• “So then, you do really refuse?” he asked back. I nodded. He smiled a wicked smile and flew to me. In a blink of an eye, he had his hand around my neck in a tight grip. I gasped and felt so much pain. I couldn’t breath. “I didn’t want to resort to violence, filiola. But you should know better than to question me, nonetheless refuse me.”

    In my struggles against his steel grip, I managed to speak, just gaspingly. “You are…a monster,” I spoke in between gasps. “To think, you’re going to choke the life out of me…and you still call me your filiola. Go on! Kill me then!” But as soon as I spoke those last words, he let me go and I fell onto the bed, choking and gasping for air.

    “I’m a monster you say? What of you? Are not a monster now too?” Mircea spoke softly. He looked into my eyes and bore his way into my mind; he had that power, the power to look into ones mind. He saw my anger and sadness. He saw the reason why I hated him. I turned away slowly. The mind control was gone. Mircea backed away from my face and headed for the door, laughing lightly as he went. Once he approached the door, he spoke. “I do expect you to be down at exactly half an hour from now. If you are not seen, I will send up Felix and Ian to fetch you.” He pointed to my dresser, to the elegant black and grey dress he had the maids bring up yesterday. “Wear that,” he said. “And you will not be needing jewelry. Except this,” he held up a silver chain with a pendent hung to it at the bottom. It was a black Dragònere wing clutching the moon, crested with silver diamonds and rubies. The necklace was magnificently familiar and I knew it was mine. It had belonged to my mother once, as our family heirloom, passed down amongst the female hunters.

    As soon as I saw it, I jumped off the bed and flew to the door in one breath. Vampire agility made moving very quick. I tried snatching at the necklace, but Mircea was quick as well, faster than me by a fraction of a second and he closed the door with his turn. Through the door he teased me.

    “I knew you would want this,” he started. “That’s why I kept it so near me. For when the time came, you would beg for it back.” He laughed lightly and left.

    I returned to the bed and just sat there. What else was there to do? I wasn’t about to go offering myself to some evil thing far up in the night sky just so that a greedy old vampire lord could drink from the fountain of, I don’t know, ‘ultimate power.’ Turning slowly to look at the terrace, the owl had returned, this time, perched on my terrace rail. It shimmered there, in the moonlight, and I walked over to it, opened the glass door that Mircea had closed, held out my hand and stroked its head. It was tame. Not many birds around this castle were tame. Actually, not many animals were inhabited around this castle, unless they wanted to become vampire food. But this owl just stared at me with plenty of sympathy in its sharp eyes. It focused on me, looking straight into my own eyes.

    “You’re not from around here, are you?” I asked the owl. But once I spoke, it flew away, ever so gently and gracefully. I retreated from the terrace and shut the door. I guess there was no choice anymore. Unlike the owl that could fly away, I couldn’t. I am bound to the darkness for eternity. So, I picked up the black and grey dress and held it up to me. It was beautiful; however, what was the point of wearing something so flawless when you’re going to die anyway? I went behind the folding screen and changed into the death dress to wait for Felix and Ian.