Chapter 4

The Unexpected Visitor


The horrible thing about being locked in a cell underground is that it is almost impossible to tell what time of day it is. Also, when you have nothing to do but wait, time seems to almost stop. I don't know how I managed to sleep with the hard lump of anxiety in my stomach, but sleep I did. There were no nightmares this time, only a vivid pair of blue eyes staring at me through the darkness as if to beckon me. It felt as if those eyes were calling me and I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to be somewhere.

When I woke, there was a fresh candle in the holder on my little table and a tray of food. My stomach growled loudly as I discovered they had left me a bowl of stew and a small loaf of bread, although it had already gone cold. I wondered how long I was asleep as I tore into bread like an animal. I only got halfway through the bread though when my stomach rolled with nausea. I ran to the chamber pot by the door and my stomach heaved enough to cause me to gag, but mercifully the bread stayed down. I laid my aching head down on the cold stone of my cell and groaned as the room began to spin. I laid there for a while until the room stopped spinning and then I crawled back to my bed and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

Again, when I woke there was a tray with bread and soup with a fresh candle burning in the holder, but this time I had a visitor. The Cardinal from my 'trial' was sitting in a chair next to my bed with a sad expression on his face.

"Ah, you're awake. I was beginning to think that they dosed your food too heavily." He said, offering me a cup of water. I eyed the cup suspiciously. "Don't worry, it's untainted." I eyed it again unconvinced, but I took the cup anyways.

"Why should I trust you? I haven't done anything wrong, and yet you and your 'counsel' are determining whether I live or die." He sighed.

"Because my dear girl, I am the man your brother sent you to find." I did a double take. He sighed and then looked at me, "I don't expect you to trust me, but I do expect you to listen to what I have to say."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because the life you have been living has been a lie."


Author's note: Sorry for the epically short chapter, but it seemed like the end of that chapter. Not to mention, and I know it's cruel to say, it's fun to leave you guys hanging sometimes. Don't worry though, the next chapter will come out as quickly as I can write and we will soon be seeing more of Dracula. Anyways, Cheers mates!