Kate arrived at the hotel on the last night of the celebration with excitement filling her body, overpowering the usual feelings she had. Strange that she only had these feelings when she came to the hotel, a feeling a doubt, worry and confusion, as if something was out of place.

However, there was no time for that feeling tonight. She was just happy that Dracula had invited her back for the special celebration that was meant just for hotel guests, even if she had to admit that it was just friendship he was looking for. It seemed strange that in all this time she hadn't met the man's wife.

Maybe she was away on a trip or something, that would explain her absence. Not that it really mattered one way or another, he wore a ring, proof that he had someone he cared about. Friendship was all that she could hope for.

As she entered the hotel, she wondered where exactly she would need to go. Then she heard laughter by the pool area and decided to follow it. As she walked she could feel the excitement fill her at the thought of the foods that would be there, and Dracula.

She continued on and found everyone was out in the pool, at least a lot of people were. She stood in the doorway heading out to where the pool was and her eyes widened in surprise.

They took the costumes to the next level out here. They still were wearing them and it seemed like they were full body ones and waterproof too. They were swimming and laughing, having a grand time.

Dracula was on the other side of the pool across from her chatting with a man dressed like a mummy, he had a smile on his face as they chatted. She saw a few people who decided not to dress up around as well and a few people in less elaborate costumes. It was almost like a monster costume party.

She looked down at her jeans and t-shirt and felt under-dressed. She shrugged. Oh, well.

As she stood there, looking out on this scene, a sudden feeling of dread and fear came over her. Why? This was a happy scene. Everyone was having a good time, so why?

She watched as a man dressed like Frankenstein's monster climbed up and jumped into the pool. The splash was huge, even from a short distance. She laughed with everyone else at the splash.

Then the man stood and Kate's eyes widened.

His head was missing. His Head...Was Missing!

Panic set in and her heart started to race. Everyone was still laughing, why the hell was no one doing anything?

Then the mummy Dracula had been talking too walked over and picked up the head where it had landed next to the pool. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The head was laughing too!

She glanced around and started to really look at the people. She had thought the costumes were too good to be true. Because they were.

They weren't costumes, they were real. Monsters were real.

She turned and found herself meeting Dracula's eyes. He was looking at her intently, as if seeing her for the first time.

He had said that he name was Dracula. It wasn't a costume. It wasn't a persona.

He was Count Dracula.

That feeling of dread and fear just now, that confusing feeling of understanding she had felt all week when she came to this hotel, it was her ability to sense monsters activating. She had never felt it before so she hadn't realized it. Aunt Caroline wasn't crazy. Monsters were real. The family story was true!

But that was entirely right. During this week as she looked around the small town and the hotel here, where monsters and humans lived in harmony, she knew that Aunt Caroline was wrong about them.

Monsters were no threat to humans. Maybe they never were.

She turned and ran, her mind in a whirlwind at all the new information. That speed she had always had, that she had thought was just the result of training, she now knew was because of the abilities granted to the Van Helsing family. She ran as far as she could, ignoring the trees ripping at her skin and clothes. Her hair got caught in branches and pulled them out from the ponytail.

She felt like she had run a mile or two when she finally stopped, her heart still pounding in her ears. She had to calm down, she had to relax. She had to stop and think.

She looked back towards the hotel, her thoughts going to Dracula there. He wasn't hurting anyone, he wasn't treating humans like a food source. Everything she had ever been told was a lie. He was just a man trying to take care of his friends and family.

That small family she bumped into in the hallway that first night, that really was his daughter and her husband. That would mean that small boy was his grandson. If he was immortal that would make sense.

She leaned back against the tree and ran a hand over her face. Her entire world had just turned upside down.

"I have never met met a human who could ran as fast as any monster, except one."

Kate's head shot up and she found herself face to face with Dracula. Those blue eyes were focused on her and she felt that blasted feeling overwhelm her again. Dread and fear and...something else.

Something that was uplifting and wonderful, a feeling she understood better than the first. Two conflicting emotions warring inside her as she looked at the vampire before her.

He took a step towards her and his eyes examined her as if seeing her for the first time. Her emerald eyes focused on him and he stared at her, like staring into her soul.

"Those eyes..."

"They were my great-grandfather's eyes." She had seen a portrait of Ludwig in her Aunt's home, along with hundreds of "trophies" from former monster hunting experiences. She knew that her green eyes were from him.

Dracula took a step back and his eyes narrowed in a way she hadn't expected. He glared at her in anger. He had made the connection.

"Ludwig Van Helsing."

Her eyes widened. "That's my great-grandfather."

His blue eyes flashed red and she felt fear fill her. She might have been able to laugh it all off before, convince herself that it was a dream or lack of sleep. But this she couldn't deny. He really was Count Dracula, a vampire.

"Why did you come here, Van Helsing?" His voice was cold towards her, like ice. "Did you come to finish what your ancestor started over 100 years ago?"

Her heart dropped as the family legend came back to her. Ludwig had killed the countess, killed Dracula's wife. It was the height of his achievements and always told to young Van Helsing children as a story of good conquering evil. All terrible things. The ring on his finger didn't mean he was married, it was a sign of a widow. Her heart broke at that thought. Her family had caused him so much suffering.

"I...I didn't come to do anything," she said softly. "I didn't believe that you were actually Count Dracula until a few moments ago."

"Lies!"

He moved and she wasn't prepared. Everything that had happened up till now had dulled her senses. His hand wrapped around her neck and she was pressed against the tree she had been standing next to. He slammed her so hard the air left her lungs and she groaned in pain. His eyes were glowing blood red and his grip was tight. He was so angry.

Tears filled her eyes as she thought of the pain he had gone through, because of her family.

"Why are you really here?" he said, his voice low.

She opened her mouth to speak, but his grip was too tight, she couldn't speak. She tried again and could only manage a squeak. He glared at her before suddenly releasing her.

She toppled to the ground taking deep intakes of breath. Her throat hurt and breathing was a chore.

"Why?"

She looked up at him briefly before looking back down at her hands. Tears fell from her eyes but her voice remained steady.

"I was sent here by my aunt. She had heard rumors that you would be somewhere in Transylvania. I was sent because I'm the last Van Helsing directly descended from Ludwig himself. I am the only one who still have the abilities given to his family. I didn't believe there was anything here, I only came to indulge them and try the cuisine. I never thought I would find anything, never believed that you were real, that you existed."

He glared at her as she told her tale. She had tricked him, playing so innocent and honest when all she was planning was to kill him and Mavis, just like her ancestors before had killed his Martha.

She had been sweet when she bumped into him in the lobby. Her body had been soft when it bumped into his, her skin was soft and her eyes had looked at him with such innocence and kindness. She had seemed to truly enjoy the food they had served in the restaurant and the time they spent playing chess, just talking about everything and nothing at all. There was nothing about her that seemed to shout someone who was going to betray them. Pretending she didn't know who they were while all the while planning to destroy them.

However, her face when Frank's head had come off didn't look like the face of someone who was planning to kill anyone. It had been filled with shock and surprise. It was as if she really hadn't known what was going on. She ran from the hotel rather than play it off. She ran instead of attacking. She ran instead of pretending to be interested in what was going on.

His eyes faded back to his normal blue as he considered her words. Was it possible she really didn't know? Could he believe her? Believe a Van Helsing?

"I'm sorry."

He blinked. Sorry? What was she sorry for?

She was crying, her clothes were torn and dirty, her hair was hanging around her face. She looked like she had been through a war, all from just running from the hotel.

She stood and wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't look back up at him, but her face had a look of complete sadness.

Her hand came up and rubbed her eyes...no, she was wiping tears away. She turned to him, but kept her eyes down. The anger that he had felt melted at the sight of her tears. How was that possible?

"I wish that I wasn't immune to your mind control." Her voice was soft as she spoke to him. "If I wasn't you could just erase the hotel from my memories and you would be secure in the knowledge that your family and friends would be safe from the Van Helsing family." She lowered her arms and stood straight, although her gaze was focused on his chest rather than looking him in the eyes. "If you wish to kill me to protect that knowledge, I won't hold it against you and I won't stop you."

Kill her?

A sharp pierce of pain hit him at the thought. She was a member of that blasted Van Helsing family, he should be able to kill her. It would be best, to protect his family.

Yet...he found that even lifting his hand towards her with that intention was difficult.

She had closed her eyes, she didn't want to watch him come towards her. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and he felt inside that he couldn't kill her. He felt that she was telling the truth, she hadn't known about him and his kind, that she had believed them to be legends.

For some reason, he believed her, he believed Kate Van Helsing.

"I don't wish to kill you," he said. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him, finally looking him in eyes.

He knew these eyes belonged to Ludwig Van Helsing, but right now he felt that they were wholly Kate's. They were sparkling from unshed tears and there was a redness from the tears she had already cried. She looked surprised. She truly thought he would kill her to protect his family.

In the past, he might have.

"I swear to you," she said softly, "I will never speak of your hotel to anyone. I will not return here and I will not tell my family where you are. You will never have to fear the Van Helsings in the future."

She took a deep breath and kept eye contact with him, her gaze firm on him.

"If you ever feel threatened by the Van Helsings or that I am lying to you, you can kill me. I won't resist."

Dracula didn't respond to that, couldn't respond. The thought of killing Kate bothered him more than he thought it would. The two stood in silence after than when Dracula registered the sun rising over the horizon. He hadn't realized how late it was.

"I'll head back to the village and pack my bags," she said drawing his attention back to him. "My plane flies out today and you will never see me again." That thought of never seeing Kate again caused another sharp pain in Dracula, but he ignored it. She is a Van Helsing. He shouldn't wish to see her again. She turned back towards the village. "The sun will be up soon. You should head back to avoid sunburn. Good-bye Count Dracula."

She started walking away from him, her back to him. She had called him Count, the title bringing more pain than he had anticipated, as if a wall has just been created between them.

He stood there, watching her walk away from him back towards the forest, until the sun breached the horizon forcing him to return to the hotel.

Kate walked back to the small bed and breakfast, her heart heavy. She couldn't believe what she had seen. Monsters were real and she had spent basically a whole week with the one her family wanted to destroy the most.

Her heart broke as she started to pack her bags.

She thought back to the conversations she had shared with Count Dracula, the multiple games of chess, the delicious food she had tried at his suggestion, the tingles she felt being close to him, the bright blue of his eyes, his smile, his laugh.

She meant what she said when she told him to kill her. She didn't want anything to happen to him or his family. She wanted him to be secure in that knowledge. She wouldn't speak about him to anyone.

She would keep him safe in her heart till the day she died.

After she finished packing her bag, she left the room and bid farewell to the couple that owned the B&B she had stayed at with a smile that she didn't really feel. They had been kind to her in the short week she had stayed with them, treating her like family.

She walked to the main road and caught a cab to the airport. She glanced back towards the forest as she rode down the road. She wanted to stop and stay here, stay with Dracula. She shook that thought out of her head.

That would never work. She was a Van Helsing, she always would be a Van Helsing. He hated her family. They took his wife from him, killed her, forced him to raise his daughter alone.

He could never accept her into his life, even as a friend.

That thought hurt her more than anything else. Her heart was heavy as she got to the airport and boarded the plane back towards Aunt Caroline's hometown. From there she would travel spend a couple days before flying back to school.

As she looked out the window as the plane flew into the sky she finally let the tears fall.

She knew that she would never return to Transylvania. She would never see Dracula again. It killed her to think of that, but she knew that there was no other way.

There would never be another one like him. She knew that no other man would ever measure up. Tears filled her eyes as the plane reached the cruising altitude and her feelings overwhelmed her.

She had fallen in love with him, but they would never have a happy ending.