Dracula And Anna: Finding The truth

Ch 8: Why Do You Hate Me

Anna was surprised at what she found inside. Her bedroom was larger than it had been back in her family home. The bedhead of her queen-sized bed was against the back wall. The covers and pillows were made of silk in a dark purple that was so dark it was almost a light black. To the left of the room was what appeared to be a wall-to-wall wardrobe, while on the right side was a large dressing table with a mirror, beside it was a small bookshelf, which was full of a number of Anna's books from home.

'I see you like it.' Said Dracula, drawing her back into her whereabouts. He wasn't asking her what she thought of it, he obviously already knew. And he knew she knew this.

Anna glided over to the bed; she was suddenly very tired. Dracula came to stand next to her. Pulling the covers back, Dracula helped her into her bed and then proceeded to tuck her in.

'Sleep well Anna.' He whispered softly to her. Leaning forward, he gently kissed her forehead. He was surprised to find that she didn't seem to mind until he noticed that she was asleep, more asleep than the dead.

Smiling, he left, only to pause and look back at her before he closed the door. Thinking that Lily and Rose would be getting worried that he wasn't in bed, he went into his bedroom, only to find that they too were just as much asleep.

Thinking he might finally get a non-restless night's sleep, he somehow got into the middle of the bed – between Lily and Rose – and almost immediately fell asleep.

When the night reapproached Anna was the first to wake. Her mind was obviously not used to the room, because at first, she hadn't known where she was. Her body clearly knew the bed well, because she had slept well.

Leaving her room, she stepped out into the living room, as they called it, mainly because they tended to "live" there. The room was lavish and luxurious. It was strangely decorated and obviously suited well to Dracula's personality. Although it had things that Anna couldn't identify with, the names of which escaped her. There were several doors leading out of the living room.

Strangely she hadn't taken much notice of the room, until now.

Having wandered around, she now stood in front of the one door that led out into the castle. Looking around the room, she saw three doors to her right, Anna's was the furthest back from where she was standing; it was also the closest room to Dracula's. The other two had to be Lily's and Rose's bedrooms. On the left side of the room was another door, where did it lead?

Following along the wall that had the unknown door, she reached the corner. The corner turned away from her, heading to the left. Against the wall, near her was some comfortable furniture. A sofa was against the wall of the unknown room and two more sofas on the other wall that led to the fireplace at the back of the room, to the left of Dracula's bedroom. Some distance from the fireplace sat a chair (the same chair that Dracula had been sitting in when she'd slammed her fist down the previous night). The table – about two feet from the sofas against the wall – was sitting some distance to the left of the chandelier, which was situated around the centre of the room.

At the very back of the room parallel to the exit, was Dracula's bedroom. The door was higher up than the rest, and there were stairs leading to the door. The stairs were one of those types that widened at the bottom that seemed to fan out. The stairs were covered by a black velvet carpet – like the rest of the living room, though this was more expensive and there was less of it – and had polished black handrailings.

'Anna?'

She jumped at the voice and tuned around. Anna, having been standing under the chandelier, staring at Dracula's bedroom door, hadn't heard the door to the unknown room open and close. There, standing in front of the door, was Lily.

'Hi, Lily.' Anna was worried that Lily still meant her harm, and until she was certain that wasn't going to happen, would she begin to trust her? True, she had forgiven Lily, but trust was still a long way away. Lily put a finger to her lips as if to say, "shush."

'The master is sleeping. He needs his rest after how little sleep he's had.' Anna remembered what Dracula had said about his sleep or lack thereof.

'Why would he have such little sleep?' Anna asked, making her voice almost a whisper.

'You were unconscious and he refused to leave your side because he was worried for you.' Anna didn't know what to say. Dracula was worried about her?

'Lily?'

'Yes, Anna?' Lily was obviously curious, for her eyes - which was always betrayed her - couldn't hide her emotion.

'Why do we hate each other?'

'I don't understand, you don't hate the master, you never have.'

Anna shook her head, 'no, you and me.' Lily looked like she didn't want to talk about it, but Anna's gaze made her nervous.

'At least the real Anna's still in there somewhere,' thought Lily, with a small smile. The real Anna as far as Lily knew, for she didn't know how Dracula and Anna had gotten together, or that Anna had hated Dracula.

'I told you, I was stupid to be jealous of you, and even though the master loves you more than he loves us, he does love us.' So that was it. Lily had been jealous because Dracula loved her more than he loved Lily or Rose. Was it because Dracula had stayed at her side, without leaving? Or was this rivalry before then?

'When did this all start?' Anna wanted to know; she felt she needed to know.

'When I became a bride, you didn't have anything against me, but I had at first had it in for you and Rose, I thought I was the only one, but I soon discovered you two. I later realised that it was you Dracula loved above Rose, and me. I'd told Rose, but she wasn't bothered by it, and never hated you. The two of you always got along.'

'Why couldn't you be like Rose, why would you hate me, shouldn't you have hated him, for not telling you?'

'No,' whispered Lily outraged, 'I love him too much to ever hate him, but you only defended yourself or simply got revenge for whatever I did to you. You never really hated me, you knew I was just jealous.'

'Where is Rose anyway?' Anna hadn't really seen Rose since she'd met her on the bridge – not including when Rose was asleep on Dracula's bed, with Lily.