Eternal Night

(I) Chapter 3: The Pieces Are Set

"You better have a damn good reason for showing your face," Dracula hissed, squeezing down on Lilith's throat, the cold metal of her necklace cutting into his hand. But his brute strength had no effect, as her smug grin remained fixed.

"Still holding that grudge against me?" and she tsked, taunting him. "Vladislaus, you knew quite well the implications of sharing my bed. It's not my fault you couldn't resist temptation."

The subtle red glow of her eyes began to work its familiar spell, her will testing his own as she attempted to seduce him with a single look. While he knew better from experience, Dracula allowed his gaze to linger on her for a moment longer than he probably should have. It had been well over three decades since he had seen the woman last, and yet the queen of hell hadn't aged a day.

With a lithe figure eternally in its prime, she looked more like an angel of heaven than the bride of the devil; her skin divinely smooth and flawless, hair long and effortlessly wavy. The tresses were a bright and tantalizing red that cascaded down her back and over her shoulders in rich waves, a few locks resting atop full breasts that were barely veiled by the thin chiffon-like material of the shift she wore. Her neck was slender and long in his hand, her signature gold metal choker around her throat glinting as it caught the light of the fire. In the center was a cloudy jewel, similar to a moonstone, and yet there was something about the crystal that had always unnerved him, and his eyes diverted back up toward her gaze.

He could feel the temptation growing as memories of the one illicit evening they had shared suddenly reentered his mind, despite his best efforts to banish them.

But Lilith's will was strong.

He strained to keep her out, could sense her unearthing long-buried memories – her body against his, calculated caresses and sighs of pleasure... the feel of her warmth milking him for all he was worth. Dracula knew perfectly well that she was manipulating him and the depth of his humiliation was just the fuel his anger needed to resist. With a growl of defiance, he shook his head once as if to banish her from his mind and with more force than was necessary, he released her throat and shoved her away from him. Lilith fell to the floor with a delighted laugh.

"If I had known the precise nature of those implications," he spat venomously, "I would have ejected you from my presence, as force seems to be the only thing you respond to – if you respond at all."

"What can I say? I like it rough," and in the blink of an eye she was standing again, smoothing out the creases in her gown idly as the man turned his back to her.

"I did not summon you, hell spawn. Go back to the pit where you belong."

"Such an ungrateful attitude," Lilith noted, not in the least bit put off by his brusqueness as she fingered the pale jewel on her throat. "And after everything I've done for you."

Dracula whirled around.

"Everything you've done for me?" he repeated, eyes starting to glow with fury. "When have you ever done anything for me?"

"I created you!" she reminded him, the words like the crack of a whip. "It was I that gifted you with immortality. Lucifer merely made the deal. I'm the one that did all the work."

"And since my creation, you have done nothing but wreak havoc in my life," he hissed, rapidly losing his temper. "You constantly pit Marcus against me, treating us both like we're inanimate pieces on a chessboard that you can move about on a whim without any thought of repercussion..."

"Yes – I'll admit to pulling your strings on occasion, although I suppose you've proven far more willful and difficult to control these last centuries – more than I could have anticipated."