Her chest aches, a songbird collides against her ribcage, desperate to burst through the valley of her breasts and fly away – it’s a sign of cowardice, Mina realizes, and that bothers her the most. She chooses to be cynical around the Count, precisely because she knows he can smell the stench of fear in her blood – perhaps, she reasons, it is what makes it so appetizing to the creature. And yet, Mina Murray has never been a woman to look down at the sight of a man, shift her gaze and nervously glance away – Mina Harker doesn’t intend to do so anytime soon.
Fingernails dig into her palms, tension grows between her shoulderblades – it feels as if her insides are on fire, the craving for feral instincts to take over grows stronger each passing day, tear throat apart ‘till flesh and bone. Tear his throat apart – she wonders if she could, though the creation couldn’t outpower the sire, she can outsmart him.
“ aren’t your weaknesses simply your own animalistic instincts, Count? ” she’s mumbling, eyes remain fixated on him, not once do they falter, despite the tensing of her muscles, the way her chin tilts up to meet his gaze speaks volumes of determination, “ though I’ve seen you are quite the cunning predator. ” voice is ice, through disheveled bangs, she glares at him with darkened eyes – they’re growing inhuman the more time passes, “ you have taken your pleasure in my psychological torment. and here you have my blood and body, in their entirety – but never delude yourself into thinking you would have my mind as well. no man ever could. ”
from across the room did he appear to deposit a glass decanter of old tokay on the table beside her, his looming shadow far taller and as imposing as the spires of what would become HER HOME. so close he was to her now that he could see and watch her lips, which captivated him in ways that he could scarcely understand. not their ruby-drop color, no, or the way the life seemed to drain from them with every passing hour. it was the poison that wept across them in the very utterance of his name. like eve spitting out the apple core, he was the nuisance of proof that would get her removed from the garden of ephemeral life.
“ if i wanted your mind, it would be only too easy. or did you f o r g e t your little trick with the communion wafer ? too bad for you, miss mina, that the true body of his son is LONG ASCENDED... ”
the deadly pallor extending over her face was as attractive to him as the dawn. in that it might ultimately consume him the way his petty need for revenge had. after-all, was not poor mina harker taken in desperation following the death of beloved lucy ? but was not she also a suitable replacement for such an esteemed woman ?
no. even he was not so cruel. no, she was something else entirely. a means of survival. a prisoner within his decrepit property so long as he needed to maintain the status quo. and a suitable bride, true...
the count hummed softly, raising a hand to grasp and grip mina’s dying chin between his thumb, tight enough so that she would need to try to pull away. “ do you know why i have not replaced you under my hold ? why i have allowed you free reign of the interior of this crypt ? ” / ( @wmina continued )
