Save Yourself, Beauty

Auzi?? Edgars

– It's amazing. – The man's lips stretched in a light half-smile. – Young, beautiful and smart. Rare combination today.

And Leah was filled with paint, and frowned.

– Did you think I was just holding the book?!

– Everything happens. He once saw her reading an erotic story wrapped in Spengler's cover of "The Rock of Europe". People are such funny creatures. As a result, I couldn't connect two words. And the "Rock of Europe" is more relevant than ever. Can you say something?

– About the cycle of flowering and fading of cultures? – Leah tried to remember the content. – Unfortunately, I no longer remember so well, I read a couple of years ago.

– Do you remember Spengler's suggestion to take history nonlinearly? Do you remember Faustian culture?

– This is Spengler's term," Leah thought deeply, trying hard to extract the necessary information from her memory. – I remember, but superficial.

The man did not look away from the girl's face, slowly sliding and sometimes clinging to the soft features.

– You'd look good in the portrait. I see you as Donna Velata. I wish you hadn't lived in Raphael's time. However… I feel like I've seen you somewhere before. – He blinked his eyes. Leah's heart contracted so much that she felt for a moment that she no longer lived in that reality. She was breathtaking, oxygen was scarce in her chest, and her lips became too dry. Leah touched them with the tip of her tongue, trying to cope with the nervousness, but the stranger's sharp look forced her to shake and feel the knot beneath her stomach. Leah held her breath watching her hematite eyes.

She thought she had done something too wrong.

– Will you have coffee? There is an excellent cafe around the corner – the stranger broke the silence. Leah had a noise in her ears. There were only a couple of people present in the library, and a nearby boy started talking on the phone, but Leah could not hear anything but one voice. At that moment, the whole world contracted to one person, and she could do nothing about it.

The girl was unable to refuse, fascinated by how educated and attractive this man was.

– Then we'll meet there in half an hour. I'll wait.

– Yes…" Leah herself didn't understand why her voice suddenly fell to a whisper. Her fingertips began to follow. – Excuse me…" she hesitated when the man turned. She was afraid he'd leave her now. The feelings were not pleasant. His heart stopped next to him, and it felt painful, but now it seemed that without him the world would lose its last colors. – What's your name?

– He is a.

– Vlad Tsepesh? – Leah laughed loudly, trying to relieve the tension. How not to remember Vlad Tsepesh in Bucharest?

– Hmm. "He raised his eyebrows, surprised. – Here we met, Donna Velata. – The man gave her such a studying look that Leah felt the tips of his fingers on her skin. Her cheeks flared red, and Vlad could see how uncomfortable she was."

– Even then I realized that you were special – the vampire pulled the girl out of painful memories with a taste of naive hopes. Lie then seemed lucky to meet the teacher himself, who would surprise her with her erudition, more experienced than she herself, with a hypnotizing look and such an influential magnetic voice. She was drawn to him by an irresistible force. In her life, Leah always counted everything, even when it came to guys. But here it has lost its ability to reasonably assess the situation.

She didn't have butterflies in her stomach, there was something empty. If you compare, Leah has worms inside: disgusting. In the throat every time as if something got stuck, preventing a normal sigh. The oppressive feeling did not go away, and the whole body signaled that there was danger ahead.

But another girl could not understand: since it is not love in her usual understanding, what then? Why is it so disgusting and scary at heart? And why is it even more terrible without Vlad than with him?

– Special – and what next? – Leah murmured, grabbing a glass of red wine. How it wanted to break it and to spoil a carpet with a red spot.

– Next? Leah is a jewel. I want to know you. I want you, you know? – He whispered, looking at her lovingly.

She trembled, feeling nothing but icy fear. His fingertips were cold, Vlad didn't like to light a fire. Leah returned the glass to its place.

– I wasn't talking about sex, Leah," the vampire sighed heavily when he noticed her lips compressed into thin strips. – I want to understand you. How are you doing? What's inside you? What are you thinking? I want to break you, to see you, to tear down layer by layer while studying. Walk your fingers through your bones, feel you. I want to understand the essence of things. Kant, do you understand?

Lie wanted to laugh or cry. Emotions were raging inside, the psyche was shaking in this castle, as if on American slides. She suddenly trembled. Most of all she wanted to be insensitive and invulnerable. But she was incredibly frightened, and still more anger burned her.

– You're a sick psychopath," she roared, wanting to let go of the aggression so as not to burst out of emotion like a little helpless girl.

– What am I doing wrong now? Do you think I'm a villain? – He spoke aloud, and Lee suddenly wondered that everything was not as it seemed to her. – Do you even know gray? Or do you have youthful maximalism? Oh, Leah. Thank you. – He got up from his chair and walked forward and then back. – What have I done wrong to you? I feed you, I dress you, I care. I'm not touching. Although I want to. Lia, don't you appreciate this?

The vampire came too close, and her head turned even more round. It was very hard to breathe.

– Let me go," she breathed out in despair.

– Why? What's waiting for you there? Were you happy before me? – Vlad was standing right next to her, looking down upon her.

– "I have a sister," Leah quelled out of herself. She was terribly irritated by the vampire's close presence.

– And she's safe now. What's the point of worrying about her? You can take her with you if you want to," said the vampire with a mask on his face.