I awoke the next morning in the arms of the count, who still slept. For a while I simply watched him, not wanting to wake him from his peaceful sleep. At last I leaned over and kissed him softly, and as I pulled away his eyes opened.

"Good morning, my lord," I said with a smile.

He looked at me and smiled, bringing his hand up to touch my face. "Good morning. Did you get enough sleep, my dear?"

"Yes," I answered grinning. The truth was that neither of us had gotten much sleep that night.

For a moment he looked at me with a grin.

"No," I said, laughing.

The count kissed me and then got up off of the bed. I watched him walk across the room to where his clothes lay and begin dressing. I wondered to myself why he was in such a hurry, and finally I asked him this.

"Did your father not tell you?" he asked turning to look at me.

"Tell me what?"

"That we are leaving today for my father's castle, where we will be living," he answered, putting on his boots.

I looked at him for a moment. "We're leaving today?"

"Yes." The count looked up at me. "You didn't think that we were going to live here with your father, did you?" he added with a laugh.

I didn't answer him. In truth, I hadn't really thought about where we were going to be living.

The count waited for me to dress, then together we made our way down for the morning meal. It was still fairly early, but many of the guests were already there. My father joined us and then so did the count's, but I noticed that Van Helsing was not there. The count noticed too, and mentioned Van Helsing's absence.

Lord Valerious told us that he had left early that morning, with some sort of urgent business to attend to. The count seemed almost glad to hear this, and I wondered if he was still thinking about the ball.

As soon as we finished eating everyone began to prepare for the journey home, including all of the guests that had come for the wedding. I learned that we would be leaving very soon, even before noon. My servants had already packed my belongings the night before.

I stood in my room alone, looking at everything that was so familiar and comforting to me. I knew that it would be a long time before I returned, but I wondered how long.

At last it was time to leave, and I could tell that my father was melancholy as we said goodbye.

"I will visit you soon, I promise," he whispered in my ear as he hugged me. I nodded, not quite knowing what to say. We stood in the castle courtyard as we had five years ago when the count had left. It was amazing how time had gone by.

The count opened the door of a nearby carriage, and held out his hand to me. "Ready, my love?"

I looked at him. "I would prefer to ride my horse up front with you, if you don't mind."

My father looked at me and began to protest, but the count silenced him. "I don't see why not. I've heard that you're a very skilled rider, my dear. I would be very pleased for you to ride with me."

Smiling, I had my horse saddled and brought to me. I mounted her, thankful that I was able to take my old friend with me.

"Goodbye, father," I said.

Taking my hand, my father smiled up at me. "Goodbye, my Katrina. May God watch over you always."

The count rode up beside me. "Ready to go?"

I nodded, and followed him to the head of the large group that would be returning with us. I turned one last time to look at my father and my home, and then rode through the gates with the count and Lord Valerious.

The rest of that day was spent riding through the Transylvanian fields and forests. Occasionally we would pass a castle on the hillside, but other than that we saw nothing but trees and fields.

We made our way through mountains, and at last it began to grow dark. I was wondering how much longer we would be traveling when at last we stopped. Learning that this was only a short rest break, I dismounted, aching from a whole day in the saddle. There was a stream nearby, and I allowed my horse to drink from it. As I was doing so the count walked over to me.

"We had to stop for a short break, but it will not be much longer now," he said looking at me. "We should reach Vaseria tonight."

"Vaseria is where we will live?" I asked.

"Yes. Our castle is there, and it is the village that my father rules over. Someday it will be ours." He lifted his hand and brushed a strand of hair out of my face, allowing his fingers to brush my skin.

"I think that you will be happy there," he said with a smile.

A few minutes later we were preparing to leave when I heard a rumbling in the distance. The wind began to blow, and I could see dark clouds heading our way. The others saw it too, and mounted their horses quickly to leave. The women hurried back into the carriages, and the count came over to me just as I was about to mount my horse.

"I want you to ride the rest of the way in the carriage, my dear. I am afraid that we are about to be caught in a storm."

Not wanting to argue, I nodded and allowed him to see me into one of the large carriages at the front of the group. It was empty, and the windows had been covered for privacy, which made it quite dark inside.

I felt the carriage start to move, and just then the thunder rumbled ominously very close by.

We traveled for a ways trying to outrun the storm, with it very close behind us. It began to rain, quietly at first and then louder and harder until I could hear nothing else. A few moments later I felt the carriage stop, and the door opened.

The rain was still pouring, but the count helped me out of the carriage and through large wooden doors into a great stone hall. The rest of the group was doing the same, and the ladies in their fine dresses came through the doors drenched and annoyed.

I began to look around me, and realized that we were in a castle, and a large one at that. It looked as if no one had lived there in years, and dust covered the entire room. On one side there was a large stone staircase, leading upward into the castle. On one wall was an enormous fireplace, which would have heated the entire room when lit.

Lord Valerious walked over to me, looking around the castle as I was. "Not nearly as welcoming as Valerious Manor, but it will have to do for tonight I'm afraid."

"We're staying here for the night?" I asked.

He nodded. "I'm afraid so. It's impossible to travel in this weather."

As the storm raged outside, we looked for places in the castle where the night could be spent. There were a few rooms on the bottom floor with old furniture, and a dining hall with a large amount of chairs. These were dusted off and brought into the main hall, where we sat and waited for the storm to pass.

I sat beside Lord Valerious and the count, listening to the thunder and rain outside. Finally I fell asleep, and was awoken by the count early the next morning. The storm had finally stopped, and daybreak was only an hour or two away.

We soon began the rest of our journey to Vaseria, and I rode at the front of the group again with the count.

Just as the sun was beginning to rise, I saw my first glimpse of what was to be my home. The first thing that I noticed about Vaseria was not the village itself, but Valerious Manor. It loomed ahead of us in the distance, a great stone structure with many towers.

On one side of it lay a deep river, and it sat at the foot of the snow covered mountains. The village was nestled next to it, shrouded in an early morning mist.

As we drew closer I noticed how big the castle actually was. It was larger even than my home, and rose up hundreds of feet in the air. At last we reached the village, and made our way through it to the castle.

A few minutes later the count helped me from my horse, and I stood for the first time in the courtyard of my new home.

The count was watching my reaction, and smiled. "I hope that this will do for your new home."

"It certainly will," I said looking up at it.

"Come, my love," he said offering me his arm. "I think you'll be very pleased with the armory."

I gave him a smile, taking his arm and walking with him through the great wooden doors of Valerious Manor.