DRACULA DOES DOWNTON

Chapter One: Edith's Unexpected Guest

"I'll go mad if I don't escape from this place," murmured Lady Edith Crawley of Downton Abbey. "I'll simply go out of my head!"

The neglected middle daughter was pacing back and forth like a caged tiger, awaiting a message from her elderly fiancé Sir Anthony. He had promised to marry her more than a month ago, yet Edith sensed he was having second thoughts. She couldn't afford to lose Sir Anthony. She couldn't stay on at Downton forever, overshadowed by her older sister Lady Mary. Edith was feeling quite frantic about it all. What was to become of her?

"Lady Edith, you have a visitor." Carson the butler ushered a tall, dark stranger into her father's library.

"May I offer you something to drink?" Edith's manners were still those of a fine lady, even though she knew she was little more than a forgotten spinster. There was no harm in being polite to such an attractive man. His cape and the grand star-shaped diamond he wore showed he was a nobleman of considerable importance. Perhaps he had brought a message from her sweet but rather dull and doddering fiancé.

"I never drink . . . wine." The accent was intriguingly unfamiliar. The low voice was like the caress of velvet on her skin. The exotic stranger stepped forward and made a perfect bow before lifting Edith's slim white hand to his lips. "Allow me to introduce myself, Lady Edith. I am a new neighbor of your father. I am Dracula, Count Dracula of Castle Dracula in Transylvania."

"Oh! I mean, how do you do, Count Dracula." Edith's fingertips were tingling from the kiss of the Transylvanian count. Dracula's lips were like a sizzling caress, both icy cold and burning hot. Forgetting her aristocratic manners, for a moment Edith just stood there rubbing her fingers, staring up at him. This man was much more exciting than Sir Anthony. Edith felt as though she could drown in the mystery of his gaze. She wanted to look deep into his enigmatic eyes forever. And she knew one thing for sure.

He could take her far away from Downton Abbey.