"No."

The sob escaped Victoria as soon as she managed to prise Dracula's mouth from hers. She shook her head, refusing to believe that she was willingly allowing his mouth to press against hers. She knew that it made sense. She could see it all. She could remember her old life, but that was before. She was not the same woman who had died. She had changed, as had he. She did not want this life. She wanted peace away from him.

"Stop it," Victoria sobbed, trying her best to push him from her as he remained adamant, his mouth working at her neck. She continued to allow the tears to fall down her cheek slowly as her hands pushed at his shoulders and chest. "Please…I do not want…not this…please, Vlad."

Moving out of the trance he had found himself in, he looked down at her. No one had called him Vlad in decades. No one had dared to call him by his name: no one except his beloved Victoria. And now she laid beneath him, sobbing softly as she tried to push him from her. He was moving too fast. He was trying to persuade her too quickly. He should have known that she needed time to come to terms with what had happened. But he had waited too long. He had waited too long to feel her warmth and have her back with him.

"You understand now, do you not, Victoria?" he whispered to her, his hand shaking as it stroked along her cheek. "You know who you are. You know that the feelings you feel as for me and only me."

"Stop this," she begged him, managing to push him from her as she stood from the bed, her arms wrapping around her waist as she paced the length of the cold room. Her hair was askew around her head whilst her dress hung awkwardly on her frame. "I do not wish to discuss this, Vlad. I want to leave. I want to go back to Velkan."

She saw his fangs then as he stood up, his face full of anger as he snarled at her. She flinched at the sight, doing her best not to fall to the ground and begin sobbing loudly like she thought she might do. She needed to leave. She needed Velkan to find her. She had to leave this castle.

"I am sorry for what happened," Victoria yelled, trying not to look too worried at his harsh stare and his angry expression. "I never meant to hurt you, Vlad. I never meant to see you suffer…I did not know…but I am not her. I am not the one you fell in love with. I have changed. I am different…I do not want this…I want to go. Please, if you have any love for me then let me go. Stop hurting me like this."

His face softened as he heard her. The anger in his gaze seemed to diminish and Victoria thought that she had managed to get through to him. He understood. He had to understand this. Why could he not let her be? But then his anger intensified. The rage on his face was uncontrollable and he moved with haste, grabbing her by the arms as he pushed her against the wall, his face inches from hers as she cried loudly in fear.

"I died for you!" he roared at her. "I made a deal with the devil to have you back. I went through hell…I live in hell…all for you! I did this all for you! And now you ask me to leave you be? You stand there and beg for me to leave you, allow some other man to have you as I sit and watch? You foolish girl!"

He pushed her from him and Victoria allowed her hands to rest on the stone behind her, allowing it to be the only thing to hold her up as she did her best to remain balanced. Closing her eyes, she felt the tears slide down her cheeks as the Count moved through the chamber, his hands holding his head as he struggled to believe what Victoria had demanded from him. He would show her. He would make her see.

"But this is all of the Gypsy Prince's fault," Dracula said and caught her attention again, watching on as she shook her head with haste. "Yes, he has managed to consume your thoughts, hasn't he? He is all you can think of…Velkan Valerious…perhaps I will bring him here, Victoria? Perhaps if I kill him in front of you then it will make you understand?"

"No!" Victoria yelled. "You will go nowhere near him. He is not a part of this."

"Oh, but he is all too much a part of this," Dracula hissed at her. "He is the one who holds your heart, but I will get rid of him. I will see to it that he comes nowhere near you again."

"No," Victoria snarled. "If you hurt him then I will never forgive you. Do you think that killing him will make me love you?"

She stormed forwards then, her gown catching around her legs as she went. She stood so close to him that she could inhale his musty scent. She could smell the cold on him as he continued to glare at her. It was almost as though he enjoyed her challenging him. He enjoyed this and it sickened Victoria.

"If you kill him then I will follow his suit," she warned the Count. "I would relish nothing more than ending my life and escaping you. You can then wait another four hundred years for my reincarnation…but I will never love you. I will never want you. I may have wanted you, but now…now you are nothing but a monster."

She didn't know if her words stung, but she hoped they did. She hoped that the emptiness in his gaze was enough to have pushed him to the verge. She needed to get the message through to him. She wanted nothing more than to see him suffer like he made her suffer. He deserved the pain of her words. He had killed innocent people. He had harmed so many others. He was a monster and Victoria could see it clearly. It made her feel ill that she allowed her lips to press against his.

It was only then when the Count laughed loudly. The sound was boisterous and on the very of becoming hysterical. Looking at him with narrowed eyes, she did her best not to seem too concerned with his reaction. She already knew that she could not touch him. But he moved his hand out towards her, his fingers moving to cup her cheek, stroking the flesh there tenderly. She tensed up under his touch, but she didn't step backwards. Her eyes were wet and wide as she stared at him, waiting for his chuckles to die down. She was still as his fingers finally latched into her hair and tugged harshly.

Victoria squealed at the sudden pain as it died down and she felt him tilt her head back with the hand in her hair, her neck fully exposed to him as he moved his nose against the vein there, inhaling her deep scent as she finally began to squirm and try to escape his grip. She didn't want this. She couldn't want this.

"My sweet Victoria," he whispered, his hot breath tickling against her neck as she felt the sobs inside of her grow with each passing moment. "Do you think that there is a scenario where your beloved Velkan comes out of this alive?"

Falling slightly, Victoria felt her legs give out and she allowed herself to fall to the floor, doing her best to escape Dracula's grip on her as he bent at the waist, his eyes still glaring at her as she looked anywhere but at him. Doing her best to remain collected, she moved a hand to her hair and tried to prise his grip from her.

"No," Dracula declared in a long drawl. "The Valerious boy will not stay alive forever, Victoria. He wishes to kill me, but it is him against me…and I have no intention of letting him kill me. Do you see the issue? Do you see the problem?"

Shaking her head, Victoria refused to listen to his words. She would not come around to his way of thinking.

"Therefore, when I kill your beloved Velkan-"

"-No," Victoria interrupted him. "I will not let you kill him. I will not let you anywhere near him."

Chuckling, Dracula finally released his grip on her hair, watching as she fell to the ground fully then, her hands only managing to support her frame slightly as her forehead remained close to the cold and hard floor, her hair falling in front of her face.

"Look at you, Victoria," he whispered in a mocking tone. "You are not strong enough to stop me, nor do you have the heart to. As time passes in my presence you will remember who you were. You will remember your love for me and it will all be how it was. Time will make you see…and I have time…I have eternity, my dear."

Shaking her head, Victoria managed to peer upwards to look at the Count, a smile on her face as she did so. Confusion engulfed the Count then as his brow arched and his face frowned at the sight of her. She would always have the upper hand in this situation because she knew how to end it all. She would not let him possess her mind or body. She would not let him anywhere near her.

"Do you think that I jest?" she dared to wonder from him. "Do you think that I would not end my own life? Do you think that I would spend my lifetime in here with you?"

"Do you think that you have a say?" Dracula demanded back. "I will lock you in here until you realise your history, my sweet. There will be no way out. Perhaps you need to see that?"

Victoria was about to ask what he was going to do, but he soon made his intentions known. He stormed towards the door and slammed it shut, the key in the lock turning as Victoria heard him leave her alone. She had to admit that she was grateful more than anything. She needed the peace. She needed time alone and away from him.

She needed to find a way to plot her release.

Moving with haste, Victoria moved to the windows and attempted to open them, only to no prevail. The glass remained shut and she heaved deep sigh, looking for something in the room she could use to break the glass. It was only as she stood there did she almost scream in fear at the sight before her.

Placing a hand over her mouth, she soon saw that it was not her reflection staring at her in the mirror, but the reflection of the man she longed to see more than anything in the world. Moving her hands to the window, she noted how his hands gripped onto the ledge and his body remained still.

"It's locked," Victoria tried to tell him with her mouth and Velkan nodded once he had received the message.

Motioning for her to stand back, she did so before she daw him move his gun towards the window, using the wooden handle of it to break the glass panel. He destroyed the rest of the glass in the pane and Victoria finally felt the cold breeze on her skin as a sudden roar echoed throughout the castle.

"Velkan," Victoria breathed a sigh of relief at the sigh of him and he nodded to her, moving to hold his hand out to her as she saw a piece of rope around his waist, the cord of it moving into the air and towards the roof.

"We need to go," Velkan demanded from her. "My father is providing a distraction, but we need to go now and meet him at home and away from here."

"Your father is here?" Victoria asked, picking her skirts up and sitting on the windowsill before pushing her body out of the window and onto the ledge, Velkan's arm around her waist to hold her tightly by his side and keep her from falling.

"He…He saw how much you meant to me and we planned to attack," Velkan declared. "Finding you here was much more difficult than we had anticipated, but we saw one of his brides one evening in the village and tracked her back here."

"He could kill you, Velkan," Victoria complained as she allowed the Gypsy Prince to awkwardly hold her waist with one arm before the other arm allowed him to push them away from the wall, the rope being lowered by two men at the top of the castle.

"And he could do worse to you," Velkan responded. "Did you think I would leave you to his wrath? Let him turn you into his bride?"

"No," Victoria answered honestly, managing to wrap her legs around Velkan's waist in the most unladylike fashion she could manage. She shocked Velkan at the movement, but he suspected she needed some stability as her arms looped around his upper torso to hold onto him. "I just didn't want him to hurt you."

"He will come nowhere near me," Velkan made the weak promise to her, moving to press his lips against her head as they finally came to stand on the dirt covered ground.

Taking hold of Victoria, he set her gently down on the floor, wishing that he had more time to hold her and make sure she was fine before rushing off. He managed to untie the rope from his waist before grasping her hand and leading her towards the edge of the forest beyond the castle where the horses loitered.

He was quiet as he helped Victoria onto his horse before he joined her, sitting behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. He took hold of the reins from in front of her before he heard a loud roar escape from the castle. Victoria jumped in his arms, turning to look towards the source of the noise, fear rising through her body as her hand moved on top of Velkan's on the rein, squeezing her limbs onto his.

"It is safe," Velkan promised her. "I have you."

The roar continued and Victoria continued to shake as Velkan looked back to the castle, wondering just where his father was. But he remembered Boris's words. He remembered how he had told him to go on. He had told him to find Victoria and leave. He had told him to take her home and keep her safe.

And that was what Velkan would do.

…..

Sitting on the bed in nothing but a white nightgown, Victoria constantly looked to the window, fear radiating through her body at the mere thought of him coming back for her. He could come at any moment and take her back. He could kill Velkan. He could ruin everything.

Walking from the fire he had just poked to keep burning, Velkan sat on the edge of the bed Victoria was curled on, her arms hooked around her knees as she kept her gaze on the panes of glass that showed the moonlight.

Moving slightly, Velkan allowed his hand to move to Victoria's cheek, his fingers turning her gaze from the window and on to her.

"You are safe," Velkan repeated once more to her.

"No, I am not," Victoria replied. "You did not hear him, Velkan. You did not hear what he said…what he did…I…he threatened to kill you...because of how I feel."

"Victoria," Velkan whispered her name, "he would threaten to kill me regardless. I am a Valerious. He wants me dead despite my involvement with you."

Victoria knew that was true, but it did not make it any easier. She had heard how Boris Valerious had fought the Count and had been left to live. Victoria could not quite understand why. He wanted the Valerious family dead. Why would he let Boris go? Victoria could not help but think that it was part of some game he was playing. He was the game maker and they were all pawns.

"Sleep for the evening," Velkan urged her, kissing her forehead softly.

He made a move to stand, but Victoria took hold of him by the wrist, stopping him from moving away from the bed. Her fingers gripped his skin tightly as she looked at him with a pleading expression. Velkan continued to stare down to her, his brow furrowing as he let her hand move from his wrist into his fingers.

"Please," she spoke in a soft voice, "do not leave me…just…stay…"

Velkan looked around worryingly. "It is hardly proper, Victoria."

"I do not care," she responded. "I cannot be alone tonight. Every time I look at the window I think he will come back…come back and try to claim me…please, Velkan, just stay with me."

Nodding his head in agreement, Velkan kissed the back of her hand tenderly and moved to check the windows were locked before he tightly drew the drapes shut, blocking out the night time from sight. She kept silent as she folded her arms back around her legs and watched Velkan sit on the side of the bed, pushing his boots from the bed and allowing them to fall to the floor. He removed his outer layers and remained in a simple shirt and breeches before he pulled the covers back from the bed.

Victoria lifted up, pushing the cover back with her feet before climbing into the bed sheet and resting her body down. Velkan remained on his back, his arms by his side as he adjusted to the weird sensation of having a woman in his bed by his side.

"Thank you," Victoria whispered, looking at the candlelight on the bedside table that provided the room light and let the shadows flicker in the flames. "For rescuing me."

"You have no need to thank me," Velkan informed her. "I love you, Victoria. I would do anything for you."

Nodding her head slowly, Victoria turned on her side to face him and he allowed his head to roll to the side to look at her, a small smile on his face as he studied her pale features and dared to move his hand to rest on her cheek again.

"I love you too," Victoria whispered. "No matter what he says or does…just remember that it is you I love and want."

"I know," Velkan promised her and moved closer to her, resting on his side and moving his arm underneath the pillows of her head as his other hand continued to stroke her face soothingly.

Nodding, Victoria took the move to press her body next to Velkan's, her arms wrapping onto him as she burrowed her face against his neck. She felt safe when she was with Velkan. The warmth of his body and the scent of him made her feel completely safe. It was what she needed. It was what she wanted, despite everything the Count had told her.

But deep down she knew it could not last. She knew that Dracula would not let it last.