Chapter Fifteen: 1886 Transylvania

Siente Mi Amor

Siente mi amor
Una historia sin tiempo
Que no tiene fin
un amor como el nuestro
no, ni nunca podra morir
Quiero ser en tu alma
un momento feliz
te amare por siempre
vivire dentro de ti

-Salma Hayek "Siente Mi Amor"

The Count lay serenely in his bed as the sun set and dusk began to awaken.

"Shyriyh," he muttered quietly as he sat up and slid off the bed. He walked down the hallway and towards the kitchen, not exactly sure of what he wanted to do.

"Verona?" He called out as he entered the dining hall. "Marishka?" He looked up at the ceiling to see if his brides were lounging up above the world itself. No sign of them.

"Aleera?" He walked into a few of the guest rooms and continued to search in a deep state of boredom.

"Hi!" The Count jumped around when a voice sounded behind him.

"Wh-who?"

"You don't remember me?" The marionette man who not so marionette-like anymore said.

"Y-you are Lord Johnny," the Count said as he bowed to the Prince of the Underworld.

"Man, don't call me Lord Johnny… first of all… Johnny just doesn't go with Lord… and second of all… you know me. It's too formal. Just Johnny," the Prince said as he held out his hand towards the Count. The Count looked nervously at it for a moment before taking it and shaking it back.

"What brings you here, Lor—Johnny?" The Count asked. The Prince grinned a demonic grin before laughing with a boyish charm.

"I wanted to tell you that you'll be having the Lady Sheri staying with you," he told the Count who became confused.

"Lady Sheri will be staying at my castle? That is how I am to protect her?" He asked. The Prince shook his head, yes.

"Yup, I hope you don't mind," he said with an adorable smile. To the Count his face looked like that of Lucifer. So beautiful, yet so deadly. Bearing a dark, satanic goatee and, narrow black eyes with a sharp face. So lovely this man was. Yet so deadly. The Prince of Hell.

"I uh… I do not mind at all," the Count said with a smile as the Prince moved away from him. He held out his hands.

"Good, here you go," he said as a flash appeared. When the light faded, Sheri Willis stood looking very confused in its spot.

"W-where—Johnny!" She ran over to him and hugged him nervously. "C-Count Dracula?" Her head whipped around to look at the handsome Count.

"Miss Willis," the Count bowed to her as she walked closer to him, still bearing caution about all the stories she'd heard of him.

"Sheri, I want you to stay here for a little while. Dracula's going to guard you from the chimeras, okay," the Prince told the young elf. Sheri nodded and ran over to the Count. "See ya!" The Prince called towards the Count and Sheri.

"Where are you from?" The Count said, confused by the Prince's strange dialect and accent.

"Florida, America, Hell—down there it's the year 20,876!" The Prince announced as he disappeared in a mysterious mist.

"He can teleport because he is a Hell Demon, is that not fascinating?" Sheri asked, looking for anything to talk about. The Count nodded.

"It is."

"I wish I could teleport."

"Ah…" The Count bit his lower lip, not exactly sure how to talk to her. It was strange he thought because he had never had any trouble talking to women in the past four hundred years or so as the Vampire King… so why was he feeling so timid around this woman?

"Would you… like something to eat… or drink?" The Count suggested, hoping she would not be scared that there was indeed blood in the castle to be used as food. Sheri smiled towards him.

"I would love that. Thank you," she said as she followed him into the kitchen, admiring his flowing black cloak. "I like your cloak," she added in. The Count stopped and looked at her for a moment.

"Thank you," he said as he smiled with deep sincerity, turned and continued walking. Sheri felt a smile creeping up towards her lips as well. She let it free once she was sure the Count was not looking.

"What do you like to eat?" The Count asked as they sat down at the large dining room table. Sheri put her hand to her lips in thought.

"Umm… I am unsure… I love sushi," she said with a timid smile. The Count found his cheeks becoming hot again as a smile was suddenly painted onto his lips.

"Sushi? Strange, my old friend used to love sushi as well," he said as he stood and poked his head out a pair of large oaken doors. "Vanya!" He called, "would you care to make Ms. Willis some sushi, please?"

Sheri sat and listened curiously as a female voice called back, "yes master!" before the clinging and clanging began from the kitchen. The Count glanced at her and smiled before sitting back down.

"Um…" She couldn't think of anything to say. Then her mind muttered a question… Are you married? Her mind wanted her to ask the lovely Count.

"Yes?" The Count asked with a smile and she knew he was aware of what she wanted to ask. Sheri shrugged.

"Just wondering… I never heard if you were married… I mean… the Lord of all Vampires… and…" she trailed off as he stared at her with deep satisfaction. He knew he was right.

"Yes, I am married," the Count said, liking the disappointment he saw on her face. "To my three brides," he decided to add, making sure she knew he wouldn't mind another. Ever since being turned he decided monogamy wasn't for him… it was a pleasant decision he thought.

"Three brides?" Sheri looked a little surprised.

"Yes, three," the Count emphasized as Sheri's eyes took in his nicely chiseled featured.

"Oh… th-that's interesting… it's just that… well…" She didn't know how to answer, "well… uh… among elves we usually only marry one person… it's kind of fascinating how customs here work." She was a little disappointed that he was already taken with three women, while simultaneously wondering if he'd accept another.

Do not get your hopes high, her mind muttered, he is a Vampire, the King of vampires… he only wants vampire women. She felt like crying when this thought hit her.

"Here you are Ma'am," Sheri jumped when a beautiful young woman in a revealing white summer dress handed her a plate of sushi.

"Th-thank you," Sheri responded, not knowing how the woman got there. Of course, she's a vampire too, she thought.

"Thank you Vanya," the Count said to his servant woman. The woman bowed and walked out.

"Thank you, Count," Sheri said as the Count gazed longingly at her.

"You are very welcome. I hope you do not mind if I dine with you," he said as the woman in the revealing white cotton dress reemerged from the kitchen carrying a wine glass full of a thick, red substance. Sheri knew immediately that it was blood and smiled.

"Not at all. I don't mind blood," she said as she put a piece of sushi into her mouth using the beautiful black and flowered chopsticks the servant woman had given her. The Count smiled.

"Thank you. Perhaps you would like to meet my brides after dinner?" He asked as he daintily sipped the blood from the fancy wine glass.

"I would love that," Sheri said as she put another piece of sushi into her mouth. The Count smiled with her.

"Are they… uh…" the young Elven princess followed the gorgeous Count through the halls of his castle, "going to hate me…?" She asked nervously. The Count laughed.
"Why would they hate you?" He asked with a smile. Sheri shrugged.

"Well… because… uh… I am an elf… I did not think… I did not think vampires usually liked elves," she said as her cheeks turned blood red. The Count stopped walking and turned to her.

"Sheri, that is not true at all," he said as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"O-oh… I am sorry… I just thought," she felt the blood rising again into her cheeks.

"Remember that woman I told you about… that you reminded me of?" He asked her with a stern look to his beautiful face.

"Y-yeah."

"She was an elf," the Count told her. She nodded nervously.

"O-oh…"

"And I loved her." Sheri felt her heart freeze in her chest.

"Y-you loved her?"

Feel my love
A story without time
That has no end…
A Love such as ours
That shall never die
I wish to be in your soul
A joyous moment
I've always loved you
And for always I've lived inside of you.

Siente Mi Amor…