Following Lia's advice, I made my way home fast, walking under the cold drizzle along the well lit streets of the village, rather than its poorly lit back lanes.

"Mum?" I called, as I entered our dim house, illuminated only by the street lights reaching inside through the windows facing the road.

I let the door shut behind me on its own, sending the soft rattle of its stained glass panes ricocheting around the empty silence of the house.

Lily jumped at me from the darkness, startling me, before I could turn on the lights. Apparently, Mum was still out, and the dog was bored; the poor thing had been left all alone the whole evening.

"Fine, come on then," I pitied her, seeing how happy even my presence made her.

She skipped up the stairs behind me and settled on my bed even before I collected all the necessary things for my shower.

When I was finally ready to go to sleep, feeling exhausted despite my long afternoon nap, Lily was sleeping so deeply, or pretending to be sleeping deeply so well, that she didn't even stir when I joined her in the bed.

Once my book was safely under my pillow, I checked my phone. There was a message from Mum asking me not to wait for her, as she would stay out late. I thought for a moment, not sure what to reply, and opted, in the end, for a simple 'Have fun'. It seemed to be the best piece of advice. She hadn't had it easy with Dad for a long time now, and if he could be having fun every night somewhere, then she could do it, too.

There was a text from William as well, informing me that he missed me. Right. I still have to deal with him. As if I didn't have enough troubles even without my strangely behaving ex-boyfriend.

"Just leave me alone," I mumbled, ignoring the message and switching the phone and the lights off.

Then I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

I woke up at the break of dawn, shaking with fear and cold, my heart beating wildly, its rhythm pulsing in my ears.

The dream...

It had been awful and so real as if I had been inside of it, watching the scary scene unfold from a hiding place somewhere behind snow-covered trees and bushes of a forest...

What was it all about... I struggled to remember, grabbing at the confused images which started to vanish already, slowly, gradually, like the darkness of the previous night still filling my room, in the first shy light of today breaking in through my window.

It was an early, misty morning in a forest, in my dream, I recalled. A fresh layer of snow was covering the grass as far as I could see in the insufficient light of the oncoming day.

Clara was there, I recognized her by her long, wavy, bright cinnamon hair, worn untypically loose. I saw...
a masked man on horseback snatching her as she walked across a small clearing and watched them disappear into the fog under the trees.

And when I looked back to the clearing, clasping my throat in shock as for some reason I was unable to make a sound, to scream to alert someone, anyone about what was happening, I saw Ioan.

Ioan, lying lifeless on the snow, a patch of blood growing, spreading around his chest like a huge red flower.

Soon, there were more bodies on the ground, and there was Vlad... Vlad, fighting two men at once, his cloak flying around him in shreds as one of his opponents fell to his knees while the other kept fighting.

A sudden sound of hoof beats muffled by the layer of snow drew my eyes to the misty undergrowth at the edge of the clearing, where the first few of many men were dismounting their horses.

I looked back to where Vlad had been, wanting to warn him somehow, but it was too late.

He was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, his right hand pressed tightly to his left, wounded shoulder. His face was smeared with blood; the colour so lively against the cold whiteness of the snow and the perfect blackness of his hair now spread wildly around his head.

I approached him, barefooted and dressed in my bright blue pyjamas. Sinking to my knees in the snow surrounding his body, I pushed a few strands of his hair away from his face, caressing his cheek. His eyes snapped open as if he could feel my touch, startling me. His pupils grew wide with surprise as he looked in my eyes, saying, "You mustn't worry, my love."

I felt a couple of hot tears rolling down my cheeks as I tried, in vain, to respond.

Vlad turned his head to the left, attracted by the sound of voices, and I followed his look, noticing that all of the men had dismounted their horses by now, causing more confusion, shouting orders.

One of them approached us and grabbed Vlad by his injured arm, causing him to wince with pain, pulling him roughly to his feet. Our eyes locked for the last, shortest instant, then he was snatched away from me, leaving me kneeling in the snow, now perfectly white and spotless once again, as if nothing had happened.

Then the dream dissolved around me in a whirlpool of confused images, sounds, and sensations, leaving me trembling and alone, back in my bed.

I sat up slowly, willing my heart to slow down, still not completely sure of what had been a dream and what was reality.

Vlad was injured. Injured, suffering, imprisoned somewhere. Ioan was dead. Clara was gone... It had been so real.

My bedroom's window was cutting a square out of the darkness of the room, letting in the weak light of the early, cold morning.

Lily was gone, a sure sign that Mum had made it home at some point last night. I reached for my phone, switched it on, and stood up.

My legs supported my weight with difficulty. I was still trembling, more from the effect the dream had had on me than from the cold. The vision had left me drained, both physically and emotionally.

If only I could bury myself in my bed, forever, and cry myself to oblivion, I thought as I reached the window.

But I wasn't so lucky. The fox was already there, waiting for me by the back wall of the garden. And the text that had just arrived, making my phone vibrate, was from Lia, I was sure about it. She got up early on purpose to remind me about the test I was to do as soon as I woke up. Oh, Lia...

You can't afford to fall apart, I reminded myself, putting my left hand over my belly while wiping the tears away with my right. You must go on for them. I thought, watching the diamond of my wedding ring glitter faintly as the light of the new day grew brighter. You must be strong.

I allowed myself to weep silently for a few minutes, then walked to my desk where I had left my handbag the night before. I took the pregnancy test out, opened the box, and skimmed through the instructions before taking it with me to the bathroom.

It's all right. Breathe. You'll be fine, you mustn't worry, remember? You wanted this. Not quite this way, but you did... I tried to reassure myself once I was back in my room. I had been sitting on my bed, staring at the plastic thing in my hand, displaying two perfectly straight and clear lines for at least ten minutes.

Taking a shaky breath, I finally typed to Lia, 'Positive', wishing I could say this to Vlad instead.

'Hmmm... Hurray? Are you happy?' Was her immediate answer.

'Yes.' I answered simply, without a moment of hesitation.

Despite the unhappy circumstances and the difficulties it was bound to make me go through, it was exactly what I had been wishing for. For centuries. I was going to have Vlad's child.

'Good. Then I'm happy too. Eat something, and relax. It's important for the baby. See you later.'

She was right. It wasn't only me anymore.

I donned my dressing gown and went downstairs, remembering the poor fox as I reached the kitchen. I put the kettle on and went to get the fox's plate in the utility room, then a can of dog food from Lily's cupboard. Remembering the wet grass soaking my slippers the previous morning, I wore a pair of Mum's rubber gardening shoes left by the back door before venturing outside.

"Your name is Whisper, I hope you like it," I informed the fox as I walked inside again, avoiding to look back so I wouldn't scare it, listening to the gentle susurrus of its paws on the frozen grass as it approached the plate I had left in the middle of the garden.

I was all dressed and ready to leave, adjusting my heavy handbag stuffed with books and Lia's papers on my shoulder, my other hand reaching for the door handle, when Mum appeared on the top of the stairs.

"Are you leaving already? It's only ten o'clock, I thought we could have breakfast together," she said, descending the staircase.

Lily beat her to the bottom and sat down at my feet, waiting for a caress.

"I'm going shopping with Lia before work, we will have lunch together," I said, caressing the tiny dog's ears. "I should be back by nine tonight." I looked up at Mum, finding her sitting on the stairs, watching me, her eyes glued to my ring where it shone through the dog's fur.

"How was your night?" I asked before she could start with her own set of questions.

"Good. Great, actually." She smiled dreamily, her eyes glazing over with memories, forgetting my ring.

"When is Dad coming home?" I enquired, snapping her cruelly back to reality. But I needed to know that. I had to tell them that I was pregnant, and I wanted to talk about it only once, with both of them present.

"Not before Friday night, I believe. It's your birthday, we will have dinner together as we always do. Why are you asking about Dad?"

Because I'll be moving out as soon as he knows... "Hmm... it's nothing. I must go Mum, Lia is waiting for me."

She stood up and walked the rest of the way down. Reaching me by the door, she embraced me unexpectedly. Wow. I liked this 'new' Mum more.

I hugged her back, reminded her that I'd be home tonight, then rushed out of the house and towards Luigi's restaurant along my beloved back lanes to save time.

Luckily, Luigi limited his attention to my person to a few curious looks and questions about my general wellbeing. I couldn't tell him anything, at least not yet, not before I told my parents.

I thanked him for my cappuccino, then rushed out of the restaurant when I saw my bus approaching the stop at the other edge of the pond. Ignoring Luigi's well meant advice about the slippery, half-frozen path, I reached the bus running, at the last moment.

Breathing heavily after the unexpected exercise, I sat down on the closest free seat. Struggling not to spill the contents of my cup, I texted Lia, letting her know that I'd be with her, by the fountain in the square, in some twenty minutes. To pass the time, I pulled her list of 'dos' and 'don'ts' out of my bag and started reading.

I was stuffing the papers I had been skimming through back in my handbag, my head clouded with all the new, useful advice and information about pregnancy, when Lia jumped at me from the small crowd filling the Hammersmith bus station even on a Sunday morning.

"What... " I started to ask what she was doing there, as we were supposed to meet in the square.

She didn't give me a chance to speak, though.

"What are you going to do? Are you really happy? I couldn't sleep all night, thinking of how this child of yours would be, knowing who, or rather what, the father is..."

Helpful as she usually was, she was not helping me now at all. I couldn't stop thinking about it myself.

"Lia, not now, ok? It will be... fine. Everything will be fine. I just need some time to find more information... " I said, throwing my empty cappuccino cup in the nearest bin.

"OK. I promise I'll behave," she interrupted me again. "Shall we buy some baby clothes? Please? I'm so excited!"

"No! Not today, Lia, not until the first scan at least. It's still too early. I've just read all about it."

"Fine, so only your skirts then," she said, sounding crestfallen, stuffing something inconspicuously inside her handbag.

Something that looked like... the most perfect pair of baby shoes. "Lia, show me, please," I asked her, unable to resist.

She beamed, passing the little package to me. The tiny shoes were beautiful, making my situation look so much more... real.

"All right. We will buy something to match these," I said, looking at the periwinkle wonder fitting the palm of my hand through tears. "One set of clothes only, until the scan, promise? And before I forget, would you book me an appointment with your mum, in, say, two or three weeks? It should be three months then, if I remember well..."

"Sure," she said, beaming at me, lacing her arm through mine as we made our way out of the station. "But you'll have to see a midwife first; there are some tests you should do before the scan. Don't worry, I know one, she's mum's good friend... "