Chapter 3

After Dracula had drank his fill from a nearby village, his strength was fully restored. Immediately he turned his mind to the thread he had sensed earlier. He felt a mind at the end of that thread, though it was hazy. He flew in the direction of its source and it took him straight to the town of Valerious the Elder. With great trepidation, he landed in front of the Valerious' ancient home, as his mind solidly grasped exactly what had happened. His great rage spilled down the mind link straight into Anna Valerious' mind.

As he entered the bedroom where he sensed her presence, he found her spasming and sobbing on the cold floor. He immediately pulled back mentally, not realizing he had been pummeling her so hard with his emotions. She was still mostly human. Which meant their mental connection was tentative at best, but at such close range, her mostly human mind had no shields or strength to take the raw force of his mind and survive.

In a moment of pity, he poured soothing cold down the mind link and she quieted immediately with a sob of relief.

But as she gathered herself and looked up into his eyes with a stricken and frightened expression, his emotions immediately turned from pity to disgust. He was stuck with his sworn enemy for company for the rest of eternity? Dracula had had no intention of making her a bride at the ball. He might have teased her at the ball because he enjoyed taunting people in their misery, but he had fully intended to kill her that night along with Gabriel Van Helsing.

And he had almost succeeded in killing her until Gabriel interrupted. Vampires never left their victims alive unless they intended to turn them into vampires. Draining the body dry was essential in preventing this. So vampire instincts always encouraged gorging themselves during a meal. But thanks to Gabriel, Dracula hadn't finished.

To make matters worse, Dracula could feel his own blood in her veins as he examined her physical power aura and mind. She had been splashed and baptized in his own blood while lying there a breath from death. She must have accidentally swallowed some of the blood splashed on her when Van Helsing had cut into him with the sword. That made her worse than a bride. None of his brides had ever been allowed to drink his blood. But Anna now had it inside of her.

His mind reached out in fury at the ultimate insulting irony to his continued existence. In his fury, he would crush her mind. She would die screaming. But Anna sensed the wave of vicious anger coming at her and she broke eye contact, burying her head underneath her arms and cringing.

Dracula once again paused at the sight, indecision raging within him. Finally, he turned with a dramatic flurry and flew from the room, leaving Anna where she sat.

He wanted to kill her, but he couldn't. All of his vampiric instincts screamed at him not to harm kindred, especially a being sharing his own direct blood. So he left her there, and returned to his icy fortress to brood in silence.

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Anna did not fully understand what had happened or why Dracula had left her alive. But she could sense his mind hovering at the edge of her consciousness. It felt like a great dark beast had gone back to his cave to lick his wounds. Her mind shrank back from the hostility she could feel pouring off of it.

She scrambled downstairs, looking for anything to eat or drink. Maybe it was just the fright Dracula had given her, but now she was ravenous. She gulped down water and tried to eat some leftover food, but ended up puking it all up on the floor immediately afterwards. Staring at the mess she made, and still feeling Dracula's presence slithering around at the edges of her mind, she burst thru the back door, running into the snow barefoot and into the woods behind her home. She ran and ran, until she tripped and fell face first into the snow and dead leaves. Breathing heavily, but leaving herself lying there for awhile, she cried silently to herself.

Until a delicious scent wafted towards her and distracted her from her overwrought emotions. Mindlessly, she followed the scent deeper into the woods, and happened across a rabbit caught in a hunter's trap. Without thinking, she snatched at the rabbit, and sank her teeth into its sweet flesh, draining it dry in seconds. Her vision immediately sharpened. The moon suddenly seemed to provide more than enough light to see by. Tossing the dead rabbit to the ground, she followed more scents even deeper into the forest…...

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Seems like all the other fics I read either: both Anna and Dracula are insta-in-love, or at least Dracula already desires Anna, even though Anna hates him. So I thought I'd do the opposite. Dracula really doesn't like Anna. The enmity between them is mutual. After all, she is the daughter of a centuries-long family feud to destroy Dracula. He would have been ruling the world by now if not for the Valerious clan and their meddlesome ways!

Anna's going a bit caveman out in the woods right now. She might need a bath afterwards. XD

PLEASE REVIEW!