Bride To His Darkness

"Ivan?"

"Shhhh..." the vampire Lord swiftly placed a finger to his lips, silently conveying she should keep her tone down before someone hears. Out of involuntary measures, Samantha’s body pushed itself upright on the bed, and for a moment, she wiped her eyes countless times to ensure she wasn’t hallucinating but... no matter how many times she cleaned her eyes, the physical image of Ivan did not go away.

"Are you that desperate to erase me from your thoughts?" He teased, his expression unsmiling, whilst he took notice of her bewildered reaction to his presence. His crimson eyes moved to the delicate hand that extended up to his face, as if they wanted to touch him, to confirm if he was real or not, and Samantha grew speechless when he took her hand in his own and palmed his cheek with her hand.

"I won’t bite." He promised, and Samantha could no longer hold back her tears upon coming to the realization. With a swift motion that she never knew was above her capability, she embraced him tightly, hugging him close and feeling her body tremble as he rubbed her back affectionately. The familiar scent of him enveloped her senses, and that made her cling tighter, too afraid to let go and returning to the reality that would separate them once more.

"You... you’re here?" She pulled back to look at his face, then at her surroundings. "How are you here? How is this... how did you come..."

"Wait for me." She heard him say, and he carefully moved some strands of her hair away from her face, her crimson eyes reflecting his emotions back at him. His touch was inexplicably gentle, lingering longer than usual, and Samantha leaned her cheek into his palm, submitting to his comforting touch.

"Can you stay out of danger till I find you?" His fingers caressed her cheek lightly, portraying his reluctance to leave her side, but then his gaze hardened a bit after recollecting what he just asked, and he shook his head, as if he didn’t relay his words right. "It’s... it’s not a request, I need you to stay alive, tell me you’ll protect yourself until I find you. You’ll stay alive, won’t you? No harm will come to you, my Little Lamb will be alright till I find her, won’t she?"

"Don’t leave me now." Her voice sounded pleading, whilst she overlapped his hand with her own, refusing to let him go. "Stay with me, I don’t want to be here, I want to be with you. Don’t go, please..." her throat was so choked that her last sentence came out as a desperate whisper. His eyes never left her own, she could see he didn’t want to leave as well, his pain was as evident as hers, but what she never expected was for him to kiss her out of the blue.

Her pupils dilated when she felt his mouth upon hers, and she never realized how secretly she begged for them until he fulfilled it– but it was far more intense than she imagined it to be;