Once Upon A Midnight

by Stephanie Rowe

  “Say it! Say you’re mine,” he demanded. His lips hovered over hers. He ground his hips down on hers again.

  She looked into his eyes. The dark depths were glowing amber, and she saw the white of a long fang peeking out from his mouth. She should’ve been terrified, but he’d proven already he wouldn’t harm her, and he’d promised not to bite her unless she invited him.

  “I’m yours.” Saying it was easier than she expected. Meghan bit her lip. “Would it hurt?”

  Mark blinked, confused. “Would what hurt? Am I hurting you, love?” He stopped thrusting, but it nearly killed him.

  Meghan pushed her hips high encouraging him to continue. “No, you’re not hurting me. I want to know, if you bite me, will it hurt?”

  He smiled slowly. “Initially, yes, like a pinprick, but my bite will also give you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams. And Meghan,” he caressed her scalp with his fingers, “it will bond us further. I’ll always know your thoughts, know where you are. If you let me do it more than once, the bond will only grow stronger. I will crave only you, only your blood. No one else’s.”

  The pleasure she was feeling right then was already intense. She couldn’t imagine it getting any better, but he said it could, that it would, if she allowed it. And he’d called her Meghan, not Mihaela. He wasn’t making love to a ghost, but to her. Her heart flooded with feelings.

  “Bite me,” she whispered.

  His eyes popped wide. “Are you sure?”

  “I am. Bite me, Mark. Make me yours.”

  He looked at her in awe. “You are the bravest, most beautiful, and trusting woman. I don’t deserve you.” Mark’s eyes moistened, “but I will cherish you like no other, and your happiness will be my life’s mission. You will be mine, Meghan,” he kissed her lips softly, then lifted his head to stare into her eyes, “and I will be eternally yours.”

  Loved filled her, body and soul, and then the pleasure rolled her as his hips picked up the rhythm increasing it and taking them higher. Just as she came to the very precipice of climax, he sunk his fangs into the soft flesh of her neck while sinking his rod deep to the hilt. The world exploded in color!

  The cold was replaced by warmth as if the sun had come out. She no longer felt the cold grass under her back, but she did feel the overpowering orgasm that swept over her entire body. She shuddered as wave upon wave crashed over her. Her fingers clutched his head to her and he drank. With each sip of her life-giving nectar, their bond strengthened. Meghan felt not only her pleasure, but his as well, and it was mind-blowing.

  What seemed to last forever ended all too soon in her opinion. Mark released her neck, licking the site where his teeth punctured her skin. His saliva healed the spot in moments.

  Languor settled into their limbs and they lay wrapped in each other’s arms.

  “That was…,” she started to speak.

  “Freaking incredible!” He chuckled, and the deep rumble of his voice vibrated against her chest.

  Mark rolled off of her and eased up on his elbow. A smile remained on his face as he slowly buttoned up her shirt and pulled her sweater around her. “As much as it pains me to say it, you need to put your pants back on before you freeze.” He got up to help her.

  Meghan took his hand standing up. He handed her the jeans she’d been wearing. She struggled to get them up over the boots she still had on. The absurdity of it made her laugh. Mark readjusted, and zipped and buttoned his own jeans. A soft snort interrupted them.

  “What was that?” Meghan pulled her shirt and sweater down over her pants and wrapped her arms around her body.

  Mark clucked his tongue and a large, black stallion came trotting toward him from the direction of the river. “It’s only my horse.” The beast stopped in front of him and tossed his head. Mark reached back to Meghan. “Come, meet Dracula.”

  “Dracula?” she laughed. “You’re a vampire and you named your horse Dracula?” She stepped closer allowing him to take her hand in his and place it on the horse’s soft muzzle.

  He grinned. “I know. It amused me at the time.”

  “He’s gorgeous. Hello, Dracula, I’m Meghan.” She spoke low as she stroked his nose.

  The stallion sniffed her hand, and then nuzzled deeper into her palm seeking more rubs.

  “He’s obviously a highly discriminating animal. He knows the best when he sees it.” Mark stood behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.

  “Is this how you got here? You must live close by.”

  “I do. Would you like to see my place?” He dropped a kiss into her hair. “I would love to show you.” He waited, hoping she would choose on her own to come with him. He didn’t know what he would do if she decided against it.

  Meghan considered her options. She could go with him, see his home, throwing caution to the wind. Haven’t I done that already? Or she could call it a night and go back to the Veleru’s, climb into her warm bed and think about him, all alone, and feeling guilty as sin for ignoring the warning her new gypsy family had issued. They meant well, of course. She knew that. Mark’s arms slipped from around her waist and Meghan feared she’d waited too long to answer. He might be feeling rejected. A soft thud sounded, and she turned.

  “Mark, I’m not sure--”

  He was lying on the ground, unmoving. Behind him, a dark figure stood in the shadow of the moon. It raised its hand and blew. Dust flew in her face, the world spun, and Meghan felt her knees give out as she sank down. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

  Chapter Ten

  DANA ROLLED OVER and tried to snuggle down into the covers. She felt cold. A few minutes went by and she didn’t feel any warmer. The door. It was still open. She’d forgotten that earlier she and Meghan had cracked the French doors to let a little fresh air in to alleviate the stuffiness in her old room. She would have to get up to shut it, but that meant climbing out of her covers. She sighed, sat up, and opened her eyes. The bed across from her was empty.

  “Meghan?” Dana stood up, looking around the room. She walked to the open door and peeked out. No one was on the balcony so she closed and locked it. The chill made her shiver, and an urgent need hit her bladder. Dana went down the hall to the toilet. She expected to find Meghan either there or on her way back to their room, but an empty bathroom greeted her. Taking a quick moment, she took care of business, and then came back out going down the stairs to find her friend. After a search of the living room and kitchen, and even a quick peek out the front door, she knew it had happened. He’d taken her.

  “Grandmother!” she shouted as she ran back up the stairs. The commotion woke her younger brother, Sorin, who poked his head out of his bedroom.

  “What is with the shouting, Dana?” He stood shirtless in pajama pants, appearing rumpled and annoyed to be awakened.

  “The Strigoi! He took Meghan!” Tears clogged her throat as panic swallowed her up.

  Adina Veleru walked out of her room at the end of the hall. She stood calmly taking in the scene. “So, he has breached our defenses.” She turned her wizened eyes upon Sorin. “Go wake Cosmin and Stefan. Tell them to get the women and children here immediately. You and your cousins, take the rifles and the wooden bullets, go get your father and the rest. We must all circle the wagons, and then, we go find her.” She pulled her shawl around her shoulders and shuffled to the stairwell. “Dana, bring my box from my bedroom, the one beneath my bed.” She began a slow descent down the steps as her granddaughter ran to her room to retrieve the box, and Sorin ducked inside his own to dress.

  In ten minutes, they met in the living room. Sorin slipped on his coat and picked up three rifles slinging two over his shoulder by their straps, and grabbed a couple of boxes of wooden bullets. They were handmade by the Curarya. Inside the center was a sliver of iron, and the wood was an amalgam of sawdust and silver. The silver and iron weakened vampires while the wood lodged in their already desiccated hearts killed them. He left to awaken his brother, father, and cousin.

  Dana sto
od holding the old, wooden box. Where once it was probably a dark brown wood, it was now black with age. The panels showed wear from ancestral hands, and it was bound by an iron lock.

  “How will we find her, grandmamma? If he has her, she may already be…,” she swallowed past the painful lump in her throat as she struggled to say the words. “…dead.”

  “Tish, child. Bring me the box.” Adina sat in the easy chair and waited as Dana placed the miniature chest on the coffee table. She pulled a length of leather hanging around her thin neck out from under her nightgown. A metal key hung from it looking like a remnant from another time. She lifted it over her head and slid the key into the lock. It creaked and groaned, and then clicked.

  Dana sat down on the end of the couch closest to her grandmother and peered inside the box. Resting on a bed of faded red velvet were several items that she’d never seen before.

  “What are they?”

  Adina lifted out the first item, a long silver pendant chain. The pendant itself was a large piece of dark, smoky quartz. As she held it up to the light of the lamp, Dana saw that it had a reddish center. Adina sat it down on the table. She pulled forth the next item which was a smaller wooden box. It appeared Asian in origin. The wood was teak, and the top slid sideways exposing small vials within, thirteen in all. The box took its place next to the pendant. A small bronze bowl joined the other items, and finally, the old woman lifted out a parchment that was folded over. The paper was yellowed with time, and delicate.

  “These are your inheritance. They pass down through only the women in our family.” Adina looked at her granddaughter.

  “Then why are they not with mama?” Dana asked the logical question.

  The older woman reached out and took the younger’s hand. She flipped it over and traced the line in her palm that ran from the space between her thumb and index finger to the lower, outside edge just above her wrist. “The box passes to the next clan shaman. The gift sometimes skips a generation. Your mother does not have the mark, but you do.” She pointed to a small criss-cross over her lifeline. It was star-shaped, and something Dana had not noticed before. In fact, she was sure it had never been there before.

  “I see your confusion, and you are right. It is something new. The mark shows when the power is triggered. Yours was most likely triggered the first night you encountered the Strigoi.”

  Dana blinked. “But what if I don’t want to be a shaman? I have a career, grandmamma.”

  “You don’t choose the power, Dana. The power chooses you, and it only chooses those who are worthy. It is not something you can refuse. It simply is!” The old woman’s dark eyes widened, her expression intense. She looked back at the box. “There is one item missing. A ring made of gold and inset with a red stone. I’ve never seen it. It went missing so long ago that all that is left of it are the rumors that it once existed. The ring is said to be imbued with regenerative power, but who knows?” She shrugged. “The rest of these are tools by which you will use to always protect the clan while you live.” She picked up the parchment. “This is the map of this land,” she gestured out and around them. “Our land. We have always inhabited it, and we always will. It is an ancient deed of sorts, an agreement between the Curarya and the original owner, Dragos Anghelescu. It is so old we dare not open it for fear it will crumble. You must keep it inside this box away from the elements.” She put it back inside tucking it down between the folds of faded velvet. “This bowl and these oils are used to heal, to summon portents, and to protect. You must use them sparingly because they are all that is left of the essentials brought over from Asia. They were made by Buddhist monks from a monastery in the mountains of Tibet nearly a thousand years ago.”

  “No kidding around?” Dana’s jaw fell. She was blown over by the news she was the next clan shaman, and now these valuable and ancient items were being entrusted to her, she just couldn’t fathom it all.

  “It is no joke!” Adina scolded her. “Listen carefully, granddaughter, for all that I teach you is important.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Dana closed her mouth and sat straighter. She did not wish to offend her grandmother.

  “Now,” Adina picked up the pendant, “this is a divining stone. The quartz is so old, I cannot say for sure its age, but it comes from the Carpathian Mountains. It works only for those blessed with the gift. Go grab that map over there of the region.” She pointed to a travel Atlas on the side table.

  Dana got up to retrieve it. She came back, unfolding the paper and spreading it out behind the box on the coffee table.

  Adina smoothed out the wrinkles. “These are convenient, and cheap. All gas stations carry them. Remember that.” She glanced at the younger woman.

  “So what do we do? She could be anywhere by now.” Dana looked at the sheer size of the area from the city to the outskirts and beyond.

  “Hold it.” She handed Dana the pendant. “You are her friend. You know her, what she looks like, sounds like. Get a clear image of her in your mind. Hold the pendant over the map.” She lifted Dana’s hand high allowing the chain to dangle. Slowly, she moved her granddaughter’s hand creating a circle. The quartz swung clockwise completing a circuit around again and again. “Picture Meghan. Can you see her in your head?”

  “Yes, grandmamma. I see her.” Dana had her eyes closed. She listened to her grandmother speaking even though she felt kind of silly. Sure, she now believed her about the Strigoi, the feeling that had come over her when she encountered him, but could she believe in this? In magic?

  Behind them, Cosmin, Sorin, Stefan, Ilana, Dana’s parents, Stefan’s parents, and a host of cousins and in-laws all piled in with their children. Dana didn’t hear them. She also did not see what they saw.

  Sorin stopped, his mouth hanging open. He glanced at his grandmother who gave him a stern look that told him not to speak.

  “Now, tell the pendant to find her. Not out loud, but in your mind. Tell it to show you exactly where she is.”

  Cosmin drew Anamaria to his side. Their two children, Maximillian and Ava hid behind their legs. Young Alexandru stood between Stefan and Ilana. Marius and Renee looked at their daughter, stunned. The rest of the family fanned out in a semi-circle around the back of the couch and chair in awe.

  Dana glowed. A reddish light enveloped her entire being as the pendant held in her hand swung around and around with a mind of its own. Even as they all watched, a wide swath of Dana’s dark hair began to turn white. It started at the roots and seemed to spill down the length where it ended at her waist. The color that once saturated those strands was leeched out leaving a platinum stripe behind.

  The pendant slowed down. It swung away from their property to the center of Bucharest in Old Town. It stopped, hovering suspended and unmoving.

  Adina’s brows drew together. “That’s odd. I would not imagine the Strigoi would take her back to the university.”

  “What?” Dana started to open her eyes, but her grandmother’s words stopped her.

  “Hold, granddaughter. You’ve seen the vampire. Ask the pendant to locate him.”

  Dana called up the image of the man from Stefan’s tavern. The pendant began to swing once again, glowing a deeper red than the light engulfing her. A sudden gust of wind whipped her hair as the pendant stopped.

  Sorin sucked in a breath. Cosmin crossed himself. Adina placed her hand over Dana’s and lowered it.

  “You can stop now.”

  Dana opened her eyes catching the last of the red haze around her as it faded. The smoky quartz swallowed it up pulling it all back into its center. “What is this?” She startled backwards against the couch cushions.

  Adina took the chain from her granddaughter’s hand. She unhooked the clasp as she leaned forward to place it around Dana’s neck. Gently, she lifted her beloved granddaughter’s hair out from under the links. Her gnarled hand lifted Dana’s chin. “It is your power. This pendant has chosen you.” She lifted a strand of the now white hair holding it out for the girl to see
.

  “Dearest God!” Dana couldn’t believe what she was seeing or feeling. The pendant pulsed against her chest emitting an energy and spreading a subtle warmth through her body.

  “The torch has passed. You are now officially the clan’s shaman.” Adina kissed her cheeks, then backed up and out of the way.

  One by one, each member of her family came forth to offer congratulations. Dana looked at them like they had all lost their minds.

  Sorin spoke breaking up the strange moment. “So what did she find?” He asked his grandmother.

  “According to the pendant, Meghan is back in the city, perhaps in her room. I do not know this area.” She pointed to the spot on the map.

  Sorin knew it. “That’s not quite on the campus, but just outside. How did she get there? What in the world would she be doing there on her own?” He looked around.

  Adina gave her noncommittal shrug. “That is a good question, but the better question is, why is the Strigoi still here on our land?” She moved her finger and pointed to the southern side of the property close to the river.

  “Our families are in the cabins. Are you saying the vampire is over there now?” Cosmin came forward lugging a rifle.

  “The pendant doesn’t lie. If the Strigoi has come here looking for her and does not find her, he will come after us next.”

  Cosmin glanced at Stefan. The men in the room all shared looks, each nodding in agreement. Sorin clapped his brother on the shoulder.

  “Then we get him first. Come, everyone stay inside. No one leaves this house until we get back. He cannot come in, and Dana can protect you all inside these walls.”

  “What? Me?” She stood up, fear in her eyes.

  Cosmin gripped her shoulders. “Sister, you are now anointed. You have the power to repel the Strigoi. You must keep everyone safe if it comes to that. Have no fear. Grandmother will guide you.” He kissed her cheek. His chocolate-brown eyes took in her appearance. His usually stern, square features relaxed just a bit allowing for a small smile to spread on his lips. “Look at you, all grown up. I am proud of you, Dana.”