Everything was pitch black, Astrid opened her eyes to be only welcomed by darkness. Panic was starting to consume her as she found she was confined into a tight space. To the left and right of her she could feel the smooth almost velvet like material on the walls and a hard wooden lid above her. She was in a coffin she could only assume, there was a first for everything and a coffin was one of them. Putting pressure on the lid with her hands she pushed the lid off till a loud thud from lid hitting the floor could be heard. It was night time for sure as Astrid could see the moon hang high in the air out the window. She had never slept in a coffin before, even with being a vampire it did creep her out some. Stepping out of the coffin ,she realized it was not her room. The room reminded Astrid of a prison dark cold , and damp as she walked towards the exit.
Astrid could see one of the knobs turn slowly on the door. She waited next to the coffin to see what would present itself behind the door. Sighing in relief when she realized it was only Igor who stumbled in through the door. " The master wishes you to join him in the library, please follow me." Igor lifted up his lantern as it shined it's light into Astrid's face. Astrid shielded her eyes with her hands from the soft glow of the lantern till her eyes slowly adjusted. " Tell your master to piss off will you. I'm staying put!" She folded her arms while leaning against the coffin, tempting Igor to make her even do a damn thing. Igor smirked for the master had told him before retrieving Astrid that she wouldn't come easily. " The master also said if you do not join him , you will starve for a week." "A week!" laughed Astrid to herself for she had gone months before without eating before. Her positive thinking was short lived when she began to hear the growling from her stomach. Igor could hear the rumbling from her stomach and chuckled to himself before turning around. "Seems your stomach has chosen for you , now follow me."
Astrid clenched at her stomach trying to keep the growling at bay. She reluctantly followed Igor out of the room and down the hallway. The hatred she had for Dracula right now was undeniable. The thought of tearing him to shreds when she saw him was oh so tempting. Pain was what she wanted him to feel, to feel years of pain just like she had suffered. While deep in thought still Astrid noticed at the end of the hallway a portrait of Dracula and three other people. Upon getting closer to it she realized it was Dracula and his three brides. Astrid sighed in relief when she realized she only had to contend with one vampire and not four. The first bride could be see touching Dracula's shoulders in the portrait and that was Verona. Verona from what she could remember was the eldest out of the three brides as well as the leader of the group. The brunette never gave her and her family too much trouble unlike the blonde and the red head. Mariska and Aleera were their names. Mariska was known to be a tease and played with her food , while Aleera had dangerous jealous streak. The three brides wore their normal green, gold, and pink flimsy dresses. Disgusting to look at thought Astrid as they left nothing to the imagination.
Astrid was too engrossed at the portrait that she didn't notice Igor holding the door open for her. Igor coughed loudly as to get her attention away from what she was preoccupied with. She shifted her attention to room before her that appeared to be a library slash study of some sort. Every inch of the walls were covered with shelves full of books. A massive fire place was to the left of her with lion sculptures guarding the entrance to the fireplace. Astrid could see Dracula seated on one of the black leather couches. The glow of the fire lit up his face as his blue eyes stared off into the embers before him. " Master I summoned Ms. Valerious as promised." Said Igor before bowing his head. " leave us. "commanded Dracula. Igor quickly closed the doors behind Astrid as Dracula and herself were completely alone now. Dracula placed the novel he had been busy reading to the side while motioning with his hand for Astrid to join him. Oh this was not good thought Astrid. Her thoughts of killing him earlier vanished only to be replaced with fear as she sat on the opposite sofa from him. " My my Astrid such thoughts should not be present in the mind of a lady such as yourself." Since the establishment of her bond he had unlimited access to her thoughts although lately they seemed to be fill anger and guilt. However this was to be expected and Dracula knew within time that would change.
" Well sir least we have a good understanding on where each of us stands." Said Astrid sarcastically. Dracula chuckled at her comment before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a flask filled with blood, surely she would be hungry he thought. The faint scent of blood immediately hit her senses causing her mouth to water. Dracula tossed the flask over to Astrid before landing in her lap. She didn't waist time opening the flask and downing all of the sweet of blood with each gulp. The blood made her feel warm and satisfied , but of course she wanted more. This blood was different , a kind Astrid had never tasted before. " Thirty years old perfectly aged, don't you agree?" Immediately Astrid felt like she was gonna be sick. The guilt of drinking human blood when it was forbidden terrified her. " You look like you just seen a ghost, are you alright?" asked Dracula. It started to dawn on him the Ventrue were brainwashed to deny the simple pleasures of hunting and drinking from mortals. " Don't fret Astrid there's plenty more where that came from besides I figured you wouldn't want to talk on an empty stomach anyways." " I want some more please." Said Astrid. Amused by her blood lust he reached over to the crystal glass next to him on the table and handed it over to Astrid. She immediately snatched it out of his hands and downed it like the last one. Barely coming up for sir she finally finished before handing the glass back to him.
" What do you wanna talk about now?" Astrid finally asked once finished feeding. " Many things I'd like to discuss tonight, for starters I'd like to set some ground rules." Astrid's eye brows peaked with interest. Rules? Really was she a child in his eyes that she needed rules? She thought. " No Astrid I don't consider you a child , but as lord to this castle and you as my guest, I'd like to make known of what my expectations are." " Get out of my head!" shouted Astrid. She was gripping the wooden arm to couch tightly till the knuckles on her hand turned white. His no respect for her wishes and now privacy was pushing her over the edge. Ignoring her remark he continued on with what he was saying. " As I was saying I have certain expectations. The first is that you obey to my every command, for I know my dear what is in your best interest." She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth was he actually serious? The man was completely deranged she was sure of it. " You're very daft if you think I'm going to go along with this." " Well Astrid let's just say my methods of making you see my way are very convincing. It won't take you long to come around." " Methods?!" interjected Astrid before the Count could go on further with this nonsense. " Disobey me Astrid and you will soon find out. Now second is you are to stay confined in the castle. As you found out earlier there is no escaping. Even if you did , with our bond I'll always find you."
She tried to read Dracula's thoughts right then and there. Her hope was if they shared a bond , she could read his thoughts too. It was up in the air if he giving out empty threats or sinister threats that were actual promises he would uphold. " Nice try Astrid" was all she could make out. He successfully blocked her attempts to infiltrate his mind. A smiled crept upon his face for he knew he had her at a disadvantage. A puppet controlled by the puppet master to obey his every whim he thought to himself. " I need to ask you something. You mentioned before you killed my husband that my father promised you to me. What did you mean by that?" asked Astrid. " Your father called me upon on the night you were about to be born. I remember that night all too well, for father was in a panicked state." Astrid listened intently for it intrigued her how none of this was ever mentioned to her. " Your mother Catherine apparently was in labor for two days and it the seemed the both of you weren't going to make it out alive. Your mother never set eyes on you yet, but she loved you enough to give you a chance at life. Boris was against it , but your mother insisted in a matter of desperation. It was then your father made a deal with me that if I was able to bring into this world alive , you would be mine at the age of 25. Holding my end of the deal I helped successfully delivering you before your mother past." Astrid was in shock she didn't know what to say. How could her father promise her to this monster before her? Desperate or not she was hurt , but could only hope Dracula was lying.
" I also remember the day you disappeared when you were 23 years of age." Dracula continued. " I had awaited so many years to have you by my side, I even forbade my brides to harm you. It crossed my mind that your father wasn't being honest with me and I was enraged he didn't keep his promise. I asked my brides to hunt him down for I knew he took a trip towards the sea. Needless to say I captured him and made him apart of my experiments for going back on his promise." Astrid by now was crying softly to herself as Dracula just admitted to killing her father. More importantly she felt responsible for not being there to protect him. Arnold had turned her when she was 23 and cause of the shame , she fled Transylvania in fear of what her family would think. " So Astrid don't you feel that was a good example of what will happen if you disobey me?" " You monster!" said Astrid before jumping out of her seat. She tried to lunge at Dracula as he still remained seated. Dracula however was too fast and slammed her with his weight against one of the walls. Some books fell towards the floor as her back came into contact with the shelves. " Let me fill you in with something else you don't know. Did you know Arnold had more that one wife?" "Lies!" shouted Astrid in between sobs. Dracula grabbed her by the chin with one hand so she was looking at him. " You ever wondered why he would make all those trips to Milán without you Astrid hmmmm?" " How dare you slander my husband's name. I was with him for over a hundred years I think I would know if anything was up.!" He started to laugh how naïve she was to the situation or that Arnold was very good at keeping a double life. She needed to know how Arnold truly was, for it was Dracula's hope that maybe the anger of her dead husband's betrayal might help with her trust in him. "lily and Cecilia were their names , I almost forgot. It seems we should pay one of them a visit if you don't believe me." " Stop it! Please!" cried out Astrid. She was sobbing uncontrollably in front of him. The frustration in his face softened as he realized he may have went a bit too far. " Astrid my dear I know this not want you wanted to hear, but you needed to know." Said Dracula.
" Get out of my face!" said Astrid before she scratched him on the side of his face with her free hand . Blood started to ooze from five long slits of opened flesh on the side of his face. Immediately Astrid got scared as she realized what she had done in anger. Dracula's eyes were turning to their menacing electric blue and hit cuts on his face slowly started to heal. Without thinking he backhanded her across the face. The impact was hard enough to cause her to fly backwards till she hit the other wall. Astrid covered her face with her hands as a bunch of books fell upon her, burying her underneath. Dracula quickly teleported over to the pile of books and started tossing books aside. He combed through several dozen books in a haste trying unbury Astrid. Confusion crept over his face as he got to the bottom of the pile to find Astrid missing. His eyes gazed around the room , he could not see her, but he could still sense she was still in the room. Finally looking up at the ceiling he could see Astrid hanging upside down looking down at him. She had a pained look in face as her hand was placed on her cheek where he had striked her. " Hopefully you have learned not to disrespect me again. Now I demand an apology from you. You can stay up there as much as you like till I get one." Dracula made a turn towards the sofa awaiting for a witty remark from Astrid, but silence was all he could hear. " Oh and Astrid take as long as you need, we do have forever you know." Snickered Dracula before seating himself before the fire again.