Chapter 36

As soon as Dracula was sure that Anna was asleep he took off into the sky. He didn´t want to set her under pain while giving birth to a child. And on top of that it would be far too dangerous with all these monsters lurking about to have a baby. Especially for Anna because she was a hunter and loved her freedom.

No, he had to find a child about seven years old, who had nobody else to take care of. Even for him as a vampire he hated killing mothers.

At first he found himself another victim, for he was hungry and didn´t want to make a child pay for that.

A man with an age about fifty fitted into that perfectly. "Leave him alone, you monster! He´s my neighbor and my friend!" The next thing Dracula felt a pain in his leg. Not that it would make him weak but he hated being disturbed while feeding off someone.

Within seconds he looked up from the wound he had bitten into the man´s neck and exposed his bloody fangs. He looked right in the face of a little girl.

She had black curly hair and as he could read from her mind not even four years old. The once confident face of the young girl showed now fear. As if being in a trance she backed away from him.

Dracula allowed his mind to reach further into hers. While doing so his face became a human one again. 'Clarissa...', her name sounded rich and like a melody. Her eyes were a stormy grey and her clothes seemed even cute to him. She wore a light blue dress that was wide in the lower parts.

And she is alone. No parents and her older brother is most of the time busy with hunting monsters, he could read.

With a wave of his hand he healed the wound on the man´s neck and made him disappear into his home. He also removed this encounter from the girl´s mind. She was quite young but seemed perfect.

Right as he broke the spell she looked up at him with innocent eyes. "Who are you, sir?"

It was the best that she thought he was human. "I´m Vladislaus. Where is your brother, Clarissa?"

The girl didn´t question from where he knew her. More she seemed to pout at her name. "Don´t say my name! It´s a teribble name! Please, call me Lara!" Dracula found himself smiling at her as he bent down to reach her eye level. "Then, Lara, where is your brother?"

Lara looked at the ground and started fingering her white apron. "He said he would return. He never really liked me... I think he left me."

Tears sprung into the girl´s eyes. Dracula took her in his arms like something breakable and lifted her up to his hip. Lara wrapped her little arms around his neck. He understood that she needed comfort and surprisingly didn´t feel annoyed.

"Would you like to have a mommy again, Lara? I know a woman, who would love to have such a beautiful girl like you are", he offered her.

She looked at him and smiled a little. "Really?" As he nodded she threw her arms around him once more. "That would be so awesome!", she squealed happily.

The vampire patted the girl´s hair and placed a kiss on top of her head. Then he put her into the same sleeping spell Anna was in. It would do no good if she saw him fly. But as he arrived at his castle Anna stood right in front of him. Not asleep and not the least tired.

Her arms were on her hips and a scowl on her face. "Do you really think that I´m not immune against your stupid spells yet? And-"

Anna stopped abruptly her speech as she noticed the sleeping girl in his arms.