"You need to sleep now, Samara," he said, lifting me up in his arms and carrying me over to my bed.

It made me giggle; he seemed to like sweeping me off my feet to carry me wherever he wanted me.

Vlad looked at me inquiringly, a bemused smile playing on his full lips. He put me on my bed and we both realised it was cold.

Katerina had forgotten the warmer, and I wondered if she had done it on purpose, to punish me for my unsuitable, unladylike behaviour. Whatever she wanted to achieve, it most probably had the opposite effect as Vlad, seeing me shiver in my shirt after I had removed the blanket from around my shoulders, took off his own jacket and climbed in the bed with me.

He pulled me close and enclosed me in his arms to shield me against the coldness of the sheets, the embrace so new and so familiar at the same time. I rested my head on his shoulder, against the soft fabric of his shirt, feeling safe and protected.

"Sleep, my love," he said, pushing a few strands of my hair away from my face before kissing my forehead.

His closeness, the scent of his body, and the soft sound of his erratic heart were soothing; I felt warm and relaxed in his embrace. My eyes were starting to close, but my curiosity wouldn't let me sleep.

We didn't know why or how I got here, or if I could stay, but maybe he could help me understand some things about himself. Vlad wasn't like any of the vampires I had read about in books.

"Don't you need to sleep?" I asked, snuggling as close to him as I could, scared not to find him by my side when I woke up.

"Not as much as you," he said, and from the way he pronounced the words, I knew he was smiling. "In many ways, I'm the same as you. Vampires sleep, eat, feel... And the thing about blood, it's more an addiction than a real need."

"What do you mean?" I asked, intrigued, all the vampire stories I had ever read, letting me down. "Don't you need it to survive?"

"Yes, but very little, Samara. We need it to feel good, strong, invincible, irresistible... it can become very addictive. But the desire for blood, human or animal, can be tamed greatly."

My mind, already full of memories that Katerina's story had awoken, was presented with more puzzling information.

Listen and think, Samara! I ordered myself.

So blood was like a drug for them. Once they were changed, they became addicts. But some of them had a strong enough will, or reason, to consume only as much blood as they really needed.

"I do need some blood, Samara. That will never change. I am a vampire. And I hate myself for ever becoming like this," he said.

Vlad raised himself slightly on his elbow and turned towards me, studying my expression in the soft, flickering light reaching us from the fireplace. He was so beautiful, as he ran his hand through my unruly hair, pushing it away from my face, trying to see into my soul through my eyes. My breath hitched, and I had to remind myself to breathe; I wondered if he noticed what he was doing to me.

"What are you thinking? Tell me Samara, please," he begged.

None of the things he was telling me could ever change how I felt about him, I was sure.

"I love you," I said simply, caressing his face.

I heard him take a deep, calming breath, as if he had forgotten to breathe himself while waiting for my answer. He rested his forehead against mine for a moment, then kissed me again, slowly, passionately, making me feel loved and adored.

Then I let him wrap me in his arms one more time, my body filling every single space between us, moulding around his. We belonged together. We loved each other. Somehow, we were given a second chance. Surely we can make it through this time, to stay together? Is a lifetime with a man I love too much to ask for? I reasoned, my tired mind refusing to produce any answers.

My last, fleeting thought before I fell asleep was about Katerina. I couldn't understand the reason why she was trying to keep us apart, despite knowing  how much we loved each other.

"Why is Katerina so disapproving about us being alone together?" I asked. There was something more behind her behaviour than just her respect for the morals. "Has she always been so interfering?"

"No. But I wasn't a vampire back then. I think that despite knowing me so well, she thinks I might harm you," he said, his voice dark and sad.

"But isn't she one of you, too?"

"No, and never say this in front of her. Katerina dislikes vampires. She was furious when I was changed, and even though I didn't ask for it, she has never forgiven me. Nor has she forgiven me for letting you die..." he said, his voice fading into a tortured silence.

"But how can she blame you for any of this? And how come she is still alive, if she is not like you?" There was so much I wanted to know.

"She simply... hasn't died. After you had left us, she was certain that you would come back at some point, needing her again, that she stayed around, waiting. I'm not the only one who loves you, see?" he said, smiling, punctuating his words with a soft kiss.

I wanted to say something else, ask more questions, but suddenly I felt exhausted. I just smiled, and soon I fell asleep, lulled by the sound of his heartbeat and the feeling of his arms around me.

Everything was perfect. I was happy. At least for the moment.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a scream wedged in my throat, gasping for air. In my dream, I have just died.

I recalled seeing myself alone at the edge of the forest, facing its dark, eerie, perfectly still trees. It was an early morning, the air was cool and fresh, and the meadow that lay between the castle and the forest was shrouded in a layer of mist. I was alone, frightened, not knowing what or who to expect. But I brought what they had asked for, and now they would release him, they had to, and he would come back home...  He had left too long ago, and I was afraid that I would never see him again. Suddenly, I heard a swift movement somewhere behind me, and a vaguely familiar voice hissed at me, "Don't move, Samara..." More voices whispered words I could not decipher, then someone approached me from behind and pressed his body flush against mine. I wanted to scream, but the sharp pain in my neck made it impossible. After an interminable moment, I saw my senseless body falling to the ground.

Shaking my head to disperse the last shards of the horrible nightmare, I looked around. I was cold, alone in my bed, the fire in the fireplace low and insufficient to warm up the large chamber. Where did he go, I mused, looking at the empty place by my side.

Then I heard it again. The low, hissing, familiar voice from my dream was echoing through the silent, sleeping castle. Possibly, it was the voice of my murderer, or one of those who had been there that fateful day and done nothing to prevent my death, nothing to help me.

He was here now; the voice seemed to be reaching me from the direction of Vlad's chamber.

I put the blanket around me and wore my slippers as fast as I could, then approached the door of the corridor connecting our rooms. It was open, and so was the other one leading to the library. The door of Vlad's chamber was half-closed; I could see the light in his room and hear his voice. He was talking, or rather arguing with someone.

"...Samara," the voice hissed, making my skin crawl into gooseflesh. I knew that voice, but my mind was refusing to tell me who it belonged to. I had to see him.

I tiptoed down the corridor and across the library, happy that my slippers made next to no sound. A small fire was burning on the hearth, crackling of  burning wood muffled the soft sound of my footsteps, helping me reach the half-closed door unnoticed.

"I told you to leave!" Vlad's angry voice was coming from somewhere in his room, I could not see him.

"I will, I just want to see her before I go. I'm not going to take her away from you, don't worry."

The tall, black-haired, broad-shouldered man who had spoken was facing the fire; from where I stood, I could only see his back. This might be the person who hated me enough to kill me.

I had to move away from the door and lean against the wall. My pulse was racing, and I was feeling faint. Radu! my subconscious screamed. You knew it all the time!

I collected my shattered courage, forcing myself to look inside Vlad's chamber again.

They had moved, Vlad was standing in the middle of the room now, his back towards me, and Radu had turned around to look at him.

His face! It was so white that it looked transparent. He had a hard, cold look in his icy, grey-blue eyes, and his lips were as red as freshly spilt blood. This was how I had always imagined vampires. He was frightening.

"Who told you she was back?" Vlad asked him, pacing around the room and running his hand through his hair, an angry and frustrated gesture.

"Oh brother, did you really think that the gossip about His Highness, always so cold and composed, melting at a sudden appearance of a human girl would not reach my ears? Many of your guests saw you, and more than one of them came to tell me the story personally." He smiled, a freezing, cruel smile that did not reach his eyes. "But surely, brother, you are overreacting. I'm only asking you to let me see my beloved sister-in-law, and you act as if I was asking you to lend her to me for a night."

I gasped, and he looked across the room towards the place where I stood hidden, as if he could see me. His lips twitched with a smile that made the blood in my veins freeze. I wanted to run back to my chamber, but I had not enough strength to move.

Silently, I observed as Vlad straightened his shoulders and stood tall in front of Radu, his hands clenched in fists. "Leave now and don't ever come back, or you'll regret it," he warned, his voice low and serious, nearly as cold as his brother's.

"Oh really? Tell me, what will you do? Will you kill me, your only remaining brother, and set the rest of them against you? There's not much you can do, you are one of us. You must respect our rules, too. Or have you forgotten that?" Radu mocked him. "Does she know, by the way, that you are not the courtly knight, the gentle prince she once fell in love with anymore? Does she know what you have become? Perhaps I could enlighten her."

"Leave!" Vlad shouted, his voice echoing through the night.

His order was followed by a chilling laughter, a sound of retreating footfalls, and then a loud thud of the closing door. Radu was gone. For now, at least.