Hey everyone!

I'm Red-Chindi, a 30 year old girl from Germany and new to . But I've already published a couple of fanfictions on the German page . This is now one of the better ones, freshly translated for you.

Now I understand this is the time, to give my huge thanks to my beta-reader Slaycinder, who made the translation readable for you ;-).

I really hope you enjoy my story!

But first I want to give some quick backround information for everyone, who is not familiar with the original musical (this, by the way, is not beta-read, so you can get an idea of what Slaycinder spared you from):

The musical starts with the young student Alfred and his old professor Abronsius almost freezing to death in a snowstorm. Alfred just reaches an inn in time (carrying his professor), where they warm up and take a guestroom. The Jewish inn-keeper Chagal gives them the tour, where they also inspect a „very modern" bathroom (in fact it's just a wooden tub...). Problem is, the inn-keeper's daughter Sarah is still bathing there... Noticing Alfreds very interesting glares, the inn-keeper goes and boards up one of the two doors, that lead out of the bathroom leading to Sarah's room (the other door leads to the guestchamber.)

On the next morning, they witness Chagal trading with a hunchbacked person. Later he doesn't want to tell them, who he was. Professor Abronsius is certain that the hunchback must be a servant in a big castle, where a count must be living (it's very impressing and funny how he gets to this conclusion) – a vampire count, as he assumes, seeing all the garlic in the inn. That's perfect, since he came to Transilvania to proof the existence of vampires (and such win the nobel prize) in the first place.

That evening, Alfred wants to take a bath.

This is all the information you need, for from this moment on my story takes another way than the musical.

So, enjoy!

Prologue

Groaning, Alfred brought the heavy water buckets from the kitchen to the bathroom. For this "very modern" bathroom – as the Jewish inn-keeper had called this small, cold room with a single wooden tub – worked like all the other normal bathrooms of the last centuries. Water had to be heated up down in the kitchens in the big kettle above the fire and then heaved to the tub. If they only got a servant to do it for their money... But no, Alfred had to do it by himself. This, or ask the maiden Magda to do it, but Alfred couldn't bring himself to. Even he had problems with the weight of the full buckets and he was a man. Should he really pass this burden on to a woman?

Finally he reached the bathroom and put both buckets beside the tub. Puffing, he closed the door, shook his aching arms and went to fill the wooden tub with hot water. The air in the room was far too cold for his liking. It seemed like the old fireplace in the corner had not been lit for years. But nothing could tarnish his anticipation for a bath.

All day long he had followed Professor Abronsius, who was searching the surroundings of the inn for traces of the hunchbacked man – or the castle, which he was certain the man belonged to. The freshly fallen snow made his attempts fruitless, but that didn't stop the professor from dragging Alfred through the cold until darkness fell. Even the hot (and terrible-tasting – he really liked garlic, but not that much!) soup back in the smoky inn did not manage to chase the cold out of his bones. He hoped the hot water would do the trick now. Professor Abronsius was still downstairs in the pub, leaning over the notes he made that day. He had given Alfred grumbling permission to leave for an hour to take a bath.

Alfred had just started to undress, when his look fell on the door that the inn-keeper had nailed up yesterday. Before he did that, his daughter had disappeared through this door. Maybe it led directly to her bedchamber? Or was it just some random room or hallway? Alfred's curiosity was provoked and he knew he had to satisfy it, before he could concentrate on anything else again – or relax in the hot water. Checking that he was still alone in the room, he approached the nailed-up door, and after another quick glance at the door behind him, he bent down and peeped through the key hole. He thought he could make out a bed on the other side, so it probably was the chamber of – Sarah, yes, that was her name.

"Excuse me?"

Caught in the act, Alfred shot up gasping and turned around to see the young woman, whose bedroom he just inspected through the keyhole. What did this look like! How embarrassing. And he didn't have any bad intention at all.

"Good – good evening," he stammered and had a hard time controlling his voice.

"You are about to take a bath?", the red-haired beauty asked. She did not seem bothered at all by his impertinence and just looked dreamily at the water. "Do I interfere?"

Pardon? Of course she interfered. He was halfway undressed and his hot water was waitingfor him, getting colder by the minute. But it would be impolite to say so (especially considering what he had been caught doing when she entered the room), so he said, "No, of course not. Can I help you somehow?"

"You're really nice. My room is full of garlic and I'm barred up inside all the time", she explained and pointed to the nailed-up door.

Alfred could not see any connection between her statement and his desire to take a bath. "You mean your father is locking you up in your chamber?" Maybe she wanted him to talk to the inn-keeper, put in a good word?

"Certainly! Even though I'm almost 18!" Sarah nodded, sad and disgusted, and let fall her sponge. Why did she bring a sponge? Being a gentleman, Alfred crouched down at once to pick it up. His head almost smashed into Sarah's, who had had the same intention.

"A sponge?", Alfred asked, pointing at the retrieved item, because he was curious to know why she had brought it.

"It's sooooo soft, I really love it," Sarah explained, wiping it over her face and then over his. Yes, the sponge was really soft, but it did also smell a bit.

"It's a pretty sponge", Alfred assured the girl, for she obviously liked this sponge a lot. So her next move was quite surprising for him. She presented him with the sponge and said: "I give it to you. Go, take it. I've got two."

Hesitating another moment, Alfred shrugged his shoulders and took the sponge. It was quite a welcome present. He did not have a sponge of his own and it would make his bath even better. "Thank you. Thank you very much. Can I give you anything in return?" he asked.

She fluttered with her eyelashes and said. "Maybe – you could just pass on this bath to me?"

Alfred laughed loudly, when he finally realized the intention of the young woman. The next moment he held a hand to his mouth, stifling his chuckles. After all, he didn't want to affront Sarah. Thinking for a moment, he explained:

"Well, I'm sorry, but I looked forward to this bath and I have no time for it later. But I offer you this: When I'm done I'll get new water for you. This way we both get a bath. Does that sound good?"

It was obviously not the result that Sarah had hoped for, but recognizing defeat she nodded, smiled, and finally left the bathroom.

Alfred made sure that the door was properly closed before he undressed completely, took the sponge, which he had laid on the sink and finally slid into the no longer hot, but still comfortably warm water. Delighted, he closed his eyes and felt his muscles relax. No one would be able to get him out of here for the next half hour...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Effortlessly did the dark figure climbed the front of the inn to the roof. Above, he rose to his full, imposing height and looked around. The few houses and farms of the village were all dark and still. Only the inn was bustling and noisy, as his sensitive ears had already told him from afar. This was the place where almost all the villagers were to be found after dark, to eat Chagal's inedible meals and get drunk. Later they would leave the inn, but never alone. No one would walk alone after dark in this area. Or withhold from draping themselves in garlic. As if that would save them should he decide to attack. But he would not attack tonight. Tonight they would be safe. They could not satisfy his current hunger. Only one would do. And he had come tonight, to finally get her.

He had been observing the girl for a long time, had watched her grow from a sweet girl to a stunningly beautiful woman. Patiently he had waited for the right time, being content with plainer girls from other villages. But now Sarah Chagal was ripe enough to be plucked, ready to satisfy his greed. She'd be his special guest at tomorrow's midnight ball. First, he'd drink her blood, and then he'd use her body to satisfy another kind of greed. She would certainly serve for a couple of nights, before he'd lose his interest in her. He'd then send her away, to the others on the castle-cemetery. He'd have to find a new girl for next year. He should make a visit to the char-burner in this other village. He had a little girl some years ago. He would like to seewhat had become of her. Maybe she would serve for next year.

But now he had to secure his date for this year's midnight ball. All was ready – all that was left was to lay the charm upon her, that would make it impossible for her to decline his call.

Breda von Krolock turned to the many chimneys on the roof of the inn. He knew which one led to the empty fireplace in that bathroom next to Sarah's bedchamber. It was possible that he didn't have to go that far. He pulled his clock from his pocket and glanced at it. Yes, he was right on time. Now the red-haired beauty usually took her bath. He always could hear her singing and splashing up here. Oh, it would be a special appeal to charm her, when she was naked and vulnerable. And he could get a first taste for tomorrow night, when he would make her body his own.

He leaned over the chimney. This fireplace obviously hadn't been used for years. Chagal saved where he could, penurious as only a Jew could be. Yes – he could hear water splashing, though the familiar chanting was absent, but that did not worry him. Grinning, Breda clambered into the duct, gathered himself, and let himself fall, like many times before.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alfred had just sat up in his tub. He sighed, having nearly drowned himself when he sank ever deeper in the water because tiredness got the better of him. The water was cooling down considerably now. It was time to start washing before it got uncomfortable. He reached with his arm over the rim of the tub and groped blindly for the soap that he had placed right beside the tub. When his hand didn't find anything, he rose half-way out of the water and leaned over the rim to reach it, causing half a tsunami when the water splashed jauntily around his body.

A sudden noise behind him made him turn his head before his fingers could touch the stupid soap. In the following seconds, Alfred was completely immobile and his head was nothing but numb emptiness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Count Breda von Krolock landed, he absorbed the power from the fall nimbly like a cat and rose at once. He groped for his cape to spread it like bat wings, bared his pointy fangs and set his eyes on the beauty in the tub, to instantly work his charm - and didn't see anything but a naked butt right before him. That wasn't even the worst, 'cause a second glance told him that it was definitely not a female butt, when he interpreted the dangling thing between those legs rightly. Also that face, that looked at him flabbergasted, was not that of Sarah Chagal, but of – whomever.

Breda von Krolock froze in his movement. The seductive flashing of his teeth became a disgusted grimace while his brain tried to figure out where he went wrong. He gagged and shook himself noncommittally. What the hell was wrong with his son, that he would find this sight even arousing?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After some seconds, Alfred's brain started working again. And he realized many embarrassing and terrifying things in a very short time. He just showed a vampire his naked butt (yes, damn it, he was completely naked!) and he had nothing to defend himself but a sponge an not even a piece of soap.

With a panicky and entirely unmanly scream that stuck in his throat, he slid back into the water. He followed his first impulse and wound his arms around his knees, which he pressed tightly together. Well, this would stop this very grim looking vampire with his sharp fangs from looking at his privates, but that wouldn't help him to survive, for his neck was as bare as ever.

He wanted to call for the professor, but nothing but a thin squawk left his mouth. Up to this moment, Alfred hadn't really believed in these creatures, and still he hoped to wake from this nightmare any moment. But something told him that this wasn't a dream. When the vampire finally woke from his rigidity and started moving towards him, Alfred was close to fainting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Breda got over his rigidity, when the boy (for he was not older than 20) slid back into the water, screaming.

Damn it!

It seemed that Yoine Chagal had guests for once and instead of his daughter, this foreign boy was waiting for him. Not only did this balk his plans, it was also a danger. By now the boy had tried to call for help.

He had to act. Vampires were powerful beings, but even their power had boundaries. This was one of them. The charm that they could put on humans only worked on the other gender. A fact that made un-life much harder for his man-loving son. Herbert had to rely on the same penchants or force – and he didn't really like the latter.

After he made the decision, he didn't hesitate any longer. He started moving toward the boy who was a witness and therefore couldn't leave this room alive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alfred's brain and body went numb. A tiny whisper told him that he should call for help, that he should defend himself. The tub was wooden. A piece of it thrust through the heart of the beast – he would be saved.

But even if he had gained back his capability to move just one muscle, he would have been lost. The wooden planks were held together by heavy iron rings, screwed tightly to the wood. He did not have the strength to break a plank. And call for help? Even if he screamed as loud as he could, it was unlikely that anybody would hear him. The loud music and talking from the pub was audible even up here.

So nothing was left for him, besides closing his eyes and whispering a silent prayer. He sent a last greeting to his loved ones back home so far away and waited for the inevitable. Only seconds later he felt the sharp pain of teeth driving deep into his neck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The boy was stark-naked, chalk-white, freezing and rigidified from fright. Breda could imagine more dignified situations, but he couldn't change it. The boy did not struggle. He could sink his teeth into his flesh effortlessly and drink greedily from the blood of the young lad.

A noise stirred him and he looked around. The sound came from the bedchamber of the inn-keeper's daughter, whose door, as he saw now, was nailed up. Breda grinned. As if that could stop him.

He turned back to the dead boy, who had slid back into the water. The open carotid pulsed the rest of his blood into the water, turning slowly red. The good blood. Too bad.

The boy was quite handsome. Right to the taste of his son, if he wasn't wrong. He'd take him and show him to Herbert. His son should have a chance. He didn't have one often.

Breda loosened his cape, rolled up his sleeves and heaved the boy out of the water. He wrapped the cape around the dead body and went to the window.

Before he jumped out of the window with his burden safe in his arms, he took another glance back into the room and to the barred up door. He sighed. He'd have to come back again later to take her. No big problem, but the delay annoyed him. He wanted to have her and he would get her. Then the vampire turned and jumped into the dark night.

TBC

Well, that's it for the time beeing. I'd really appreciated it, if you left a review, for I'm very interested in your opinion and critisism.

Anyone interested in how the characters look, might want to google following pics:
Alfred personated by Lukas Perman or Anton Zetterholm

Herbert by Marc Liebisch

Sarah by Marjan Shaki

Count von Krolock by e.g. Robert D. Marx, Drew Sarich, Thomas Borchert,...