There was a flash of white.

Was she seeing things yet again?

All the colors if the room were smudged, fuzzy and were slowly melting into one another like acrylic paint and oil.

"Fair Maiden!".

A voice loudly announced by some unseen figure. she could see the outline of man but the face and other features were too out if focus.

The ropes were gone, she could feel them slide loose from her wrists.

"Are you in agony?"

She felt someone warm and very strong hold onto to her.

"Quirinus". Lucretia mumbled.

"No a friend. Oh I see Quirinus is the name of your captor. Oh my you are a mess, not in a bad way of course. You still look as Lovely as ever, the blood on your fair skin is is ever so becoming. I'm sorry for being so forward. Don't worry I took care of this Quirinus for you. He's isn't hurt but he should be out for at least a few hours. A few doses of arsenic will do that to you".

"I feel strange. What happened?"

Lucretia her eyes were wide in a daze.

"Oh I'll explain that to you later but for now I need to get you out of here."

Lucretia could feel her body take on a certain kind of weightlessness.

The next moment she opened her eyes she saw the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen in her life. She was a elegant and tragic, dressed in black from head to toe. A dress that hugged every curve and the tresses had tentacle like tendrils that stretched out on the floor

She had straight black hair that curved slightly at the tips, her face was pallid, her eyeshadow was a grey silvery metallic color and her lips were painted blood red.

She looked like a painting. She almost didn't seem to be real but she had a soothing and smooth motherly voice the kind that sounded like she was talking about the beauty of angels, dreams and other heavenly things.

"I do hope you had a lovely rest my dear. My son told me about your whole ordeal. It does sound dreadful. However did you bear it?"

"What ordeal?"

Lucretia Rubbed her forehead and examined the room she was in.

"Your terrible encounter with that Vampire. It sounds absolutely horrid. Tell me was he really as horrible as he sounds".

"Oh yes horrible and hideous as ever. I suppose there was a certain charm beyond all that hideousness. He wasn't all bad I suppose. He had a certain sweetness beneath that ugly facade.

Oh it's all so confusing. I hated him but at the same time he was rather endearing. I suppose I'm not making any sense am I?"

"Oh no it makes perfect sense. Vampires are always charming and it's always difficult to resist them because they are always so endearing. It's in their nature to be. It's so easy to get attached. I once dated a vampire but alas I knew I was meant to love another so I had to decline all his offers. It is always so sad, a bitter sweet moment when you have to reject someone so irreplaceable.

Yet I can tell he didn't reject you my dear. He must've been fond of you. You must be someone extra special."

"Yeah more like the midnight special.

Where am I?"

"Someplace safe. Oh how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Morticia, Morticia Addams the lady of the house. My son Pubert was the one that rescued you. He's such a terrible romantic just like his father.

I never should have allowed him to attend Public School yet my husband insisted, he said it was necessary for him to become more cultured and it would be a pity for him not to be able to torment other children his own age. Now he is no longer a child yet it's those terrible fairy tales they teach at school that left it's mark on him. It effected him and then he decided to study drama and he started reciting some strange writer named Shakespeare. So you have to forgive him he's very imaginative. He thinks he's a hero in a lot of ways. He's gotten help for it but it as you know good habits die hard. You know how it is. I've done my best for him, nurtured him in all his dark fantasies. I do hope you understand".

"Oh yes I'm sure you did your best. I mean he did save my life after all, so you must have done something right. I mean you probably did a fabulous job raising him. Forgive my rudeness. I don't really feel like myself."

"You are very kind. You have a trustworthy face. You remind me much of myself when I was young. I was tragic, pale as death, in love with Death and Already making plans to marry the night. I was so undecided in those days. I'm sure you'll find yourself. Darkness has many realms that have yet to be explored. Find your realm and darkness will always be your friend. So what else do you remember of your captor?"

"Nothing much to remember really. He's very tall, a a giant if you will, he had the most predatory eyes I have ever seen. He made my stomach churn, every time he looked at me with those yellow eyes. He was really nicely dressed, you know Gothic, royal purple, widow's peak all that. He had these long fingernails and he had a voice you could just float away with yet then he hissed at me, his teeth were out and he said I couldn't fight him. Then he unbound me like he was going to let me go but I knew he wouldn't, he told me he wouldn't and I believed him. He knew me, from before. We knew each other. He was from my childhood, a childhood friend I'd forgotten about.

I wanted to run but I felt there was no point in running, he'd only catch up with me and he most likely is quicker than I am, so I probably wouldn't even get a chance to escape anyway."

"Was it painful?"

"No not exactly. I'd done it before. That wasn't my first time providing for a vampire so It was nothing new, it's uncomfortable but not painful. After awhile there is this great peace that overtakes you.

You just feel this great release and then you just float away. When you wake up you're usually fine but this time was different. I felt weak, without a will, I couldn't deny him, I couldn't fight him. It was awful. I really thought I had more control. I really thought I was braver than that."

"Oh of course you're brave dear. He placed you under a enchantment. All vampires weave their own kind of magic, they will cast certain spells on those that are most important to them. He's was merely marking you,.giving you his seal of approval. It is actually quite a honor even I never made it that far when I was your age.

However it is troubling that he had kidnap just to do that. Times have changed with women's rights and all that. Vampire's usually take on more willing participants. Women have to want to be charmed and spelled these days. It's simply not right to grab young women off the streets, kicking and screaming. I mean there should be some kicking and screaming involved but it must be consensual. Free will and all that. I assume he wanted you as a mate."

"Yes he wanted me as his wife. I wasn't too thrilled about it cause he wasn't exactly giving me a choice. Something about my destiny and how I was some special half breed he had been looking for all his life."

"You know perhaps it was just his approach that was a little too harsh but if it weren't for the kidnapping I think he definitely would be excellent marriage material."

"Yeah he might be but I'm not. I want to be invisible. I've been doing a damn good job of that so far but then this Count Cluster comes sweeping in and expects me to be actually important. I don't want to be important...to anyone".

"Good for you darling. People should make themselves important to you instead. I do with my husband all the time, he quite enjoys it. So yes you should definitely stand your ground. It's only sensible and it is what every woman should do to keep the men in their place. Now men are powerful but women make up most of it darling. Remember that."

"I will make a note of it in the mean time what am I going to do about my captor? He's bound to come looking for me. We've made a bond, we have that bond in blood which means he will be more likely to find me."

"Oh that only happens in movies. Women don't go wandering off in the fog after they've been touched. There are ways of resisting their power. You're not a weakling, you can fight him and once you do he'll eventually leave you alone."

"How can I fight him? I couldn't do it before. Is there a way to break this strange hold he has over me?"

"Oh it's quite simple All you have to do is simply fall in love with someone else."