A/N: Thank you for the latest reviews! Enos, your comment really made my day! This story was completely inspired by Die unstillbare Gier so for you to say that it reminds you of that song is quite a compliment (as are your comments about my Count being the same Count from the stage - thank you so much!) This next bit is a little shorter than the previous installments but there's more excitement to come later on. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Anneliese slowly sat up in bed, rubbing her aching head and wishing Koukol would just leave her be. She had opted to sleep through breakfast but now he was pestering her to come down for lunch. At least she had thought it was lunchtime but as she opened her eyes now she realized it was well past sunset. She got up to light the gas lamp and gasped when she turned around to find Breda sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Breda... That's your name, right? Breda?" Breda smiled and nodded. "My name is Anneliese." Breda nodded again. Anneliese carefully sat down on the bed beside her. She seemed nice enough but Anneliese couldn't forget the fact that she was still a vampire. "Can't you speak?" Breda didn't respond. Instead she lowered her eyes to Anneliese's mouth and reached up to touch her own. "What? Do I...? Oh." Anneliese touched her face and she felt sick all over again. She had fallen asleep before she washed up and now her face and neck were covered in the Frenchman's dried blood. "I think I need a bath," she said to Breda, forcing herself to laugh in an effort to keep from crying.

Breda grabbed Anneliese's hand and led her to the bathroom where a tub full of hot water was already drawn. "Did you do this for me?" Breda nodded and began helping Anneliese out of her clothes and into the tub. With a long sigh, Anneliese sunk into the hot water. "Thank you, Breda." Anneliese looked to where the vampire had been only to find she was now alone in the room.

They're all so different, she thought as she slowly washed the blood away from her skin. Von Krolock and his son were like night and day but even Herbert had an air of coldness about him that reminded Anneliese of the Count even when he was trying to be civil. Then there was that... creature that had attacked her. It was the only one that had tried to harm her. All the others had kept their distance. All except Breda who was nothing like any of them. Breda was all the proof Anneliese needed to know that when Herbert had told her that vampires have little use for their emotions, he was only speaking from personal experience. Anneliese pushed all these thoughts from her head. She was finally allowed to have a bath in privacy and she wanted to enjoy it.

Once Anneliese was clean she went back to her room to find Breda waiting for her with clean nightclothes pulled out for her. As she dressed she noticed Breda admiring the dresses in the armoire. "Take whichever one you like." Breda looked back at Anneliese and Anneliese smiled at her. "Go ahead, pick one out."

"They aren't yours to be giving away." Herbert strode into the room carrying a tray which he set down on the small table.

"What is the harm in letting her have one dress?" Anneliese asked defensively. "It's not as if I will be needing them after tomorrow."

"Why? Where are you going?" Anneliese glared at Herbert and he shrugged. "They aren't yours, that's the harm in it. You simply can't give away something that doesn't belong to you."

"Who do they belong to?"

"My father. You are certainly free to ask him if Breda may have one of the dresses but under the circumstances..."

"You know what happened?" Anneliese asked. She wondered if Von Krolock had told him or if he had witnessed it himself and had chosen not to interfere.

"Of course I know. By the way, there is your dinner." He motioned to the tray he had put on the table. "Koukol had just left it on the dinner table and it was getting cold so I brought it up for you." Anneliese was about to thank him but he cut her off. "Because I was already on my way up here," he said quickly. "I wasn't trying to do you a favor."

"Of course you weren't, Herbert." Anneliese couldn't help but smile. "But thank you anyway." Herbert moved to leave but Anneliese stopped him before he could. "Herbert."

"Hmm?"

"Is your father... Is he angry?" Herbert exchanged glances with Breda and she left the room.

"Of course he is," he said when Breda was gone.

"Is that it?" Herbert gave her a questioning look. "I mean is he just angry or... is he sad as well?"

"Father? Sad?" Herbert laughed. "My father doesn't get sad and if he did, the only thing he would have had to be sad about was the horrible mess that was left. Why on earth would you think he was sad?" Anneliese thought of the way Von Krolock had wiped his eyes and wondered if she had been mistaken, if maybe he had only been wiping away blood that had gotten into his eyes.

"I had never seen anything so... horrific..." Anneliese's voice wavered as she struggled to keep her tears at bay. "He went too far. He went too far with that poor man and with myself."

"You still don't get it do you?"

"Get what?"

"Everything he has done that has you so upset with him all the time could have been prevented but you continue to push him."

"Are you saying it's my fault that man is dead now?" She shouted. "Are you saying I deserved all this? That I deserved to be forced to watch him die so horribly? That I deserved to be forced to..." Her stomach tensed at the thought of the way the Frenchman's blood on Von Krolock's fingers had tasted in her mouth.

"You put him in a compromising position. He wouldn't have done it if you-"

"You sound just like your father!" Anneliese screamed and stomped her foot. "I thought you were different!"

"Anneliese, I am a vampire. What exactly do you expect of me?" Anneliese sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Apparently too much," she said as she stared at the floor.

"If you would stop provoking him your time here would be much easier." Herbert sat on the bed beside Anneliese and slid the table with her dinner on it in front of her. "You really should eat."

"Stop provoking him? What should I have done then? Just sat around all week and wait like a good little girl for him to come and kill me? And get this away from me! I'm not hungry!" Anneliese kicked the table, knocking the tray of food onto the floor.

"Father won't be able to kill you."

"Is he going to let me go?" She asked hopefully.

"No, I mean that he won't be able to kill you because, after last night, once Koukol sees this mess he's going to kill you first." Anneliese couldn't help but laugh.

"Herbert," she said when she finally stopped laughing. Tears began to sting her eyes.

"Yes?"

"I'm scared." Anneliese looked at Herbert but found little comfort in his cold eyes.

"It won't be so bad, Anneliese. It will be over before you know it. You can stay with us here in the castle and-"

"He's going to kill me," she whispered, not wanting to hear her own words. "I just know he's going to kill me."

"Anneliese..."

"Don't. Just... don't." Anneliese wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Tomorrow is my final day. No one will come for me and the next day your father is going to kill me. Nothing you can say will change it. I've made him absolutely miserable ever since I've been here. He's going to kill me. I know he will."

"Father is always miserable. He's not going t-"

"Do you even care?" Anneliese stared at Herbert but he said nothing. "Do you even care what happens to me? If he decides to kill me, would you try to stop him?"

"I can't-"

"I didn't ask you what you could or could not do!" She snapped. "I asked you if you would." Fully expecting him to say no, she was surprised when he remained silent, but she wouldn't allow herself to believe it actually meant something. "No, of course you wouldn't. Because I deserve whatever I have coming to me, isn't that right?"

"Anne-"

"Get out."

"An-"

"Get out!" She yelled and she gave him a shove so he would get off the bed. "Just get out!" She lay down on the bed, turned her back toward Herbert and closed her eyes.