Standing on the corner of Bulevardul Mircea was Astrid and her children awaiting for the school bus to arrive. Due to unexpected circumstances Astrid decided to stay in Romania with Vlad until further notice. Astrid wasn't sure how her children felt ,but she was definitely nervous about them starting at a completely different school. The boys knew of some Romanian for Astrid had taught them some basics however she worried how they would adapt. A couple of other children were also waiting at the bus stop as well that looked to be of Alex and Elliot's age. " Why don't you go over there and introduce yourselves. Might as well break the ice and try to make some friends." Said Astrid.
The yellow bus suddenly came into view and Astrid bent down giving each of her children a tight squeeze. " Mom you're embarrassing us!" said Alex just as Astrid kissed him on the cheek. He instantly rubbed his cheek to rid of the red lipstick left behind. " Oh hush now! Remember to behave yourselves and act normal. Do I make myself clear?" she said under a hushed tone as the other kids now passed them to get onto the bus. They just shook their heads before walking up the steps of the bus. She waived to them goodbye as the bus took off and then proceeded to head to the car.
It had now been a month since she found out she was expecting again and her clothes were starting to get more tight around the waist. Vlad talked about how they built recently a new mall called the promenada in Bucharest . She figured it was worth a try to check out for she was in dire need of some roomier clothes for the upcoming months. He lended her one of his many cars, a Tesla model x that she had now been driving for the past couple of weeks. Everything still felt up in the air when it came to her feelings towards him. She knew she didn't hate him now, but was love even a possibility? One couldn't be for sure however she took it one step at a time. It wasn't just the baby that kept her here, the boys loved their father. Astrid had to admit he was good with them and did spend whatever free time he had after work with the boys. She simply felt she would be the bad guy if she decided they should just up and leave.
The mall was bigger than she thought it would be, it almost reminded her of a stadium. It was massive rectangular building silver metal siding going all around. An electronic billboard out front displaying the different shops and sales going on was seen at the front of the mall. Inside was even more impressive there were shops she hadn't even heard of before or maybe it was because she was too broke to go out anywhere. Along with giving her one of his cars he also gave her one of his credit cards. It felt awkward to use his credit card to buy things as she wished ,but being that she didn't have a job now she didn't have much of a choice. The price tags on anything she liked seemed outrageous although he told her to spend as much as she wanted however it still didn't sit well with her. Any woman would kill for a partner like Dracula ,but with Astrid being so independent this wasn't easy. She buttoned up her maroon jacket ,selfconscious of her growing stomach as she walked on the bottom level past the elevator. The mall was packed surprisingly, but Astrid as she was walking could hear a familiar voice. Her body stopped dead in its tracks when she turned her head to the one boutique to the right of her. The tall muscular stature, the shaven bald head, and those deep brown eyes it was no other than Arnold. Astrid had certainly thought she was seeing things, just another weird trick pregnancy was playing on her. He was standing with a short looking blonde woman next to him. They were holding hands as they looked at the merchandise the boutique had to offer.
She felt herself run over to where the couple were standing. " Arnold! Is that you?" Arnold turned around and looked at her. He was just as shocked as she was and immediately embraced her. Astrid couldn't control herself as she cried into his jacket, it didn't feel real Arnold didn't feel real, it felt too good to be true. " Astrid I'm so happy you're alive! I thought you were dead." Minutes seemed like an eternity as they held onto each other in the middle of the mall. Astrid lifted her face from his jacket with eyes all swollen she looked over at the woman who was now staring at them. Brown eyes , pale skin, long blonde hair that came to the middle of her back. She didn't know who the woman was, but he certainly had some explaining to do. " Hello Astrid I'm glad we could finally meet at last my name is Lily." The woman out stretched her hand towards Astrid, Astrid reluctantly shook hands with Lily. " Lily darling would mind maybe giving us an hour to talk? I will meet you at the entrance once finished." Said Arnold . Arnold released his grip on Astrid before walking over to Lily kissing her on the lips. This bothered Astrid in more ways than she could describe. Astrid remembered now Arnold had two other wives Cecilia and Lily, but Cecilia was now deceased. He watched to make sure Lily was out of ears reach before turning back to Astrid.
"It seems I have a lot of explaining to do." Said Arnold. " Save your breath I already know. How could you? How could you just lie to me all those years and more importantly how are you back?" Some spectators stopped to watch as Astrid was now shouting in the middle of the mall. " I watched you die right before me , I watched your body turn to Ash. How is this even possible?" shouted Astrid. He grabbed her by the arm pulling her towards a hallway leading to a couple of restaurants within the mall. " Shhhhhh! I understand you're upset and confused, but don't have a complete break down in front of everyone." " Upset? I think that is an understatement. I'm furious , you have no idea what hell I've been through in your absence." said Astrid " Oh you think it has been just sunshine and rainbows on my end Astrid? Come let us get a table and discuss this further." The waiter greeted them after Arnold told the man a seating for two. The waiter situated them in a booth in the corner leaving two menus before taking leave.
Arnold pulled out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and handed it to Astrid. She accepted it graciously as she could feel more tears flow from her eyes. " Nine years Astrid nine long years I spent in hell being tortured nonstop. The only thing that kept me going was you and the thought of coming back to you. When the devil deemed I had suffered enough he allowed me return." He paused for a few moments before he continued on. " The remaining Ventrue informed me that Hector had been killed along with you and Cecilia. I was truly devastated it seemed only Lily who you met earlier was left." "Arnold why didn't you tell me you had other wives? I feel like everything I knew about you was a lie ." He had a pained look in her eyes as she said this. Arnold knew he was in the wrong , but he always believed even if he told her the truth she wouldn't believe him. " I loved you Astrid loved you enough to lie to you so you would be in my life." " Wow ….that is so messed up Arnold!" The waiter returned with two wine glasses offering them some of their newest selection of wine. Arnold accepted it and began to drink the wine immediately. Astrid wasn't too sure she could drink any of it while pregnant. Astrid was dreading having to tell of her children and her current relationship with Dracula.
" I went back to our house on Portsmouth only to see another family living in it. I'm assuming you live around here now?" asked Arnold as he tried to change the subject. Astrid just shook her head while staring at the wine glass in front of her. " Clearly seeing you are not dead and are well, what have you been up to all these years?" asked Arnold. " Arnold I don't know how to tell you this so please bear with me, this isn't easy to explain." Astrid reached into her purse and pulled out her iPhone. Scrolling through the pictures she pulled up one of Alex , Elliot , and herself. She handed the phone over to Arnold for him to see. His reaction was what she had feared as he slid the phone back over to her. His hands were shaking and his eyes started to change color in front of her. " They…. They look like him. For the love of God please don't tell me those are his children?" Astrid was now sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her face into the handkerchief he had given her. He was absolutely livid ,she feared he was going to walk off and leave her there alone. " I didn't even think a vampire could have live children. It only makes sense why he would kill me to get to you. What makes even more sense is since my return I've been stalked by random strangers. He must of known I had returned."
" Arnold please let me explain!" said Astrid. " What is there to explain? Dracula murdered me then you go running off with him and get knocked up. Some hell you've been through Astrid." Astrid's phone suddenly began to go off, she saw it was Dracula calling from the caller ID. Arnold was too quick and grabbed the phone before Astrid could and answered the phone. " You son of bitch! If murdering me wasn't enough you go sleeping with my wife and apparently now you've fathered her two children. I swear before the day is out I'm going to rip you into shreds and laugh as I do." Astrid tried taking the phone from Arnold but he pushed her back into her seat with his free hand. She could hear Vlad on the other end of the phone shouting back at Arnold this only seemed to anger him even more. Arnold immediately ended the call throwing the phone onto Astrid's lap. He threw a twenty dollar bill on the table and proceeded to walk out. Astrid quickly followed him trying to keep up with his fast paced walking. " Arnold please stop! This isn't my fault." She shouted at him as they now exited the restaurant. He spun around quickly as he now faced her. " As far as I am concerned you are just as guilty as he is. Just leave me alone."
She ignored his request and continued to follow him. He yanked her hand away just as she went to grab his arm. " Arnold he raped me! I was a prisoner in his castle for months till I escaped. Just recently after all these years in hiding he found me and the children." Said Astrid. Arnold finally stopped just in a few feet of the entrance to the mall. Her knees felt like they gonna give out before taking a seat on the bench near the entrance. Absolutely exhausted at this point all she wanted to do was crawl in a ball somewhere and die. The joy she felt earlier to see Arnold was short lived only to replaced with dread and sorrow. " I have a confession to make Arnold." Said Astrid. His back was still towards her but he remained still. " Up until recently I despised him for what he did to you and I . I cried everyday hoping you would return, however I had to over the years accept the fact that you were gone and never coming back. I could not deny my sons the right to know their father nor could I deny myself the chance at love again." She looked up to see he was looking at her now. His face seemed to have softened now , but she knew he was still angry by the way he was clenching his fists. " I'm also pregnant again so I'm bound to him now in more ways than ever. I so wish we both could of found each other sooner, things I know would have been very different. I wouldn't be pregnant again nor living with him at the moment. " " Astrid…. I don't know what to say right now. From what I'm gathering despite all that he has done to you, you are choosing that monster over me, am I right?" asked Arnold. " I don't have a choice Arnold. We have children together they must come first and I somehow someway care for him. I'm so sorry…." She lowered her head to the ground in shame, she could hear Arnold's foot steps walking away from her . It seemed she prayed everyday for his return only for it to amount to this. Everything was backwards this wasn't how she pictured her life. Her phone the whole time kept going off she could only assume it was Vlad, but she dared not look. Astrid awaited for sometime on the bench waiting to see if Arnold would return but he never did. She was dead to him now and what was worse was that she would never see him again.