23. Prisoner Of Her Heart

Two weeks had passed. During this time Lily lived with Dracula in his room and reached her full health. More and more she got the feeling that he was the only one for her. Never before in her life she´d felt so complete.

But now it was also time for her visit in the prison. She was so nervous. Maybe she couldn´t even stand the sight of her father´s condition.

Lily put on a long dark red coat, where she could hide her hair under. Noone was allowed to see that she was a "witch". As Dracula and Lily left the tower the eyes of the inquisition followed them. But they probably thought that she was going to be killed.

"Stay close beside me. I guess they´re not expecting visitors", Dracula whispered that only she could hear.

They finally reached a house that lay in the opposite direction of the town. That´s why Lily had never seen it before. The house was big and rods blocked the few little windows. But the prison seemed old all around. "Wait here, please."

She pulled the coat even tighter around her face and watched Dracula talk to a few men. It didn´t take long but to Lily it seemed like centuries.

Then he turned around and nodded in her direction, motioning for her to come to him.

Quietly he spoke to her: "This might be shocking for you now but they said that there´s no hope for your father."

"What do you mean?", Lily questioned. As he didn´t reply her eyes widened. "You mean that he will..." Dracula nodded slowly. "I feel ashamed for it´s my fault that this happened... But please don´t show your sadness to him. They´re going to end his life tomorrow. He was in nothing but pain for a few days."

He waited for her reaction. But she just kept staring holes into the air. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something. Yet no sound left her.

"You have half an hour. Use these last minutes with him. He would want you to be strong. Say farewell in your mind but don´t tell him that he isn´t going to see you again... Go now!" He pushed her inside carefully.

Now she tried to hold her tears back. She raised her head high in the air and tried to think of something that would made her happy.

She took one step after the other, her eyes never leaving the prison cell where her father was in.

As she arrived there she put her hands on the metal rods. Finally the man inside looked up. Lily tried her best not to cry out. What she saw there made her doubt everything she had believed in. His clothes were torn and parts of them stained with blood. His hair was grey and had gotton thin.

The thing that scared her most were his eyes. His usual blue ones looked grey and almost broken.

"No...", a strange voice came from his throat, "This can´t be..." Now she pushed her coat away from her face and let her long red hair show.

Her father took slow steps towards her. "Lily?", he whispered and stretched one arm through the rods. Lily took his shaking hand in hers, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Hello, Daddy...", her voice seemed to leave her. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes for a second. Hold the tears back, she thought.

To her surpise he was now the one to start weeping. "It´s a miracle... I thought you were... dead." His body was shaking with every word. "What about Dracula? Did he hurt you in any way?", he asked slowly. Lily shook her head.

"Don´t lie to me, Lily. I know him better. Maybe... I should have told you..."

"No!", she interrupted, "He didn´t murder Mother in vain. It happened by accident. He told me everything. Vlad isn´t a monster. He can be so gentle..."

A nearly coughed laugh came from her father. "Don´t tell me that you´ve fallen for his charm?" That wasn´t a question. "Lily, Lily, I know you like no one else does. And I´m surely not the first one to tell you that he isn´t worth for you. But if you ever fall in love then I must take it serious."

She smiled softly. At least he could understand her. "Listen, last night I heard the men outside talk about a girl like you. Her name was Cassandra. They said that she´s pregnant in the eigth month. Could you arrange something to get her freed?"

"But she doesn´t look as if she was with child. And everytime I´m near her she´s doing something that nearly makes me explode!", Lily protested.

Her father shook his head. "No. You must understand that she´s the wife of one man of the inquisition. As he found out that the child would be born dead he claimed to have a witch as his wife. But she couldn´t kill her own child. She needs a doctor as fast as possible."

Lily was completely speechless. A few seconds later she was pulled outside of the prison by two men. "I love you, Lily, don´t forget that!"

"I love you, too!", she replied and watched her father become smaller and smaller before the door between thm was shut.