"Macrina I forbid you from ever transforming again" ordered her father; she can feel her shoulder start to bruise as her father tightened his grip.
"Do you hear me?" unaware, she nodded.
She heard her father take a deep breath.
"You stay here for the remainder of the night" he said sternly sitting her down on her bed.
He walked briskly towards the door without turning back; Mrs. Robbins came in as he left closing the door behind her.
Macrina was too shaken to understand what her handmaiden was asking; she responded with a vacant nod so she won't seem rude for not having the strength to pay attention.
The handmaiden removed the pins from her hair letting it down lock by lock, thoroughly brushing it, she was exhausted.
Slowly she lays on her side, last thing she remembered was the gas on the lamp going low and her consciousness drifting as the flames did.
Jonathan, swigged the vodka down as flashbacks of the night ran through his head.
The order killed his wife right before his very eyes, he was powerless.
He mourned her enough already there was nothing left.
He found Macrina hiding under her mother's bed.
His greatest fear took form right in front of him.
She transformed into the revolting creature he abhorred.
Dark veins clawing around her eyes as they grew wide, turning from brown to fiery gold.
Her grief, the sound of her wail, so sharp in sadness it would have broken anyone's heart.
The way her hands flailed around the bed, as she yelled "Come back! Father make her come back!"
"She needs to learn how to control it" he thought; He'll have to lock her away like he did Mina if she didn't.
The order cannot know about his daughter.
After what happened tonight though, how can he be certain that she is his?
She opened her eyes and the headache hit her like a shotgun.
The unsettling feeling of someone watching woke her up.
She sat up, her vision adjusting to the dimness that surrounded her.
"Mrs Robbins?" She whispered through the stillness, she heard no response.
"Don't be silly Macrina!" she reprimanded herself; "You're in your own house! You are safe…"
She slowed her breathing, removing the blanket that covered the lower half of her body.
She scooted to the side of her enormous bed, and reached for the carver chair.
Mrs Robbins always folds her robe neatly on the chair beside the bed.
"Where is it?" she kept reaching, until she felt it's back.
She leaned forward to give length to her grasp.
Watching as her hand disappeared into the darkness.
"Just a little bit more" she thought.
Then she felt a presence both familiar and sinister.
Instincts told her she should hide under the covers, but before she could move.
Something reached back and grabbed her.
Mrs. Robbins heard Macrina's screams.
She rushed towards the room; The door was locked.
She ran across the hall, knocking and calling for her master hysterically "Mr Harker! Mr Harker!" he did not respond.
She turned to the stairs intent on finding him and saw that he was already running up the steps headed for his daughter's room.
They opened the door realizing the screaming had stopped.
The light from the hall illuminated the room.
They saw Macrina seated on the bed, her feet suspended close to the floor.
She was staring at her hands.
Mrs Robbins Staggered towards her.
She took Macrina's shaking hands and sat beside her.
"It was just a dream, It wasn't real, We're here now" she assured her.
Macrina turned her head towards the window, as if directing them to look.
Mr Harker drew the curtains open to let the morning light shine through surprising Macrina.
"What time is it?" she asked confused.
"Its 4 hours to midday" answered Mrs Robbins.
Macrina took her hands back.
She stood up running her hands along her night dress trying to straighten the wrinkles.
"Forgive me, I don't know what got into me" she recovered in shame.
"Mrs Robbins, tidy her up and get her ready for the day" Mr Harker instructed.
Macrina walked towards her father's room.
She opened the door without knocking; it was against the rules.
She assumed the rules don't apply today.
Jonathan stood behind his desk.
"Are we going to bury my mother?" she asked with a straight face closing the door behind her.
"Never speak of my wife!" he said storming towards her and shaking her hard.
"She's my mother I have the right to!" she answered shaking his hands of hers.
Her actions won her a slap that almost broke her neck.
The burning sensation lingered on her cheek.
"Insolence and Disobedience, I can no longer recognize you" her father declared in disgust.
The words felt like ice cold water, it brought her back to her senses.
"Forgive me father" she repeated again and again as she held on to his arm.
Her imploring eyes attempting to bore into his punishing stare.
She can't afford to lose her father's affection.
He is all she has left.
"You can never speak of your mother again; you can never show anyone what you are"
"What i am?... What am I?" she asked puzzled.
"A monster" His words stabbed her.