Hello my dear readers! I'm back! Thank you for all the reviews you have left since I have updated, they were very encouraging to look at! And I'm still alive, I have visited Prague where Van Helsing was filmed, such a great place it is! And here's a new chapter! Hopefully I still have old readers who didn't get tired of waiting, and new ones who were curious to read all the 23 chapters, and that you all will enjoy this one!
The thoughts in Agnes' head have been like those in a raving lunatic's in the following days. She was desperate to find out about the date, and trying to cook up a way to escape, all the while making efforts to hide it from Dracula. She knew that Elizabeth's wedding was to take place very soon now, and she did not want to miss it. Time after time, she kept exploring every bit of Castle Dracula, this time watching out for hidden passages. The signs of fatigue began to show on her face after a while, and despite, that part of her dictated a strong urge to be in the count's company, her other half was preoccupied with finding the way out, so most of the time she ended up just dining with him and shuffling to be able to leave as soon as possible. Though Agnes never felt as torn-up from the inside all her life as she did these days, sitting over her meal, as Dracula and her were sitting at the two ends of the table often exchanging unreadable glimpses. She loathed the way her body and heart were screaming against the decisions made by his mind. After it became clear to her, that the place could only be left flying, once Agnes even thought of threatening Igor to drag out of him, how he ever leaves the castle. However, upon eyeing Dracula's servant in the depths of the laboratory, she was able to make a picture of his character, or at least the deteriorated remainders of it, distinct enough as not to try such a thing.
„ Even if he told me where to find the path he uses...I wouldn't get far" she thought. Agnes knew Igor would run to Dracula with the news of her 'hasty departure' as soon as the sound of her footsteps would die in his ears. Somehow, she did not feel like imagining what would happen if Dracula caught her again in the middle of one of her 'little escape attempts' as he referred to them. She did not want to upset the delicate balance that now existed between them.
„Don't fool yourself Agnes, its no balance." Agnes snarled as she was walking along one of the many corridors of Castle Dracula. The days passed, turning into each other in a strange tempo. her situation seemed hopeless, she even ran out of ideas by that time. Rain was falling outside only to cast a gloom on her and the castle as well, though at the same time it filled the cold air with a kind of strange music, as if the raindrops were falling on the keys of a half-untuned piano. Agnes opened another door as she was heading for the Western tower, and found herself in a large room, which looked just like about the hundred others she had seen so far. It used to be a dining hall, large enough that the guests could have been entertained by performers or poets, but instead was covered in cobwebs and dust. Agnes could not help but wonder why Dracula leaves the furniture of finest wood and velvet to be destroyed by the iron teeth of decay. As she set off towards the door at one end of the large room, she suddenly discerned a dim light coming from behind her back.
„ What?" she thought surprisedly, as she whipped around. During the weeks she spent in Dracula's residence, Agnes already found out that few of the rooms were lit in any manner, the light which enabled her to see anything mostly came through the windows, or from the torches and candles on the major corridors. But this time the glimmer stemmed from behind a door, the right side of which was left open, leaving a little gap by the doorframe. Agnes' lips curved into a small smile.
„ Big enough to peek in through it!" she thought as she moved towards the large wooden door with quiet steps and an arch expression on her face.
The Prince of Darkness was standing in front of his mirror, his gaze fixed at the enchanted surface. The image of two men in a library floated between the silver-gold frames. One of them was sitting behind a grand oak table looking through all kinds of old and dusty documents, and various books lay open by his left hand. He looked to be in his mid twenties, and wore the decent, but not fancy clothes of a nobleman, pants and leather jacket, both brownish-toned like the bark of the chestnut tree in autumn, to match the colour of his shoulder-length hair. One of his eyes was lost in battle, and now he wore an eye patch, the only thing to spoil his otherwise handsome features, along with the wrinkles of concern at the moment. His gestures and gaze reflected wisdom and deliberation, virtues possessed by few who walked the Earth. Far behind the table stood another man, leaning against a massive bookshelf, with arms folded. He was clad in the same style; save he was wearing trousers and white shirt, with sleeves hitched up to his elbows. Resembling his elder brother, he was blessed with a handsome face, but his hair and eyes were of an indefinable nighted colour, and his lineaments radiated impatient fury. Suddenly he rushed up to where his brother was sitting, and angrily banged his fist on the table.
„If the last records on his sighting are from over a hundred years ago, then why did he have to return now?"
„I only know as much about him as you do dear brother, please don't ask useless and doltish questions." An expression of misbelief appeared on the latter's face.
„ But how can you sit here so calmly, when our people are dying out there?" he asked as he threw his hands up in the air, then turned away from the table. There was a long silence in the library before the younger man spoke again.
„ Both of us should be out somewhere hunting for him with as many men as we can gather! Searching through the forests and mountains for his lair!" he said, never turning around.
„ Listen here carefully," came the flared-up answer „we are never going to find his hiding place unless we are able to follow him directly to it. But I don't expect to see him sooner than the face of the new Moon now."
„ How can you be so sure about this?" he asked with furrowed brows as he turned back to face his brother.
„ I am not sure, but this is the only idea I was able to conclude on account of the past moths' events. He seems to be „feeding" once a month only. Do you have anything better or wiser in mind? If so, then do not omit to share it." The latter only grimaced and said nothing.
„ Alright, if you have nothing to say, then let me tell you what I think. We have a few weeks to prepare for battle; I suggest we used the time to create a plan of some kind. I have people to take care of, and watch over, I am not going to run straight into his deadly clutches leaving my wife, who is with child, behind. And I will not let you do that either."
Dracula was not surprised at what he saw; in fact, it matched his expectations almost perfectly.
„ Ah, hot-headed young Nikolai, and ever so sober-minded Boris Valerious. The latest generation, who knew nothing of their dark family legacy until these unlucky days." the count let out a small laugh as the Valerious brothers went on with their conversation, but now he grew tired of reading their lips, since his mirror only showed images. „Besides," he thought as he raised an eyebrow „ what fun it would mean if I knew their plan in advance?" Dracula knew he had to get rid of the family as soon as they find out about the oath their ancestor had made, but there and then, he enjoyed observing their struggles to find him, and the investigation they did. „Like reading a genuinely written crime story..." ran through his mind „too bad I know the ending already." Suddenly his thoughts were distracted by soft, steady sounds: heartbeat and breath. A smile stretched across Dracula's features as he turned his attention to the door behind him.
Agnes watched the count's dark figure against the light of the strange mirror that showed two men who seemed to be arguing over something. Mixed feelings evoke in her heart; from one point Dracula scared her, the way he watched what it seemed to be his secret window to the world, he appeared like a malicious spider, looking at smaller creatures from the above, ready to attack them anytime. On the other hand...his dominance and strength were alluring. He was the first person in many years by whose side, she felt fragile and even weak. At times Agnes was overtaken by a weird kind of mixture of desire and serenity in Dracula's presence.
„ How could he arouse so contradictory emotions in me? This man truly is a personification of duality. But who could those men be anyway?" Agnes flapped back from daydreaming to reality, as this little spark blazed up her curiosity again; to create another unanswered question that will cause her some sleepless hours. Agnes could lip-read most people, but in this case, the image was too far for her to discern, and the men seemed to have spoken Romanian, which she did not understand.
„ Why is he watching them so..." Agnes could not finish the thought, for the image in the mirror disappeared and Dracula was turning around. She let out a quiet gasp of surprise, and her legs were quicker to act than her brain, springing from the gap, she ran to the door through which she came in, and precipitately opened it, causing a loud noise. Her mind began to function again after popping up from the astonishment.
„ Bad move, Agnes!" she thought as she stared at the empty corridor in front of her. By a sudden idea, she quickly closed the door and turned around to see the former little gap by the door widen, and Dracula appear. She saw him smile at her as she felt every vessel in her frame dilate, her heart beat rapidly, and every power which sustained life, rush to her face and make her blush.
„ Good evening dear Agnes," began the count in a husky voice as he glided up to Agnes „ it is in deed a pleasure to see you are awake and decided to honour me with your attention by yourself finally." Agnes could not help noticing that hint of sarcasm in Dracula's voice, and knew that meant he was up to something she was not going to like.
„ Could you tell me how long have you been rewarding me with your attention actually?" the count asked as he lifted Agnes' chin to look deep into her eyes. The latter was not feeling as uncomfortable between the door and Dracula as she would have expected herself to be. She knew he probably has noticed her presence, but what if...?
„I have just entered this room as you stepped out from that other one," she said, and her eyes moved in the direction of that certain room to avoid Dracula's cutting glance „ I shut this door behind myself as you opened that one." Agnes shifted her gaze back to Dracula making sure to cover up her lie properly. „And good evening to you as well, Vladislaus." The count gave a wide smile and stroked Agnes' cheek with the back of his fingers.
„ Well, well, I never thought you would be brave enough to repeat that surprise from last time." Agnes' brows popped to her hairline in confusion, though she was inexpressibly relieved by the change of subject.
„ What surprise?" she asked trying to imitate an innocent face. Dracula let go of her chin as his fingers slid to Agnes' shoulders and he began playing with a strand of her hair, enjoying the softness of it on his fingers.
„ Calling me by the name is a brave deed...or should I call it brash and dotty?" Agnes put on a sarcastic grin.
„ Since you call me by my name I don't see why I shouldn't do the same with you without being regarded as brash." As the answer left Agnes' mouth, she herself began pondering on why she called the count by his name. This impersonal way as one refers to close friends or lovers.
„Why am I doing this to a man who is unknown to me and keeps me in his castle against my will?" She began to question the second part of the sentence right away, and her eyes began sparkling with multifarious emotions as she watched the count's hand play with that wavy lock of hers. Slowly she lifted her hand and reached to touch Dracula's, but she stopped only a few inches from it. This delicate move of suppressed affection from his angel was more than enough to blaze up the fervour in Dracula, and induce him to seize Agnes' hand, and quickly press his lips against hers in a kiss. And he indulged in the minutes of delirium they shared. Though this tryst of frost and heat was different from the earlier ones. The touch of Agnes' smooth lips was more intoxicating, and something deep within Dracula's heart was moved, and took him as close to feeling as possible, cruelly vivifying the spark in the cold for a brief moment, causing him pain and pushing him to ecstasy. Every now and then, the count was struck by the unmatched hybrid of angelic power and human fragility Agnes intensely radiated. Dracula also knew it was the angel that kept resisting him...and it was the angel he longed to have for himself for an eternity. But despite experiencing Heaven on Earth, the angel in Agnes soon could not cope with this encounter with the son of the Devil, and she broke the dark magic of the kiss. Dracula still looked at her with passion and lust written on his face, the remainder of the previous spark of an emotion, then he frowned with a questioning expression.
„ Now, I do believe this answered that question of yours, didn't it?" Agnes, who a few seconds ago felt she was a few inches above the ground with groove, now gave an angry grimace at Dracula and pushed him away.
„ How dare you violate the privacy of my thoughts? Again?" Agnes asked fretfully as she set off towards one of the doors in the large room in a quick pace. Dracula grabbed her arm and pulled her back to lock her in his arms and have their faces dangerously close again.
„ So now she doesn't mind the kiss but my reading of her thoughts? What a great leap.." The count thought, then whispered into Agnes' ear in a seductive tone.
„ Yes my dear, you may go now if you choose, just one more favour before you go,"
Agnes couldn't hide her desperate surprise; secretly she was hoping that kiss would be enough to distract Dracula, just like it distracted her for a moment, and keep him from asking the awkward question that was about to come.
„ what are you doing wandering around the castle all day? Looking into rooms, peeking through holes?" The count asked, emphasizing the last phrase, as he raised his eyebrows, creating wrinkles on his forehead that meant no good. Agnes knew what the count meant to find out with this question, but she just ignored it, made a stupid face, and freed herself from Dracula's embrace. She took a few steps away from him, and putting on a pouty look she raised her right arm in front of her in the air as if she embraced somebody on the shoulder, and stretched out her left arm to take an imaginary hand.
„ What do you think?" Agnes asked in a cheeky tone „ I have been dancing around here by myself, since nobody is here to entertain me. Again." She gave the word 'nobody' a special stress, and tried to make the whole cooked-up nonsense believable. And literally she began dancing, elegantly putting her feet after one another in the steps of the Waltz. In the back of her mind Agnes thought Dracula might be eccentric enough to do such a thing himself, so maybe, just maybe, he could be deceived.
„ Even if he is not," she thought to herself between two twirls„I'm not giving away this one without a fight." As for Dracula, the whole dancing scene was now a part of the game they played, and he successfully oppressed a smile to make Agnes think he fell for her lie. Though she did arch her arms and threw her head back elegantly, and the cracking sound of her heels on the stone floor suddenly sounded like music, it seemed to Dracula as if the angel was intently teasing him. Often he wondered who was playing with who, and Agnes' strategy, Dracula swore she had one in her beautiful head, was not always clear to him.
„ Hmm, I almost forgot the reason I had her brought here..." the count thought as he watched Agnes move gracefully in front of him. „ She would make a perfect liar were it not me she's lying to..." Up until that moment, Dracula only suspected that Agnes had the special gift of seeing people in their true colours, but now that she picked one of his least feasible habits to use against him, he knew it for sure. „Clever to hide a lie behind it..." He would often dance by himself for his own amusement, and to annoy others, but he could not stand being annoyed. The count turned on his heels with his cloak flying behind him and walked to a door. Before leaving the grand room, he turned his head short to give dancing Agnes a knowing look.
„ Hats off, dear Agnes, I am truly impressed by your dancing...Now I am beginning to regret not taking you to my All Hallow's Eve ball!" Seeing an unpleasantly surprised expression on his angel's face, Dracula left with a satisfied grin.
„ What?" Agnes thought as she stopped and angrily crossed her arms.
Thank you for reading, and let me know if I still can get things right with writing! Did you like the new chapter titles?I have uploaded a new drawing of Agnes on my homepage and a few photos that I took in Prague, check them if you feel like, they're said to be good! Love you all!
