream burnt away at me:
I felt air flurry past my face. I was back at the bottom of the garden.
Close your eyes.
The voices again!
Open your mind.
"Why do you pester me so?" I asked.
Listen to us.
The voices continued to call to me.
Learn from us.
"No," I cried, "stop plaguing my dreams."
La mia figlia del Venus.
Aggressively I smudged the foundation onto my raw skin. It had been five days since he had promised he would come `tomorrow'…for five days I had waited for him, each day my anticipation had welled inside me forming a ball of passion, sadness, pain, and hate.
I took my position at the step no longer caring who saw me. I was the patient hound, abandoned but yet waiting for my master to return.
"Where are you Armand?" I sighed shrouding my head in my hands. It had been so long and so much had happened.
I leaned back, trying to gauge the time on the clock in the kitchen. Armand always arrived between nine and ten o'clock or whenever it finally grew dark.
Such a clear summers day had exposed itself to be an even clearer night with the constellations glimmering brightly their mythical legends as I leaned forward again, resting my arms upon my knees. He was late…he was not going to come.
Failing to spot which one Libra was I began to weep steadily, establishing my salty pain was too much for the layers of waterproof mascara, false advertising once again had one another victim. The trees bowed as a chilling torrent swept past, making me heave unstoppably and shiver, breaking into a full blow lament. I choked upon his name, screaming, crying angrily for him to come. I threatened passively, no one should be left like this, how dare he do this? How dare he of all people do this? I would have sworn if I did not remember the true words of that well know irony that profanation was the feeble minds attempt at strength. For some reason it had stuck in my head. Though I desired so strongly to be enraged I could not bring myself to such vulgarities, even if they were of the people.
I hissed vengefully, screaming into the gloom, shaking and quarrelling with myself tediously until finally I was interrupted.
"I know I was late but I didn't think punctuality mattered…" Armand sat beside me wrapping an arm around my back. Watching me for a moment he continued, "Or is it more?"
"W-where have you b-been?" I falter trying to look at him, then turning with embarrassment.
"I…I was distracted…" Armand explained.
"How dare you say that?" I spat angrily, "You were `distracted' whilst I was going through all this?"
Armand's lip wobbled for a moment, "R-Rosaline…?"
"Don't pretend you don't know…Armand knows everything…Armand can `weave the magic'…Armand can read minds!"
Armand blinked innocently.
"All right t-then I'll t-tell you!" I choked angrily, staring Armand madly in the eyes, spelling it out to him, "They are taking me away."
"La mia figlia del Venus," he petted frantically.
"Don't 'French Talk' me!" I cried, "If you had been here you would have known!"
Crossing my arm I created an angry barrier from reason.
"It was not French," Armand corrected.
"I don't care!"
"Calm down…"
"No!" I waved a fist before Armand's placid face as his eyes followed like a teased feline.
Still Armand kept a composed expression fully aware and asked from the previous rant, "Why should who?"
"The social workers…because…because…my mother has died and my father did this!" I gritted my teeth and thrusted my face in front of his. Grabbing a dead hand I made Armand push away at my cheek, my tears exposing more of the dull, thudding, colourless blue and black bruise than my heated forcing.
Armand heaved slowly, analysing the situation, "No." Fast as lightning Armand's hand slipped from within mine to around my wrist, gently pinning me in position, "Why did you not tell me?"
I struggled, spitting; "You weren't there!"
One final time I scrambled to free myself, eventually getting wrestled back onto the step. Possessed I stared at him the shine of my eyes flickering as I heatedly poisoned the cool night, finally relenting to the infectious aura of calm that surround Armand.
Kicking back I recalled the tragedy of the past nights' events, "We all knew she was going to die - theoretically she should have dies three months ago - it was just a matter of number crunching. In a way I wish she should have just got it over and done with, then Dad never would have started drinking. I know it sounds evil but we wouldn't have got in the state we're in now.
"He loved her you know…" I looked down, realising this was going to be harder to do than I had thought.
Stifling the tears I continued, "…drank, so that he could forget what she was like then and remember what she was like before. I don't know if he liked me…he was in an endless stupor - I don't think he knew who I was. It disgusted me, he had grown so dirty and puerile…he had absolutely no cares about anything! He walked…stumbled around in a string vest, unshaven and smelling of sweat and whisky - all because of my mum, so he said…because he loved her."
I swallowed, biting down the pain and began to shiver again. Armand moved to touch me but I edged away, "I don't know why but that last night we stayed together, almost like a family again. I was there watching him, watching her die.
"I thought he'd get better after that…sober up…for her…one last day of dignity…but he didn't, he just got worse. Now he wouldn't even leave his bed. I had to pull him out myself for the funeral, which coincidentally had been arranged by our `caring' friends at the social office.
"They were there all the way through…waiting for something to happen. Well we couldn't disappoint then now, could we? Drunk on champagne…champagne?" I now began to roar maniacally, finding the stupidly ironic situation hysterical, "Drunk…he started to abuse my Grandmother…at her daughter's funeral!" I laughed tipping my head back. Beads of tears flung themselves from my wet cheeks rendezvousing with the kamikaze moonbeams that danced around my face.
"He complained that she'd put him through so much pain it was better for all of us that she was dead. The poor woman was wrought with tears - tears that were unduly shed and I wasn't going to stand to see it…" I paused timidly, ashamed at what I had done, "to cut a long story short I intervened, and told him what a bastard I thought he was. He promptly hit me in front of a team of social officers et al."
Armand fidgeted, unsure of what to say; "They're going to take you away because of that?"
"Yeah," I no longer cared. I could say anything I wanted. As far as I was concerned this would be the last night we spent together.
Armand pondered the idea, "Maybe it would be better…at least you would be happy…with people who loved you…I remember living with a new family…they treated me like a prince…"
Enraged at such preposterous ideas I took it upon myself to enlighten him, "I don't want to go though! I'm happy here, okay life is hard but it was happy, well satisfactory. This is my family - I don't want another one."
Armand continued an attempt at convincing me, "Changes can be hard…but…we learn from them…"
I could not believe Armand was going to continue on this tangent when I could no longer continue this masquerade. If this was to be the last night we were going to spend together I had to tell him all I surmised.
Taking a leap of faith I began to spread my newly plumed wings into the unknown.
Changing the subject I stroked Armand hand, smiling sweetly, total change in character, "Can you remember before? When I said that you weren't from here?"
"A well made observation," Armand grinned charmingly, hoping his suggestion had committed some effect.
"Well I know where you are from now…I know who you are!" I cried excitedly.
Armand looked at me with a shallow amusement, which turned to shocked disbelief as I continued my speech; "You are the murderer…you make angels!"
I do not know if I believed it but tonight anything seemed possible.
Armand looked at me with begging eyes and spoke to me sincerely, "No Rosaline…you've had a shock…you're confused…" but I persevered…
"…And you can make me an angel too!"
"Please…you're being silly…" Armand retrieved his hand.
"I know you're him!"
"Don't call me such names!" Armand snapped.
"Oh but…" I retorted stubbornly, unwilling to end the conversation.
"My child…" Armand pleaded with me.
"See!" I cried triumphantly, "No boy a year older than myself would call me their child!" Thinking I had won the argument I continued to attempt to persuade him, "Why are you so afraid? I know who you are and I trust you," I added hopefully, "master of angels."
"No!" Armand gasped as he shock from his head the praise of which I spoke, "Don't taunt me with words I can never be associated with!" He gritted his teeth; "I am no angel, nor master of them."
"But when you came, " I stuttered bravely, moving to help him, "you may be ashamed of what you have to do but I believe it is God's will…" I continued with my first thought, "but when you came the deaths began and I know when you leave they will stop."
Giving in Armand admitted mulishly, "You are very clever."
Encouraged by this declaration I continued masochistically, "Then let me be your last."
Armand smiled sweetly, not quite fathoming the meaning of the words. As it dawned upon him, horrified Armand grabbed my arms and shook me; "I will not accept you as my sacrifice!" Armand released his grip and added sadly a sentence I was not supposed to hear, "Not now."
I too acted deafly, "I have no life without…not now?"
Armand sighed and turned from me, "You don't know what I am."
"You said not now? You mean you would have?" I was infuriated.
"Please, I meant…" Armand tried to correct himself.
"You would have killed me?" I continued self-centredly.
"No," Armand cried in desperation, hurrying, "you are not for that, I need you too much!"
"Armand?" I rested a gentle but bewildered hand upon his shoulder, trying to act sympathetically.
"I should be damned."
"Oh Armand," I sung searching my soul for a suitable answer deciding to forget about the want to kill, "you're lonely, I'm lonely, it's not a way for anyone to live. Together we can end that loneliness inside." I added selfishly, "Nothing can be worse than the life I'm going to living now."
Armand whispered dryly, "An eternity is a long time, I will not take you into my darkness. You are so young, a mere child, hardly a woman, you have lived no life."
Sentimentally I flung my arms around him and spoke softly into his ear, "I will live for you."
"No!" Armand screamed pushing me away, turning as I careered into the steps, "Do not love me!"
Just gaining my balance I stammered at such an accusation, "You think I love you?"
Armand gestured angrily, "I know you do!"
I stepped back, dumb with shock. How could he know? I told nobody…I told nobody because I did not believe it myself…completely.
"I only lust," Armand hissed.
"Don't say that!" I was not going to hear this.
"You don't know me," Armand wailed plaintively, "every night I would take…m…k - why is it so hard for me to say this to you?"
Armand retook, spluttering, trying to act forcefully, "…I would…kill! And enjoy it! I would kill and enjoy a young girl like…such as…you!"
He shook violently in self-pity and then started to laugh madly, "You don't know me! You don't want to know me!"
Our eyes met and Armand staggered eagerly towards me, catching me in his arms after I fell tripping in fright over the next step up. Handling me like a frightened bird he stroked my cheek and continued, showing more restraint.
Armand looked at me, his eyes softening as they wandered across my stunned white skin; "You are a beauty…not to be spoiled like the others…"
I no longer understood what he was talking about actually I did not understand after Armand had mentioned sacrifices. I should never have referred to angels, it must have confused him…but what else could he be? Oh what an idiot I was…what was I going to do now? How stupid!
Armand continued his speech, "…I am a beast…you should not be left alone with me…in the night, in the darkness. I can't control what I do! I will hurt you…I will destroy you…and make your beauty fade with my devil's kiss."
Armand bent meaning his lips to collide with my own but instead they wandered, gliding like an iron over silk, down my jaw line until they met with an outstanding vein performing its Last Salute.
Armand tipped his head and murmured, "You should learn to fear me…"
Holding my tears of disbelief Armand felt my pain and turned away.
The wind direction reversed, blowing a vagrant lock of hair, which had been alienated from the other tresses in the commotion away from my face.
"Armand?" I dithered; telling myself he was just trying to scare me…not to hint what happened next certainly did the job.
Armand turned on me like a wild, drunken creature, burning with an intense flame, bearing his ivory teeth so that his lip curled high enough so that he flashed his bloodless gums.
"Why are you so stupid?" Armand screamed at damagingly pitched decibels, "why are you so innocently naïve? Can't you see what you're doing to me?"
"Me?" I demanded, scorched by his flame as we commenced battle of the vocal titans, "So now it's all my fault? I'm not the one who goes around killing people like some kind of monster!"
"Ha!" Armand screamed in masochistic delight, wrapping an arm around me pulling my body close to his chest. I could feel his grip intensify like as iron girder and my feet leaving the fragile grass.
"Armand," I commanded, not even contemplating the physics of a boy his stature lifting a girl such as I off the floor, "put me down!"
My legs now dangled freely in the air.
"Oh," he pouted, "but you haven't seen the best yet…"
"It's a garden! Now…" I gasped struggling fruitlessly praying that I would just faint and wake up the next morning safe in my comfortable bed, safe from the cold, safe from the night and safe from Armand, "…put me down!"
Taking a frantic glimpse below I lifted my head eyes wide as dish plates, "Our…feet…aren't…on the ground…"
I plunged my face deep into the folds of his shirt, wrapping my arms around Armand's chest reaching up, beyond his shoulder blades, gasping for the air past his neck.
For a few short moments he stroked my hair, "Isn't very human is it?"
Still I cannot describe what happened to us but literally we were floating, poised in suspension in mid air.
As quickly as Armand had comforted me he grabbed me by the wrists and pushed me away.
"What are you?" my lips quivered, as I once again floated, with astonishment.
"Come now," he smiled delicately, "you know what I am."
I closed my eyes, using some infantile hope that if they were shut I would disappear. I continued to want to faint away like some Victorian lady or a swooning actress. Unfortunately I was stronger than that and only felt the ill feeling you get in your throat a few minutes before you go running for a bucket.
Armand continued his arrogant rave reciting, "All learn to fear Armand. The mother whose children strays from her door, the dog walker who's lost at night on the moor and the sailor washed upon a foreign shore…They all learn to fear Armand."
I was dumb trying to take all that had happened in yet he continued, "Still you do not see…" I blinked petrified and he burst out, "…well then maybe I must show you!"
Armand once again wrapped an arm around my waist as thought to make it easier for him to hold me. Grinning he opened his mouth to parade a row of pearly white teeth. His canines shone out, protruding sharply like fangs.
I struggled, my small hands pushing feebly against his carved, stony chest.
Armand's spare hand gently grasped my head and titled it back until all vital organs stood apart from the skin of my throat. He bent resting his incisors on the base of my oesophagus, lowering his eyelids.
No! Not my precious throat, I cried, not uttering a word.
We lingered there for a moment in contemplation. I held my breath, trying to stop the time as my bottom lip quivered every part of me unsettled.
Slowly though as thoughts of vocal cords being ripped from throats flooded my head Armand rolled his eyes to bask in my horror. He uttered in reply, "I could not damage such a beautiful voice."
Armand's lips vibrating across my outstretched skin making me flutter.
I felt a rush of air flurry about me, turning my cheeks a burgundy red, a miserable, crumpled heap upon the cold, wet grass. My head thudded, drowned with the pounding echoes of my beating heart. I rocked, bending my knees under my chin and covering my ears as though to block out the sound. It beat to an unbearable climax as I was suffocated with thoughts of my own self-pity.
"No," I screamed, "You can't let me go this way! You can't leave me with those monsters! I won't go!"
I kicked and shrieked, soaking myself in the evening dew of the wet grass.
Armand stood over me, bearing down with a snarl, "So this is the Daughter of Venus?" he sniffed, "reduced to rolling around the floor, having a tantrum of a child less than half her age?" He stooped just in front of my face; "Such behaviour should be punished!"
Armand turned and started to pace fiercely, plotting the absolution of my crime. "What if?" he ranted, "What if I was to do nothing? What if I didn't grant you the wonder of eternal life? What if I granted you eternal nothing? Not even the salvation of death? What if I just stood here and watched this childish display?"
"NO!" I threw myself before Armand, begging like a dog but he just turned away as I collided with the grass' daggers.
"All right then," I screamed, "You want to be the devil? Then he can have you!"
I sat up on my rubbed red elbows panting heavily, "the devil…" Armand wanted a savage monster, not an innocent angel…then I would give him one…
I concentrated, letting the anger burn away at my shattered heart. I am sorry Armand, for give me, God forgive me…
In the silence Armand turned around and I stared at him, searching for an unassailable weakness, his strapped Achilles Heel…he was slight, I could easily take him.
Everything told me it was wrong but I had to continue. When I rose from the dirt he turned to look. I smiled. Pressing down I sprang at him like a coiled spring.
I ran, pressing forward, aiming to push him over but instead an invincible barrier of iron met my mouth. In change of mind I bit down, hoping to draw blood but instead hung on Armand's arm until he threw me like a scraggy mongrel. I fell, the hard ground making a shallow thud push the air from my lungs as I rolled from my bruised rib cage onto my back, my unravelled hair nearly burying itself in the herbaceous border. I wanted to die. I wanted to cry but I knew that would be the masterpiece of my final embarrassment.
I sighed, turning an ear to the grass. I could hear movement. I felt so weak and sore. I no longer cared, "Armand."
"So…", Armand stood, towering over me, trapping my legs between his own; "You want to play a game?"
I shook and sobbed, "No…"
Armand dropped to his knees, a hand grabbing each of my wrists forcing them higher until I took the form of a crucifix.
"Let's bend the rules!"
"No!" I turned away but all I could see was Armand, surrounding me and engulfing me, constant Armand "I'm sorry!"
"One only says sorry when one have nothing else to say."
Armand leant forward glaring menacingly; "Don't you want to know why I didn't kill you when I had the chance?"
I began to shriek and struggle like a mouse caught underneath a teasing feline but all he did was laugh and press down harder. My fingers began to turn paler than white and I felt Armand move again.
Casually he lowered himself upon me; my vaginal muscles tensed as his bony groin rested on my outstretched pelvis, "You are mine!"
"Armand no!"
"What silly girl leaves her window open when a killer is on the loose?" Armand began to recite again, "What foolish mistress invites the darkness to enter her chamber? You may pretend to be an angel but we are one and the same…and…every night I tasted you!"
"No!" I am not like you and I will never be.
Armand leant forward and I felt his ferocity spray across my face, "I…tasted…you!"
I silently grappled with straws; "There were no marks!"
"Who need care with vampire blood?"
Armand bent forward and viscously nipped at my neck. Fevered and crying, I turned letting the grassy blades tickle my wound but once again he lunged at me grazing the other side. Repeating this action another two times Armand pulled back as I lay a raw and bloody mess, staring at the fading stars. I cried scarlet tears but lay silent like a baited rabbit waiting for the hunter's knife.
To my weary astonishment Armand's hard eyes melted and filled with a weak compassion which made him collapse upon my shoulders.
Pushing himself Armand whispered solemnly, "I have taken and not given. Now it is time for me to share with you the secret."
Releasing his grip Armand pulled away nibbling gently at his lip until it turned a ruby red as jewels formed on the mount of his lower lip. Using an arm I covered my head so that I could no longer see him but in true Armand style he prised my hand away.
Useless I lay awaiting his next move but instead of a concluding bite he bent down and kissed my neck, his royal blood mixing with my own, replacing the dull thumping with a warm tingling sensation. Once Armand had covered one side of my neck with adoration he continued onto the other side, every kiss entrusted blood that rushed to my brain sending me into a thudding scarlet spin. Finally he drew back watching me rive with ecstasy in my new crimson world. Biting his lip once again a steady flow began to dribble down his chin and he plunged towards me letting his blood enter my mouth. Freely suckling I tasted his sweet cherry nectar as his passion filled my body. Sweet bloody sensation of Death's nightmarish wonder. A higher level of divinity, I had never reached. I drowned in Armand's kiss' dark cosset teetering on the edge of harmonious carnage. I glorified my maverick in entranced hysteria.
Overcome with emotion I went limp in the grass and he pulled his mouth away. Scooping me up in his arms Armand began to once again speak of serious matters but I just smiled dazed. To this day I cannot remember what it was about.
The only words I caught were when Armand had carried me to the end of the garden and had somehow got me standing so that he could keep a firm grip with one had and hold his coat around us with the other.
"I'm going to London," Armand said staring beyond the green folds of the farm to the unusually deserted A2, "I've grown tired of these little villages; I need to return to the urban utopia of a crowded city."
Armand pointed across to my destiny; "You will come but only for seven days."
Sighing he lied but not to me as I remained happily entranced, "seven days and then you must go home…okay?"
Sternly Armand waited for a reply and finally I nodded serenely. Smiling he shuffled moving closer to the edge of the path getting dangerously close to the farmer's field below.
Pulling me close Armand demanded concluding that chapter of my life, "Close your eyes and go to sleep. You must rest and prepare…tomorrow you will have passed through the looking glass and will feed from the brilliance of Armand's world."