Dracula's Groom

CHAPTER NINE: Kiss Me Now

Nathan

For the first time in a long time. I felt completely and undeniably wide awake. The sun peered through open window as it warmed the right side of my side. I opened my eyes and was met with a bright white light stinging my eyes as I quickly rolled over in bed and hit the floor with a heavy thud. The back of my head ached as I groaned and got up slowly. The thought of a concussion barely registered within my mind as I stumbled over to the bathroom and took a shower.

The hot water felt refreshing on my skin. It forced me to see everything clearly as I quickly came to my senses and remembered the events of last night. Dracul. I smiled a little at the thought of his name. I pictured him in an instant from his handsome face to his piercing green eyes that seemed to light up a room. But the excitement of seeing him again tonight thrilled me most of all. I couldn't wait. I was beyond happy.

Now only the real question remained. What was I going to do today? The last of the water trickled down the drain as I shut off the valve and pushed back the shower curtain. I dried off, brushed my teeth, and was fully dressed in under twenty minutes. I left the room with everything I came with as I went to the front desk and checked-out. It was a nice feeling not having to worry about trying to come up with the money to pay for things now. Aunt Agnus truly was the best aunt I could ever ask for.

As I stepped out onto the sidewalk I checked the time on my phone. Only twelve hours left until I'm supposed to meet Dracul in the center of town. The words shopping spree popped into my head as I started heading towards downtown in hopes of finding a clothing store. But there wasn't any. If I wanted to go shopping for some new clothes, I would need to travel further out of my way in order to find the nearest mall.

I hailed a taxi and gave directions to the driver to take me to Promenada Mall. He looked at me sort of strangely at first then shook his head as if I had spoken to him in a strange language. The mall which was located in the city of Bucharest gleamed in the morning light as the sun's rays reflected off its white walls. A crowd had already gathered outside its double doors as they waited to go inside while I paid the driver and stepped out into the open air.

To be honest, I felt a little bit like an outsider. An American who clearly felt out of place in a new state, not to mention having flown half-way across the world to live in a rural part of Europe. I was young and vulnerable. I didn't know anybody here. But maybe after a while things would get better. I stood amongst the crowd checking the time on my phone as an employee of the mall walked down the row of doors and unlocked them for us.

The crowd quickly made their way inside like a bunch of mindless drones as I made my way through it and found a map of the entire mall on display. A quick scan revealed to me that most, if not all, of the clothing stores would be located on the third and fourth floors. Heading for the nearest escalator I grabbed ahold of the rubber railing and put some distance between myself and some of the other shoppers as I looked around out of curiosity.

One store in particular caught my eye as I made my way to it and was instantly greeted by a female associate. I was flustered at first because I didn't speak any Romanian but once she saw the look on my face she laughed softly and showed me around.

"You're clearly not from around here are you?"

"Heh. Am I really that obvious?"

She smiled. "Yeah, you are. But don't worry about it. Everyone here speaks English all you have to do is ask. No harm done."

"Well, thank you for being the first in making me feel welcome."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Now what can I do for you today?"