The woman walked to me from behind the counter, shaking her head sadly.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you can go back again."

My knees trembled. The nausea, the same as when I time travelled before, was back again, tripled by the sense of loss. Finality. Even though I didn't think I could ever go back again, only now, as she said that, I finally started to believe it. Is this really the end?

"Well, you could always try, right? Next year, maybe. Now come and sit down with me," she said when she noticed my agitation, preceding me to the small table with the postcards.

"Would you like a drink? Something warm, tea or coffee, maybe?" she asked, moving all the things that were lying on the table to one side to make space for us.

Coffee! "A cappuccino, please. Thank you."

She smiled at me kindly and disappeared into the breakfast room.

I looked out of the window facing one of the small town's roads. Breathing deeply, I tried to make the nausea dissipate; I'd had enough of it. As I watched, several groups of people, some dressed in Halloween costumes, strolled by despite the cold weather and the late hour. It was nearly midnight.

"Some of them will walk all the way to the castle, hoping to see... someone, something." Alina reappeared with our drinks perched on a small, red plastic tray, shaking her head disapprovingly. "They think it's amusing."

"What do you think?" I asked her, cupping my cappuccino in my hands as soon as she placed it in front of me, inhaling its delightful aroma. I loved how they served the cappuccino sprinkled with cinnamon in this part of Europe. The scent was reminding me of...

"I think that some things and beings should be left in peace. And that none of these adventure hunters will see those who don't want to be seen or recognized, anyway."

"What do you know about... them?" I asked, looking at her intently.

Her large, brown eyes, looking at me from under the fringe of her perfectly straight, chocolate brown, shoulder-length hair, reminded me of Clara.

She sighed. "I've never spoken about any of this with anyone apart from my own, closest family." Alina sipped her tea and looked outside for a moment before she continued. "I don't know where to start. There is so much I could tell you, but I don't know if I should. My family has been keeping your husband's presence in the castle secret for centuries. Why don't you tell me about yourself first?"

"Fine. I tell you what happened to me but then you'll tell me what you know. I need to understand. I must return to him, I shouldn't have let Junior take me back here in the first place."

"Junior. Would that be your husband's son? I know about him, but I've never met him. He hasn't come out since the times of my great-grandmother. I guess it gets boring for them, coming through the passage just to remain trapped inside the castle. It's just your husband who's been visiting every time. He was sure that you would come back; he wanted to see you. Did you actually walk through the portal? I didn't think it was possible."

"Apparently, Vlad didn't think I'd be able to do that either, but I simply followed him in. He mentioned there had been a few more time travellers coming from this world throughout the centuries, though..."

"Yes, there had been. The writer, for instance," she said, picking up a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula from underneath the postcards lying on the table. "But none of them ever walked in through Castelul Bran, I'm sure about that. There must be at least one more portal somewhere else. But go on, please, tell me what's on the other side."

"My husband," I half-whispered, willing my tears away. My beloved husband. "And his entire world. It's different from how it was when I left it before... You see, it seems to be... frozen in time, but not really...  As if it went on during all this time but in a different pace and direction than our world... I can't even explain it. The place is full of..."

Could I really tell her? Would she think I was mad?

"Vampires?" she asked. "Yes, I know about them. Lord Vlad told me about the vampires himself, that he is one of them too. You're lucky; your husband is a very honest man,"she said, smiling.

I had to look away from her for a while. I couldn't breathe. I loved Vlad so much that the thought of never seeing him again hurt not only mentally but even physically.

I closed my hand in a fist around my wedding ring and placed it over my heart before I asked her, "How well do you know him, and how do you even know he exists?"

"I've been meeting him once a year over the last, what, twenty years? Ever since I started working here, and taking the tourists up to the castle, as a guide. Before me, it had been my father and his mother... My family is related both to Dominic von Habsburg, who owns the castle now, and to Lord Vlad. That's why your husband gets to guide our tourists around the castle on Halloween nights. He is our... distant relative. We all share the same ancient bloodline."

I remembered those exact same words pronounced by Florin, Ioan's brother, poor Ioan!, a long time ago. Most people I met in this part of the world seemed to be ever so proud of their ancient bloodline, connecting them directly to their warrior princes and... vampires.

"Your turn, Lady Samara."

"Just call me Samara, please." The honorific was making me feel awkward, especially as I was wearing my pyjamas. Why didn't I get dressed properly before coming down here? I didn't want to wake Lia, of course, but still... It seemed that I was forgetting my manners even in this century.

"As you wish, Samara. So you found him and followed him in his world. But what happened while you were there and why are you back?"

"Somehow, I spent the whole year with him, even though my friends say I was gone for less than ten minutes. We... we had our plans for the future, I was ready to stay with him, but then... something happened... and Vlad was imprisoned by the Council. His son made me come back here, following his father's orders. They were sure that the place wasn't safe enough for me without my husband by my side... But now I think that I should have stayed. Whatever might happen to me there would be better than this feeling, this certainty that I'll never see him again."

The empty cup I didn't realise I was still holding was trembling dangerously in my hand. The woman took it away from me, placing it back on its saucer, then put her hand over mine in a friendly, reassuring way.

"Oh, you mustn't despair like this. I said you can't go back because I've never heard of anyone doing that, and I wouldn't want to give you false hopes. But what do I know, really? I'm sure Lord Vlad loves you very much; he wouldn't send you back if he didn't believe it was the best thing for you..."

"But I don't want what he thinks is the best for me, I only want him!" I called, my voice filling the empty room.

"Sometimes what we want is exactly what we can not have..."

"Oh, please. Don't," I begged, burying my face in my hands. Breathe. There, that's better. No tears.

"Well, so there's nothing else for you to do right now than trying to live your life as well as you can for the moment, then coming back here next year. I'll take you to the castle myself and we will see what happens. What do you think?"

"I think that that's really the only thing I can do," I admitted, looking in Alina's warm brown eyes. They were very friendly. Optimistic. Encouraging. She was right. There was no point in giving up all hope just yet.

I would have to survive three hundred and sixty-five days before I might see him again. Hopefully. Will he be all right? And Clara, the rest of them... I was headed for a very long and dark tunnel. But after my midnight conversation with Alina, I was starting to believe that there was a light, even though very faint, at the end of it.

Saying my goodnight and goodbye to Alina, who I wouldn't see again as me and my friends would be leaving straight after breakfast, I felt a few tears rolling down my cheeks. I hugged the friendly woman in the end, taking her by surprise. But she was my last, my only link to Vlad in this world.

She patted me on the shoulder awkwardly and gave me a business card of the little hotel with her phone number, in case I ever needed to talk. Then I dragged myself up the stairs, back to my room.

Lia was still sleeping with the book open on her lap and the television on. I took the book away from her gently, without waking her up, pulled a blanket over her and switched off her reading light. Then I just stared at the television's screen absently for a while. Soon, I started to feel sleepy, too tired to wait for Anne. Knowing her, it was possible that she would ignore Lia's advice and come back just in time to take another shower and grab her luggage before leaving in the morning.

I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, feeling disgusted by the strong flavour of the toothpaste. Everything had been so different in my other world.

On the narrow glass shelf above the sink I found my grey pearl earrings which I had removed before taking my shower the night we arrived here, a year ago, realising that if I hadn't forgotten to put them back on, they would have matched my bright blue ball gown perfectly. Not that earrings seemed to be in fashion in the place where and when I had been. Just like loose hair... My two worlds seemed to be poles apart. I sighed and put them on again with some difficulty, leaving my earlobes red and tender.

Back in the room, I added more things in my luggage and sat down on the bed. I had a mobile phone somewhere. I remembered it dying on me before we reached the castle in the afternoon, yesterday?!, making me angry because I couldn't take any pictures. Finding it now at the bottom of my handbag, I put it to charge on my bedside cabinet. I would need it later today to call my mum before boarding the plane, as I had promised.

Having done that, I switched off the television and lay down, falling asleep quite fast, curled around my book with Vlad's note stored safely among its pages.