I did not know how many hours had passed since my mortal death as I awoke in my new chamber. I lay in the large bed, very much alone, and very weak. I felt too tired even to stand, and as I was trying to sit up the chamber door opened. Vladislaus entered and smiled when he saw that I was awake.

"Pleasant dreams, my love?"

I stared at him weakly, having managed to sit up at last. My throat felt painfully dry, and my neck throbbed. I brought my hand up to feel the wounds on my skin, remembering all that had happened.

"What did you do to me?" I whispered weakly. He came to stand beside the bed, stroking my cheek affectionately.

"I made you immortal. You will never know death or pain again."

Looking at him through tired eyes, I shook my head. "If so, then why does my entire body ache?" He sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

"You are still weak from the transformation, which I believe is not yet complete. When it is done, I promise you, you will feel no more pain ever." He then gently laid me back down, and I watched as he bit his own wrist.

"But for now, you must have blood my dear. It will help to complete the transformation, and will make you feel much better." With this he put his bleeding wrist at my mouth, and drops of his blood fell on my lips.

I tried to turn my head away, but he held me still. I was far too weak to fight him, and all I could do was lay still as he forced his wrist to my lips. Opening my mouth a little, I felt his blood rush in. It was smooth and cool and to my surprise pleasant. I found myself holding on tightly to his wrist, taking in every drop that he would give me.

"I think that that will be enough, my Katrina," he said at last, pulling his arm away.

I licked my blood-stained lips, breathing hard as I felt his blood coursing through me. Vladislaus smiled down at me, and I watched as the wound on his wrist healed before my eyes.

"Now, I want you to rest. The next time that you awake, I believe that you will feel more alive than you ever have." With this he kissed my hand and left the room. However, I was asleep before he even closed the door.

I opened my eyes some time later, just after dark to be precise, to find myself shut in a stone box of some sort. Somehow I knew that the sun had just set, that a full moon would be rising within an hour, and that the box that I lay in was a coffin. I was disturbed by this, and quickly slid the heavy stone lid out of the way. Normally this should have been impossible, but I knew that I was no longer myself.

My senses were magnified by a thousand, and everything around me seemed new and strange. Everything that I saw, touched, heard, and smelt was amazingly different. It was very exciting, but also frightening.

Climbing out of the coffin, I backed away from it in horror shaking my head. What had I become? The count's voice came from the shadows behind me.

"I know that it is not to your liking just yet, but I am sure that with time you won't mind it."

I whirled around to face him, frightened at what he had done to me and at waking up in a coffin. Silent tears began to stream down my face as I continued to look at the count. He stepped towards me, a pained look on his face.

"No, no, do not cry. It is not so bad." With this I allowed him to embrace me, holding my head to his chest. "You have nothing to fear now." For several moments it was quiet, and then I asked him what I had been wondering in my mind.

"I am damned like you are, aren't I?"

"You are as I am now, yes," he replied after a brief silence.

"How could you….?" I whispered into his chest, my tears at last had stopped.

This time he did not have to think about his reply. "I loved you, Katrina. You meant everything to me, and I died for you. Now that I never have to face death again, I never want to lose you to it."

For some time we stood there, and with my eyes closed I tried to imagine that all this had been a dream. It was my dear husband who held me, but he was still alive and loving. I imagined his embrace as it once was: warm and protective. Now all that I felt from him was cold and controlling. Finally he spoke, ending my fantasy with his cold voice.

"Now, you must feed my darling. And since it is your first time, I have a special surprise for you."

I looked up at him, confused. "Feed?" Suddenly I realized that I was terribly hungry, but it was a sort of hunger that I had never felt before. He simply smiled, and taking my hand led me from the room. I realized what he had meant as soon as we reached the parlor.

On one of the settees in the room lay a young boy, no more than twelve. He had raven-dark hair and a perfect face. I realized that he was beautiful to me, and also near death.

Vladislaus grinned and crossed his arms, pleased with himself. "Well, what do you think?" I continued to stand as if frozen, staring at the boy. I barely noticed as Vladislaus moved to stand close behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"I know that he isn't much, but I thought that he would do nicely for your first feeding." He kissed my neck and then whispered coldly in my ear, "I hope that you will appreciate him, my dear. It was not entirely easy to bring him here."

He then took my hand and led me over to where the boy lay. I could hear his heart beating in my head, growing slower and slower each minute. It was maddening.

"Take him, and all that will end," the count whispered to me. Still I could do nothing but watch the boy. I could tell that my husband's patience was growing thin, and he pulled me closer to the boy.

"Take him now, or I will!" he hissed. I looked up at him, and was more saddened by what I saw than terrified. His eyes had grown large and an unusual color of blue, and in them was a violence and madness like I had never seen. I looked back down at the boy, and slowly shook my head.

"I cannot do this….I am not a murderer, I can't kill him."

Vladislaus spun me to face him, his eyes still terrifying. "He was dead the moment I saw him, Katrina!" he shouted. "Now do it, or starve."

I shook my head again slowly, tears running down my face. With a roaring, angry snarl he shoved me away, and was on the boy before I knew what was happening. I watched in absolute horror as he drained the child dry. It did not take him long, and soon he looked up at me. Blood ran down his lips and chin, and his eyes were inhuman.

Not thinking, I turned and ran from the room as quickly as I could. Oh God, what had I just seen? And what had I done in coming here….how could I have been so blind, never seeing what he had really become?

My tears blinded me as I somehow found my room and locked the door, praying that he would not come for me. But then I realized: I was no longer fit to pray to God. What I had become was not of God, but of the devil. I collapsed on my bed and buried my head in the pillows, sobbing and shaking.

I finally drifted into a troubled sleep, to be awoken several hours later by the raging storm outside. I felt more hungry than I ever had in my life; an unbearable hunger that seemed to rip through me.

Yet I would not give into it or to him. I would not drink blood to survive.

Finally I began to grow so weak that I could do nothing but lay on the bed. Somehow I could sense that morning was near, and the sun was soon to rise. There I lay, until only a few moments before sunrise Dracula tore into my chamber. I was too terrified of him to speak or move, but I allowed him to carry me out of the room.

We made our way to the hidden chamber where my coffin was kept, the count silent but furious. I did not protest as he lay me inside it, and strangely it felt safe to me.

"You are lucky to still be alive," he said to me, his voice icy.

"I wouldn't call it luck," I replied weakly, not turning away from his eyes.

He smirked, then brought his wrist up to his mouth and gashed it open. "Drink, or you will not survive through the day."

When I continued to stare at him, his anger increased. "NOW! Or I will leave you to the sun!" he barked.

Taking his hand I pulled his wrist to my mouth, and as before I drank everything that he would give me. I could not deny that it felt wonderful; better than the sweetest drink ever had. It was the only thing that made me feel warm and alive again, for since the transformation I could tell that my body was dead.

At last he pulled away, and forcing me to lay down he slid the heavy lid shut. I felt rather than heard him leave the room, and had I the energy to cry I would have. So many horrible things had happened in such a short period of time. All that I wanted was to be back home again, safe with my father. I wished that I could have some way to speak with him, to tell him what was happening.

My father would save me, just as he had when I was a little girl and got lost in the forest. But I realized that he wouldn't. I had left that world of my own free will, and wherever I was now I was there because I had chosen to be.

At last I fell into the deepest sleep of my life, a sort of living death that from then on would always come to me during the day. And for the rest of my existence, that death-like slumber would be the most peaceful time for me. Only then could I escape from what I had become, and from the terrible lust for blood that raged inside of me.