The song that Anette is writing is called Beauty of the Beast by Nightwish. ON WITH CHAPTER 26!

A SECOND CHANCE CH.26

"Quoth the Raven: NEVERMORE."

Anette pondered about the descendant of the impaler for days.. She wanted to meet him. But how? How could she meet him? She walked through the hallways thinking about it when she ran into one of the most popular couples in school. "Hey watch where you're going!" the stuck up girl said. "Sorry just thinking." Anette said moving along. "Don't worry hun she's just thinking about her beloved prince." her boyfriend said loud enough for Anette to hear. Anette turned around. "Well at least he's respected unlike you idiots." she said continuing to walk along. "What was that?" he asked. "You heard her!" Emily yelled out. "BACK OFF BITCHES OR I'LL KICK ASS!" Jescee yelled completely pissed off. "You dare to threaten us?" the girl asked. "YES I DO DARE." Katie yelled. "DON'T MAKE ME SICK CRAD ON YOU!" Makayla yelled the little people in her head also pissed off and ready to kick some ass. All of Anette's friend were by her side. They were ready to lash out and defend their friend. The couple backed off and walked away, ruining their reputation. Anette was glad that her friends were so loyal and protective of her. They were like her sisters. That night the girls spent the night at Anette's house. They made pizza and were in Anette's room muching on their pizza and watching movies on her computer. They laughed as they watched Young Frankenstien. "AIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE... AIN'T GOT NO BODY AND NOBODY CARES FOR ME!" Igor sang as the girls cracked up. "Ok Igor pwns all Igors PERIOD." Anette said. "Agreed." her friends stated. The girls continued laughing at the classic farce movie.

Vlad needed to find his bride again. He was certain that he would die without her! Lenore sensed that her master needed her and flew to him. Vlad held out his arm and Lenore swooped down and perched on her master's arm. "Look for her again Lenore. Look hard and fly far." he ordered seeing the intelligence in the raven's eyes show. Lenore cawed and flew out of the window into the forest below looking for her master's lost love.

Anette walked through the forest in a Nightwish tank top, jeans, a thin GIR jacket, black converse, with a red scarf around her neck. She hummed a song that she had been writing for some time. "Trees have dropped their leaves, clouds their waters... What should come after that?" Anette thought aloud. "All this burden is killing me... Distance is covering your way.." she mused. Anette sighed. She hated song writing yet she loved it. Lenore flew through the woods and spotted a wavy black haired girl. It could be her master's love!! Her master would reward her greatly!! She swooped down to get closer but in her excitement she smacked straight into the oak tree that the girl was sitting underneath. Lenore's left wing broke and she tumbled down to the girl.

Anette was deep in thought over her song when she felt something land in her lap and she heard a screech. She snapped out of her reverie and looked down to a see a injured raven in her lap. "Oh you poor thing! What happened?" she exclaimed trying to pick up the raven. Lenore let Anette pick her up but she was cawing and screeching out in pain from her broken wing. "Do you have an owner? Do I need to take you to the vet?" Anette asked the clipped raven. Lenore merely cawed and cawed jerking her head towards the castle at Poiganor. "You live in the castle?" Anette asked staring up at the castle on the cliff. Lenore cawed yes and screeched out at the pain in her broken wing. Anette held Lenore in one arm as she made a sling out of her red scarf. She tied the makeshift sling around her shoulder and under her arm and put Lenore in it. "Ok baby this is going to be a long hike.." Anette told her walking up the trail to the castle.

Vlad was awake even though it was three in the afternoon. He had learned to wake at about noon so he could have a better chance at finding Anette again. But so far for several of years there was no luck. He thought of maybe going out into town more so that he might see her but he grew weak when he was in sunlight for long periods of time. He wondered where Lenore was. "Why is it taking her so long?" Vlad muttered to himself as he took a sip of blood from his glass. Anette finally reached the castle. She was a little nervous but she knew that she had to help the bird. "Are you sure that you live here? Or are you just trying to get me arrested?" she asked the bird one last time. Lenore kept cawing as if to tell her 'Yes! Now hurry up my wing hurts like hell!'. "Alright.. Don't fall birdy." Anette said making sure that the sling was tight enough so the bird wouldn't fall. She took a deep breath. "I can do this.." she whispered. She put her foot on the gate and began to climb up the gate to get into the courtyard. She finally reached the top of the gothic iron gate and held Lenore tight as she dropped to the ground. "Here goes nothing.." she whispered as she walked through the courtyard.

There was a sudden flash of light and a field of impaled corpses were around her. She nearly screamed and dropped the raven. She was afraid. Blood was dripping from the bodies and there were even mothers with their infants staked to their chests with blood dripping from their pale, stone cold fingers. Lenore didn't understand why the girl was afraid. She didn't see anything, but the girl must've seen something.. Anette made her way through the field of impaled bodies seeing ravens caw as they fought over the flesh, eyes, and organs of the freshly killed and as they eyed her.. Men moaned and breathed their last breath after screaming from pain for endless days and hours before they finally departed. One of them looked at Anette. "Turn back.. Don't go any closer.. Unless you wish a long, painful death.." he said before his head fell limp and blood fell from his parted lips. She shuddered. All that was around her was death, gore, blood, decay, and the ravens holding dominion over all. She could see the bodies of dead gypsies, the scraps of their brightly colored skirts, shirts, and scarves stained with blood and fluttering in the wind. Suddenly what looked like a guard jumped out that was covered in blood with a bloody sword pointing out to something. "Are you ready to die gypsy vixen?" he seemed to growl, his eyes seeming to be red with bloodlust and on fire with carnal desire.. She looked to what the bloody sword was pointing towards. It was a stake, a clean stake.. for her.. She gasped and looked back at the guard. Then a man in entirely black clothing with icy blue eyes, a pale pronounced, handsome face, raven hair tied back, and a sword drawn stood before her. "If you want to save your blood and throat devote your virgin body to me vixen.." he said in a icy, seductive, and thick accented voice. He was Ţepeş. She screamed and instantly the guard and the corpses along with the stake vanished. The prince smirked and then he vanished.

Anette was alone in the courtyard the only other soul there was the raven. She was terriffied. "What the hell just happened?" she whispered to herself. Lenore cawed and flapped her good wing towards the doors. She gulped nervously and cautiously walked to the doors. She knocked nervously and the doors opened by themselves. Anette walked into the castle and was amazed at everything. She felt inspiration flood through her and take her mind on a journey. She had already come up with a song. "Safely away from the world.. In a dream.. Timeless doman.. A child dreamy eyed.. Mother's mirror, Father's pride.." she sang. Vlad was in his study and he heard a soft voice.. A girl's voice.. no more than 18 singing in the castle. He quietly went down the hallways and followed the voice. The voice seemed familiar. It pained him, caused his heart to nearly break with sorrow and his eyes to fill with blood tears. The voice was soft yet strong, beautiful, sad yet filled with a slight hope. Then.. he saw her. Her, his bride. It was Anette. His bride had returned! She was back again! His dead heart shot up from being sunken deep, down into his body. It shot up directly to his chest and it nearly started to beat. "Anette! She has returned to me!" Vlad's mind rejoiced along with heart and body. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and smother her in kisses and take her right then and there.

"Such a lovely voice you have." Vlad said startling Anette. She nearly screamed from the fright that she had outside. "Oh. I'm sorry to disturb you and barge in but.. Is this raven yours?" Anette asked showing Lenore who was all cuddled up in the sling to him. "Yes she is." he answered. "So I guess that you are the descendant of Prince Dracula?" Anette asked as she looked around at the expert masonry that commanded the attention of the viewer over all the other interior details. "Yes I am. The castle was just handed over to me a few days ago." he explained. "Well.. I never thought that I would meet you. The townsfolk already call you Nosferatu." she said with a smile. Vlad chuckled. "Just because I have the name Dracula people think that I am Nosferatu, vampyre." he said. "Well you definitely have the looks to be one.." Anette said without thinking. He chuckled. "Thank you. I'd have to say that you have the beauty of one as well." he said hoping to make her into one soon. She blushed. "Thank you.. What is your name?" she asked. "Vlad. Like my ancestor." he answered. "Yours?" "Oh it's Anette." she answered still blushing a little. "What a lovely name.." he answered. "Well yours is... fitting.." Anette commented almost blushing from the stupidity of her statement. He chuckled. "I understand what you mean. My father was named Vlad. After our ancestor of course." he explained. "Would you like something to drink? It must've been a long hike and a tiring climb over the gate." Vlad said wanting to keep her with him longer. "Yes thank you." Anette answered following him with Lenore still in the sling. He led her into the kitchen and she couldn't help but be taken aback by the modern look of it. "It throws you doesn't it? It does that to me sometimes as well." he said with a slight chuckle. "Yeah it kinda... does.." Anette said looking around at the surprisingly modern kitchen.

Anette sat down in a chair with the injured raven still in her scarf sling. "What would you like to drink?" Vlad asked her. "Just water please." she responded as she looked around the kitchen. "I saw that you were admiring the masonry of the castle. But I have to wonder why you started singing." he said making small talk as he set a glass of water in front of her. "Well.. The masonry is amazing. It's stunning to think that this was all rebuilt.. It looks exactly as it should've been.. At least from the legends... And about the song it's just I don't know.. I felt as though the impaler prince himself was standing there with me.. And so I came up with a verse.." she explained before taking a sip of the nice cool water. "But what does the verse mean?" he asked sitting down across from her with a glass of dark red wine which was actually blood. "Well the prince.. He must surely have some of his mother's traits as in hair color, eye color, facial structure and he must have had pride like his father." she explained not knowing how right she was. Vlad's eyes came from his mother while the rest of him came from his father, especially his sense of pride. "Mother's mirror, father's pride. That fits him doesn't it?" she asked. "Yes it does." he answered. "Ţepeş was very prideful don't you think? How he punished his people, how he treated his mistress' even if they did deserve it, even if his own people deserved it. But.. What drove him to do all that I wonder.. Why? Why did he snap?" she asked herself aloud. "The murders of his father and brother." Vlad said not aware that he was speaking aloud. "You mean Dracul and Mercia?" "Yes them. When his father's sword was presented to him and he learned of his father and brother's brutal murders he vowed revenge and set out to fulfill it." he explained telling his story.. his reason for revenge. His father had been brutally murdered by the hungarians along with his brother, Mercia. Mercia's eyes had been gouged out with a red hot poker and he had been buried alive. When Vlad found out about the deaths of his brother and father he instantly vowed vengence against Ladislav, the king of Hungary that ordered the assassinations of his father and brother.

Vlad had suceeded in killing Ladislav hand to hand in battle later.

The burden of the history of the name Dracul weighs down upon the son.. The descendants.. The heirs. They strive to fulfill that name even to any task. No matter how cruel or unjust it may be. Even if it is to kill thousands of your own..

TO BE CONTINUED..