A/N: OH. I HAVE 200 REVIEWS. -confetti streams out of strategically placed machines in the room- So guess what, you all get a super long chapter! Holy fuck... this IS really long! This easily beats my previous record of my longest written chapter. GO ME! This goes out to all of my reviewers, cause you helped me get here.

Prepare for a long winded speech...

I never imagined getting this popular on my first fanfic. I feel pretty cool right now! I just sort of... started writing one day, and next thing I knew, I really wanted to post it somewhere. The beginning isn't really that great, but I think I've improved sooo much thank to this fanfiction, so I'd like to thank everyone who ever gave me good critiques and support. Thank you all!

Ha! It wasn't so long after all!

Enjoy.

xxxx

The cold air whipped out at Amira's entire body as she plummeted at an alarming rate towards the ground below. What the hell... she thought distantly to herself. He has his own cliff? Indeed he did, Amira realized that she would have hit the ground by now if she had been thrown off anything else. Well, at least I have more time to figure out how exactly I am supposed to change. But as the ground became closer and closer that more distant her thoughts became, until at last she just latched onto one, which was to attempt to grasp at the inner darkness.

She fumbled around through the void; she wasn't quite sure how she would be able to find a ball of darkness within a void of darkness, that is, until she began to feel its pulse, vibrating through her like a heartbeat. She suddenly knew exactly where it was, so she reached out and enclosed her clawed hand around it. The darkness flooded her, and her world turned black. She forced herself to open her eyes after a moment, and suddenly she realized that the ground was getting farther away, because she was floating. No... I'm not floating... I'm flying. And she was. She was soaring. She stretched her wings out and beat them, feeling herself rise several feet with ease as her strong wings beat again. She cackled inhumanly as she flew back to Dracula, but he was already out to meet her, already in his own hell beast form. The form used to frighten her, but now it just enticed her, wanted her to drawer nearer to this monster.

"Come." He ordered in a sort of guttural growl, as if English was not a language meant for his vocal chords, which it probably wasn't, at the time.

He flew away in the direction of the city, keeping high above the clouds in order the keep themselves from being seen. Amira thought the cold would have bothered her, not just bothered, would have killed her, but now she welcomed it. She wrapped herself in the cold, and realized why vampires always kept their homes so chilly. It was just so... comfortable.

Amira took this time to get used to her new body. She examined her arms and hands, discovering that they were now white as parchment. Her nails, which were more like claws now, were black, and several inches long. She tested their sharpness on her arm, they cut through the skin easily, but Amira found that the pain didn't bother her at all, for it healed in just a few seconds. When she looked to her left and right, she examined her wings as best she could, they were as white as the rest of her body, and she could also see all the tiny veins running their way through them. They were long and thin, they could probably be torn easily, but they were also sturdy enough to easily support her weight. She was so caught up with examining herself that she almost didn't see Dracula dive to the ground, his leathery wings flattened against his sides. Amira followed tout suite, mimicking his actions and diving with him. She wasn't worried about hitting the ground, she trusted her angel far too much to believe that he would ever allow something like that to happen. But then again, he had just thrown her off a cliff, how much could she trust him after all?

All treasonous thoughts left her mind as she opened her wings once again to help her slow down. She dropped onto the ground gracefully, already back in her human form. Dracula waited for her, leaning up against a wall a few feet away. She ran to him and stood attentively at his side as he watched mortals walking by on the more open part of the street. They stood there for several minutes, neither of them moving so much as an inch. Amira learned that it was actually quite easy to remain perfectly still for long periods of time, her entire body just felt relaxed all of the time.

"Their lives are so fleeting."

Amira turned her head and looked at him. He didn't look at her though, he just kept staring at the men and women walking by, chattering incessantly to each other, mostly in Romanian, completely oblivious to the man and woman watching them with a keen eye.

"I could kill them all in mere minutes so very easily..." He seemed to be talking to himself. He snapped his fingers. "Just like that." He looked down at Amira, "I suppose that is what makes them so attractive to me. And the fact that I am something immortal, seemingly untouchable, is what makes me so attractive to them. We both want something the other has, yet neither of us are truly willing to give up what we have for what they will give us. Ironic, isn't it?"

"They are also so very easy to manipulate." He paused for several minutes, Amira wasn't quite sure he was going to speak again. "It is almost painfully easy to seduce a human..." Dracula turned his head and looked down at his bride. "In most cases." They stood there, staring at each other for several more minutes, each captivated in the other's beauty. Dracula eventually broke the contact and began observing the humans again. "I suppose vampires just have a certain charm about them that makes them irresistible to most humans."

He sighed deeply and faded into a sort of unawareness of his surroundings. Amira didn't want to intrude upon his thoughts, so she tried to observe the humans like Dracula did. She found that she could almost tell exactly what their personality was like by the way they talked. When they did, they gave off a sort of aura, most of it was constantly changing, depending on the human's mood, but some components of it always remained the same.

"Listen."

Amira vaguely remembered him telling her to do the very same thing last night, but that seemed like such a long time ago and she had been so thirsty at the time that she couldn't quite remember if he had said those words at all.

Amira listened though, and she listened intently. She could hear every human within about twenty feet of her as clearly as if they were talking right next to her, and the rest was just a blur.

"No. Focus on one in particular. And listen for more than just his voice."

Amira focused on a man several feet away, looking inside a shop's display. He was talking with his friends.

"Do you think she'd like that?" The man asked his friend concernedly as he pointed to something within the display case.

Amira didn't quite understand what Dracula meant by listening to more than just his voice. She turned to Dracula to voice her complaints when he said, "Just listen."

Amira pursed her lips and listened for something more than just his voice. She growled in annoyance as all she heard was his voice once again.

God... I have no idea what I'm supposed to get her.

Amira turned to Dracula again when he nodded back to the man she had been listening to.

This is horrible. I never should have waited to the last minute to buy her a gift.

Amira gasped in shock as she realized that she wasn't listening to the young man speak, but she was in fact listening to him think. She smiled in amazement at herself and vampires everywhere, and wondered once again how she had ever got by without these amazing skills.

"Mind reading is one of the key tools to seduction for a vampire. For humans it's just a simple guessing game, they can never truly be sure of what the man or woman they are trying to seduce is thinking or feeling. Vampires, on the other hand, can sense emotions and read minds as easily as hearing someone speak. You can use this tool against your enemies if you can manage to break through their barriers, and, when you truly become a master of it, you can eventually learn how to use mind control." Dracula's little speech had opened up so many doors for Amira, and she was now eagerly waiting to be able to try her new power out.

Dracula faced her and rested one of his pale hands against her face. Amira practically wanted to melt into his palm at this simple touch; it had sent such wonderful sensations through her entire body.

"A vampire's touch is also a powerful thing." He growled in a low, deep voice, his eyes alight with lust and passion, "I have made women dance like puppets on strings for me, just so they can feel my hand resting against their face once again." He grinned as he saw the lust equal to his own in her eyes. His hand finally left her face and he turned once again to observe the passerby with his keen, feral eyes.

"I want you to seduce and kill someone tonight. It can be anyone you choose."

He crossed his arms across his chest and nodded into the crowded street.

"Go."

Amira disappeared into the crowd with an eager expression on her face. Dracula waited a few more minutes before he in turn faded into the crowd, not as eager as his bride to feed tonight.

xxxx

Lord Azlin was in a rather cheerful mood, humming a tune slightly off key as he walked down the cobbled street. He slowly twirled his walking stick around in one gloved hand as he gazed into the brightly lit shops on either side of him. His last play had been a great success. How he loved these idiotic foreigners, give them a mediocre love story play and they'll go wild over it just because it involved "true love". He chuckled darkly. He was the type of man who, rather than be safe and keep most of his money in his savings, generally blew off half of it in one night doing God knows what.

When nothing in the shops around him appealed to him, he decided that tonight, he was in want of a women. He had heard that the prostitutes here were quite good. He started in the direction of the prostitution district when a rather lovely young women caught his eye. She was staring into one of the shop's display windows at some priceless jewelry, seemingly alone. Every once and a while she would tap her lips, as if she was wondering if whatever she was looking at would be something she wanted to spend her money on. She looked young, barely legal, something Azlin liked very much. Azlin put on his most suave attitude and strode over to her, cane in hand.

"My, my, now don't you think it's a bit late for a lovely young lady like yourself to be out and about?" Azlin asked, barely able to restrain the lust that wished to enter his voice. The young woman turned and stared at him, her beautiful emerald eyes wide with shock at discovering that there was someone next to her.

She smiled slightly and replied, "Oh, I don'tthink so, the streets are just so crowded, I didn't think anyone would dare try anything on me. Do you?" If at all possible, her eyes managed to get wider with innocence as she asked her question.

She looked so young and innocent, standing there with her eyes still wide with surprise, her white dress hugging her body in such a way that made Azlin just want to take her now, in this very street. Oh how he loved innocence...

"Oh, I think not, now that you have a male present at your side." He allowed a smile to grace his attractive face and tipped his top hat to her as he continued, "I am Lord Azlin DuVont. And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

"Amira Valerious. It's a pleasure to meet you milord DuVont." She coupled her introduction with a small curtsy and a smile. Her smile was just ever so slightly unnerving to Azlin, he couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something about her grin made him want to attempt to disappear into one of the crowds that were constantly walking through the street. He quickly dispersed the feeling and matched her smile with one of his own.

"Oh please just call me Azlin." He enjoyed hearing his own name on young ladys' lips, something about it always managed to get him feeling aroused.

Amira bent her neck and smiled at him again. "As you wish... Azlin."

That unnerved feeling flashed through his mind again, but he beat it down with his cane, figuratively of course. He was not about to just go and lose such a beautiful young women just because of a silly feeling of nervousness.

"Well then, m'dear, where were you going next?" he asked politely.

Amira tilted her head to one side, as if considering something, before answering, "I was just planning on going home, but home can be an awfully lonely place with only one person." She bit her lower lip ever so slightly as she stared into Azlin's light gray eyes. He caught on to the bait instantly. Perhaps she is not as innocent as I thought...

"Ah, quite. Then perhaps I should... escort you back to your abode?" Azlin held out his arm, which Amira linked in her own.

"Why thank you Azlin, I'll feel much safer with you at my side."

They set off down the street in silence, Amira playing with one of the buttons on Azlin's jacket. She looked up and steered them down a dark alleyway. When Azlin looked at her questioningly she merely replied that this was a shortcut to her home. Amira soon forgot about the button on Azlin's jacket and began stroking his arm. Her touches sent electrical shocks up Azlin's arm, and it was causing him to get more and more aroused by the second. He sincerely wished for Amira's home to be very close, for the idea of taking her in the middle of this alleyway seemed more and more appealing to him by the second. Her arm slowly began to creep down his until the reached his belt. Azlin was quite suddenly intensely aware of how hot he was feeling right now, it cause him to have to halt.

"Oh my, it's quite a hot niiiiight," his last word reaching a sort of high pitched squeak as her hand began to caress his groin. Not so innocent at all.

Amira backed him up into the wall directly behind him, causing his top hat, which had already been a bit askew, to fall off his head. Neither of them noticed. One of his arms encircled her waist and pulled her nearer. He used his other hand to cradle Amira's head as he began to kiss her wildly, his need for her completely overcoming his sense. He turned her around and pressed her up against the wall, grinding against her as he did so. Amira used her free hand to rake her fingers through Azlin's dark brown, shoulder length hair.

Her mouth slowly left his and began to trail down his face and then to his neck, focusing on his jugular vein, which she could feel pulsing through his skin as well as her own mind. Alzin moaned and threw his head back, giving Amira even better exposure to his neck. He felt something sharp graze his neck, but he paid it no mind, he was about to topple over the edge into a pit full of pleasures beyond his wildest dreams. And then, with frightening accuracy and speed, Amira's fangs pierced through his neck and into his vein. He gasped as pain instantly overwhelmed his pleasure. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a gurgle as blood began to fill his lungs. Amira's hand left his pants and supported him as his legs gave way. His life was drifting away from his grasp. And then...

The world was thrown into darkness.

xxxx

Amira marveled at how easy it had been to seduce Lord Azlin. She had him in the palm of her hand from the moment he had seen her. She smiled darkly as she remembered how, exactly, she had seduced him. She had never done anything like that before, but it had felt very... good.

She licked her lips, trying to find a bit more blood that would send her over the edge. She had quickly learned that drinking blood caused her senses to become extraordinarily sharp and keen. She could see every piece of dirt clinging to the opposite alley wall several feet away from where she was standing, she could feel even the slightest draft of wind, she could pick apart every smell that wafted into her nose, though most of them were unpleasant.

She eventually began to walk back towards the throng of humans, feeling rather proud of herself. She soon began picking out men from among crowds, trying to divest how she would seduce them if she had chosen them instead. She liked the man she had killed though, not for his personality, but for his blood. It had tasted much better than the blood of the homeless man she had killed yesterday. She liked the blood of the rich...

And then, as she walked among the crowds of humans, a thought suddenly struck her. An absolutely horrible thought that caused her stomach to turn over. She was killing people. She put a hand over her mouth as tears sprang forth to her eyes. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she staggered. Her world was spinning; she had to get away from all these people. All these mortals... all this blood. She didn't want to kill again just to keep herself alive. Another sob broke through her constricted throat.

Someone placed their hand on her bare shoulder and she jerked and turned around. It was Dracula. Her angel. She fell against his chest and sobbed quietly, not caring about the crowd that was beginning to form around them. Dracula wrapped his arms around her in a comforting way for a few moments before lifting her off her feet and carrying her away, back to their home.

xxxx

Amira awoke the following night feeling distinctly unhappy with herself. She remained lying in her coffin for sometime, just staring at the stone lid that was just a few inches away from her face. She didn't quite remember why she was unhappy though. Her memory of last evening was scattered, she could only vaguely remember parts of it, most of it including what Dracula had taught to her about mind reading and flying, and also a man... a mortal man. But she could remember nothing past the fact that he had been mortal... and attractive.

Eventually, Amira slide the coffin lid off, once again it fell with a booming crash, but this time it did not break. Amira sincerely wanted to know how Dracula did that whole... making things defy the laws of gravity... thing.

She sat up and got of the coffin. She still felt a bit claustrophobic, so she walked over to the window and pulled open the giant curtains. White hot pain was the first thing she felt, both from the sun and the fact that when she had leapt away from the light, she hit her head on the wall. She crawled away from it, wanting the burning to stop. She hid herself in a dark corner, away from the light. It hurt to even look at the brightness, so she covered her face with her arms. The sun was just beginning to set though, and she knew she would be able to get out of the room soon. Why the hell did I wake up so early? Amira didn't know the answer to that question, she had always just assumed that vampires automatically woke up when the sun set, never before it. After about twenty minutes, the sun finally disappeared among the craggy hills, and Budapest was plunged into twilight.

Amira stood up and shakily pulling the curtains shut, She inspected her arms and hands to see if she had been burned at all, but if she had, they had healed by now, and her skin was as smooth and pale as ever.

She sighed and leaned against the velvety soft curtains as depression slowly began to creep back into her system. She briefly wondered why she was so inexplicably sad, but she soon came to the conclusion that this was natural with all vampires, Dracula tended to have strange mood swings as well, so why should she be any different? As her thoughts led to Dracula, she started to wonder if Dracula was awake yet. She started towards the door, but before she had taken more than a few steps, Dracula opened the door and strode inside. He examined the floor for several moments before commenting dryly, "I'm glad to see you didn't destroy this coffin."

Amira bowed her head with embarrassment, "Sorry about that. I was just a bit... nervous."

"A bit." Dracula raised one of his neat eyebrows elegantly and folded his arms across his chest.

"Well, I wasn't exactly expecting to wake up inside a coffin." She replied defensively, mimicking his motions by folding her arms under her breasts.

"You should have. You were turned into a vampire. Did you expect you would just be able to sleep through the day without any protection at all from the sun?"

"Hey! I wasn't exactly at my best when it came to moments of clarity that night! I barely remember a thing." Amira's eyes flashed dangerously. Dracula smirked, he loved to taunt her, and he was actually quite happy that she still managed to resist him to some extent.

He shrugged and replied, "I suppose not, but you still shouldn't have over reacted like that." He turned around and walked away. When he reached the doorway he turned back and said, "I have work to do today. You may do what you wish." Amira nodded slowly and turned away, peeking through the curtains to look at the night sky. She found that she was become increasingly fascinated with its beauty.

xxxx

Dracula sat at his desk, looking over papers full of figures he didn't particularly care about. He just wasn't in a very caring mood today, and he had a nearly unlimited amount of wealth, so none of these bills really mattered to him. He sighed; he really needed to get someone to do these sort of things for him.

He eventually gave up with trying to concentrate and propped his legs up on his desk. He shut his eyes and began to drift into sleep...

"Ugh! How can you do that?" A disgusted voice broke through his sleep. "You're going to leave scuff marks all over that desk, you know."

Dracula sighed and, not even bothering to open his eyes, answered, "And since when have I ever cared?"

"Well... never. But I was thinking that you might have had some sort of amazing change of heart involving how you treat your furniture now that you have a new bride, which reminds me, how is she doing?"

"Just fine, thank you." Dracula was already getting annoyed with Zane's presence, but he was also in want of some company, and company with Zane is always interesting.

"Well that's just dandy! No marriage troubles, I presume?"

"No." He replied, not bothering to keep the traces of annoyance out of his voice. They both fell into silence, and after it remained that way for a few minutes, Dracula half opened one of his eyelids to see if Zane was still there, and nearly fell off his chair in surprise. Zane was sitting on the desk, peering at Dracula's face intently, his crooked nose a mere inch away from Dracula's own straight one.

"You know, you really shouldn't take advantage of the fact that you have no heartbeat or smell like that."

Zane grinned toothily, "But I just adore frightening you!" He shifted his eyes left and right, as if he were about to tell Dracula a secret and he didn't want anyone to hear it. He then leaned in close to Dracula and whispered in his ear, "I think I'm one of the few people that actually can scare you."

"I wasn't scared. You just surprised me. I'm not exactly used to opening my eyes and seeing an ancient old man and inch away from my face."

"Come now! You should be prepared for anything! You've been living for over four hundred years now."

"Don't you have more interesting people to bother right now?" He asked tiredly.

"Nope." Zane replied brightly. He disappeared with a crack and a puff of smoke and reappeared behind Dracula's desk. He turned around and nearly tripped over himself as he stared at the large splatter of blood on the wall. He turned back to Dracula and then pointed at the blood stain accusingly. "Ew. That cannot be good for the wall."

Dracula pinched the bridge of his nose, he felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. "I was angry that day."

"Really now, I know your temper can be bad, but you didn't have to go and kill someone in your study. You work in here and people will see it and... well it's just gross." He eyed the blood stain cautiously, as if he was expecting some horrible monster to wander out of it's murky depths and do nasty things to him.

Dracula rolled his eyes and replied, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind the next time my temper tries to get the best of me. Can't have bloody stains all over the walls now can we, it might make a bad impression on my numerous vampire guests that get queasy over the sight of blood."

Zane held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "No need to get sarcastic."

Dracula was in no mood to think of a witty comeback, so he just let the conversation dwindle into silence once again. Zane observed Dracula as he continued to massage the bridge of his nose with his eyes shut. "And stop staring at me." Dracula told Zane. "It's weird." Zane overexaggeratedly looked anywhere else other than Dracula, and Dracula continued to steadily ignore Zane.

"You know, you could still save yourself." A deadly serious expression had replaced that jolly one that had been there just moments before. "You're in love with Amira, but if you push her away, you could still get out with your life."

Dracula's mood soured instantly. "Get out."

"But-"

"Get. Out." Dracula stood and placed both hands on his desk.

"I'm only trying to-"

"OUT!" Dracula roared at the top of his lungs.

Zane sighed and disappeared with a flash.

xxxx

Amira had used this night to do... absolutely nothing. She had mainly just drifted aimlessly through the palace like some sort of ghost, not really seeing or feeling. When she had finally gotten bored of that, she went back to her room and lay on her bed, which was how Zane found her.

He crept up slowly, careful not to make a sound, he could hear her breathing slowly, gently, it was a habit most vampires never quit doing. He loomed over her and, posed, ready to strike, yelled at the top of his lungs, "BOO."

Amira shrieked and leapt off her bed and onto the ceiling, hissing defensively at Zane. When she realized it was Zane, laughing uproariously, the hiss died in her throat. She soon noticed that she was looking up at Zane.

"How the hell did you get on the ceiling?" She asked.

Zane cackled. "Oh, I'm not the one on the ceiling."

Amira realized that Zane was standing next to the bed.

"Holy..."

Her ability to defy gravity suddenly abandoned her, and she fell, almost in slow motion, to the floor, landing with a dull thud on her back. Zane stood over her, grinning wickedly.

"You have no idea how funny that was."

Amira rolled over a stood up.

"What the hell was that for?" Amira half shouted.

"Use your inside voice, my dear." He wagged his finger at her. "And I did it because it was funny, and I needed a good laugh after the show your husband put up."

"My... husband?" Amira tilted her head. "Oh yeah... I'm married..."

"Oh, and what a night the marriage was! You looked absolutely stunning, no... radiant! No... glorious! No-"

Amira cut him off, "I get it! I looked nice."

"Yeah..." He spun around on heel and checked himself out in the mirror. "Why do you still have this? It's not like you can see yourself in it." Amira frowned.

"I don't know... It adds life to the room, I guess." She sighed, and watched Zane flatten his thin white hair down. She still got a little unnerved whenever she looked into a mirror and didn't see her reflection. Maybe I should get rid of it.

"So. Why are you here?" Amira asked bluntly.

After Zane was sure that his hair had been returned to all its formal would the word you wanted be former or was formal correct?glory, he turned around and said, "I wanted to know how the marriage is going so far."

Amira's eyes lit up. "It's going excellently." She grinned, and both of her fangs peeked out. "My angel is an absolutely fantastic husband."

Zane shook his head in disbelief. "Did you just call Dracula your... angel?" He fumbled over the last word; he couldn't remember Dracula ever being described as an angel before.

"Of course I did." Her eyes became veiled as she stared through Zane, lost in memories. "He... saved me..." and, feeling the need to elaborate, continued, "He saved me from the void. I was trapped in it, and I was going to die. But he gave me a choice, the choice to live or die." She smiled.

Zane frowned, he didn't want to think that Dracula would have brainwashed Amira. He doubted that even Dracula would stoop to that level. Amira was just a bit... disillusioned at the moment. All the horrific moments that she had recently experienced had probably caused her mind to focus around the idea that Dracula had saved her from death. And not because he was the one that caused it.

"I see..." Zane knew that it was wrong for Amira to think of Dracula as an angel, but he was in no mood to break her spirit at the moment. For some reason, he doubted that she would appreciate learning that Dracula was in fact the most feared vampire in the entire world.

"You don't believe me?" Amira asked, taking his vague answer as that of disbelief.

Zane held up his hands in defense and replied hastily, "Of course I do!" He sighed inwardly, he knew already that he could not bring himself break Amira's heart like that. She was already under so much strain and pressure right now. She would just have to figure it out on her own. Zane sincerely hoped that he would be nowhere within a mile of Amira when that happened.

"I'm... glad you're doing so well." Then, just out of curiosity, he asked, "Do you remember why you were dying?"

Amira's eyebrows knit together as she frowned thoughtfully. "No, actually."

And then, because he simply could not resist asking, "Do you really think that Dracula is an angel?"

Amira sighed sadly. "No. No I don't. I know he's far from it. But he saved me from the darkness, and I love him for it. So he is my angel."

Zane nodded thoughtfully and then, with his happy demeanor returning, said, "Well then, now that I'm quite sure I've overstayed my welcome, I bid you adieu!" He took Amira hand in one of his own and kissed it quickly straightening his back a saluting her. He disappeared with a particularly loud crack and left Amira to think about the conversation that had just passed.

xxxx

A/N: Please, I beg of you, I really want you to tell me what you think of this chapter. I really gave this chapter my best. I think it's the best I've ever written, and I hope you do too. I really just wanted this to be a thank you for all of the people who have stuck with me from the beginning. Please, please, please! Review!

Oh, and in Nightmare's world of fanfiction, there are smartly dressed, attractive, rich, young men who make their fortunes doing something involving the arts. Everywhere. And they can all speak English. Cause I can't speak Romanian or Budapestian or whatever it is that they speak over there. And sure, there are plenty of fluent English speaking men and women in Budapest. Cause I wish it. Deal with my cultural inaccuracies later.

And Zane likes to meddle. Generally for the good of his friends, so he means well, but yeah... he really likes to meddle.

-Nightmares