I dedicate this story to the great REMEMBER. She writes the absolute BEST Dracula fics EVER. You all need to flock to her and you know...read her stuff. PLUS she always gives me excellent reviews even though my reviews for her stories usually suck because I'm a lazy bastard... YEAH. REMEMBER.

Amira rolled over on her bed with a small smile on her face, feeling completely content with the world. At least that was the case until someone began poking her on the shoulder. She scooted away from the offending pokes and attempted to go back to sleep. She managed to obtain this goal for a total of three seconds before the incessant poking began again with a vengeance. She finally cracked open one of her eyes and discovered that the pokes were coming from Aida, who apparently had not realized Amira was awake yet and continued to jab her shoulder.

"What do you want?" Her voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that her face was pressed up against a pillow.

"Oh! You're awake." Aida grinned cheerfully. "Master Dracula wants you to attend breakfast this morning. It shall take place in the dining hall in fifteen minutes."

"Fine, fine. I'll be there."

Aida bowed her head and ran off.

Amira rolled over the edge of her bed and promptly fell off, landing with a dull thud against the hardwood floor. Her good mood was evaporating in record time. She stood up and walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a plain white tank top and a long pale red skirt. She dressed quickly and quietly before heading over to her mirror to fix her hair. The first thing her eyes latched onto was the collar wrapped around her neck. Oh yeah...dammit. She sighed and began to run a brush through her hair, determinedly keeping her gaze locked on her messy, curly hair and not her new addition of jewelry.

Amira started stalking to the dining hall when for some odd reason she remembered Zane telling her that stalking was unlady-like. She unconsciously straightened her back and continued walking to the dining hall.

The doors were opened by two nondescript servants that kept their faces turned downward. Dracula and Vasilios were conversing quietly when Amira entered. They both held what Amira decided -for the sake of her stomach- to classify as red wine in crystal goblets. They simultaneously turned to her and nodded their heads in greeting.

Amira walked over to the table and began to grab food off the table to put on a plate. Vasilios and Dracula began talking again; occasionally taking sips from their goblets of wine. Amira bit down on a piece of toast and began chewing slowly, savoring the buttery goodness.

"Straighten your back."

Amira twitched convulsively and twisted around to find Vasilios standing directly behind her chair.

"Eh?" She asked intelligently. Amira thought she heard some sniggering from the general direction of the two servants that had opened the door for her earlier.

"Straighten your back. You must improve your posture." Amira slowly straightened in her seat and began eating her toast again. "Good." Vasilios smiled. "Come to the library after you are finished eating. I'll be waiting there for you." He bowed to Dracula and nodded to Amira before leaving.

Dracula swaggered over to the chair opposite Amira and sat down. Amira stared determinedly at the pancake she was now mashing into a pulp with her spoon.

"Now now Amira. No need to take your frustration out on your food."

"Burn in hell Dracula."

"I already have. It is most unpleasant and I do not wish to experience it again." Dracula took a sip of his wine.

Amira decided that the pancakes had suffered enough and turned to the French toast. She took a fork and began stabbing it with her fork, pretending that it was Dracula's head. She was in the midst of stabbing frenchDraculatoast in the eye when her fork was plucked out of her hand.

"Give me back my fork, Dracula."

"No."

"Give it."

There was a pause, as if Dracula was contemplating his response. "No."

Before Amira even knew what she was doing, she suddenly sent her plate of food whirling across the room at Dracula. He nimbly stepped aside and watched it shatter against the wall.

"Temper, temper, temper." Dracula shook his head and snapped his fingers. The broken plate mended itself and appeared in front of Amira again, good as new.

"I'm going to the library." She stood up and began to walk to the door when she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist.

"Not so fast." Dracula whispered seductively in her ear. "I'm not done with you yet."

Amira visibly stiffened. "Let go of me."

"You shouldn't talk to your master like that."

"You shouldn't be handling your pet like this."

"I can do whatever I want with my pet."

"You disgust me."

"Your opinion of me is already known."

"God damn you."

"He already has."

"I hate your comebacks."

"I hate your insults. They're very uncreative. I know you could do better."

"UGH."

"Now you've just lowered yourself to simple grunts. How very disappointing."

Amira just now realized his hands were straying upwards to the "forbidden zone". She pushed away as hard as she could and just managed to break free of his grasp. She whirled around and stuck her pointer finger right under his nose. "I may be your pet but I am not your whore! Keep your hands to yourself!" She stormed off in a huff. Dracula, being his incredibly intellectual self, stood there looking perturbed.

When Amira arrived at the library she had managed to calm her fury down into a kind of simmering anger. She forced a smile onto her face. Vasilios was sitting in an armchair reading a very thick book when she walked in.

"Amira. You're angry." He announced without even looking up from his book. Amira was slightly taken aback.

"How did you know?" Amira asked, feeling curious.

"You display your emotions far too openly. It was easy for me to tell something was bothering you."

"But you weren't even looking at me."

"There are other ways to tell if someone is in a bad mood or not." He shut the book and stood up. "Enough chitchat." He said in a brisk tone. "We have to begin the training." Amira unconsciously fingered at her collar.

Vasilios walked directly up to Amira. He was only a few inches away from her when he stopped. He then began to circle her, observing her from all sides. He stopped directly behind her. Amira tried to stay as still as possible, but when a hand was place on her back her shoulders twitched involuntarily. "I'm not going to hurt you." Vasilios said in gentle tones. He pushed on the small of her back. Amira felt her back straighten. "Very good. This is the proper posture for a pet. You must walk with grace and dignity." Vasilios put the book he had been reading on top of her head. "Walk to the end of the library and back without letting the book fall off your head."

---:0 Some time has passed-

"Dammit!" Amira exclaimed when the book fell off her head for the umpteenth time.

"Pick it up and try again Amira. I know you can do it." Vasilios said in a bored tone before going back to reading his book. "And don't curse," he added as an afterthought. "Pets don't swear."

This was the scene Dracula walked in on an hour after Amira had begun her training with Vasilios. "I never realized how ungraceful you were, Amira." He called to Amira from across the room.

"This is harder than it looks!" Amira shouted back across the room.

Suddenly Dracula was standing directly beside her. He took the book out of her hands and placed it atop his head and walked swiftly and gracefully across the room and back. The book never even wobbled. He held the book back out to her, a small smirk playing across his lips. Amira grudgingly took the book away and shoved the book back on top of her head before attempting once again to complete the exercise.

Dracula sat down at a desk and began doing paperwork. Silence reigned in the library, only to be interrupted by Amira's occasional cursing whenever the book fell off her head.

Finally, after another half hour Amira accomplished the goal.

"Yay!" She exclaimed as she took the book off her head. "I did it!"

"Good job Amira!" Vasilios applauded. Amira was about to put the book down when Vasilios called to her, "What are you doing?"

"Uh." Amira stopped. "Putting the book down?"

"I didn't say you could do that. You must carry that book atop your head at all times until the ball."

"What?" Amira exclaimed.

"You heard me perfectly well. Now place the book back on top of you head and walk over here."

-Some time has passed-

Several hours later Amira found herself back in her room, rotating her neck around in circles to get the stiffness to go away. She had spent the rest of the day learning pet etiquette, which turned out to be incredibly boring. She felt like she was back in school being lectured by a crotchety old teacher; except this time she was in one of Dracula's castles being lectured by a handsome vampire.

She had attempted to look on the bright side of things, but she just couldn't seem to find a bright side to her current situation so she just settled for loathing Zane and his need to make false tales. So she sat there on the side of her bed, thinking of different ways to maim/kill Zane. As if her thoughts had summoned him, Zane appeared with a soft pop! directly in front of her. Amira let out a small shriek of surprise and fell off her bed.

"God dammit Zane!" She shouted from the floor. "Must you always try to startle me like that?"

"Ah, but this is one of the few perks of my job." His eyes twinkled mischievously. His eyes traveled downward towards her neck. "I see my rumor has circulated well." Amira attempted to kick the old man from her position on the floor, but he nimbly dodged out of the way. He sighed, "I see you are still mad at me."

"Well of course I am!" Amira leapt up. "And I'm not the only one. Dracula wishes you dead as well."

"Oh well. I only did what the Powers That Be told me to."

"Right. And they have just told you to come chat it up with Dracula's new pet?"

"Err-No." Zane smiled. "I just decided to pop in for a visit. See how you were doing."

"Oh I'm doing quite well! Excluding the fact that I've just been made a slave by one of the worlds most vicious and powerful vampires, I'm absolutely dandy."

Zane either somehow managed to miss the intended sarcasm or he just ignored it. "That's good to know!" He replied cheerily. He then added as an afterthought, "And you're not a slave. Just a pet."

"Like that's so much better."

He sat down on the edge of her bed and when he spoke to her again; his cheerful voice had been replaced with much more serious tones. "This will all work out for the best Amira. You may not see it now, but this will all turn out well in the end."

"Yeah whatever."

"But it will!" He stared at her with big pleading eyes. "You will see in the end."

To Amira's utter horror, she found that tears were leaking out of her eyes as she sat down next to Zane and whispered, "I just want all of this to end." Zane pulled her into a warm embrace but did not say anything, for he knew that it would not be over for her for a long, long time.

-Some time has passed-

Amira awoke several hours later in the comfort of her soft bed. She recalled with no small amount of embarrassment crying on Zane's shoulder until she must have fallen asleep. How very weak of me. She thought to herself. She sighed and sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she did so. When she could see clearly she got out of bed. I wonder what time it is. She hadn't realized until now that there wasn't a clock in her room.

"Do humans always sleep so much?" A delicately soft voice asked from an armchair. She immediately recognized the voice as Vasilios'. "I don't seem to recall sleeping so much in my mortal past life."

"I guess so." Amira replied. She was still a bit sleepy and did not feel like making intelligent answers at the moment.

Vasilios stood and turned around to face her. "You must forgive me for being in your room while you slept-" He started, but was soon interrupted by Amira.

"Oh no, it's quite alright. I'm used to it. Just don't make it a habit please." Amira was indeed used to it; she had woken up more often than not with someone in her room. Vasilios merely arched a thin white eyebrow.

"I'll try not to."

There was a short silence before Amira asked, "So what brings you to my room?"

"I was just wondering how you were doing." Vasilios did not mention that he had heard crying from within her room.

"Oh. I'm doing perfectly fine, thank you for asking."

Dracula chose that moment to enter the room. He strode across the room in record time and twined an arm around Amira waist, effectively pulling her near. Amira stoutly resisted the urge to elbow him in the ribs. He bent his head down and whispered in her ear with a velvety smooth voice, "We need to get you fitted with a dress for the ball." He made it sound like it was some sort of secret.

"And you must escort me to the fitting room?"

"Of course. I wouldn't my little pet to get lost."

"You're adjusting to this pet thing rather easily. Must I remind you that this is only temporary?"

"That's the best part. I can throw off this charade after we wed, but until then we might as well play the part of master and pet."

"Fine. Just take me there."

Vasilios watched the whole exchange in silence with a barely concealed smile. But when they were about to leave he spoke up. "Amira." He called. She turned around and looked at him. "I will be expecting you in the library after you finish with the fitting." She nodded in reply and soon Dracula was once more pulling her out of the room.

The moment Amira and Dracula reached the fitting room she was pulled out of Dracula's embrace by several young women and ushered quickly into the fitting room. Amira spared one glance over her shoulder for Dracula before the doors were shut behind her. He was just standing there with his arms folded across his chest, an amused expression playing across his features.

-Some time has passed oO-

It took the women half an hour to find what the women decided was the perfect dress. In the end they settled for a very pretty red dress that reminded Amira -with a sickening twist of her stomach- of the dress Anna had worn in the movie when Dracula had had her under his enchantment. But apparently she didn't get much say in the matter, in fact, she didn't get any say at all. The women had been so busy measuring her and throwing different dresses at her that they hardly listened to what Amira said.

When they were finishedthey neatly folded the dress into a box, put it in her hands, and shoved her out the door without another word. Dracula was casually leaning against the wall opposite the door. When Amira stumbled out Dracula straightened and snapped his fingers. Almost at once a very small servant boy was standing directly in front of his master. Dracula ordered the boy to take Amira's dress to her room. The boy nodded once and was gone in a flash with the box in hand. Amira didn't even remember giving the dress to him.

"Good service."

"Indeed."

He then proceeded to pull her close to him with an arm Amira hadn't even realized was around her waist. They were at the library in no time.

"Have fun." He let go of her waist and disappeared with a small crack.

"Oh I'm sure I will." Amira replied sarcastically to the air.

"This. Is. So. Freaking.Boring." Amira accentuated each word by hitting her head on the table. They had been spending the last hour reviewing proper pet etiquette.

"You're right." Vasilios stated simply. "We must do something more interesting."

"Err...right."

"Do you know how to dance?"

Amira refrained from snorting with laughter. She was absolutely terrible. "I can waltz, but I'm not very good."

"Then we shall just have to improve on that." He stood up and he motioned for her to stand as well. He led her to the middle of the library where there was just enough clear space to hold a dancing lesson. Classical music started playing as if on cue. Vasilios captured one of her hands in his and placed the other on her waist. Soon they were dancing across the floor. It was as though Vasilios' gracefulness made up for the fact that Amira had virtually no skills in dancing.

"You're very good." Amira complimented.

"Thank you." He replied. He dipped her low and pulled her back up again. "You...just need a little bit of practice."

"You mean a lot of practice. I know I'm horrible."

"Don't say that. I'm sure you will improve."

"If only because I have such an excellent teacher."

"You're too kind."

"It's only the truth."

He pulled away from her then. "I think that's enough for today." He straightened his coat meticulously. "It is growing late, and I'm sure you need your sleep." Amira sighed. She had been having fun.

"I suppose."

"Shall I escort you back to your rooms?"

"No thank you. I think I can manage on my own."

He led her to the doorway and bowed.

"Good night Amira."

"Good night Vasilios."

He turned around and walked away.

Amira turned and walked in the opposite direction, her head filled with thoughts of Vasilios dancing with her. Before she knew it she was standing in front of her door. She was about to open it when, suddenly, a blood curdling scream filled the hall, followed shortly after by a vicious snarl. Amira started and looked left and right, expecting to see Dracula bursting out of his rooms any moment. Another scream resounded through the halls. Amira looked out the large window at the end of the corridor. It would be dawn in about a half hour. Dracula and Vasilios must already be asleep. Mind already made up, Amira burst through her doors and after a few minutes searching found her scimitar propped up against her wardrobe with a note attached to it. It read:

Thought you might need it.

Z.

Fueled by adrenaline, she ripped a slit in her skirt up to her thigh in order to make it easier to run.

Amira grabbed her scimitar and rushed out the door just as she heard some cry in a panic stricken voice, "Help!" Amira felt her blood pounding in her ears as she sprinted toward where the cries for help had originated.

-Chapter Over-

A/N: WHEW. I do believe that that was my longest chapter yet! Please give me long reviews. I really want to read something other than "Good chapter! Can't wait for the next!" So PLEASE, if you really want me to continue this story, just spend an extra minute telling me your favorite part of the story or something. I would really appreciate it, and it would give me the fuel I need to write the next chapter.

Oh, and yes I do realize that the whole 'Dracula having a book on his head' thing is very OOC but Sarah doesn't care so NEH. I'll try not to do so often though.

ALSO: My vampire go into a sort of comatose when they get into their coffins and crap, so I don't care what legend your going by about vampires being "light sleepers" or something. Mine won't hear a thing. :D