Chapter Five
Chapter Five
A melia was left exposed in Dimitri’s bed in his bedroom within Shadowfield Manor, the cool silk sheets now a tangled mess around her naked body. Still shaken from their passionate encounter, she sat up, her ragged breaths a testament to her racing heart. She exhaled shakily, pushing herself up and out of the warmth of the bed.
Reaching for her scattered clothing, dress, bra, and panties on the floor, each piece became a shield against the vulnerability threatening to consume her.
Dimitri had abruptly left her moments ago and broke her heart.
Each piece of clothing was a small shield against the vulnerability that threatened to swallow her whole. She slid the dress over her head, the fabric clinging to her skin as she smoothed it down. She fastened her bra, then stepped into her panties.
The empty room only amplified her feelings of abandonment, and the disheveled bed stood as a cruel reminder of the intimacy they had just shared moments before.
Why did you leave, Dimitri? Why claim you are unworthy of me? Of us?
Determined to find him and demand to know why Dimitri stated he was unworthy of her, Amelia strode out of the room, her resolve hardening with each step. The corridors of Shadowfield Manor stretched out before her, a warren of opulence and gloom. Ornate tapestries hung from the walls, depicting scenes from forgotten legends. Candelabras created pockets of darkness that seemed to breathe with life. Amelia felt as though the mansion itself was a living entity, its Gothic architecture equally grand and oppressive. The air was thick with the redolence of aged wood and polished marble.
She paused before a heavy oak door, her heart throbbing in her chest. Gathering her courage, she pushed it open and stepped into Dimitri’s study. The room had tall bookcases that reached toward the ceiling, their shelves lined with leather-bound tomes, journals, and old manuscripts. The smell of aged paper and leather overcrowded her senses, grounding her in the present moment.
Her gaze fell upon the desk, where old documents lay scattered in disarray. She picked one up, curiosity getting the best of her. Her breath hitched as she read the yellowed parchment, the dates and names revealing a timeline that spanned centuries. Dimitri’s name appeared repeatedly, woven through the fabric of history like an unchanging thread.
“How long have you been alive? Or did you have an ancestor with the same name?”
She ran her finger along the edges of a faded yellowed document, her eyes following the elegant cursive handwriting. Each page held secrets, stories from centuries past—battles fought, loves lost, and a life lived through ages.
She shook her head, trying to make sense of the man she thought she knew.
She read on, and the affliction of his existence pressed down on her, a realization that left her reeling. The man she thought she knew was far more complex than she could have ever imagined.
While she stood there, surrounded by the tactile proof of his long existence, she felt an urge to understand him better. More questions looped in her head, each one more urgent than the last.
Who exactly was Dimitri Volkov? And what did it mean for her, for them?
Amelia trailed her fingers along the spines of leather-bound books, each one a relic from a time she could scarcely imagine. She noticed a volume that seemed out of place—a modern title amidst the antiquated tomes. With a gentle push, the bookcase groaned and swung inward, revealing a hidden room.
Her breath was lodged in her throat. The chamber was crammed with centuries-old artifacts: gilded mirrors, intricately carved statues, and hauntingly beautiful portraits of Dimitri, unchanged through the ages. Each brushstroke captured his timeless features, his powerful gaze, making her question everything she thought she knew.
An unsettling chill ran through her veins. She stepped back, unable to reconcile the man she had been with moments ago with the immortal enigma before her. She turned quickly, leaving the hidden room behind, her heart beating rapidly in her chest.
Her thoughts floated like fireflies. Shadowfield Manor’s grandeur now seemed oppressive, its glamour masking secrets too dark to comprehend. What did it all mean? How could she have been so blind?
“Amelia,” came a voice, soft yet loaded with power.
She looked up to see Dimitri standing in the doorway of the study, his expression one of resigned acceptance.
“Who are you?” Amelia’s hands trembled. “What is this place? Those portraits, the hidden room, the documents...they tell a story I can’t even begin to understand.”
Dimitri sighed deeply, stepping into the room with a grace that spoke of centuries of practice. “I am not who you think I am, lyubimaya. My existence spans three hundred years. I am...a nosferatu.”
The disclosure struck her like a physical blow. She staggered back, grappling with the enormity of his confession. Her thoughts were a whirlwind, each one crashing into the next without giving her time to process.
Could this be real? The man she had fallen for was confessing to an existence that defied logic and everything she believed in. The room seemed to close in around her, the air thickening as if it too were struggling under the weight of his revelation. She had always craved adventure, but this was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
“You’re say…that you’re three hundred years old?” she whispered, more to herself than to him. “How is that even possible?”
“Time has been both my ally and my curse,” Dimitri replied, his voice colored with a dark sadness. “I have seen empires rise and fall, loved ones age and die, while I remain unchanged.”
She wondered about those lost loves he mentioned. Were they women like her? Did they also fall for his appealing charm only to be shattered by the truth? The idea gnawed at her insides, a bitter pill she couldn’t swallow.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Amelia glared hard, anger and betrayal burning her insides. “You let me believe you were just a man, someone I could...” She trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
“Because I feared what you would think of me,” Dimitri said softly, his voice pleading for understanding. “I feared you would see me as a monster.”
Monster. The word thickened in the air like a dark cloud. Was he truly a monster? Or was he just another soul trapped by circumstances beyond his control? The lines between right and wrong blurred in her mind, leaving her adrift in uncertainty.
She stared at him, struggling to reconcile the man she had sex with only hours ago, the man whose touch had set her aflame, with the immortal being standing before her. Every instinct told her to run, to leave this place and never look back, but another part of her yearned to understand, to uncover the truth.
But she knew this wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. Was he playing some kind of twisted game? Her heart beat hard and fast against her ribs as she tried to make sense of it all.
“This isn’t real. You’re just making all of this up to scare me off. If you don’t want to be with me, just say it, but don’t create elaborate lies about being a damn vampire!” Amelia snapped.
In that moment of anger and confusion, she realized something profound about herself—her fear wasn’t just about him being a vampire; it was about being deceived again by someone she dared to trust.
Dimitri’s expression flashed with a combination of hurt and frustration. He took a step toward her, his hand outstretched as if to bridge the developing chasm between them. “Amelia, I would never lie to you. Not about this. I am baring my soul to you, revealing my deepest secret.”
She shook her head vehemently, backing away from his touch. The room suddenly felt too small, the walls closing in around her. She needed air, space to think, to process the bombshell he had just dropped on her.
“Why now?” she asked, her tone uneven. “Why reveal this to me now?”
“Because I can no longer hide from you, lyubimaya. Nor do I want to. You deserve the truth, even if it means losing you forever.”
Amelia’s thoughts sprinted like a cheetah, her emotions an entangled mess. The very fabric of her reality had shifted, leaving her standing on uncertain ground. When she met his gaze, she saw a glimmer of hope—a hope that perhaps, in spite of everything, she could see beyond the darkness and find the man within.
“If it’s true, then tell me everything,” she demanded, her voice steadying. “No more secrets. If we’re going to figure this out, I need to know everything about you.”
He turned toward the window, looking out at the setting sun on the hillside and the garden beyond. “Very well.”
As if in a trance, Amelia found herself gliding closer to him. Even though the fear still gripped her heart, she couldn’t resist the appeal of curiosity and the magnetic tension between them. The air hissed with electricity, every step she took closing the gap between them until there was only an inch separating their bodies. She could feel his breath on her skin, his gaze burning into hers, and for a moment, she forgot all about trying to keep her distance.
“How did it happen?” she asked, curious and somewhat intrigued. “How did you become...this creature of the night?”
Dimitri sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping as if carrying an unbearable burden. “It was 1719,” he began, his accent thickening with the memories. “I was a young nobleman in Russia, living with my family. One horrible night..”
His shoulders stiffened, the pain still raw even centuries later. “A vampire named Polina attacked our estate. She slaughtered my entire family—my parents, my siblings. I tried to fight her off, but she was too strong. She left me for dead, bleeding out on the floor.”
Amelia’s heart clenched, aching for the unimaginable loss he had endured. She reached out instinctively, her fingertips grazing his arm in a gesture of solace. His skin was cool to the touch.
Dimitri’s gaze remained fixed on the horizon, as if he could see the ghosts of his past playing out before him. “But I didn’t die. When I awoke, I was like her—a creature of the night, cursed with immortality and an insatiable thirst for human blood. I was forever changed. Cursed. The thirst for blood consumed me. I had become the very monster that destroyed my life.”
He turned to face her then, his expression haunted by the burden of his sins. “I hunted Polina down, driven by vengeance. When I found her, I drove a stake through her heart. But it didn’t bring me peace. Nothing ever has.”
Amelia swallowed hard, her throat tight with emotion. She couldn’t begin to fathom the depths of his pain, the centuries of loneliness and guilt he had endured. Yet, standing there with him, she felt a connection she couldn’t explain. A longing to ease his suffering, to show him that he wasn’t alone.
“I’m so sorry, Dimitri,” she whispered. “I can’t imagine the hell you’ve been through. But you’re not a monster. You’re a survivor.”
He met her gaze, a flicker of surprise in his face. A heartbeat passed between them, the silence dense and oppressive.
“You don’t know the things I’ve done, Amelia. The blood on my hands.” His voice was low, shaded with self-loathing.
She held his gaze steadily, unflinching. “We’ve all got darkness inside us, Dimitri. It’s what we do with it that matters.”
A mirthless laugh escaped his lips. “And what have I done with mine? Centuries of isolation, of feeding on the innocent to survive. You should run from me, Amelia. Run and never look back.”
“Did you ever...kill anyone?”
“At first, yes.” His gaze dimmed, haunted by the memories. “I had no control over my urges. But over time, I learned to suppress them, to live on the fringes of society. I sought a cure, but none exists.”
“All this time, you’ve been alone?”
“Yes and no. I told you had a wife and child once. That was over a hundred years ago. And I’ve had various lovers over the years,” he admitted, finally meeting her gaze again. “And then I met you.”
Amelia felt a vibrant tremor in her heart’s rhythm. The distance between them seemed to shrink as she took another hesitant step forward. “Why me, Dimitri? Why reveal all this to me?”
“Because you are different, lyubimaya. You see beyond the facade, into my very soul. And because...I care for you deeply.”
Her breath stalled in her lungs. The room seemed to pulse with the volume of their emotions. She wanted to reach out, to touch him, to bridge the gap between their worlds. But the enormity of his revelation held her back.
Amelia stepped closer, her chin lifted in defiance. “Prove it,” she whispered. “Prove that you’re not just playing some cruel game with me.”
His eyes bored into hers, searching for any hint of deception. “Very well,” he said, his tone bittersweet.
He moved with preternatural speed. Before she could react, he stood beside her, his presence overwhelming, but she met his scrutiny without wavering.
Gently, he took her wrist. “May I?” he asked, his voice a seductive murmur.
Amelia hesitated, then she nodded, unable to tear her gaze away from his formidable, glowing blue stare. “Yes.”
“You’re playing with fire, Amelia Lancaster,” he said, his thumb grazing her skin.
“Then show me who you are.” It was both a challenge and a plea. “Let me in, Dimitri. Let me see the real you.”
With deliberate slowness, Dimitri revealed his fangs, the sharp points gleaming in the dim light. His grip on her wrist tightened and he brought it to his lips. Amelia braced herself, her body stiff and compressed.
When his sharp fangs pierced her skin, a searing pain shot through her body, followed by a rush of euphoria and passion. She couldn’t understand the conflicting emotions swirling within her—fear and infatuation joining simultaneously like a tumultuous storm. Every inch of her body responded to his touch, tingling with a primal urge that she couldn’t resist, as if they were two halves of a whole coming together in a passionate embrace. It was as if she could feel his centuries of loneliness, his longing for acceptance, his love for her.
Eventually, he withdrew, licking his lips clean of her blood. Amelia staggered back, her heart reeling from the experience. She grappled with the overwhelming truth before her—the definite attraction, the deep-seated affection, the terrifying actuality of who and what Dimitri truly was—a fucking vampire.
“Now you know the truth. The choice is yours, Amelia. Stay with me, or walk away. But whatever you decide, know that I will forever cherish these moments we’ve shared.” He sighed. For a long moment, he simply stared at her. Then, with another sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his soul, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “I’m tired, Amelia,” he confessed, his eyes sliding shut. “Tired of running, of hiding, of the endless thirst. This is why I told you that I was unworthy of you…of truly and completely loving anyone.”
Amelia backed away, her thoughts a tangled mess. She felt torn between the intoxicating lure of her feelings for Dimitri and the sheer terror of what he represented. The decision loomed before her, daunting and irrevocable.
She clenched her fists at her sides, the conflicting emotions surging within her and threatening to consume her. She gazed into Dimitri’s eyes, once so captivating and now filled with a vulnerable longing that wrenched at her heart.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered, her thoughts strained with uncertainty. “How can I possibly accept everything you are?” Amelia turned away and fled out the door.