Dracula And Anna: Finding The truth

Ch 14: Anna Contemplates

Anna didn't know what was wrong with her. Why had she allowed him to get so close? His nose had touched hers ...and such a gentle touch it was.

Why had she done it? Why?

Anna had returned to sleep, but not in her bed. She wasn't even in a bed. She was out there in the living room, where both Lily and Rose, maybe even Van Helsing, could find her. Curled up no less, in the arms of Dracula!

Something was seriously wrong with her!

And yet, she didn't have any nightmares. No sickening feeling in his gentle, but firm hold. No desire to move her head away from his chest. No desire to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

No.

She wanted to be closer. Closer than she was now. Closer than she thought she'd ever been, or ever wanted. She was strongly reminded of the feeling she'd had in the bathroom, a week ago. She'd wanted to go to him, but couldn't. She didn't dare move, just in case he was asleep. Since she now had some time to her own thoughts, Anna decided it was time to figure out this mess.

Anna recalled her first-ever memory of Dracula.

It had been her sixteenth birthday; she was out a little later than usual that night. The stars had been twinkling brightly, though not as bright as the moon. No one else was about. It was almost completely silent, save for the wolves howling in the distance, the crickets singing, and the bats in the trees.

And that's when he came. That's when they met.

He had been so sweet, wishing her a happy birthday. She had never asked herself how he'd known. She just figured it was because she was the princess, everyone knew. He'd even kissed her hand ...but that's when it all went wrong.

That's when Velkin came.

He tried to get her away from the sweet, kind stranger, repeatedly telling her that he was Dracula. That he was there to kill her. Her family. Her people. The world.

Of course, she believed her brother. He after all had encountered Dracula before. He knew what he looked like. She didn't. Besides, she was only sixteen, not yet a full-grown woman. In those days, her father had insisted on her carrying a hidden stake. She had withdrawn it then. Velkin had run to tell their father, to get help. That's when she'd staked him in the heart. The heart that she believed he didn't have. At that time he hadn't had one. Did he have one now?

She had stood there with the stake in his heart, thinking that he had known who she was, even if she hadn't known who he was. He had been a gentleman back then, and now he was still a gentleman. Anna knew that he hadn't taken advantage of her after she'd drunk that man's blood. Although she didn't remember what had happened, she knew, she just knew.

Anna sighed into Dracula's shirt. He had stayed by her side, the whole month, never leaving her side. If that was true, had he carried her back? Did it mean he had a heart? Did he love her, Lily, and Rose?

Anna opened her eyes, and that's when she asked herself the most important question. What had happened? How had she got amnesia?

Dracula moved underneath her as if he was trying to get more comfortable, was he being uncomfortable for her? Or was it just her imagination? Maybe he was just waking up. Anna lifted her head to find out.

Only to look into those beautiful blue eyes.