Update 3.11.15 : I've had a few people ask about Alucard's accent in this piece. In this fanfiction, Alucard speaks with a fairly thick Romanian accent (Chapter 3: "He spoke with an odd, blended accent; his soft vowels were very British, but he pronounced his consonants in a thick way that was reminiscent of Eastern Europe."). I made this choice because Kohta Hirano said in an interview that he wanted Alucard to speak this way. Plus, Bram Stoker's Dracula spoke with an accent.

Update 5.31.15 : The end of this chapter has been completely rewritten!

Enjoy. And read all of Alucard's dialogue aloud with an accent. ;O

Chapter 12

Walter guided Catherine to the bed, keeping a steady arm around her shoulders as she shuffled beside him. The wafer marks on the girl's wrists, neck, and forehead had risen into welling, bubbling burns, and Walter worried that the ritual might have done extensive damage below the surface. He helped her to sit down, but before he could lift her muddy legs up onto the bed she stopped him. He looked up, and her eyes were glossy with tears.

"He killed those people," she said softly. "He tore them up like paper. I saw it. He… he ate them."

Walter put a hand on hers. "He was angry, I'm sure, but he was only protecting you. The Vatican has been known to off our men without a second thought, and from what Alucard said, they certainly tried to kill you."

"They were trying to help me, though. It was just that one man, that big priest…"

"Any of them would have killed you in the end," Walter said abruptly. "You're far beyond the realm of priests and holy wafers now. This here," he turned her wrist over to show the angry red mark, "is proof."

Catherine stared at the wafer burn. She seemed at a loss for words. Walter turned her wrist back over and patted her hand comfortingly.

"How about I draw you a bath?" he said. His tone was reassuring once more. "I'll bring some fresh clothes up for you." He smiled kindly and went away to the bathroom.

Catherine heard a faucet start, and then Walter reappeared and slipped out of the room. She was left with the white noise of the running water.

Her chest still hurt, right over her heart. She pressed the heel of her hand into the painful spot, and the throbbing was alleviated somewhat. There was no ugly burn there, no mark at all that suggested she'd been wounded with anything. And yet the pain had been so intense that she was certain she was going to die. She remembered writhing on the ground and screaming.

And Alucard's voice, amplified to a roar of pure anguish.

She didn't want to think about what any of that could mean right now. She didn't want to think at all. Gripping the edge of the bed, Catherine stood up and went into the bathroom. The tub faucet was loud, and the rushing sound filled the bathroom as much as her mind. She locked the door and stripped out of her filthy clothes, fully intent on refilling the tub two or three times and soaking herself until the water went cold.

She drained and refilled the porcelain tub again and again, each time rinsing away more of the crusted mud that she'd scrubbed from her skin and hair.

Now, soothing her burns in a fresh tubful of cooling water, she stared up at the high ceiling with hooded eyes. The rose oil she'd poured into the tub reflected a pool of swirling rainbows up there, complete with a Catherine-shaped silhouette in the center. She sighed and slipped further down into the big tub, letting her ears be submerged, all the time watching the ceiling. She could hear nothing, and her mind was comfortably empty.

The silhouette on the ceiling let her arms drift out gently at her sides, and the rainbows around her limbs whirled. Long shadows like ribbons fanned out around her head as Catherine pushed her hair away from her face. The flower oil caressed her skin, its scent stronger as she dipped further down into the water. Her silhouette was simply floating now, no part of her resting against the tub. Her eyes began to droop shut.

Tap tap.

Catherine lifted her head out of the water, gasping slightly at the cool shock of the air. "Yes?" she called. Her voice seemed too loud in the silent bathroom.

"You've been in there quite a while," a gravelly voice replied, and her stomach sank.

She twisted around to make sure the door was locked; it was. Fear rippled gooseflesh over her skin, and suddenly the water seemed too cold. Rainbows sloshed around on the ceiling as she climbed out of the tub. Her fingers shook and fumbled as she opened drawer after drawer, looking for a towel.

'… he was only protecting you.'

She stopped opening cabinets. Images of the mangled priest came to her suddenly, but she pushed them away.

'He was angry…'

"I have your robe here," Alucard said through the door. His tone was patient, almost gentle.

Catherine closed the cabinet and stared at the waiting shadow beneath the door. He expected her to come out. "Will you pass it through?" she asked, fighting a shiver. She was cold now.

The vampire gave a low chuckle, and the shadow shifted. "Don't be so childish. There's no shame in showing yourself to me."

"Please pass it through."

There was silence from beyond the door. Then, something pushed right through the center of the wood: Alucard's gloved hand, holding something crimson and white. The long fingers spread open, inviting her to take the robe.

It took her a moment to gather the courage to step forward and take the silk and terrycloth thing from the disembodied arm. The fingers flexed lightly when she pulled the robe from them, and then the arm withdrew back through the door.

"Thank you," she said softly, toweling her skin with the inside of the robe. She wrung her long hair out over the tub and tugged the stopper out, then pulled the robe on. It was several sizes too big, and the sleeves flopped over her hands as she tied it shut tight around herself.

"Catherine," Alucard murmured. His voice was gentle, but it betrayed a hint of impatience. Catherine hesitantly unlocked the door and pushed it open.

She stopped abruptly.

Alucard was standing before her. His clothes, which had been black with blood, were spotless, and the cravat at his throat looked as though it had never been torn at all. But he, the vampire himself, looked as though he had aged thirty years. His hair, once as dark and lustrous as raven feathers, hung to his shoulders in lank, grey-streaked locks. His skin, normally a creamy alabaster, was so pallid it was almost translucent. Deep, bruised crescents swathed beneath his eyes, giving the sockets a sunken, skull-like look, and the eyes themselves were filmed over with what looked like cataracts.

He looked like a corpse.

"How cute," he said, a smile stretching his gaunt face tight as he took in her too-big robe. His lips were tinged blue, like a man who'd been drowned.

Catherine blinked, still taking in the way the light shone right through his skin. At length she managed to choke out a whisper, "What happened to you?"

Alucard's blue grin didn't dampen in the slightest. "A good fight. It's been a while since I've been run through with blessed silver."

"That's what that was?"

"What?"

"That pain. Here." The vampire's smile dimmed as she gestured to her heart. "I remember it."

Alucard tilted his head and was silent for a moment. Then he reached toward her suddenly, and she took an instinctive step back from the claw-like hand. She was surprised when a slow smile crept back onto his thin lips.

"I frightened you earlier," he said.

Catherine couldn't stop her eyes from following the sunken movements of his cheeks when he spoke. "You're frightening me now."

"This is only temporary. I would never hurt you like that. You know that, don't you?"

She fought to keep herself from pulling away again when the vampire reached for her hand. He took it gently in his and bowed. Cold lips pressed into her skin, and she shivered.

"Why did you tear them up like that?" she asked softly. "Why didn't you just… knock them out or something?"

Alucard looked up from her hand, and his misty eyes glittered in their dark sockets. "Because you are most important to me," he said. His boney fingers squeezed hers lightly. "They took you from me. They needed to suffer."

"You didn't have to kill them."

The vampire laughed softly, lowering his face to smile his sharp smile against her hand. "How gracious your woman's heart is. Even after they almost killed you, you wouldn't see their lives ended. "

"Not the way you did it," Catherine said reproachfully.

Alucard pressed another kiss against her hand. "You don't understand, but it's no fault of your own. I find your overindulgent compassion most… refreshing."

"Did you kill the big priest?"

"No. He ran when the soldiers arrived."

"Will he come back?"

Alucard chuckled again. "No," he said again. "The priest knows I'll be expecting him. You have nothing to fear, my Bride." He turned her hand over then, and touched his cold, blue lips to the wafer mark on her wrist.

Catherine gasped as relief flooded the aching spot, her knees almost buckling at the sensation. Every ounce of burning pain vanished, immediately replaced by a dull, cool pleasure. She shuddered when she felt Alucard's tongue flick against her skin, the reaction a strange combination of repulsion and thrill.

The vampire sucked gently on her wrist until the cool sensation vanished, and then he straightened up. He released her hand, and Catherine inspected her wrist; the wafer burn was gone, and there wasn't even a scar left in its place. She looked up to see Alucard holding a hand out to her.

"Come and sit down," he said, "and I'll take care of the others."

Catherine made herself take his hand and let him guide her over to the bed, where she sat and he knelt down. The vampire treated her remaining burns in the same fashion as the first, pressing his lips into the burn and lapping away the heat with his tongue. Though she met the treatment with the same mixture of pleasure and chills, the cool relief was enough to force her into a state of relaxation. She had had her eyes closed for several minutes when Alucard finished with her wrist and stood up slowly.

"Catherine."

She opened her eyes.

"There's something I must ask of you now."

She looked up at Alucard, at the veins running through his drawn face. "What is it?" she asked, but a voice in the back of her mind was already whispering the answer. Alucard seemed to hear the voice too, because he didn't say anything. Instead, he sat down beside her and carefully drew her onto his lap. Catherine thought she'd dealt with the entire situation quite well until now, when the claw-like hands closed around her waist and the thin, drowned lips came unbearably close. Her body went rigid against her will, and she clenched her fists to avoid struggling. It would all be over quickly enough.

But to her horror, Alucard didn't bite immediately. She squeezed her eyes shut as the vampire combed his skeletal fingers through her wet hair, murmuring things to her in his native tongue. He was cradling her against him, but his cold skin and corpse-like figure offered little comfort. Catherine fought the urge to pull away until he took her face in one hand and tried to make her look at him. As she turned away from the cloudy eyes, the vampire asked her a question in the old tongue. Strangely, she understood him without translation.

"You..." she said. She paused as she searched for the right words. "You don't… look like you."

Alucard gave a soft smile that didn't tug the corners of his thin mouth too hard. "As I told you," he said, his voice little more than a murmur. "It's very temporary."

Catherine shivered as he loosened the robe and exposed her neck. The vampire tilted his face down, and she jumped a little when the cold tip of his nose brushed her skin.

"You smell divine," he sighed against her ear. "Roses always were my favorite."

She was shaking now. Acceptance wasn't leading to calm, as she had hoped it would. "How much do you need to take?" she asked quickly, her eyes trained on the wall past his head.

"Not much. Be still."

Catherine instinctively brought her hands to rest on the vampire's shoulders as she felt his lips part, and he stopped.

"Be still," he repeated, the edge of impatience creeping into his voice.

Alucard pierced her skin with a light squeeze of his jaws, right over the wafer mark, and though the brief pain made her cry out, the bite was far more delicate than any of the others had ever been. Relief crept through her veins, followed by a comfortable heat, and Catherine waited for her mind to melt into a puddle the way it usually did.

But the room didn't swim, and the soft sound of Alucard lapping at her throat remained distinct. The vampire's hair tickled her cheek as his gray head rocked gently with his feeding.

Why was she still conscious? Where was her loss of control?

Alucard's tongue swiped a particularly slow path, and a heat rushed through her that had nothing to do with the feeding. Alucard didn't seem to notice her blush, though, and she tried to focus again on the wall across the room.

Catherine let him drink until the comfortable heat grew to a feverish lightheadedness, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders. When he didn't respond, she put a hand against his face and tried to push him away. "Alucard," she whispered, "stop." The vampire grunted and, with a final lap, leaned back.

Catherine watched him run a hand through his hair, now full and gleaming jet between his fingers. The sickly veins had vanished, and his face was a polished marble mask once more.

"It's no wonder the Church wanted to take you from me," he said, his eyes glittering like fresh flames. "I've never needed so little to come back."

"Take me from you?" Catherine said.

Alucard brushed her hair behind her ear, his full lips parted slightly. The dying light filtering through the bedroom window cast a warm glow over his face that almost made him look human, save for his eyes. "I should have realized," he said softly, as though he were talking more to himself than to her. "Your blood is unique. Our bond runs so much deeper."

Catherine put a hand to her neck and felt a warm smear, but no bite mark. She was beginning to ask how the wound had closed so quickly when Alucard abruptly took hold of her face and pressed his lips to hers. Catherine's hands darted up instinctively and grabbed hold of his wrists to pull them away, but the vampire took no notice. His eyes were closed as he pressured his mouth fervently against hers.

Catherine made a muffled sound as one of the wrists she was holding pulled away. Faster than her eyes could follow, Alucard swept his free arm around her and crushed her to him. The gesture had no malicious intent as far as Catherine could fathom, but the vampire's eagerness lent his movement too much strength. She whimpered in discomfort as the arm viced too tight, compressing her ribs and threatening to leave her breathless against him.

Alucard pulled away instantly, loosening his grip so that she almost fell off of his lap. "Have I hurt you?" he said. His eyes flashed intently.

Catherine took a deep breath, savoring the ability to expand her lungs. "I think… I'm okay," she gasped. "I just need a second to- ahh!" She tumbled off of Alucard's lap as he pushed her, landing on her back in the center of the bed. Her fists clutched the bedspread in an attempt to scramble backward and upright, but the vampire was quick. He pounced on her like a starving animal.

All Catherine could do was draw a deep breath before Alucard captured her mouth again, working his cold lips dominantly against hers. He rested above her on his elbows, pinning her arms to her sides and effectively holding her in place with his weight, which she was sure he wasn't applying all of. She could remember the dream, how heavy he was when he laid on top of her. Alucard gave a rumbling growl, and her face flushed. Was he reading her thoughts? She gasped for air as he released her mouth and pressed his face into her neck.

The soft fabric of his gloves groped fervently across her throat, her shoulders, then lower to caress her breast. It was only then that Catherine realized her robe had fallen open, and she jerked away from the vampire's touch to fumble it shut. Alucard caught her hands mid-motion and met her eyes. His gaze was not wild, as she had expected, but warm and soothing.

"Let me," he whispered. He pulled the robe open carefully, his eyes following the smooth slopes of her body with such intensity that Catherine couldn't bring herself to watch him. She closed her eyes as he drew further down along her body and pressed a cold kiss between her exposed breasts. The long tendrils of his hair swept across her skin as he moved, and she trembled, ashamed of her treacherous body's reaction to his touch.

Treacherous? a part of her mind wheedled. It's only treacherous if you don't want it.

The vampire moved slowly downward, leaving a trail of shivering gooseflesh in his wake. Catherine could feel him exhaling against her skin, and she realized that he was breathing in her scent. The idea made her blush again, and looked up at the ceiling to pull her mind away.

"Mine," Alucard sighed against her skin. His fingers tugged the bow around her waist loose.

Catherine grabbed his hands as he began pulling the lower half of her robe open. "No," she said fretfully. "Please-"

Alucard lazily flicked his gaze to her. Little light crept through the windows now, leaving his eyes to glitter like garnets. He lifted himself upright and, careful not to break the hold that Catherine had on his wrists, he reached toward her face. The girl blinked in surprise as he rested a fingertip against her lips.

"Remove my gloves," he commanded. He spoke softly, almost in a whisper, but in the silent, darkening room it was the only sound that Catherine could hear. He gently parted her lips and rested his finger against her teeth.

Catherine began to feel lightheaded. She was staring into the vampire's eyes, something she knew she shouldn't do. She averted her gaze from his, then found herself looking back at him completely of her own accord. He wasn't working any hypnosis on her, and she was completely lucid.

"I will never dull your mind again," Alucard said in that same quiet voice, "so long as you obey me."

Understanding that she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, Catherine gingerly parted her teeth and closed them again on the tip of the glove. As Alucard pulled away, a crimson light flared from the sigil printed on the top of the fabric. The light abruptly died when he slipped his hand free.

"Good girl," the vampire murmured. His expression suddenly and eerily intent, he took the glove from her lips and tossed it aside.

Catherine looked down at the discarded glove, her brow creased with worry. What had that light meant? Alucard dipped down suddenly, and she started at the quick movement. His cool, bare fingers traced a slow, meandering path from between her breasts downward. As her skin rippled with chills, a smile ghosted across the vampire's face. Catherine looked into his eyes, firmly fixated on her flesh, and was flooded with fear-born adrenaline; his pupils had shrunk to little more than slivers. She tried to move.

"No," Alucard said, his voice low and growling, and Catherine stopped. She couldn't keep herself from shaking, though, as the vampire peeled open the lower half of her robe.

She squeezed her thighs together hard.

Alucard raised his eyes, glimmering with wicked heat, and smiled. He slid one long finger across her flesh, inciting fresh shivers from her. "So modest," he purred. "How lovely you are when you blush..."

"Alucard, please," Catherine panted. She desperately wanted to sit up, to close her robe and hide her body from his greedy gaze. Bride or not, this was happening far too quickly, and it was more than unnerving to not have a say in the matter.

But what exactly was happening?

"What are you going to do?" she asked nervously, still clenching her thighs against Alucard's stroking fingers. She was remembering something. Didn't she have to be a virgin to become a vampire? Alucard chuckled as though he were reading her thoughts.

"As much as I would relish turning you and taking you right here, my master would be most disappointed," he said. His lips twisted into a smirk. "However, not all pleasures are denied to us…" Catherine tried to avert her gaze as the vampire's eyes widened warningly, but it was too late.

Alucard didn't hold the hypnosis long. He only waited until the girl's thighs relaxed and separated before giving her back her will. He wanted her awake for this, to see how things would be between them once she fully belonged to him.

Catherine instinctively tried to clamp her thighs shut when she came to, but Alucard had moved to rest between legs. She started to see him hovering over her, his long hair curtaining the room out and creating an intimate space of little more than six inches between their faces. Cool, bare fingers stroked over her jawline and throat.

"You belong to me," the vampire whispered, his fiery gaze boring into her. "You understand this?"

Catherine's eyes darted anxiously back and forth between his. She didn't know what to say. She supposed she understood his claim on her as a Bride, but the concept never got any easier to digest. Acceptance for something so big or life changing as this wouldn't come easy. He had to understand this. If he wasn't going to let her go, he had to be a little sympathetic.

"I'm scared," was all she could whisper. Her eyes watered.

Alucard was quick to thumb away the tear that trickled down her cheek. "Enough," he insisted. His voice held a harsh edge. "There is no fear between a husband and wife, and is that not what you likened us to? You must trust me in all things." He gave the girl a moment to absorb his words and compose herself. She closed her eyes, her face illuminated with the glow of his gaze.

Alucard admired the curve of her throat as she lay beneath him, and he briefly entertained the idea of feeding from her again. He leaned down and nuzzled into his Bride's neck, drawing in her scent with a long breath. No... He pushed away the aching in the roots of his teeth and contented himself with sucking gently on her skin. He was rewarded with a delicious whimper, and the sound aroused another hunger in him beyond that for blood.

Catherine's eyes flew open as the vampire's bare hand slipped purposefully between her thighs. She tensed at first, then tried to relax. Trust, she thought. He isn't going to hurt you.

She bit back an undignified sound and went rigid again when the cool fingers immediately sought her entrance. Alucard's lips moved with increasing enthusiasm against her throat, and between kisses and laps of his cold tongue he murmured to her in old Romanian. His rich voice failed to soothe her.

Husband and wife, Catherine reminded herself frantically as the fingers stroked and circled over her warming flesh. Despite her anxiety, her body was more than willing to submit to the vampire's touches, and her hips moved of their own accord to match his rhythm. Heat began to bloom on her cheeks, and she closed her eyes again.

"Mai mult?" Alucard said against her throat. His fingers danced around the jewel of nerves that ached so terribly, and Catherine gave a shameful moan. The vampire chuckled deep in his chest at the sound, his skillful fingers still avoiding her hips' grinding attempts to force the jewel into his touch. "Mai mult?" he whispered again. "Tell me. Say, 'te rog.'"

"Te- te rog," Catherine gasped.

Alucard smiled and finally submitted to the girl's supplicating motions, quickly finding a pattern that had her arching into his touch. She moaned again, the sound so wanton and sweet that Alucard couldn't resist nipping at her skin. Blood beaded onto his tongue, and he groaned himself. When he spoke again, he didn't at all notice that he was rasping in broken English. "What you say now? 'Mulţumesc.' Say it."

"Mool... tzoo-mesk..."

"Cu plăcere."

Catherine cried out as one long finger sank into her without warning. The cool intrusion slid deep, sating her heated desire to be filled, and began to draw in and out. Alucard went on whispering to her, only Romanian now, but Catherine didn't hear him. Her ability to focus on anything other than the cool sensation between her legs had dissipated the instant he pushed into her. Fisting the bedsheets, she gasped and let her head loll against the vampire's. The smell of rich earth and bitter gun powder made her head swim in the most pleasurable way, and she could have no way of knowing that Alucard was unintentionally pushing his own lustful emotions into her mind. The vampire was lost in himself as he pierced her throat again and again with tiny bites, slithering tongue catching every drop of blood that welled forth.

Catherine moaned as a second finger pushed experimentally alongside the first, the sting of its entry fading quickly as it moved back and forth. The skin of her throat throbbed hotly, punctured all over as it was, but Alucard's influence was swallowing her further and further. His tongue, cold and slick and inhuman, wallowed lewdly, deliciously, over her wounds. The fingers drove in and out relentlessly. The coil in her belly wound tighter and tighter. She couldn't take much more. But what was that sound?...

The bed. The bed was creaking softly. Catherine focused just long enough to realize that Alucard's hips were rocking against her now, mimicking the rhythm of his fingers inside her. The blurry thought flared an intense desire within her, and suddenly she didn't feel full enough. She fumbled for the vampire's belt line, receiving a surprised grunt. Then, to her distress, he balked from her as though she'd burned him, taking with him his cold tongue and practiced fingers.

"Alucard," she pleaded, still reaching for him as he sat up and away from her. The vampire easily caught her hands before they got hold of his pants again, his decidedly shaky laugh making Catherine look up at him in surprise.

"No no," he said, his voice amused but still not quite steady. "Not now."

"I want to," Catherine insisted, her own lust redoubled by the vampire's emotions. "Please, Alucard. I need it." She struggled against his grip on her wrists, hooking her fingers into his clothes and biting her lip in anticipation. An expression of agony flashed over the vampire's white face as she bucked her hips against him and pulled at his clothes. He groaned, straining to keep himself from grinding back against her.

He could do it now. His eyes flared as the idea danced manically in his mind. He could turn her now and they could both have what they wanted. Was she not consenting to him? He bit his tongue to try to satisfy the painful pulsing in the roots of his teeth, but it did nothing for the buckled restraint suit beneath his pants, which felt as though it couldn't get any tighter.

Yes. Yes, he would do it now.

"Alucard!"

The vampire looked down at the girl and realized she was on the verge of tears, still beseeching him in her sweet voice. Her dark hair was spread around her face like a halo, her pale skin flushed with desire. He could literally hear her heart throbbing and yearning for his touch again. But her eyes... Her eyes were moony and tinged with red.

'... of her own free will,' the Master's voice reminded him.

Alucard immediately pried the girl's hands away from him, holding her wrists in a vice-like grip that made her wince. "Alucard-" she began, his name rising from her lips in a moan that made him shiver.

"No,"he growled at her. "Not now." Catherine's despairing look turned to a scowl, and Alucard was surprised when she tried to fight him and reach for his clothes again. His control faltered at the carnal look in her eyes, and the buckled suit abruptly felt another size too small.

He would have to finish this quickly.

The vampire easily transferred both her hands to his gloved one and pinned them above her head. He reached down and forced his fingers inside her again, drawing a yelp out of the girl. She writhed as he pumped into her, cries still pouring from her lips. She wanted him, she wept. She would do anything. She wanted him to take her like he'd taken her in the dream, wanted him hard and fast and rough and-

"Enough," Alucard hissed, his face the vision of misery. He slammed into her one last time, fingers sinking deep, and Catherine arched under him like a taught bow. She wailed his name as she released, and Alucard felt anguish in every fiber of his being that he couldn't join her. He trembled as he drew out of her, his lips twitching to stay closed over his teeth. The girl relaxed onto the bed, and Alucard leapt up to disappear into the bathroom, clenching and unclenching his fists as he went.

Catherine's mind cleared substantially as she came down from her high. She yanked her robe closed as soon as she realized it was gaping open, and sat up against the bed's headboard. She remembered everything distinctly, right down to her licentious pleas for sex.

Oh, God. She'd begged for it like a proper whore.

The girl drew her knees up to her chest and buried her burning face in her hands. She heard the running water switch off in the bathroom, and then the floor boards creaking under Alucard's footsteps. The lamp switched on beside her.

"Here."

Catherine raised her face to wince against the lamplight. Alucard was holding a hairbrush and a damp cloth out to her, his expression eerily blank. She hesitated briefly, then took the things from him.

"Thank you," she said as the vampire moved away from her. She dabbed at her sweaty face, and Alucard sat down on the bed to pick up his rumpled glove. He stared at it for a moment, almost resentfully, before tugging it on. A crimson light flared from the sigil, then died away.

"They have magic or something on them, don't they?" Catherine asked as she watched him. It felt good to fill the awkward silence, so she kept talking. "Does the magic keep you from taking them off by yourself? Is that why you had me do it?"

An emotion flickered across Alucard's features so quickly that she almost didn't see it, and then his white mask-face twisted in irritation.

"Brush your hair and get dressed," he ordered sharply, "then get your things and move them to my basement."

Catherine lowered the hairbrush and blinked at him. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But why-?"

"Because you're a fool girl," Alucard snapped, "and you can't protect yourself. Do you want to be kidnapped again? Now go, and get your things. Have Walter help you." The bed shook slightly as he jumped up and stalked toward the wall. Catherine tried to clamber after him.

"Alucard, wait!"

The vampire materialized straight through the wall with an uncanny warping of shadows, Catherine meeting the wall with her hands a split second after he had disappeared. "Alucard!" she called, slapping her palms on the wallpaper. She rushed to the bedroom door and threw it open, hoping to intercept him in the hallway, but it was empty. The vampire had vanished like smoke.

"Mai mult." - More.

"Te rog." - Please.

"Mulţumesc." - Thank you.

"Cu plăcere." - You're welcome.