My eyes snapped open when I sensed him behind me, his soft lips trailing featherlight kisses down the column of my neck, towards my bare shoulder.

Trying to take a deep breath I shivered, in response to his touch, as I felt his hand trail up my thigh, pausing to examine the lacy hem of my short camisole nightdress, then continuing on its path to my waist slowly, teasingly, moving the silk and lace of my gown higher. The feel of his warm hand touching me through the smooth, cool fabric made my skin break out in gooseflesh, and I closed my eyes again, overcome by pleasure, anticipating his next move.

But I couldn't resist not seeing him anymore, I realised, and even as my mind reminded me of the story of Cupid and Psyche, warning me, I had to look at him. I turned around in his arms, forgetting to breathe when my eyes met his.

Vlad's green orbs were looking at me warily through the semi-darkness of the room, brightened by the streetlights reaching us from outside, diluted and weakened by their passage through the curtains of my window. He was really with me.

"How do you do this?" he asked softly while my hands fisted around the white linen of his shirt's sleeves, determined to hold him there, next to me, forever.

"Do what?" I whispered, my voice shaking with emotion. I love him so much.

"Call me. Come to me, or make me come over to you," he murmured, pushing a few wayward strands of my hair away from my face and kissing me.

"But I don't do anything," I breathed when his lips abandoned mine for my earlobe while his hands continued in their quest to push my nightdress higher up, making me melt under his touch.

I let go of his sleeves tentatively, afraid that he would vanish, then moved my trembling fingers to the buttons of his shirt.

"You feel... so real," I whispered when I placed one of my hands on his bare chest over his erratic heart.

He inhaled deeply as I let my other hand roam over his body softly, teasingly, the same way as his travelled over mine, pushing his clothes out of the way.

"I love you, Samara," he said before we kissed again... and again... Slowly, deeply, gradually banishing all the superfluous words, unasked questions and interfering thoughts, deleting all the boundaries between us, succumbing to our desire for each other.

"I must talk to your nurse once they let me go from here," Vlad murmured later, stroking my hair as I was drifting off to sleep, my head resting on his chest, feeling so content and whole like I felt only when he was next to me. "Maybe you have no idea what you are doing, but I'm sure she knows what's going on... I have never asked her anything. I have always respected her mysterious silence, hoping, waiting for her to explain to me everything in her own time, but now..."

Oh? What does Katerina have to do with us and our dreams? I mused, but it was too difficult to follow his train of thought, being on the verge of sleep. I was too elated to want to spoil the moment by thinking. Vlad was next to me, I didn't ask for more. Everything will be fine now...

A faint, "I need you, Samara. I wish you could come back as soon as I'm free and able to protect you..." muffled by the thick fog of my first dreams was the last thing I heard.

I was startled back to consciousness by the sound of a key turning in a lock, followed by some incomprehensible, whisper-shouted words and faint giggles. It took me a while to realize that the two excited voices belonged to Anne and Mark, who apparently decided to spend the rest of their night in Anne's room rather than Mark's.

Pulling my quilt higher over my shoulders, I curled up around one of my pillows, feeling cold and void. I didn't even have to turn around to confirm that I was alone again, that Vlad had vanished together with the last shards of my shattered dream. At least your visions are back, and more real than ever before, I tried to console myself. You mustn't cry. You two can still be together, if only in your strange, shared dreams.

I remained in the bed for a long while, silent and motionless, attempting to push myself back over the verge of sleep, wishing for another dream, hoping to see and feel him again. But it was pointless, I was wide awake and my curiosity was awakening now, too.

Slowly, the first fragments of my dream started to trickle back into my memory, followed by endless questions. How was it possible that on some nights, I could feel his presence as if he were really with me? And how come he, apparently, could feel me too?

"Twenty past five," I groaned, looking at the screen of my phone, which I had forgotten to switch off the previous evening. It was too early to get up. But there is no point in staying in bed, thinking about your too vivid dream vision, and risking to start crying again, either, my subconscious chimed in promptly.

So I listened carefully for a while, and once all the sounds coming from the rest of the flat died down, I switched on the light and pulled myself up.

I didn't even take my book, or the baby shoes, out last night, I realised as I started to remove my belongings from the boxes and put everything away as quietly as possible, while trying to empty my mind of all nagging thoughts.

When I finally made it into the kitchen, after I tidied up my new room, made my bed and got dressed and ready for another day at work, all the time trying hard not to think about Vlad and my dream, it was nearly seven o'clock.

But as I sat down to breakfast and started eating, having nothing else to do to keep me busy at the moment, the dream made its way back into the foreground of my mind, making me sigh with longing for him. I missed Vlad exceedingly. This vision felt too real, clearer than the previous ones, as perfect as reality. I could remember precisely both his touch and his words. We should have talked rather than... I shook my head, blushing at the memory of our encounter. No, but I shouldn't have fallen asleep... He shouldn't have let me sleep, then leave without at least one more kiss and some answers. Well, you didn't really find the right moment to ask anything, did you? My subconscious mocked me.

But he did tell me some things, even though I did not understand him completely. What did he mean when he said that it was m calling him? He sounded so sure, resolved to talk to Katerina once they let him go... So he is still in prison... But what does Katerina have to do with this, us...

My head was spinning with questions with no answers to match as I rinsed the dishes in the sink before making my way out of the flat, my new home, for the first time.

I stopped in Paris to grab a pack of sandwiches and a snack for later, I wasn't planning to return to the flat before tonight. My questions needed answers, and even if it meant another afternoon spent shivering on a bench in the November drizzle, I would go to Pimlico.

The hours flew by. Mr. Turner's shop was unusually busy. The customers, starting early with their hunt for Christmas presents, kept my mind off the things I preferred not to think about at the moment.

I hadn't heard from Lia since the previous night, she had told me she would be busy at the hospital most of the day and I didn't want to disturb her. So I was surprised when she materialized out of the long, dark shadows cast by the silent houses standing across the road from the garden where I have been sitting for at least an hour, in Pimlico.

"When Anne called me, saying you never came home after work, I knew I'd find you here," she said reproachfully while her eyes scanned me from head to toe. "You must be cold, silly. Sitting out here for hours on end makes no sense at all. There must be something else to do... Come on. Let's go home now. It's late."

"But there isn't, Lia, there's absolutely nothing else I can do," I said, standing up and shivering. "What else could I try? Who else could possibly help me?" I straightened the folds of my skirt and picked up my bag, then started walking towards the dark houses.

"Samara, I said I was taking you home!" Lia called, sounding as if she was chastising a small, too stubborn child.

"I heard you! Just let me knock once more!" I argued back.

"No. I'll do it. But then we go, ok?" she said, beating me to the door of number twenty-six, then hammering her fist against its hard wood even before I reached the gate. "Mister, Missis, whoever Stoker! Is anyone at home? We need to talk to you!" Her voice ricocheted off the tall white walls of the ancient houses, echoed down the deserted street and through the empty garden, momentarily filling all the space around us. If anyone was inside, they would have heard her.

"See? No one's in. Let's go," Lia insisted, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the tube station.

I turned around once and saw, or better imagined to see, a curtain moving slightly, as if fluttering in a sudden gust of wind, on one of the windows on the topmost floor. But we were too far, and it was far too dark to be sure. Even if someone is really in, they definitely don't want to talk to you, I told myself, my feelings oscillating between anger and disappointment, as I allowed Lia to take me home without further complaint.

Even though it was Saturday, which meant our usual night out, we were both too tired to go to Luigi's, or even to stop and eat in one of the restaurants scattered along the high road in Hammersmith. We simply grabbed two takeaway pizzas in a small Italian place on our way home and ate them in the silence and comfort of our flat.

"Your mum called me this morning," Lia muttered as she refilled her glas with water and took a sip, watching me cautiously over its rim.

Oh, did she now? She should have called me if she wanted to know anything about her daughter's new life. As if she cared...

"Don't plan anything for tomorrow night," my friend told me around a mouthful of pizza, changing the subject as I remained silent. "We haven't celebrated your birthday yet, so try to get rid of William before eight, and we'll do something."

William! I have forgotten about him completely. "Thanks for reminding me," I groaned.

"At least you'll get it over and done with. He's becoming a nuisance. Tell him what he needs to hear to let go of you," she advised wisely.

Why is this kind of well-meant advice always so difficult to follow? It is so much easier to give than to take. What on earth am I to tell William, so he leaves me in peace? And do we really have to celebrate my birthday? Last year, in the castle, I didn't even think about it, as it was when both Vlad and Junior were missing, before the fire...

"We are celebrating your birthday, no discussion." Lia's voice scattered my rambling thoughts, as she divined correctly that I was about to object. "You choose if we stay in or go out, and who do you want to invite..."

"Fine. We're staying in, and I'm cooking. It's my day off tomorrow, and apart from meeting William, I have nothing to do. And Anne and Mark are the only ones invited."

"Perfect. I'll let her know should I see her before you do," Lia announced, collecting our plates and carrying them to the sink.

"I'm off to bed," she said, picking up the cup of tea I made for her while she washed the dishes. "It was busy at the hospital, I have never seen so many babies in one day..." she said, her eyes strolling to my midsection. "May I?" she asked suddenly, and even before I understood what she was about to do, her hand lay flat over my belly. "It must be so exciting Samara, can you feel it? Soon you'll start showing and in a couple of months you'll be huge..." she grinned.

"Well, thank you, friend," I told her, my mind busy imagining the picture she described. Shaking my head, I took my own cup and retreated towards the door.

"You'll be fine, Samara. I'm sure both of you will. There's no need for you to panic," Lia said with such certainty that her words actually dispersed some of my concerns. "You're most probably eleven weeks pregnant by the looks of you, and there's absolutely nothing out of ordinary about your pregnancy so far. Don't think negatively. Just enjoy it."

"Thank you," I repeated, feeling reassured, at least for a while. "Sleep well, you study too much, you need to rest more."

"You too." She smiled. "Good rest is even more important for expecting mothers."

I smiled back thankfully, then walked towards my bedroom.

She was right. It was exciting. I was going to have a baby, and it didn't matter if it would be completely human or half-vampire. I loved my child's father more than my own life and would do anything to get back to him so we could all live together. The rest was... inconsequential. It would sort itself out.

Life looked so much easier when Lia was near.