Author's Note: Hello again! I got the week off and I'm taking the opportunity to post new chapters. I hope you all haven't fallen off the edge of your seats. I bet you're all aching to know what else is about to happen. I'm just too evil for my myself. Oh, and I'd like to thank my two reviewers, Celtic Aurora, VintageLyre, and my new reviewer; Ruby Chubb. Thanks you guys!

Chapter 15: An Untold Love

As she laid there, it all came crashing down, her mind finally putting the pieces together. She had lived happily in her mortal life, without worry or lies. But now, looking back into her life, it was all a whole lie. One big, fat lie that kept her from seeking the truth; the cold and tormenting truth.

Nathalia Valiant was an orphan and had lived in an orphanage all her life. Her mother was a gypsy, that was all she knew about her mother. No photo, no memory. Nathalia had so dearly wished she knew her mother, or at least see a picture of the woman who had carried her in her womb. There was no way. She had no father. At least, that's what she had hoped. Her father had left her mother when she most needed a man by her side during her pregnancy and during those few days she lived with her daughter.

After Nathalia was born, her mother was murdered in her own home. Nathalia was only a helpless baby and was not harmed and two days later, her mother's body was found in the streets and Nathalia was left at an orphanage. Of course, like any orphan, she longed to be adopted to have his or her own family. Instead, people backed away from Nathalia. Once, when she was seven, a priest had come to visit the orphanage and glared at Nathalia with hate and fear.

Everyone said she was Marked. Tainted by the Devil, her aura hummed a dark presence sending warning vibes to those who were close to her. She never believed them. Until that day.

When she was eighteen, she left the orphanage and found work at the palace that belonged to Valerious the Elder. Work was tedious and drained her of her own energy, but at least she had a home and a place to sleep. Everything was going well, until she met the Master's son.

Thinking of how foolish she was back then made her feel... nothing. She was, of course, dead. But the pain was still there. She died years ago, but the pain was still with her when her life had expired.

After being only and acquaintance to the Master's son, she soon met a young knight. The only man who had ever stolen her heart and kept it with him for all eternity. But she never dared to say anything knowing very well that it was not wise. Even so, when she made no move, only he did.

Then, the nightmare began...

--

Dracula stared at her still form, her body silhouetted in the shadows of the cold and merciless dungeon. It was for her own good. She seemed dead and for a moment, he thought she was. Not like Jazlyn, he thought. The memory came back to him. Unlike Nathalia, he had remembered everything. And even before he met Nathalia, he knew she was his daughter when she first worked at the palace.

If she had not looked just like her mother...

"Are you going to kill me now?"

He looked up and for a moment, he thought he was with Jazlyn, that night she had found him stalking her. Her emerald eyes glowing in the dark alley like green moons. Such a deep shade of green that matched with her dark and fair skin. Those same eyes staring at him after she died, her skin no longer dark but pale as her blood spilled from her body.

"No, Jazlyn." he whispered, but Nathalia heard him. "Was that my mother's name? Jazlyn. Jazlyn Valiant?" she asked, getting up from her fetal position and staring at him from within the confines of the cell's bars. His daughter. His goddamn daughter!

"Why would I want to kill you?" he asked.

She scoffed at the question. "Surely it wouldn't be the fact that I'm your daughter." she responded.

"You knew it would come to this, Nathalia."

"I'm not ready." she said. He sighed. "I suppose it would've been better if you didn't remember anything." he said bitterly. "You're sick." she said, not thinking or watching what she said. She couldn't die now. What if Gabriel-

"He's not the Gabriel you knew then, Nathalia." he said, having read her thoughts. "I know he isn't, but I.. I love him and I never lose hope in him." she said, hesitating before declaring her love to Gabriel. He wasn't the one he knew long ago, but she had a mission to serve her Lord.

"He's the only one who can stop you, Dracula." she said. He looked at her. "He did it before and he'll do it again. And if he can't I will." she threatened.

"You've been with the Angel, haven't you?" he asked her. She smiled. "Your Master will soon meet his end as well." she said. "A war is brewing and after we eliminate you, the walking Demon on Earth, we will not stop tohalt the rest of your kind."

He chuckled. His chuckle gradually grew louder and somehow hollow. It was not a feeling but a dark empty feeling. She was hollow just as the rest of his kind. "Do you actually think that you will win this war?" he asked. He frowned and anger took over. "I thought you would love me, Jazlyn."

"I'M NOT JAZLYN!" she screamed at him, tired of being nothing but a ghost. "My mother is dead and all because of you! You killed her because you did not respect her decision to leave you because she loved someone else!"

"Like you." he said.

She looked at him and saw something not hollow. He was... in pain. "Now you know why I killed your child."

She gasped, realizing that she did. "And you admit it?" she asked, tears forming. "It was my child and you snatched him away when you turned me. You took him away!"

"That child was not mine but his! Why else did I kill your son! It was not mine" he roared. She flinched and kept her distance from him. Who knew what he would do now that she had used up his last nerve. "He'll be destroyed just like your son."

Crimson tears streaked her face and she banged the bars of her prison. "Don't you dare lay one finger on him! I'm warning you!" she screamed at him. He chuckled. "Whoever said I would kill him?"

A/N: Short, but informative. Pieces of the puzzle will slowly come tumbling down and this young vampire maiden's past will soon be discovered for everyone to know her story. The next chapter will be posted later this evening if I can. If not, tomorrow afternoon and no later.

Luna