Chapter 1
My legs are exhausted. My lungs are burning. I’m drenched in sweat, and covered in dirt. I’ve been running for what feels like hours, dodging trees, stumps, and flying arrows along the way. What the hell could I possibly be running from, one might ask. Guards. Castle guards from my own kingdom, to be exact. With that information one may ask follow up questions such as: ‘What did you do?’ ‘Why are they chasing you through the woods?’ ‘Are you a traitor.’ The short answer is that I ran away, and now they’re trying to find me. After all, the kingdom couldn’t bear to lose their precious princess.
However, this precious princess couldn’t wait to execute this plan. It took my father, the king, a little less than a day to figure out that I was gone, since guards were on my tail the morning after I left. I’ve lost them a couple times in order to rest, but it was never for too long. They caught up to me, unfortunately and I’ve been trying to lose them for a while, but they’re vigilant today. I find a big tree to climb up and catch my breath.
“Princess,” a guard calls out. “We know you’re out there.”
“Your father’s worried. We’re all tired. We know you are as well. Just come out so we can bring you home,” a second guard yells out.
I stay silent and still up in the tree, waiting until they move to another area. I can see them roaming the area carefully with their bows, ready to fire at whatever they see.
Crunch
The sound of my foot slipping against the tree and breaking off a piece, rings out through the entire forest.
“She’s nearby. Keep your eyes open, and watch where you fire. We must bring her back alive,” a guard whispers to the others.
I attempt to make myself invisible in the tree. It should’ve been easy since it’s dark out, but because of the noise I made, it's not. One of the guards comes directly under me then looks up.
“She’s here! Up in the tree!” the guard screams alerting everyone. All the guards gather beneath the tree, ready to fire at me. I curse to myself, trying to quickly come up with a plan.
“Alright, alright! I’ll come down, just please, don’t shoot,” I cried out.
I slowly make my way down from the tree. Once I’m on the ground I put my hands up. The guard that’s leading all of them steps towards me, but I flinch away. He moves slowly and carefully, trying to put me at ease so I go with them.
“Wait,” I mutter before he gets too close.
“It’s alright Princess. We just want to keep you safe.”
I can’t even think of any distraction, so I can only look up at him with my pleading, doe eyes.
“I… I just don’t want to go home,” I confess pitifully. “Please don’t make me.”
The guard scoffs. “Princess, I’m afraid you don’t have any wants in this situation.”
That statement makes me angrier than anything since it’s what my father would tell me. I look at all of their faces with disgust, and with no other choice left, I run for it. I’m faster than they are so I can get a great distance away in a small amount of time. I laugh at how far away they are and how slow they move.
I slow down just a little, to not over exert myself too quickly, when an arrow whizzes past me and grazes my shoulder. I yelp, grabbing the fresh wound before speeding up once more. I feel my blood trickling from the wound, and it feels like it’s taking my stamina. I keep running, but the guards are catching up to me.
My eyes burn, tears welling up in them, not only from the pain of the open wound on my shoulder, but the idea of being dragged back to that wretched castle. Suddenly, I stop in my tracks beholding a large structure in front of me.
For some reason there’s a large castle here in the middle of the forest. I slowly approach it, amazed by its extravagant design, yet cautious because I have no clue what could be lurking here. I make my way up the many steps that lead to the two large castle doors. An arrow is shot just beside my head into the door before I even decide if I want to open it. I turn to see the guards, all of them pointing their bows at me.
“Princess, don’t dare even to think of opening that door!” The lead guard warns harshly. “If you decide to go in there, we can’t save you.”
I look at the door, then back at all of the guards. My hand takes hold of the handle as I stare at them. They must expect me to just go with them, but I refuse.
“I don’t need saving, especially not by you all,” I declare before swiftly opening the door and going inside.
I hear them yelling from outside, begging me to come back out before it’s “too late”. I look around, examining the interior of this castle, only to discover that it’s being occupied. I can tell from the line of candles hung on the walls, creating a dim lighting. I walk over and take one of the candle sticks, moving carefully so as to not extinguish the flame.
“Hello?” I call out softly. “Is anyone here? Listen, I apologize for trespassing, but I just… I really needed to get away from people who are after me.”
There’s no response from anything. There isn’t a single sound except for the echoing clack of my shoes. I walk through a large corridor into a dark hall with a curved staircase that led to several other rooms, both upstairs and on this level. Candles weren’t lit in this hall so I had to adjust my eyes to the darkness and use the one candle I held to guide me. I go to the right staircase, deciding that’s where I will explore first
“Who are you and why have you come here,” a low voice boomed, echoing throughout the hall.
My heart drops to my stomach. I look around rapidly, trying to force my eyes to adjust. I can’t see anything especially with the flame of my candle dying out slowly.
“Where are you?” I shuddered. “I-I’m sorry for intruding, I’ll leave if you’d like.”
“You didn’t answer my question, human,” the voice boomed once again, and I was honestly afraid of whoever this person might be.
“Uhm… I’m E-Elizabeth. Princess Elizabeth of Astoria.”
“Princess you say?”
“Yes,” I whisper, still trying to search for the source of this mysterious voice.
“And what might a princess be doing all the way out here?”
“Well I…” I trail off, unsure if I should tell this stranger how I got this deep into the forest. “I ran away. I don’t expect you to understand why, but I did. However, I didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go so when I came across this castle, I thought it’d be vacant. I thought I’d be able to take refuge here.”
It’s silent for a few moments before the footsteps of another, coming down the stairs, echoes through the hall. My breath becomes shaky, curious and afraid of who this stranger may be and how he’ll react.
His footfalls are slow and calculated as he makes his way down the stairs. I can’t make out any distinct features except for the fact that his figure is a hell of a lot larger than mine. He comes closer and suddenly the candle’s flame goes out. It’s pitch black, I feel his presence directly in front of me and I can’t help but shudder. He snaps his fingers and less than a second later, the hall is lit up by candles on the wall and a large fixture hanging from the ceiling.
This hall is perhaps the most beautiful I’ve seen in my life. Everything is a beautiful ashy grey color with ornate marble designs and gold accents here and there. I’m so enamored by the beautiful interior of this castle that I almost disregarded the stranger. I step back to get a better look at him. His skin is paler than any I’ve ever seen, his eyes were a light brown that seemed to have a tinge of red. His hair was just as dark as mine, but it was straighter and much longer. His features are sharp; high cheekbones, long hooked nose, voluminous lips. He was… beautiful.
He raises an eyebrow at me, probably noticing how I was looking at him, which snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Uhm…” I hum, unsure of what to say. “If I’m not welcome then I’ll leave, but could I ask you a small favor? Could you perhaps give me a map before I go, I’d hate to be lost in-“
“No.”
I’m flustered not only because he interrupted me, but because of his rude answer.
“N-no?”
“Yes. No.”
“Alright then…” I sigh, defeated. I now have no where to go and no idea where I am. Maybe I should’ve just gone with the guards back to the castle.
“I meant no, I won’t be letting you go out there alone. You can stay here.”
I gasp, surprised at his generosity. “You-you’ll really allow me to stay?!”
“Accept the offer before I change my mind, Princess.”
“Gladly!” I exclaim loudly. “Oh, I-I want to apologize again for entering without permission. I was just-“
“No worries Princess,” he assures me. “Whoever you’ve been running from, they won’t get you here.”
I watch as he speaks, and something about his teeth catches my eye. I furrow my brows at him. He notices and raises his brow at me, then lets out a soft chuckle.
“I guess there’s no point in hiding it now,” he mutters, presumably to himself. “You’re looking at my teeth, aren’t you?”
I have several thoughts about what this strange man is, but he couldn’t be. Those things are just fiction… right. He gritted his teeth revealing sharp fangs on either side. I stumble backwards, stunned by what I’m seeing.
“Y-you-you’re a…”
“That’s right, a vampire. Intelligent, aren’t you Princess?”
I’m at a loss for words. Is this some type of joke? There’s no way, there’s just no way!
“Let me clear a couple things up. No, I will not drain you dry and then eat you. No, I will not force you to be my food source for some indeterminate amount of time. And yes, there are more of my kind.”
At least he’s made his intentions clear, which has settled my worries a little.
“I… I can’t believe it,” I step closer to him, mesmerized, reaching my hand out wanting to feel his fangs. “I always thought vampires were just stories made up to scare people.”
“Not exactly made up, Princess. Humans have only- exaggerated our behaviors and habits,” he remarked.
“I have so many questions,” I said curiously. “But I wouldn’t want to bombard you with them. Could I just be shown where I’ll be resting?”
“Yes, of course Princess. You’ll have a washroom all to yourself, so while you get cleaned up I’ll find you some clothing.”
“Thank you so much-“ I begin, wanting to say a name, but I realize I don’t know his name. “What is your name sir?”
“My name is Vlad. Vlad Dracula Tepes.”
“So you’re named after Dracula from the stories.”
“Princess, I am Dracula from the stories. Now come along, you must be exhausted from being a runaway.”
I let out a small laugh. “I guess I am. Also you should just call me Elizabeth, no need for formality.”
He hums in response while taking my hand and leading me up the left stairs. There are several doors lined up on the wall on this side. Dracula leads me into the one with the largest door and it’s the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen. It has a large window with dark blue floral patterns on the curtains, the biggest canopy bed, bedding that matches the curtains.
“This is just beautiful. How come you need all of this? I mean, you’re the only one here, right?” I inquire.
“No, I’m not the only one here, in fact. I have butlers and maids that reside here as well.”
“Do they know that you’re…”
“A vampire? Of course. It takes one to know one after all.”
“They’re vampires as well? Will you introduce me to them? Will they care that I’m human?”
“Slow down, my dear. I’ll answer all of your questions later, but for now I want you to clean yourself up and rest.”
He’s the opposite of what I imagined Dracula to be. Already he’s so considerate yet we’ve only known each other for less than a day.
“Alright then,” I obliged with a smile. “I thank you again for allowing me to stay here, truly.”
“You’re very welcome, Elizabeth.”
