The Count's Princess (Completed)

The Plan: Die

I got to the castle and ran out of the car. I felt cold and alone. The wind whipped at my hair and ran through my body. The shifting, deadly looking forest that stretched for miles loomed behind me. The ominous, gray clouds  blanketed the woods with a sign of Zeus' anger.

I took the stone steps that lead to the dark door of the creepy castle two at a time. I tugged on the icy, black handles of the brown doors and grunted at their weight. They  creaked and groaned and wind ran into the room allowing the whisperings of death to settle even further inside me.

I quickly took in the empty feeling entrance of the castle and tried to catch my breath. No one was here. I heard a yell and whipped my head towards the stairs. I grasped the marble handle of the staircase and ran up it. Part way I tripped and scraped my knee. It hurt bad, but I pressed forward, determined to find my husband, hopefully not in a pool of blood.

I prayed to God that He would preserve the sinful man who had captured my heart. I prayed to God that He might accept me into His kingdom once I came unto Him. I prayed to God for strength for what I was about to do.

I made it to the top of the stairs and paused for just a moment, which was filled with the sound of my racing breath and my out of control beating heart. Then a cry came. I turned left and ran down a hall. My eyes wandered to the walls and the carpeted, cobble-stoned floor and worry devoured me as blotches of blood decorated the hall. I ran as fast as my skinny legs would take me. I tripped and fell on my elbow. I winced in pain and the pain from my knee came to mind. I looked down at my knee and found blood seeping out. My jeans were cut, so were my hands from a deadly rug burn. I got to my knees and made inhumane noises in my effort to get back on my feet.

With the thunder outside and wind beating at the stone walls of the vast castle, I knew my noises were being blocked out of my husband's pointy ears.

I limped and ran down the hall holding my elbow, which I was positive was broken, and followed another cry that so happened to outdo the anger of the sky.

I slammed into a door for support and twisted the handle, that I might open it. I fell inside and the two men I was looking for were found.

"Maggy," Alexandru winced. "What are you doing!?" He was angry with me. I looked up and propped myself onto my elbows. I climbed to my knees and took in the scene before me. Alexandru was lying on the ground on his stomach. He had bruises and cuts on his face and blood dripped out of his mouth.

Why isn't he healing?

To answer the question in my mind, my husband's afflictions slowly began to sink back into his skin.

I opened my mouth to say something but it hit me that I didn't know what I was going to say or how I was going to give my life for him.

Gabriel, with his man bun undone and his eyes full of nothing, came over and hoisted me onto my feet. My arm cried out in excruciating pain. He had a dagger and an old pistol in one hand. He had a few bruises as well and perspiration on his stern face made his skin glisten in the candle light.

"Don't touch her!" Alexandru quickly got up and threw the French man across the room in just a second. I blinked and slumped against a dresser that was in the room. I glanced around the interior of the room and found a dark casket. Octavian. He was most likely still inside. I decided to inch my way towards it but was stopped immediately by my vampire. "Maggy, what are you doing here?" Alexandru grasped my arms with rage and worry in his eyes. My left arm was limp but right grasped below his elbow. His looming figure comforted me because I was finally with him.

"I came to save you," I softly said above a whisper but I knew he heard me. His face fell and he shook his head.

"You need to go back to—" Gabriel stabbed Alexandru and my vampire cried out. Tears fell down my heated cheeks and I realized how useless I truly was.

"I'm not finished with you Dracula. If your wife is so adamant to watch then let her. Let Maggy watch you die. And then ... " he pushed Alexandru to the ground and stepped on him. "I will kill Octavian."

Where were the Gypsies when you needed them?

"I will kill every last one of you fiends. The Devil will have the children he stole before this life but he will not have any more of God's children." Gabriel growled. "Once I have had my fun killing the infamous Count Dracula," he looked at me with a devilish grin, "I will kill the fabled Octavian. Two in one day. Sounds impossible, but I will do it." I was crying—no—balling. My eyes raced across the room and I found multiple shurikens on the floor. I ungainly picked one up and threw it with all the might I had in my good arm. It hit Gabriel but bounced off. "Don't hurt yourself, Maggy," he said without emotion in his tone or on his face. "You're already pathetically hurt enough." His French accent only added to his wicked plot. He turned back to his dying vampire and kicked it again. My vampire. My Alexandru. My husband. My family. I gritted my teeth and glanced at Octavian's castle.

What time did he go to bed last night? I wondered. He'd been asleep for an awfully a long time. Then something caught my eye. Something that only the wife of Dracula would catch. Octavian wasn't in there, for the secret latch that a Vampire Hunter was supposed to miss was undone. A secret latch that only from the inside can be opened.

Is he waiting for something? Why is he allowing Alexandru to be beaten up? Why is he just sitting there? He must be inside. ... Or has he run away. Has he truly left his friend here to die?

Alexandru would have known if Octavian was gone. So why was he still defending the coffin?

Suddenly, a slight breeze flew past me. I didn't think anything of it at first due to the draft in the room caused by the windows and doors but suddenly crumpled a piece of paper that was in my hand.

I opened it with my fingers and gasped at the words.

I want to make him human too,
I love you Maggy,
but I know you want the same

Octavian. He wanted me to die. For his friend. Did he want me out of his life? But he said 'I love you.' I began thinking about how Octavian would turn back to human. Alexandru took the oath for love. To be with the one he loved. So if I die, being the one he loved and reciprocating those same feelings, he shall live as I die. So what about Octavian? He turned in his soul directly for his friend. And Alexandru feels the same way. So if a friend of Octavian's were to die, having the same feelings of friendship as him, then he'd be human too. I could save both of them. But was my friendship strong enough for the bald vampire?

Did he know that the reason I came back was to die?

I wondered what his plan was. He just gave me a note that said nothing about a full thought out plan except killing myself. But why doesn't he just kill Gabriel? He easily could, he's not poisoned like Alexandru.

Another note appeared in my hand. Tears raced down my cheeks but they were of joy this time. His plan was excellent. And if it didn't work, then so be it.