While I was getting dressed, not thinking about my dream, I got a text from Stoker. He had already spoken to Lia, he informed me, and she kindly agreed to walk with me to work. Then, in the afternoon, he would pick me up instead of Lucas.

What a joy, I thought, exiting my room. I didn't know either of the two men well, but I greatly preferred Lucas' company to his uncle's.

I walked towards the kitchen, not thinking about that awful dream, pausing to bang on Lia's door angrily on my way. She now speaks to Stoker about me behind my back, the traitor!

She joined me at the table a few minutes later, all smiles.

"Abraham called me," she announced happily, not noticing my mood.

"I'm happy that you are happy." I said around a mouthful of toast, not looking at her.

Standing up I snatched my nearly untouched breakfast off the table, and dumped it in the sink. My stomach was tied in knots, I wasn't hungry at all. I had a headache and felt nauseous, and I wasn't thinking about that dream. Not intentionally, at least. But I couldn't get the image of Jusztyna, her hand pressed to Vlad's cheek, off my mind. I would have cried if I hadn't cried so much lately that I didn't seem to have any more tears left to shed.

"Samara what's wrong with you?" Lia asked cautiously, finally noticing my temper.

"Nothing. A bad dream that's all." I mumbled, walking towards the door.

"Hmm... ok. But you haven't eaten anything. You must eat."

"Not today, Lia. Please." I stared at her from the door and she wisely refrained from arguing.

We left the flat as soon as we were both ready, each lost in her own thoughts.

"Don't forget, Abraham will pick you up after work and take you home. I'll join you two later." She reminded me after a long silence as we reached the book shop. "Have a nice day, Samara."

"You, too," I sighed. "Thanks Lia. I..."

"Don't you apologize." She said, embracing me. "You are lonely, moody and pregnant. If you don't have the right to mistreat your friends sometimes, who does?" She asked, making me smile.

"I promise I'll try to behave better." I said, watching her disappear into the morning crowd before entering the shop.

Somehow I managed not to think about that dream constantly as the morning stretched, and when my lunch break arrived, I was calm enough to feel hungry.

Just that I did not bring my lunch, I noticed as I rummaged through my bag. Lia, perched high on her cloud nine as she seemed to have been this morning, forgot to remind me about it. So now, if I wanted to eat, I had to go out.

Without thinking about it twice, I grabbed my wallet and donned my coat, then informed Mr. Turner that I'd have my lunch out today. A mouthful of air and some alone time was exactly what I needed, it would help me clear my thoughts and get distracted from thinking about Vlad and Jusztyna.

Hang all the vampires, their silly rules and strange stories. They only managed to freak me out, I thought as I rushed inside Paris, my skin crawling into goose flesh.

Standing in the shadows by the door I scanned the square and the part of the street I could see through its cool glass panels, misting over fast from my breath, for spooky individuals, as my heart pounded loudly. But everything looked fine, there was nothing, and no one, out of ordinary.

I bought my lunch at the counter, then walked around the busy café, a tray in my hands, to find a place to sit. There was only one booth, facing the street and thus the book shop, that seemed to be empty.

Right until I approached it and Lucas straightened up, frowning at me.

I blushed, feeling guilty for not having obeyed his well-meant advice, but I would never admit it aloud.

"Hi." I said taking my coat off and sitting opposite of him as if I had been expecting to find him there, waiting for me. "Thanks for keeping the place. There's too many people today."

As he didn't say anything I continued, looking at the huge book laying on the table in front of him. "Are you studying?"

"I was," he said finally, "until I saw you coming out of that book shop. I thought you promised you'd stay in..."

"No," I said nonchalantly, taking a bite of my sandwich. "It was more like... you and your uncle telling me that I should. And I thought that you were supposed to be busy today." I said, trying to steer the conversation away from me.

He shook his head and sighed, "Samara, how can we help you if you..."

"Lucas, please don't. I don't want to hear anything. I'm not in the mood to be told off for crossing a street full of innocuous humans in the middle of the day, ok?"

He looked at me intently and whatever he saw in my eyes made him stop reproaching me.

"I promised to take Anaïs to the cinema this afternoon. You have no idea how insistent she can be when she puts something in her mind." He said instead.

"I can imagine," I smiled at him, and finally he smiled too.

"Uncle will take you home. I could pass by later, if you want."

"Please, do. There's so many things I need to know but I don't think I'll have much chance to talk to Abraham as Lia will be around as well..." I said.

He chuckled. "That sounds like one interesting afternoon. Uncle seems to be... intrigued by your friend."

Pushing the pack of brownies I had bought with my lunch in front of him, I watched him pick one up and bring it to his lips. I couldn't help it, his wary, half-disgusted expression made me burst out in a fit of giggles.

"How does it taste to you?" I asked when I could speak again.

"Awful." Lucas said. "Ever since I started drinking," he lowered his voice, "everything tastes like... mud."

"Even... that? Your drink?"

"At the moment, yes. But it's all supposed to change... after."

I nodded knowingly, my eyes, by chance, falling at his watch.

"I must go!" I exclaimed scrambling to my feet and reaching for my coat, but Lucas was already behind me, helping me to put it on. He donned his own coat and collected his book and the phone, both lying on the table, then followed me out of the café and towards the traffic lights.

"Lucas, honestly, I can walk across the street alone."

"Let's not start again, Samara."

I pressed my lips tightly together as I was tempted to argue, but had to smile when I saw him notice my inner struggle and laugh at me.

"It was nice to see you, Lucas, thanks." I said when we reached the shop, realising that this was just what I had needed.

I was feeling relaxed for the first time since I woke up this morning, maybe more, and I had not thought of my dream in the last hour. It seemed that at some point... I just started to feel better, more spontaneous in the company of vampires and such-likes, than humans. And I really miss Vlad, and Junior, and all my friendly vampires from the castle, I realised again with a pang at my heart.

"See you later then." Lucas smiled.

"Say hello to Anaïs, please." I said, watching him nod in greeting to Mr. Turner, who waved at him through the glass. They really do have this... weird effect on people.

"I will," he promised, retreating towards the tube station, his words trailing behind him. "I must go now, please, try to stay put."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him, nodding instead, when he stopped and turned around, waiting for my promise.

Then he was gone and I entered the shop, my thoughts starting to stroll back to my dream immediately.

Jusztyna is there, in his world and you are here, distant, lost in both time and space, unable to reach him. She can help him, she said that much and you know it would be better if he accepted her offer... You can't do anything to remove him from that awful cell... She's been waiting for him for centuries and you don't even know if you can ever go back... I despaired later in the afternoon, organizing the dusty volumes which no one ever wished to buy in the tall shelves at the back of the shop, when Stoker appeared behind me, silent like a shadow, making me jump.

"My lady," he said with a slight bow, trying to look serious, "let me escort you home."

"Oh, stop it." I snapped, not in the mood to joke.

"Did anything happen?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at me as I pushed past him to get my things from the kitchen.

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about what was on my mind, but he wouldn't have it. He put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"Let me rephrase. What exactly happened to you?" He insisted. "Look, Samara. You came to me for help. You even put yourself in danger by doing so. But I can't do anything for you unless you talk to me."

"It was... just a dream," I sighed, surrendering.

"If my theory is correct, then your dreams are much more than just dreams." He said mysteriously.

"So you have a theory about my dreams?" I smirked, teasing him.

"I have many theories about you and your other world. But I don't know if they are correct. We must talk and compare our knowledge..."

"You may go, Miss Marlowe," Mr. Turner's voice disturbed us. "I didn't know you knew Mr. Balcombe." He added, smiling at Stoker warmly, as he approached us.

I turned to Stoker, my eyebrows raised in a silent enquiry, my face hidden from my boss while I replied to him, "I didn't know you knew him either, Mr. Turner."

Stoker shook his head infinitesimally, suggesting that I shouldn't say much, while Mr. Turner said, "Of course I do, we sell his books!"

"Do we really sell your books, Mr. Balcombe?" I asked once we were alone, out in the street.

"I have never stopped writing." He said, lacing his arm through mine and pulling me quite close to him.

I did not object because I could feel it too. Someone was watching us.

"Don't look around, just walk, Samara." He said as we made our way towards the flat.

"Are they really dangerous?" I asked, shivering partly from the cold and partly from the bone deep chill caused by the fear creeping through me. Just how did I end up entrusting my life to a vampire I only met two days ago, believing blindly that he is any better than the others, checking me out from the shadows...

"Well, I don't believe Viorel would want to harm you intentionally, he just wants to get inside your other world and believes you can help him. Maybe if you managed to persuade him that you have no idea how to get back yourself, he would let you be. However, I don't trust his self-control enough to let him get anywhere near you, definitely not while you are alone."

"Fine. Then let me talk to him now, while you are here with me. I'll tell him I have no idea about anything..." I said, stopping suddenly.

"Don't ever try to approach any of them, especially without me or Lucas at your side, understood?! How come you don't seem to be even a bit scared, have you never met a... proper vampire?" He whisper-shouted, pulling at my arm to make me start walking again. "This is not Viorel, Samara." He said, scanning the surrounding crowd. "I don't recognize their scent; I don't know this person. They might just be curious, but it's better not to risk anything, don't you think?" He added, trying to penetrate my thoughts with his sidelong glances as he walked next to me.

In the end he only shook his head, resigned to my behaviour, "I wonder why did your husband not change you. You, with that stubborn, wayward head of yours are a danger to yourself, and others, in this fragile, human form. Maybe I should change you before sending you back to him... It might make his life easier." He smiled at his own joke, revealing a perfect row of white teeth.

How can anyone be this annoying? So frustrating and unsupportable... "You are definitely not changing me. No one will but Vlad, if he'll want to." I announced, looking away from him.

"Then you should be more careful, my lady. You always seem to excite the attention and curiosity of the worst kind of vampires."

What...? "That's nonsense. I don't."

"Really? Do you want a list? Let's see..." he said, letting go of my arm and ticking the names off his fingers. "Your husband's brother, Radu, everybody knows the story. Rareş and his Council, you said that yourself. Andrei, as I know from your husband and now, apparently, Viorel... Trust me, you are a magnet for trouble. You have always been, Samara."

He was awful. I took a deep, calming breath and resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him, even as the memory of Radu's carelessly pronounced, half-forgotten words echoed through my mind, You should have been mine. For him you were only a trouble, back then and even now...

I only shook my head in response, there was nothing to say in my defence. He knows too much about me, maybe even more than I remember myself, I mused, observing his profile inconspicuously.

We let an uneasy silence stretch between us undisturbed as we walked down the road, and only started talking again when we reached the flat.