Chapter Two:
"WHAT!"
"The child is in my room, my master. I don't know why, but I just couldn't leave her there!" Aleera responded hotly. Dracula was livid. She dare bring a human into his castle! "I want her elsewhere! Now!"
Aleera took a moment to cool down before answering. "And she will be. But please," she started to beg, clutching his hand, "please just let me take care of her until she gets well again. You understand don't you?" Dracula saw a sorrow within her bright coffee colored eyes, and his expression softened somewhat.
"Aleera, I know how you long for a child." He sighed. He always just had to give into his brides, didn't he? "Alright, my love. You may. But then she's gone, got it?" the sadness was covered in a blanket of delight before Aleera did what none of the brides ever dared to do; she kissed him full on the mouth before laughing in happiness and running out of the passage she and Dracula were in.
"Aleera!" she was accosted by Verona and Marishka as she crossed the threshold into their chambers. "What is that human doing here?" Aleera received two very piercing looks. "I saved her. Out Master allowed me to keep her 'til she is well." She just couldn't stop smiling.
"He let you? But then what was that noise down there earlier?" Marishka asked.
"He was…irritated. She is human, after all. But this is out chance to see what it's like to be mothers!" all three brides were smiling by now.
"Aren't you human too?" asked a small voice from the stairs. Three heads whipped around to see the swaying form of the girl. Verona clucked her tongue and swept over to lead the girl over to one of the couches in the room they were in. "You could say we were." She answered vaguely. Aleera and Marishka settled themselves on the couch too, so that they could all talk. It was only a three person couch, but the brides didn't mind leaning against each other.
"So, what is your name? Why were you out in the heart of the Transylvanian forest--on the night of the full moon, of all nights?" Aleera inquired. The girl stayed silent for a moment, giving them time to actually study her. She had bright red hair, along with electric blue eyes. She was around fourteen, fifteen years of age and was about five foot seven, just shorter than the brides (all of whom were five foot eight, ironic, no?). She also appeared, if truth be told, withdrawn, and not just by the way she was sitting; she seemed to be capable of combat, and looked as if she practiced it often.
"My name is Larissa. I totally forgot it was a full moon, which was stupid, but my mind is kind of torn up. I was traveling to Transylvania, though." Larissa finally answered.
"Alone? At you age? Why?" Marishka asked, concerned.
Larissa was trembling. "My-my father was killed several weeks ago. I was looking for my mother; I remember my father telling me she lived in Transylvania. Unfortunately, I don't know what she looks like or anything. All I've got is a name. Nothing else."
"Don't worry" Verona soothed. "When you're better, we'll help you find her." Larissa smiled, tremors slightly abated.
They talked through the whole day, until the brides knew almost everything about her, from what her fathers job was (wolf- hunter of all kinds hint hint) to her favorite color (silver, gray). Funny thing was, Larissa didn't even know any of the bride's names, not even coming second hand, since they seemed to just know who was talking to whom without saying.
Somewhere a clock stroke ten p.m. and the brides jumped. Marishka rushed off the couch and threw back some drapes, which Larissa had thought to be a huge window, when it was in fact, a large balcony. The moon was just over the mountains, revealing the town below the hill on which the castle stood.
The brides' all sighed in pleasure as they saw them moon, now entirely content. Suddenly, Larissa yawned, and leaned against Verona's shoulder. When the women saw this, they immediately started fussing over their charge (you can't really blame them can you?), and sent her off to bed. She gave up a half-hearted fight, but ruined it by stifling a yawn in the middle of her tirade.
When the girl trudged upstairs, Marishka came and flung herself onto the couch, sprawling across the other two, who were still sitting there ("Hey!" "Ouch, Marishka that hurt!"). They sat/lay there for less than five minutes before Dracula burst into the room; well, it was more a 'thrust-the-double-doors-open-at-the-same-time-to-be-dramatic' entrance, but the could be considered the same. I guess. Anyway, it was almost as if he had been watching and waiting for the girl to go, because the look on his face showed he clearly knew she wasn't down here with them.
"So, my brides. Are you glad that the human is here? Or are you regretting it, hmm?" Dracula asked. The three women followed him to the balcony.
"Oh my lord, I love the girl already!" Marishka said quietly. Verona nodded and smiled in agreement. On the other hand, words were unnecessary with Dracula. If they dealt with the Bride's emotions, he could just sense them. Aleera didn't have to say anything. The happiness and peacefulness was radiating off of her. The only time Dracula had felt this strong an emotion from any of the woman surrounding him, was the first time Dr. Frankenstein's machine brought their children to life. They had died shortly after, and the brides were heartbroken, but that joy… After about the sixth failure, Dracula gave into the plea's to not try again.
Dracula was flung out of his thoughts when a hand was placed on his arm. "Hmm, what?" the women giggled, catching him off guard on a rare moment.
"I asked you when the last time was that you fed. You seem deprived." Verona said humor still lightly in her voice.
"Oh, no. I'm not; the next time I need to feed is…next week." He smiled in reassurance. The brides seemed to accept that. Suddenly, Dracula remembered a little piece of news that kind of set things back. "My brides," they all turned to him, all emotions riddled with concern at the solemn tone he used. "Word from Rome." and we all know that's not a very good thing for Dracula. "The Holy Order has sent their best hunter along with a monk to, ah, take care of us. They should be here in the next month or so."
"So we'll take care of them the same way we've done with the others." Aleera said.
"We'll have to see. The last envoy's they sent were some of their worst field agents. To see what we could be capable of, so to speak. It might be a bit different this time." Dracula pressed.
The brides were unconvinced, still believing that it would be easy to rid the world of the hunters, but Dracula didn't say more on the matter. Instead, he once again inquired about the girl. "Can we say 'tragic life'?" Marishka said. Aleera elaborated. "Poor girl. She has in no way met her mother, her father got eradicated by a werewolf three weeks ago, she was trained in combat at an early age out of necessity, and never had many friends because of having to travel around so much. She's sweet in spite of all of it nevertheless."
"And dangerous," Verona snorted, very uncharacteristically. "Do you not remember her telling about those battles of hers? I'll say this; I'd never want to cross her when she's livid and has a sword, and that's just from hearing stories!"
"Oh yes, she sounds sweet alright. And did you tell her about us then?"
"Ah, no. I'm not even sure she got any of our names." Aleera smiled sheepishly. Dracula just rolled his eyes, a faint smile on his face. "Typical." He said with a fond smile on his face. He listened to them talk for several hours, mostly about the girl, whose name he learned was Larissa, but also about regular girl things-especially the masquerade at the end of the next month.
At the end of the night, the four found themselves lounging on the couch like the brides had with Larissa earlier, even if it was a bit more intimate the way they lay right then. Dracula, not being in the half asleep stupor the brides were in (due to lack of sleep for two or three days, no doubt), he heard the girls' steady heart beat pick up pace as she woke. He looked over to the east windows to find that the impending dawn was eminent.
He untangled himself from the brides, who kind of groaned in protest, to draw the drapes across the balcony entrance, once again leaving the fire to be the solitary source of light. Dracula swept quickly out of the room with a last lingering glance at the sleeping women sprawled on the couch, when the sound of soft foot steps echoed down the circular stairwell.
Larissa stepped softly into the room. She was clad in aerodynamically fit (so, tight) leather pants that tucked into her knee high boots, a dark blue blouse, which was mostly covered by the black overcoat that hung down to her knees, all of which she had found in the wardrobe in the room she was being let use.
As she walked over to the couch, the only noise she made was that of rustling cloth. Looking over the back of the couch, she found three sleeping women, and rolled her eyes. They showed no signs of waking, even though they should have. Well that what they get for staying up most of the night! Larissa gave a small smirk and strode over to the door. Testing it, she found it open; for some reason she half expected it to be locked!
With one sole cautious glance over her shoulder, she slipped out into a large, cold stone corridor. She didn't have any time yesterday to explore the place she suspected she would be for a while, so she figured she'd do it early in the morning-more time to investigate before anybody would come searching for her.
She walked down the passage, occasionally peering into a room on either side of the hall, each as unfurnished and lifeless as the last. She once again stepped out of a blue-gray room covered in spider webs that looked like it could have been a guest bedroom. As she was about to take a stride back to the brides chambers, she heard the crackle of a fire. Twirling around, she quickly stared down at every door down the hall 'til she came to the very last, of which seemed to have a golden glow outlining it.
Experience taught her constant vigilance, and she did not fail to remember it as she eased open the thick, heavy wooden door to which the glow was coming. This room had neither furnishings nor cobwebs, as if it was used time and time again, but not often enough to need a chair or so. Another difference was that this room, while it had the balcony, it did not have huge protective drapes over it. When she saw the room first, her eye was almost immediately drawn to the big balcony which looked as if it overlooked another, larger room in the castle they were in; a ball room perhaps.
Curiosity almost always makes people do things they usually wouldn't. In this case, Larissa wouldn't usually care what room an indoor balcony was overlooking. However, the fact that someone cared what was in the room next door enough to just stand and look at it, made her wonder, and want to see what could be so possibly captivating. Looking from corner to corner of the room before her, searching for any occupant it might hold, as it was obvious it had been used at least earlier in the night. Seeing no one, she stalked silently to the stone balcony. What she saw made her go rigid.
The room itself was huge, possibly the size of one of the wings in the castle, but that's not what froze her. Honestly; she had seen quite a lot in her fourteen years of life, but she hadn't ever seen anything like what she saw in abundance in the hall before her.
Hanging from every over-hang possible even from the walls, some of them were large, slimy looking green-gray sacks. 'Goes with the décor, of course.' Larissa thought sardonically. Although, most of the grayness might have come from the dust and spider webs layered everywhere; the only place without them it seemed, were the floors. Many of the green-gray sacks looked as if they had some sort of wire stuck into them.
Suddenly, an especially strong feeling of unease settled deep within the pit of Larissa's stomach. Slowly, she backed off the balcony and back in the room before turning and rushing out into the corridor beyond. As soon as she stepped over the thresh hold, the sensation seemed to completely disappear altogether. Larissa turned around, looking at the door and got that kind of look that said, 'Oh…kay, whatever,' and went down the hall to the sublime staircase.
Seven hours later, she returned to the brides chambers after exploring eleven levels, three towers, and every part of the dungeons that weren't locked up. Every thought of the indoor balcony had completely fled her mind and were replaced with sheer awe of the magnitude of the place.
When Larissa slipped into the room, she was surprised when she found one of the brides sitting relaxed on the floor in front of the fire; the other two were nowhere to be seen. She was at a loss of what to do, so settled for standing there numbly, just wondering what to do. Before she could decide, "Come here and sit Larissa." So she did.
Larissa shifted somewhat as the woman shook her long black hair out of her face. "I think that we were a bit pressing yesterday child. We know quite a bit about you from what you told us-" Larissa snorted. 'A bit. Yeah right; how 'bout everything?' "And I believe you don't even know our names. So maybe if you had any questions…?" She trailed away uncertainly.
Larissa jumped at the opportunity to ask questions. Her father didn't much like it when she did. "What's your name?"
The Italian smiled. "Verona."
"Simple enough. So, what do you usually do here? There's not much to do; I mean, I found the armory, but there isn't anyone to spar with."
"My sister's and I have found that there is a lot more to do during the night, so we usually sleep during the day."
"Oh, so that was why you were up all night then."
"Yeah. We aren't very active though, other than the occasional jaunt outside of the castle now and then."
Larissa thought about that for a minute before she caught something. "Wait, you three are sisters?" They looked nothing alike, as different as…as…well, very different. How was that possible?
"In every sense of the word but blood." Oh, that explains it then. Never mind.
"Are you three the only one's in the castle?"
Verona gave a short laugh. "Hardly. There are the dwergi, Igor, the occasional werewolf to do my lords bidding, and of course, my master himself. His name is Dracula."
The name had no meaning to Larissa, but she said it as if this Dracula was some sort of big important person, so she just nodded her head and smiled. Verona gave her a sideways glance. "You're not afraid?"
"Why should I be?"
"You're kidding me. Someone who doesn't know who Count Dracula is? Someone pinch me. Ouch, Aleera, It's a figure of speech!" Marishka came down the staircase rubbing her arm, Aleera gliding behind her. "You asked, didn't you?" she said with a mischievous smile.
"No my dear. I don't believe she's kidding at all." All four girls swung around to see Dracula sitting on the couch, his legs stretched across it. Larissa couldn't believe it as she laid eyes on a pale man dressed in black, hair blacker than that which he wore, and eyes so blue, they didn't look it. "Now I remember you."