Keira: Thank you, I'm glad you like it :)

Luthien Anwamane: Lol, well, to make up for it I'm generously posting two chapters, with plenty of Draculary goodness for your enjoyment :)

ButterflyOfLorien: Thank you, hint taken!

Mysticjewel: I'm glad you're enjoying this! I didn't describe Annora's dress because I think that uninfluenced imagination can sometimes be more effective than a description. I imagined the dress to be very revealing so that she looked sexy but also vulnerable. I couldn't decide on a colour or a fabric because Annora only really seems to look good (in my mind anyway) in white. So let your imagination flow and let the dress look how you think it should :)

Et-spiritus-sancti: Thank you so much for this review! I think this is the greatest compliment ever! starts crying It's been a constant worry to me that Annora might be a Mary-Sue, it's such a relief to know she's not! I'm glad I managed to keep Dracula in character because that was a worry to me too! So thank you again and I hope you enjoy the next two chapters!

Katca Mcadar: Lol, thanks for reviewing. So I was sitting next you as you wrote them but I want to say thanks again! (Note to others: there is no blackmail going on between me and Kat. I do not force her to review by sitting next to her every day in college with a gun to her head. She reviews of her own free will… yes… free…)

So here it is: The chapter you've all been waiting for! Since this is the one of the big emotional chaptersthe angst tones down at the end of the chapter so Chapter 10 is up already so you don't have to wait for more excitement :)

CHAPTER 9- WRITTEN IN THE STARS

Annora ran as fast as she could, tearing her way to her room, praying vigorously under her breath. She shouldn't have said anything… now he knew, now she had told him, he would never let her be free.

Everything seemed so surreal… so beautiful… the world was blurred; grey stone mingled with the torch fire lighting the steps and through the windows the stars burned hot against the dark sky. Annora could hear her own light footsteps as they echoed strangely in the otherwise silent stairway. He was following. She knew it as suddenly as though he had touched her. She could feel his presence growing closer, drawing nearer with every breath she took. She felt hot and shaky but inside her heart was cold with icy fear. Stumbling up the steps Annora blindly fumbled for the handle of her chamber door. She wrenched it open, in her ears blood was rushing, pulse pounding, blocking out all sound. The heavy wooden door was torn from her hands and slammed into place. She turned and there he was, eyes burning into her very soul. He gave her no time to think, slamming her into the wall, he pinned her there with a force she had not reckoned with.

"Say it again. Say it! Tell me you love me. SAY IT!"

"Oh God," she whispered, closing her eyes.

He kissed her and something deep inside of her cried out and she returned the embrace with all the passion that God had given her to serve Him. She melted into him, her heart beating for the both of them… her breath breathing life into him. Her mind burned white hot and she couldn't think. Somewhere above the heavens screamed warning but she didn't hear. All she could think of was him and his touch…

She didn't know how they got to the bed. She didn't care. All that mattered was that she was in his arms and she gave herself to him and she loved him. She didn't remember the world outside existed but if she had cared to look the night would have seemed more beautiful than it had ever been. The stars blazed and seemed to outshine the moon and the snow atop the mountains sparkled in their light but the angels sighed, for they knew the price she must pay for it had been written in the stars.

The pale golden glow of dawn seeped in through the hangings of the bed. Annora lay awake, her eyes on at a single object that hung around the post of her bed. The light caught the silver crucifix on her rosary and it glinted, reflecting the crown of thorns on Christ's head onto the ceiling. Annora reached out gently to touch it. It moved as her fingertips touched it and the light caught it no more but shone onto the pillow and into her eyes. She closed them from the brightness and did not open them again as she drifted into sleep again.

Dracula had not been asleep and now he propped himself on one arm and looked down at her. Her skin glowed in the light and Dracula smiled down at her as she slept. How can something so beautiful commit a sin? He wondered.

"You've taken everything now," he whispered to her sleeping form. "You own every little part of me. I'd swear that for a moment you even stole my soul back from the devil."

And then a thought crept unbidden into his mind. It was a thought he had dismissed long ago but now it came back to haunt him in a harsher yet more emotional form that it had been contrived. Someday he was going to lose her. One day the small ray of light she had brought into this everlasting life would fade and die, flicker out like a small flame in the wind. Annora would grow old and die and he would be alone again. Left to dwell in the empty hell she would leave behind.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons she had been afraid to love him; she would grow old, maybe she was afraid he would stop loving her. An old, shrivelled creature, all beauty and youth lost forever. And then would he still love her? Dracula knew he couldn't answer that. But if she stayed young and beautiful for eternity, if she didn't age, if she stayed young in mind, body and heart… then passion couldn't die and love would stay strong.

But to give Annora's soul to the Devil would be a hideous act of betrayal. She had given him everything except that which most mattered to her and her soul was not his to take. Annora treasured her soul above all else and devoted it to God. Dracula was sure that even if Annora did love the Son of the Devil with all her heart, she loved God with all her soul. He looked at her as she lay peacefully, lost in empty dreams. He touched her softly and her skin burned to the touch. He slid carefully off the bed so she didn't wake and began to dress. He finished and then drew back the hangings on the bed so that she was bathed in the brilliant light of a dying dawn. Annora's eyes flickered open and she smiled faintly. He turned to look at her but didn't smile. He couldn't, his thoughts were too dark and serious for such a light expression. She sat up and looked at him, her head tilted to one side and her dark hair messed up and tumbling down her back and over her shoulders. Her grey eyes were not troubled any longer and he knew she trusted him and loved him completely.

I love you, he thought.

"No, you don't," she said. He looked at her again. How she knew what he was thinking he didn't care but he didn't answer her contradiction. He turned away and stood with his hands behind with his back, looking out of the window. The view from Castle Dracula had always seemed lovely from this room. He gazed at it for a long time and did not notice Annora standing beside him. She had dressed and now stood at his side. She reached up and brushed away a strand of hair so that she could kiss his cheek. Then she left the room and headed to the kitchens for something to eat.

When Dracula next saw her Annora was thoughtful and gazing at the rosary in her hand. He stood behind her but she didn't look at him. What now? He thought. Where do we go from here?

August passed away slowly and the days seemed long to the Count. Inside he struggled with himself, still not knowing if he could live for eternity without this mortal who made the nights seem all too short. Dracula's brides left him well alone now, they amused themselves with the mortals of Transylvania but even this could not prevent the resentment for the one who had stolen their master turning to bitter hate. They never spoke to Annora if they could help it and were cruel if they had to.

Annora herself did not mind. She had Dracula and though she knew he did not love her, she was happy to love him and serve him the only way she could. Yet Annora needed someone to talk to and she couldn't talk to Dracula, not really. At times she missed England and her father but usually he was forgotten, part of an old life she could never return to and if leaving meant losing Dracula then Annora would stay in Castle Dracula as long as she could love him.

Please review; I like reviews. Yes my preciousss… lovely reviewersess…