Warning
From this point on, the story will become more horror-esque. It is still a romance. But I had decided as soon as I started writing this that it would have chilling themes, as seen in the last two chapters. I won't do anything that would be in a slasher film, but I do want it to be creepy. So please, if anything like ghost stories or blood bothers you, I advise to stop reading at this point.
Thank you.

His heart?

Your head automatically started to turn to where your nightstand stood but was stopped when the hand on your neck ceased it's stroking. One by one, the long fingers placed themselves on your skin, cold digits spanning out to grip both your throat and jaw before he forced you to look the other way. Your body was already close to his, but when he forced you to look right at him, your face was lightly pressed into his collarbone; so close to the side of his neck that your nose would softly brush over his skin. If one were to walk in and see this, they would think of a man holding his lover, both gazing at each other as if it were a tender moment.

The fact that he gripped your jaw so firmly but also held you as close as possible sent shudders throughout your body; an ominous excitement gripping you and making you numb.

It was almost too dark to see; the half moon shining through your balcony windows giving just enough light to see the stranger's outline, shadows framing his face and only showing enough shape for you to know he had a long straight nose and a jawline that wasn't too strong or too slender.

What you didn't need light to see were his glowing, steel hued eyes. Your body forbade you to move as you looked into them and your breathing hitched, stopping as air refused to leave your lungs. Just looking into them made you feel like you were submerged in a frozen lake, gradually sinking down further and further into the dark, unknown depths while the cold crushed your will to swim to the surface. You were drowning and drowning and drowning and you still couldn't look away.

He glared down at you, impatience flashing across his face.

"Tell me."

The anger in his voice made you tremble, yet you struggled to speak. You couldn't move. Even if millions of centipedes decided to creep across your skin in droves and latch themselves onto you, you wouldn't be able to tear your gaze away from his eyes.

You tried to gasp for air, but your lungs rejected you; how could you tell him if you couldn't breathe?

His arms pulled your form closer, pleasure and fear firing off inside you. You wanted to be as far as possible from this man yet your body wanted to be closer, his gaze compelling you to stay with such a force that you were sure something was wrong. Yet the movement gave you the will to find your voice, as if he had literally loosened his grip on the fear swelling inside you.

It felt like you had finally broken through the icy water's surface, gasping for breath greedily.

"T-The nightstand-!!" You trembled with fear. Now that you could speak, it was like a haze was lifted just a bit and you could feel just how dangerous this man was. It made you want to run away, to leave this castle and forget it ever existed. You wanted to go back to your old home and to your old life and just live happily with your father and Marguerite. You had to fight the will to cry as you spoke again.

"It's on the nightstand!!"

The jar. He had to be talking about that.

Ever since that night you had been compelled to protect and cherish it. You couldn't even shove it in a drawer somewhere and ignore it. You would just set the glass down on the table and stare at it, feeling disgusted for not ridding yourself of the thing. It had become the bane of your existence.

Yet you still refused to throw it out.

Languidly, he turned his head to the side of your bed, gaze flickering back and forth searchingly before his eyes flashed brighter, colder, angrier. Something was wrong. His fingers gripped your face once more and forced you to look at your bedside table, the movement pulling you even more flushed against his chest and situating your body into his lap. It made your skin grow hot and you tried to pull away but his hold was too strong and made you feel helpless. He lowered his head to whisper into your ear, his face slowly pushing into your head once more as his voice rumbled; low and harsh and making goosebumps quickly spread down your arms.

Then you looked and realized it was gone.

"Liar."

Your back arched, the hand that was resting over your heart suddenly digging into your skin and sending pinpricks of pain all over your front.

"No!! It was there! I-I swear!!"

Your chest was heaving as one of his pointed digits moved and pulled down the neckband of your night dress, finger dragging lazily across your collar bone and stopping just at the top of your breast. Cold dread washed over you as his hand formed into a point and move to rest the tip right over your heart. Eyes widening you tried to wiggle away but your body didn't even twitch and no matter what you did you could only watch as the fingers slowly moved forward.

Then he was piercing your chest, slowly but surely pushing his hand deep into your flesh. You jerked, trying to get away from the sudden pain that made you cry out as he spoke again; his voice deeply soothing and making you freeze. You were wrapped in silky tones once more and despite the pain in your chest you still refused to pull away. His eyes held your own while he stroked your jawline, watching the blood seep across the front of your clothes and soak into the mattress.

"If I don't have it back by tomorrow night..."

Your body seized, head thrown back as you felt something constrict painfully inside you. The man had grabbed hold of something, something that made your blood run as cold as his eyes. He then pulled his hand out just as slowly as he pushed it in; it hurt just as much, if not worse. Blood coated his fist as it popped out of your chest, his hand finally free as he clutched something tight within it. He gave it a squeeze and you jerked back again, his fingers still caressing your face delicately while your head now rested against his shoulder.

"...I will take yours."

The man opened his hand and you found yourself looking down despite your fear and disgust. Sick fascination swarmed over you as you prepared to look at your own beating heart, no doubt resting harmlessly in this demon's palm and still pumping to keep you alive. But you didn't see your heart.

In his red stained hand rested a tiny petal.

It was untarnished despite laying in blood, looking the same it did when you pocketed it that night in the chapel. Pink and pure, as if it had just been plucked from a blooming flower. You were confused and wondered why such a thing had been inside you, but all thoughts ceased when he moved his thumb to brush over it, making your chest heave with a strange sensation.

Just what was happening?! What was this man doing to you?!

He moved his face close, forehead resting against your own while his gaze bore into yours. You could see sharp, white teeth flash in the dark when his lips drew back into a sneer.

"Tomorrow night."

His hand clenched shut around the petal and pain wracked your body. You cried out in agony as what felt like liquid fire shoot across your chest, body convulsing and making you fall back. He kept you upright though, your head hanging limply while the pain practically rendered you useless. His steel eyes flashed in the dark, gazing down at your now exposed neck while he cradled you in his arms. He looked distracted now, his grip on the petal loosening and giving you a chance to breathe. The pain didn't ebb away though, leaving you a whimpering mess as the man moved his face closer.

You felt hot breath fan across the front of your neck, making your eyes shut tight and body go stiff in fear and anticipation. A whimper escaped you as you felt something sharp gently glide across your skin, starting in the very top and going down until it stopped at your jugular. You felt your face grow hot, a flush quickly spreading across your cheeks as your breathing grew labored. It was as if your fear had vanished and you were ready for whatever happened next, something telling you to stay perfectly still for this stranger.

Then you felt the tiniest prick, a surge of tingles shooting down your body to the very tips of your toes as his teeth sunk into your flesh. Your body twitched and a drop of blood seeped out. It started out small before it grew heavy enough to glide down your neck, painting your skin in a bright, crimson trail. He latched his mouth fully onto your neck now, sucking hungrily as you felt your energy slowly ebb away.

He was taking too much. He drank away like a man who had been lost in a desert with no water. His soft lips kneading into your skin as his teeth remained hooked into your neck and, oh god, he was taking too much.

This man was going to kill you and all you could do was lay limply in his arms as you life faded into nothing.

But before you could fall into death's embrace, you watched as he finally pulled away to look down at you, lips coated messily in your blood. His mouth was open as he sucked in fresh air, fangs glittering red and sharp and making his beauty seem monstrous.

The sight caused you to shrink back in horror.

And then you finally woke up.

You jerked awake, eyes wide as you stared up at the bed canopy. The drapes hanging over your bed were still in place and the blankets laid warmly on top of you. You were sweating horribly, but were too afraid to move. Your chest was heaving and you were sure you were ripping holes into your sheets with your nails.

The first thing you did was glance at your nightstand, eyes wide as you looked over the surface.

There sat the jar, untouched and just where you left it. A wave of relief washed over you and you sat up to hug your knees, rocking on the mattress while you tried to make sense of what happened.

Of course you would have a nightmare. You were so stressed out that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Reaching up, you rubbed your eyes and realized you were crying. You sobbed and hit your mattress hard, frustrated that such a cliche thing would happen to you.

You've read scary stories as a child and the parts where the character would find out everything had been a dream was the oldest, stupidest thing in the book. It was maddening that it had happened to you.

You cradled your face in your hands and rocked a bit, trying to calm yourself so you could go back to sleep. This was taking too much out of you. If things got any worse you were sure you were going to die before you experienced all of adulthood.

A few minutes passed before your body finally stopped rocking, but it took longer to get your breathing under control. Once you finally had a grip on yourself, you pulled your hands away and looked up and found yourself gazing at your own reflection.

Across the room stood the old mirror, casting it's image in the moonlight and it being just bright enough in the room to show everything. You looked at it in disgust and got out of bed, snatching up one of the spare sheets on your dresser and stomped forward. With a scowl, you threw the white linen over top of it to cover it up, making sure it enveloped the entire surface.

You didn't want to look at the damned thing anymore, not when it showed you at your weakest.

You had to hold back another soft sob as you wiped your eyes, refusing to revert back into an anxious mess. You head hung low as you rubbed your cheeks of any remaining tears, feeling more exhausted then you had in days. Your gaze flickered down to stare at your feet, toes curling and uncurling as you tried to ignore the cold stone floor.

Then you saw something pink on the front of your dress, resting just at the collar and stuck between the trim and fabric. Your body froze as you looked down at it, shoulders shaking as you quickly snatched the petal off and threw it away with a cry.

You turned and ran to the bedside table and grabbed the jar, a flood of anger making your ears ring and body move with purpose towards the balcony. You pushed open the doors with gritted teeth, the strong mountain wind pushing you back just a bit and forcing you into cold shivers.

That didn't stop you as you moved forward to the railing and raised the hand that clutched the jar. You glared out over the scenery as your arm shook, fingers pale as they dug into the glass and you prepared yourself to throw it off the tower.

But you didn't.

You couldn't bring yourself to hurl it away and send it to hell where it belonged. All you could do was cry out in frustration and collapse against the railing, hugging the object close to your chest as a feeling of relief washed over you. This cursed thing was controlling you. You should have been able to throw it out no problem, but here you were holding it like it was your own child.

You could only cling to the railing and hide your face in the stone, fresh tears springing in your eyes as you berated yourself for being so pathetic.

The sun finally peaked over the mountains, dawn arriving and time continuing on while you felt stuck in a nightmare.