Alone at last thought Astrid. She earlier tucked the kids in bed just before she found herself on the patio out looking the hedge maze. The coast was clear no Dracula in sight, she needed to be away from him for a bit. Tempers escalated earlier , things were said that shouldn't ever be said at all. She sat on the wicker chair gazing at the stars above her. It was a clear night, the stars seemed to shine like diamonds alongside the moon. She let out a soft sigh as she leaned her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes. Astrid had almost forgotten how peaceful Romania was. The crickets were chirping in the distance, the slight breeze blew through the trees, and foot steps could be heard approaching her. Her eyes shot open as she saw Dracula standing before her. So much for peace and quiet she thought.
" Lovely night it is. My favorite place to be when one needs to think." Said Dracula. He took a seat next to the adjacent chair next to Astrid. Her thoughts clearly told him she didn't want him around her. The woman seemed to hold a lot of resentment towards him for obvious reasons. He needed to tread carefully to avoid another confrontation like earlier. " I had spoken to the children earlier , it seems they want to go out and do something fun. It was kind comical all the ideas the had written down on what they wanted to do." Chuckled Dracula as he pulled out a piece of paper from the inside of his jacket. He handed it to Astrid who then read it aloud. " Jump off a cliff, skating, build a house out a pizza, go to a baseball game, and to adopt a dog. This definitely sounds like Alex's handy work." Chuckled Astrid. " Ah to be young again, carefree and in the moment. Astrid I need to thank you for you have given me new meaning to this existence of mine. As hollow as I feel you and our children make me feel almost whole again. I never imagined that could be possible, so I thank you." Dracula clapped his hands instantly there after to signal in the butler. It wasn't long before the butler scurried through the door and lowered his head down next to Dracula's. Astrid saw Dracula whisper something into the butler's ear before the butler excused himself and left them alone once more. " Dracula your flattery isn't going to convince me to stay here. You seem to forget that my children as well as myself have a life outside of here. I have work and they have school in two weeks, we can't just drop everything to move in with you. You may have persuaded my children into it but not me." Said Astrid.
The butler came back into the patio with a tray. The tray had what looked like a wine bottle and two crystal wine glasses. Before leaving he poured each one of them a glass and bowed once dismissed by Dracula. " So Astrid what will it take to convince you that your place is here is here with me? Do you wish to be alone? Have you ever stopped to think once the children are grown and move on with their lives, what then? You are bound to me in more ways than the bond we established all those years back." Astrid took a sip of the wine, it was exquisite she thought. It was sweet , but seemed to aged perfectly. The wine was seeming to go down smoother than she anticipated. " I don't care if you are the last person on Earth. I refuse to settle, even in the event I get lonely." She could see exactly where this conversation was going, she needed a good buzz for this. " Always such harsh words Astrid, would it kill you to say something positive for once." Said Dracula. " I'm sorry earlier you called me a whore so no, I don't have anything nice to say at this point." " That I agree was uncalled for, but I hope you can see that other men desiring you does cause jealousy within me." Astrid was now on her second glass and it tasted better than the first. Dracula didn't even touch his yet, she wished he would so he would just stop talking to her. " I don't wish to be with you. Since you now have made yourself known to the children I have but no choice other than to be civil with you for their sake. We should discuss arrangements for visitation." "That Astrid is nonsense and I won't take no for an answer. How about this, we start off with a clean slate and we have two weeks time to fix all that is broken. If in that two weeks time you don't feel anything, than I shall oblige to any visitation agreements. Sound fair?" Two weeks to fall in love with someone or to decide if to spend all eternity with someone? These deadlines, ultimatums were unjust to her. However she had to admit she never saw herself alone in this world. Arnold was all she knew and when he was killed it rocked her very foundation. Chase was the only thing close to a relationship she had since Arnold till Dracula scared him away. It was apparent Dracula would see to it she would be alone unless she succumbed to him.
" It seems I have no choice once again. I will agree with your offer, but please note that forcing people to see your views isn't the way to go." Said Astrid. She poured herself a third glass and started to chug down the glasses contents. The effects of the alcohol were starting to kick in. Even as a vampire the effects of the alcohol seemed to relax her as she slouched more into the chair. Maybe it was the alcohol's affect but Dracula's offer seemed more appealing with each sip she took. He was far from ugly, his piercing blue eyes seemed to stop her in tracks most of the time. Underneath all of that clothing she remembered how toned his chest was as she ran her fingers down it. The way those thin lips of his smashed into hers. Instantly she started shaking her head. Such awful thoughts , damn you alcohol she thought. Astrid saw Dracula smirking at her and went to stand up. " Shut up! Mind your own business." Shouted Astrid as she went to walk through the door. She felt herself staggering down the hall. What a lightweight she thought. It had been years upon years since she had drunken any alcohol. Dracula could see her holding onto the walls of the hallway. Astrid could hear laughter and turned around to see it was him laughing at her. "What on Earth is so funny?" Dracula disappeared instantly before her. It took everything in her not to scream as he appeared behind as she was about to turn around. " Can you stop doing that! "It isn't my fault you are that easily frightened. Come let me help you to your room." Dracula gestured his arm out to Astrid and she took it immediately all pride aside. Walking seemed to be quite troublesome , the hallway seemed to spin the patterns on the carpet seemed to move. Did Dracula put something in her drink? For she didn't recall him taking a sip from his. It seemed they finally reached her room as Dracula turn the glass door knob to enter the room. Astrid now had her arms around his neck hoping all attempts of falling could be prevented. " My my if I had known you were such a lightweight I would've thought twice about the wine." Said Dracula before helping Astrid to the bed in the corner of the room. Her head plummeted onto the silk pillows while her eyes were now closed. Everything seemed to spin , but she continued to hear Dracula's laughter in the back ground. The cool silk blankets now covered her shoulders as Dracula tucked her in. Icy kisses could be felt instantly after along her neck. It caused her to shiver in delight and scrunched her shoulders as it tickled her somewhat. " Goodnight my ice queen, I shall see you tomorrow." Said Dracula .That was all she could remember before she found herself fading off into a deep slumber.
Astrid could sense movement but her eyes seemed to be glued shut. It felt as if everything was vibrating and she could hear yelling in the background. Light seemed to flood through the small slits of her eyes causing her to close them again quickly. "Mom! Mom! Time to get up!" shouted Alex. The twins were jumping on her bed and Dracula leaned against the doorway watching the whole spectacle. " Get up sleepy head!" shouted Elliot as he was jumping up and down on the bed. Her eyes fluttered open again and she felt her body bounce off the bed and then fall back on it. " Astrid tried to sit up but the searing pain in head caused her to collapse back onto the bed. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was almost noon. Wow! She slept that long she thought. " Children I think your mother is up now, why don't you two give her a few minutes." Said Dracula. The twins jumped off their mother's bed and exited the room. "I feel like death all over again." Said Astrid as she rolled over to her side. "Best get washed up, I planned on taking the children out today. Would like if you can join." Slowly Astrid opened her eyes as she stared at the floor. Oh why did she have to over do it and how come vampires still get hangovers? She thought. " Can you just give me a moment please?" said Astrid half awake. " You have thirty minutes before we leave." Dracula leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving her room.
She groaned as she fell off the bed, hitting the cold wooden floor. The bathroom door was in sight all she had to do was inch for it. Literally she crawled to the bathroom tub and turned the nozzle. The water came pouring out and Astrid awaited patiently for tub to fill up while laying on her back against the blue tile floor.
They pulled up in front of an indoor skating rink only a few blocks from Dracula's home. The children were ecstatic however Astrid was not. The family fun day started out with Astrid being hungover and plus had no idea how to skate. She didn't think Dracula knew how to either which brought her comfort in knowing she wouldn't be the only one falling flat on her ass. Oh why couldn't they decide to skate last night when she had 3 drinks in her? She thought. There was a practice rink for beginners and the larger rink for people who knew how to skate. Astrid was adamant on not stepping foot in there. The place was dark aside for the strobe lights and a disco ball hanging in the middle of the larger rink. Almost reminded Astrid of cosmic bowling and they were playing 80's music at the moment. The kids selected roller blades while she and Dracula selected the traditional skates. " I can't believe you took their list of things to do seriously." Said Astrid. He was bent over tying the laces to his skates. He actually wore normal clothing today. He wore dark denim jeans and a navy blue loose fitting polo shirt. Hair tied back always with a few strands that framed his face. " Not really sure what eight year olds consider fun anymore, so whatever was in the list , I figured we'd give it a try." Alex and Elliot darted off into the big rink already. They were skating like they've been doing it all their lives. Dracula got off the bench to join them and Astrid almost felt like her jaw drop.
The three of them were skating together with the rest of the people on the rink. How did Dracula know how to skate? This was gonna be really embarrassing she thought. Astrid pushed off the bench and had both of her arms reaching outwards to gain her balance. Alex was skating backwards as to show off to Dracula as he whizzed right past Astrid. Slowly she rolled to the entrance and hung onto the wall. This is ridiculous! she was a vampire for crying out loud why was she afraid of skating? One hand at a time she grabbed onto the wall at the edge of the rink and slowly tried walking . " Mom why you holding onto the wall? Let go and come skate with us." Asked Elliot. " Mommy doesn't know how to skate." Said Astrid. Alex then appeared next to his brother." What is up with Mom?" " Mom is scared to skate." Said Elliot. "No , I just never skated before. You two know how cause of your classmates inviting you to their birthday parties." " Well mom , we can get you one of those walkers that old people use to help you skate." Said Elliot. " Shhhh enough go join your father." Dracula rolled up between the children seeing Astrid hold onto the wall for dear life. "What seems to be the issue?" " Mom is afraid to skate." Said Alex "Run along children I'll catch up with you in a little bit." Said Dracula. "Can you help me get back to the bench ?" asked Astrid. Dracula extended out of his hands so she could grab onto them. " Nonsense, take my hand I'll show you how to skate." She grabbed his hands he slowly began to skate backwards. " Just lift up one foot and push with the other then take another step and push. " She kept looking down at her feet as she took baby steps forward. " Don't look at the ground look at me." Said Dracula.
" How do you know how to skate?" asked Astrid. " I presumed this would be similar to ice skating which I've tried for the first time three years ago. Luckily for you, you have someone to catch you when you fall." A song came on that Astrid hadn't heard in decades is was "Forever young by alphaville" How ironic Astrid thought as she could now feel herself gliding and picking up speed. The place seemed to make her white shirt glow in the dark as the blue and purple lights danced on the floor of the rink. " Forever young? The fool singing this song has no clue what he is asking for." Chuckled Dracula. Astrid laughed as well before replying. " Well music used to be decent back then same for the 90's as well. A lot you have missed out on in the last five decades." " So I've noticed my dear." Said Dracula. Dracula let go of her hands and skated to where he was right next to her. " Dracula look this is not my thing can we just go back to the bench?" " Astrid you didn't even realize you made it around the whole rink twice without holding onto the siding. Just hold my hand and we shall skate side to side." " Well I'll be darn!" said Astrid as she looked to see they were back at the entrance. She grabbed onto his hand and followed his lead. "Guess what mom Alex owes me five bucks cause he bet you would fall on your butt already." Said Elliot as he skated up to his parents. " Well that is just great Elliot, I'm even surprised at myself." Said Astrid. Astrid continued to slowly skate alongside Dracula. She didn't notice till now that they were coming up to a mirror on the wall. Astrid didn't know how the brakes worked on these things and didn't want people to see she didn't have a reflection. Astrid lost her balance and dragged Dracula on the floor with her as she came crashing down. Oh she was gonna feel that later she thought as fell flat on her back. " Are you ok? What was that all about?" asked Dracula while trying to help her up. " The mirror we have no reflection, this wasn't a good idea." Dracula seemed to have just noticed the mirror himself and shrugged it off. " One thing I have noticed since my return is mortals are oblivious to most things. So our reflection not showing up isn't something that concerns me too much." "Awe Mom why did you have to fall? You cost me five bucks." Said Elliot. Dracula reached into his pocket and gave Elliot twenty leu. " You and your brother split that over at the arcade." "Thanks dad !" the twins shouted in unison as they skated their way to the arcade. " Why don't we have a seat at the tables shall we?" Dracula didn't need to ask Astrid twice she was just happy to get off the bloody roller rink .