Your feet carry you through the forest. The terrain is uneven and you have to avoid many fallen obstacles in your way, but you are relentless. You must have traveled several miles now, and while the thought to return home briefly crosses your mind, you know it is too late for that. Your curiosity is too much to handle.

The forest finally thins in front of you and you exit into a large clearing. Dead ahead of you is an enormous castle reaching up towards the sky. You gasp at its splendor, but then you lay eyes on what is front of the doorway. Two bodies are impaled with spikes, a warning for others to stay away. You stay towards the edge of the forest but lean forward, half crouching. "Callie! Pss pss, come here girl." You whisper shout at the cat that you've followed all the way here. The small calico cat looks back at you, let's out a small meow, and continues towards the large doors of the castle. You let out a very disgruntled and quiet "No!"

You creep slowly across the open field, damning your cat the entire way. Your heartbeat races as you pass by the two corpses and you hold your breath. You make your way up the stairs and to the large doors, where your cat is now sitting. It looks as though she is waiting for something. "Why would you come to a place like this?!" You whisper scold her as you scoop the small animal into your arms. Callie meows in protest and squirms in your grasp. "Stop it! We have to go home!"

You turn around and prepare to leave, but in a flash you find yourself pinned to the door with a firm grasp against your throat. You drop your cat in the process, and now she is rubbing on the legs of your attacker. His golden eyes stare you down, piercing through you. "Who are you? Why are you here?" He asks threateningly, baring his fangs to let you know to be afraid.

You grab at his arm in an attempt to pry it from your throat. "I-I" you can barely manage any words from your mouth and tears begin to well up in the corner of your eyes. The threatening man releases his grip and you fall to your knees gasping for air.

"It doesn't matter. Leave and never come back." He coldly comments and walks out to the field where he had dropped a basket when he attacked out. Your cat happily trots after him.

"C-Callie!" You hoarsely call out.

The blond man looks back at you. "What?"

You stand up, propping yourself on the door for support. "Callie. My cat." You point at the animal beside him.

He looks down at the calico at his feet. "You came for her?" You nod in response to his question. He picks up the cat and brings her over to you. You carefully take Callie back from dhampir. "If you're smart I won't see you back here again." He threatens. Once again you can only nod.

You try to walk away but your nerves cause your legs buckle beneath you and you end up falling directly into the blond man. He catches you by the shoulders and surprisingly, he looks more shocked than angry with you. You stare into each other's eyes. Taking in his features, you now realize just how angelic he looks. Your heart begins to race, though you can't quite tell if it is from fear or something else entirely. Callie looks between the two of you while she is still caressed in your arms. She wiggles free of your grasp and jumps to the ground. Her tiny paws carry her to the door of the castle, which she begins to paw at.

The dhampirs strong grip on your shoulders is released and the two of you look at the cat. "I-I am so sorry that she's bothering you." You stutter while speaking. It's as if the man pays you know mind and walks to the doors to let your cat inside his castle. He follows the cat inside as well as you continue to try and explain yourself. "It's just, she's been running away recently and I just wanted to see where she's been going."

The man stops just inside the doorway and looks back at you. With a deep sigh, as if he regrets his decision, he says "Why don't you come inside."

"What? Are you sure? I thought you wanted me to leave?" The string of questions are blurted out hastily. Your entire body shakes in fear, wondering if he may hurt you again if you enter.

"Well you're not going to leave without your cat. So, you might as well come inside for now"

You still can't force your legs to take you anywhere. This man may say that he wants you to come inside, but you don't trust him. After all, he has two corpses in front of his castle, he attacked you without knowing why you were here, and he made a point to show you that he is at least part vampire. You hear him mutter some profanity under his breath and he takes a step towards you with his hand outstretched. "I apologize for attacking you earlier. I promise I won't hurt you" he says in a most sincere voice. You hesitantly take his hand and he leads you into the castle.

You are led to a small kitchen area and it seems that your cat has been waiting in this room for some time. She made herself at home, sitting on top of the table in the middle of the room. You immediately go to move her off, since she is not allowed on tables at home.

"You don't have to move her. I let her sit there while I cook." The mysterious man says.

"So you're the culprit." You whisper to yourself, recalling how Callie has been sitting on your own kitchen table recently despite her being trained not to.

The man chuckles a bit and starts to take out ingredients from the basket he was carrying. You sit down at the table and stroke your cats head. "That man has been teaching you some bad habits huh?" You whisper quietly to her.

"Alucard." The man says.

"Hm?" You look at him curiously unaware that he had been able to hear every word you've been whispering.

"My name is Alucard. I don't believe I ever caught yours"

"Oh, it's Y/N"

Alucard continues to cook in silence while you pet your cat on the table. You look around the room and notice two dolls sitting on the counter. You can't help but wonder if he made them himself. It must be so lonely to live in this large castle all alone. If he has to make dolls as companions than why does he keep real people away? Surely he wants someone to keep him company.

Your wandering thoughts are interrupted by a plate and a glass of wine being placed down in front of you. "Sorry it's not much, but I wasn't expecting a guest." Alucard takes a seat across from you with his own meal and drink.

"That's alright. I didn't exactly expect to be having lunch with anyone either." You laugh a bit causing Alucard to smirk. He takes a small piece of the fish he cooked and feeds it to Callie. "Fresh cooked fish, and she gets to sit on the table? You really are spoiling her."

Alucard doesn't quite pick up that you are teasing him. "I'm sorry, I can stop if you want."

You laugh at his naivety. "I was only teasing. I'm just glad she isn't getting herself into trouble when she sneaks off."

"I must admit that it has been pleasant to having her around."

"She is a very good cat." You scratch behind Callies ears a bit and stroke a hand down her back. "You never feel lonely when she's around."

"That is true, it isn't quite as lonesome with her here" Callie purrs at all of the praise and attention she is getting. After you pull your hand away from the cat Alucard takes over petting her for a short while. His eyes are filled with admiration and a softness that you didn't see in them before.

He is quite different from the man I met earlier. I wonder why he was so aggressive before. You think to yourself. Being so naturally curious makes you want to know more about him. "How long have you lived alone here?"

Alucard thinks for a minute. "Since my last human guests it has been… a week… maybe two. Or has it been closer to a month?" He pauses for a moment before sighing and turning away, his face saddened at the realization. "I seem to have lost track of time"

Your mind suddenly remembers the corpses at the front of the castle. You almost dare not ask, but curiosity takes hold once again. "And those guests would be the-"

"Yes. They are the ones outside." He almost sounds embarrassed about that fact. Regardless, your face drains of color and your terrified expression causes Alucard to once again reassure that he won't hurt you. "You have nothing to fear. Those two wronged me in a way that I don't want to burden you with. But I promise I won't hurt you."

You can't help but notice how sad his eyes seem to be, it seems like he regrets having to hurt whoever those people outside were. You relax and give him a soft apologetic smile. "I believe you." Alucard looks up at you in surprise. He returns your smile with the softest gaze. Your smile fades as another question comes to mind. "Can I ask why you're trying to keep people away from here?"

Once again you have caught him off guard. Alucard picks up his glass of wine and stares at it as if it will provide some answers for him. "At the time I thought I wanted to be alone, but now… I think I just don't want to get hurt again." He takes a large gulp of his drink before setting it down.

You sigh, understanding how he feels. "Sometimes life is just like that. You meet people and think you're friends, but in the end they still wind up hurting you. Although, if you find the right people then they can fill your life with more joy than pain. And those moments are the ones to remember." Alucard simply stares at you in awe. You feel your face heat up in embarrassment, "Sorry! I've been told that I say some strange things sometimes."

He reaches a hand across the table and places it on your own. "That wasn't strange. It was actually rather philosophical. And it was what I needed to hear." Now your face heats up for another reason and it is matched with a large smile.

You both finish up your lunch with some light conversation about each other's lives. While you have suffered some losses due to the night creatures, nothing compares to the tragedies that your host has faced.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay for lunch today. And for being so kind to Callie whenever she visits you. It's nice to know that she has a friend to look out for her." You scratch under your cats chin and she begins to purr.

"I am just grateful to have company. It has been too long since I've had a pleasant conversation with someone. Truthfully I have missed it." He responds with a nostalgic tone.

Callie perks up and looks to the window. The pitter patter of rain slowly starts to beat against the window before swiftly turning into a downpour. Your e/c eyes trail to the window and back to the man in front of you. You rest your chin on the palm of your hand as you lean on the table. With a coy grin you say, "I suppose I'll have to stay a bit longer than."

Alucard returns your smile. "I suppose you shall"