Fade to Black

Chapter Three

Jefferson POV

I walked through the large entrance doors feeling completely upset with myself. I didn't know what to do. I felt a mixture of emotions. I could feel it radiating off my body as I waltzed through the Entrance Hall and made my way to the left, where the dining hall sat. I peered in, calling for my master, shrugging my jacket from my shoulders as I did.

"Father?" I called a little louder as I noticed he was nowhere to be seen. Where could he be? I strolled away from the room and moved across the hall and turned a sharp left where his basement door rested, hidden behind a tapestry. I knocked three times and waited for a moment before sighing. Where is he? He would never leave the castle, not without informing me first. I made my way through the long halls, peering in all of the rooms, never catching a glimpse of him.

I stood in the open tower and peered down at the small town far below my view. Street lamps were still lit, their candles never burnt out from the still night air. I thought back to the girl, Clarissa and I felt a string pulling at my heart, or whatever was left of it anyway.

I knew it stopped beating long ago. I was dead, afterall, I didn't need it any longer. But still, I felt pain pulling at my heartstrings, tugging on them with an aching pain, a pain I was not familiar with. I had half a mind to stroll back into town and march to her dwelling. But my feet wouldn't move. I remained still, leaning up against the window pane, sighing out at my own foolishness. How ironic is it that the first night I walk away from my home, that I get into so much trouble? This girl is a human, she'd never accept me. Dracula was right all along. Humans are scared of creatures like me. I looked down below me, towards the ground, I squinted for a moment, contemplating if I could survive the fall, or freak out and turn into some freakish creature of the night. I chuckled to myself before backing away and making my way through the many corridors before I finally made it to my sleeping quarters. Once again, I felt exhaustion, and I couldn't explain it.

"You're craving for human, my son," Dracula's voice sounded softly in the room.

I jumped slightly before I faced him.

"Sir? I thought you had left me to be alone. My apologies."

"No need for something like that, my son," he announced, patting the space next to him. I quickly hung my coat on the hook by the door before sitting next to him.

"You left the pie on the dining table before you came looking for me. Why?"

"I frightened her," I admitted softly, feeling my eyes burn. "I lost control."

"You didn't-?"

"No, no, no," I denied quickly, knowing what he was about to ask me. "No, I stopped myself before I could harm her."

He nodded. "I don't accept this, Jefferson; You know I cannot."

I nodded. "Of course."

"If you had bitten her," he laid a palm on the back on my hand gently. "If you had bitten her, I don't know what I would have done. The consequences of that would have been fatal to both of us."

"Yes sir."

"I'm not closing the gates on you as of yet, Jefferson," he said. "But I cannot allow you to expose of yourself."

"But people know about you, right?" I questioned. "Why can't they know about me?"

"I'm just an old legend, my dear boy. Nobody knows I exist in this world anymore. I'm only a fable to them." He said, sadness filling his eyes.

"But you do!" I argued back. "And you're an amazing being! Why can't people see that?"

He smiled at me, all the while, still supporting the sadness. "You're so naive, my dear boy."