Alexandria sighed but she told me something unexpected, apparently Dorian had known her for a long time. The two
of them had been friends since childhood and she expected that her parents would have her marry him. Or at least before he became all creepy and suddenly stopped aging.
"Hold on stopped aging?" I asked. She nodded and despite the completely ridiculous story I was told, of Dorian making a painting age instead of himself to avoid losing his good looks. I believed her as I had seen a picture of him nearby when I found him, so maybe it was some kind of spell.

"It was rumored that it only worked because he never looked at it," Alexandria explained. "But if he ever did then he would instantly die, and there was clearly some truth to that rumor," she continued and looked down at the floor in sadness. "Right after my mom died is when he began proposing to me, thought it would ease my grief I guess."
"But you never said yes?" I asked. She shook her head immediately and said that she was not only creeped out by him but that she had only seen him as a friend. I was torn between laughing or asking more questions when I thought about her friend zoning an immortal handsome guy like Dorian. It was like hearing my best friend turn down the opportunity to date her celebrity crush.
"I'm sorry about all this but I would like to ask to go back to my room."

I had a feeling it had to do with her possible pregnancy but she surprised me by rubbing her necklace again.
"You don't have to keep doing that Alexandria," I spoke up. "I know you're nervous but I promise you I'm not going to tell anyone about your secrets."
"Its not that I don't trust you," she answered immediately. "I'm just worried about my children," Oh so there was more than just one child in this situation, but that could mean a lot, was she pregnant with twins? Did she already have children? I couldn't say anything so all I did was blink waiting for her to say more. "Sorry about all this Ms. Holmes, I'm just not used to being away from them."
"Them?" I finally asked.

"My twins they're at home," she calmly explained. "They'll be five soon," Before I could ask her more questions she stood up and began walking away from me. "Its Alex by the way."
"What?" I asked a million emotions running through my mind and memories forming at hearing that name. My eyes welled up and I barely forced my tears back, but she didn't seem to mind that I looked like a child about to cry. Maybe that's what I honestly was in my time, but I couldn't be one now, I had be an adult.
"That's my real name," she responded. "No one calls me it because my mother immediately began calling me Alexandria after I was born," she continued. "Its not something I say often, but I figured I owed you."

"What for?" I asked somehow managing to pull myself back together while my head told me that I should still be upset about what happened.
"Well for one everything you're doing for us," she answered. "And for another keeping my other secret." I didn't need to ask what she meant to know what she was talking about and I decided to be brave and tell her my real name.
"My real name is Clara, I haven't gone by that name in a while," I said. "It just seemed easier to hide, and pretend that I wasn't lost but I guess it just made things worse." It was a risky move but after everything she told me I owed her the truth, plus I finally felt like could be trusted with my secrets.
"Its a beautiful name," she answered. "I don't think you should avoid using it."

I made a joke about how I would scare criminals without my stage name and she laughed, I took all this information to heart. Even after she left and I began talking with the other guests. The information I got all fit together quite nicely, it didn't look like Kelly and her Frankenstein husband would be getting back together anytime soon. Kelly still saw him as a monster and I couldn't understand the monster because all he did was get angry and began destroying a shelf. The Headless Horse man only wanted his head back, which I could understand, even though his head was right by him. But what I did notice is that they all said that something had been stolen from them last night. I didn't think to ask that when talking to the other guests but I still wrote down what they told me.

Doctor Kelly Frankenstein lost her potion for her experiments, the monster had lost his ability to speak, which explained a lot. The Headless Horse lost his pumpkin head, and I began to realize that there was a pattern going on. Marina had promised to cure them all but it seemed she had taken something from them in return. When I tried to talk to Hyde, I couldn't find him so I decided to talk, but I did manage to figure out that his hat was taken. Even with that I went to everyone else to see if they had objects stolen as well. It turns out they had, the witches had gotten a hat, a cauldron, and a snake stolen, which I remembered from last night. Alexandria had gotten her knife stolen, Connor had lost a wolf toy made by his children, and Dracula had his bat taken.

I wasn't sure if he meant a fake bat or real bat, but I was hoping it wasn't the animal. Speaking of the vampire, Dracula told me that his intention with Alexandria was to get back at her father for everything his family did to him.
"What exactly made you think it would make anything better?" I asked. He scoffed and drank out of his glass of blood again, it creeped me out a bit, but it was better than seeing him drink from a human.
"You humans don't understand, and you never will," Dracula answered. "I've been hunted my whole life, by that idiot Abraham and his family," he continued. "What I was going to do with her was simply mercy, I was reclaiming what should have been mine."

I saw his posture change and his teeth clench showing off his hidden fangs, but with words like that I figured he was the one who killed Dorian. So I stood up abruptly and looked him deep in the eyes despite the height difference, searching for any signs of weakness. The lore about him could be all wrong so I didn't think that stabbing him the heart with wood would work, but I was definitely thinking about trying it.
"You call taking possession of an girl just entering adulthood so you can marry and kill her mercy?" I asked. "Oh I don't even call that being reasonable, tell me something count, how many people were you planning on killing tonight?" My gaze was firm on him and his expression quickly changed claiming he didn't kill anyone.

"I didn't kill Dorian," Dracula said. "He was a hard ass but that doesn't mean I wanted him dead," he continued. "And despite what you humans think, I don't go after humans to feed, I haven't done that in centuries." His words were convincing but I didn't believe him so I crossed my arms and made sure he could see the necklace on my neck. It was the one thing that made the trip with me and while it wasn't a cross, it was still blessed in a church so he wouldn't dare to touch it. "You know I'm not actually afraid of crosses right, that's more of a demon thing." I told him it didn't matter and made sure to get closer to him. Something about either my gaze or possibly the scent of my blood made him stand up.
"And why should I take your word for it?" I asked. "You've hardly looked in my direction since I got here, or spoken to anyone," I continued. "Maybe you were planning your revenge, which makes you no better than the hunter trying to kill you."

He gave me a shocked look mixed with emotions I could only describe as anger, sadness, disgust and fear. I wasn't sure what was going to happen but at this point I was almost certain that Dracula was the killer. He had motivation, a perfect opportunity, and could have easily done it quick with his vampire abilities.
"I'm not the bad guy here Ms. Holmes," he told me as I turned my back on him. "You would do well to remember that."
"And you can go to hell," I said firmly causing the room to go silent. Without a second thought I pushed away from him and left him standing there with my accusation heavy in the air. I wanted to find a way to stop him from hurting anyone else but as I walking back to the guest room, I overheard the sound of a book being opened, followed by the sound of choking, screaming for help and two people dropping to the floor.