Lucas insisted on driving me to the hospital in his large, burgundy Audi, quite unsuitable for London's congested roads. Even though I had been against the idea initially, insisting on going by bus, I had to admit that this was much more comfortable.

"Why would someone buy a car this big to move around the city?" I teased, enjoying the luxury.

"I wouldn't know." He smiled, dispersing momentarily the look of concentration from his face, while his eyes stayed glued to the slow-moving stream of cars in front of us. "I didn't buy it. My father gave it to me when I decided to move to London, hoping that I would come home to visit more often."

"And did it work?" I asked, thinking about Anaïs, their father who I haven't met yet and their mum...

"I used to drive home every other weekend, but now I won't be going until Christmas, and we still have to organize that." He said, glancing at me quickly. "Don't." He continued before the words of apology for having turned his life upside down could leave my mouth. "They understand."

"But you..."

"I'm good, Samara. Please don't start again." He insisted, looking at me, a reassuring smile playing on his lips.

I smiled back tentatively, not quite convinced. It isn't fair. This, I, am not his trouble to solve... But what else can I do... I mused, turning away from him and spending the rest of our short transit by looking silently out of the window, lost in thoughts.

We were lucky enough to find a free spot to park just outside the hospital. Lucas came inside the building with me as far as the hospital's crowded café, where we met with Lia. He handed me over to my other friend and remained there, waiting for us to return.

"Did you drink enough?" Lia asked as we stopped at the end of a busy corridor crawling with patients, visitors, nurses and doctors to wait for the lift.

"I did everything you and Helen the midwife told me to do." I said, rolling my eyes at her in pretend annoyance.

Lia and Lucas were making me feel like a child in need of constant supervision but right now I did not mind. I didn't want to do this alone.

Even though I managed not to think about my first ultrasound test too much over the last few days and nearly succeeded to persuade myself that, as Stoker had said, all will look perfectly normal, by the time Doctor Murray spread the cool, slippery gel over my belly making my skin erupt in goose bumps, and pulled the monitor she was looking at closer so I could see everything as well as she, I was panicking.

Lia, sensing my rising agitation, put her hand on my shoulder giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze but I only shook my head, unable to unglue my eyes from the tiny fluttering spot which had already appeared on the large screen.

I tried to pull myself up to see better but Doctor Murray pushed me back against the slightly raised back of the hospital bed, forcing me to remain only half-sitting.

"There it is. Can you see the heartbeat? Amazing, isn't it?" She mumbled, moving what looked like a big plastic wand over my belly slowly.

I nodded, stunned by the fact that something as tiny and shapeless already had a beating heart... My baby. Mine and Vlad's baby...

I dabbed at the few annoying tears blurring my vision with a back of my hand before Lia handed me a couple of tissues.

"Stay still... There we go. Perfect." Doctor Murray said after a few minutes of careful examination. You can sit now." She added, pushing the monitor back towards the wall and walking to her desk.

I pulled myself up finally, using the tissues I was still holding to wipe the gel off my skin, then swinging my legs over the edge of the bed and adjusting my clothes.

In the meantime, Doctor Murray sat down and looked at me again. "As you saw yourself, the baby is doing great and your due date, hold on..." she said, fiddling with a calendar which she pulled out from underneath a pile of papers sitting on her desk, "the last week of May. Do you have any questions?"

I only shook my head as in that moment Lia passed me a black and white ultrasound picture and I got lost in the unclear image full of shadows resembling... nothing. But it was my baby and she was all right...

I raised my eyes to Doctor Murray when I realised she was still talking to me.

"I know, right? It's overwhelming." She smiled, kindly and patiently. "As this is your first, let me just tell you that pregnancy is not an illness, and no two pregnancies are the same. We'll learn about yours together. Go on with your life as before, but don't overexert yourself, rest whenever you feel tired. Your body, your baby will tell you what they need. You are beyond the most dangerous part of your pregnancy, the risk of a miscarriage is much lower after the first three months. So, try to enjoy the experience, and moreover, try to always be happy and positive. The little one feels you."

I nodded, still at a loss for words. Lia passed me a white envelope and I put the picture safely inside. Then I finally stood up, and reaching for my handbag, slid it inside my book hiding in there.

"Thank you Doctor Murray," I said as I put my coat on.

"Take care of yourself Samara." She said, standing up too and walking over to me from behind her desk. Suddenly she pulled me in an unexpected embrace. "Lia said that you and William broke up but... you can do this even alone, you mustn't worry."

I nodded, not really bothered by what Lia had told her and to which conclusion she had come. The truth was that I really was in this alone.

"You keep in touch with Helen." Doctor Murray added, releasing me. "If everything goes well I don't need to see you for a while. Should there be a problem or should you have any questions though, don't hesitate to call, whenever. All right?"

"Ok. Thank you so much again." I said walking out of her room followed by Lia, who spoke for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity, reminding her mum that she was off to class.

"Wow." Lia said once we were in the lift.

"You tell me." I mumbled.

Lia rummaged through her large bag and pulled out a packet wrapped in pink paper. "We never got to do the shopping for baby clothes in the end, so I bought you some," she smiled, passing it to me.

"Lia there's still time. She won't be born before the end of May..." I said, as the lift stopped and we made our way towards the café.

"You hope it's a 'she'. I only bought girls' clothes." She laughed while I pushed her present inside my bag.

"So? Did everything go well?" Lucas appeared in front of us as suddenly as a vampire.

I giggled at the simile; a month ago, a year and a month ago, I didn't know they existed.

"Sure." Lia replied instead of me. "As you two are here by car, would you mind giving a lift, please? I'm running late. And don't plan anything for tonight guys, we need to celebrate this, I've already called Anne..." she went on as we exited the building and walked towards the parking lot.

The rest of the day flew by. We dropped Lia off at the university then headed back to the flat. After a quick lunch Lucas walked with me to work. He reminded me that he was going to Pimlico, to spend the last afternoon with Anaïs as she and his father were leaving this evening.

"I'll pick you up at seven, don't go anywhere without me." He smiled.

I rolled my eyes at him, "You and your uncle have freaked me out so much, that I wouldn't dare to walk the ten minutes it takes from here to the flat alone, not even in broad daylight."

"Good. Until we get Viorel out of the way it's the best thing."

"And how are you planning to do that, exactly? Don't you get involved in some silly, dangerous plan your uncle comes up with..."

"It seems that you know him quite well already." Lucas laughed, opening the door of the shop and ushering me inside. "Don't worry. He might have crazy ideas sometimes but he wouldn't do anything risky or dangerous, not if it can be avoided."

I looked at him, not moving, hoping he was right about Stoker. "I just don't want anything happening to any of you..."

He pulled me in a swift, one-armed embrace, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Samara, but you mustn't worry. See you at seven."

Lucas released me and as I finally walked inside, he let the door shut, separating us. Then he waved at me once from the other side of the glass pane and was gone.

Mum called me when I was getting ready to leave at the end of my shift, asking about the appointment and reminding me about our dinner planned for the following night.

I waved at Mr. Turner silently, my phone at my ear, as I made my way towards the door as soon as Lucas appeared outside.

I shuddered as I was met by the freezing air after the cosy warmth of the shop. It was starting to snow again.

"No, Lia is not coming." I replied to Mum's question while I smiled at Lucas in greeting.

"Another friend, yes. No, you don't know him."

"Him. Yes. No.... That's enough, Mum. I must go. See you tomorrow."

I hung up, slipped the phone in my bag, then finally accepted Lucas' proffered arm.

"Hi." I said. "Sorry about that. It seems that I need to talk to Lia, apparently she passes too much information to my mum. Thanks to her, Mum is burning with curiosity about you."

Lucas chuckled, "So how are we supposed to appear in front of your mum, like friends? Or more?"

Feeling the fast spreading blush flooding my cheeks I shook my head, hoping that the darkness surrounding us would be sufficient to hide it from Lucas. "I hope for Lia that good friends will do... So, how is Anaïs?" I abandoned the awkward subject quickly.

We reached the flat talking about his little sister, his father and the mysterious Céline. It was just a question of time when she and his dad would get together, Lucas confessed. He didn't mind, Anaïs already loved Céline and her daughter, and Lucas himself understood how important a mother figure was for his little sister. And despite the memory of his mum being still quite painful, he didn't want his father to spend the rest of eternity alone...

Lucas' words brought me inadvertently back to Vlad. He had been waiting for me for such a long time... It would really be heartless of me to keep him waiting again if I couldn't get back into his world next Halloween, he deserved to live... The thought came accompanied by a sharp pang at my heart, making my breath hitch. I couldn't even think about not spending the rest of my life with him...

Lucas looked at me, concern clear in his eyes.

"It's nothing," I told him, trying to sound reassuring as we entered our house, "just a memory."

Anne jumped at us the moment Lucas unlocked the door of the flat, telling me off for not having told her before that I was pregnant.

"Well, you seem to know now." I said, returning her hug and looking over her shoulder at Lia who was half-hiding behind the door of the sitting room.

"Lia, my room. Now." I ordered. I saw her exchanging a look with Lucas who walked past her on his way to join Mark in the sitting room.

"You're in trouble." He told her jokingly before he looked at me across the corridor, smiling.

Once Anne and Mark were gone, the sitting room was tidy again and the dishes washed, the three of us retired in our bedrooms.

Sitting down on the bed I took my copy of Dracula from my handbag. Finding the white hospital envelope among its pages I took it out. I stared at the black-and-white picture it contained for a long time, then, acting on impulse, I leafed through the book again and took Vlad's note out too, for the first time since I got back from the castle.

'I love you too much to risk your life again. Please forgive me if you can.' I re-read the two lines a hundred times, tracing the words written in Vlad's hand gently with my finger.

"I love you too much too," I whispered into the silent emptiness of my room. "There must be a way for us to stay together, we must find it..."

Forbidding myself to cry I let the memories trickle back cautiously, to remind me how it felt, being near him, feeling his touch and hearing his voice every day. Our life together had been short but perfect and I couldn't imagine not having him back, I couldn't believe that he wouldn't want me back as much as I wanted him, even if he had his other life... I couldn't picture our daughter never seeing her father. No. I can't let that happen.

Once I was sure that both Lia and Lucas had finished in the bathroom I put the picture and the note back in the book, then slid it under my pillow.

I took a long shower, fighting away my tears. I was tired of them, the tears I kept shedding wouldn't help me get back to Vlad.

Maybe my visions will... I mused as I curled under my quilt feeling exhausted, my book in my hand again, promising myself another dream about Vlad. We needed to connect, to talk and plan, together. There was no time to waste.

But every time I closed my eyes, the image of him with Jusztyna resurged instead of a new dream until, despite my fatigue, I got out of the bed and started pacing across my dark room.

Deciding to get a glass of warm milk or anything that would help me finally sleep and rest, I put on my dressing gown and walked down the silent corridor, guided by the flickering light of the television towards the sitting room. There I found Lucas, sitting on the sofa, a big book on his lap.

"Are you a half-vampire too?" He joked. "Most humans sleep at two o'clock in the morning."

"Maybe. Don't you ever sleep?" I inquired, sitting down next to him.

"Not much. The nights feel long sometimes. Television helps."

"Really?" I asked, yawning. "I'm not a fan of television."

"Give it a chance. This movie, for instance, is so boring that it might just make you fall asleep in no time," he said, smiling.

"I don't think so..." I muttered, pulling my legs up and snuggling comfortably in the corner of the large sofa, under the blanket Lucas passed me.

It felt good not being alone for once. It reminded me of all those uncountable hours I had spent in Junior's company, when his father was away or busy...  Lucas' companionable silence was better than the quiet, cold void of my room. I closed my eyes against the flickering lights of the screen, barely noticing that Lucas turned the volume, already low before, to minimum. Soon the silent drone of voices accompanied by the occasional whisper of the pages of Lucas' book, seemed to be reaching me from a great distance, before it vanished completely.