at times there were great lengths of silence that befell that stony palace, and all the halls were quiet when the moon was at her highest. it was during those hours that the count would find the greatest source of joy to be in conversing with her in silent, longing looks that filled his already exquisitely blue eyes with pooling, silver cataracts. at times he had no want to blink, for the dark creature in all his cleverness and experience, possessed the fear that the moon, too, would hide from him behind the shadow of the clouds.
but on this night, the little maid was out of her chambers and the moon was too new in her rebirth to grace with conversation. still had she not been permitted her to wander about unchecked, for there were many doors that she might have tried that would have been jammed against the frame and locked tight from the other side. one such room had been opened only very recently, and subsequently tidied by the sallow, gray hands of the castle’s very master. these tasks he did strictly during the evening hours when the sun had long since bowed behind the silhouette of firs that lined the mountain’s foot. it seemed every night to be less a castle and more a prison of his own making. and still had he refused to answer to reason for his keeping such ungodly, night-bird hours.
the vampire was numb to all, and had sought only to watch her. to revel again in the languid stillness with which the mortal girl had moved.
❛❛ to elevate the soul, poetry is necessary. ❜❜ the voice was deceptively soft, but striking, and it filled the hollow library with a tense and stormy song. a pair of distant moonstones stuck out against the candleless backdrop of countless dusty shelves, reading snow’s face for any sign of fright. with no matches, he could not help that it was dark; for on that night there had been a new moon and so though the curtainless, diamond panes came no light to warm them. ❛❛ i am glad that you found your way here. for many years these books have been my companions and have given me much pleasure to read. ❜❜