Amira woke up the next night with a headache the size of Mount Fugi, meaning her head hurt like the dickens. She rolled over and sat up before beginning to rub her temples in soothing circles. She remembered stars and then...being carried to her room by someone. Amira groaned.
"You're awake." A voice called from the armchair, a voice Amira immediately recognized as the count's.
"Wow. Thank you for pointing that out to me, I never would have known otherwise."
Dracula ignored the sarcasm and replied airily, "You're quite welcome."
"Should I even bother asking why your in my room, watching me sleep?"
"You probably shouldn't, unless you wish to receive an unnerving answer."
"Uh..then I won't."
"Good." Dracula stood up slowly and faced Amira with an air of gravity that Amira had never seen him display before. "Amira," he started his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at her with increasing intensity. Amira held her breath, having a feeling that this was an incredibly important question. "Are you," Dracula turned and looked at her from the side, making Amira feel like she was in some sort of movie, "a virgin?" Amira was completely taken aback.
"What?" She exclaimed, not even realizing that she had stood up and now had her hands on her hips.
"Are you a virgin?" He repeated.
"Well, yes! Of course I am!" Amira scratched her head. "Why?"
Dracula just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I had to know if your wedding dress could be white."
Amira narrowed her eyes. "Right..." She felt intensely uncomfortable with this subject so she asked, "When are the tailors going to be here?"
"Very soon. Take a shower and get ready, you smell decidedly unclean and I cannot abide for my future bride to be unhygienic."
"Oh shut up! You know I'm hygienic."
"Just take a bath."
Amira stormed into the bathroom in a fury and slammed the door shut behind her. She was about to take her dress off when she felt the need to lock the door as well. She wouldn't put it past Dracula to decide to come in and "have some fun", even if the wedding was just six days away.
xxxx
"Milady. The tailors are here!" Announced Aida. "They're waiting for you in the fitting room. Do you need an escort?"
"No thank you. Count Dracula kindly showed me the way the last time I got fitted."
Aida curtsied and left.
Amira found her way to the fitting room rather quickly, and when she got there she was immediately pounced upon by a group of five tailors, much like the last time she had gotten fitted. The set about measuring her and comparing different types of cloth and lace against her skin. Amira just stood there, letting them go about their business. At last the head tailor said that they had all the information that was needed and that she was free to go. Amira nodded and left.
When Amira had left she had planned on wandering the halls for a bit, but her plans were cut short when Dracula was waiting on the other side of the door. "Come Amira. You look hungry. I have had the cooks prepare for you a splendid meal." He wrapped his arm around her waist in such a routine way that Amira barely noticed he had even done it until he pulled her quite close.
"You know, I'm going to have to be able to walk if we ever plan on getting there. If I'm plastered against your side I'm afraid it's not going to work. Unless you intend on carrying me?" Dracula's eyes flared bright blue at the suggestion and Amira immediately pulled away. "I was just kidding!" The words had barely left her mouth before Dracula picked Amira up bridal style and began carrying her down the hall. "Let me go!" She cried.
"No." He replied. "This is far too much fun."
"Ungh." She grunted against his chest. "I feel like an idiot."
"You are not. I would never allow myself to marry an idiot, therefore it simply cannot be."
"Ah, but perhaps your need to take revenge on my family is so strong that you have been blinded by it, and I really am an idiot and you just don't know it."
"I can assure you that that is not the case. My sense of perception is quite strong in this field."
"I think not. If you had really thought this through you would have realized that marrying a nearly eighteen year old girl that is just barely connected to the Valerious family is not really a smart idea. I may be pretty but I am not a blood thirsty fiend like most vampires."
"And neither were many of the people I knew until they became vampires. However, when the thirst takes control over your body, who knows what you will do? You might actually enjoy killing, it is really quite pleasurable when you have such an advantage over most of humanity."
"You're avoiding the main topic at hand Dracula. Have you truly thought this through? You're marrying an eighteen year old girl. I'm like...six hundred years younger than you."
"Most of my relationships with women have been superficial. This one does not have to be any different." His tone of voice had a sort of finality to it, so Amira dropped the subject. She was carried the rest of the way to the dining hall in silence. When they arrived Dracula placed her one the floor gently and allowed the doors to open on their accord before giving her a sort of mocking bow. "After you." He offered. Amira marched in and sat in a chair before beginning to eat.
"Pace yourself Amira. The food is not going to run away from you." Amira glared at him before continuing to eat.
"I didn't eat at all yesterday and barely anything the day before that." She put a large piece of steak in her mouth and said around it, "I have a right to be hungry."
"Chew and swallow before you speak, my darling." Amira ignored him and concentrated on her food. When she was finished she felt decidedly satiated. She smacked her lips and grinned at Dracula. "I'm glad you found the food so enjoyable." He began to slowly twist a knife around in his light and nimble fingers. Never once did he let it slip.
"The food here is always enjoyable," She replied. "Unlike many of the other things here." Her eyes caught a mischievous glint.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Still he continued to turn the knife.
"I think you know exactly what I mean."
"I'm afraid not. Could you please clarify?" He stopped twisting the knife; instead he examined the way that it caught the candle light if held at a certain angle. Though he seemed have his attention completely on the knife, Amira knew otherwise.
"Well," Amira started, "It's always so dreadfully cold in this place."
"I do not like the warmth." He began balancing the knife on the tip of his pointer finger.
"I know, I know. But most mere humans simply cannot abide to be in such cold temperatures for extended periods of time." Amira began watching the knife as well, he managed to keep it's balance perfectly.
"Anything else?" He asked, his attention still on the knife.
"Well, there is this one person here that always manages to get on my nerves. He's constantly trying to seduce me and to tell you the truth, I simply wish to be rid of him."
"Oh? And who may that be?"
"Well, I simply cannot tell you."
"And why is that?" Dracula flipped the knife upside down and held it with its hilt before beginning to twirl it once more.
"Because he will kill me if I tell anyone." A sharp crack rang through the room. Dracula had snapped the blade in half. It had sliced through his palm, though he showed no sign of pain. It healed right before their very eyes. He carelessly tossed the broken knife aside.
"I would not kill you." He paused to lick the blood that had managed to escaped the wound before it had healed. "Like I told you on your first night in this castle, killing you simply will not be enough."
A sadness filled Amira's eyes as she replied softly, "Will you ever stop thinking of revenge?"
"Never. Your ancestor aided in my death, I had to spend a century in hell because of that." He began to take on a more demonic appearance, his fangs lengthened and his eyes flared to a brilliant sapphire blue, but Dracula took control over his appearance again almost immediately. It began raining, Amira could hear the raindrops pattering on the large windows in the room.
"I will never make you happy Dracula, for I will never give in to you."
"Oh yes you will. There is nothing you can do to stop it. You have already been giving into me, slowly but surely. You have let your true feelings for me be shown on several occasions."
"That is not true!" She denied furiously. "Any time I have ever showed even the slightest bit of passion towards you has been when you have been attempting to seduce me, or even when I was merely caught in the moment."
"Stop denying it Amira. You know in your heart that it is true. You love me."
Amira stood up so quickly her chair fell back onto the floor with a clatter. "How could I ever love a man who has done so many horrid things to me?" She clenched her skirt tightly with her hands in order to keep herself from crying. "You have hurt me in so many ways, you have locked me in a dungeon on multiple occasions, you have seduced me against my will, you have destroyed my life!"
Dracula stood up and slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to crack. "You will love me!" He bared his fangs at her. "And there is nothing you can about it!" A lightening bolt lanced through the sky, illuminating the entire room with a bright white light. A mere moment later the thunder that followed it rumbled through the room, emphasizing Dacula's words. Dracula changed into his hellbeast form and rocketed through one of the large windows shattering it into a thousand shards of glass. Amira stumbled backwards and fell over her chair as tiny pieces of glass rained down upon her person. When she finally got up she shook the glass off and slowly walked towards the broken window. She soon became drenched for the wind was blowing in her direction, but she didn't mind. She merely stood there, staring into the distance as thunderclaps periodically resounded throughout the open air.
xxxx
A/N: OH SHIT. Another short chapter. I just seriously did NOT want to continue it after I finished that last paragraph though. I felt like it would just completely ruin the moment, and I simply cannot abide moment ruiners! But guess what, the wedding is in like...the next chapter...perhaps the chapter after that if I can actually think of something to fill up the next five freaking days leading until that point! Haha. Don't worry, it'll all turnout ok in the end...or will it?
Um...yeah. So the next chapter is going to be short too...ahehe PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. I beg for you to review both, and seriously, even if you've NEVER reviewed before, I really just need something to get me going for the wedding chapter. (Yeah, that's right, I figured out how to check the stats! I have 85 page views for the last chapter and 9 reviews! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE.)
It'll be wedding the likes of which you have never seen...or read, of that I can assure you. But only if I get like...the best reviews ever telling me that you absolutely CANNOT wait for that chapter to come!