Dracula 30: When heart is beating, it means love

She took a couple of rapid breaths to realize that she was out of her nightmare and then gasped at the shadowy figure that was standing to the corner…

“I can see you’re awake…” Seto Kaiba said softly
Kisara gasped and subconsciously drew the covers better on her chest.
“Fear not, Kisara. I mean no harm…” Seto Kaiba said again.
This was somehow like déjà vu for poor little Kisara. She remembered the first time she woke up inside his castle. Oh, that’s right. She was unconscious. She had entered into that ball-room and…and then…
“How long was I unconscious…?” managed to whisper in weak voice
“Two days” Seto Kaiba replied quietly
“Two…days…” she whispered
She still needed to figure out the reason she was shaking like a leaf…and then she remembered and gasped. The room…the things she saw…
“It was there!” she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, “Her ghost…! She was there!”
“There is no ghost, Kisara” Seto Kaiba said again, calmly, “It was all an illusion…”
“An illusion…”
Her eyes were now more scared than ever.
“It was you! You did it to me! You sent me the illusion!” she mumbled
“No” he said, “It wasn’t me… I was there when you fell. That’s all”
“Then…how…?”
“What did you see?”
She gulped and tried to collect her thoughts in a correct order and explained to him in a few and confused words what had happened to her. What she had seen… Seto Kaiba had been listening all time long, without speaking a single word… After thinking a little he said:
“This place is indeed full with her memory… Also probably your fear created a horrific illusion…combined with my aura…”
“Ah!” she gasped, “I knew it was your-…”
“It wasn’t my doing” he interrupted her calmly, “However my aura can have some effect on humans even if I don’t intend to…”
“On humans…” she thought, “Because…he is no longer…”
And then she remembered something else. That touch in her sleep… It might have been a dream but…she still felt…that touch of his lips on hers… Her fingers caressed her lips
“What’s wrong?” he asked
“You…” she croaked out, “You…kissed me…!”
Silence.
“Oh, my God…you…k-kissed me!”
“I did” came the calm answer
“W-why…?” she mumbled
He didn’t reply once again. Kisara couldn’t understand. Could a devil like him feel…something for her? Was it even possible?
“That’s why you keep me in here? In order to make some…use of me?!”
“No. It is not like that”
His calmness…his coldness made her shiver…cold sweat showered her
“Then why!”
Suddenly she remembered… That face of hers inside those canvas…the wax doll…
“Villagers sent you to me as some kind of sacrificing lamp…however I chose you” he said
“You…chose me…because I…I resemble your dead wife…” she mumbled
“Yes and no” he said commonly
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Seto Kaiba was silent…
“Answer me…” she whispered
Silence. Tears, hot and salty were staining her cheeks now…
“Please…I beg of you…I beg of you…say something…”

Back at the street, it was late in the afternoon. Tea was running in the snowed streets of the small village… Her gasping breath was the only thing heard at the deserted alleys… Her eyes were determined…however her heart was in pain… She knew where she was heading, and she knew why. She started seeing the building she was hoping to see. She grabbed the handle of the door as if her life was hanging from it and opened the door. When she stormed into the inn, she headed, or better ran towards the stairs.
“Tea?” Anna questioned seeing her, “Tea, what’s wrong…? Tea…? Tea”
However she had already ran up the stairs to find the one room she was hoping to see…that only room she was aiming to go from the very beginning. She opened the door the same way she opened the door of the entrance and entered the room… Yami’s room… She remained there, panting heavily. However the room was empty. It was pretty tidied and the small door that leaded to the bed, usually Yami slept was open revealing the empty back room. She was alone. She looked around. The room seemed so cold…so…empty without him inside… However she saw on a wall…she saw small cracks that didn’t belong to the stone of the house. It was made by a strong punch… Punch of pain…and anger…
“Yami…” she thought, “I’ve said something horrible to him…without even realizing it… Yami has been hunting down creatures of darkness…and now he knows that any moment now he will become one… How could I…how…?”
Tears fell from her eyes. Those tears that Yami had whipped many times in their small time they had together… Yami… She thought he was a cold-blooded murderer and he was acting like one…but with people like her…or Kisara he was so kind…so… Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard steps behind her. The strong smell of alcohol was speaking on its own. She didn’t need to guess who it was. She turned around to see Yami at the door holding a large bottle of alcohol by its neck in his hand. Most of its content was already consumed and judging from his looks, it wasn’t the only bottle he had drunk… Yami’s eyes took a vague expression of shock when he saw her, but then as fast as it had came, it disappeared to give its place to a cold stare that was glaring daggers into her heart.
“Y-Yami…” Tea managed to whisper
“What are you doing here?” his voice was cold and full with hatred, or at least that was what he wanted to show
However Tea knew…it wasn’t hatred… It was pain and sorrow… Yami’s lips drew back into an illusion of a mocking smirk.
“Well?” he asked, his body swaying a little, “How’s your Werewolf friend? Did I hit him too hard?”
“Yami…please stop it…”
“And I was wondering what you are doing here. Perhaps he’s going to miss you!”
“Yami stop it!” she yelled
Tears were flowing from her eyes freely now. Yami indeed stopped but he narrowed his eyebrows.
“Why are you here?” he repeated, “What is a human doing here…along with a demon?”
“Enough Yami! Don’t say things like that!” she yelled again with almost begging eyes, “I am sorry…I…I didn’t mean to say such thing to you. I really didn’t. I… You’re human Yami. I told you before! Do not torture yourself like that…”
“Human…?” he whispered
And then he let out a loud, mocking, with no humor chuckle
“Human, human! I am sick and tired of listening to this Tea! Damn! I am NOT human! Okay? I know I am not! I am a demon! A demon that used to EAT humans! A demon that soon will be awakened again! Alright? So cut the damn nonsense already!”
His yelling made Tea take a step back, scared, however then she saw Yami taking a good swing from the bottle and then lowering his head…his bangs covering his eyes
“I could have shot you back there…” whispered
“No… You wouldn’t…I know you wouldn’t…I know yo-…”
“YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME!” he bellowed again raising his head and making Tea release a small cry of fear
His ferocious eyes were now glaring straight in hers. Tea felt like hypnotized and still she never expected to feel so much fear in front of him
“You know nothing!” he bellowed again, “You have no idea what I’ve done! What I am capable of! You have no damn idea!”
He then pushed the chair that was close to the desk so hard that it fell and shattered on the floor. Tea stepped back again. Indeed now he was drunk and furious at her. She had a feeling that from the one moment or the other he would either grab her neck or faint on the floor. However he kept bellowing.
“All my life I am hunting down monsters and evil creatures! I’ve been doing this more than forty years now! Perhaps longer than that! My first priority would be to eliminate evil! What would I do… What would I do if that damn werewolf bit you, huh?! Have you thought about it? If he bit you and turned you into a creature like him, what would I do? WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO THEN HUH?!”
Tea gasped and remained speechless. Yami also…was speechless. He remained there panting heavily for a couple of seconds…he then took another swing from the bottle.
“Yami…” she whispered but she didn’t know what to say
Yami…had almost confessed that…that he would have great issue to kill her…? That he would hesitate to kill her if she was turned into a werewolf or any other creature like that…or that he…he would have no problem at all…?
“Go back!” he told her, “If that is what you want go back! Go back to your little werewolf and allow him even to bite you! However do not blame me if I come to hunt you!”
“Yami stop!”
“NO I WON’T!” he bellowed again, “It is the damn truth! Deal with it and you will be hurt less! The choice is yours to make! After all I will be gone soon! Weather I’ll leave or I will die in a way or go berserk and kill everyone in here!”
“STOP!” it was now her turn to yell covering her ears with her hands, “Don’t say that! Don’t!”
“Why not? I am a murderer and a demon to you too am I not?”
“No! Don’t say such things! Please! Don’t say that I lo-…”
Suddenly she froze. She couldn’t continue. It was as if her voice was sucked by an invisible black hole inside her throat. However Yami was also frozen in his spot. Now his eyes were showing only pure shock. He didn’t know how to react. He didn’t even know what was that all about… Finally he lowered his head and his bangs shadowed his eyes.
“Leave” he said in cold voice
Tea gasped
“Yami…”
“I told you! Leave!” he repeated louder and turned his back at her taking another swing from the bottle.
Tea’s eyes were teary. She opened her mouth as if to say something but no sound came out. She then turned around…and ran out of the door… Her steps slowly died out somewhere in the hallway… Yami drank the rest of the alcohol in almost one sip and then…held the bottle…and then threw it angrily to the floor.
The bottle shattered in thousands of fragments that shone like diamonds…

“Please tell me…” Kisara repeated pleadingly
Seto Kaiba looked at her.
“It is true that you caught my eye because you slightly resemble her. You look like her when she was in your age… Your eyes… However you are way different than her. Your soul is so pure and shining…”
He started approaching her slowly
“Sylvia was beautiful but she was…like all aristocrats are… Ambitious…conceited…while you… You Kisara are really different from her…”
He had approached her. Her small tears were shining like diamonds under the moonlight that was showering her from her window. Her hair seemed like adamantine inside that dim light of the moon. Seto Kaiba’s hand cupped her chick. She gasped slightly but she made no move to shake her head off his hand. She was feeling a strange magnetic force pulling her to him… It was as though his darkness was drawing her polar opposite light towards him. She felt like a small moth of the night that was lured by the fire of the candle… She knew he was dangerous…and yet…she couldn’t bring herself to “fly” away from him…
His hand was cold like marble on her cheek. Her blue eyes, looking like a pair of sapphires in the pale moonlight, looked up into his icy-blue eyes that looked like a pair of ice shards that were piercing her soul… His voice seemed distant now…as though it was already deep in her mind and her ears couldn’t hear it well…
“Even your beauty is so different from her… You resemble her and yet I know that you are thousands times more beautiful than she would ever wished to be… Your beauty is also…so pure and full of light. Her beauty would fade with time sooner or later but I am sure that this beauty…THIS kind of beauty will never fade away…”
His thumb brushed her cheek and whipped her tear away. Kisara could hear her heart beating loudly…so loudly that she had the impression it would tear out of her chest any moment now…
“I desire you” Seto Kaiba said in a low and surprisingly soft voice, “Does that scare you…?”
Kisara pushed her lips together to hold back a whimper and she nodded her head. Her eyes were watery again
“I made a promise when we met. That I wouldn’t touch you unless you want it…in any way and I would never harm you…”
Kisara’s eyes widened in surprise. Where was he getting at? What was he trying to say?
“Don’t get the wrong idea…” the dark man continued, “You belong to me now…however I will not raise a finger to you against your will…”
His hand left her cheek and slipped down her arm till it reached her wrist and hand. He gently held her hand in his. Kisara was still staring in his eyes like hypnotized and he barely realized that Seto Kaiba was guiding her to stand up. She realized it when the cover fell slowly from her chest (when she was completely standing in front of him) and her spaghetti-strapped white nightgown was the only thing that covered her body. Black and White…both standing in front of the window with the silver moon hiding vaguely behind small clouds…
“Kisara…” he whispered again as if devouring her name instead of her blood, “I am aware what you’ve been through…it is written all over your face…inside these beautiful eyes of yours… You desired freedom…you desired quiet life… Kisara…”
He stopped for a second and then he said
“I cannot give you your freedom now…and you know it. However I can give you a choice. I can give you freedom through death…”
Kisara gasped. Was he ready to kill her? Kill her like he killed his first wife? Did he want to feed on her? Where was he getting at?
“Don’t be alarmed…” he said softly as if he red her mind that her voice was unable to come out, “I cannot give you freedom like you desire because I am aware of the fact that out there you will be hated no matter how pure your heart is. People will throw stones at you because of your appearance…women will think of you as curse for their children because of your eyes…men will believe you are some evil aerial that wants to seduce them because of your skin and hair… Therefore I can no longer open my castle doors to you to be free. However I can give you a painless and easy death…so you will be free from all pain…all suffering. One bite from me, and your senses will be numbed. You will feel nothing as I will be sucking the blood out of you… You will feel a slight euphoria from blood-loss and then you will simply sleep… It is as simple as that…”
His voice was so…tempting. He made it indeed sound so easy…so hauntingly beautiful way to die…
“You can be free with dying…” Seto Kaiba repeated, “Or else…you can live here with me forever… The choice is yours…”
Kisara’s eyes were burning from tears. Oh, how easy would it be to accept death from his fangs! She felt shivers all over her. Freedom… She would be free indeed. No more fear…no more sadness…no more loneliness to bear… However something inside her…was resisting…like it had when she was tempted to jump off the chaotic cliff at the gardens… She was afraid of death like every living creature. However a life in custody was life after all? Or was it curse? Death was indeed freedom…and that death seemed so sweet and easy… However her heart knew the answer to that…
She slowly raised herself on her tiptoes… Her face was now alongside his…her mouth close to his ear. She took a small breath in order to say it…enter her suffering maybe… A small tear ran down her cheek as she mumbled
“I want…to live…”
Her voice was barely above a whisper, as though her soul was indeed leaving her body…and the next thing she knew was that her head moved as if by instinct back and in front of his own face and she leaned up and forward…and touched her lips on his softly. Seto Kaiba had foreseen her small movements and he had met her on the way… His arms wrapped around her as his lips were moving against hers slowly and softly and the moon showered them both…
The creature of Light…and the Darkness…

Somewhere else…inside an inn…in a common room…the door opened slowly and almost completely soundlessly. Tea slowly stepped into the room. It was empty. Obviously Joey hadn’t returned yet from Mai’s house but she could hear Yami’s calm breathing. She closed the door behind her and walked to the section where Yami’s bed was, not making the slightest sound. She was holding a small object with both hands… She smiled a sad smile. Yami was lieing in his bed, shirtless as always, on his back. The cover covered his body only up to the waist so his perfectly toned torso was exposed to her. His one arm was over his stomach and he was breathing steadily…and calmly. Tea felt the urge to wake him up…to talk to him but she regretted it. He seemed so calm when he was sleeping…!
“Yami…” she whispered, “I brought this back to you…”
She slowly placed the flask on the nigh table and looked at him again.
“I searched…long to find it… I saw a sparkle and…I thought it was it…lieing in the bottom of the river… I…I tried to get it and…I managed after a little… I thought you would…want it back…”
She swallowed hard trying to keep her tears back. Her throat seemed to be closed.
“I…I wanted to say…I’m sorry Yami… What I told you was so horrible… It must be really hard for you…and I know you are being under terrible pressure…and I told you exactly the thing I shouldn’t have… I…I didn’t mean it Yami…”
Her tears were flowing down her cheeks freely now but she didn’t make the slightest effort to stop them…
“I didn’t mean any of those words I said…I… I never saw you as a monster Yami… I only see your kind heart…and your soul… I…”
She smiled a small smile
“You are human, Yami… It doesn’t matter if you do not belong to human race or anything…it doesn’t matter that you have no memories… To me you are human… You’ve always been…and you will always be…”
She slowly placed her hand on his chest. She could feel his heartbeat…so steady…and strong… Everything on him was strong…
“I had told you before… Your heart is so warm… You are human…you are everything I would wish for…”
A small tear fell on Yami’s cheek…but his eyes didn’t even flatter…
“I…I guess you hate me now…and you have every reason to… I-I know that nothing else can be done…I just…want to say…I’m sorry Yami…and I hope that…one day you will forgive me… That would be enough…”
She leaned down and carefully not to wake him up, placed her lips over his and pulled back right away…
“Well then… Goodbye…Yami…”
And she turned around to leave but then…a strong hand grabbed her wrist. The only thing she could do was gasp, and the next thing she knew was that she was lieing on Yami’s large body with her ear against his chest. Yami had his eyes closed bit his hand was still holding her wrist and his other arm was around her waist. How long was he listening to what she had said? How long was he awake listening?
“Y-Yami…?” she whispered
“Sh!” he said sharply without opening his eyes
“Yami what are y-…”
“Sh! Just listen…” he whispered again
Tea closed her eyes. She left that strong, steady, rhythmical sound filled her ears and soul… Oh! How steadily his heart was beating!
“What do you hear?” he whispered
“Your…heartbeat…” she whispered breathlessly, “So steady…and strong…”
“Before I came here…” Yami begun in a whisper, “I thought this heart had turned into stone… I had to do it…I had to, to protect the others and myself… However…now I know that my life has another purpose after all…”
“Eh?” she looked at him questionably
“I realized…” his eyes opened looking up at the ceiling, “That this heart beats for other people now…that is living organ like everyone else’s… Right now…I know that I have things I want to protect… You, Tea…you and Kisara…and Joey…and everyone… I thought my purpose was to destroy…but now…I wish to protect… Also…I have developed feelings I never believed that existed before… Things strong and overwhelming. Tea…”
He closed his eyes again
“I have slept with women in the past…and many of them were skilled and pretty. However I have never felt such things in my entire life…”
Tea’s breath got caught in her throat. Where was he getting at?
“Tea…” he opened his eyes again looking at the ceiling, “Did you mean that, back then? That you love me?”
Tea’s heart nearly stopped!
“…That was what you were ready to say weren’t you? Was it…true…?”
Tears were flowing down Tea’s cheeks
“Yes…” she whispered breathlessly, “I love you, Yami…I think I…always have”
Yami breathed through his nose…deeply…
“I love you too, Tea…” whispered
Those words hit Tea’s heart directly. How was it true? Was this a dream? No. It was reality… Yami caressed her head and she raised her body a little so now they were looking in each other’s eyes for the first time after that conversation started. Yami cupped her cheek with his palm. His hand was so warm…as though there was warm fire under his skin… Tea would care less about what his nature was. Human or Demon…he was there now…and she was there… Yami leaned up…and Tea leaned down…and their lips met in a deep, slow and passionate kiss… As if they wanted to suck each other’s souls inside them… The moon was shining…
Night was filled with the sound of united heartbeats…