Disclaimer: No owning, so no sueing please. thank you
Thanks those that reviewed! I appreciate it! sorry i'm confusing some of you, i'm going to try and change that, so if you could please just tell me whats confusing you, i'll do what i can.
you wont find out who Larissa's mom is until probably around the end, or maybe in a sequal, if you want one. if not, i can tell you at the end. sorry. >snickers > anyways, enjoy!
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Chapter 6
"Oh, this is killing me. Isn't it killing you?" Larissa was nearly rambling at this point. Dracula only felt it right to respond.
"Actually no, it's not. I'm already dead."
"Ha ha, I forgot how to laugh." Larissa rolled her eyes.
Dracula sat there a moment before standing for the first time that night and snatched at Larissa's wrist. Pulling her close to him, they each experienced intense chill and brief darkness. When they could see their surroundings once again, Dracula let go of the shocked teen, who stumbled slightly, as she looked around the half decorated golden ball room.
"Welcome to my summer palace, Larissa. The Ol' Hollows Eve Ball is here tomorrow night you know."
"I completely forgot! You know, you vampires will never cease to amaze me. That was like shadow travel or something. Strange; so why are we here?" Larissa asked.
Dracula just turned and swept through the halls. Larissa stared for a moment before quickly going after him. He walked quickly, and Larissa was having a hared time trying not to run to keep up with him. After a while Dracula stopped in front of a door and turned to her. "These are you rooms. You shall find everything you need inside. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ball to finish arranging." Dracula offered her a small smile and a bow before lifting his are and pushing at his cloak so it didn't twist around his body at his sharp turn. Larissa raised an eyebrow, but entered 'he rooms' an instant later. She smirked at the dark colors that greeted her; hardly a sliver of black in sight, but many colors that could be mistaken as such. Having no idea what to do, Larissa flopped on the bed decked in red and stared at the painted ceiling. Soon, Larissa felt colors about her shift, slipping off into dreamland; Larissa couldn't help but gasp. She was staring at her father. As if unable to control her actions, Larissa spoke.
"What? What do you mean?" she hated that. She sounded panicky and desperate.
"I mean exactly what I said." Her father said, his reddish brown hair falling over his eyes. "As soon as you give birth to our child, I'm taking them and leaving. That monster that started showing up, that Dracula creature!"
Larissa now assumed she was watching this from her mothers' point of view, and all the clues to who her mother could be thus far could point to either Aleera or Anna. "I will not let you endanger out child like this A-"
A screech made Larissa shoot up in bed, and curse. That was so CLOSE!
Aleera landed on the balcony just in time to hear Larissa finish up a string of curses that would make a sailor blush. "Now really, young lady," she stressed the last word purposefully, "we really must work on your communication skills." Larissa just scowled in response but bounced off the bed, mussing up the coverlet slightly in the process, when she spotted the unconscious figure on the floor at the feet of Aleera.
Scowl still in place, she brushed the strangers' hair off their face, the blood trickling from a head injury smeared across her face as she did so. Seeing that the person before her was Anna was no surprise. However, the extent of the gash along her hair line made Larissa sit back on the heels of her feet.
"What happened-here, help me get her on the bed." Larissa spoke to Aleera. As they moved Anna to the bed, Aleera said, "She hit her head on a rock when she fell."
"Why did she fall?"
"I hit her." Aleera sounded so nonchalant, Larissa had to suppress a laugh.
Larissa rushed to a nearby wardrobe and pulled out a scarf after a moment of rummaging. "Nice of you. Here, put this on her wound and apply force. Gently! You don't want to hurt her!" Larissa ignored Aleera's expression that said otherwise and rushed through a door that let to a wash room. She gathered the proper thins to cleanse and bandage the wound, filled a stone basin with steaming water, and went back in to find Aleera struggling with Anna to keep Anna in a lying position and attempting to not get injured in the process.
"Oh, honestly, is the peace between you two nonexistent?" Anna looked to Larissa in surprise, giving Aleera the chance to push her back down into the pillows. "You again?"
Larissa set the stuff she was holding down on the stand next to the bed. "If only I had an acre for every single time I've been asked that in the past week, I'd own," she paused dramatically, pretending to count on her fingers, "I'd own all of Europe!"
"Stop the histrionics love. Clean her wound so I can heal it." Larissa gave a cheeky grin and did as she was told. As she finished and pulled away, Larissa noticed someone missing.
"Aleera? Where's Verona." She sounded dead serious, not even letting the question sound like one.
Aleera healed Anna's wound before looking at Larissa sort of speechless. "She…Larissa, she-um…" Anna's gaze drifted between the two. Larissa sensed the uncertainty and hurt coming from Aleera, and unconsciously dropped the stained cloth she was holding back into the basin, blood spreading and tinting the cooling water pink.
"Again?" Larissa whispered. "Again?" She said louder, looking pup from the patterns on the comforter. The pain in her eyes refused to make way to her voice. Larissa stood, anger pushing to the foremost of her emotions. Once again, she stated, "Again."
The two women watch as the teen strode over to the first bit of clear wall she could see. A stone wall. Larissa took a step and threw all her weight and strength behind her fist. The winced as she gave a cry of sorrow and sunk to the floor, relatively unharmed, shaking, but refusing to shed tears.
The women stared at the damage Larissa had caused to the innocent stone. It looked as though it had begun to collapse upon itself, cracks spidering out form the point of impact, and the stone chipping off in large chunks. Surprisingly, it was Anna who moved forward to comfort Larissa first.
"Larissa, are you okay?" However, Aleera was not far behind. "Larissa? Oh, love, it'll be okay, you'll see."
"Verona! Aleera!" Dracula's voice came faintly through the halls. Larissa just shook harder as he said this. Aleera looked regretful as she let go of the embrace she had taken Larissa in. Anna was quickly at her side, earning a glare from Aleera; Anna glared right back, her intensity perhaps stronger than her counterparts. Aleera left to inform Dracula of the current happenings.
"Larissa," Anna prodded gently, "are you okay?"
Larissa seemed to shake out of her state. "That is what I should be asking you! You're the one who got knocked out by an angry Vampiress! On the bed. Now!" Surprised by the teen's turn of moods, Anna scrambled back onto the bed.
Larissa stood, composure somewhat in place, and she sat on the edge of the bed, next to Anna. She then pulled back Anna's hair where the injury to her head had been. "Larissa, I'm fine. I've had worse." Larissa didn't let Anna push her aside.
"You are fine. It doesn't even look like you were hurt." An inhuman scream tore through the palace at that moment.
"I think she told him." That simple statement had quite the impact. Larissa went to sit out on the balcony while Anna remained and rested on the bed (she hadn't slept the night before, after all). Larissa gazed at the completely overcast sky, which stretched out above the city of Budapest. Aleera came in the room in a fury.
She stepped out onto the balcony next to Larissa. "Love, I've got something to deliver. The master wants you and Anna to rest, and then he wants you both to decide what you're going to wear to the ball."
Larissa nodded her understanding right before Aleera turned, sprinted and leaped off the balcony. Even knowing better, Larissa still rushed to the edge to check if Aleera was alright. She was too; flying towards the outskirts of Budapest. Giving a half-hearted sigh, Larissa returned inside to find Anna deep asleep, however restless it may be. Larissa's mouth twitched, almost smiling, as she ended up tugging a pillow out of Anna's grasp. Larissa went and threw the pillow down on the fur rug before the fireplace, and collapsed on top of it, gaining comfort from the familiarity of the stance in which she was in. Her father would read to her, or talk to her, and sometimes even sing (although those occasions were very rare, much to Larissa's satisfaction) to her from a couch behind her while she lay in front of the fire to get asleep at night. She almost expected to hear his voice call out to break the silence.
Slowly but surely, Larissa's eyes grew heavy, and she fell asleep watching the flames dance before her eyes.
Anna was never a person to lay in bed awake, not was she ever unaware of her surroundings when she woke. So almost as soon as her eyes were fully open, she lifter herself into a sitting position. Anna scanned the room, quickly spotting the teen on the floor.
Anna quietly observed Larissa, who appeared peaceful. She reminded Anna of someone, she just couldn't name who. Suddenly, Larissa's face contorted in fear; an expression Anna never expected to see from the strong willed girl before her.
Anna quickly jumped to wake the girl the moment Larissa voiced her first sleep induced whimper; she couldn't let the girl suffer, even if it looked as though she was on the vampire's side. Larissa shot up nearly hitting Anna's head with her own, her blue eyes wide, and taking in shallow shuddering breaths.
"Shh, it was just a dream." Anna soothed.
"I know." Larissa returned shortly. "Come on. We have to pick out those dresses we're going to wear." Anna didn't want to upset the girl, so headed to the closet with her. When they opened the door, both could have sworn they had just entered a confetti shop; there were dozens of gowns of all shape, size, and definitely color.
"Anna, we'll pick for you first. Color?"
"Not white. Or pink! No pink. That's Aleera's domain." Come to think of it, that was the only color Larissa had seen her wear.
"Any color then?" Larissa gave a mischievous grin, causing Anna to pale slightly. Larissa stepped over to some orange, lime green and bright purple dresses hanging closer to the back. She made herself appear to be contemplating before reaching out towards the lime green dress.
Anna was protesting in the background, but Larissa paid her no heed, moving her hand as slow as she dared, giving Anna plenty, yet not enough, time to make a move…
Larissa reached over and pulled out a gorgeous crimson gown that had been wedged between two of the eccentrically colored dresses.
"Not this one? Well, if you're sure…" Larissa said playfully.
"That wasn't nice." Anna grumbled as she snatched the dress out of Larissa's grasp. Larissa tried not to laugh as she grabbed a random dress and hurried out of the closet.
"Who said I was nice?" Larissa asked casually, flipping her semi-dark hair out of her eyes as she did so.
"Well, I never said, I assumed, due to the way you've acted thus far. My mistake it seems." Anna said.
"Quite. Do you know how long we were asleep? It doesn't look any different outside to me." Anna looked out the balcony too. "It looks a bit darker."
"Really? I never would have guessed. So how do we know if today is the masquerade of if we just slept for a couple of hours?" Larissa pouted.
"We'll just have to wait." Anna directed.
"I guess so, but that doesn't make it anymore enjoyable." Anna rolled her eyes at Larissa's grumbling.
After a while, Larissa stood abruptly and moved to the door. She sighed in frustration before once again sitting on her bed; the door was locked. "They barricaded us in! Now I can't even go look for the library. Don't you just love that?"
"Don't feel bad. It was probably more to keep me in than you. You seem to have pretty much free reign."
"Yeah, to the places not locked and chained up." oh yeas, there were many of those all over the Frankenstein and Dracula castles. "Not that I'm complaining or anything. I usually tent to not want to leave those places. But there's a lot of unexplored territory."
Suddenly, the door rattled slightly and was pushed open, to reveal Aleera already made for the masquerade. When she saw that they were just sitting there on the bed staring into space, she fairly flipped. "Go and change, princess! We don't have all night; the masquerade starts in two hours!" Anna glared at Aleera, but went into the adjoining room anyway. Aleera then made noises of approval at Larissa's choice of dress.
"What?" Larissa asked, misinterpreting the sounds.
"Goes nice with you hair; eyes especially." Aleera stopped as Anna came out of the adjoining room, scarlet dress swishing at every move. "Alright Anna; you come sit here. Larissa, go change."
So Larissa went and changed, and considering she hardly ever wore dresses, she thought she did fairly well putting it on…until she reached the corset. Of course, she just had to pick a dress with a corset. Figuring that it couldn't be too hard to put on since Anna had had it all done within minutes, she went about trying to lace it up. Then predictably lost her balance and toppled to the ground.
Having heard her crash o the ground, Anna and Aleera hurried into the room, to find Larissa sprawled across the ground rubbing the side of her head and scowling at nothing in particular. Seeing the very obvious reason for her sudden contact with the ground, Anna started giggling while Aleera moved to help Larissa up. Unfortunately, in the process, Aleera must have slipped or something, because she ended up on the floor next to Larissa. Anna's laughing spiked up Larissa's need to laugh, which in turn made Aleera look disgruntled.
"Careful, Princess," she said threateningly, which didn't actually do anything, considering her position on the floor. Anna did stop laughing, however.
Larissa fumbled into a standing position and helped Aleera up, who was saying, "I think that's the first time in sixteen years that I've fallen down on accident. You broke my record girl." She scowled in mock anger.
"I try, don't you know?" Larissa said flippantly. "Now, could you please help me with this thing? Honestly, I don't know how you do it Anna."
"Lots of practice. Hold on to something." Anna took hold of the laces and pulled. Hard.
By the time the corset was done right, Larissa had officially decided she was never going to wear one again, just so she didn't have to go through the process of putting it on.
As Larissa didn't feel up to anymore pampering, she was going to leave her hair down, so while Anna pulled her hair up with a comb )she had forcefully not let either Larissa nor Aleera touch it), Aleera sat on the bed while Larissa lay down, trying to get used to the constricted space for her to breathe within.
After a moment, Larissa spoke into the silence. "This is so confusing, you know."
"What is love?" Aleera said softly.
"This whole affair. I don't know who I should oppose!"
"Oppose…oh, you mean because Anna's the other potential?"
"Exactly! How the heck am I suppose to side? The situation is rather awkward, if you think about it." Anna was staring at them, confused in none the slightest.
"That it is, love, that it is. Confusing Anna is rather entertaining, but I've got to go check on something. See you both at the masquerade." With that, Aleera swept out of the room.
Several minutes later, Anna finally started to say something…only to be cut off as Dracula appeared in the room right behind Anna and said, "Ms. Valerious." Anna jumped and turned as she backed away, not taking an eye off Dracula's whereabouts.
"Jumpy, isn't she?"
"Only where you're concerned Count."
"Who's side are you on Larissa!"
"Now Anna, I understand why you wonder. Tell you the truth, I don't rightfully know. I'm kind of stuck with Dracula though."
"Why-"
Anna stopped talking and her eyes closed. She looked as though she was in a trance of some sort, or maybe sleepwalking was more like it…
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PLEASE REVIEW!