Hello everyone! Please read, review and enjoy! The story actually gets way way way better! Kk? Well this story follows the books with my character added. Here it is!

1 Halloween

Mina walked along side her cousin as he led her to his friend's house. Mina had just moved here to this small town and didn't know many people other than her cousin Henry. It was Halloween night and she was going with him and his friend to a Halloween party. Henry was going as a vampire victim and his friend was going as a vampire himself. Mina felt that she had to go with the theme somehow. She had to go as a vampire's bride. She wore a blood red dress with black trimmings and bats randomly about.

Mina was a young orphan, and as Henry says like his friend Vlad. Her parents died when she was extremely young and doesn't remember much of them. Then her Aunt and Uncle took her in, naming her a member of their family. But after years of moving from place to place all over the world with her aunt, uncle, and cousin Joss, she got tired of traveling. She wanted stability in her life and she knew her Uncle couldn't provide that for her. So she requested she move with her other Uncle Peter and his family. Though she felt terrible for asking, they knew she needed a stable home. They sent her to Bathory to live with her Uncle Peter, Aunt Matilda, and two cousins, Henry and Greg.

She had lived in many places while with Joss and his parents. She had lived in California, Florida, Paris, Romania… and many other places. Now, as she adapts once more to a new setting, her cousin Henry is dragging her around everywhere.

Now, dressed in a charming red dress and the small charmed necklace around her neck, she fallowed Henry. The necklace meant much to Mina. It was fragile and was held by a thin black ribbon as a loose choker. From the black ribbon was a red jewel held in silver, a perfect circle. The silver melted down into a small charm under the red jewel. It was a dead black jewel in the shape of a heart. The silver hugged the heart and flew out in semi-wide silver bat wings. Mina remembered the day she got the necklace… it was just any other day in her newest home in Romania. An old man was selling jewelry and grabbed hold of her hand, she yelped and tried to pull away. He stared off into space in her general direction and whispered in an old, raspy voice 'She is to die by day, but I shall see she dies by night. The strength of the Nosferatu is that people will not believe in him.'

When the man released her she ran as fast as she could away from the man. When she slowed and caught her breath, she noticed he had slipped something into her hand before he let her go. The small necklace lay in her palm. A strange tug at her mind told her to keep it, wear it, and cherish it. And she had since then, wearing it whenever she can.

Then, as her hand grazed the tiny bat wings, her cousin started to talk to her.

"Just wait Mina! You're going to love Vlad, he's great." Henry told her as they turned up the drive to the front door.

"I'm not worried." She told him. Henry rang the door bell and a woman opened the door with a smile.

"Hi Nelly." Henry cheered when he saw her. They hugged as they greeted each other casually. "Nelly this is my cousin Mina. She's new here."

"Oh nice to meet you. Come inside." She ushered both cousins inside the house. Even though Mina had just told Henry she wasn't worried, she always felt calm as she headed to do something but always felt uncomfortable when it was happening. Now in this strange, new house she felt so uncomfortable she wanted to scream!

The woman named Nelly had them walk farther inside, Mina going first and then Henry. Then a blur of black flew out from the hallway and jumped in front of Mina. Mina yelped in a high pitched voice and jolted.

"I vant to suck your blood!" Someone shouted and Mina turned around in unison with her cousin to find a boy her age. He had dark, near black hair and dark eyes to match. His skin was ghostly pale and he wore a cheap cape around his shoulders. The cape was spread wide by his arms as he smiled with his joke. Henry broke into a fit of laughter and held his gut tightly.

Mina looked down in embarrassment when the vampire-dressed boy saw her. Her cheeks went warm like they always do and she squirmed slightly. Then she elbowed Henry and he stood tall, chuckling to himself.

"Oh, Vlad this is Mina. She is my cousin, she just moved here the other day. Our parents wanted her to come with us. Mina, this is Vlad."

For the first time in her life Mina looking into the dark black fires that formed Vlad's eyes. Mina felt a tug, as if the force of gravity to the earth all formed into the form of this boy. It ached and stabbed at her, a tender scar. Vlad stepped forward and held his hand to shack Mina's. As he got closer she felt the gravitational pull get stronger. She shook the cold hand but didn't look up at him. The touch made it stop, feeling like an electric current. But when he quickly slipped his hand away it all fell back to him. He had yanked his hand away from hers before they finished a full handshake.

"That's a sweet costume. Check me out. You'll just die." Henry did the Superman pose and showed his neck.

"No way!" Vlad stepped closer to see his neck. "What did you use?"

"Silly putty and raspberry jam." Mina muttered, watching the two friends. Henry grinned wider and Vlad looked at her for a few seconds. She once again looked down and blushed; she hated meeting new people, especially guys her age. Though she did see his face, his expression was confused.

"Seedless?" Vlad asked her, she squirmed again.

"Well, duh. Can't have seeds in my wound. Might get infected." Henry answered for her; she never owed her cousin more than she did now!

"Did you get enough to eat?" The woman named Nelly asked Vlad. He nodded and took out sunscreen. This confused Mina and she tilted her head in question. Vlad glanced at her again as he did so and she pretended she was interested in the carpet. He slid the sunscreen over his pale skin as he watched her; she shifted and looked at Henry.

"Party's over at midnight." Vlad told her and went toward the door.

"You won't need that." She told him, he froze. "I want you home by eleven."

"Eleven?" He echoed her in a whining tone. He rolled his eyes and gave her the tube of sunscreen. "But no one else will be leaving early, and besides, at midnight there's supposed to be some big surprise."

Mina looks at Vlad, then Henry in confusion. Henry nodded in approval. "We can't miss it." He told the woman.

"Well… Alright, but stick together, and if you get hungry, give me a call on my cell… I'll be at Deb's until late." She finally agreed and Mina saw Henry elbow Vlad.

"Matthew called me earlier, said Meredith will be there." Henry informed Vlad. Vlad glared at her cousin and hurried out the door with Mina chasing after them.

"Big thing at midnight, huh?" Henry asked his friend and Mina caught up. The other boy shrugged and fixed his cape.

"I'm a…" He once again looked at Mina but went back to Henry before she could look away. "Night-lover and she wants me home by eleven? I don't think so. Why doesn't she just follow me to the party and kiss me goodbye?"

"Hey, don't knock it. If it weren't for Nelly, you'd never get kissed." Vlad slowed down and Mina saw him turning pink but then added his own comeback.

"Like you've room to talk." Her cousin shrugged and kept walking.

"I've kissed plenty of girls." Mina shot him a look and he gave her one back that said 'you talk and I will kill you'.

"I'm not talking about your mom, dork." Vlad shot back at him. Mina hated it when she was with Henry. They didn't look much alike and he was rather popular wherever he went. So whenever they were together girls would always glare at her thinking they were together or something strange like that. And to add to that, Henry didn't care if she was there or not, meaning he would talk like she wasn't. He would talk about the most awkward guy stuff with his friends when she was there and it made her feel very out of place. No matter how uncomfortable she got he wouldn't stop until he's had his fun. She hated her cousin for that one reason.

"Neither am I. I'm talking about girls like Carrie Anderson and Stephanie Brawn." Her cousin told his friend.

"Stephanie will kiss anyone." Vlad added to his friend.

"Yeah. I know." Henry smiled widely, Mina hid a gasp. "Her sister's cute, though."

"Dude, that's gross. She just turned twelve." The Vlad boy told him, Mina now gapped openly at him in shock. Henry seemed to enjoy her shock while his friend seemed confused on why he was torturing her so.

"So?"

"So you'll be fourteen in like two months. It's gross."

"She's nice."

"Whether or not a girl will kiss you isn't a measure of how nice she is." Vlad explained to Henry, Mina found her lips curling upward at the boy she just met. She saw his eyes staring ahead of them; she fallowed his eyes to find a rather pretty girl in blue with angel wings. Was this the Meredith girl Henry had mentioned? Did Vlad like her or something? By the way he looked at her it would seem so.

"So what is Einstein?"

Both boys stopped and Mina stood two steps ahead of them, turning toward them.

"Girls who kiss in the back of the band room aren't nice." Vlad answered.

"I never told you it was the band room." Mina turned from Henry in confusion. Henry turned to make sure she wasn't listening and mumbled something to Vlad in a whisper. Mina couldn't hear it and frankly she wasn't sure if she wanted to. His friend shrugged and walked past the cousins. Mina never felt so left out in her life.

"Hey want some candy?" Henry asked, eyeing some younger kids in front of the trio.

"I shouldn't. Nelly's still ticked about last year."

"Oh come on! It'll be funny! Besides, if you don't do it… I'll totally tell Meredith that you like her."

"Dude! Not cool!" Vlad snapped, Mina was right he did like her. Mina glared at her cousin, he could be so cruel! "If we get caught you owe me big-time." Vlad started after the kids and Mina stepped in.

"Uh, wait!" She piped up, reaching her hand out as if to catch Vlad's shoulder. Both boys turn to her, she blushed madly. "I have candy from when I was helping pass out candy to the early trick-or-treaters." She muttered and held out the bag she had with her.

"Aw not fun!" Henry whined.

"You wanted candy you got it. Take her candy and let's go." Vlad told him, Henry glared at her and she smiled innocently at him. As they walked on Vlad leaned back and mouthed words to her behind Henry's shoulder. 'Thanks.'

She attempted to smile but once again she was just too shy. She hated being so shy, she didn't even get to talk to girls her own age because she was so shy! As they reached the house they could easily tell there was a party. Lights flashed everywhere in every color you could think of. Music screamed at them and tempted them to come and dance. As they went up the porch a woman stood at the door to greet everyone.

"Well, come on in, you evil dudes! The party's started and it's totally rockin'!" The three teenagers looked at the woman and put a reminder in their minds to avoid her. Adults attempting to be cool and young are scary.

Henry told Vlad something and walked off, leaving his best friend and cousin alone. Mina saw Vlad also leave her to sit at the end of the couch that stood along the far wall. She assumed he was waiting for Henry to return and wasn't sure if she should go with him. If he was sitting there just because he wanted to and not for her cousin she would feel totally stupid.

Mina started to make her way toward the couch to ask if he knew where Henry went, that was a good reason right? But when she was nearly three steps away she saw him watching two large boys their age and cringing away. She froze as they started to mock her cousins friend ruthlessly.

"Oh my god, check this geek out."

"Nice costume, goth boy." The other remarked after his friend. Mina stood there helplessly, not knowing to rush off or to stay.

"Nice breath, loser." Vlad snapped back with his head away from the boys. Mina didn't notice but she was slowly edging toward the boy in the cape, not until the two older boys saw her. She stopped and they headed toward the door to leave.

"Bite me!" One called back before leaving. Mina hurried after them, not to fallow but to get out of the crowded room. She sat out on the porch that ran along the length of the house. She really needed to learn how to work up the nerve to talk to people. She doesn't even like to be around people, much less talking. She hated herself for that, she sighed as she tried to work up the nerve to return to the party.

As she stood and turned toward the door she heard two pairs of loud stomps. She looked up and saw Vlad coming around to the front; by the expression on his face he was extremely upset. Mina could tell that it was either jealousy, anger, or just a really bad day. Her lips pouted and her eyebrows knitted together, she felt bad and worried for this boy. He was her cousin's best friend; he meant something to her family, meaning she had to at least be nice to him, right?

Then Henry burst out of the house and went to Vlad. "That's not what it looked like."

"This was a mistake. Maybe I should just go home." Vlad mumbled his voice cracking.

"Already? What about Meredith?" Henry asked him.

"It looked to me like she was in good hands." Vlad shrugged and hurried down the porch steps.

"You got it all wrong. I was trying to hook you up for the dance. You believe me, don't you?" Henry fallowed him and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Mina took slow steps to fallow them; if they were leaving she didn't want to be left alone.

Vlad smiled, and it looked forced to Mina, and shrugged. "Of course I do." Then the boys headed home with Mina chasing close behind.

"Did you hear about Mr. Craig?" Henry asked Vlad.

"What is he going to be out sick for another week? I don't think I can handle any more of Snelgrove's pop quizzes." Vlad guessed.

"People are saying he's been declared missing." The boys stopped walking and Mina looked back and forth in confusion.

"No way. Does anybody know anything?"

"Not really. They say he just up and disappeared."

"Weird."

"Yeah… Hey did you see Stephanie's sister in there? She was looking pretty nice."

"Dude. Seriously. She's twelve." Vlad continued walking and Mina fallowed and Henry came in last. They returned to Vlad's house and Henry insisted she stay with them until she had to be home. Henry was spending the night at Vlad's house, like normal, and Mina could stay as long as she wanted. They ended up watching a bunch of old horror movies. Most of them involved vampires or at least had a small mention of them.

"Do you both have an obsession with vampires or something?" Mina asked them at the end of Nosferatu. Vlad reached for the remote to find another movie on the movie channel and didn't answer. Henry stared at the credits, pretending to ignore her. "Just a question."

"Dude, let's watch Dracula! It's right there!" Henry cheered when he saw the movie. Mina munched on the chips that lay on Henry's lap as the movie start to play. It was just as any other vampire film, mildly interesting to Mina. She had nothing ageist vampires it's just that she never really bothered to learn about them. Joss never wanted her to…

Then, as the Count came into the story, the Count's name finally registered to the three teens. Count Vladimir Dracule of Transylvania. Mina slide glanced at the boy on the opposite end of the couch from her. He stared on at the film as if it was nothing. Did he plan to be a vampire and to share the same name as one of the most famous, or at least Henry said he was the most famous? Did he catch the name? Did he know about it before? Did he care? She went back to the movie and ignored it.

It wasn't until the leading female role entered the scene that she finally broke out. Mina Murray. Mina didn't know anything about this at all. But the irony was so unavoidable.

"That's weird." She muttered softly.

"Huh?" Henry turned to her. She shrugged easily and Vlad turned the volume down for her to talk.

"My name is Mina and you dressed me like her tonight for Halloween. And I just met you, Vlad, today and you're a vampire… I find it ironic." At the mention of his name and vampire, Vlad looked down.

"Hey, you're right! That's cool!" Henry piped in. Then he started to laugh uncontrollably and the others stared at him in question. "Oh that's great! That's just hilarious!"

"What?" Vlad asked his friend.

"Dracula and Mina end up together, right?"

"Yeah." Vlad answers, not understanding the question. Mina froze and paled as she heard Henry's words. "Why?"

"Mina… and Vlad…!" Henry gasped out, clutching his gut tightly. Vlad turned to her as he understood Henry's meaning. Mina blushed a deep red to match her dress and returned her eyes to the screen. As she did so she flushed when the scene was a romantic dinner with Dracula and Mina. She stood in a flash as her kin continued to laugh and whipped out her phone.

"I'm calling Matilda, it's late." She explained and hurried out.

"Aw come on, Mina!" Henry whined and slapped his hands on the couch as she let the phone ring. "You're no fun!"

"Well sorry but some of us have unpacking to do!" She replied and returned to the phone. "Hey Aunt Matilda, I'm ready to be picked up. Yeah you can come now if you want. Okay, see you soon, bye." Mina hung up the phone. "She will be here in five minutes."

"Why don't you just walk, I showed you the way?" Henry asked her, she shrugged.

"I get freaked out easily." She explained and Vlad turned to her.

"You live with Henry?" She nodded, not meeting his gaze.

"Yes." She admitted.

"Let's just take you." Henry suggested. Mina stared at him for a moment and called her aunt once again. "Hey Aunt Matilda, have you left yet? Yeah, Henry and his friend said they can walk me back. Okay, I will. Thanks, bye Auntie."

"And…?" Vlad asked.

"She said sure." Mina fixed her hair out of nervous habit and picked up her back, swinging it over her shoulder. The boys stood up and fallowed her to the door. After Vlad shouted to Nelly where they were going they started out the door.

It didn't take long at all to get to Henry's house; it was only six doors away from Vlad's. Once she was about to open the door she turned and waved softly to her cousin and his friend. Vlad simply waved back but Henry decided to call out to her.

"See ya tomorrow Countess!" Henry called; Vlad whipped around and slapped him hard on the arm.

"Shut up." He said blankly, and Henry started to head back to Vlad's house. Before he fallowed Vlad called up to her. "Don't listen to him, he's and idiot!"

She nodded and waved again to both of them, Henry at a farther distance. It was an okay Halloween, she thought, this is a nice place. Henry still likes to freak me out and annoy me. But his friend is nice… I wonder if I will have either of them in my classes on Monday