AUTHORS NOTES:

VLAD IS NOT HALF GHOST IN THIS STORY

MIKAELA2015 PRESENTS…

ANASTASIA DP STYLE

On a small table there was a black and silver circular music box playing, inside two small figurines were dancing. The music box then closed as the music finished, a 55 year old with black greying hair woman picked it up and placed it in her small bag. She wore an elegant purple dress with long sleeves with a long pink coat. Her name was Ida Manson, the Dowager Empress of Russia. She walked outside and got inside a carriage, the carriage then took off and started heading to the royal palace, home of the royal family, the Manson's.

IDA'S VOICE OVER

There was a time, not very long ago, when we lived in an enchanted world of elegant palaces and grand parties. The year was 1916 and my son Jeremy Manson was the Tsar of Imperial Russia.

Ida entered the palace and saw all the guests and the royal family dancing, socialising in the middle of the grand ballroom. Ida sat down on one of the chairs in front of everyone, she then saw someone and waved happily.

The person she was waving to was a 10 year old girl with short black hair and wearing an elegant black and purple Russian dress, dancing with a blonde haired man in a white royal army suit. The man was her son Jeremy the Tsar of Russia and the girl was his youngest daughter Samantha Manson, but her grandma liked to call her Sam which she didn't mind at all.

We were celebrating the 300th anniversary of our family's rule and that night, no star burned brighter than that of our Samantha or Sam as I liked to call her, my youngest granddaughter.

Sam laughed as her father spun her around in a circle, she then ran up to see her grandmother. At the doorway behind them, a 10 year old boy with black hair and blue eyes and wearing a white long sleeved shirt, brown pants and boots watched them while eating an apple as Ida pulled out the music box from her purse.

She begged me not to return to Paris, so I had a very special gift made for her to make the separation easier for the both of us.

Sam gasped in awe at the small box, as she handed it to her. She then asked, "For me? Is it a jewellery box?"

A ghost named Dora then shook her head at the sight of the boy watching them, she grabbed him and dragged him away as she scolded, "Danny! You belong in the kitchen!"

Ida then pulled out a necklace and the pendent acted as a key as she placed it in the hole and then turned it three times. It then opened and Sam heard the music playing as the figurines danced, she smiled as she recognised the tune.

"It plays our lullaby" Sam said.

"You can play it at night before you go to sleep and pretend it's me singing" Ida said.

IDA

On the wind

Cross the sea

Hear this song and remember

IDA AND SAM

Soon you'll be home with me

Once upon a December

They both giggled as the song finished. Ida then handed her the necklace and said, "Read what it says"

Sam looked at the small writing on the pendant and read aloud, "Together in Paris"

She then got really excited as she realised that soon Sam would be able to go and visit her in Paris whenever she liked. She then exclaimed, "Oh Grandmamma!"

Ida laughed as she was engulfed in a tight hug. Suddenly the music stopped and all then lights dimmed as the crowd grew quiet and parted ways for someone walking towards the other end of the room.

But we would never be together in Paris, for a dark shadow had descended upon the house of the Manson's.

A woman gasped at the sight of the stranger and accidently dropped her glass of wine, the man who was wearing black priest's cloak simply continued walking forward and just walked over the broken glass. A white skeleton parrot flew off his shoulder as he continued heading towards Jeremy, he had grey hair tied back in a ponytail and some sort of glowing green reliquary hanging from the belt of his robe.

His name was Vlad Masters. We thought he was a holy man but he was a fraud, power mad and dangerous.

Jeremy walked up to him and said angrily, "How dare you return to the palace!"

"But I am your confidant" Vlad stammered.

"Confidant? Ha! You are traitor! Get out!" He demanded.

Vlad then got really angry and said as he showed the reliquary, "You think you can banish the great Vlad Masters? By the unholy powers vested in me, I banish you with a curse"

The crowd murmured and gasped in fright, Sam became really frightened and Ida held her closer. The kitchen boy Danny from before watched invisibly using his ghost powers and his jaw dropped at what the man said.

Vlad then announced, "Mark my words, you and your family will die within the fortnight. I will not rest until I see the end of the Manson line forever!"

He then used the reliquary and blasted the chandelier, causing the chain to break and then fall from the roof. Everyone scattered out of the way as it hit the ground and smashed upon impact. A few days earlier before Vlad came to the palace, he threw some dust into a hole and then suddenly a red burst of energy came out, Vlad then screamed as he felt his soul torn away from his body and then from the red energy the reliquary floated out of there and he grabbed it within his hand.

Consumed by his hatred for Jeremy and his family, Vlad Masters sold his soul for the power to destroy them.

A fortnight had passed, Vlad in his lair grinned as he knew it was time. He took out the reliquary and said, "Go fulfil your dark purpose and seal the fate of the Tsar and his family once and for all"

Suddenly a few green like demons came out of it flew to the palace gates where hundreds of angry men gathered with torches, guns and weapons.

From that moment on, the spark of unhappiness in our country was fanned into a flame that soon destroy our lives forever.

The small demons opened the gates and then all the angry men charged in, they destroyed the statue of Jeremy. Inside the palace, flames roared outside the palace as the snow fell and the entire Manson family was running for their lives, Sam stuck by her grandma wearing a simple black frock with a brown coat, her grandma wore a coat along with a simple white dress.

"HURRY CHILDREN!" Jeremy shouted.

"My music box!" Sam exclaimed and then started running back to her room. Ida chased after her calling, "Samantha! Come back!"

Sam ran into her room and grabbed the music box from the doll house, Ida then ran into the room and shut the door. They both then heard a gunshot and doors being rammed open, Ida held Sam close. A small door opened at the wall and revealed Danny in his human form. Outside the window, the parrot who was Vlad's minion watched from outside the glass.

Danny ran out and started dragging them towards the small door, "Quick this way, out the servant's quarters!"

The music box fell out of Sam's hands and landed on the floor as she and Ida went inside. Ida then said as they heard footsteps, "Hurry Samantha!"

"Vlad she's getting away!" The parrot shouted.

Sam came out again and said, "My music box!"

Danny shoved her back in and shouted, "Go! Go!"

He then closed the door as he heard someone shout, "Comrades in here!"

The doors then slammed open and three of the men who were part of the group attacking the palace came in with guns.

"Where are they boy?!" One of them demanded.

Danny picked up a lantern and threw it at them, it missed however and one of them then hit him in the head knocking him out cold. Meanwhile Sam and Ida ran across the frozen lake away from the palace.

"Keep up with me darling" Ida said.

Vlad jumped off the bridge and grabbed Sam by her leg, Sam screamed as he began pulling her towards him while lying on his stomach.

"Vlad Masters!" Ida screamed as she tried to pull Sam away from him. Sam begged, "Let me go please!"

"You'll never escape me child! Never!" Vlad shouted with determination. The lake suddenly broke underneath him and in his panic he let go of Sam as he began to fall into the frozen water.

Sam and Ida ran leaving Vlad to drown. The parrot flew down and shouted, "MASTER!"

Vlad sunk in the water and drowned, leaving the parrot with the reliquary. Sam and Ida headed for the train station, they saw the train heading to Paris leaving the station so they ran as fast as they could. The people helped Ida get on board, Ida then gasped that Sam was falling behind them.

"Samantha grab my hand!" Ida said as she held out her hand. Sam grabbed it and shouted, "Don't let go!"

The other people tried to help but Sam's hand slipped out of her grip and she screamed as she fell and hit her head on the hard floor, knocking her unconscious.

"SAMANTHA! SAMANTHA!" Ida cried in despair as the train carried her further and further away from Sam.

So many lives were destroyed that night. What had always been was now gone forever. And my Samantha, my beloved grandchild, I never saw her again.

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