She expected him to come. She should have expected him to come sooner. Velkan had left with his sister and his men to search for the werewolf. He had left Victoria alone, telling her to stay inside and not venture outdoors. She had agreed with him, but she knew that she could not keep him away. Without Velkan around there was no one to protect her except for the men Velkan had left behind.

But they did not seem to want to watch her, despite their Prince's request. They saw Victoria as he cause of many problems. She was the reason that the Count even existed in the first place. She was the reason why he was the monster he was. She placed them all in danger simply by being there.

Sitting in the library on the same evening that Velkan had left, Victoria was perched on the floor amongst a range of books, still looking for some kind of miracle. She had let her eyes skim over the words, her hands in her skirt as she thought about the babe growing inside of her.

The candles flickered a few times and Victoria let out a deep breath. Looking around, she tried to keep her breathing even as her hands moved to the sofa behind her and she hauled herself to her feet, her hands smoothing out over her stomach as she glanced to the window that was slightly open.

"I know that you are here," Victoria declared, her voice not shaking as she looked around the room. "You don't need to hide from me."

"Just like you hide from me?" his voice echoed through the room and Victoria looked over to him, finally seeing him stood by the fireplace, his arm dangling over it as his other hand held his chin. His eyes remained on the floor as Victoria watched him, gulping once before she removed her hands from her stomach.

"But you hide from me for a reason now, do you not?" he wondered from her. "You see, I can always tell how a person is feeling by the beat of their heart. Your heartbeat is even, but the unusual thing is that I now hear two heartbeats."

"Vlad-"

"-I should have known," he interrupted her, finally letting his gaze move towards her before he moved, his hands going to the clasp of his cloak and letting it fall from his shoulders to the floor. He moved towards her and she didn't bother to recoil. Instead she remained stood on the spot as his hand went to her cheek. "I should have known that there was a chance that boy had placed a babe in your womb. I allowed him to lay with you. I was foolish."

"I didn't know," Victoria blurted out, looking him in the eye as his gaze searched hers. "I don't understand, Vlad…I…"

"Hush now," Vlad urged from her, his other hand coming to take hold of her cheek, holding onto them in his grip as his forehead pressed against hers. "I know, Victoria. You were not yourself."

"This is all a mess," Victoria said in a whisper, closing her eyes as they begun to water and Vlad dared to move a hand down her cheek, his fingers curling around her neck for a moment before they wandered down her side and finally rested against her stomach.

"My brides have longed for a child for years," Vlad said to her.

Her brows furrowed. "You have been trying for children with them?"

"How many times must you hear that I thought you dead?" Vlad demanded, refusing to hear her become upset with him. "How many times do I need to tell you that? If I had known that you would come back then I would have waited. I will wait…I will always wait for you."

"No," Victoria said with a shake of her head. "There can be no chance, Vlad. Do you not understand that? You have done things that I cannot comprehend….things that were not for me."

Vlad shook his head. "So you have made your choice?" he asked from her. "You choose Velkan over me?"

"I am carrying his child," Victoria said, shrugging out of his grip and then moving away from him, her skirts sweeping behind her as she made the movements and Vlad watched her. "I must have loved him before all of this. Why else would I be pregnant? And…and he is kind and considerate…he cares for me…he is a good man."

Vlad nodded at her. He did his best not to look too angry with what he was hearing, but he was struggling. He was finding it almost impossible not to shake her and tell her to see sense.

"But you do not love him, do you?" Vlad asked from her. "Why else would you be so confused? I know you, Victoria. I know everything about you. You want to love him. You want to adore him because he is the right man, is he not? He is the father of your child…he is adoring…gentle…everything that a girl should want."

"Don't," Victoria urged from him in a whisper, but he was moving towards her then, his steps purposeful as he took hold of her waist in his fingertips, spinning her around the face him, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Why else would you be here, surrounding yourself with books? You want to find a way to keep him alive, but you also search for a way to keep me alive," Vlad declared as his grip on her waist increased. "You know it deep down, Victoria. You know that you love me. You always have and you always will, regardless of how wrong it feels to you."

"What do you suggest I do, Vlad?" Victoria asked from him. "I cannot be with you. You are not the same man who I fell in love with. You are not him."

"Because I am not a man," Vlad responded, moving to grab hold of her hand and draw it up to his chest, pressing it against where his heart should beat. His fingers flattened hers against the expanse and she looked down, tears forming in her eyes. "I have no heart, Victoria. I have nothing…I feel nothing…the only time I feel something is when I look at you. When I look at you it reminds me of the man I used to be…the man I was for you."

"But you are not him!" Victoria protested. "The man I loved would never have killed without reason. He would never have done that."

"I know," Vlad told her. "I know, my love, but I am him. I am the same man who would do anything for you…the same man who can make you feel alive…loved…adored…"

"Stop it," Victoria urged from him. "It is too late."

"No, it is not," Vlad protested. "It is never too late."

"I am having Velkan's child," Victoria said once more. "How can you think that there is any hope for us?"

"Because I know you and I know how you feel," Vlad told her. "Deep down you are still my Victoria. I know you better than that boy ever could. I love you more than he ever could. I would do anything for you."

"I don't doubt it," Victoria promised him. "But we have had this discussion before and nothing has changed since the last time. I will not be with you."

"So you will settle for him?" Vlad demanded, the anger now rising inside of him as he took hold of her by the arms, shaking her harshly until he had her backed up against the bookshelf, his face inches from hers. "You will settle for a little boy?"

"I will settle for the man who is going to be the father of my child," Victoria said. "And I could do a lot worse than him, could I not?"

"No," Vlad told her and moved with haste, his lips pressing against hers as his hands kept her wrists in his grip tightly. Victoria did her best to push him from her but she failed miserably, his weight too much and his mouth forceful on hers. Pulling back after a moment, he looked to her as her eyes searched his.

"Do you not see?" he urged from her. "Come with me and I will keep you safe."

"And my child?" Victoria asked. "Vlad, you cannot-"

"-I will not harm your child."

"My child is a Valerious," she reminded him. "My child has the curse."

"Your child will be safe," he repeated. "I will not harm it."

"This is ludicrous," she said to him. "And you know that. We cannot be together now. We can never be together."

"That is a contradiction to everything you have said before," Vlad told her. "Or do you not remember the night I took you in this very same room? The night when I pledged that I would run away with you? The night when you gave yourself to me just as I gave myself to you? Do you not understand the pain I have suffered? All for you?"

Closing her eyes, the tears seemed to fall freely then as Victoria let her head loll forwards, her forehead pressing against his shoulder as he tenderly moved to wrap her into his arms, holding onto her softly. He let his hand run up her back, cupping the back of her head.

"I'm sorry," Victoria whispered to him. "I'm so sorry."

"As am I," Dracula said to her. "But come with me, Victoria. Come back with me and I will make everything as it should be. I will adore you…love you…become mine and everything shall be how it was."

Looking up and to him, Victoria searched his gaze before shaking her head and moving to kiss his cheek. "I can't do that to him," she said in a whisper.

She began to move away before she felt his hand on her wrist, turning her back around and forcing her to face him. Her eyes met his and she saw something there that she hadn't expected. She saw pain. She saw hurt. And she was the one causing it to him. She was the one who was ruining him and she didn't know how much more she could take. Bowing her head, she closed her eyes and felt his hand go to hold her chin.

"There is no other option, Victoria," he whispered to her. "You have no choice but to pick a side. Velkan Valerious will not stop trying to kill me, just as I will not stop trying to kill him."

"There has to be," Victoria responded. "Please, Vlad…please…"

"This is the way it must be," Vlad said. "And we both know that the Valerious boy will never kill me."

"No," Victoria said, her sobs now racking through her body as she grabbed hold of him, her hands wrapping around his arms as she looked to him. "Please, do not do this to him…do not hurt him…"

"Just as he would not hurt me?" Vlad demanded from her in a harsh tone, his hands taking her cheeks once more. "I have told you, Victoria, there is no other option."

Victoria was about to plead once more, but Vlad dropped her from his grip and stalked through the room, taking hold of his cloak and pulling it onto his shoulders. Victoria watched him make the motion before he made his way back to the window and looked at her over his shoulder.

"You know that you belong with me, Victoria," he informed her. "How long before you accept it?"

…

Velkan returned the following morning to find Victoria perched on her bed, reading a book. He looked exhausted and drained of energy, his body sagging as he came to sit besides her, his hand going to her cheek, turning her gaze to his as he pressed his lips to hers. She didn't reciprocate, instead she remained still before pulling back.

"What is it?" Velkan wondered.

"He was here," Victoria spoke. "Last night."

"What happened? No one has said anything to me."

"Because no one knew," Victoria said, moving to her feet and wandering through the room. "I was in the library and he found me. He…nothing happened, but he knows about the babe."

"Let him know," Velkan said. "I now have what I need to catch the werewolf and kill it. A silver bullet and a trap. We know where it will be and at the next full moon we will set everything into motion."

"It is too dangerous," Victoria protested. "Velkan, you cannot go against a werewolf."

"I must," Velkan said, also moving to his feet. "It is the only hope we have. If I destroy that creature then I can focus my efforts on killing Dracula and ending the curse for my family…for our family…"

Victoria moved her hands to her stomach and looked down to the floor, her mind wondering just how much longer this could go on for. However, little did she know, that the next time Velkan went to hunt down the werewolf would be the last time.

…

Do let me know what you think!