Vlad The Impaler (VAMPIRE-ELF)

18. You and I

"You've been spending a lot of time with Erinna," Dracula commented as he took an arrow from a stack Alexander was holding.

With needlepoint precision, he threw it at the marked board a hundred metres away, where it stubbornly embedded in the heart of the drawn silhouette.

"She's lonely," Alexander replied, fighting to keep his voice steady and ignore how much Dracula's voice unsettled him whenever it was that quiet and calm.

"It's not your business."

"Your happiness is my business," he boldly stated knowing he had to do this; he was the only vampire who could give Dracula a hint of the truth without suffering the consequences.

"How is you seducing and flirting with my bride supposed to bring me happiness?" The Count asked, taking another arrow.

The words shocked Alexander.

Seducing? Just where had his master picked that idea from?

"All I've been doing is making her more receptive to you."

"Go get the arrows."

The command puzzled Alexander because there were still more arrows but he nodded and turned around although turning his back on a temperamental Dracula was the last thing he wanted to do.

Trudging through the dark night, guided by the moonlight and his supernatural eyesight, he walked to the board, looking back after every few steps but the Count remained in the same position he had left him in.

He got to the board and made to take the first one out but instantly froze as five arrows whizzed past him, missing him by less than an inch and lodging into the board. Fear paralysed him and he did not move.

Years of experience had taught him the best way to deal with an angry volatile Dracula was not to react. Challenging him was just a death wish and Alexander was not feeling particularly suicidal that night.

"You have been with me for many years Alexander, let that not fool you into thinking you're indispensible. If I find that you have a hidden agenda concerning my bride I will make sure your skin is the canvas for Drakkos' next potrait."

Leaving the threat hanging in the air, Dracula vanished and it was only then that Alexander remembered to breathe.

It was in this state of shock that Erinna found him five minutes later, amazed he had been allowed to keep his life. Dracula was not the forgiving type.

"You don't look too happy," she said, trying to walk in the dark without toppling over her own feet.

Elves were blessed with second sight but their physical eyes saw no much more than humans did. They were bound by limitations such as darkness.

He was by her side in a second to help her manoeuvre her way before she fell and he had to make another explanation to Dracula.

"You're imagining things," he said, deciding not to bother her with the recent episode.

He looked at her, appreciating every feature as the moonlight bounced off her. It cast her in an ethereal glow that made her look like a goddess and he had a hard time remembering his own name.

She was truly and absolutely beautiful.

Even better was the tantalizing scent that wafted off her soft, moon-kissed skin. The vanilla essence of her innocence combined with the rare quality of her blood was an irresistible concoction.

Any younger vampire could have never been able to resist it but Alexander had had many centuries of years to know just how creative Dracula got when anyone touched what was his.