Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews from last time. Sorry this has taken so long to update. So just to give you a little heads up about this chapter, some of the pieces are starting to come together (HINT HINT). So I hope you enjoy it!

On the way towards the village, Rose found that she was enjoying flying much more than she had planned. She would perform dives and twists and other acrobatics through the air. Rose especially enjoyed the feel of the cool wind against her face, making her hair whip through the air like a banner. When they got to the forest that was between Castle Dracula and Vasiria, Rose started weaving through the trees. Her laughter soon filled the night air.

She soon noticed that they were coming up upon the village. She followed Marishka and Aleera as they descended to the ground. Rose then heard loud flapping noises coming from behind them. As she turned around, she found Verona and Dracula behind them.

Marishka was the first to walk into the village, but she did so cautiously and hesitantly. She looked around to see if anyone was out and had seen them coming. She then turned towards the others.

"Wait here Rose; you will know when the time is to come out. Aleera come with me, there is some fun for us to have," Marishka said with a wicked smile on her face. Aleera's eyes glowed with anticipation. The two of them quickly hurried away without making a sound.

Rose turned around towards Verona and Dracula. "Where did they go?"

"You will find out in a minute, but for now don't fret it." Verona said as she moved Rose's hair behind her ear. Rose then smiled up at the two of them, but right when she did, the sound of screams broke the stillness of the night, causing her to whip back around towards where the noise was coming from.

Lights were being lit throughout the windows of houses, while at the same time they were being closed. A few people were seen running through the streets, but they were being closely followed by Marishka and Aleera. Rose turned back around towards Verona and Dracula, but the two of them were preoccupied with watching the show that the other two were putting on to notice Rose looking at them. Rose noticed how much they looked like they belonged together; Dracula had his hand around Verona's waist while she had her head resting against his shoulder. Rose was about to turn her attention back to the chaos that was unfolding before her, but Verona then looked down at her. She then lifted her head off of Dracula's shoulder.

"Wouldn't you agree that now would be the perfect time for her to feed?" she asked her husband.

He then looked over at Rose. "I suppose you are right my dear, but let us see what she can do on her own."

Rose looked baffled at what she was being asked to do. Verona then motioned for her to head over towards the streets. Rose did as she was told, but did so nervously. She would send occasional glances back, but only to be ushered forward.

When she had reached the center of town, the villagers didn't seem to notice her, for they were too occupied with running for their lives from Aleera and Marishka. As the people continued to run past her, Rose started to feel something grow from within the pit of her stomach. It soon started to consume her, and as it did, she noticed how her fangs came out without her trying. As people saw this happen, they started to run away from her, but to her amazement, she would keep up with them without ever breaking a sweat. Rose quickly cornered a young man, and before she could think about what she was doing, she lunged at him, fangs bared and a hiss erupting from her mouth. It only took a minute for her to completely drain him dry.

Once Rose had finished, she licked the blood off of her lips and looked down at the corpse. Then she realized what she had just done. She then turned around to see if there were any more villagers near her, but they had all fled to the safety of their houses. She then heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Dracula walking up to her with a smile on his face.

"Not bad, not bad at all. I had expected that you would be successful, but with a little more difficulty."

Rose couldn't say a thing. She was still overwhelmed by the reality that she had just killed someone. She then put her hand on her forehead and tried to compose herself.

All of a sudden, Dracula grabbed Rose by the arm and stepped in front of her. Right as he did so he turned into his hell beast form and let out a tremendous roar. Rose looked up at him and noticed that there was a large silver spike that had gone into his side. Dracula then pulled it out and looked over from where it had come and noticed that there had been someone at the edge of the street.

Both Rose and Dracula then turned towards the person. The air became quiet and time seemed to stop. Dracula dropped the stake to the ground and changed back into his human form. He then took a step towards the person, which they had now discovered to be a female. As Dracula took a step forward, the woman took a step back and her face could be seen in the moonlight. It was Princess Anya.

As Dracula and Anya continued to stare each other down, Anya with hatred and Dracula with curiosity, Dracula then took a few more steps forward, but as he did so Anya whistled and a tall dark horse quickly came to her side. She mounted her horse and left the village at a full gallop.

At the same time that Anya left, the brides had come to their master and Rose's sides. Aleera was next to Dracula, glaring off in the distance at her old friend from her past life. Verona and Marishka were by Rose. Marishka looked over at the dead body that had been Rose's first kill. She the hugged Rose tightly, who was caught off guard by the sudden change in the mood. Verona was next to join in the embracement. Dracula turned towards Rose and smiled down at her, even though she couldn't see him through the massive hug that she was receiving from the other two. He then turned back towards Aleera. She hadn't looked away from the retreating figure of Anya the whole time. The deep hatred that she had for her was burning brightly in her dark brown eyes.

"Let her go Aleera."

"But, she hurt you!"

"Yes, but it will not be permanent, and we have more important things to worry about."

Aleera then looked over at Rose, who was trying to escape from the sea of hugs that she was being bombarded with. She couldn't help but smile at her. Dracula let out a small laugh. He then spoke to his brides, "I believe that you have shown Rose how satisfied you are with her, so you may release her. Besides, she can't fly with you two all over her."

The two of them looked over at Dracula. They both did as they were instructed. All five of them left towards the castle, but on the way there Rose kept asking herself questions. Who was that that tried to kill me? Why did the red head, Aleera I think her name was, want to go after so badly and why wouldn't Father let her? Questions like these continued to go through her head until they returned to the castle.

When they had gotten home, Rose didn't have time to think over these questions, for she was whisked away by Verona into the parlor, where she received even more praise for what she had done. She could not understand how what she did was a good thing, but she did not protest because she didn't want to make a scene. She decided to wait to ask the questions that had started to form in her mind.

She managed to get away from the brides when they all went to the library. Rose walked around the castle, for she was still getting used to the place. When she reached Dracula's study, she looked around to see if anyone was around, then knocked hesitantly on the door.

She then heard Dracula's voice say, "Enter," and did as she was told. Rose quietly opened the door just wide enough for her to squeeze through. As she slowly closed the heavy door, she looked up to see that Dracula was busy with something and had not looked up at her yet.

Rose took some time to look around the room she had just entered. It was very similar to the library in the fact that the walls were lined with thousands of books, but they all had odd titles that Rose could not understand for they were in some foreign language that she had never seen before. The room was very dimly lit by two candles on either side of the door and two small candles on the desk that Dracula was sitting at. Rose also noticed that a pile of papers had started to accumulate at the side of the desk; they were wrinkled and some looked as if they had been there for quite some time due to the thick layer of dust that had started to accumulate on top of them.

As Rose entered the room, Dracula looked up from his work for a brief second. Then, noticing that it was Rose and not a servant or one of his brides, he put his quill down and placed his full attention on his daughter.

"What troubles you so late tonight that you are here?"

"All the way home, I couldn't help but think of these questions, and they have been eating at me."

"Ask away."

She waited a second before asking, "Who was that woman who tried to kill me?"

Dracula was sure that these questions would come up sooner or later, but had hoped that they wouldn't. "That, my dear, was Anya Valerious. She is currently the queen of the gypsies."

"But I thought that we were the royalty here?"

"We are, but so are they. They are what you would call…..distant relatives."

"If we are related, then why did she throw a stake towards us?"

"It is a long story, but Anya's part doesn't come till a later part in the tale, Aleera's part to be precise."

.I knew there was a reason why she wanted to go after her so badly, she thought to herself. Dracula then proceeded to tell Rose about how this whole ordeal came into play, but he left out the parts about Anastasia and made Van Helsing look like the true monster of the story.

As he was coming to the events that had happened that night, Rose knew then that she would never be accepted by anyone except for her family, because of what she was, a monster. Dracula noticed this sudden change in her demeanor and decided to stop with the story. He then got up from his chair to stand next to her. He put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her, for he knew she was still young and would be hit harder by the truth than his brides were, because she would never be able to experience life as they did.

"You must not fret my dear. The life you live is a gift. Don't ever forget that."

Rose then looked up at Dracula, and then replied, "I understand, but there is one more thing that I was curious about. Why did you not let her go after Anya?"

There was a long pause before he gave his answer to her question. "There was no need for more blood shed tonight and our attention needed to be on you at the moment."

Rose wasn't pleased with the answer that she got and wanted to ask him what the real reason was, but knew deep down that that was the closest she was ever going to get to it.

"Yes Father," she said as she turned her head in the other direction, when she noticed a door that was in the corner of the room that was almost hidden by book shelves and piles of papers. Dracula noticed this and saw the longing in her eyes to see what was back there.

"I've never seen that door before."

"That is my private library, which you are not to enter."

Rose turned around to look at him. "What's in there?" Dracula did not answer, but looked down at her with a stern face. "Oh please can I go in?" she said with big eyes, hoping to win him over.

Dracula quickly retorted, "Not tonight."

"Will you ever let me go in?"

"Perhaps some other night."

"Do you promise?"

Dracula silently chuckled to himself. He loved the fact that she was so child like. "We'll see, now run along to bed." He then gently pushed her on her way. He then waited for the door to close and listened to Rose's footsteps growing farther and farther away.

He then turned around towards the door that had fascinated Rose so much. He walked towards the door and opened it slowly. As he entered the room, Dracula closed the door and turned to face his "private library". It was a long hall that was lighted by the flickering flames of candles. The walls were aligned with paintings that had been done of him while he was still alive. There were shelves that were placed along the walls as well that held items of war from centuries past, but none of this attracted Dracula's attention at the moment. He was looking at the end of the hall where there hung a single painting on the back wall.

Dracula slowly started to walk towards it; the only sound being made was the sound of his boots against the floor. When he reached the back wall, he stopped, never moving his eyes from the painting. It was a portrait of a woman with light brown hair that was flowing over her shoulders and eyes that were a dark chocolate brown. She was wearing a long flowing gown that was crimson red, and atop her head was a small golden tiara.

"After all these years, I have found you again, Anastasia." He then looked down at the table that was right below her portrait, and on it was a single item. It was a sword that was stained with blood, her blood. It was the same sword that she took and killed herself with on their wedding night and it was the only thing that he had to remember by, other that the painting. When he had decided to leave, Dracula returned to his chambers with his mind running through all the memories he had of Anastasia.

As Rose was on her way towards her room, she past Verona's who noticed her. She then called to her from her door.

"Rose, where are you off to?"

"To my room, I was about to go to sleep."

Verona noticed that something was troubling Rose, so she decided that she would find out what it was.

"Come with me for a moment."

Rose did as she was told and followed Verona into her room. As she entered, she looked around at the green and white tapestries that adorned all of the old pieces of furniture. She followed Verona, who was walking towards the balcony of her room. As she walked to stand next to her, she was able to see for miles around. The view was breath taking, and Rose did not know how to respond to such a beautiful sight.

"Impressive, is it not?"

"It's amazing! Why do you get this room?"

Verona smiled over at her daughter. "It helps to be the first of your father's brides."

"Oh," Rose continued to look out over the mountains and streams and the forests that were blanketed in the eternal snow that was at Castle Dracula year round.

"Is there something troubling you my dear?"

"No. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

Verona was not convinced at all, and Rose could tell. "If there is anything that is troubling you, I am here. You don't need to hide it from me."

Rose didn't respond and continued to look out over the balcony.

"You know, we were discussing earlier that you should be able to go to one of our other palaces."

"We have more than this one?"

"Of course."

"How many others are there?"

"Five, scattered throughout Europe, but we go to the one in Budapest the most."

"Five! Why so many?"

"Sometimes a change of scenery is necessary. After all we do live forever, and what is the point of it if you deny yourself the simple pleasures in life?"

There was then a light knock on the door. Rose turned around to see Marishka standing in the door way. "Have you asked her yet?"

"I was getting to it," Verona said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Ask me what?"

"Let me ask!" Marishka said, causing Verona to roll her eyes.

"Ask me what?" she said more annoyed this time.

"We want to have a ball for you, but we couldn't decide where."

"I was almost at that point, if you hadn't of barged in."

"Fine, then you ask her." Marishka said. She then turned on her heel and left the room.

"She is always like that, trust me. Now, back to what I was about to ask, where would you like to have the ball?"

"Oh, somewhere different, different from Romania, not that I don't think it is beautiful, but just somewhere that has a different air about it."

"I think I know just the one," Verona said with a smile. "Come along, we must tell the others, for they are anxious as well."

The two then walked down the hall towards the library. Inside they found Marishka nonchalantly flipping through a book of poetry, and Aleera pacing across the ceiling, humming to herself.

"I think I know the perfect place to have the ball," Verona said to the other two, "but first, Aleera would you please come down from there?"

"I would rather not."

"Why are you always so stubborn?"

"I find pleasure in annoying you," she said with a smirk on her face. Rose let out a small giggle at Aleera's stubbornness.

Verona then let out a sigh, for she knew there was no point in arguing further with Aleera. She then walked up next to her, shortly followed by Marishka.

"Happy now?"

"Yes," she said triumphantly.

"Rose, aren't you coming up? After all, this conversation is about you."

Rose then slowly walked up one of the pillars that were against the wall of the library; she still was trying to get used to that idea of walking up walls. Once she reached them, Verona then turned her attention to the other two.

"I was thinking what if we have it at our castle in Bavaria?"

"Oh it's been ages since we last went there, and this will be Aleera's first time as well. Why didn't I think of that one?"

"Because you were too busy thinking about how she would react to the idea of a ball," Aleera said snidely under her breath, just loud enough for Marishka to hear. Marishka then turned towards Aleera and glared at her, letting her eyes turn their golden shade of yellow.

"Can you two act your age for once?"

"Our actual age or how old we look?" Aleera asked with a devilish grin on her face.

Verona simply glared back at her, causing Marishka to go into a small fit of giggling. "On a more important note, we have to find something suitable for her to wear," she said glancing over at Rose.

"Shouldn't we first ask the Master for his permission?" Marishka asked.

"Oh, let me! Let me!" Aleera said with so much excitement that she almost started jumping up and down, until she remembered she was standing on the ceiling.

"I suppose…" but before Verona could finish, Aleera had already ran out of the room to Dracula.

"Well, we won't see her for at least the rest of the night."

"Probably the rest of the week if she gets her way," Marishka said, her face slightly distorted by an expression of disgust.

Verona and Marishka continued to work out details the rest of the night, while Rose stood next to them, even though she didn't say a word. She was still thinking over the events that had happened that night in the village.

Please don't forget to review! If you have any comments, questions, or cries of outrage, message me, or if there is something that you would like to see later in the story, I am always open to new ideas.