Chapter 3

Anna awoke all of sudden. It was now late in the morning. She rubbed her eyes and yawned heavily, thinking the event of the previous night had been a nightmare. A VERY bad one. But why then could she still feel cold lips on hers? And why was she lying in bed with her daily clothes? Something was very wrong.

She jumped out of her four poster bed, throwing her brown locks behind her ears. Now she tried to remember why she was here. Anna was sure that she´d been in Castle Frankenstein last night.

Suddenly it came to her mind: Dracula! He had brought her home and put her under a spell. And now he wants her to play this stupid game.

Quickly she grabbed a sword, a pistole and a few knives, which she strapped on her right leg. Anna decided to go outside and "wait" for him. She would be prepared for the vampire´s attack and wouldn´t make it easy for him to get her.

Anna went to the forest´s edge and sat down on a stone. With her face turned towards the sky she waited for Dracula.

For almost half an hour she´d sat there before she finally sensed a presence near her.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are...", she hissed dangerously after spinning around everytime she had heard the quietest noise. She then turned around and plunged her sword directly in the wood of the nearest tree.

She didn´t even notice that she had missed Dracula with a few inches. "Very good, Anna, just as always", he said. And he seemed to be at least a bit scared of her fast reaction, and also Anna.

"I know", she said and sheated her sword once more, "Otherwise I wouldn´t wait for you, would I?"

Dracula sighed and took a few steps towards her. "Well, are you ready for our first little game? Then we shall start", he said this without even waiting for any reply.

"I´ll give you one minute to run away as far as you can. Of course you´re allowed to hide and play tricks on me, which surely won´t work. And then when I caught you you´ll change your home immediately with no time to rest."

"And what are you going to do if I win?", Anna questioned. That he was so sure about the whole thing made her almost tremble in anger.

He chuckled: "Don´t be silly! It´s impossible that you´ll ever be stronger or faster than I am. But just to make it clear: if you win I´ll do everything you want from me."

"Sounds good. And you would do everything? Even if I would say: Lock yourself in a cage with werewolves and let them kill you´?" Dracula nodded. "I told you I would do everything, no matter how much pain it might cause me."

Anna smiled in a nearly devilish way. "Then we have deal. One minute and I´m like disappeared!"

She turned on her heal and wanted to start running but he held her back just with his mind. "There´s another thing, little princess. Neither you or me are allowed to leave this forest during our game." Dracula smirked at his own words. "But-", Anna wanted to protest.

"Run, my dear. You only have fifty seconds left!" Her jaw dropped. It was so unfair! Now she had to admit that it was impossible to escape him. "Fourty seconds." He was calm but in Anna was panic rising. She ran away from him as if a pack of wolves was after her. In her head she counted her time.

Three seconds... two... one... She felt claws dig in her shoulders and lift her off the ground. Dracula had her.