The sun was setting behind the Frankenstein estate as my coach approached the gates. Candles and lamps had been lit and the first floor of the house was aglow. It looked like a house of cheer. Roiled by the twisted emotions within me, my body felt imprisoned by tension; I felt like an enraged beast, ready to devour any in my path. I was not suited to enter such a normal environment.
As I disembarked the carriage, Elizabeth, who had heard the horses hooves and looked out the window, rushed through the door she had thrown open to greet me. Indeed, this response startled me somewhat. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me shamelessly on the mouth.
"Oh Victor! You've come home early! Oh, my love, how I've missed you!"
Her face was flushed, her eyes bright and shining. She had never looked more lovely. I held her to me, feeling her sensuous body moving into the grooves in mine so that we fit like two halves making a whole. My member had already hardened and her crotch seemed to press against him. Her eager nipples dug into my chest. Her body seemed alive, vibrating with eroticism. "I shall plo your fields this night," I assured her, pinching her nipple until she took in air between her clenched teeth.
Her lips parted and her eyes shone, as if she would like nothing better. This energizing scene shifted dramatically, suddenly, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement.
I looked up to find Crea waiting in the doorway.
Elizabeth turned her head. "Oh, Crea. Look! Victor is home. Come, say hello to him."
Crea stepped down from the door. Her tall, graceful form moved over the lawn and when she reached me she stopped and said, "Welcome home, Master Frankenstein."
"No, Crea," Elizabeth told her. "You must call him Victor now."
"In public," I clarified, a dangerous undertone to my voice. "In private I am still your master and you will still do my bidding."
"Yes, Master Frankenstein."
"Oh, Victor, come inside," Elizabeth said, drawing me towards the door. "Your parents will want to see you before they retire. It is late. They will be in bed soon. Then we three can play in the attic to our heart's content."
As we walked up the steps, I thought, 'we three'? Obviously she intended to include Crea in our loveplay. Well, I would see about that!
My parents and brother were glad to see me, as always. We sat round the fire eating sugar cake, and chilled mint tea. I told them of my studies, of how M. Krempe and I, with the help of Henry Cherval, had worked on an experiment that would assure our fame and fortune, which please my mother greatly, and brought out from my father a gruff, "Well, you are a Frankenstein." My brother wanted to know the nature of our experiment.
"It is of a delicate nature, having to do with the essence of existence itself. We have achieved our goal, to a point. Our notes have been sorted and catalogued, and M. Krempe is already working on our research paper even as we speak."
"You've been successful, then?" my brother asked.
Crea caught my eye.
"Indeed," I said, an edge to my voice, "although there are a few minor flaws which shall be corrected in short order."
I told them that as my work had been finished ahead of schedule, I was home early and hoped that Elizabeth and I could marry sooner.
"What?" my mother demanded. "But that's not possible, Victor, as you well know. It is just not done. The invitations have been sent out, the date all arranged. Surely three more weeks will not make much difference."
"You'll be together a lifetime," my father said. "What's the rush? You must please your mother in this."
"Elizabeth, talk some sense into our son," mother said. It was clear they would not budge.
I had expected resistance from Elizabeth. "Herr and Frau Frankenstein, you have been more than good to me," she began in a passionate voice. "I would not for the world wish to wound either of you. And yet I find myself siding with my husband-to-be. Would that we could marry this night!"
The room filled with silence. Mother looked affronted. Father made an annoyed sound and cut himself a second slice of cake, mumbling something about in his day brides and grooms would get cold feet and wish to delay the ceremony, but he had never run across either who longed to hasten it. My brother, of course, only laughed.
Tension hung in the air. Suddenly Crea spoke up. "Well, isn't it natural for young people to want to be together. Of course, being apart for this past year has taken a toll on you both. Still, Frau Frankenstein is correct in this matter —propriety demands that you wait."
I was speechless. "I think this is not your business!" I said rather loudly.
"Victor!" Mother said in a shocked voice.
"Darling!" Elizabeth clutched my arm. "Please. Calm yourself. Of course they are correct. Much as we long to be together, we owe it to your parents and our friends to do the proper thing."
I stood. "If you'll all excuse me," I said. Then, "Elizabeth, I wish to speak with you in private. It is urgent.
Come, we will walk down to the gazebo."
"Of course, darling," she said, standing immediately.
Crea looked angry, but there was nothing she could do, under the circumstances.
Elizabeth and I took the path to the gazebo at a fast clip, or rather, I did and she struggled to keep up as I pulled her by the upper arm. Once we reached the screened-in porch, I climbed the steps with her on my heels and stopped.
She came right up to me, her arms encircling my waist. "Victor. Darling." She stared up into my face, hers a mask of confusion and pain. "What is it? You've acted strangely since your arrival. Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Elizabeth," I said, drawing her tightly to me. "If you love me at all you'll run away with me tonight, just the two of us."
She pulled back. Her face was a mask of horror. "Run away? From what? Victor, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about marriage. We can leave this night and cross the Alps, where we can marry on the morrow."
"What?" Now she broke away completely, as if a madman had gripped her and she was fearful for her life.
"Let us cross the mountains, marry in a chapel and honeymoon in a spot where none can find us and tamper with our happiness. Oh, Elizabeth," I cried, grasping her hand. "Pack your bags!"
"Victor, you can't be serious. Inside, when you suggested we marry sooner, well, of course I was all for it. But not to run off, to elope and leave everyone high and dry."
"Everyone! And who might that be?" I demanded.
"Why, your parents, of course. The wedding party. Our friends."
"Friends? For example?"
"Well, Henry, for one. And Gilles, who is coming here expressly to function in the capacity of groom —regarding the horses, of course. This was to be a surprise for you, Victor, which you've forced out of me with your peculiar behavior."
"Henry, Gilles and who else?"
She was silent for a moment. "Miss Heidi. Crea..."
"Aha!"
"What are you getting at?"
"Crea! She who is in your thoughts night and day, who fills and fulfils you —"
"Victor, stop this nonsense. If I didn't know better, I would think you were jealous."
"She who no doubt by now has stolen what is rightfully mine, like a thief in the night. A thief invited by me, to desecrate my own possession!"
"Oh no! This I will not stand. You are acting foolish and childish and..." She was so angry and frustrated with me that she stamped her foot. "Stop it, this instant. Crea is nothing but a creation, yes of your invention, but closer to being a machine than to being human, which is what makes her so valuable. She can preform in more ways than any single man or woman, and her abilities are almost limitless, not to mention her energy, which seems boundless. Isn't this why you sent her to me? To entertain me while waiting for your return?"
Her sane words had a calming effect on me. I felt my shoulders relax a bit. "Then you don't love her?"
"Of course I love her. Why shouldn't I? But I'm not marrying Crea, I'm marrying you. Crea has delighted me and challenged me and taken me closer to my limits than anyone before. And for that I am grateful. Grateful to you, Victor.
You designed her. It is your hand controlling her every move.
I know that all she knows is the sum of your own knowledge and I shall soon be the beneficiary of that from a human hand."
I was beginning to see that my vision had been distorted.
I sat on one of the gazebo chairs and my head fell into my hands.
"You poor darling," Elizabeth said, falling to her knees before me, taking my hands in hers, kissing my cheek. "You've been under a strain lately. Overwork is all. Your experiments must have taken up all your time and energy, with no real way to release the tension you have been storing."
I allowed my head to fall forward and her small hands to run through my hair.
"I think, though, I know what you've been missing, and I promise that you shall be restored fully before the wedding," she said.
I looked into her blue eyes, feeling forlorn. I saw there only love, and longing, and knew then that I'd given way to madness. "Oh, Elizabeth, can you forgive my display?"
"Of course I can. And so can your parents. Come. Let us go back and reassure everyone. And when they have drifted off to their rooms, we shall meet in the attic and I'll see what I can do about relieving your stress."
"Alright," I said, kissing her warm, soft lips. Suddenly I felt tense again. "But just the two of us. Not Crea."
"Just the two of us, my love. In the attic."