Sorry to keep you waiting forever, but here's a bit to tide you over! I do hope you are still enjoying this. Here's a bit more and I promise I'll upload a long chapter soon! Love you all!

OOO

They were upset.

Rebecca gathered as much, but their pain did not amount to her own. It could not amount to her own. For she had had her own heart ripped out from her and smeared across the ground. She'd done it herself. She had inflicted these wounds with her own hands. Had she not just listened, had she not just been more attentive, none of this would have happened. They were always too lenient with Sarah. Rebecca had thought they had reared her, but deep down she knew, she knew they'd always been too lenient.

This disgusting obsession. This unholy favor she'd always had towards those things. When she was younger (even as a child, she'd been so beautiful) she'd ask about the vampires. She wanted to see the castle. She'd sing strange songs Rebecca had not taught her and she'd assumed she'd learned from friends had they been… Had they been from him? Had he been corrupting her all those years and they had not known it? How could she had known it? How could…

They would all cease speaking when Rebecca walked near to them. Those who inhabited the tavern would not say a word to her now. They'd put up more garlic, they'd hung more crosses, but none of them did anything. None of them said anything. The Count never took from the village, and he'd taken two in one night. And they'd taken Sarah. They'd not taken some baudy woman who'd found their favor: they'd taken Sarah. No one was safe now, least of all Rebecca.

"…sounds romantic," Rebecca heard a small voice muse. Three little ones were sitting at a table, an unpleasant face the only adult among them. Annabelle, the gypsy woman, was smiling at them like a serpent.

"She is a very special girl," Annabelle responded. Rebecca's blood was boiling. Special? Special to be courted and gutted by that beast? No, not gutted, no. No doubt she was just the same as he was now, for the boy and the professor had not returned. Were they gone now too?

"Get out of my inn," Rebecca said coldly. The gypsy's expression did not change. "I don't want the likes of you here."

"Now, Madame Chagal," Annabelle began. "I wouldn't be so cross if I were you. This is not a funeral, but a baptism. A birth to a new life."

"Get out!" Rebecca barked loud enough for the entire bar to hear. There were tears in her eyes. No doubt they all could see the tears in her eyes but damn them all the same. Let them see her cry, they'd discuss her regardless.

Annabelle stood. Annabelle seemed a hundred feet taller than Rebecca when she stood before her. She seemed infinitely younger, yet infinitely older all at the same time. This woman was something not human, Rebecca knew that. Perhaps she herself was in league with the vampires. Yes, Rebecca imagined as much.

"Be wise, Rebecca Chagal," the gypsy warned. "Be very wise."

OOO

Sarah thought for certain that there was no better thing in this world than a hot, hot bath. She supposed she liked them hotter now, for feelings of temperature were strange and equal parts keener and less keen than they ever were. That made little sense, but a lot of this made little sense. Most of this made little sense. It made little sense to be awoken by Alana in the night time to find and empty bed and whole plan set out for her. Sarah was to bathe, be dressed, and then meander about the castle until morning. No leaving. No going to the village. The master of the castle was nowhere to be seen, but Sarah knew he had given the orders.

He was not there when she awoke. She had not noticed when he left. There was no sign he had been there at all. It could've been a dream, another one of her strange dreams, if it were not from the discomfort between her legs and the aching on her neck. Both had been bizarre but neither one entirely unpleasant. It had felt like he loved her. Sarah knew many people who did that did not love each other, but it had felt like he loved her. Yet now he was gone and Sarah was unsure again.

It did not matter, she decided. It did not have to matter. The bath was warm and luxurious and that was all that mattered for the moment. Her mind kept wondering where he had gone but she knew that was just another thing she would not receive an answer to. Her whole life was becoming filled with questions she would not receive answers to.

At least her hunger had been sated and her mind put at ease. The voices that had tormented her had grown quiet since the previous morning. Emilian had offered her his blood. 'I will sustain you,' he had said. Sarah had not even known that a possibility, but the blood had been red and warm and she had wanted it so she took it from his wrist without consideration. He had pet her and called her sweet names and Sarah did not care about the bizzarity of anything. She loved him. It had felt like she loved him.

"Where has he gone?" Sarah asked when Alana came to fetch her from the bath. The woman draped a robe about Sarah and brought her back to her bedchamber.

Alana spoke, "He's business to attend to, mistress. You needn't worry yourself with it."

Sarah sat at her vanity, "What am I to do then? What am I to do while he is gone?"

"Well, whatever you will, I suppose, mistress." Alana set about combing Sarah's hair. She thought perhaps it was going to be done up again like it had been for the ball, but Alana left it down save for a few pieces she pinned back. Sarah thought she looked rather plain to be a princess. "But you must not leave the grounds, mistress. He was very strict about that."

Of course, Sarah thought to herself. On that note he was unchanging. Oh, Sarah understood him not. She did not understand this angel, this man, who had brought her here and now seemed to have some plan with her she could not comprehend. What did he want? Or, more importantly, what did she want? Sarah did not even know that. Not even so miniscule of a thing did she know.

But nevermind it. After Sarah was dressed and primped like some little doll, she was left alone to her own devices. A thing I am accustomed to, she reminded herself plainly. In the vanity mirror, there was no one reflected. Sarah found that the oddest thing. She pressed her hand against the cold glass and found nothing to greet her there. It seemed there were a plethora of peculiarities to discover.

Sarah stood up from the vanity in a dress far too fine for her to just sit about. It was a green gown as deep as emerald with dark lace accents. Another beautiful piece left for her for unknown reasons. Well, she knew part of the reason, she supposed, after last night. Thinking of it that way made her feel sick, but she supposed she sort of always felt sick now.

Damn it, damn it, damn it: she was drowning in this castle. Sarah could not breathe in this spacious façade. Last night had been….she was not even sure. She'd thought it had been nice. It had felt like he'd loved her. Or at least cared for her. But then he was gone and she… Sarah didn't know anything at all about this man.

Damn him, then, Sarah thought was a mischievous grin. The castle was lovely, she supposed. She took to wandering about it as though it were her own. As though she were Countess of it all and it was all her domain. Sarah wondered where all those other creatures might live. Down in the crypt she imagined, though she did not know why. Not the family crypt, of course, that was only for… How on Earth did she know all this? Something about the blood she supposed. It was always something peculiar with the blood. She was a part of his bloodline now. Maybe she was a Countess. Unless they were all created by him then… No, no, there were few that were his. Well, there were few that were his like she was his.

At least she felt not as frightened today. Yes, everything was far clearer today. And those rampant thoughts she'd heard had silenced and not yet reappeared. Sarah wondered why they had appeared in the first place. Another answer she supposed she would not be getting so soon. Especially not with him gone… Where had he gone? Sarah thought that she could reach out and find him with her mind of her soul, but even if she could she knew not how. And she also knew not why he would just…

There had to be others in the castle. There was Alfred, of course. Alana as well. The Count's son, whom she had only seen very briefly. God, that was going to be horribly uncomfortable, was it not? Sarah tried not to think much on it as she continued to roam the great monolith of a building. Eventually, she stumbled into the ballroom again and found it not as romantic as she had remembered it. It seemed smaller without all the people and the candles. It seemed less… It just seemed less.

She continued. She found the places she had found on the first night. That had been just a few days prior. It felt like eons ago. She was a different person then, she figured. An entirely different person. Yet Sarah too was not entirely sure who she was now.

"Miss Chagal!"

Her heart nearly jumped at the name. No one here had called her that, not even once. Sarah turned and for a moment thought the man before her was a different one. Their statures were similar, that was true. As were the builds and general structure. But this man was feminine in a way that his father was not. She moved her eyes upward, for he was standing rather closely and found him smiling at her the way she imagined a cat would smile at someone.

"You look truly radiant, my dear." He took her hand and kissed it, his red eyes locking on her and not leaving them. "How are you fairing? Is father being dreadful?"

"I…" She stammered but forced herself to be poised. "I am well. And your father is not dreadful."

"Maybe," the man teased. "Though I don't know where he is currently. Do you?"

Sarah shook her head that she did not.

"Well, you mustn't take to wandering like a lost kitten." He took her hand like how a playmate would and led her beside him. "You've all the time in the world now, don't you, chéri?"

"I suppose," Sarah responded. She felt strangely comfortable with this man but still remained unsure as to why he was being so kind to her. "I just… Haven't the faintest what to do."

"Whatever you will," he told her. "Though I know that hardly a helpful suggestion. Tell me: what did you want to do before you became what you are now? What did you want?"

Sarah stopped. What had she wanted? This. She'd wanted this. She'd wanted the castle and the vampire and the ball and the pretty dresses. Now she had a castle that felt like a prison, a vampire who was cold and aloof, a ball that had been a nightmare, and far too many dresses than she could wear. She had wanted… She had wanted adventure. Yes, adventure and sweeping romance. She wanted to be kissed while in a beautiful gown on a hill overlooking the sea. She wanted to go on daring expeditions and learn magic and… God, she sounded like a babe. She was a babe.

He smiled like he knew, "I know father does not wish you leaving the ground, but the grounds are extensive and you could see them if you liked."

"I could?" Sarah asked. She'd not been outside since Alfred dragged her away. She'd never even seen the land behind the castle for they'd never been allowed upon the grounds. Yes, that could be lovely. And it was snowing. Sarah did love the snow.

"Of course," the son told her. "Just don't leave the grounds. Father will be terribly cross about it and he's dreadful when he's cross, believe me."

Sarah did and thanked him with a smile. With a gentlemanly goodbye he went away and Sarah knew not where. The grounds. She'd not considered the grounds. Yes, The Count had told her to stay put but she supposed the grounds were still "put". No, he said not to go outside, she corrected. Well, damn him, he wasn't here regardless. No, Sarah would go outside. She would have a bit of adventure.

If she were meant to be locked away forever, she would have a bit of adventure.