Fade Into Black - Shadows of the Night 5

Chapter 54

Hey,

What a week! First I was on holiday and once I was back it was like all hell broke lose. Anyway, back to the story. Another chapter that set my heart racing. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Oh, and please listen to the song! :-) 

Lara

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Chapter 54

The room was a replica of something she might have encountered many centuries past. The first clue was the old, weathered wooden table that sat in its center, a set of golden candle sticks with half burnt white candles on it. Fire flickered and crackled in a rustic stone hearth, turning the room into a living, breathing shadowland.

He was leaning against the stone wall with his back to her, one hand placed on the mantle above the hearth. His head was lowered, as if he was staring into the flames, watching them intently. He was wearing dark brown trousers, a white tunic and a dark red gambeson. Long black hair spilled over his back like soft silk.

Even without seeing his face she knew it was undoubtedly Alexander. Only ...

She frowned. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about him was different. It wasn't the clothes or the hair. What was it?

He turned and she saw.

This wasn't the head vampire. It was Alexander as a human.

Their eyes locked and all of a sudden it was hard to breathe. For the first time, those azure-blue eyes were not veiled. One second, one look was enough. She understood. The motion she'd seen under a soft blanket of different shades of blue at times was hidden emotion. In here Alexander was showing whatever he felt on his face.

She couldn't look away. Couldn't have if her life depended on it. He was staring at her as if he'd been waiting for her for a long time, as if she was some sort of guest he welcomed in his home. No, even more than that.

Why was he looking at her like that?

Fear loomed over her like a growing shadow. She shook her head. She couldn't. And she wouldn't.

Better to get back into that place again. That place where no one could touch her. Her vision trembled and drifted apart, slowly dissipating. A feeling of disorientation, paired with a perverse sense of freefall settled in.

She blinked against it, forced her eyes open against that new sensation of having gotten lost.

She was sitting on a stone floor, her back pressed against a stone wall in a chamber that slowly, but surely got familiar enough for her to recognize it. It was her very own fortress. That place she liked to retreat to most. In here she had no curled hair, no make-up on her face. Nothing to hide what she really looked like – neither on the outside, nor on the inside.

Only, this time she wasn't alone.

Alexander was towering above her, blue eyes fixing her. He lowered himself, crouching, until they were face to face. He lifted his hand, cupping her cheek with his palm. She stared at him, drank in his hair, the face, the blue eyes. She couldn't have moved or backed away if she wanted to.

Atoms moved, grinding against each other, deep inside. Mortar and stone rumbled and parted with a loud crack. And all of a sudden it was hard to breathe.

* * *

"Anna," the word was soft, a caress of velvet on skin.

I looked at him, at those eyes. No matter if human or vampire, I would always see myself in this ocean of blue. No matter how many lies I tried to tell myself, this would always be true: Somehow I and Alexander were alike. Only that, when I first met him, I was too blind to see it. Then, for a long time I denied it, refused to understand.