'Van Helsing!' called Carl a few hours later and the monster hunter took the stairs two at a time to find Carl in the tower, a slim black, leather bound book in his hand.

'What is it, Carl?' he asked as he took a step closer to his shaking friend.

'We'll need Melania to be sure, but I think I've found Dracula's connection to her.' Replied Carl as he passed Van Helsing and started down the winding staircase. Gabriel watched him go with a slightly confused look, but followed him anyway.

'Miss Melania?' asked Carl, a slight shake to his voice. Melania spun on her heels to look over at him and visibly paled as she saw the book in his hand.

'Where did you find that?' she asked him, fear in her stance, eyes and voice.

'In the tower,' he replied, thumbing through the pages and missing her reaction, 'Do you know Elisabeth Bathory?'

'I did.' He caught the fear this time and looked up at her with apologetic eyes.

'How?'

'She was a noble woman who lived just a few miles away from the place where I grew up in Hungary.'

'And?'

'And I went to her castle just like many other girls.'

'And what happened there?'

'Nothing, she taught us to be proper young ladies, but obviously it never really stuck.' She was avoiding the question and everyone knew it.

'What happened Melania?' asked Gabriel softly as he entered the room more fully after eavesdropping on the conversation between her and Carl.

'Nothing, she taught us how to be proper ladies, that is it.'

'This diary tells us differently.' Replied Carl.

'That diary was never to be found.'

'But it was Mel, you never talked about what happened at the Bathory castle, and we moved not long after you came back home, what happened?' asked Ivan.

'Elisabeth Bathory was a noble woman, widowed early in her years, and one day a servant girl of hers was brushing her hair, but she pulled too hard, and snagged it. Lady Bathory slapped the poor girl across the face. Now that is not so unusual but Lady Bathory enjoyed wearing rings, many of them, and when she slapped that poor girl it cut her cheek drawing blood. Lady Bathory thought that the blood on her hand made the skin underneath softer, smoother, more youthful. So she had another servant of hers, a man, kill the girl and drain her of her blood. She bathed in it, thinking it made it her look so much younger, and then she became obsessed with her beauty and youth. When she had exhausted her resources around her castle, she sent further and further away for virgin girls in villages, and had them report to the castle under the false pretense of getting an education and a higher place in the world.'

'Didn't anyone ask where their daughters had disappeared to?' asked Gabriel and she shook her head.

'No, Lady Bathory told the families that she had married them off to far away nobles. No one ever asked for proof. So she continued to kill the girls. She wouldn't kill you right away of course, she drained you of blood, then left you alone for a few days, and then came back for more.'

'How long were you there?'

'A month and a half, she drained me of blood several times,' she pulled up her pant leg and showed three puncture wounds, evenly spaced on her calf, 'But then someone investigated the disappearance of their daughter because Lady Bathory had been stupid enough to take noble's daughters when she had taken all the peasant girls. And they found several bodies in the woods surrounding her castle, and they stormed it. Well, Lady Bathory heard them coming and she ordered her servants to kill the girls that were left. We were kept in the basement, in cages, sometimes with other girls, sometimes alone. I was alone. And I heard the screams of the other girls and when the cage next to mine was opened I knew I was next, but I was afraid to die. So when the door to my cell was opened I pushed as hard as I could against the door, and the man opening it flew backwards. I ran through the hallways and somehow found my way outside.'

'Then what?' asked Gabriel as Ivan turned away, his stomach churning at his sister's description of the place she had been held in.

'Then I slowly made my way home, told my parents that I had been kicked out of her castle and that I was to stay with them again if they would take me. They did, and they never asked me what had happened.'

She stopped her story in tears and every man in the room felt their heart twist at her story.

'Elisabeth Bathory is Dracula's new bride.' Managed Carl and Melania's head snapped up in fear.

'What?'

'That is what he wants you for. You were the one that escaped. She wants your blood.'

Melania visibly paled and took a step away from Carl as though she could protect herself if she stayed far away from him.

'Melania?' asked Gabriel as he took a step towards her.

'She's back?' she asked in a whisper, covering her mouth with a shaking hand, trying to compose herself.

'Yes.'

'As a real vampire?'

'Yes.'

'And she wants my blood?'

'Yes.'

She stayed silent as her entire body started to shake uncontrollably and slowly sank into the couch behind her.

Gabriel and Ivan exchanged frightened looks at her reaction and Ivan jerked his head. Gabriel took his gesture and sat next to the trembling woman, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

'We won't let her attack you.' He told her gently, but she didn't stop shaking.

'Do they know where I am?' she asked and the three men exchanged bewildered looks.

'Yes, they know where you are.'

'Then it's only a matter of time?' she asked, confirming her worst fear, the one thought that plagued her dreams, turning them into nightmares.

'Yes.'

'Well then, what are we waiting for? We should start to prepare.' She replied, her shaking now under control.

'Maybe we should hide you, just until this is over.' Suggested Ivan but Melania gave him such a withering look that he instantly regretted it.

'No, I won't hide. If she wants me, then she can come an claim me.' Her voice and eyes were steely.

'Very well, then we should prepare.' Said Gabriel, joining in on the conversation.