Twenty-One

The next minute, he was on top of me, pinning me to the floor with his forest green eyes fixed on mine, and all the defiance in my face gave place to surprise.
“Yes, you know her, because she is you, dragă. She is hidden inside your mind and heart.” His eyes flicked golden again.
“I’m not scared of you!” I whispered to him, not because I got afraid of him. The situation was surreal, but fear was the last thing on my mind. We were so close to each other. It’d be easy to give into temptation, and once in my life do something wild for a change.
“Are you sure, Alexandra?” His canines lengthened. He just couldn’t help himself. Something told me he needed me to fear him. Even though he didn’t want it, neither made him happy about it.
“If your intention is to scare me, so I show you compliance, you’re miserably failing, besides it saddens you. I already had so much hurt in my life, if looks could kill, I’d be dead by now.” I wanted to wear a smug face, but he had such a haunted face I just couldn’t do it. “What are you?”
“I’m a cursed devil, Alexandra.” He sounded so much like a wounded animal, giving me his answer. Yes, I got afraid of him, sort of... But deep down I knew he would never hurt me and that ace I had up in my sleeve.
“Get off me!” I said with gritted teeth, and he didn’t move, setting my blood to boil. “I won’t say it again, get the hell off me!” Fire flashed in those golden eyes and it made me believe he wasn’t used to someone defying or talking back to him.
“Not until you answer my questions!” he barked at me. “What were you doing in that cabin, Alexandra?” He emphasized my name. His stare on me was so fiery, it got me enthralled, and for some brief minutes I couldn’t function. Inside those golden eyes, I saw fear, but for me.
Locking my legs around his hips with a swift and powerful movement, I was the one pinning him down. When he realized I straddled him and held his hands above his head, the look of surprise and lust in those golden eyes was priceless!
“How did you…” His voice was so husky and interesting. Turning the tables on him made me feel powerful. Gosh… I didn’t even know who or what he was, and I couldn’t let go of him. How was that even possible? He looked vampire, but different. I didn’t know. Nothing to me made sense anymore, just the wild feeling to abandon myself to his care.
“I also have a few tricks myself, Grizzly,” I whispered into his ear, my hair falling all over us. His body went rigid beneath mine, and it came to life between my legs. I shivered and ground myself on him, trying to find some relief. I was playing with the unknown, and his control ran thin, but what was I supposed to do if around him my brain seemed to short circuit?
“Alexandra…”
I didn’t expect such intensity when he said my name, but it was there, drawing me to him like a thirsty bee in search of nectar. I blinked a few times, trying to concentrate on the man in front of me. He could overpower me any minute he wanted, but I believed he was enjoying being in that situation.
“Let’s start, who are you?”
“I’m Vladislav... Draculea… Your husband from about a few hundred years ago…” He shared the information, not taking his eyes from my face, trying to decipher what went on in my head. It was my turn to go stiff on top of him, and I couldn’t help myself, but laugh my ass off in the next second.
“And I thought I was the only lunatic here. No way! Me? Dracula’s bride?” My eyes were teary, I couldn’t control my fit. “You’re kidding me, right? It has to be some kind of prank.” When his face darkened and his eyes became devoid of humor, a chill went up to my spine, and all the hairs on my neck prickled. He wasn’t enjoying our game anymore.
“Is there something wrong with that?” He was serious.
“Sorry,” I mumbled to him, averting my eyes. The tension inside the cabin seemed to expand the walls, making the atmosphere so heavy. “I don’t know what to say or think. I’m sorry! This is all too surreal for me. How is it possible?” So now I could put a name on the face who plagued my dreams all these years. I’m lying. Sometimes he didn’t plague them. He did wicked things to my body, and I enjoyed each and everyone of them. But they were dreams, for heavens!
“I don’t know, dragă. I got mortally wounded in a battle years later, and father Ioan found me, he was one monk from a monastery I built, and the puny bastard cursed me.” Sorrow poured out from him in waves. “You told me so many times to change my ways to reach my goals, but I didn’t listen to you, and I lost you. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” He fixed his eyes on mine, holding me to him. I knew it was crazy, but it has never felt so right.
“What’s wrong?” There was panic in his voice, and worry glazed his eyes as I froze, zoning out.
“I’m seeing you… in my mind, but it’s different this time. Now…”
“Now?” he asked, expectant.
“You are dragging a woman to see a beautiful, small chapel inside a castle. It’s me, but a bit different.” Confusion took over my brain, and he noticed my fingers trembling, holding to his wide shoulders. He searched my face, eager to hear the rest of my vision. “Most of them were nightmares. You had always been on the battlefield and then I’d wake up with you staring at me in the middle of a carnage. There were dreams also, and I hated the ones where you got yourself injured…” My mind was far away, and I was blabbering.
“The castle was our home. Its name was Poenari, and I built the chapel, so I could have a little peace in my life when my sins were too much to carry. The same monk who cursed me had been the one in charge of the paintings and furnishing the chapel. I’ve done awful things, Liz.”
“If you are who you claimed to be... Yes, you did. Believe me, Grizzly, you’ve gotten infamous for them… Your fame precedes you!” I tapped into my dreams. And if those had been actual memories, he was right. Awful things happened, and I had no doubts how gruesome they were.
“Can’t wait to hear all about it.” He chuckled. And I realised I loved the sound of his laughter. I was sitting on his lap, still straddling him, in the comfort of his embrace, and the only light coming was the warm fireplace. The feel of his hard body, so close against mine in that cozy room, made me want to forget everything and just enjoy this crazy ride I got myself into.
“No…” I shook my head, laughing. “Those fuckers fried my brain two days ago, and I’m dead in some sort of purgatory. Yeah, that’s about right. I can’t be here talking to an almost six hundred-year-old vampire, who claims to be my husband from another life!” He tightened his hold on me.
“You’re very much alive, and I can prove it to you.” His sinful lips were on my jaw, trailing kisses along the underside of my neck, making me lose touch with reality. Yes, he proved it when he bunched my hair on his hand and brought me down to his lips, kissing me as if there was no tomorrow. I was very much alive, because a figment of my imagination wouldn’t kiss me so scorching hot as he did now. I just couldn’t understand how my mind accepted all this nonsense so easily.
“Grizzly…” I heard myself moaning without letting go of his lips.
“Are you afraid of me, Liz?”
“No. I’m not. Confused, yes! Telling you the truth, I’m more scared of my reaction to you,” I answered between kisses, bringing him closer to me, if that was possible. “So, vampires exist, huh?”