Verona looked into the stinging clear water where the ice had chipped away. Her reflection was unsteady. "You are a monster now. You are hated now. You can never return to those who truly love you. You are a wreck, you are a murderer, and you have no warmth. You have no feelings." She told herself.
She threw herself onto the ground. "I want to go home; I want to see mama and papa. I want to see Sven and Levela. I want to feel, I want to shiver, to sweat. I want to know that I'm alive!" she screamed.
She remembered being small, playing in the yard with her brother and sister. Playing Dracula and slayer, she was always Dracula. She remembered running to the schoolhouse. She remembered playing the piano at the small but grand dinners her parents held. She remembered playing in the Nursery with her brother, sister, and grandmother.
"I disappointed everyone. I was so young and foolish and now I am bound to this life forever." She said out loud, "Forever."
"Oh Verona," A deep voice said, she turned to see Dracula.
"I want out of this Vladislaus." She said coldly.
"You say you do not love me Verona?"
"I DO NOT FEEL MASTER!" she screamed, "I must return home, or I must die."
"You can never return home Verona, you are bound to me for eternity."
"Then I will turn myself in to the peasants in the village. I am not alive Master, and being in this state is useless and causes me pain."
"You do not know of the pain you speak."
"Images haunt my dreams Master, images of a younger me. Images of those whose lives I have taken."
"I will not kill you Verona."
"Then I shall kill myself. Do you not understand what it is I speak of? I wanted a family Master, I wanted to live in a house next to my parents and eat a Christmas dinner. I wanted to feel, I wanted to have warmth in my embrace. I am a monster,"
"You can never go back there; there is no salvation for you."
"I would rather rot in hell, where flames will burn my skin, then to be so lifeless in this world. To be so hated by so many."
"You…"
"You do not understand? For I believe you do. You made one mistake with me Dracula and that is I never truly loved you. You lured me in, but love was never an emotion I carried in my heart. Never."
"You speak of this now Verona?"
"I speak of this everyday in my heart; it still beats within my chest. It still holds some sort of emotion and I will not have that taken away."
"Your sisters Verona; Aleera and Marishka. Do they mean nothing to you?" Verona turned her head for the first time in the entire conversation to look him in the eye.
"You will not address me like that. I would die for those two, but they are monsters too. We are all monsters, we are all hated Master."
"I am going to return to the Castle now. Do not let these thoughts penetrate you Verona. I shall see you soon." Verona nodded. Dracula flew off and Verona lifted herself off into the air.
She flew to the house she was reared in. Christmas dinner was being eaten. She went to the door and lifted a fist banging on the door. "I'll get it!" a little voice called from inside the house. The door opened and a little boy stood at the other end of the door. He looked up at her in terror. "MOTHER! FATHER!" he screamed. His father was Sven, Verona's brother. He appeared at the door, followed by an unfamiliar woman, her mother and father, her pregnant sister, and a stranger male.
"Get away from this place Verona!" Her brother said. Verona's eyes were wide and sorrowful.
"I understand the pain I have brought to this house. But I came in a final voyage, to tell you all that I have decided to rid the world of myself. I wanted to apologize first, for all the pain that I have caused. I love you all with all my cold heart, and I have forever. I am so eternally disgraced that the pain in this house was caused from me."
Her sister took a step forward. She was beautiful, with long dark hair. She walked towards Verona holding out a hand, "Levela back away! She will kill you." Levela looked back at her worried husband's expression and held out her hand once more. Touching Verona lightly on the face.
"You are so cold Verona." Levela exclaimed. Verona brought her hand up to Levela's warm one and embraced it.
"You are so full of live Levela; I am so ashamed I let you down."
"You didn't Verona, you made a mistake." Verona smiled at her loving sister who smiled back. When they were younger everyone thought the two were twins, Verona was only a year older. A little girl who resembled Levela completely ran to the two. Her white Christmas gown flowing and her dark hair hanging loosely off her head.
"My mother told me stories of you Verona. She said you would find your way home. Have you come to celebrate Christmas with us?" She looked up.
"No, I haven't I have come to apologize." The little girl latched her arms around Verona's waste.
"I never met you Aunt Verona, but I love you with all my heart." Verona looked away and then looked down. A tear fell from her eye for the first time in years.
"I love you too little one." She said kneeling down and embracing the child. Sven walked out of the doorway too, walking to Verona. He touched her hair, and looked into her eyes.
"So you truly are, good then Verona?"
"I have done too many bad deeds Sven. But I realize my error, I must die tonight." She explained as another single tear fell from her eye. He looked into her eyes cupping her face in his hand; he slowly brought his own face to hers and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"Never have you left my thoughts, dear sister." Her mother came tearing through the doorway and to where her children stood. Verona studied her face; lines had formed around her dark eyes. Her rosy cheeks still remained.
"Daughter, Verona," She said then brought her hands over her mouth. "I never thought….I knew you would find your way home." She latched her hands around her daughter in the best embrace Verona had ever experienced. She buried her face into her daughter's thick black hair and kissed her neck where Dracula had first bitten her. Verona fell down. Snow started to float down from the sky. They speckled her thick black hair, her mother bent down holding her daughters stiff body, color returned to her skin, along with warmth.
"VERONA!" her sister screamed. She fluttered her eyes open staring up at the crowed that had formed above her. She coughed.
"I am free now, I am free." She said her voice scratchy, "I love you all, I will see you up there." She smiled and closed her eyes.
"She is dead," her mother cried, "Verona is dead."
"No mother," Levela screamed placing a hand on her mothers shoulder, "She is alive. She has returned. The spell is broken on our beloved sister, she is returning home."