There Is No Me Beyond You

~17~

"I love you," I whispered the moment his lips left mine for my neck, kissing their way lower, making me shiver with pleasure and anticipation.

"You can't imagine how much I missed you," he said as his hands released me from the blanket that was still wrapped around my body, while I pulled his shirt off him. "It feels like... those words, I love you, are not strong enough to describe what I feel for you, Samara..." he muttered, making my eyes fill with tears as his words made my crazy emotions escalate. I knew perfectly well what he meant, how he felt.

We stopped talking then, abandoning ourselves to the need to prove just how deeply we loved each other, how much we cared, and how we could never pull through another separation.

Later, when I laid next to him, my head resting in the crook of his shoulder, my hand over his heart, unable to fall asleep as my skin still tingled pleasantly from his touch and my heart raced still too fast, Vlad pushed a few stray curls away from my face and kissed me on the forehead. I smiled, feeling a corresponding smile in his kiss.

"So you don't need to sleep as much as before after all..." he murmured.

"I would like something to drink, shall I bring something for you, too?" I asked, sitting up.

"Wait." Vlad said, kissing me as he pushed me back down among the pillows.

He left me alone in the tenebrosity reigning under the bed's thick, dark curtains. I watched his silhouette, momentarily gilded by the golden glow of the lambent fire, disappear down the steps. He was back in no time, two goblets of wine and my locket in his hands.

I took one of the cups and drank deeply, feeling the wine's soothing warmth spread through my body, but I shook my head when he handed me the locket.

"It's for you, keep it." I said, heart soaring as I watched a happy smile flood his features when he put it around his neck. "I... was scared to bring her with me, she's waiting on the other side for us..."

"Your friend Lucas told me everything, Samara. You did the best thing," he interrupted me quickly, sensing the sadness creeping over me as my heart, soaring mere moments ago, plummeted fast. I missed Aurora so much...

Nodding, I passed him my empty cup and lay back down, snuggling into him as he joined me, pulling the blankets over us, up to my chin. The big question, my proposition for him to come back home with me when the passage reopened bubbled to my lips, but I swallowed it back. Somehow I couldn't ask that of him, not now, I needed more time to... to prepare myself for the pain I'd feel if he refused. I... I just couldn't picture him anywhere else apart from this place suddenly. As I observed his beautiful, smiling face now as he stared back at me, my idea looked surreal. He spent all those centuries here, waiting for my return, he seemed to have become such an inseparable part of this world, this ancient castle...

The unexpected observation made my breath hitch. Not wanting him to perceive another shift in my mood I kissed him, then turned around, my back to his front, letting him wrap his arms around me and pull me as close to him as possible. How could I have ever fallen asleep without him next to me... I mused, sighing contentedly.

For a long while we lay silently in the thickening darkness spreading around us as the unfed fire started to wane, the sleep still refusing to take me.

"What happened that night?" I asked, noticing that he was still awake too, when I felt his lips brush against my earlobe. There were so many things I wanted to know. "I couldn't get to the passage, they shut the castle because of the fire..."

Vlad took a deep breath,
"There was a small fire here as well, in the kitchens, but we did not have much trouble dealing with it. As soon as it was put out, I walked through the passage as I had promised you I would," he said softly. "Even my son came with me. But we didn't get far. There was a fire in the corridor in front of the Great Hall on your side, and while we considered what we should do, we saw it spread fast despite the effort of the people trying to tame it."