I woke up feeling cold, scared, and lost. I was alone in my bed.

It was still dark when I sprang into a sitting position, wide awake, my heart fluttering in frantic rhythm in my chest. He has just left me-- in my dream, Vlad took me back to my own time and left me there.

I struggled to free myself from the tangled blankets and put my feet on the cool wooden floor. Luckily, someone had thought of bringing my slippers over; I remembered having left them by the bathtub the previous night. Even a clean dress was spread on the chair next to my bed.

First things first, I thought, deciding to ignore the dress for the moment and find my elusive husband. Where did he go now? Would he be having breakfast in the Great Hall with the others? The darkness outside suggested that maybe it was still too early for breakfast, but I decided to check anyway.

Dressed only in the long white shirt I had slept in, unwilling to waste time with wrapping myself in my blanket as usual, I quickly made my way towards the door that led to the spiral staircase. I would look, and if they were there, then I would dress quickly and join them, vampires or not. I was back now and belonged here as much as they did, if not more. They were my guests, too, and I was not going to hide.

Reaching for the door handle, I jumped at hearing a vaguely familiar voice, making its way to me from the far end of the corridor.

"There's nothing interesting to see down there at the moment. They are all too busy to sit and chat over breakfast today. And it's locked anyway, remember?"

Yes, I did remember now. The key was somewhere in my chamber, most probably still on the bench by the fireplace.

I looked at Vlad Junior, who materialised out of nowhere like a huge Cheshire Cat. He was leaning casually against the open door of the library, his silhouette haloed by the soft yellow glow of the dying fire from behind. In the dim light coming from my chamber, I could see that his arms were crossed over his chest, and a wide grin illuminated his boyish face, making him look even younger.

I crossed my arms across my body like him, remembering that I was wearing nothing but a shirt.

"I wasn't going to spy," I said, recalling that I had never been a good liar as my declaration only widened his Cheshire Cat grin. Weren't they supposed to have fangs? Apparently not. "I wanted to go up to the tower," I insisted. "Anyway, what are you doing here, and where is everybody else, then?" Where is your father?

"Mother and Uncle Andrei are getting ready. They are leaving today."

Good. I was happy about this piece of news, but it didn't answer all of my questions.

"I'm staying here for the moment, thanks for your invitation, my lady. And I'm to look after you today. We will have the whole day to get to know each other better." He bowed to me politely, and I curtseyed awkwardly, realising again how fast the ingrained manners of this life were coming back to me.

Hmm... He had been obliged or volunteered to keep me company for the day, but why?

Seeing that he was not going to contribute the only information I really cared about, I wrapped my arms tighter around my cold body and frowning slightly at him, asked, "Where is your father?"

"He is in the village," Junior said matter-of-factly, waving his hand in the air as if to underline the banality of my question. But as he continued, what he told me sounded like a carefully prepared and well rehearsed speech. "There has been some trouble, nothing to worry about much, but it will keep him away until tonight, at least."

Oh. I did not expect anything of the sort. Was I supposed to worry, or was this kind of 'trouble' normal, something that happened often? Maybe this was something unusual, serious, or dangerous. Something, a fleeting shadow that had moved behind Junior's eyes when he spoke, suggested that the matter was probably not as light as he wanted me to believe.

I opened my mouth to ask what exactly had happened, but he was faster.

"If you get dressed, I'll take you to meet old Cook. She is happy to have someone here who can really appreciate her cooking apart from the maids and servants. She will treat us to a special breakfast. And then we can go out. It's a beautiful winter morning outside. Look."

He crossed the corridor and walked past me into my chamber, stopping by the window, obliging me to follow.

Everything was white outside, and even though the sun was just beginning to rise, there was a strange luminescence emanating from the meadows because of all the sparkling snow.

"Ok, fine," I said, pushing him back out of my room. "I'll get ready. You wait in the library."

"Hurry up, I'm hungry." he said, smiling at my puzzled expression.

I had seen Vlad eating before, but the concept of a vampire eating normal food was still very strange to me. Junior himself had just said that they, vampires, didn't really appreciate Cook's food or something like that... Hopefully, he would not regret at the end of this day that he was left behind to babysit. I had too many questions, questions that, for some reason, seemed much easier to be asked of Junior than of his father.

Now, getting dressed alone and fast is another matter, I thought as I walked towards my bed, remembering the white gown full of inconveniently placed buttons from the previous day. Luckily, none of my dresses had the uncomfortable whale bone or iron corset that the women had to put up with for a long time afterwards. The fashionistas and dressmakers of this era seemed to be content with stiff fabric bodices that with some effort I could put on alone. If I chose the right gown.

I inspected the dress laying on the chair next to my bed and realised with a smile that it was probably Vlad who put it there for me, after instructing Junior about what to do with me in his absence. He remembered the buttons, too. This gown was made of heavy, dark blue velvet, warm and soft to touch, perfectly suitable for riding a horse over the snow-covered countryside. And, more importantly, it had all the buttons, hooks, and laces at the front. It was easy to put on and pleasant to wear, I noticed with satisfaction as I slipped into it. A pair of dark leather boots was under the chair, too.

Bending down to put them on, I called Junior and jumped at finding him seated next to me on the bed when I looked up. They were all so swift and noiseless.

Instead of offering his apologies for scaring the wits out of me, he laughed heartily at my startled expression.

Annoyed by his childish behaviour, I ignored it and only said, as dryly as I could still with my heart in my throat, "I just need a coat, and I'm ready."

"I'll get you a coat. You do your hair. I don't think your nurse will let you go anywhere with me if she sees you like this."

He was right, of course. I hadn't even looked in the mirror this morning, let alone brush my hair. I just didn't care how I looked in front of him. Vlad Junior was like a somewhat irritating younger brother I had never had.

"Fine," I said, walking towards the basin of water between the windows. I cleaned my teeth and washed my face, then brushed my hair and restrained it into a messy bun, not worrying about the stray shorter curls falling chaotically around my face as Junior was already behind me, putting a wide black cloak around my shoulders.

"Are you finally ready, Human? Come, I have to feed you. Father reminded me that you must eat much more often than us," he said, leading the way out of my chamber.

"Oh really? What else did he say?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"I'll tell you later if you behave," he said, reaching the door leading to the spiral staircase in a blur, the large key in his hand.

"Could you just slow down? You are making my head spin. We have all day, there's no need to rush," I said, my hand pressed to my chest, over my speeding heart. I just didn't like him moving so fast.

"I'm not rushing," he said smugly, and I thought that maybe he was only doing it to impress me. Show-off.

I rolled my eyes at him and started walking down the stairs while he locked the door behind us. He gave the key back to me once we reached the corridor running parallel with the Great Hall, where we had met the night before.

"Why did we come down this way, anyway?" I asked. I always used the main corridors and staircases with Vlad.

"Well, I know you don't like my father's knights. This way, we just left them standing by your door," he said, and after a short silence, added, "Could you not mention this to my father, please? He did ask me to take them everywhere with us. I guess I'll be in trouble if he finds out..."

That made me laugh. It was going to be a great day. If only I could manage not to think about the 'trouble' in the village and the cold void I was starting to feel around my heart without Vlad being within reach... I missed him, but he would be back tonight, surely.

"I swear I won't tell him. If you promise to answer all of my questions," I said teasingly, stating the price of my silence.

"Deal." He laughed, directing me to follow the corridor leading to the left.

"What's the other way?" I asked curiously.

"The Entry Hall, our closest way out," he grinned conspiratorially. "This way are the kitchens. It's all much closer through here," he said, walking behind me through the semi-darkness and then into the brightly lit kitchen.

Cook was quite tall, very round, incredibly loud and unmistakably human. She squealed with surprise as we appeared in the doorway, her arms elbow deep in a dough she was kneading.

Katerina, scared by the sound as she hadn't noticed us entering the large room, looked up from her breakfast, the thin, disapproving line of her lips nearly disappearing within the wrinkled skin of her ancient face. She wasn't happy to see me there.

"My lady! Finally!" Cook rushed over to me, brushing her hands on her overused but clean apron. She curtseyed in front of us, then her large, warm hand took mine and brought it to her face.

I looked up at Junior, confused by this heartily welcome by someone I had never met before, in time to see Cook pinching his cheek as if he was still a little boy. I had to suppress a laugh as I noticed a pink suggestion of the lightest of blushes spreading fast under his perfectly white skin.

Not wanting to disturb them, I made my way to Katerina and sat down on the long bench next to her. I liked the place, I realised as I removed my warm coat. The kitchen was large, warm, and cosy. Its originally white walls and the wooden beams of the ceiling were covered in most places by a layer of soot that had risen and settled there inconspicuously over the years from the huge hearth. The mouth-watering aromas filling its atmosphere and the heat of the cheerful fire made me feel more at home here than in my chamber.

"So you brought her down here even though your father asked you not to do it, and now you want to take her out on your own. Will you at least take a couple of knights? No, you won't, am I right?" Katerina's voice addressing Junior disturbed my silent observations. She seemed to know him quite well. "Do you think it's safe? Well, I don't. And I wonder how many more of your father's pleas will you ignore." Her voice was chilling, but Junior did not flinch.

"Come on, Katerina, I can look after her for one day, trust me. Let us have some fun. If it was for my father and you, she would soon feel like a prisoner here."

"Maybe, but she would be safe. Lady Samara knows the dangers of this place, she remembers. You have no idea, young man," Katerina insisted.

I chose not to listen to her and watched as Cook resumed her work with the dough, pretending not to listen either. After a while, she placed it in a large pan, which she covered with a white cloth, then carried it over to the hearth. As she turned, the woman noticed someone hidden in the shadows of the adjacent room and paused in her tracks.

"Alina, why are you hiding in there girl, have you no work to do?" Cook scolded.

Katerina's frown deepened as we all watched the plump maid entering the room.

"Go upstairs at once, Alina," Katerina ordered. "Everybody should be out by now, even the guests. All the chambers need cleaning. Take a couple of girls with you; there's a lot of work to be done."

The girl said nothing. She left the kitchen silently, her face blazing red as if she really had been caught eavesdropping.

After that, we had our breakfast with Katerina and Cook. I managed to make Katerina relax a little, promising we would be very careful.

As Cook was too busy to sit still for long and more servants and maids started streaming into the kitchens as the morning progressed, Junior and I said our goodbyes quickly before making our way out.

I leaned towards my nurse as I buttoned my coat. "See you later, Katerina," I said, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll look after him well, don't worry," I added in an attempt at a joke, nodding towards Junior.

"Sometimes I wonder, my lady... " she started, shaking her head, but kept the rest to herself. "Go have 'fun' then." She pronounced the word as if she had never used it before, making me giggle.