The idea for this story actually came from a short fic I wrote before setting up my account called 'Dracula's Lament.' Basically it was Dracula thinking about a woman called Annora who he had tried and failed to love. I turned it from first person into third and voila! I may yet post the original at some point.

Well, we have come to the end of the road. I don't like this epilogue much, I like sad, angsty endings better but this is the original plot and many people seem to want a more optimistic tone! So here it is; the final chapter...

EPILOGUE / CHAPTER 14- AT THE GATES OF DAWN

Dracula opens his eyes and stares at the brilliant white snow dancing before his eyes, shielding them from the glare. He sighs and smoothes the letter in his hand before folding it along the faint lines, no longer crisp after being poured over so many times. Annora Osmond. He had not forgotten her. He had never loved her but it had been the next best thing. Dracula folds the letter back up and slipped it into his breast pocket then turned away. He needed to stop thinking about her now. He would need all his attention focused on Anna Valerious at the masquerade if he wanted to seduce her that night. It is strange, he muses, how he could not replace Annora and yet his second bride, Marishka, was so easily substituted for none other than the woman who was pledged to kill him.

But then after Annora had died he had felt so guilty, consumed by grief and despair that he had never tried to love again. It was strange how he had become bored with his brides and found Annora who then had been right for him in all the wrong ways. It should have worked out. He should have repented and been good and pure once more and he and Annora would have lived happily ever after until he died from not killing to live, which probably would only have been a few weeks, he thinks ruefully. But he hadn't, his pride had refused to allow him to accept that God would forgive him with an apology and now he had lost her and because he was proud he couldn't love her.

Once he had stopped grieving for Annora Dracula found that he didn't seem to feel anything any more, he had become numb to all emotions and if he did feel joy or hate or sorrow it was just a shadow, a ghost, a mockery of the real thing. That was what his life was now; a mockery of the true life God had given to mankind. Dracula pushes this thought away. No, no regrets, no repentance, live this hell to the full and laugh in the face of the devil and of God. Neither had a hold over him, he was his own master.

Dracula refuses to allow the treacherous doubt to surface again and donning his golden cloak he descends the stairs and waits to meet Anna. She appears and walks down the stairs looking breathtakingly beautiful. A sudden memory of a masquerade ball centuries ago flits across his mind. She had descended those very same stairs, looking twice as lovely though still a little pink from sunburn. Her dress had been wonderful, elegant and teasing her figure into a very pleasing shape. She had been so nervous… Dracula forces Annora's memory away and concentrates on the woman in front of him.

Dracula had failed to seduce and sire Anna Valerious. Now his one time friend, Gabriel Van Helsing, advances on him ready to rip his throat out. For the first time in a century Dracula is afraid.

"We could be friends! Brothers!"

Dracula steps backwards, away from the towering creature advancing on him. He morphs into his hell beast form but too soon it is over. He claws at his throat, trying to stem the flow of dark blood that gushes from a deep wound in his throat. His head grows dizzy and his vision blurs. He can feel his strength fading and he knows this is the end. Eventually all that is left is the massive skeleton of his true form, stained with the cold blood of millions of people. Then Dracula opens his eyes and is partially blinded by the brilliant light. A hand extends towards him and he takes it, uncertain but unafraid.

He saw before him the hazy outline of a man, shimmering with the light of the blessed realm. Dracula glanced down at himself, he is translucent, barely there, a dull ghost of his body. The man spoke, his voice gentle and musical.

"I am going to show you your life as it was lived by those around you."

And Dracula suddenly saw his whole life flash before his eyes but it was not his life as he had lived it but it was his life as others had lived in it. He saw the pain and the joy he had brought, the happiness and the sorrow, why some had loved him and why some had loathed him and as he watched he understood. He had lived a selfish life, for pleasure and for the moment, regardless of the consequences and ignoring the whims of others. There had been so much death... Dracula saw the impact of his life on the lives of others and falling to his knees he bowed his head.

"It would have been better," he said, "if I had never lived at all. I deserve the punishment before me."

"Nay," said the man, "for God does not grant life freely. What of the joy you brought? It is true, you have lived a sinful life and caused much grief and sorrow but you repent now and your thus soul is purified."

"Then... I am forgiven?"

"Those who truly repent, who see the pain they have caused and grieve. Your heart is pure. You repented with no thought for yourself but because you pitied those who you have tormented both subconsciously and deliberately. You are forgiven because you feel compassion out of the goodness of your heart and not out of fear of punishment. Yes, you are forgiven."

"If... I had not...?"

"Had you been sorry out fear of your own fate or simply tried to fool me then I would have known your heart was not have pure. Now, enter."

The man waved a hand and the light consumed him, he felt wonderfully light as all his cares slipped away into nothingness and he only remembered the glorious things in life and the cares of the world seem so trivial now. Suddenly a beautiful ball of light, shining far brighter than the light around him hovered before his eyes, before gently passing into him. And then Dracula knew what it was to be whole. He too shone with the light of his soul as it danced within him once more. Dracula had never known such bliss, such wholeness. He seemed to float in a dreamlike state on through the light and around him he could see others, all glowing with the aura of their souls, at peace at last and free from the restraints of the world. And then he saw Him and he was no longer afraid but filled with great love and gratitude.

Then he saw her, standing before him illuminated and beautiful not with physical perfection but the perfection that only comes from true purity.

"I was so afraid that you had not..." Dracula was silenced as Annora placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"It is not a sin to love."

Annora took Dracula by the hand and finally, at long last, he could love her as he always should have done, for all eternity.

That's it, the end. Personally I prefer writing unhappy endings but that would have made many people feel grumpy and cheated (including myself! I would have felt horribly guilty for leaving poor Dracula like that, even if he deserved it.) It feels kinda weird to have finished after spending 1 year 3 months writing it. Thank you to every single one of my reviewers who encouraged me to keep writing this:

Katca Mcadar, Vicky, et-spiritus-sancti, Eccentric Banshee, vanity is my name, Almost-Lost-Hope6, Fortune Zyne, ButterflyOfLothlorien, AlexandreaxHarker, KaindeAmedha419, Haunting Whispers, DarkBird1345, sora-sama15, Mysticjewel, Lionrose, Estrella of the Moon, OieCuite, Anna Maxwell, JP, charlote, Luthien Anwamane, Assyn, lau, Keira, Renee, PrincessLady3, Rhea, Insane Dragoness, Raven, Dracula's lady, mina sparrow, Serena, Catalina Tavington, Copperstring, Vee017, theangelofcrimsontears, Saraqueenofallthings and Chibi Hime.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for your support! I have just one more thing to ask of you: please send me one last review and voice your opinions on the ending. :) And thank you to new reviewers who comment now it is finished.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. I think I should mention that the religious issues discussed in this story are not all my own views. Many of them are just Annora's because they are part of her character. Mostly they are my thoughts and wonderings since religion is so complicated that there is a fine line between believing what we should believe and believing what we want to believe or think we should.

2. This ending is not exactly romantic, I know. They made a good couple in heaven because in heaven, everyone makes a good couple, you can love everyone with a simple, pure love. That is why he could love her in heaven but on earth his pride and denial stopped him from seeing that if he gave up his immortality he would be forgiven which made him resent her and all she stood for, so he couldn't love her.

3. Dracula never loved Annora He felt so close to her and reluctant to let her go because of her close connection with god, which he also hated because it was a constant reminder of the living death he had chosen. Without realising it, Dracula was using Annora as an attempt to fulfil his spiritual emptiness. She was never the ideal woman for him but he liked her company because she made him subconsciously feel closer to god and, of course, he was also sexually attracted to her.

4. The baby only had life in the first place because God gave it life as a sign to Dracula. When he refused to accept this sign he killed the baby when he sired Annora, thus turning it into a vampire. This is the theory: Grace would have never had life at all if God had not given her one because although Dracula can have children with his brides, Annora was not a vampire at the time and her living reproductive system would have rejected his seed. With his brides, both reproductive organs were undead and so would recognise the cells as undead and therefore vampires are compatible with each other.

5. I actually preferred chapter 13 as a final chapter because I liked the whole idea of Dracula not loving Annora because he couldn't. But I felt that in heaven, he could love her so he had to... Does that make sense? Ah well, I do like happy endings though sad ones are more melodramatic!

I WILL SOON BE CHANGING MY NAME TO CHESS 77
So don't despair if you can't find me under the name of Phoebe Telumetar.