Started with a perfect kiss then

We could feel the poison set in

Perfect couldn't keep this love alive

Already Gone – Kelly Clarkson

Vampires thrived on indulgence. Over the course of a month, she watched her new companions indulge in blood, arguments, and lust, all of which Ileana was prone to partake in on occasion. The blood came from an unlucky villager. She learned that Velkan's village sacrificed one person a month and Dracula kept his brides at bay so long as they provided a human to feast on. Sometimes it was an elderly individual, close to death already, and sometimes it was a criminal sentenced to death. None of the vampires seemed to care, and neither did Ileana, as long as they could feed they were pleased. Now, this didn't mean the women didn't go out on hunts. Dracula rarely joined them, but for a week or so Ileana watched the three women depart in their creature form at twilight and return around midnight with a fresh victim. These were people taken from other villages, never cities, and always in good health. Sometimes Dracula fed first, and the others would simply feast after, and on other occasions they would set the human loose in the castle, as they did for Ileana's first hunt, and enjoy the thrill of the chase. They gorged themselves, although they may made it appear as though the one person from Velkan's village was enough. Excellent liars, these vampires.

The arguments came from everyone. Ileana and Dracula. Verona and Marishka. Aleera and Verona. Aleera and Marishka. They ranged from petty to full-blown screaming matches. The brides were extra sensitive to one another sometimes, and a mere look could set them off. Ileana assumed it came from jealousy, and the fact that they had to compete for the love of their husband. Hell, that was why she loathed them most of the time, though she would never admit it. The brides never fought with Dracula, though Verona had come close on some occasions, and they usually had to do with Ileana. However, Ileana argued with the man whenever the feeling took over. That feeling of pure rage that she felt for him was undeniable, but mixed with the growing affection she harboured privately, it was especially volatile when the guilt sunk in. She hated him for making her like this. She hated him for taking her family and her humanity, but she loved him still. It was an irresistible attraction that Ileana felt toward the man, who was her first love, and most likely her only love for as long as they were in existence. So she shouted at him. Cursed him. Threw inanimate objects at him. The feelings she had now that she was dead were amplified to a point that she had never felt when she was alive, and it was horrible yet wonderful at the same time.

With those feelings came the indulgence in lust. Although she put up some vague attempt at a fight, she found her willingness to hold back diminished as the days passed by. He was so enticing that it hurt sometimes, and she wondered if it had to do with the fact that he turned her. Aleera explained that he lorded over all the vampires he turned, but only a few were chosen to be his constant companions. The brides were 'lucky' enough to be in his presence all the time, but vampires across Eastern Europe ached to have counsel with him, especially if he turned them directly. If they could, she was sure there were other women who would eagerly slip into his bed, and Ileana did so more and more without hesitation.

The brides indulged in their lust, but in different ways. It was unavoidable, running into him while he was with another woman, but it didn't make it any easier. However, those incidents taught her a little something about the relationship between him and each of his wives. He and Verona were quiet together, stayed in one room, and from the split second Ileana saw the pair together before rushing off, she decided that they looked hopelessly in love. Marishka, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She had walked in on them in a corridor one day, and the blonde bride made an awful amount of noise. There was also a lot of laughter and movement, and she had to quickly retreat, lest she physically be bowled over by the pair. Meanwhile, Aleera, from what she had heard, demanded his full attention, and kept it by doing whatever she thought would please him the most. Ileana realized that when they were together, he was bent on keeping her happy, mostly because they began their lovemaking at the tail end of an argument. Regardless of how it started, she found by the end, she was always satisfied. Perhaps that was what made it so awful; she didn't want him to make her happy. In fact, she didn't even want him to try, but he always did, and she could never really understand why.

The first moment she realized he was going out of his way to make her happy was when he moved Madalina out of the castle. Although she wasn't pleased the girl was back with Igor, she knew it would be better for her, for the moment anyway, to not be around Ileana when she couldn't control herself. When she expressed concern about the young girl living in that large castle with Igor all by herself, Dracula found an elderly nanny who was hired to watch the little girl until Ileana had a better grip on her prey drive. It was a thoughtful gesture. She knew Dracula could have sent her off to some orphanage somewhere, or disposed of her on the streets. In fact, she knew quite well that the brides could have eaten the little girl, if they saw fit. However, she heard from each of the women that another bride would pop over to check on her, sometimes sit with her or read a book together… They were all very fond of Madalina, surprisingly. She realized at that point that these women wanted nothing more than to be mothers to their own children.

Madalina missed her. She knew it, they all knew it, and the issue was rarely brought up because of how much it pained her. Although the girl wasn't her daughter, she felt wholly responsible for her well-being, and the fact that she could actually kill her by holding her improperly was devastating. However, she was getting much better. Whenever humans were brought back to the castle, no one needed to hold her back anymore. Before, it came naturally; present something live, and the scent of blood and the sound of a heartbeat sent her into a near frenzy to get at them. Now, she remained poised. As the youngest vampire there, the pecking order dictated she had to eat last, and at this point, she was able to respect that, but only just. By the time she was allowed to feed, she nearly devoured the man, bones and all, just to get at whatever sweet liquid was left. It was disgusting, but only if she thought about it. Therefore, when the bloodlust took over, Ileana stopped thinking about what she was doing, and concentrated on getting the whole ordeal with over as quickly as possible. To eat was heaven, but to crave was hell. She couldn't stand the dichotomy of her life.

And so, she stood on the top of the tallest tower the castle offered, and stared at the black abyss, a moat with no water, and wondered what would happen if she explored its depths. Would she find flames? The only way to find would be to actively search the area. If she jumped, her body knew, at this point, to change into some bat-like creature. Completely white, with dark red eyes, Ileana looked similar to the rest of the brides. They were the ones who taught her to fly, and although she hated the connotations of it, she adored the freedom it gave her. Once she knew how to shift her form from human to beast, she spent a lot of time soaring around the castle, sometimes alone, but usually with another bride. Never Verona; the woman still seemed unendingly irritated that she was even there, but Aleera and Marishka warmed to her quickly. These were the two that taught her the finesse of flying. Through them, she discovered how to urge her body to change, the proper way to pull up from a dive, and how to turn without taking too long. For that, she was actually grateful. They may have been irritating at times, and she was endlessly frustrated over their relationship with Dracula, but their willingness to help her without question was what she liked the most.

The women had left the castle for a hunt. Ileana wasn't allowed to go with them, as Dracula continuously expressed his unwillingness to trust her out in the open yet. Therefore, she was stuck in the castle until she could completely control herself, or Dracula completely controlled her. That the latter was even a possibility was frustrating, but she couldn't spend too much time on it, or she'd go insane. She knew he was lurking somewhere below, deep in the remains of her uncle's undestroyed journals. He had started to show an interest in them about a week ago, but hadn't brought it up with her, probably because he knew it would upset her. However, she knew he wasn't going to leave it alone for long, and had avoided him for a day or so to keep from fighting.

It was completely silent in their cavern, aside from the occasional flutter of bat wings from a nearby tower or room. There was no breeze, barely a temperature that affected her, and no sunlight. Instead, the castle was continuously surrounded by a light grey haze, neither day nor night. At first, that made it a little difficult to sleep, but now she just slept when she felt tired. At the moment, she didn't feel tired. She felt invincible. Standing on the very tips of her toes, she teetered precariously at the top of the tower, her arms outstretched, her low-cut red dress dangling over the edge.

When Dracula discovered the colour of her eyes now, the colour of the beast, was a maroon tone, she started getting a new wardrobe from the man, all of which matched her eyes. The first few garments were too similar to the ones the brides wore. They were too skimpy, with her legs exposed in slits. She wasn't a whore, as she curtly reminded Dracula, and he came back with more respectful. However, the neckline was lower than she would have worn before, but sometimes she felt like she needed to compete with the other women somehow.

Taking a deep, unnecessary breath, she eased herself off and plummeted down the side of the tower. She allowed herself to fall freely for a good thirty seconds, the air parting harshly against her cheeks, until she finally closed her eyes, concentrating on the shift between human limbs and vampire. When she opened her eyes again, her arms were a pearly white, with lengthy yellow claws at the tips of her fingers. Her wings beat powerfully, grown thick from her shoulder blades, and she pulled up just before colliding with the stone balcony on the second floor. Turning outward, she glided away from the castle, legs straight, arms out as she sailed above that black crevice. A few loops around the building followed, and she skimmed low in the courtyard to scoop up some snow, throwing it over herself as she darted off through the air, circling some of the towers a few times. Although she enjoyed her solo flight, it didn't last long.

Dracula's roar was obviously distinct. At first, she cringed at the sound. It was too animalistic, too horrible for her to answer, but the brides perked instantly whenever they heard it. As time passed, she got used to it, and when she heard it during a flight, she knew he was coming to join her. Ileana saw the shadow pass overhead, and she didn't need to look back to know that she was no longer alone. The powerful beat of his wing was enough to signify his presence. They criss-crossed across the ridges and swooped together around the turrets of the castle, making eye contact maybe once or twice, yet doing the exact same thing across the sky. Their dance was elegant, seductive, and had no hints of aggression for once. All that time ignoring him made her miss him a little. Ileana was less willing to fight off his advances when they spent less time together.

She landed atop a very tiny ledge on the walls of underground world opposite the castle. Gravity seemed to not apply as heavily to vampires on certain aspects, and she learned quickly that she could walk up any wall she wanted. So, as Dracula's beastly form approached her, she leaned back against the hard stone, and crawled upward deviously, a grin on her lips as he transformed back into a man on the same ledge. He climbed up after her quickly, saying nothing, only capturing her lips with his, cupping his large hand beneath her chin. They continued to inch up the wall, until finally Ileana slipped into the indent she had been searching for blindly. It was a small cave she had discovered on a previous flight. On days when she wanted to truly be by herself, she would sit in it and watch the torches flicker in the windows of the castle. For now, she wouldn't mind sharing it with her lover. She hauled him inside by the cuff of his collar, smirking devilishly when he arched an eyebrow. Once inside the cave, no longer defying gravity's pull, she let him shed her clothing in a few careful manoeuvres as she went to work immediately on his, their lips parting only momentarily to slide his shirt over his head.

For once, their lovemaking wasn't fuelled by anger. It wasn't some tender session, but she genuinely wanted to open her eyes and see him looking back at her. When they finished, they lay together on the floor of the shallow cave, his thick jacket thrown over her hips as she leaned against him.

"You've been avoiding me."

She closed her eyes, wishing he would have let it go for longer. However, it seemed like a few moments of blissful silence was enough for Dracula.

"I didn't want to fight," she admitted. "I thought this was the best way."

"Why would we fight?" he inquired softly, curling a piece of her hair around his finger.

"I saw you reading my uncle's old journals," Ileana explained, her eyes still closed. "I assumed we would fight."

He paused mid-curl, and then let her hair fall back down, "I have been reading them. I hoped to find something I might have missed before."

"Why?"

Dracula became silent for a moment, and she figured he was trying to pick his words carefully. Perhaps he did not want to cause an argument either. God knows he dealt with enough of them around this place, living permanently with four women and everything that that entailed. He shifted away a little, making her lay flat on her back as he leaned on his elbow beside her.

"I want to start again," he explained. "We lost the Creature… I don't want to bring up the past, but I want to continue with my original goal for your uncle's experiments."

"Which was?"

"To create life from nothing," Dracula stressed. She felt him grasp her chin and turn her head toward him, her eyes fluttering open at the touch, "My brides want nothing more than to bring our children to life… You saw how envious they are of Madalina. They want the experiments to work, because we will finally be able to create our family from the beginning."

"Your… children?" Ileana repeated, the information new, and somewhat startling, to her, "Why do you need to bring them to life?"

"Our children are born dead, my dear," he explained coolly, "and when the Creature was ready, he was to act as an unlimited power supply to feed them life. Alas, that was unsuccessful… but that does not mean we cannot try again."

Pursing her lips, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, "We both know that I can't recreate what my uncle did. I hope you weren't planning on asking me to do so."

"Ileana-"

"You were!" she cried, rolling her eyes and sitting up completely, holding his jacket over her naked chest, "Why would you bring that awful time up? I've only just barely gotten over you murdering me! Do you think I'd forget what you did to him?"

"Oh, come now," Dracula mused, grasping her arm as she tried to scoot away from him. "You seem to be doing just fine at adjusting to life without the watchful eye of your uncle."

Her jaw dropped and her gaze hardened, "How dare you say that to me!"

Although she tried to push his hand off her arm, he managed to grab that free hand and hold her still, a somewhat frustrated expression on his face, "I don't want to fight either… Really, it seems unproductive and draining on both of us."

"Well, perhaps you shouldn't make me so angry by saying ridiculous things!" she snapped heatedly. It bothered her when only she was angry. When that was the case, it seemed as if she was being unreasonable, and Dracula merely took the brunt of her rage like any good sport would.

"I have a proposal for you," he informed her, ignoring her last comment pointedly. "If you agree to try this experiment again with me, and we work together with Igor, I will let you move back into Castle Frankenstein. It can be yours and Madalina's… You won't have any of my brides to bother you if you don't want them there, and you can send me away whenever I displease you-"

"And you would actually leave me be?" Ileana asked sceptically, her eyebrows shooting up, "Because that would be a first."

"If you make a reasonable argument without shouting at me," he insisted, and added quietly, "which would be a first, I might add, then I don't see why you shouldn't be able to shoo me out of your castle."

Ileana paused, considering the offer, "It would be mine… and Madalina can stay with me?"

"I think you can handle yourself better now than before," Dracula said cautiously, "but you will still need to actively watch your behaviour around her. She is much more delicate now."

"And all I would need to do is try to help you recreate the experiment?" she clarified, "What if we can't?"

"We will deal with it one step at a time, and make adjustments as we go," Dracula stated firmly, "but I will not let you move out of here if you cannot promise me you will genuinely make a real effort to do this task…"

He gripped her wrist a little tighter, his dark, hollow eyes boring into hers to catch any concocted falsehoods. However, despite his searching, she hid whatever doubts about the experiment ever working again at the back of her mind, and smiled a tentative smile.

"I think I like this proposal…" she told him, his hold on her relaxing a little. "Much more than I liked the last one, anyway."

It took him a moment to realize she was hinting at his marriage proposal, but she laughed light-heartedly and threw his jacket back at him. She then slipped off the ledge of the cave, freefalling once more into the black abyss. Moments later, she was in flight, and her inhuman cry beckoned the man to join her in a second round of flying before the others returned from their hunt.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Again, I am so sorry for the long time between updates for this story. I don't know why the muse is so tough on me all of a sudden. All of this is completely new to me. I've written this story before, but these past few chapters have been new, and the way I am writing Ileana is new. In the previous edition of this story, she remained the same as she was before, perhaps a little more confident… but here I think she's taking a new persona on a little with her change into a vampire. I'm sort of rolling with it, and seeing what will happen. Hopefully I can get over this block that's keeping me from getting good chapters done. Quite frustrating. I'm also super headche-y and tired, but I wanted to get this out here before I crashed for the night. Therefore, I apologize for the rambling, and slight nonsense that I feel like I've thrown in there. Maybe it's Castle Dracula... It's messing with my muse! Back to Castle Frankenstein we go!