Velkan startled in the morning when his wife wrapped his arms around his waist. He had been sat on the edge of the bed all night ever since the incident. He remained silent as Victoria pressed her lips against his throat, quite clearly satisfied with everything that had happened. She moaned lowly as her hands splayed on his bare stomach.

"Last night was amazing," Victoria whispered and Velkan frowned at hearing that from her.

She remembered it?

"What is it?" Victoria dared to wonder underneath his harsh stare as he watched her. She frowned as her grip loosened around him and he did his best not to look worried at what he was seeing. She kept silent as Velkan pushed her arms from him and he stood up.

She seemed to shrink underneath his glare. Had she displeased him? He had seemed pleased last night. He had not complained about her then. Maybe she had done something to anger him?

"What exactly do you remember?" Velkan demanded to know from her.

"What do you mean?"

"Do not play coy, Victoria," Velkan demanded and she sunk back against the bed, watching him with wonder as he did his best to keep his temper under control, but he was struggling to do that. He was struggling to remain calm as she played innocent with him.

"I am not playing," Victoria promised him. "I remember what happened last night. I remember being with you…your hands on me…in me…and then we…"

She trailed off, struggling to say anymore on the matter as Velkan nodded his head at her, urging for her to continue. She kept silent and still as Velkan watched her, clearly waiting for her to continue, but she didn't.

"You do not remember him being here then?" Velkan asked from her. "Or me having to spend the night listening to you as you called his name as your hands pleasured yourself?"

Her blushes grew deep red then as she shook her head. Her husband was angry with her. She could see that much. She thought that everything had been too perfect to last. Velkan shook his head as Victoria considered what he had heard that night. She didn't even want to know. Scrambling from the bed, she moved to reach for her husband, her hands in front of her as Velkan grabbed her by the wrists to stop her from touching him.

"I do not remember," Victoria told him. "Please, Velkan, you need to believe me. I do not remember any of that."

"No?" Velkan asked from her. "You do not remember laying on that bed with your hands in between your legs as you begged for him to take you? His name, Victoria!"

"That is not me!" Victoria yelled back to Velkan, her head shaking back and forth as she longed for her husband to listen to her. "Please, my love. You know that was not me. He has control over me."

"Does he?" Velkan demanded. "I am not entirely convinced, Victoria. I think you want him. Deep down I think you want him and you cannot admit that to yourself."

It was then when Victoria tugged her wrists from Velkan and she stumbled back, barely managing to keep her footing as a hand moved to her chest and the other to cover her mouth. Looking to Velkan with wide eyes, Victoria saw nothing but anger inside of his stare. Shaking her head, she turned to look away from him.

"If you think that then I want you to get out," Victoria said, trying to sound braver than she felt. "If you think me nothing but his whore then leave me alone."

Velkan only realised what he had said when her voice began to break. But it had been too late. He stepped forwards, trying to take her into his arms, but her hands clenched into fists and she thumped on his chest, her hair flying over her shoulders as Velkan took his turn to stumble back, clearly shocked at the sight of her anger.

"Get out!" Victoria roared at him. "Get out and leave me alone! Get out!"

Her yells continued to echo through the room as she pushed him back to the door, her hands not once stopping their assault on his bare chest. Velkan struggled for words as he reached for the door handle and Victoria slammed the door in his face, locking it before he could let himself back in.

"Victoria!" Velkan shouted her name as she turned her back to the door, leaning against it and sliding down to the floor as tears fell down her face. "Open this door right now!"

"Go away!" Victoria yelled back at him, refusing to let him in despite his constant knocking.

….

Victoria locked herself in the room all day. She didn't once open the door to the maids nor did Velkan try to come back and calm her down either. She didn't care where he had gone at that moment in time. She didn't want him to come back after what he had said to her. She wanted him to leave her be for a while.

Her anger had turned into tears. Soon enough she found herself unable to cry anymore as she sat on the chaise longue with a book in her fingertips. She pretended to read, but her gaze was on the fire instead, watching as they flickered and burned bright.

She barely even shrieked when she heard the window creak open. She had expected for this to happen. She had planned on it to. He didn't know how to leave her alone. He had no idea how to leave her alone. Besides, she had willed for him to come here. She needed to speak to him.

"You called, my dear?"

His voice was deep and low, causing Victoria to shudder as soon as she heard it. She remained seated, unable to sense where he was in the room. She kept her gaze on the fire as he remained stood.

He had to admit, he had not expected to feel the call from her. He didn't know how she had the power to summon him, but anytime he felt her he went. He knew he was weak for doing so, but he could not resist it. He could not resist her. He stood behind the chaise longue, his breathing silent as he watched her, his gaze peering down his nose to her.

"I want this to stop," Victoria demanded from him, still not turning to look at him. "I want you to take your control away from me. I want you to leave me alone. You are ruining me…you are ruining Velkan."

"The Valerious boy is none of my concern," he responded.

"But he is mine," Victoria snapped, finally turning to look up at him. "He is my husband."

"As he proved last night," the Count responded, his hands behind his back as he began to pace the length of the room. "I have to say that it was intriguing, Victoria. The sight of him underneath you…usually you enjoy being dominated."

"Stop it," Victoria demanded from him, standing up as her gown twirled around her feet and she moved towards him.

"Why?" the Count wondered, using his control over her as he stopped her from moving any further. His hand went to her chin, squeezing it tightly as he tilted her gaze to look to him, his other hand stroking her throat with his fingertips. "You can try to deny it all you want, Victoria, but you know it to be true. Tell me, do you feel nothing when my fingers are on you."

"Nothing at all," Victoria hissed at him.

"Then you are fooling yourself," he said with a thoughtful nod, "and you are doing a grand job in doing so, my love."

"I love Velkan," Victoria snapped. "And you are tearing us apart."

"Am I supposed to be sorry about that?" he chuckled as he moved his hands down her back, one hand dipping into the small of her back to press her body tightly against his, causing her to squirm uncomfortably. But she could not move away when she was under his control.

His nose moved to run along the length of her neck, inhaling her strong scent as one hand on her back moved to the ties of her dress. Slowly but surely his hands tugged at them, loosening the gown she wore.

"Stop it," Victoria said as she felt the weight disappear.

"Oh, I have no intention of taking you," the Count promised her. "I am saving that for when we are alone for an entire evening…but that doesn't mean that I cannot make you see the truth…"

Stepping away from her, the Count watched as her gown fell to her feet, leaving her in her underclothes and nothing more. Victoria kept still, unable to move as his gaze raked up and down her body, pausing to observe her breasts and the outline of the brown curls between her legs.

"Imagine my hands on you," the Count demanded from her and she rolled her eyes.

"You truly think I will do that?" Victoria demanded from him, tilting her head to the side. "You might have me controlled to stand here, but I will not imagine anything."

"Oh, I think you will," the Count spoke, moving to come up behind her.

He didn't touch her, but she could sense that his body was behind her. Keeping silent, she felt as he breathed onto her neck, his breath cold like the rest of him as she shuddered and the Count chuckled.

"Is there a throbbing inside of you?" the Count dared to wonder as Victoria shook her head. "Oh, but I think there is. I think there is an ache between your legs that you can feel. It is building up, Victoria. I know it."

"There is nothing," Victoria snapped.

"There is," the Count responded. "I could pleasure you just by talking to you right now. I don't need to put my hands on you. My words are just enough, just as they were that night in the library when you begged me to take you."

"No," Victoria denied.

But the Count had no time to continue with his words as the door rattled and a soft knock came from the other side. He would have cursed, but he had a plan. He knew exactly what to do. He could keep control of her for as long as he wanted to.

"We're going to play a little game, Victoria," the Count declared. "Now, my love, I am going to keep you under my control and you can see just how wrong the Valerious boy is for you."

Victoria had no chance but to agree with his request. She kept quiet as the Count lurked in the shadows outside of the castle.

Velkan continued to tap on the door, begging for Victoria to let him inside. Finally the door opened and he saw her stood there in her underclothes. She let him in the room before shutting the door and he looked at her, knowing that he had to say something.

"Victoria," he whispered. "About this morning…I meant none of it…none of it at all. I was angry. I was upset. But I should not have been angry with you."

"Should you not have been?" Victoria wondered from him. "Even though you are right. I am his whore."

Shaking his head, Velkan moved to tenderly take her by the arms. He ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders, stroking the bare skin there as she struggled to look him in the eye.

"No," Velkan said. "I did not mean that. I meant none of it. I only want you to see that. Whatever I said was wrong."

"But it is him I want," Victoria declared, her voice strong and demanding as she finally looked at Velkan and the Gypsy Prince furrowed his brows. "It is him who pleasures me. It is him who I need."

"No," Velkan repeated. "It is not him. He has control of you again, Victoria. You know that, my love. You need to fight him."

Velkan shook her forcefully, but he had no need. The Count had let her slip out of his control as he felt her continuously fighting against him. Keeping silent and inhaling for breathing, Victoria looked around, coming to her senses as she glanced up to Velkan.

"We have to do something," she told her husband. "We can't let him win."

Velkan nodded in agreement with that before closing his eyes and letting his wife rest against his side as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

…..

Sitting in the dining room by Velkan's side, Victoria kept her hand laced together with his underneath the table before she looked across the table to Boris and Anna. The two Valerious's were looking at Velkan and Victoria once they had managed to tell their tale.

Victoria's cheeks were still flaming red as they spoke of everything that had happened the previous night and the other night. Velkan had struggled to tell his father, but he knew that it had to be said. Boris had to know exactly what Dracula was doing to his bride.

"And he is controlling her?" Boris doubled checked. "But he is…well…yes…"

"Pleasuring her," Anna was the one to finish and Velkan frowned at his siser as Victoria held tightly onto his hand, almost too scared to release him from her grip as she kept silent, her head bowed in shame.

"Taunting her too," Velkan added on. "It is almost as though he is in her head, even when he is not near her."

"Odd," Boris declared and his son nodded his head in agreement. "I do not know the way to fix this, son. I can look into books to try to find a way, but I worry that the only way may be to go to the church and try to banish him from Victoria's thoughts and relinquish his control that way."

"And if there is no way?" Victoria suddenly wondered from Boris, managing to look him in the eye. "If there is no way for this feeling to go away, what should I do?"

Everyone was silent then as Victoria shook her head and closed her eyes. She didn't want to leave Velkan. But being near him was doing nothing but bring the both of them pain. She didn't know how much longer she could keep on going for.

Maybe he had won.

Maybe she really was his.