I hadn't even noticed her, she was that fast, but as I walked inside the house Anaïs was in front of me, her arms wrapped around my waist, her ear pressed to my belly.

"I can't hear her." She said, sounding disappointed.

"Anäis, that's not very polite!" Lucas scolded the girl, but I did not mind.

"It's still too early for that, you'll have to wait a few more weeks..." I told her, stroking her beautiful, wayward hair.

"Anaïs, why don't you come over here to finish dressing up this poor doll, and let our guests come in?" Albert called, appearing in the doorway at the bottom of the corridor. "Nicole is waiting for you."

Anaïs giggled and letting go of me she pulled Lucas down by his scarf. "She's waiting for you, actually. She's been asking about you the whole day." She whispered a bit too loudly then hopped off, giggling again.

"Don't say anything." Lucas said as he helped me take my coat off, noticing my struggle to remain serious. "Behave."

"Of course." I said, taking my present for Anaïs from him and following Lia and Stoker into the sitting room.

It seemed that I would finally find out something about Lucas' love life, which was only fair; he knew everything about mine. I smiled to myself and he noticed.

"You can be... awfully annoying sometimes, you know?"

"Thanks." I said, giggling like Anaïs before.

There were two new people in the sitting room. A pretty, petite, blonde woman with a pixie hair style and a young, brown-haired girl.

While Albert introduced the older one to me as Céline, his girlfriend, Lia ran over to the girl and hugged her, surprising me. Do they know each other?

"I'm so glad to meet you Samara, it's... such an honour. Ever since I met Nicole's father, I keep stumbling across stories about you and I must admit, my daughter grew up listening to your legend." Céline said, making me feel... strange.

I still couldn't wrap my mind around this, my and Vlad's lives being recounted as a bedtime story for vampire children.

"It's nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot about you as well." I said, glancing at Lucas, not sure if I was allowed to say that.

He smiled and nodded, then kissed Céline on the cheek.

She pulled him into an embrace. "I missed you." She told him in a motherly way, making me remember that it was my fault that they haven't seen much of him lately.

They exchanged a few more phrases and once Céline was satisfied, seeing him looking well and happy, Lucas led me over to the sofa where Anaïs was playing with Lia and the tall and thin girl, Nicole.

I passed my present to Anaïs and while she unwrapped it, squealing with joy, Nicole looked shyly at us, her pale cheeks colouring slightly as her eyes met Lucas'.

"This is Nicole, Céline's daughter," Lucas introduced her, "and this is Samara..."

"I know, of course." Nicole said, pushing a stray strand of her long, perfectly straight hair behind her ear and smiling at me. "I've heard so much about you. From Bram, and Lia..."

"So you know each other already?" I asked her, sitting down next to them when Lucas vanished somewhere. Anaïs kissed me on the cheek thanking me for the dress then disappeared too, to try it on.

"Yes, we met at Bram's a few times..."

"Nicole studies in London, at my university, actually. She's in the first year." Lia interrupted her.

"That's great," I said, admiring them both. I could never study medicine.

"So you are Lucas'... friend?" I asked just to say something to keep the conversation going as Lia left us to join Stoker who was sitting alone in a large armchair by the window, scribbling in his notebook. "I've never met any of his friends apart from Mark."

"That fits. He's not very sociable." Nicole smiled as she observed Lucas, who was now playing with his sister, already wearing her new gown, on the other side of the room. Her feelings for him were so easy to read on her face... And he never even mentioned her.

Céline called us all to dinner at that moment, putting an end to our short conversation.

At the table I was seated between Lia and Lucas, opposite of Nicole and Anaïs. During our meal I noticed her trying to catch Lucas' eye so often that once everybody stood up to go back into the sitting room after we had finished eating, I pulled Lucas back down to his chair.

"Did she go to the girls' school on the cliffs?" I asked when we were quite alone and he looked at me inquiringly.

"Samara..."

"Just reply, will you? You know everything about me, it's my turn to ask now."

"She did."

"And..."

"It was before..." Lucas said thoughtfully as we noticed his dad kissing Céline in the corridor, where they paused on their way to the sitting room, "before she started to feel too much like a sister."

"Don't be silly! Just because your parents are in love... She doesn't see you like a brother, I'm sure!"

As he did not say anything, I asked, "Is she a half-vampire like you?"

"Yes. She doesn't remember her father. None of us really knows who he is, Céline doesn't speak about him much. They broke up when Nicole was two years old. Céline only said that... he changed her soon after their daughter was born and taught her enough self-control not to kill her own child. Then he left and she hasn't seen him since. See, not everyone finds endless love, not at the first try at least." Lucas said, smiling at me, before he continued. "Not trusting herself enough, Céline left the girl with her mother for nearly a year, while she stayed with Uncle who taught her to become 'human-like' again. That's how we all met her. We became closer when Anaïs was born and even more later, when... She was always around to help. And Nicole practically grew up with us." Lucas shrugged.

"But she's not your sister." I reminded him.

"I know that. Trust me, Samara." He said, his eyes trained on Nicole who ran into the kitchen in search of her ringing phone.

"Just saying..." I smiled at him, standing up.

"Thanks."

"My pleasure. Whenever you need me to remind you, just ask." I said, walking out of the kitchen and leaving the two alone.

It was too late to walk all the way back to the cliffs when we finally left Albert's place. The four of us climbed into a cab Céline called for us, promising that we would pass by again tomorrow or the day after.

It was nearly midnight when we got back into the house. Lia and Lucas headed directly for the staircase leading to the bedrooms and I meant to do the same. I couldn't wait to be in my bed.

"Samara, I'd like to talk to you about your latest dream. Come." Stoker called, disappearing into the sitting room.

Sighing, wishing it could wait until the following morning, I took off my coat, left it by the stairs and followed him. But he was right, we needed to discuss my dreams. I noticed how, despite being extremely clear, they were still just that. Dreams. I could bring Vlad into this world in my sleep, I could feel him and talk to him, but I couldn't... concentrate on what I wanted to ask or tell him properly. Even though the questions were always at the forefront of my mind, it was so easy not to ask them... In my dreams, my conscious thoughts were like a gossamer veil, slipping through my fingers before I could grasp it. But I wanted to know about Clara, Junior, and Katerina...

I walked into the dark sitting room, illuminated only by the light of the full moon streaming inside through the glass door, and sat down on the sofa next to Stoker. Reaching for my handbag, I passed him my notebook.

"Why is it that, despite being able to create these dreams and connect with Vlad, I can't really talk to him about anything important?" I asked as he leafed through the pages of the notebook, smiling to himself.

"Because when you connect you are both asleep. You can't choose your dreams, not completely... You can decide some things, but you can only hope that the right things, the things you want to talk about, will pop in your subconscious mind while you dream."

I nodded, trying to understand. It didn't really make sense... but then again it did. I just would have to trust him on this one.

"So... if I think, or dream about Katerina before I... connect with Vlad, we can talk about her, and if I dream about my wolf he'll appear?"

"And all those things and people your husband dreams about as well, I guess. I'd say... you can't really choose what you get, but you can decide what you'll do with it. Anyway, these are beautiful, Samara, but why did you do this to my book?" He asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"Sorry?" I asked, trying to disperse my confused thoughts and focus on him.

"My book," he repeated, passing me my copy of Dracula which I had given him instead of my notebook.

"I'm... Sorry." I muttered, hiding it quickly in my bag and passing him the correct book.

He wasn't supposed to see that, every single page of my copy of his book was obliterated by my drawings. I blushed, hoping he wouldn't notice in the darkness.

"Yes, exactly as I thought." He said after he skimmed through my latest entry.

"You still don't think that I can stay with him longer than another year, do you?" I asked. This thought was bothering me more than anything else at the moment.

"No, I don't think you can. As you know, this world... pauses while you are inside, the same way it did for me. Even though you seem to belong there more than anybody else, as your clothes change when you cross over, and those on the other side have been waiting for your return... I believe that even if you manage to get back in, you won't be able to stay forever. Neither you, nor your child. So I suggest that you leave the little one here, in safety, when you go back." Stoker advised, his voice gentle, as he observed me cautiously. "If you get back to him, and you think it's the right thing to do, try to understand if it would be really possible to lead him out here with you. Katerina might be able to help you. I don't suppose that following you here, into this world so utterly different from his, would be easy for him, but it's up to you two." Stoker shrugged.

He passed me my notebook and I took it from him, standing up. I was tired and needed to be alone to think this through. Leaving Aurora here while I would travel, and time travel back to Bran next Halloween, persuading Vlad to follow me here... It was... overwhelming.

"So what was wrong with it? What was it that didn't work for you?" Stoker asked, scattering my thoughts.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him distractedly.

"My book of course. Dracula. I know you don't like it."

"Oh, that." I said, sitting back down. There were many things I didn't like about it but I wasn't sure if I wanted him to know.

"I want your honest opinion, Samara," he smiled, his pale face looking nearly translucent, painted in the weak, cold moonlight and the deep shadows of the room.

"I... " Should I tell him? I reasoned as he kept staring at me, waiting for my reply. "Fine. But remember that it was you who asked." I warned him and he nodded.