They walked through the room and Nicola's heart was racing as she pulled the cowl further over her face.
Most of the monks and friars were busy working and took no notice of them but a few greeted them.

"Buongiorno", Nicola muttered in a deep voice for the third time as they finally reached the door at the other end of the massive room.

It was not without a sigh of relief that she followed Arene out and into the corridor.

"You're doing fine," Arene whispered. "It won't take long to get to my rooms now."

Just then Carl came round the corner and stopped short when he saw them.

"Arene where have you been?" he demanded before turning his attention to Nicola. He surveyed her carefully then glanced back at his god-daughter.

"Carl," said Arene sweetly. "You know how bad my Italian is so I went for a walk with this Holy Father here as he has promised to help me. I thought it would be a nice surprise for you if I can into our lesson next week and was able to show some improvement."

Carl glanced back at Nicola with suspicion.

"I don't think I know you father. What is your name?"

"Io sono Angelo di Firenze," Nicola added in as low a voice as she could muster.

"He is a new member of our Order," Arene said, jumping in to help her friend. "We were just going to the library."

"Very well," Carl said at last. "I am pleased to see you taking your studies seriously for once Arene."

That said he hurried off into the armoury.

"He's probably going to work on some new invention," Arene asserted. "That was close though! Let's get to the room quickly."

Nicola agreed whole-heartedly and the followed silently as Arene led the way through a labyrinth of corridors and passageways till they arrived at the young woman's quarters.

"It's very strange being the only girl here," Arene told Nicola, "but at least I get my own room."

Arene looked around quickly to make sure they were not being followed before opening the door. She made a quick gesture for Nicola to follow and the two entered Arene's room. Nicola smiled as she entered. It was a very sweet room indeed. The room was lit by candles and there was a sweet smell of incense in the air. The bed looked nice and soft and the walls were covered with strange drawings of some sort.

"Designs that Carl discarded, I thought they were pretty cool," Arene said as she shut and locked the door. She then walked over and flopped down on her bed. "It's not a lot, but it's home."

"I think it's lovely," Nicola declared as her attention fell on two pictures by Arene's bedside. One was a family portrait of Arene, Carl and Van Helsing, all standing together and smiling. The other one was of two people Nicola had never seen before. It was of a man and a woman on their wedding day. The man was a little taller than the woman, had short grey hair and very kind eyes. The woman had short blonde hair and a nice smile. Nicola picked up the picture and studied it carefully.

"That's the only picture I have of them," Arene stated as she looked at her friend. "They didn't like to have a lot of pictures of themselves or me for that matter. They wanted it to seem as though we never existed. They wanted to keep me away from Dracula at all cost."

Suddenly, Nicola realized what had just happened. This was Arene's mother and father. She put the picture down and went to sit by her friend.

"I'm sorry," she said as she hugged the girl.

"It's okay. I had to find out sometime," she replied as she looked at the clock. Her expression changed at once. "Oh no!"

"What?" Nicola asked as Arene threw on a clean poncho and combed her hair.

"I'm late for dinner!" Arene said, straightening her shirt, "It's customary for me to eat with the rest of the Order. Carl's gonna freak and Van Helsing's gonna be inquisitive as always. Don't worry, almost nobody saw you so you don't have to come. Okay, so the kitchen is always open, nobody comes into my room, there is an extra bed you can pull out from under mine and...just make yourself at home." She smiled. "I know the circumstances aren't good for you coming... but I'm really glad you are here."

Nicola smiled back.

"Thank you so much...for everything."

Arene nodded.

"I will help you Nicola, I've never broken a promise before and I don't tend to start now. I'll bring you back something from dinner."