Part V

Tina looked at herself and Kitana closely for the first time. Both of them were in strange dresses. Tina's dress was dark purple and looked much like Aleera's but with most of her cleavage hidden. Kitana's dress was turquoise blue and much like Verona's. She glared in disgust at the display of her own cleavage.

"Don't you like your new outfits?" Dracula asked in amusement. Kitana shot him her famous death glare.

"I prefer modest clothing thank you very much!" she snapped.

"Actually I think it's really cool," said Tina. "I was never able to find a costume like this for Halloween so now I have one." That said, they all went and sat down at the dining room table. Dracula sat at the head, his brides seated to his left, and Tina and Kitana seated to his right. Kitana purposefully made sure that Tina sat away from Dracula. The price of that was that she had to sit right next to him. 'Better than watching Tina's blood get sucked!' she thought to herself as Igor served them their food.

"So, Tina," said Marishka. "I read over all nine chapters of your story. And I must say, it is very good. But why the cliffhanger?" Tina looked over at Kitana then back at the blond haired bride.

"Sometimes authors like to do that to create a feeling of suspense so that it makes the readers good and ready for the next chapter," she said. "And so far it's worked like a charm!"

"I agree," said Marishka. "I'm at suspense myself."

"What kind of story did you write, Kitana?" asked Verona.

Kitana´s face turned red. The idea of explaining her stories suddenly felt embarrassing. She took a deep breath.

"Oh nothing much," she said. "Just a few things with Dracula and.someone else in them that's all!" Kitana finished the last part of her sentence a little too quickly.

"Kitana's stories were mostly about romances.'" Kitana´s face went white. Aleera gave Kitana a smile.

"Interesting," she said. "What else were they about?"

Part VI

"Her stories are about Dracula coming together with Anna Valerious or making her his bride. All in all we´re just two normal vampire authors" Tina finished her summarys for the stories.

She turned her look towards a blushed Heather, who looked redder than a tomato.

"Interesting", said Dracula and smiled.

Then in front of everyone appeared a glass with a strange red liquid in it. "Let us drink on our guests!", said Dracula but it sounded like a command. Katina sniffed at the liquid. She was sure that he wanted Tina to drink his blood now. "Yuck! That smells..." She was interrupted by Dracula´s dangerous glare. "...like wine. Good", she added.

Tina took the glass to her lips, being about to drink. Katina used her chance and threw the glass out of her hands and right on Dracula. The brides could only stare. His black jacket and pants were covered with blood. Tina broke the embaressing silence with hysterical laughter.

"That´s not funny...", the vampire hissed.

But Tina kept laughing and laughing.

"Don´t try my patience", he said again. Her head had turned red. It was a laugh attack and even Dracula wasn´t able to stop her. Her body was shaking. Tears ran down her cheeks.

He had to ignore her. "Marishka, my dear, what was..."

Tina´s laughter got louder. She tried to hold it back but the smothered noises sounded as if they came from a pig. Dracula was about to lose his temper.

"What was that last night? Did you..." This time he spoke louder but again he wasn´t able to speak.

Katina whispered in Tina´s ear: "Please, stop that. You are going to kill us both."

"I´m sorry", came her reply. She couldn´t stop.

One last time Dracula tried to ask: "Were you angry with me? You were so different..." He looked at Tina, shouting: "Is it too much for you to shut up! At least for five minutes!"

Her laughter ceased. She took one deep breath. Then she pressed her lips together, not one sound coming out of her. But with the shaking of her body the table quivered. The "wine" in the bride´s glasses started shaking, too.

"TINA! ARE YOU FOURTEEN OR FOUR YEARS OLD!", Dracula shouted at her.

Finally she was quite. "You may leave now. Verona will bring you to your chambers", he said in a normal voice. The girls stood up and started walking. The bride followed.