“While it is unclear to what extent [Bram] Stoker was aware that his vampire represents the evil or repressed fantasies of his characters, it is the case that the associations of violence with madness and vampirism with sexuality are typical in the Gothic. True to the nature of the Gothic, Dracula is the external representation of Renfield's insanity, Lucy and Mina's sexuality, and Harker's episodes both of delirium and passivity […] vampirism is associated not only with death, immortality, and orality, but also with sexuality.
Further, in psychoanalytic terms, the vampirism is a manifestation of greatly desired and equally strongly feared fantasies. These fantasies have encouraged critics to point to the Oedipus complex at the center of the novel. Dracula, for example, is seen as the “father-figure of huge potency”.
— Phyllis A. Roth; “Suddenly Sexual Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (in “Dracula: Criticism” edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal, 1997)
“I have never been so happy as that moment… as I held hands with Death.” // “I might ease your wound” // “Think you there is no burden upon myself? […] I fear little Friedrich is so strong and hungry, he's eating me weary.” // “I cannot resist you, my love.”
Notes/Summary: Rumple feels the desire for his maid grow stronger with something egging it on.
Prompt used: Dark Curse whispers vile suggestions to Rumplestiltskin involving his pretty maid; he is determined to resist & hide his feelings from her.
Fall had come to the Dark Castle and Belle was wandering through the great hall as she dusted the many items which the Dark One had collected for… while Belle did not really know how long.
She wondered how many adventures that Rumplestiltskin had been on… what he had seen. At times he would be gone days before returning, having gone to different realms which Belle herself could never imagine even before she had chosen to serve the Dark One in order to save her father’s kingdom.
Of course he would never talk about it with her… much to Belle’s annoyance. Being trapped in the castle… enormous though it was… she still longed to travel and see the world, something that he could.
Bringing the feather duster across one of the items as she once again started to daydream about foreign lands and great adventures.
What the princess turned servant girl did not know was that she was not alone. Looking down from one of the banisters, standing absolutely still within the shadows as his eyes glowed softly in the dim candlelight.
The evenings were dark and the wind was howling outside. Was it always so dark at this time of the year? Rumplestiltskin could not remember. He had seen too many harvests at this point and they started to blend together in his mind. It could just be that he hadn’t noticed before.
He blinked his eyes slowly before they instantly found her again.
Why was he watching her? Hadn’t he better things to do? Wasn’t there something…?
Rumplestiltskin furrowed his brows as he allowed his claws to run across the smooth wood of the banister. He knew he had things to do… yet something deep within him forced him to stay. Something deep within him just wanted to stay and watch… her. This thing within his chest.
Perhaps that was the reason he had bargained for her in the first place. Why would he take a princess as a servant girl. Well… the castle was dusty… but wasn’t there another way to do that… with all his powers wasn’t there an easier way?
But… laying his hand upon the princess of Avonlea. Something had wanted her… did he want her? No… of course not. She was just his servant, nothing more.
Though… she was beautiful. Belle… such a fitting name.
His glowing eyes closed slowly once again before opening. She really was beautiful… so filled with light… so filled with goodness… so gentle.
Again he felt… hunger. Perhaps he should make her get started on dinner. Yes… that would make things better. Food. And with that he turned his back and walked away… trying to gather his wits. He had things to do… very busy, plans to set in motion…
Gold was sitting by his great spinning wheel, using gentle movements to make the wheel move… yet he wasn’t spinning… his softly glowing eyes simply watching the spokes turn softly in the candle light.
It had really gotten dark hadn’t it? How long had it been since the sun had been up? It felt like it had been days at this point.
For that matter… how long had it been since he had left the castle? He had been having no desire to do so… something kept him… here… something forced him to stay.
He jumped slightly when the door to the great hall was opened and his servant girl wandered inside, carrying the broom as she was set to start to sweep the floor. Upon seeing her master she stopped slightly, twinning her fingers nervously, biting her lip.
“Oh! Rumplestiltskin! I… I didn’t know you were working. Do you… do you want me to leave? I can come back later,” she was quick to say, pointing towards the door. He shook his head, his claws continuing to spin the wheel.
“It’s alright… you go ahead,” he mentioned with his hand. Belle nodded quickly as she started to clean the floor. As the young woman was moving softly around the room the Dark One’s eyes followed her, a soft glow coming from them.
The feeling of hunger then came upon him, as if something inside him were salivating at this beautiful light in his dark castle. Unaware he stood up and started to walk after her.
Belle’s eyes moved towards the window, her gentle brows furrowing slightly.
“It has been really dark lately, haven’t it?” she asked, looking over her shoulder, a but surprised to see Rumplestiltskin having stood up from his work… something he rarely if ever did… She blinked slightly, before she ran her hand through her long brown hair. “Is it… is it always so dark this time of year?”
In that moment she saw a flash of… something behind those golden eyes. Something… frightening… and far darker than the night outside. Rumplestiltskin blinked his eyes softly at her words. They were luring him closer…
He wondered how she would feel… how it would feel to brush against her.
“Yes… it has indeed been dark… but… I cannot remember it had been like this before… could be that we simply have been having bad weather,” he said, taking almost a hesitant step closer to her. Almost testing if she would run away from him if he was getting closer. Trying to see how close he could get to this light before she would run away from him. But she didn’t, simply looking over at him, holding gently around the broom.
“Yes… Perhaps…” she murmured softly as she once again took a glance towards the big window… but there was something about this that just didn’t sit well with her.
Rumplestiltskin stalked closer to her, his heeled boots clacking gently against the stone floor. Belle started to wander across the room, looking up towards the ceiling with a sort of dreamy look on her eyes, caring little that the Dark One himself was following her… only a couple of steps behind her.
His golden eyes moved over the curve of her neck… where a couple of strands of her hair was gently resting.
Slowly he reached out his clawed hand and gently moved those stray hairs away. A slight gasp passed her lips as she turned around in surprise. Rumple instantly removed his hand, moving his fingers nervously.
“Didn’t mean to scare you dearie,” he stuttered slightly. Belle simply smiled towards him… it seemed that she would never stop being surprised by her odd master.
“Oh… it is alright,” she gave him an absolutely wonderful smile. Again he found himself hungering even more towards her. Almost nervously he reached out his hand again towards her, brushing his claws against the soft skin on her cheek.
“Rumplestiltskin… what are you doing…?” she murmured softly, but instead of backing away from him… she felt herself being drawn in. She had been intrigued by him for a long time… curious about this powerful entity which had caused so much fear across the realms. A being that had existed for centuries…
Belle had wondered… had Rumple been a man before… he became the dark one? An ordinary man?
She wanted to know more about him… she had wondered about him, wanting to learn more about him, but he had been so guarded… almost fearful. All her questions had been dismissed with quips or ignored outright.
“What has come over you?” she whispered as her blue eyes gazed into his. It was a question that Rumple himself could not answer. He was absolutely lost in her blinding light…
His clawed fingers moved even further down, Belle feeling how they curved, becoming like obsidian daggers. With a shivering gasp she looked as the whites of his eyes turned an inky black and she could feel something else was staring at her behind those glowing eyes.
“Rumplestiltskin…” she hardly dared to move at this point. He took a step closer to her, lowering his head slightly as the tip of his nose graced along her skin… taking in the smell of her. She smelled so… wonderful.
“I won’t hurt you…” his words were almost slurred, he was drunk with her light. Belle’s breath itched for a moment, feeling her heart pounding. He felt it too.
Belle swallowed. In some ways she did believe him… however in this moment she wasn’t sure what was speaking to her. If it was Rumplestiltskin or… something else.
Rumplestiltskin continued to stand there. He hardly dared to touch her. What was he doing? He should move away from her… pretend it was nothing. But even the thought of turning away from her… to deny himself her presence once again made him hear a deep growl within his own mind… one who passed his own lips.
Belle jumped slightly at the sound and seeing her fear he forced himself away, looking at how his nails had curved even further into claws.
With a shivering hand he felt his face, feeling how his mottled skin had become more scaly. Belle still did not move, now frozen by the utter fear and dread on Rumplestiltskin’s face, his lips parting to show jagged fearsome teeth.
“Rumplestiltskin…” she stuttered nervously.
“Belle… forgive me… I didn’t mean too… had I known…” he whimpered as he fell to his knees before her. Belle shook her head, she did not know what was going on. She then went towards him, kneeling by his side as she reached her hands towards him.
“Rumple… what is going on?!” confusion was upon her face. Everything had been normal and then… well… something wasn’t right. A slight chuckle came from the Dark One’s lips.
“I lost…” he giggled. “Fought against it for centuries… and when I wasn’t looking… it won.”
Belle shook her head. Nothing he said made sense to her. “Rumple… what are you talking about?!”
Another giggle came upon his lips.
“It isn’t dark out…” he started. “Have a look for yourself.”
This didn’t make any more sense than before, but with worried eyes as something was clearly happening to him, Belle stood up and wandered towards the window pulling away the curtain… and what she saw outside…
Belle wasn’t sure she could describe it.
It was a writhing mass of… black… covering the entire castle with hundreds of eyes glancing at her, teeth and hands clawing at the window before being swallowed up into that mass again.
Her hand was shaking as she stared in horror at what was before her.
“Rumple…” she moved back towards him, even as she knew he was affected by whatever was outside. “Why…?”
“Because of you…” he admitted, not daring to look at her, even as he felt his skin crawl with scales growing, only soothed by her hands upon him, his clawed hand ripping his cravat away, feeling as if he was being strangled.
“Me?”
“Yes… I… I…” he hardly dared to lift his blackened golden eyes to look at her. Belle stuttered slightly as she shook her head.
“Not… not your fault…” he corrected. “I… the darkness… I kept it under control… wouldn’t let it take over me… used it for a singular purpose since it made me loose my boy… Bae… for centuries… I only existed to find him.”
He breathed heavily, clutching his chest with the pain, Belle holding him, her hands shivering nervously.
“Then…” he was gasping for his breath as he trembled looking up at her. “Then I saw you…”
Belle simply blinked her eyes, still confused… not at all certain what was going on, simply reaching out her hand and ran her fingers through his unruly hair.
“You are… you are so light… so filled with light…” he murmured softly as he gazed up at her. He reached up trembling hands, laying them on her waist. “I… I wanted you… it… the darkness… it wanted you. Your light… makes it stronger… it relished in your brightness. Fed like a gluttonous beast upon your light…”
Another pained breath escaped his lips, his body moving closer to her as she felt the long claws caress the fabric of her dress.
“I thought I had conquered it long ago… to ignore what I was feeling… the desire which I was feeling for you… I…” his eyes were boring into hers. Even now… even now he wanted her.
“I didn’t see… I didn’t see… it was growing stronger… it tricked me, it… it won…” Rumple chuckled softly, running his tongue over his razor sharp teeth… the smell off her making him drool with the want of her. Despite the paralyzing fear in his mind and the pain wrecking his body… all he could think of was his want for her.
The darkness had a powerful grip upon him… one which refused to let go… and it wanted her light… it had been forced to be a servant for so long… while it had been able to tempt him at the start… but after the boy had gone away… There had been no tempting him… while there had been some fun plans… it had been forced to servitude.
Then… a crack of light. This beautiful woman so filled with goodness. The foolish creature’s denial of its want for her. That was all it needed.
Rumple leaned against her, feeling her warmth… as they sat there upon the marble floor of the Dark Castle.
Belle was scared… she couldn’t deny that… but… she felt so much pity for the creature before her. Even as he was becoming consumed with the darkness within, as the claws and teeth continued to scrape on the windows… looking at them.
“What… the thing outside… everyone in the Enchanted Forest…”
She was stopped by his laugh as he shook his head.
“I don’t know… but this is not the Enchanted Forest… we left that place… a long time ago…” he whispered towards her, hugging himself closer to her. Her hands continued to comfort him, hushing softly towards him.
“Where… where are we…?” she asked.
“I don’t know… somewhere else…” his clawed hands caressing her.
“But you can get us out of here right?” she asked with a rather desperate tone in her voice. Again a near desperate chuckle passed his lips.
“No…”
Belle felt her heart near drop down into her stomach at the word.
“But you are the Dark One?” she asked with a stutter.
“Doesn’t matter… it is my own powers that traps us…” his body was now pushing her down… Belle gasping nervously… but did not push him away.
“So… we are trapped… for how long?” she whispered, her fingers curiously gracing that scaly skin, her touch the most soothing thing against his crawling skin.
“I don’t know… time… time moves different here… back there… days… weeks… months… years even centuries… may have passed… and we would never know…” his glowing eyes met hers, continuing to rest against her, his clawed hands caressing the fabric of her dress.
Belle continued to hold him… looking with fear at the darkness that was howling at the door. So… they were trapped… forever…
Though she had already promised her life away in order to serve the Dark One… but this was… more final.
Almost as if they had died.
In terms of the world… they might as well have.
But if this was true… then…
With a slight shiver she moved her head closer and allowed her lips to find his, feeling his scaled lips against hers.
Rumple gasped softly, flinching for a second before he finally relented in his desire to her, his tongue tasting her. Her light was stilling the hunger which had been plaguing him since he had seen her.
