Dracula And Anna: Finding The truth

Ch 9: The Unknown Room

'She's having a bath,' said Lily, pointing her thumb to the door behind her.

'That's a bathroom?' The unknown room was a bathroom?

Lily walked past Anna, 'yes that's the bathroom, why, what'd you think it was?'

'I didn't think it was anything,' she replied bluntly. Which was the truth, since she hadn't known what it was. Lily headed to the far-right room; if that was Lily's room, then the centre room would have to be Rose's.

After Lily had disappeared into her bedroom, Anna turned back to the bathroom. She had thought that she was the only one up, but she had thought wrong. It seemed that there was only one who had not yet risen. Dracula.

Not knowing the last time she'd had a bath, she knocked on the door before entering.

Inside was a large room with a large bath, which was big enough to be called a small pool, covering the back left corner, (and then some). To the left was a bench with what was evidently for clean clothes, since there were three sets. Two were women's clothes, one red, the other a very dark purple, while the black clothes were obviously Dracula's.

To the right of the room was a strange-looking metal box in the wall, while next to it was a rack with four different coloured towels – red, pink, dark purple and black – with names written on white on each towel.

Turning her attention back to the bath, she noticed something odd. Although the bath was big, that was not what she found odd. Throughout the bath were what looked-like little holes. Strange.

'Oh, hi Anna. I didn't see you there.' Rose was sitting in the right corner of the bath, she had her left side to the door, but not fully, it was at an angle. Since her head was turned, looking at Anna, her chin gently touched her left shoulder.

'You look as if you haven't seen a bath before!' stated Rose flatly, though there was a hint of mirth. Rose's words caught her attention and pulled her out of her thoughts.

'It's just these little holes,' Anna muttered, pointing at the nearest one. Rose was looking at her as if she had three heads or something. Anna couldn't help but find it a little unnerving.

'The holes cause nice feeling bubbles and it relaxes you. This type of bath is called a spa bath.' Rose sounded out the last words as if she were trying to teach a child how to speak.

'Spa bath,' Anna muttered thoughtfully. She'd never had such a contraption, nor had she heard of one.

Just how long had she been a vampire?

And there was only one way to find out. She had to remember.

Pulling herself back to reality, Anna stripped off and got into the bath. She needed one.

'When was the last time I'd had a bath?' she asked Rose, not sure she really wanted to know. Rose appeared to be deep in thought.

'We'd had a bath, then went out to feed.' She recounted, thinking back, 'then you were attacked, you were brought back here, and then you woke up a month later.'

Anna remained silent, allowing this new piece of information to sink in. Carefully, Anna pulled Rose's words into pieces, to better comprehend what she had just heard.

It had been a month since she'd last had a bath. They went out to kill people so that they could survive. She was attacked, most likely the reason for her unconsciousness and amnesia. Was brought back to the castle, but who had carried her? Lily, Rose? Surely it wasn't Dracula, was it? Well, he had stayed by her side for a month, without ever leaving. Did that mean he cared? Did he actually have a heart?

Putting away these thoughts for later, Anna started to scrub herself clean. Rose left ten minutes later, while Anna stayed, continuing to scrub, just to make sure she was clean, considering how long it had been since she'd last bathed.

Not knowing that Lily and Rose had gone elsewhere in the castle, or that a certain vampire was no longer in his bedroom, she fell asleep. Her energy just seemed to be drained lately.

Having gotten out of bed, he found that no one was in the living room. He sensed that his brides weren't in their rooms; they were elsewhere in the castle, except for one...

Striding into the bathroom – well he did need a bath – he discovered Anna lying against the outer wall of the tub in a way that kept her from becoming submerged.

Seeing the way she was sleeping caused him to smile. He often wondered how she did things like this while remaining comfortable.

Not wanting to disturb her, since she looked so peaceful, he slipped out of his clothes and quietly slid into the water.