Moonlight

Valora was more than ready for bed. It had been a long, yet productive day, and she was exhausted, looking forward to the comfort of her soft mattress with its fresh, sun soaked linens, and plumped up puffy pillows.

Sinking into the mattress and pulling the covers up to her chin, she turned off the bedside lamp and relaxed onto her back, watching the repeated spin of the fan as it twirled on the ceiling above her bed. She had just closed her eyes and was about to drift off to sleep, when she heard it: the faintest of knocking upon the window pane to the far left.

The moon was full this evening, and its light spread evenly across the length of her room, so she did not turn on the bedside lamp although she did sit straight up in the bed and peer toward the window. Her bedroom was on the second floor of the old, renovated house, so it could be none other than a creature of some sort making the noise.

She was about to lie back down, but there is was again. Tap…tap…tap... But from where she sat in the bed, Valora could see nothing.

Discarding her covers, her bare feet silently glided with a bit of trepidation across the hardwood flooring toward the window, an indescribable feeling in the pit of her stomach propelling her forward with each step.

Tap…tap…tap. She heard it louder now, over and over again as she neared the window.

At first she saw nothing, but then, of a sudden, he appeared, almost as if he had always been there, patiently waiting for her. She should have been shocked and alarmed to find a man outside of her second floor window, but instead, all she could seem to think was that he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever laid eyes on. In the moonlight, his nearly black hair gleamed, his crystal blue eyes shone with an iridescent light, and the barest glimpse of a determined smile formed upon his lips. He seemed to beckon her, and all she could do was stare back at him in response. Unable to move, she felt mesmerized by the sight of his image outside of her window where there should be nothing and no one, and yet, there he was.

Tap…tap…tap. His long, strong fingers lightly touched the window pane again as he gave a nod of his head, reminding her of his need for entry. Obediently, she slowly and deliberately slid the window pane up until it was fully open, feeling the freshness and coolness of the evening’s breeze.

“Good evening, Valora,” his voice was hypnotic, rich and melodic. How in heavens did he know her name? “May I come in?”

As if in a trance, Valora nodded, completely oblivious that she stood only in a sheer shift of a white night dress, which left little to the imagination as the moonlight drifted through the thinness of the material.

“My sweet,” he seemingly implored. “May I enter?”

Valora stepped backwards, nearly tripping. As she did so, the spell was suddenly broken, and she was keenly aware of the absurdity of her unexpected visitor – and the unreality of him as well.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

“You know me, Valora,” he said patiently and quietly. “You have always known me,” a smile forming across his handsome lips with his words. “Your soul craves me, does it not?

“Who are you?” she repeated, nearly afraid of his answer.

“Don’t ask questions, Valora. Respond instead to only what your heart and mind are telling you in this very moment.” His look was beseeching, reaching deep into her being as he spoke, his eyes beautifully blue in their depths.

Feeling the pull of something previously unfelt, she responded to his luring, melodic words.

“Please. Come in,” she whispered softly.

Still, she surprised herself by the words that issued forth from her mouth, and she took yet another step backwards, her back now flush against the wall behind her as if seeking support of some kind.

With a lightness of foot and remarkable speed, he was inside her bedroom, standing before her in a split second of time. Fully illuminated in the moonlight, she saw that he was even more handsome than he had appeared outside of the window. He was tall and slender, clothed completely in black, the opaqueness of his white skin and ice blue eyes in stark contrast to the black of his hair and the clothing he wore. His smile deepened as he intently watched her.

“Come closer,” he commanded quietly.

Unable to defy him but unsure as to why, Valora hesitantly approached, stopping only inches from him. True to character, however, she refused to look downward, and instead, warily watched him, raising her chin in defiance as the green of her eyes deepened.

“You aren’t afraid of me.” It was a statement, not a question. A small smirk of a smile spread across his lips.

“No,” Valora answered and crossed her arms in front of her. Whoever he was, and if he was here to kill her, she didn't know why, but she was not afraid of him. Instead, she seemed to be mesmerized by his presence.

His smile grew, and Valora noticed a deep dimple in his left cheek. “My sweet, you should be very afraid of me.” But then he grew serious as he added, “However, I am immensely pleased that you are not.”

“Who are you?” Valora repeated for the third time. “You say I know you, but….”

“But you are not sure that you do,” he finished her sentence. He looked down at the floor before he continued, as if he was contemplating his next words. “I am Aramis, and I am all your soul craves. I fear our destinies are intertwined in ways beyond your imagination.”

His words resonated within her despite her lack of understanding. Aramis? She’d never heard of him or seen him until this very moment. How on earth could their destinies be intertwined?

“I’m not sure I understand,” she said, her voice only above a whisper despite her desire to show him she was unafraid.

He inched closer and reached out a finger to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. His touch was an oxymoron: cool and yet also electrifying and burning in its intensity. His blue gaze deepened as he moved his finger from her ear to trail across her cheek until it came to rest beneath her chin.

“Do you not feel it?” His voice was laced with promise, the allure of moonlight, and something to which she could not lay a name.

Yes, she did feel it, but as to what exactly it was she felt, she was unsure. Her emerald green eyes turned liquid at his touch, and she felt the nearness of him with everything inside of her. She desperately longed to lean closer, to fall against him with wild abandon. What had this man done to her? She had never felt as she felt at this moment in time. It was all very surreal. Was she dreaming?

“Yes, I feel it.” Her voice was the faintest of whispers, but he heard her clearly, as if she had screamed the words at the top of her lungs.

Lifting his hand and reaching behind her neck, he pulled her toward him. He was so close she could feel the coolness of his breath against her cheek. His other hand slowly grasped behind her at the waist, pulling her tautly against the hardness of his chest. His blue eyes searched her green ones, never breaking their gazes as he did so.

“You smell of sweet jasmine,” he said quietly. His blue gaze wandered down, focusing intently on the strong pulse that beat rapidly in her neck. His lips drew a hard line as he studied the strength in it.

She could not think beyond the blue of his eyes and the nearness of him. Whatever it was he wanted of her, she would willing give it – and more - she thought. His gaze, his words, his touch, his being: they were all more mesmerizing and more intoxicating than the strongest spirits she’d ever imbibed.

“Please,” was all she could seem to say, a plea for the unknown in the heat of the moment as his gaze remained fixed upon the pulse in her neck.

Aramis leaned closer, his lips lightly trailing across her own, momentarily tasting of them. Raising his head slightly, she saw that the blue of his eyes had darkened so much so that they were nearly black in appearance now. She leaned into him, the need for more encompassing her in a way she had never known until this very moment of time.

Aramis kissed her again, more deeply, and Valora’s world spun out of control. Instinctively and without rhyme or reason, she turned her neck to his mouth as he leaned closer, acknowledging her offer and his own need of what lay therein.

The first sweet taste of her rich, red blood was sublime, and Aramis nearly lost control. After several moments that felt more like centuries, he raised his head and looked at Valora, the taste of her blood still evident on his lips as he spoke.

“Do you understand now, my sweet?” he asked softly.

Valora’s eyes devoured the man who stood before her. Unsure as to how, she completely understood the complexity of the situation, her eyes begging him to partake of more. She wanted him to take all of her.

Aramis answered her plea, leaning forward and drinking deeply of her blood again before he suddenly and unexpectedly straightened and took a step backwards from her, the flat of his right palm preventing her from following him.

“I cannot,” he said with a look that was full of surprise in his crystal blue eyes.

Disappointed and confused beyond measure, tears filled Valora’s green eyes. “But I need you. Please,” she begged.

Aramis was silent for long moments before he finally spoke again. He was totally unprepared for what had just happened or for what he had so strongly felt.

“They named you Valora for a reason,” he said, the faint glint of a smile in his eyes as they began to return to their original ice blue color. He was beginning to find a measure of restraint and able to resume his continued banter with her. He could not, and he would not, make her his as he had originally planned despite the fact that he craved her. Her innocence and allure were too rare and too divine. And she was far too brave for her own good. She was well worth keeping.

Valora looked at him questioningly, more perplexed than ever before.

“You are indeed as brave and courageous as your name suggests, my sweet.”

Aramis reached across and drew her nearer now that he knew the full extent of the meeting this night. Valora fell willingly into his embrace, her eyes ever trusting, mesmerized by the mere touch of the man before her. He stroked the waves of her auburn hair, an unknown feeling taking root within him for the woman who stood before him. She was quite rare and special in unexpected ways, and he knew he had much to learn about her. No human had ever affected him so strongly or in such an unexpected way.

“Never fear, my sweet Valora. There will be many times we will meet again for I assure you that now I have tasted of you, I will visit you often, both in your dreams and in truth. I shall never be very far from you, my sweet. You need only to think of me, and I will come.”

Raising his wrist and biting into it, he placed it against her lips, entreating her to drink from it. If he wished to continue this with her, it was important that there be no telltale signs of what had just happened, and his blood would ensure that the bite marks on her neck healed.

Valora sighed deeply and drank willingly from his wrist until Aramis pulled it away and then laid her cheek against his chest. She closed her eyes, knowing a security and depth of serenity previously unbeknownst to her.

Feeling the coolness of what she thought was his chest, Valora sought to wrap her arms around Aramis, but of a sudden, her eyes flew open: it was the softness of her pillow she held instead of his body as she lay within the crisp coolness of her bed.

Valora sat up quickly and jumped out of bed, her bare feet thudding as they hit the flooring. She looked all about in search of the man who had just invaded her room, her mind, her heart, and everything within her, but there was inexplicably no sign of him.

Glancing at the window, she saw that it was not as she had left it when she’d first gone to bed; it was now raised and the curtains fluttered in the light breeze that blew in through the open panes of glass. Her feet quickly made short work of the distance to the window, where she leaned upon the sill in search of the man of her dreams. But there was no sign of Aramis or anything and anyone else in the still of the moonlight night.

Slowly and methodically, as if in a trance, Valora shut the window and leaned back against it. She raised her hand to lightly touch her neck but feeling nothing, she quickly headed to the mirror, turning her head to better gage the length of her neck in the flooding light of the moon. Disappointment filled her. There were no bite marks. No sign of Aramis remained where she was sure once his mouth had been, filling her with a need unlike any other she’d ever felt.

Sighing, she started to head back to bed, convinced she’d had some strange, surreal dream, but then she inadvertently caught her reflection in the moonlight that fell across the mirror. On her lips lingered the slightest hint of red blood. Gingerly reaching a slender finger to her lips, she felt the wetness and lifted her finger to see the richness of his red blood. Her heart leapt with an unreal joy that the experience had not been a dream after all but a reality beyond the imaginable. A secretive smile lingering on her blood-stained lips, Valora climbed back into bed and turned on her back again to watch the spin of the fan above, immensely pleased with her newfound discovery and knowledge.

Aramis. The name was sweet, and she could think of no other. He had been very real and in this room with her until only moments earlier. She had not imagined him or what she’d felt for him. She smiled. Her heart and her soul knew this man and had beckoned him, she was sure of it. And now, he would return to her and always remain a part of her life.

Valora eventually drifted off to sleep, and it was a peaceful and deep sleep full of dreams far beyond the scope of others’ dreams. And as she did so, she held the sweet allure of moonlight tightly within her grasp as a secret smile played upon her youthful, bloodstained lips.