MARI

Mari wakes up slowly, her head throbbing as she tries to massage her sore jaw only to have her hands stop abruptly a few inches off the mattress beneath her. What on earth is going on? She opens her eyes a bit wider, tilting her head back as well as she could and letting out a disgruntled noise when she sees the ropes wrapped tightly around her wrists and binding them to the metal bars of the headboard.

"You are finally awake," a man drawls, Mari having to blink a few times before her gaze allows her to focus on the speaker. It was Dracula, of course, and she should have recognized him sooner just by his voice, but she was feeling a bit woozy. "If I release you, are you going to try and fight me?" Maris just gives the count a blank look, not bothering to speak. He takes his time walking over to Mari, sitting on the edge of the bed, running his fingers through her loose hair and down her neck.

"Don't touch me," she growls, giving him a scathing look. Dracula pays no attention to her discomfort, leaning down and kissing her jugular before breathing in her scent deeply and nuzzling his face against the crook of her neck.

"You smell as good as when I first met you." She tries to squirm away from him but the attempt is futile and she knows it. "I wonder if you'll taste the same." His fangs brush against her neck but they do not pierce the soft flesh.

"Bite me and my brother will kill you!" His dark laugh fills the large room they're in and his lips move from her neck to her ear.

"Would you like to finally remember, to know about some of your past, Marishka?" His cool breath makes her shiver involuntarily. "You were so beautiful, yet so much like him." Why can't he speak like a normal person? Her brown eyes begin to glaze over as she tries to fight back the avalanche of a memory threatening to overwhelm her. I can't let my guard down around Dracula, not when he's sure to go in for the kill. She groans, quickly losing the battle and her grip on the present.

Marishka walks through the halls of Valerious Manor, heading towards the front doors and the freedom they offered. She'd been cooped up inside ever since the stranger came to the village to help them battle Dracula and she was growing tired of pacing the rooms. There were only so many hiding places to discover before one grew bored of looking. "Where do you think you're going," a deep voice asks from the shadows. The stranger steps out of the shadows and in front of her, blocking the doors. "You know you shouldn't leave the manor." Her eyes meet his dark ones, seeing similarities between the two of them that identified them as siblings.

She'd been raised in Vaseria all her life, she was expected to marry the young prince in a few years, but now all of that might change. Gabriel Van Helsing had their father's looks and several of the young women in the village would stare whenever he passed by, but he wasn't completely human and so couldn't be bothered with mortal women and their passing fancies. He had been an angel once, the Left Hand of God, and so revered in the Valerious home.

"I was just going for a quick ride, brother." He gives Mari a stern look and she relented a bit. "It wasn't going to be long, an hour at the most!"

"You can once Dracula is dead. We both know what he'd do if he found you alone, if he found out who you were." Unlike her father and older brother, she had very little angelic blood and was only alive because their father had fallen in love with a mortal woman, Marishka's mother. None had known about that until Gabriel came to town and spotted her among the Valerious children, the shape of her nose and golden hue to her eyes marking her as Gabriel's youngest sister. "Just wait until later, I do not wish to lose you."

"Oh, Gabriel, I'll be fine. Besides, how will he know who I am if I do not tell him?" Sometimes her brother is too overprotective.

"Then allow someone to go with you, it would make me feel better than to know you're alone." His dark eyes shine with worry as he looks down at her. "Take the prince, you both have grown close... On second thought, take Denisa. You and the Prince should get some distance from each other."

"Brother, most girls my age are already married, some even have children. Why am I not allowed that?"

"You are not most girls, Marishka, you are my sister and I say you are too young for that life." Gabriel had assumed guardianship of her and was in the process of dissolving any plans to marry her to Nicolae. "You no longer belong to this family and I won't have you married at just twenty-one." She looks past him at the doors, not caring one way or another if she married the prince or not. "I love you, dear."

"Please allow me to go riding," she begs," I need fresh air, Gabriel!" Hesitantly he nods his consent before pulling his sister into a tight embrace. "I love you as well." As soon as he lets Mari go, she runs out the doors to the stables, walking up to a black Stallion named Ares, given to her by Prince Nicolae. "Hello, my friend, are you ready for a quick ride?" The horse neighs excitedly, making her laugh. "Calm down so I can saddle you, you silly thing!" She saddles it and they begin a fast trot out of the stables to their favorite spot only fifteen minutes away—a large hill overlooking the village and some of the manor. "This view will never get old." She ties Ares reins loosely to a branch. He seems a bit restless, which is odd for him. "What's wrong, boy?

"It's amazing how similar you and your brother look," says a rich voice from the trees. Mari look around her, all her senses on guard. "Though, I can see some of your mother's traits in you as well."

"Come out and face me, coward!" If this is who she thinks it is, then she's in trouble! She turns at a small noise and finds herself falling backwards. She had run into the man. Mari scrambles to her feet and searches the hidden pocket in her heavy cloak desperately for her dagger only to find it missing. The man, Count Dracula, backs her against a tree, removes her cloak to reveal the snow white dress she was wearing, and holds her dagger to her throat. His nearly black eyes never leave her brown ones.

"I wonder how your brother will handle your death." He licks his lips and swallows as if he's thirsty.

"You are a monster," she spits at him," and my brother will kill you!" Dracula lets out a low, threatening growl meant to silence her. "You are weak compared to him!" His long fingers wrap around her throat, pointing her dagger between her breasts—the perfect position to pierce her heart.

"Maybe I can make you into my first bride, my favorite bride." He breathes in my scent. "It wouldn't take long and it would crush your pathetic brother." The hand on her neck moves to her shoulder. She tries to force her body to move but it's as if she's frozen to the spot, staring into dark eyes that were turning a bright blue.

A sharp and sudden pain starts in Mari's neck, but she's unable to react to it apart from gasping. The next thing she knows, Dracula is falling to the ground, her brother's sword in his side. She collapses, a scream of pain tearing out of her throat as the trance is broken. Crimson stains her ivory skin and white dress as her body tries to fight the venom. Her brother places her head in his lap, brushing her bronze hair off her face. "G-Gabriel," she sobs," h-hard to f-fight." He places a finger on her lips to silence her. Marishka's body jerks in pain, making her groan.

"You'll be okay, don't worry," Gabriel assures," just hang on!" The nearly unbearable pain makes it hard to speak, so she settles for another groan. It was two hours before the pain begins to dull, allowing her to breathe normally again instead of in sharp gasps. Gabriel had his back against the tree, his eyes closed as he continued to move his fingers through her thick hair. Shaking, he helps her to sit up, running his hands over the puncture marks near her shoulder, now just small scars.

"I'm not human anymore," she rasps, throat raw from her screaming.

"I'm not either," he reminds her gently, giving her one of his rare smiles. "We'll brave this world together, Marishka."

Mari's eyes snap open, wincing at Dracula's close contact as he pressed against her. His eyes were black again and he had one of his strong arms around her waist, the other tangled in her hair and his lips on her neck. When he pulls back, his pale lips are stained with blood/ Mari lets out a yelp, once again trying to move away from him, but she was too weak from the blood loss.

"D-did you just…. Am I a vampire?"