sixwordstories | (no subject)

I have willpower. It got me to the point that we found the treatment--

[He's playing her like a instrument, drawing out old pain and her exhaustion with always, always fighting. She sinks into a chair, drawing her arms protectively about herself.]

[ He seems pleased, in a way, when she stops herself and sits herself down. He doesn't advance, but merely watches her. ]

Perhaps immortality has not failed you completely after all. Where it has made you weaker, you seem to have gotten smarter. Bravo.

[She's so very small, tucked up like that in the chair, a veritable symphony of regrets, loneliness and pain. And she's silent for a long, long time... When she does finally speak, it's raw and honest, her walls crumbled before him.]

Why torture me like this, Vlad? You loved me once -- or... or I thought you did. Perhaps it was just possession.

[ A smirk soon turns into a dark chuckle. He is unnervingly calm... seemingly unaffected. There is only silence as he watches all of her walls come crashing down around her-- no comment lacking in regard or spiteful counter. ]

I have no heart, Mina, and so I cannot love. You ought be aware of that better than anyone.

[ He doesn't directly answer her question, however. But perhaps later she would be ready for an honest answer. ]

[There's something faintly dreamy, addled in her voice now: a little girl seeking something solid to stop herself drowning.]
I -- I don't know. Once... once, you taught me passion that I never dreamed of.

[ Catching that dreamy sound, his voice becomes harsher, countering the soft quality of Mina's with the grounding force of his own. ]

Once is a long time ago. You will never survive if you cannot learn to stop dwelling in it.

[Her head snaps up at the change in his tone, and she bites down hard on the inside of her cheek, painful, but bloodless. She's herself again, angry and glorious, reaching for her cane reflexively. Her posture moves from a slump to poised like a queen.]

I've managed quite well, thank you for your concern.

[ He smiles — just barely — but it's there nonetheless. There is no trace of it in his voice when he speaks, but instead that very same forceful tone he had used prior to her assertion. ]

Keep that in mind the next time you falter, for this is not some ill dream. You have not seen the last of me.

[tartly]

I don't see you now.

[ He lets out a short, airy chuckle, but whether it's in scoffing manner or amusement, he leaves unclear. ]

Figure of speech, dear Mina. Now if you will excuse me...

[ Swiping his hand through the air, he manipulates his dark sorcery to alter his shape into his... hunting form: a young man that easily looks and sounds like a younger version of Dracula in comparison. This conversation has left him particularly hungry... ]

I have business to attend to. It was a pleasure running into you again.

[ He sounds cold and hollow, yet there is a tone of honesty his words. ]

[Mina rises from her seat, regal and lovely, and offers her hand in an old-fashioned courtly gesture: she's still very Victorian at times.]

I wish I could say the same. I'm honestly not sure...

[ He moves past her hand, footsteps near silent. Once he stops infront of her, he inches his face forward until their cheeks are nearly touching and takes that outstretched hand in his palm. ]

No need to be so formal.

[ There is an unfeeling grin in his voice as he turns his head and touches his lips to the apple of her cheek. Then as sudden as lightning, he is gone. ]