3. Ten Years Later

But that is not the end to my strange and supernatural tale, dear reader. For my final vampiric encounter – and I had learned that this was what the four were in my intervening studies: vampires – occurred on November the third, 1902, only two days before my twenty-seventh birthday.

As a somewhat respected and most certainly wealthy member of the rural community, the annual celebration had blossomed to become a rather trying sequence of events, including several balls and numerous dinners.

It was after one such dinner that I returned to my bedchamber, pleading fatigue, only to feel strong hands grip me from behind, pulling me back into the shadows. One hand clasped firmly in front of my mouth, muffling all my cries, while the other held me so firmly in place that I did not long have doubt that my captor possessed preternatural strength. I quelled my struggles as my suspicions as to the identity of my attacker grew.

"You remember me then, Charlotte?" a rough voice I had nearly forgotten in the intervening years asked.

"William?" I exclaimed in surprised when he removed his hand. "It has been ten years." He released me, and I turned to see the spitting image of the man I had kissed so long ago in that dank cellar. "You have not aged a day!" I admit I was somewhat astonished even though I knew such was the nature of his kind.

He shrugged and delighted me with that shy smile of his. "You seem pleased to see me," he commented, "an' you've aged but...you've grown even more beautiful over the years..."

I flushed just as I had when I was but a girl. "I am delighted to see you," I quickly reassured him. "Only...you did not bring your 'family'?" I asked warily.

He let out a deep roar of laughter. "'m alone," he informed me.

My smile widened. "Then my delight is that much greater." I walked over to the nightstand and began removing the elaborate fastenings in my hair. "You accent has improved over the years," I told him.

He looked pleased at this. "An' you sound quite the lady," he sat down beside me, and I watched our reflection curiously – although, perhaps it is more accurate to say my reflection, for he cast none.

"I know what you are now," said I.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at me, and I quickly realized that he was not entirely unchanged. A jagged scar now split once had once been a perfect brow.

"Your eye..." I said in alarm, reaching out tentatively to touch the scar.

He flinched away as if by instinct, but then held himself in place and gently shut his eyes as I lightly stroked the path of the faded cut.

"'S nothin'," he insisted in that way all gentlemen do when they do not wish their ladies to fuss over them.

I allowed my hand to move lower to caress his cheek, and he emitted a strange sound almost like that of a large cat purring. "William," I said softly, "why have you come back here tonight?"

He opened his eyes to look into mine, and his hand gently caught mine, bringing it to his lips. "You know why," he responded softly. "I jus' wanted to know if..."

"Hush," I silenced him with a finger to the lips, and he kissed it reverently.

In my deepest fantasies I had always pictured how it would happen that I would kiss him again. The actual experience was more than I ever could have dreamed. We explored with lips and hands, and he lifted me up in his arms just as he had all though years ago, but now his destination was far more romantic. I landed softly on the bed and held out my hand for him to join me.

And that night my William and I loved each other for the first time...

You no doubt think me the most damned of all sinners for taking a demon into my bed and bosom; but, I ask you, was what I did truly any worse than the dozens of men I pleasured on the streets for no more than whatever shillings they had? I will never claim to be a virtuous woman, but he was the last man I ever loved with my body, and the only I have ever loved with my heart.

Later, as we rested in each other's arms enjoying the aftereffects of conjugal bliss, I finally inquired as to what had happened to his family.

"Angelus an' Darla ran off with their own problems," said he with a slight chuckle. "'m the man o' the house now, so to speak."

"The pretender and the harlot are gone then?"

He let out a joyous, resonant laugh at this characterization of his two companions. "Never too fond o' them, were you, luv?"

I wrinkled my nose and laughed myself. We enjoyed a comfortable silence before I finally completed my question. "And Drusilla?"

He let out a deep sigh. "Accordin' to your rules," he explained in response to my confused expression, "'ve taken her to wife."

I was indeed startled at this. "Then why are you here?" I queried.

He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. "My people don' exactly treat marriage the same way yours do," he began. "'S actually kind o' 'spected. Dru's off right now with some bloke I can't stand, an' she won' even let me rip 'is throat out afterwards..."

"I am revenge then?" I demanded, although not at all angry as I should have been given the circumstances.

"No," he said simply, his lips plundering mine once more and once and for all removing any doubt I might have had as to the depths of his affections. "My dear, Charlotte," he whispered after pulling away and resting his forehead against mine. "I could give you my kiss, you know..."

"I thought I already had it," I jested.

He smiled wanly. "My other kiss." His fingers traced the curve of my throat with veneration. "I could make you young forever...like me."

"But not yours," I added softly. "Not truly."

He shook his head sadly.

"Let me see your face," I requested. "Your other face."

He looked at me, surprised, but did as I requested, and I could feel the planes of his face shift beneath my fingers.

"Amazing," I whispered with a hint of terror in my voice. I discovered the scar remained intact on his brow and caressed it lovingly. "But strangely beautiful," I concluded, looking deep into golden eyes, "just like you."

"I will make you like me if you wish it," he offered, speaking for once as the nobleman he was.

"You have given me this life," I gently informed him. "It is yours to take if you wish. But I think I should like to live it out."

He shut his eyes – disappointed, I knew, but also not finding my decision unexpected in the least. "If 'd met you first..." he began.

I quieted him with another kiss and told him once more of my love. Thinking not of the fact that soon we should never see each other again, we enjoyed each other's company throughout the remainder of the night. I did offer to let him spend the hours of deadly sunlight under my safekeeping, but he refused, preferring to take his leave from me in the early hours of the morning before the dawn, instead.

"This is good-bye then, my William," I said with a tear in my eye as he sat on the windowsill in preparation for his departure.

He wiped it away with his thumb. "No one calls me that anymore, y'know," he said with a slight smile. "'m Spike now."

"Spike." I did not like the sound of it on my lips. "It's a bit crass, isn't it? But it fits your persona well."

"'ll always be William for you," he responded. "'ll think of you from time to time, my dear Charlotte..."

"Then my love for you will live forever."

He nodded and leaned in to give me one final kiss. "Farewell," he whispered before dropping from the window into the darkness below. I flatter myself that I saw his movement as he climbed the garden wall, but it was most probably just an early morning breeze; creatures of the night are rarely discernable while in the element.

In any case, that was the last night I ever saw my William.

I will not lie to you and say that in the decades that passed I did not ever question my decision; the ravages of old age swept away my youthful beauty; I lacked for male companionship above all else. But I find some comfort in knowing that my love is out there still, and long after the memory of all those around me has passed, there will be one that still remembers that one young girl that was foolish enough give her heart to a demon.