Chapter Three

She was asleep on a bed with freshly washed cotton sheets that smelled like sand and sunshine. The bedroom she was in was decent in size and Dracula took a moment to look around it and he did not know when she would wake and spot him. To either side of the bed were windows with the blinds closed, across from the queen bed was a set of bookshelves full of books and a few films atop the short shelves was a laptop computer with purple details and stickers plastered across the top. One of those caught his attention, it was a top hat with an impossible top-heavy fraction and a little scroll at the bottom proclaiming "We're all mad here" and he smirked. Cheeky girl, that is what she was.

The wall opposite the door had a chest of drawers, atop that sat photos, he moved away to look at them and felt something soften inside him as he looked over the inhabitants of the pictures, they were all family. One frame caught his eyes, it was silver and had recently been polished if the smell coming off it was anything to go by. The image inside had to be his human's parents: the man had her eyes, ears and chin while the woman shared the curling black hair, softly rounded cheeks and proud nose. The pale skin came from the mother as the father had a healthy tan, though clearly both of the figures in the image were tall, in fact most of the people in these pictures were taller than his human, Iola if the woman he was using was to be believed. How had she come out so much smaller than what had to be her siblings and cousins?"

The woman rolled over and stole his attention from the photos, and he looked back to the bed. The quilt she was under was hand made with some of the stitches being uneven and the pillows were stamped with funny little phrases and images. The one Iola slept on proclaimed "I read past my bedtime" and the one beside it begged, "Just one more chapter". He found them to be… endearing? Was that the word he wanted for this situation? He was hardly ever at a loss for words when it came to women but this one threw him off beat every time he connected to her.

She had not accepted the request for friendship that his little puppet had sent out for her but it had given him a name and a place. She was in America yes, in the state of Nevada, but he still needed a name for the city. She kicked the quilt off and was treated to the sight of her bare calves and feet, Dracula wondered if she slept as Mary did, barely clothed. He would have to wait for that answer as she seemed content to only let her legs and arms be out. The arms, strong from work though he did not know what she did, were in long black sleeves that were different to the grey on the body of the top. There was lettering that he could not make out due to the quilt. She rolled over and sleepily grunted, "Seriously get out." And went back to sleep.

She was relaxed though, not tense like she had been the other times he had seen her. Like she didn't actually care he was there, and he wondered if she was getting used to him. Curiously he approached the bed and sat on it, then, after a moment, he climbed onto it with her. Her nose scrunched up and she rolled away from him, putting her back to him. Had he been an enemy of her she would be dead now, but as it stood, she was his salvation and he would not harm her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iola woke to the feeling of something leaving her space and had the sneaking suspicion that it was the same dead man that had been coming around lately. Though, as she lay in bed, thinking about everything that had happened with this particular ghost, she was less and less sure he was a ghost. It was possible that he was just some dolt who was ending up with her while he practiced astral projection… That thought was shaken from her head because then she would have to consider that someone was kind of stalking her. She scrunched up her nose and rolled out of bed, time to get up and get dressed, she had projects that needed doing and they would not work on themselves.

After she changed into light blue jeans and a light tee, Iola brushed her teeth and headed to get something to eat. A quick scan of her kitchen had her tossing toaster pastries in her toaster and pulling out the blender for a fruit smoothie. She tossed the black berries and raspberries into the blender with a frozen orange juice and pressed blend. The kitchen was too small for a table, so she ate in the living room. If she wanted to, she could put a table there, but she didn't feel the need for it. She wasn't going to have live company any time soon.

Once food was done and cleaned away, she went to the back porch and took a deep breath of the hot summer air and went to the little card table that she had set up for herself to work on. She had a commission for a wrought iron fence that needed drawing and planning and where better to get that going than in her back yard? The maybe-not-a-ghost did not visit her as she worked and she did her best to not think about it, concentrating on her work. When she was satisfied with the plans, she contacted the buyer and talked to him for an hour. He liked her design and would get her the materials she would need to make the pieces on site. With the agreement in place she went to get the paperwork done up and legalized so he couldn't get out of actually paying her. That had happened before and she did not want a repeat.

It was around noon that Iola decided to go in, the sun was high and making her sweat bullets and she didn't know parts of her body could sweat like that. She wanted another shower but would save that for later… maybe, depended on how she felt after lunch. Once she got into the kitchen Iola decided on an avocado sandwich with lemonade for lunch and again ate in the living room, curled up on the couch and watching an episode of "Reborn!" an anime that had been recommended to her by a friend. When the episode was over, and she felt less disgusting she got up and checked her laptop to see if she had any other work to do.

There were no new requests for work but there was an email from Michael telling her that she needed to call mom and grandma before they lost their cool. Iola rolled her eyes, she was 26, not 16, she wasn't going to be murdered. Well, ok she couldn't say that because you never knew what life would throw at you, but it wasn't like she wouldn't… she stopped, maybe she should just call her mom. She went back to the living room and picked up her phone. Once she curled back up on the couch, she called her mom.

The ring back for her mother's phone always made her laugh, it was a man's voice calmly greeting you and welcoming you to the "Mental Health Hotline" and if they had to leave a voicemail Iola and her brothers would always start by giving their name, stating the number the pressed, and asking for "Doctor Catherine Roman" to call them back. Her mother answered the phone.

"Momma?" Iola confirmed.

"As far as I know I'm your mother, yes," Came her mother's teasing voice and Iola could practically hear the raised eyebrow.

"How are you, Mom?" Iola asked with a smile.

"I'm good kiddo, you get everything in order?" Her mother asked and Iola heard the woman light a cigarette.

"Yeah, the place is great, and my buyer liked the plans I presented today."

"What else happened Iola Rose?" Her mother questioned. Iola rolled her eyes, her mother liked to use her full name a lot. Iola was Latin for Violet and her father liked roses, so she was her mother's violet rose. She didn't know where her dad was anymore.

With a deep sigh Iola asked, "I can't get anything past you, can I?"

Her mother laughed, "I'm surprised you still try."

With a wistful smile Iola launched into the possibly-not-dead-guy that had been popping up since she had moved here. At the end of it Catherine had finished her cigarette and was thinking. "I'll talk to grandma about it, she may know what is going on. You may be right about the astral projection thing, but I want another opinion on it first," She said.

With a cheeky smile Iola asked, "Does this mean I don't have to call her?"

She could practically hear her mom roll her eyes. "Call her tomorrow brat."

"Yes Momma," Iola said. "Love you."

"Love you too kiddo, talk to you later." The line went dead and Iola closed her phone, she set it on the coffee table before she flopped into a laying position on the couch.

"I am taking a nap," She declared to the empty house and closed her eyes to do just that. "Thirty minutes only," She told herself sternly, unaware that someone was listening in and would happily wake her in the half hour she requested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow we had a lot of Iola this chapter huh. Means we will need more Dracula than Iola next time. No clever title this time, my brothers are all sleeping as I stay up late writing. Shhh.