"Open your eyes, my dear." The young man's quiet voice beckoned to the small girl he held so gingerly within his arms. One of his cold, glove-covered hands was rested delicately over her mouth, to keep her from screams.
As her eyes staggered open, she peered upward through the darkness at he who had snatched her from the very street of the town and stole her away, into the shadows for reasons she could only fathom in her nightmares. She trembled in fear, her breathing had caught in her throat and her face was flush because of it. She had never known such terror as that which flowed like a river through her veins and set her heart to beat like a war drum.
The man was smiling, though. The expression on his face was not that of some maniacal murderer, instead it was of compassion and concern. His orchid eyes stayed focused on her own, blue irises, even through the well of tears that steadily grew.
His embrace was not forceful, but the power with which he kept her captive was undeniable. He doted on her, despite circumstance and cooed to her, affectionately.
"My name is Varian duMonde. Do not be frightened, my love. Look upon me now as your savior." His hand slid away from her lips and trailed its fingertips across them softly, during the journey to her collar. "You mustn't scream. I'll not harm you. The love I hold for you is of a depth that you are incapable of imagining, for mine is the last face you will see before angels wing you to Heaven."
The girl's eyes widened and she began to struggle. Varian's arms grew tighter, only a slight degree, to assure her of the futility. "Fear not, my love. It is that I am damned that all of your sins and transgressions against your Father may be forgiven. Through my kiss, you are absolved."
His hand at her throat climbed higher once more, its thumb set firmly under her small chin. He forced her to turn away and bare the length of her neck to him. He hesitated; took an unnecessary breath and closed his own eyes. His head lowered and his lips touched her flesh, just before his fangs pierced the vein that throbbed desperately beneath it. The girl shuddered and uttered a sound more suited for a mouse, than a human.
The ordeal itself, despite the theatrics before it, was swift and relatively painless. The body of the girl had gone lax in his grasp and he swallowed ravenously, before he reared back from the punctures he'd inflicted.
He took great care, as her heart slowed to a stop, to touch his tongue to each wound and heal it, with the assistance of what life still clung to her. He cradled her against his chest until even that dull flicker ebbed away, as well. She was wrapped in her cloak, its cowl pulled to hide her now colorless, pretty face and she was placed near the edge of the street, where the sun might shine the following morning.