Long after I had wasted all the water in my eyes I heard a soft knock on the door. I wiped my eyes so that I would be a little more presentable.

“Come in,” I called.

The door opened and Verona of all people walked in. I raised a curious eyebrow at her.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I came to give you some help, Anna,” she replied.

The black haired vampiress removed a silk green bracelet from her wrist and placed it on the door knob.

“It’s more than it seems,” she said when she saw the look on my face. “It has a spell on it that will keep the master from entering this room. It’s one of the solutions we have come up with to keep you alive.” My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Verona was helping me?

“What are you doing that for, Verona?” I asked. “I thought you of all people wouldn’t want to help the likes of me.” Verona sighed.

“It is very important that you stay alive, Anna,” she said walking over to the wardrobe. “And also I came to help you get into something fitting for tonight’s dinner.” She pulled a velvet purple dress. I shook my head firmly.

“I appreciate your willingness to help me but I’m not going to dinner,” I said.

“But you must!” replied Verona. The door opened again. This time Marishka and Aleera walked in.

“Dinner is ready,” announced Aleera. “Although you don’t seem to be, Anna.”

“She refuses to go,” said Verona. The other two gasped. I rolled my eyes.

“The master will hurt you if you don’t go!” cried Marishka.

“And I’ll hurt you if you don’t go!” added Aleera. I glared at them for their silliness.

“I’m only going to say this once so you three had better be listening,” I said. “The Count wrote the truce and I agreed to it. There fore since he had me brought here he is going to have to deal with my stubborn attitude. Besides, Verona, you put that bracelet on the door knob. If it works properly then there’s no reason to fear him as long as he is on the other side of the door. And I refuse to go down there. Have I made myself clear or were you not listening?” The brides sighed heavily and shook their heads.

“Very well,” said Verona while putting the dress away.

“We will go tell the master,” said Aleera.

“And we’ll take the pain if he hurts us in his anger,” said Marishka as they left.

I went over and sat down on the bed. I didn’t know if I meant it when I said Verona’s bracelet might help but I was willing to risk it. So I sat there quietly and waited.

Five minutes later I heard an inhuman roar, followed by pounding footsteps that were followed by slower frightened ones. When the footsteps stopped I heard someone pounding his fist on the door to my room. I remained steady and calm.

“I thought I told you to come down to dinner!” shouted the Count.

“I’m not hungry!” I replied sharply.

“You’ll come or I’ll break down the door!” he cried.

“Yeah I’d like to see you try it, Count!” I snapped. The Count would have done just that if Marishka hadn’t stopped him.

“No, no, talking like that won’t make her listen to you,” she said. “Try speaking a little gentler, and with more nobility.” Either I was imagining it or Marishka was coaching the Count on how to be nice to me.

“Will you come down to dinner?” I heard the Count ask.

I wasn’t naïve. I knew when something was fake. And that was about as fake as you could get.

“No!” I snapped. “Go away!” This time Aleera tried to help him.

“Try putting less venom in your voice.”

If I hadn’t felt so angry I would have laughed. This was really funny! The idea that Count Dracula was being coached on how to be nice to me was hysterical! I made a mental note never to let him forget it.

“It would give me extreme pleasure,” said the Count, “if you would join me for dinner. Please.” Ridiculous! I wasn’t going to fall for that act!

“No, thank you!” I replied.

“You can’t stay in there forever!” cried the Count.

“Oh yes I can!” I snapped. “You just wait and see!”

“Fine!” cried the Count. “Then go ahead and starve!” He turned to his brides. “If she doesn’t eat with me, then she doesn’t eat at all!” I heard him turn away and that was followed by the sound of shattering glass.

“Well, that went well didn’t it?” said Verona. “He broke something.”

“It doesn’t help with her being so stubborn like that,” said Aleera. “Maybe we could talk to her about it.”

“Good idea,” said Marishka. “I’ll go down stairs and clean up while you two try to talk some sense into Anna.”

The door opened and in walked Aleera and Verona. I didn’t look up or acknowledge their presence. They came over and sat on either side of me. We sat in silence for a minute before Verona took a deep breath and spoke.

“That was quite a show you put on there, Anna. You managed to get him to break something.” Aleera nodded in agreement.

“I’ve never seen him so angry before,” she said. “But why did you have to do that? If you keep that up then the pain you will feel if he catches you outside this room will get worse.” I turned and glared at the red haired vampiress.

“I don’t care,” I said. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to yell at him like that with out him being able to do anything back. And if I get the chance to do it again I will!” Verona and Aleera sighed in annoyance and flopped down on the bed. They weren’t getting through to me at all, and I intended to keep it that way.

“C’mon on, Anna!” said Verona. “He’s really not so bad once you get to know him! Why don’t you just give him a chance?” I crossed my arms rebelliously and shook my head.

“I don’t want to get to know him!” I said. “I don’t want to have anything to do with him!” They sat up and gave each other frowns. “Why would you two care anyway? We’ve been enemies since I was a child.”

“So?” said Aleera. “What good would it do us now to fight with you, Anna?”

I stared wide eyed at her. I didn’t know if she’d gotten drunk on too much blood or if something was wrong with her brain, but either way that didn’t sound like her.

“Right now fighting with you is not the most important thing,” said Verona. “The most important thing is keeping you alive and safe, Anna.” They stood up.

“If you get hungry there is some food in the dining room,” said Aleera. “But try to go out only during the day time. That is when the castle is asleep. Think about what we said, Anna.” With that they left the room. Leaving me alone with my thoughts once more.

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