Ravens Deep (one) (26 page)

It was the month of October and the trees had begun to shed their leaves.  A sudden cool breeze coming in from the coast whipped those dead leaves into the air where they danced for a few moments before falling silently to the ground. I shivered and moved closer to Darius. He wrapped his arms around me and we stood watching the night unfold about us. I was warmed and comforted by his presence.  After a few minutes, I turned to him.

              “Can we go for a walk?” He looked at me with surprise.

             
“Where do you want to walk to?”

             
“Let’s walk to the church,” I said making up my mind quickly.

             
“You could fall in the darkness,” he reasoned. “The path is very narrow in places and in the dark it could be dangerous for you.”

             
“I have a torch, besides, you will not let me fall,” I replied, I was wondering why he seemed reluctant, but maybe he was just concerned for my safety.  Although it did occur to me that we had never left Ravens Deep or its gardens together and I wondered if that was what had made him hesitate.  Whatever the reason he never spoke it out loud and he agreed to walk to the church. I saw him take some matches and put them in his pocket. He saw my curious look.

             
“For the candles in the church,” he said.

             
We walked through the cool woodlands, surrounded by blackness and the shadows that moved constantly in the breeze. The beam from my torch gave me a small amount of light so I could at least see where I was stepping. But Darius paid more attention to me and where I was walking than himself. Observing this led me to a thought process that I had not imagined before.

             
“Can you see in the dark, Darius?”

             
“Yes, I see everything. It is different for me,” he answered, and tried to clarify his

words
. “Darkness is not that dark -- more like twilight, but the details are much clearer than they would be in your twilight.”

             
It seemed so strange to me that we were side by side and yet our perception and view of everything around us could be so different. The rustlings of the nocturnal creatures moving amongst the undergrowth disturbed the silence of the air.  My mind went back to my previous thoughts and I continued with my line of questioning. 

             
“Can you hear better than me?” I asked, now intrigued.

             
“Yes, I hear everything.  I believe all my senses are heightened, although it has been so many years now that it feels normal to me; how it should be.”

             
“So what about telepathy?” I pressed.

             
“What about it?” he replied, obviously amused by my train of thought.             

             
“When I first met you. . .” I paused, trying to find the right words. “I could have sworn that you said different words to me. . . words not uttered from your mouth, but from somewhere else. . . from your mind maybe?”  Darius laughed as he thought about the question.

             
“You know telepathy is the communication of thoughts, feelings or desires between people involving mechanisms that cannot be understood in terms of known scientific laws.  I desired you and I knew that I appealed to your senses.  Why is it strange that out of that you could hear my inner voice?” His words seemed to make sense to me, but I thought about the other voices I had heard. 

             
“But I also heard things when you did not wish me to continue a particular conversation,”

             
“It works both ways, Madeline; it’s just thought transference.  When you are very in tune with other person’s senses, or their perceptions, it is easy to master.  Or maybe I can do it because I am immortal,” he paused, “I do not know for certain.”

             
We had been walking a while and with Darius’s guidance I had managed not to fall. As usual we talked about everything and nothing, and I had not realized how close we were to our destination.  So I was surprised when the church loomed out of the darkness before us. Moments later we stood in the graveyard.

             
“Why did you want to come here?” Darius asked, as he turned to me.

             
“I wanted to come here with you -- I know you come here on your own,” I answered casually.  Our surroundings had taken on an eerie and ghostly atmosphere that was made more apparent by the tombstones illuminated by the moonlight.

             
Darius took my hand and we walked around the tombstones.  He related the occupants of the various graves, all of whom he had once known.  We finally reached the four sarcophaguses that stood underneath the oak tree.  Now, they held more significance to me than before and I instantly saw the one that had more carvings and depictions than any of the others. 

             
It was obvious to me now that it was his father, John Chamberlayne’s tomb.  Madeline had the time to commission this intricate work. The other three stood with only a few markings.  Darius had not the time to allow the others to have been made in such elaborate detail. I turned to him. 

             
“Which one is yours?” I said quietly.  Darius pointed, indicating to me -- his tomb.

             
“That one,” he said simply. I looked at it. On the bottom was a simple letter D. I had not noticed that before on my previous excursion to the graveyard.  Although the sight of the letter and the significance it represented disturbed me, I asked why there was only one letter.  Darius moved closer to his tomb.

             
“For every hundred years I exist, I will carve the next letter in my name,” he said

nonplussed
. I smiled at him.

             
“You have a long name, you must be confident that you will be around for a long time to come,” I said cordially, trying to inject some humour into the sombre conversation. He sighed.

             
“Not necessarily.” I shot him a puzzled look and I walked up to the sarcophagus.  I ran my hand lightly over the rough stone and turned to look at him.

             
“Darius, when I die, I want to be buried here so you know I will wait for you,”  I said matter of factly.  His eyes held mine captive for a moment, but he was clearly startled by my words.

             
“Madeline don’t. . . I don’t want to think about that.” I refused to be put off by his reaction and I moved close to him. 

             
“Darius, I will die one day and when I do I want to be here.  So you will know that I will be forever waiting for you,” I said, suddenly caught up in the emotion of my own words. He put his arms around me and held me tightly.

             
“If you die -- I will surely die too,” he replied in barely a whisper.

             
We stood for a long time wrapped in each other’s arms, but the breeze that blew across the graveyard was cold and before long, I was shivering. Darius released me.

             
“You are cold, we should go into the church.”

             
We entered through the ancient door and I instantly felt warmer as the thick stone walls kept the cold breeze at bay. It was very dark, for within the last few moments the moonlight had become shrouded by thick cloud.  The small windows did not allow much outside light to penetrate the building and I could barely see in front of me.

              “Stay here,” Darius instructed as he left my side and I watched his black silhouette move beneath the metal chandelier.  He reached up and released the chain that bound it and lowered it slowly which enabled him to light the candles, and then he secured the chandelier in place again.  The church was instantly illuminated with dozens of flickering shadows that danced their way across the stone walls.

             
Darius took my hand again and we walked silently through the church, until we came to a stop in front of the altar with its long table.  It was deathly silent, as the thick stone walls allowed no noise from the outside world.  In this ancient building, in this remote place it was as though we were the only two beings in the entire world. Darius turned to me.

             
“If only I were mortal, I would have married you in this very church.”  I stared at him, and caught up in the intensity of the moment I heard my voice tremble as I spoke.

             
“There is nothing in heaven or earth that can keep us apart.  I have opened my mind to understand and accept your being.  I would marry you, mortal or immortal, it is of no consequence and I do not need a priest or piece of paper to make a marriage vow to you.”

             
The chill I had felt in the air disappeared and was replaced with an intense feeling of heat. As I looked at him, I was more certain of this than anything else.

             
“Darius, I will take you to be my husband for now and forever and nothing shall keep me from you.”  As he looked back at me his beautiful vivid eyes hypnotized my mind, leaving his soft sultry voice to appeal to any remaining senses. I heard him utter the next words:

             
“Madeline, I take you to be my beloved wife, my mortal love, for when your life is over mine shall cease also.”

             
Darius pulled me into his arms and kissed me with such intensity that it took my breath away, but I responded, clinging to him with every ounce of my being.  As we stood with our bodies entwined, his chilled lips only gave me moderate cause for concern. His sensual kiss moved slowly further down to my neck and then to my throat and suddenly I felt him freeze. He released me instantly and I looked up at him in shock, his eyes belied a glowing dark intensity. I drew my breath in a half stifled gasp and stepped back from him, suddenly afraid.

             
He hadn’t fed.

             
“Darius?”

             
“Stay here” he whispered darkly and he was already out the door. I was alone in the church.  The warm tears were running down my face and I instinctively put my hand to my neck.  He had not been out for two nights and now he needed blood. Caught up in the emotions of what we had just done, the vow we had just made, he had let his guard down and allowed an inner instinct to take over.  I had come very close to being infected tonight.

             
Now, I thought about the words he had said to me all those months ago, that it was inevitable. Was it?  No, I couldn’t think like that.  Darius could control it, he would control it. 

             
Minutes passed and somewhere in the distance I heard an animal scream, the sort of terrifying noise an animal makes when it is suddenly aware of its own imminent death.  I sat down on the pew for support. Some wedding! I thought bitterly, but I could not blame Darius and whatever poor creature had died out there tonight, it had died so that I might live.

             
I waited for forty minutes or so, before the church door opened. Darius silently came to me, his composure was normal and the darkness in his eyes was quietened, but he had a grave look on his face. 

“
Forgive me Madeline, I should not touch you when I am so cold.”

             
“There is nothing to forgive,” I said taking his hand and noting that it was now warm.  He looked into my eyes imploring me with his own.  I felt his anguish, but I smiled reassuringly back at him.

             
“Madeline,” he hesitated briefly.  “Can you really live like this?”

             
“Yes, I meant those words,” I readily replied. “I am just as compelled to you now as ever and it would be incomprehensible for me to imagine a life without you. Besides, I thought that you would never let me go?” he smiled at me.

             
“No . . .  I could not bear to let you go . . . not now,” he concluded. I glanced up at him fixing him with a determined look.

             
“And I am not afraid,” I said, and turned.  I pulled him to the front of the church, and removed my jacket and spread it out on the alter table.  Then I turned back to him and began to unbutton his clothes, his hand covered mine, making me look up at him. 

             
“Madeline what are you doing?” he asked with a small amount of surprise mixed with a hint of amusement in his voice.

             
“I thought that it was obvious,” I said innocently. “We just got married didn’t’t we?  We have to consummate the marriage.”

             
“What, here?”  I detected the faint shock in his voice.

             
“Why not?” I said provocatively, “Or do you think it inappropriate and me sinful because of it?”  He shook his head.

             
“Whatever sin you think you might commit, it can be no greater than my own,” he