"You've been spending a lot of time with Erinna," Dracula commented as he took an arrow from a stack Alexander was holding.

With needlepoint precision, he threw it at the marked board a hundred metres away, where it stubbornly embedded in the heart of the drawn silhouette.

"She's lonely," Alexander replied, fighting to keep his voice steady and ignore how much Dracula's voice unsettled him whenever it was that quiet and calm.

"It's not your business."

"Your happiness is my business," he boldly stated knowing he had to do this; he was the only vampire who could give Dracula a hint of the truth without suffering the consequences.

"How is you seducing and flirting with my bride supposed to bring me happiness?" The Count asked, taking another arrow.

The words shocked Alexander.

Seducing? Just where had his master picked that idea from?

"All I've been doing is making her more receptive to you."

"Go get the arrows."

The command puzzled Alexander because there were still more arrows but he nodded and turned around although turning his back on a temperamental Dracula was the last thing he wanted to do.

Trudging through the dark night, guided by the moonlight and his supernatural eyesight, he walked to the board, looking back after every few steps but the Count remained in the same position he had left him in.

He got to the board and made to take the first one out but instantly froze as five arrows whizzed past him, missing him by less than an inch and lodging into the board. Fear paralysed him and he did not move.

Years of experience had taught him the best way to deal with an angry volatile Dracula was not to react. Challenging him was just a death wish and Alexander was not feeling particularly suicidal that night.

"You have been with me for many years Alexander, let that not fool you into thinking you're indispensible. If I find that you have a hidden agenda concerning my bride I will make sure your skin is the canvas for Drakkos' next potrait."

Leaving the threat hanging in the air, Dracula vanished and it was only then that Alexander remembered to breathe.

It was in this state of shock that Erinna found him five minutes later, amazed he had been allowed to keep his life. Dracula was not the forgiving type.

"You don't look too happy," she said, trying to walk in the dark without toppling over her own feet.

Elves were blessed with second sight but their physical eyes saw no much more than humans did. They were bound by limitations such as darkness.

He was by her side in a second to help her manoeuvre her way before she fell and he had to make another explanation to Dracula.

"You're imagining things," he said, deciding not to bother her with the recent episode.

He looked at her, appreciating every feature as the moonlight bounced off her. It cast her in an ethereal glow that made her look like a goddess and he had a hard time remembering his own name.

She was truly and absolutely beautiful.

Even better was the tantalizing scent that wafted off her soft, moon-kissed skin. The vanilla essence of her innocence combined with the rare quality of her blood was an irresistible concoction.

Any younger vampire could have never been able to resist it but Alexander had had many centuries of years to know just how creative Dracula got when anyone touched what was his.

Besides, he had already developed a soft for the elf princess to harbour any pernicious thought for her.

"You should come outside more; you look beautiful in the moonlight."

"I came to look for you, I feel like having a game of chess. You play, don't you?" she asked.

Even if he couldn't, he would have learnt for her.

"You're sure you're up to a night of losing?" he teased her.

"The only one losing tonight will be you."

"Fine, let's go see, will we?"

He took her hand so she wouldn't misstep in the dark and they walked back to the castle.

😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

The human was dropped the moment he felt it.

With the bond growing between them, Dracula could now feel it when someone was in his bride's presence. He was becoming more and more attuned to her and could tell from her happy, careless mood that she was in Alexander's presence.

Not bothering to wipe off the blood coating his lips scarlet from when he had been feeding, Dracula teleported to where he had left Alexander.

His bride and servant had stopped walking and were standing close to each other. The sight of her hand in his, elicited an animalistic growl that rumbled all over and bounced of the castle walls into the silent night.

Something snapped in him and anger as he had never known flooded his system. It obliterated all reason and thought, demanding a bloodbath he was all too ready to give.

With the pain of heartbreak fuelling his senses, The Count teleported and was at their side in the time it took to blink. A fair man would have given his opponent a chance to defend himself but Dracula had no such compunctions and snapped Alexander's neck in a blur of motion, killing him before either of them even had time to register his presence.

Erinna screamed, a sharp and shrill sound that travelled far and made his eardrums and those of the other vampires in the vicinity, bleed but the physical pain dimmed in comparison to what he felt inside.

The feral growl kept rambling from his chest and he knew he looked like a rabid wild dog. Bloodthirst roared in his veins like a raging storm. His claws itched to tear into someone's flesh and shred until the pain in his chest faded.

Dracula closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to try and control his anger before he really slipped over the edge.

If Erinna knew what was good for her she would not dare defend Alexander in his face at that moment. Not when Dracula wanted to rip him apart piece by piece and feed the chunks to his werewolf prisoners who had not seen meat for centuries.

"What is wrong with you?!" she screamed at him looking from him to Alexander repeatedly in shock.

"Erinna," he growled in warning.

"You are disgusting."

"Erinna shut up," he said harshly, feeling his control over his anger slipping away.

She needed to stop talking.

"Don't tell me to shut up. He was your friend and you just killed him, you bastard!"

He never realised how it happened but in a moment his hand was angrily closed around her fragile neck and roughly slamming her into a nearby tree, cutting off her air supply in the process.

"Erinna, I don't want to hurt you but angel, you need to stop talking."

She did.

Even she knew it wasn't the right time to trifle with him. He let her go and went to the nearest tree and uprooted it, casting it yards away with enough strength to shake the ground.

The physical exertion did nothing for his temper; what he needed was blood but he was not going to drink from Erinna. Not when he didn't know if he would have the strength to stop.

So he kept on uprooting trees. All the time his bride watched him with fearful eyes, flinching every time a tree collided with the ground. After ten minutes he felt more subdued. He stopped and took a breath.

He turned to face her and she took a step back, piercing his wounded heart even further.

"Don't please," he whispered.

She looked at him, her wide eyes fearful and wet from unshed tears. She shook her head slowly.

"Why?" She eventually asked.

"He touched you."

It was as simple as that.

"So? I told you, I don't want to marry you; I don't want to be Countess. I just want to go home. I-I-I can't-" The words did not leave her mouth as her throat constricted with raw emotion.

The waterworks she had been restraining eventually overwhelmed her and the dam broke free. She closed her eyes and let the heavy teardrops to tumble down her pale cheeks.

"Erinna please," he begged at a loss of what to do, "Don't cry. I can't stand it."

"I know there's a bond between us. But it doesn't change anything. Not who you are or the way I feel about you. You're heartless, remorseless and you murder people. I can never love you, you have to let me go," she whispered, the tears still cascading down her cheeks.

He looked down, refusing to give in to the desperate need to just break down and weep for evetything he had lost without ever gaining in the first place because with a few well-chosen words, his bride had shredded his heart beyond repair.

"I can't."

"You can but you won't."

"I can't live without you."

"You don't even know me."

"Erinna I knew you before you were born, I knew when you were conceived and the exact moment you took your first breath. You are my whole existence. I waited for you for four thousand years and now you're here and you want to leave me. If you won't stay then kill me and fulfil your destiny because there just is no Dracula without Erinna."

The amount of pain in his voice and eyes scared and broke her heart. She honestly felt sorry for him. She couldn't imagine pouring out all those emotions for someone who would probably never love her.

"There are no unions between elves and vampires," she reminded him, feeling like she had said that statement a thousand times ever since she had met him.

"I know."

"They are cursed."

"I know."

Well, change tactics then.

"I am destined to kill you," she said hoping this would bring him to his senses and he would let her go.

"I know."

"Then you are willing to risk everything?" She asked, seeking to find and understand where he was coming from.

"It was never a choice for me Erinna. Loving you is all I've ever known; it's what I live for."

Her heart skipped a beat at the intensity in his eyes.

"It's the curse, the feelings are not real."

He had to see it, to realise his feelings were born of the curse not genuine affection.

"Maybe, but all I know is they are the most real thing I've ever felt. Nothing that feels this good can be wrong. "

So he knew the possibility that his feelings were probably because of the curse.

"I'm so sorry," she said, more tears falling down her cheeks.

She genuinely pitted him; loving someone he had never met before; being drawn to them like a moth to a light with no sense of will being cursed to love them forever just to fulfil the revenge whims of a scorned witch.

"Don't," his expression was pained, "Loving you has never been a burden. It's an honour."

She shook her head, feeling even sorrier for him. She had been seeing herself as the victim here but the real victim was right there in front of her.

She put a hand on his jaw, causing him to look into her emerald green eyes.

"We'll fix it. You and I; we can figure it out," she promised him and intended to deliver so both of them could be set free.

But then he did something totally unexpected. He hadn't been planning on it, hadn't even thought of the consequences but in that moment he knew he'd go crazy if he didn't join himself with her in any way possible.

Erinna gasped when he lowered his head, too fast for her to react and joined their lips. Her heart jerked in her chest and something erupted inside her. Something hot, liquid and uncontrollable; a raging fire she knew not how to extunguish.

It confused her, angered her how she was so helpless against her own body. His lips were soft but firm, their texture indescribable, yet she knew she wanted them right there on hers.

But another part of her, a very sensible part, knew that if she gave in then this would be it. She would have lost the battle and she couldn't allow that to happen. She didn't want to participate in a game where he was the only one who knew the rules.

There were so man things to consider and Erinna found it hard to believe that when all hell broke loose, he would hold her down. Would he anchor her or drag her under with him? No, for the sake of her people and his she could not yield to this, much as her body cried for his touch, yearned for it even.

Vlad only had a moment to savour the feeling of her full plumb lips before she began struggling. She beat at him with her fists but he was ready. He caught both her hands in one of his, slid the other into her hair, tilted her head back and kissed her again.

He kissed her as he had fantasized ever since he setting eyes on her. She fought, but it was pointless. He was hot with fury and desperate need. Hot with the feel of her against him. Her mouth was soft under his, her soft chest, tantalizing against the hard expanse of his own.

His body reacted in a heartbeat, hardening beyond endurance. Something in him cried for her, a call that was becoming impossible to ignore with every passing second.

She felt the change in him; how could she not? On a normal day, she evoked the wildest reactions out of him just by existing byt with her pressed against him like that...

Erinna gave a little cry of shock but it was muffled by his lips.

Her lips parted and she tried to bite him but he turned the attempt against her, used the chance to slip his tongue into the silky warmth of her mouth and deepen the kiss. She gasped again, made a little sound of distress...

And then something happened.

Her mouth softened under his. Sweetened. Turned warm and willing, and the knowledge that he could take her, right there, right then, made his already-hard body turn to stone.

Her need was so strong in the air that he could almost taste it. It's sweet scent emanated from her core, nearly bringing him to his knees.

The instant her lips opened for his; a hot raging fire licked his veins. Both their life-forces rared up and whirled around them in colorful electric colours that crackled with life, intensity, passion and vigour.

Their powers and auras were communicating at a subhuman level and it was a beautiful thing to experience. His more murky aura rose to meet her untarnished one. They writhed around them; hot, raging and seeking.

Invisible forces drew them together, connecting them at a level that was far beyond the physical. Dracula's heart burned and the ice in his chest thawed. With a passioned grunt, he pulled her even closer to him and dug his tongue deeper into her willing mouth.

She tasted like vanilla and her pheromones were screaming drowning him. Everything in him ached to possess her, to make her his in that moment. He knew he was powerless against her, had been so the moment she had taken her first breath.

He let go of her wrists, spanned his hands around her small waist then began sliding them down to cup another more delectable part of her....

"My lord?"

The rough animalistic growl that emanated from The Count's chest in response to the interruption would have sent the bravest man running for the hills. The only reason Jasper remained standing was because he knew running would be worse. The Count could not stand cowards.

Erinna jumped away from Dracula, a bright pink hue spreading over her face as she realised what they had done, what she had let him do. She had never been more ashamed and wished she possessed the power to command the ground to open up and swallow her.

What had she done? What had she been thinking letting a vampire take such liberties with her body? One thing was for sure, no one from her people was ever going to touch her again, not even with a twenty foot pole. To them she was now defiled, broken goods.

"For your sake Jasper, I hope you have a good reason for being here," The Count said or more like growled at the bulky vampire.

"It's almost dawn my lord, you have to get back inside."

"And you thought there was no sky where I was standing? That I couldn't see the time on my own?"

She tuned out their argument, using the moment to compose herself so he would know there was not going to be any picking up from where they had left off. She had been fool princess enough for one day.

When Dracula had finished dismissing the vampire called Jasper, Erinna spoke before he could say anything.

"I'm really not sure where we can start, but I think the library might be a good idea, if you have one with old witch books. There might be something in there, but if not then that is alright also. We will keep looking abd eventually we'll find the spell to break your curse," she rambled.

She knew Diana had cursed him into loving her, the person who was supposed to kill him. While Erinna might not like The Count, she also didn't like playing pawn or even the idea of killing anyone. She didn't care what prophecy said, Dracula was not going to die by her hand.

She would do whatever it took to change his destiny, to free him from whatever form of witch compulsion he suffered from. She would work to change both their destinies even if it was the last thing she did.

For a moment she could have believed they were on the same page before his eyes hardened.

"I appreciate the sentiment but it's close to dawn and we have to go inside unless watching me roast to death is on your list of agendas for the night." His tone was devoid of all emotion, carrying a coldness that she felt physically.

Erinna sighed, feeling defeated. How did you help someone who didn't even want your help?

Her eyes drifted to Alexander again and the tears that had subsided began welling up in her eyes.

"We're just going to leave him here? "

He lay lifeless and forlorn on the ground, betrayed by the one he had loved most and had sacrificed everything for. There was no breath or sign of life coming from him.

He was just... gone.

She bit her lip to stop the sob that had built up in her throat as the tears escalated. Such a wasted life. He was the only one who had befriended her in a foreign land, the only one who had seeked to understand her.

He had shown her that vampires were not incapable of emotion, feeling and respect but that some like Dracula just chose not to. A sob broke through her lips and her fingers flew to cover her mouth before she went hysterical.

She felt so broken and so crushed. She had fought to keep Angelica and those ten girls alive but had not been able to save the one person she could actually call a friend. She had failed to come through for her first and only friend. He had died; and all because of her.

"He's not dead."

She looked up, certain she had misheard but the Count's grim expression held no lie.

"Not dead?"

What did he mean by not dead? She had watched him break his friend's neck. Did he think she was a gullible halfwit?

Her lack of understanding must have shown on her face because he felt the need to elaborate.

"He's a vampire angel, we're not that easy to kill."

"So he- he will-" She stammered, not daring to believe.

"Yes, he will wake up," he answered, saving her from the incoherent sounds that she had seemed to be spouting.

A smile straight from her heart took over her whole face and she wiped the tears of joy freefalling on her face. The relief was ineffable, the joy uncontainable.

"So that's why you did it, you knew he would not die," she said with realisation.

If her resolve of helping him had ever wavered, it was this little act that strengthened it. It gave her hope; hope that he was not just a lost cause, that he could be saved.