Nobody knows better than me
I wouldn't be wishin' I was free
If it hadn't been, if it hadn't been for love
If it hadn't been for love – Adele
Ileana was thrilled to be leaving the castle. Although she mildly enjoyed her time with Marishka and Aleera as they taught her how to be a proper vampire, she found the whole ordeal suffocating. Dracula wasn't as persistent about them spending time together anymore, which was a blessing, but the less he pestered her, the more she found herself drawn to him. His aloofness was thrilling, in a way, and she definitely participated in the castle's competition for his affections. Much to her surprise, she had a knack for beating the brides most friendly with her when it came to monopolizing Dracula's time. All she had to do was tell him she had come up with new plans for the rebuilding of the Creature, and he was hers for however long she wanted him. Naturally, she had no idea what to do, but usually distracted him with her newfound sexuality. Dracula was, by no means, complaining when she would inevitably tell him she still needed more research to have better ideas for the new Creature.
However, she always lost to Verona. The dark-haired vampire merely had to glance in Dracula's direction and he was at her side, whispering sweet honey in her ears as she indulged him. It made sense. Verona was the eldest bride, and had been with Dracula for almost three centuries. However, as Ileana became a little more possessive over the man she had a powerful love-hate relationship with, she found herself growing jealous of the bride. Aleera and Marishka could never strike that kind of jealousy from her. They almost seemed like mistresses; there for sex, but Dracula rarely had them aside for individual conversations. He and Ileana could spend hours talking, much like they did in the early weeks of their relationship, about world history, science and politics. She had no idea what he talked with Verona about, but she knew from the other brides it wasn't science. In fact, she hadn't the slightest understanding of their partnership at all. He and Verona were seldom seen in 'public' together, and kept most of their intimate moments behind closed doors, much like she did whenever she wanted him.
Ileana actually embraced her love-hate relationship with the Count. However, there were subtle aspects that had changed since Dracula promised to move her back to Castle Frankenstein. When she wanted him, Ileana wanted him. There was no guilt about her desires, and she accepted his compliments, touches, and had even let him bite her once. When she hated him, which frequently followed her brief periods of blinding hunger for the man, Ileana rarely thought back to how, just moments earlier in some cases, she wanted him terribly. The guilt in both instances started to fade, and she had come to accept her feelings toward him. Dracula too came to realize that she wasn't completely in love with him, nor she did loathe him entirely. There was some strange balance between the emotions, and her lover quickly detected her mood of the day within a few moments of being around her. Sometimes he liked to provoke her, which prompted her to hurl something ripped out of the wall at him. Usually that drove the message home that she didn't want to see him. For the most part, Ileana had a surprising amount of control over their relationship. She decided when and for how long she desired his company, and he had come to respect that over time. Perhaps he figured it wasn't worth the hassle of enduring her moody bitterness, but Ileana didn't care about his reasons, so long as he left her alone when she wanted him to.
It had been two weeks since Dracula told her she could move back to the castle. She proved to be excellent at keeping her cool around bloodied dinners, and usually waited patiently until everyone had their share. Apparently, they were eating more often because Ileana was a young vampire. Her age indicated she needed more blood to thrive in her new form, and without it she would whither into nothingness. Her logical side understood the concept. When she fed, she saw it as a means to fuel her body and keep her functional. Finally, she learned to keep her emotional side locked up. It was a necessary evil, and until she could find a way to potentially reverse this curse her lover had given her, she would continue to do it to survive. Ileana was very good at waiting by now. She was patient, and the scent of blood no longer drove her into a frenzy. She had been adequate when Dracula informed her about moving back to her old castle with Madalina, but these past two weeks really drove the point home; Ileana was maturing as a vampire. In time, perhaps another month or so, Marishka and Aleera told her she would only feel like feeding once or twice a month. The lust was always there, and when a meal presented itself, she shouldn't ignore it, but otherwise she wouldn't feel the undeniable hunger like she did now. For now, it was always present, but Ileana was much better at ignoring it.
The day had finally come for her to leave the castle and return home. It was strange that she considered Castle Frankenstein home, but it was where she had lived for the past year. At this point, she was sure all the old staff from her previous home with her uncle had either given up hope and abandoned their house, or sold it to the highest bidder to get some use of the land. Therefore, she probably didn't have a home back there anymore. It was a depressing thought, but for now she could make do with the place Dracula gave her as her home base. Besides, with Madalina there, and perhaps even Mercy again, it was bound to feel like more of a home than this place. She almost felt like she needed to pack in order to get out of the dead castle, but it wasn't as though she had a lot of personal belongings. Ileana had a few books that Dracula brought over for her at one point, and an empty journal for her to write in whenever she had thoughtful ideas about their experimentation. She also had some dresses that were donated by Marishka and Aleera, along with two new ones Dracula purchased for her about a week ago. As requested, they showed far less skin than his brides preferred, and Ileana was perfectly happy with it.
Therefore, whatever belongings she had with her, she shoved into a small suitcase she forced Dracula to find for her. It was completely bulging once she was finished, but she had everything she needed. If her room remained untouched at Castle Frankenstein, she wouldn't have to get anything else. However, she now slept in a coffin. She paused and then frowned. That might pose a problem. Her room in the tower had lovely windows that let the sunlight filter in on gorgeous days. Unfortunately, she could no longer enjoy those. It was a saddening thought, but she moved on from it quickly. There was no point in dwelling on it much longer. Instead, she decided that room would now belong to Madalina wholly, and Ileana would find a better room that would suit her needs somewhere else. If Dracula had survived there, Ileana certainly could too.
As she looked around the barren room that had belonged to her for this brief period away, she decided that she had no feelings over leaving it behind. It was the place of her rebirth, and yet she felt no attachment to it. It was merely a round room with stone walls and a coffin in the centre. She had her clothes flung about sporadically and the occasional book poking its head out, but otherwise the room was relatively empty. Good. She didn't need memories or anything else keeping her there. With her hands on her hips, she gave the room a farewell nod. When she turned out, intent on leaving, she found her way blocked by Verona. The dark-haired vampire filled up the doorway, her hands resting on either side of the frame, head cocked, and expression cold. Ileana raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, she waited for the older vampire to slip inside. She gave a sweeping look to the room, and then brought her focus back to Ileana.
"So you're really leaving then?"
"I am. Dracula promised Castle Frankenstein to me."
"I suppose it makes sense that his mistress live elsewhere."
Ileana's gaze hardened. She took a step forward, head raised defiantly, "I'm not a mistress."
"You are not a bride," Verona argued, shrugging her shoulders. "So what are you? A whore?"
She had never heard Verona speak so candidly at her before. In fact, Verona hadn't said more than two words to Ileana since she arrived at the castle, and she couldn't quite understand why she wanted to spoil her last few moments there.
"First and foremost," Ileana ground out, "I am a scientist… A scientist who is working hard to bring your dead children to life. Secondly, I am a lover, not a whore, as your husband doesn't pay me."
"He doesn't need to pay you in gold to pay you," Verona purred, nodding at her bag full of clothes. "He has other ways to charm a woman, even one as smart as you, little scientist."
"Why is it that you hate me so much?" she asked frankly. Ileana had never been fortunate enough to learn the ways of women having grown up with men. She wasn't accustomed to the way they talked around everything, speaking circles rather than directly. In fact, when she watched the brides argue, she decided that although it may be normal for women to snap at one another thusly, it wasn't for her. It was easier to say directly what was on her mind and leap right into the argument, rather than dance around it for hours. Naturally, this was a little more difficult with Dracula, as the man drove her completely insane sometimes, but she thought she usually handled herself fairly well.
Verona slipped into the room, her arms falling to her side, and she glared at Ileana. If she hadn't been a vampire, the woman might have feared for her soul. However, while she might not have been as strong as Verona, she couldn't die. If the older vampire attacked, it would be painful, but certainly not life-threatening by any means. Therefore, Ileana held her ground, confident in physical abilities now more than at any point in her life.
"You remind me too much of myself when I met my husband," Verona hissed. "Perhaps not now, but he already adores your mind. I loved him so dearly, and I know the same can be said for you. You are completely unlike the two girls he chose after me… and therefore, I hate every piece of your being, dead or alive."
It seemed Verona was not one to mince words either. Ileana stared at her coolly, trying to look impervious to the hateful comments. It wasn't unexpected, but that didn't mean it stung any less.
"However, as much as I despise you, I wish you the best of luck in your experiments," Verona concluded, picking at her nails lazily. "I hope progress is quick, and your services will no longer be needed when you are finished."
She turned away from Ileana, her waist-length black hair swaying around her hips as she did so, and then marched toward the doorway. Ileana smirked a little, "I think your husband will always be in need of my services, but thank you for your kind words."
Verona paused mid-stride, and for a moment, Ileana waited for her to turn back and attack her. However, her comment seemed to hit hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to warrant some sort of reprisal. The vampire departed in a flurry of green and white fabric without another word, and Ileana grinned triumphantly. If she wanted to play games, Verona had to know that Ileana wasn't the passive little girl she was when she came to Transylvania. Instead, Ileana had matured into a grown woman, both physically and mentally, and she was more than capable of handling herself with critics and foes alike.
Grabbing her bag, she departed from the room without another look. She had already said her private goodbyes, and there was no point in lingering any longer. Clad in one of her older blue dresses, Ileana looked human. Aside from her exceptionally pale skin, there was nothing about her physical appearance that gave away the demon she had become. When Madalina saw her, she would be Ileana and nothing more, and that was what she wanted. Now that she could control herself, she was going to be extra cautious not to frighten the little girl so terribly ever again. She could barely forgive herself for the last time. Never again.
Dracula was waiting for her at the peak of the tallest tower the castle had to offer. It was her favourite place to take off from whenever she was in the mood to fly, and they usually met there when they felt the urge to fly together. He had been away for a few days to help Igor rebuild the laboratory at Castle Frankenstein, and she could almost feel the twinge of excitement when she saw him leaning against the tower's peak. She clambered out a window from the tower across from him, and then flew over to great her lover, transforming back into a human directly in front of him. He smiled appreciatively and then took her bag from her, tucking it under his arm as she leaned up to kiss him. Sighing happily, she curled her arms up and nuzzled into his chest.
"I missed you."
"Apparently so," Dracula chuckled as he sunk his fingers through her air, gripping it tightly to tilt her head up at him. "Are you ready to leave?"
"I don't think you need to ask," Ileana purred, her eyebrow flickering up briefly. "I've been ready to leave since you brought me here."
"Oh come now, my dear," he grinned, planting soft kisses along the ridge of her chin. "It couldn't have been all bad?"
"No, I suppose not," she decided, squirming a little when he nibbled on her ear lobe. "Verona was kind enough to send me off with a few parting words."
"Did she now?"
"She did," Ileana replied. "Your loving bride told me that she hates every part of me, but hopes we're successful on the experiment."
He gave a soft sigh in her ear and then pulled back, their eyes meeting, "I would like to think that was her trying to be civil."
"What a charmer," Ileana droned, rolling her eyes a little. "I can see why you were so taken with her."
"Ileana-"
"Relax," she told him as she grabbed his wrist and untangled his fingers from her hair. "It didn't bother me… She told me something I already knew."
His lips were a thin line, an expression of his displeasure, and Ileana decided it was best to just let it go. She wasn't sure how he handled the jealousy between all the women in his life. They were careful to never express it when he was around, so perhaps his tactic was to ignore it and hope they all got along. Despite being a vampire for nearly three centuries, Dracula was clearly still a man somewhere down there, and when it came to female problems, ignorance was bliss.
"The sun set an hour ago," Dracula informed her as they sauntered around to the other side of the tower's point. "We should have no problems outside."
Ileana eyed the entrance to a cave that led to the outside world, something she had been denied access to ever since she arrived. She wanted to push him aside, leap off the tower, and fly for freedom. Naturally, she wouldn't go far. From what she understood, her old castle was at the foot of the mountain that she current resided in, and the village was a few miles down in the valley beside it. All this time, it felt like she was so distant from the rest of the world, when really nothing but a mountain's outer layer kept her from humanity. However, it wasn't as if she could lose Dracula in flight, and he knew exactly where she was going. No point in eagerly rushing off; he might think she was trying to escape to somewhere other than Castle Frankenstein, and decide to keep her here even longer. It wasn't just at this very moment that Ileana controlled her temper around Dracula. Although she felt herself slowly losing her temper with him in the time since he told her he planned to move her back, Ileana remained relatively calm. He wasn't one to get too upset when they fought, but she didn't want to push him to the point where he rescinded his offer.
She grabbed his wrist and then leaned backwards over the edge of the tower, a coquettish grin on her lips. Without another word, he leapt from the tower, dragging her with him, and they both transformed into a pair of massive winged creatures, shrieking into the hollowed mountain. They spiralled around one another, and Dracula led the way toward the cave's opening, Ileana in hot pursuit. As they whizzed down the dark tunnel, Ileana suddenly felt real wind on her face for the first time in well over a month. She shut her eyes, inhaling deeply, though unnecessarily, and felt her wings beat faster as they propelled her through the tunnel. As she passed Dracula, she tugged on his foot playfully, and then shot past him when he looked back. Moments later, she was in the free air again, twirling happily. The air wasn't as dense out here, and a tad warmer to her undead skin, despite the fact the ground was still covered in snow.
Lights flickered in the windows at Castle Frankenstein, and she rushed forward, not bothering to wait for Dracula any longer. Excitement pounded within her as she landed in the courtyard, her body morphing back into her human form seconds before her feet touched the ground. Dracula landed soon after, and in the flurry of the moment, Ileana let him drag her to the abandoned stables at the side of the courtyard and thrust her inside. He tossed her bag on the ground and pushed her against the hard wooden wall.
"Can't we do this after?" Ileana inquired breathlessly, tugging at his hair as pushed up her skirts. He gave her a heated kiss in return, adjusting them properly so that he had her hiked up against the wall, and then pushed into her roughly. Ileana's eyes rolled back, hopelessly infatuated with the pain and pleasure one man was capable of giving her without a second thought.
Her head lolled to the side, and Dracula whispered in her ear, "I want you to thank me now."
With each word emphasized by a powerful thrust, Ileana cried out, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. They stayed in the stable for some time, Ileana's soft moans accompanied by his deepened grunts, until they were both completely satisfied. They had ended up on the floor with Ileana straddling him, his hand resting contentedly on her bare thighs. She leaned forward and gave him a lazy kiss, as he fiddled with the strings from her bodice. Patting his cheek, she slid up and removed his hand before clambering off. After she smoothed down the front of her dress, she searched for her bag in the darkened stable. Now that she was no longer focused on Dracula locking her back up in his mountain castle, her thoughts turned primarily to Madalina. Without another word, she grabbed her bag and darted for the main entrance of her old castle. The handle felt familiar in her cold hand, and she flung open the usually heavy door with ease, stepping inside as a gust of wind and bits of snow spiralled along with her.
Tossing her bag aside, she studied the hallways with a frown. My, they were filthy. She heard Dracula shut the door behind her, and she looked at him questioningly.
"You said you were fixing the castle-"
"The laboratory," Dracula corrected. "Igor and I saw to the laboratory. The nanny minding Madalina was supposed to keep up with the cleaning."
Although Ileana hadn't been the perfect housekeeper back when she was a human, she never let it get this bad. There were horribly long cobwebs strung up in the corners and off the bases of torches. All she could smell was dust and putrid dampness, and it angered her. How could Madalina be subjected to these kinds of living conditions? How long had it been like this? She glared at a rat that dared run across the hallway. It scampered toward a hole in the wall, but with Ileana's new reflexes, she was much faster. Within a fraction of a second she had the creature by the tail and threw it outside, slamming the door behind it. They might need a cat to counteract any other rodent problems… There was clearly much to do around here before she could get to work in the laboratory, especially if Dracula was giving the castle to her. If this was to become her home, even if it was a temporary one until she sorted herself out, Ileana wasn't going to have it look this disgusting.
"Madalina?" Ileana shouted, suddenly picking up on a heartbeat in the kitchen. She hurried down the hallway and looked into the familiar room, only to find Igor crouched over the counter slicing up what appeared to be some rotten vegetables. She wrinkled her nose at him when he looked up at her. He was just as disgusting as she remembered. The hunchbacked man seemed to cower at her presence, and the second she heard a second pair of hearts beating in her old tower, she was gone, focusing in on them. One was faster than the other, and beat stronger. She assumed it was Madalina, unless the woman had been starving her and her health had deteriorated. If that was the case, someone was dying tonight.
Dracula had not followed her up the old familiar stairwell to her previous room, and she was grateful for it. Madalina was hers, not theirs. She wanted to handle the girl on her own terms, especially now that she no longer wanted to rip her throat out and devour whatever was inside. A grim picture, but at that point it seemed wonderful.
Ileana called the girl's name once more, and threw open the door to her old room when she heard two sets of voices, one distinctly belonging to her little girl. She spotted them sitting on her old bed, a book in Madalina's hands, which she dropped when she saw Ileana. The older woman beside her, looking perhaps ten years Ileana's senior, gave Ileana a hard look, which the vampire ignored.
"Ileana!" Madalina cried, wiggling off the bed and rushing toward her, "Are you better now?"
"All better, darling," Ileana whispered as she embraced the little bundle of happiness, the warm flesh of her face nestled perfectly into the cold crook of her neck. "I won't ever leave you again."
Something smelled a little… off. Ileana pulled back to give Madalina a once over, and realized that the girl looked almost as filthy as the front hall did. There was dirt beneath her eyes, her hair was ridiculously greasy, and the whites of her eyes seemed a little yellower than she remembered. Had she gotten sick over the month? With a frown on her lips, she quickly wiped off some of the dirt, and then stood up, her hand resting firmly on Madalina's shoulder. Her gaze quickly found this supposed nanny and housekeeper, who hadn't even bothered to stand up to greet her formally. At this point, Ileana just wanted to toss her out the tower's window and be done with it. However, she couldn't frighten Ileana again. Instead, she figured she ought to handle this like a grown-up and a human.
"Your services are no longer required," she told the woman icily, sounding eerily similar to Verona's sentiments earlier. "You may pack your things and find a suitable lodging in the village."
"My employment is supposed to be for two months," the woman protested, her French accent throwing Ileana off a little. Where on Earth had Dracula found a French woman in these parts? Shaking her head, she glared at her, and then stepped around Madalina.
"You are relieved of your employment because you have not met its terms," Ileana sneered. "The castle is in a deplorable state, and my girl looks wretched!"
"Only your husband can remove me-"
"He's not my husband," Ileana snapped, her fists clenching, "but he'll do as I tell him. When I tell him I want you out of this castle, he'll do it even if he has to drag you out by your hair!"
All right, so that wasn't exactly the way she wanted to handle this, but that French cow got on her nerves faster than she expected. The woman rose abruptly, wrapped her shawl around her shoulders, and stormed out the door, shooting Ileana a horrible look as she left. It made her want to laugh. Let her try something! It wasn't like she could kill her again, or anything. With that terrible excuse of a housekeeper gone, she turned back to Madalina, who seemed a little shaken.
"Now, now, she needed to leave," Ileana told her, crouching down and holding out her arms, silently inviting the young girl to hug her. "Did you like her?"
"A little," Madalina replied with a shrug, "but she hit me a lot, so I'm not too sad."
"Well, no one will ever touch you again," Ileana told her, enveloping her in a hug as they sat down on the floor together. "Now, tell me what you've been doing while I was away. How have you been with your studies?"
She sat there, with Madalina curled up on her lap, and listened as the little blonde told her about her adventures during the month she had been away. As she listened, she couldn't help but have one thought. All she wanted to do was feel Madalina's warm skin against her own and share that heat, but she couldn't. Madalina recoiled a little at the frigid touch, and that alone quietly broke her.