He pulled you closer, removed his long red cape and wrapped it around your body.
"It will keep you warm." he smiled. "Now I want you to hold onto me tightly!"
"Why?" you asked.
"Because.." he picked you up bridal style and you wrapped your hands around his neck. You noticed he wasn't warm like Gilbert. "We're going back in the castle." then he jumped off the ground and in less than a few seconds, you were so high you could see the trees that looked like ants now.

Could he fly!!!??

You got scared because the distance between you and the earth was great. You felt how you involuntarily squeezed Michael's neck to the point where your hands hurt, then closed your eyes tightly and buried your head in the crock of his neck but since the thing that was happening to you right now, wasn't something that happened every day, you decided to open them a little to look.

You saw him getting too close to a tree.

"AHHHHHH!" you screamed because you thought you were gonna die! He was going to crash straight into that big tree, is what you thought but he didn't. Instead, used it as a trampoline to increase his strength and speed because the next stop was the highest terrace of the castle.

The wind was blowing so strong on your face and he must have noticed that for his hand sheltered it with the cape.

You landed on his terrace which made you so happy! You survived!

He didn't let you on the ground immediately but kept carrying you, taking the stars down to enter the room with the big windows and that's where he gently put you on the floor. Your legs touched the marble and they've never before felt this weak and cheesy. Moreover, your whole body was shivering, filled with adrenaline. The feeling could be compared to riding on one of those scary rides.

"You can fly?" you couldn't control yourself, you had to ask him, there were also many other question that haunted you.

"It's not exactly flying. Let's say I can jump really high and take great distances before I need to set my feet on the ground..." you kept the cape around your body because it was cold although the adrenaline made you feel little warmer than before.

"You can also climb walls?" he begun taking of his gloves.

"Yes, you saw me earlier. I can climb ceilings too."

"This is your room, right?"

"Yes."

"Why is there no furniture?"

"Because I don't need it."

"But what if you get tired? You have to sit down!"

"I don't get tired."

"You don't? Like... never?" he nodded his head, grinning at you. So he never gets tired? Great... "But you do have a bed!"

"Yes. It makes me feel more... human and I also like to lay on it during day time and read books." this immediately led you to another question. "Don't you sleep?"

"No."

"But aren't vampires supposed to sleep in a ..."

"Coffin? Hahaha.. no, that's only in movies. We don't sleep at all."

"Can you walk out in the sun light?" he hesitated.

"I think I can... I did it once and... it was more than 1000 years ago.." your jaw dropped. 1000 YEARS AGO, LIKE WHAT????

"What happened?" you were way beyond curious and who could blame you about it? You don't meet vampires every day!

"Well, I stayed too long and my skin caught on fire..."

"So you can stay out in the sun but not for too long?"

"Yes. Well, I can remain longer if the weather's bad and the clouds cover the sun."

"How old are you?"

"Do you really wanna know?" you nodded.

"More than 2000 years."

"2000 years?!"

"Yes."

"I thought you were like in your thirties!" so that's why he would call you 'child' in the beginning when you came!

"Hahaha!" he laughed out loud "I was 32 when I became... what I am now and I've never aged since. I remained 32 forever." his eyes glistened.

"I've never before seen your hands without gloves on... why is that?"

"Because now that you know my true nature, there's no need to hide."

"But there's nothing wrong with your hands! They look completely fine!" he walked over to you, his body only few inches away from yours. You were looking in each others eyes.

"You're right, they look completely ordinary." they were very big and beautiful to you, his fingers long and slim "But if you were to ever touch them..." he gently placed his fingers on your cheek and you jumped for he was ice cold! "You see now... I'm cold like ice." he said while stroking your cheek. "You were immediately gonna guess that there was something wrong with me." why won't he remove his hand from your face? He kept caressing "Your skin's so warm... that's because your blood's alive." his voice was so soothing... and eyes so deep. He was looking into your soul. You remained like this for a few seconds when you

"Well... c-can you tell me h-how you... you know became a v-vampire?" he put his hands behind his back and walked over to the window.

"YN... I don't think that would be interesting to you. It was a dark story." he was looking through the window. His body looked like a statue in the distance.

"Are you kidding me? I wanna know everything!" then you realized you might have been too pushy so "But of course if you don't wanna talk, I'll understand and stop asking you..."

"No, it's fine. I'll tell you but... first, I suggest we go in the library. The fireplace's burning there and I believe you need heat... you're shivering!" he was right. You didn't wanna catch a cold or something.

He left you in the library and went to the kitchen to make a hot tea for you so that you'd warm up faster. After like 5 minutes he came back with the tea. That was so fast for you but he was a vampire so to him it was pretty normal! He sat in the chair in front of you and placed the cup of tea on the small table next to your chair.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Drink." you did so, eagerly waiting to hear his story.

"I come from a very rich family... Many, many years ago, when I had family and when I was a human, still a child, my father established a big village. He was its ruler, something like a king in his own empire." you drunk from the tea again as you watched him talk "But see... my father wasn't a good person. He was a liar, a dominant figure in the whole village, very cruel, fierce.. only his look would scare you! I remember, I was very scared of him... frightened!" Michael scared of something? That was hard to imagine for you.. "He treated people as if they were his servants. If they couldn't be his business partners and bring him money, then they were worthless and useless. Over the years, he became even worse... he begun killing people, he believed he was God! He thought he could say who can live and who can not! If you did him wrong, you were dead. That's how many village people found their death... he even killed my mother.." the sound of burning wood in the fireplace made the perfect background for his voice.

"Really?"

"Yes... when I was 16 years old and I hated him for this. He really was one terrible person until one day... the whole village teamed up and stood against him. I was 32 years old and he had just finished building this castle. I remember, one night, the moon was red, the whole village stormed into the castle with all kinds of weapons! They caught my father and I remember, I witnessed the whole thing with my brother and sister! We were in the living room, hiding behind a shelf. We watched as they tore his body into pieces... I covered my little sister's eyes, I didn't want her to watch this but she somehow removed my hand from her face and screamed in horror when she saw the torn body pieces of her father... the floor was covered in blood. The walls too... "

"I'm sorry..."

"They saw us! They saw we were there and came after us! We were running, we got out through the back door and hid in the gardens but the people found us. We had to get into the forest and that's when my faith changed... "

"Did you escape?"

"No... my brother did but they got me and my sister. I fought with all my strength for the two of us... and almost managed to escape but didn't."

"You didn't?"

"I didn't. I decided to save my sister... we were running really fast but she fell down and hurt her leg, it was bleeding and there was no way she could have continued running. I picked her up bridal style and run through the forest with her but soon my body became tired. She told me to leave her and save myself...

"Brother, just leave me! RUN, GO! NOW! It will be too late if you don't now! Leave me! Please!" Michael's heart was too good to abandon his little sister in the middle of the forest for a certain death. He didn't even wanna think what would the angry crowd do to her if they caught her. He picked her up bridal style and continued running. His heart was racing in his chest. His body was covered in cold sweat caused by fear and exhaustion from all the running. He felt his legs were gonna betray him soon.. he prayed to the Lord that won't be the fall otherwise, he and his sister would be probably cut into pieces just like his father.
"They're behind us! I see them, Michael! Run faster!" Michael tried so hard to pick up speed but instead decreased it with every further step. He was so tired he couldn't breath. His body didn't listen to him at all and he knew that soon he'll drop on the ground and wait for certain death. But his little sister... what about her? He watched as they tore his father's body to pieces but if they were to do the same to his sister... if they killed her first? He couldn't watch this... not again.
"Let me go and save yourself, you fool!" she cried in his ear for she saw there was no way out of this. She was gonna die for certain. She could run no more, the pain in her leg was indescribable, she was exhausted, practically half death. But Michael... he had a chance to escape but not while he was carrying her. She could feel his muscles become weaker with the passing of every second... the weight of her body slowing him down.
Then all of a sudden he stopped for a few seconds, then continued but in other direction.
He saw a ditch and thought that would be a great place to hide.
"What are you doing, Michael?"
"I can't run anymore... I can hardly breath! We'll hide in here!" but the ditch was too small. There was no room for another soul after his sister got in.
"Michael, there's no room! We have to go on!"
"No. Stay here."
"What?" he begun covering her with leaves and grass.
"No matter what happens... stay here."
"Michael, no! Please.."
"I love you." he said, then run into the forest, away from the ditch.
"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!" he heard the people yell behind him. He looked back and they were too close. He tried to run faster but couldn't. The end was here.

The barking dogs, stuck their teeth into the flesh of his legs, causing him to scream in pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he's never before screamed this loud and collapsed on the ground. He was somewhere between asleep and awake, his view was smudged, the earth was spinning. A pair of hands grabbed onto his clothes and pulled his helpless body up.

"We got him! Everybody, let's take him to the village! Our revenge will be tonight!"
"Where's the girl? She was with him? Look for the girl!"

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Michael's body was a prisoner of pain. His head was throbbing, the flesh of his legs - torn. He opened his eyes to find him self hanging from a tree. The people had tied him up by the wrists while he was unconscious and hung him up on a tree. They stood in front of him in a circle around the fire, waiting for him to open his eyes. He tried to let out a moan, caused by pain and fear but couldn't move his lips. They were completely dry. He couldn't feel his hands for he must have been hanging for a long time. The whole body was numb from the exhaustion, cold and scars.

"Tonight you will pay for the sins of your father!"
"YEAHHH!" they all said in a choir.
"We will finally revenge!"
"Noo... wait.." he managed to open his mouth "This is not my fault.. nor my siblings! It's all my father.. You killed him! Let me go!" his words were truthful but the people laughed.
"Maybe you're right! But you're a Dracula! Your father's blood is running in your veins! If we let you go, you'll come back one day and revenge us!"
"Do you think we're this stupid, Michael?!"
"I-I won't... I'm not like that! I promise you!" he said but the people were already poisoned by hatred and determined to get their revenge on the Draculas. They killed Joseph Dracula and unfortunately, the sister and the younger son escaped but Michael Dracula, the oldest son was in their hands.
"Come here and do the job we paid you for woman!" a woman stood in front of Michael, he recognized her.
"You! What are you..." she was known as a witch in the village. She was gonna be hanged and murdered but the people made a deal with her - her life will be granted if she cursed Michael in his death so that his soul will suffer in hell for eternity. "Oh no..." he knew what was about to expect from her - torture and certain death. "Lord... please help me.."

She begun performing an ancient ritual that was going to give the Devil the soul of the victim even if they were religious or didn't have any sins. It begun by cutting the body of the victim multiple times so that their blood would escape the veins. Fire was needed too since they had to pour his blood in the fire and then the body.

"In those days people believe blood was life and fire was the devil himself... " you sensed the pain in his voice as he was telling you his story. "But then.. something went wrong.. I guess she must have done the ritual wrong, I don't know what it was... but when they threw my body in the fire, and when they did it I remember I was almost dead, it didn't burn but... I felt power, I have never felt before in my whole entire live! The fire became one with my skin and I stood up on my legs.. they all screamed in panic!"

"Is that when you... changed?" you asked him.

"I think so.. because I heard the witch scream 'IT WENT WRONG! HE'S CURSED NOW, HE'S CURSED NOW! RUN!' I didn't know what that meant nor did I know what happened... but I walked out of the fire and then felt my body freeze in pain! I still remember this like it was yesterday because the pain was tremendous! The strength I had earlier, was now gone... I somehow managed to walk and got back into the forest.. then I remember collapsing and falling down a hill and that was it."

"And then?"

"I woke up and it was dark.. it was night, the moon was in the sky but it was no longer red. I got up and I could hear and see everything from miles away... My senses were running wild and my body felt different... that's when I became what I am now.."

Wow... you never expected this, his story was sad and tragic.

"I'm sorry, Michael... " you put your hand on top of his big one. You felt as if you were touching a corpse. "I shouldn't have asked... it brought back bad memories. I didn't wanna make you sad." you apologized to him.

"It's fine." he took your warm hand in his "I'm not sad. This happened long time ago so I'm completely fine." a moment of silence followed. You leaned back in your chair.

"What happened with your sister and brother?"

"When I woke up, I went to the spot where I had left her earlier but she was gone... I never saw her again. The same with my brother. Then I disappeared for a few centuries trying to control the inner, blood-thirsty beast and when I came back, the castle was still here so I decided to just stay. I was tired of the world. I've been everywhere and wanted to stay at one place for a while but this time decided to isolate the castle for I didn't want anymore trouble."

"Isolate it? Is that why it's so cold here and there are forests and and..."

"Yes."

"How did you do it?"

"I found a witch and she made a spell."

"A witch!!!"

"Yes.. and that's how I met Gilbert, by the way. She was his mother."

"Gilbert's mother is a witch!" he giggled at you.

"Yes."

"Well, where is she?"

"She's dead long time ago, see, witches are not immortal like me and Gilbert."

"Wow..." that was too much information for your ordinary, human brain to handle. "Is that why Gilbert's so angry with the world?"

"He's not angry..."

"But he always treats me bad and growls at me and ..." he laughed out loud.

"Gilbert is a werewolf and werewolves usually have bad temper. Moreover, he's been living isolated from the human races for almost 1900 years when his mother died! He asked to come with me and ever since, he's been my right hand, my brother, my company... He has forgotten what it felt like to be around humans and he doesn't hate you, he just needs time to get used to you."

"Oh ok... I guess I feel a lot better knowing that.. But he doesn't wanna eat me, right?"

"Hahahaha! Don't worry, he won't harm you."

"Are there any other vampires?"

"Yes, there are."

"Are they bad?"

"Yes, but they try to live isolated from the humans and hunt on animals because if your race found out about them, you'd use all your modern weapons and probably win. Humans are no longer defenseless... you've grown stronger over the time."

"Michael... can I ask you something?"

"Yes..."

"Have you killed people?" he remained silent and then said

"Yes." almost inaudible.

"Why didn't you kill me?" his facial expression changed into something you couldn't read then got up from his chair and said

"It's very late, almost morning. You should go to bed and I to my room."

"Can you come to my room with me... and stay?" his piercing eyes looked at you.

"Stay?"

"I'm s-scared... and the wolves.. they keep howling all night long.. Pleasee?"

"No." his voice was sharp as a blade. "Go to your room." he commanded.

"But-" then in less than a second he disappeared out of the room and you felt wind on your face! He was fast! Incredibly fast!

Why did he do that? After sharing his life story with you. Could it be that you said something and offended him?

You went to you room and lied down, thinking you couldn't fall asleep after all but in the end you did, the exhaustion was stronger than you.

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When you woke up in the late afternoon, you didn't find Gilbert in front of your room as usual, as for Michael, he was probably up in his room but you didn't dare go there. No way! Seemed you got him mad last night...

The whole story, vampires, werewolves... all that seemed like a fairytale right now but it wasn't for you remembered very well every detail from last night.

You found breakfast in the kitchen, probably made by Gilbert who was nowhere to be seen. You sat down eating and wondering.. would Michael show up tonight for dinner?

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It was already dinner time and you were in the living room, waiting for him and looking at the pictures hanging on the wall.

"Hi." you heard his voice and quickly turned around to find him standing next to the fireplace. When did he come? You would have heard his footsteps but then remembered, he was a vampire and could appear silently.

"Hi." he was dressed in black and gold, looked calm and his voice was very soft.

"You look beautiful tonight..."

"Thank you." you blushed and tried to hide it but he noticed and silently giggled, making you blush even more.

"I ahh... wanted to apologize for yesterday. I was very rude, I shouldn't have stormed out of the room.."

"It's ok, I'm not mad." he smiled and they looked away.

"I ah.." he cleared his throat "wanted to show you something tonight..."

"What?" you curiously asked.

"Come with me!"

You got in the elevator and went few floors up, then got off. You walked along the long corridor and entered a room, full of paintings. It looked very similar to you.. wait a minute! Isn't that the room where that accident happened?

"Come.." he placed his hand on your back and you looked at him. He's never done that before. He quickly removed it. "This is my father, Joseph." he led you to a painting of a man "And that's my mother, Katherine." she was a beautiful woman. Michael definitely had something from her. "My brother and sister.." he led you to another paintings. They were all beautiful people and looked like from centuries ago with old-fashioned clothes.

"You've managed to preserve those paintings through the years?" he nodded "That's amazing!" you looked around at other paintings "Is this you as a child?"

"Yes." you stared at him.

"You were cute!" he giggled.

"I wonder how you looked like as a child?"

"I'll gladly show you but all my pictures are at home.."

"YN, do you miss your home?"

"I miss my father..."

"What's your father like?"

"He's a nice person but allowed that Jane to lead him by the nose! By the way, can you tell me more about Jane since you know her better than me?"

"I can but... can it be some other night? I really don't wanna talk about her right now.." you didn't wanna push him.

"Of course." you continued looking at the paintings for a while when he said

"So what do you wanna do tonight?" you looked at him. His eyes... just magnificent!

"Well... actually there is something I wanna do but I don't know.. I don't think I should be asking you for it."

"It's okay, you can ask me anything and I'll do it for you!" you looked at him again, his words warmed up your heart.

"I was hoping you'd show me the castle from your point of view? Do you know what I mean?" he laughed.

"Of course but... I thought you were scared of heights!"

"Not anymore... and besides, you won't let anything bad happen to me." his face got serious.

"Do you really trust me so much?" you nodded your head. "Good." then with the speed of the light, he grabbed you and next thing you knew, you were between him and the ceiling, like a spider. "Wrap your legs and hands around me!" you quickly did. He crawled with you to the window, pushed it open and jumped, landing on the thick walls of the castle. High levels of adrenaline rushed through your veins. "Do you like the view, young Miss?" his eyes glistened.

"Oh God!" you said holding onto him with all you had. "It's amazing!" then he jumped up the wall and landed on top of the castle but it wasn't his terrace like last time. He let go of you. "It's beautiful up here!"

"I'm glad you like it." he smiled.

"Michael.. can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you the first vampire? Or are there any older than you?"

"No, I'm the very first of our kind."

"So you made others too?"

"Yes although I didn't want to..."

"Can you tell me how it happened?"

"I was a new born back then and didn't realize the curse my kind brings a long... I remember there was a war and I decided to help few people for I have felt sinful for killing innocent souls for blood. My conscience was killing me.... Anyhow, I gave them from my blood so they won't die and they turned into vampires, then I guess they must have made more.."

"Do you ... talk to them?"

"No. They don't even know I exist, only the few I save that night know about me but I haven't seen them ever since..."

"Don't you miss being with.. your kind?"

"Do you miss being with your kind? If you could right now, would you leave this place to go back to the city and be around people like you?" you hesitated.

"No."

"That answers your question."

You didn't wanna leave this place... and Michael.. no way.

"Isn't that Gilbert?" you asked pointing at a small figure on the ground, walking over to the edge.

"Yes, it's him. I can smell his dog breath from over here..." you burst out laughing. "It's true, he smells like a dog!"

"Why isn't he wearing his clothes like he usually does?"

"You know the truth, there's no need for him to hide, now is there?" you got so curious as to see his werewolf form but the distance was great and your eyes - weak.

"Are there any other werewolves, except for Gilbert?"

"Yes."

"Are they bad?"

"Well, that's a hard question since they don't really think once they've turned.. we vampires, always think and know what we're doing!"

"But Gilbert is acting like a human even thought he-"

"Yeah but he's trained over the centuries. It requires a lot of practice to get to his level!"

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I've trained him myself." wow! "Now, how about we take another walk.. I wanna show you something, the night is perfect for it!" after saying this he grabbed and jumped off with you, carrying you deeper into the heights of the castle.

He landed on his terrace.

"Turn around." he ordered and you did.

Your jaw dropped as you saw the silver moon, that seemed so close just in front of you... Your breath was literally taken away! You didn't know the moon was so close from here... You reached out your hand to touch it but then remembered that was impossible. Michael giggled behind you.

"Hey.. it's not funny!"

"I'm sorry but you're just too sweet..." you turned around to say something to him but he was way too close to you... There was silence between your bodies. You felt the urge to touch his perfect face...

"Ahh..." you stepped back, turning around to look at the moon again. You got so nerves from the closeness "You said you become a vampire because of that ritual..."

"Yes."

"Can you... reverse it? Do a ritual to become a human again?"

"YN... I've thought about that thousand times but it's not so easy. First of all, the witch needs to be very powerful and do the ritual to someone else to try to find out what went wrong in the first place. This means, we'll have to sacrifice someone... And if she finds out what the problem was, she has to experiment on someone else when trying to reverse it. Secondly, I don't think there are any witches left..."

"So you wanna be human again?"

"I've wanted it many times although to be honest, I've completely forgotten what it felt like to be a person... but if I did managed to do that, I would have never met you, right?" your face became hot from his last sentence. You felt his hand on your arm. He gently spun you around so that you'll be face to face. "Now is my turn to ask... Last night you invited me into your room like it was nothing..."

"Yes..."

"Aren't you afraid of me?" sunk in his dark eyes, you had no power to speak and only shook your head in 'no'. "But I've taken human lives before with these hands and lips..."

"We've all sinned, haven't we?" he put his hand on your neck and brought you closer to him until he pressed his lips against yours.

Your heart was beating so fast that you nearly fainted.

As he deepened the kiss, his tongue asked for entrance and without any hesitation, you let his sweet tongue become one with yours. He was cold but you didn't mind that at all. His hands travelled on your back while you buried your fingers in his locks. You kept kissing under the moon light for a few minutes and ended the kiss with a loud smack when your lips parted.

You were blushing like crazy while he had a soft smile on his face and his eyes glistened like fire. You simply rested your head against his chest and watched the moon.

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