"ARABELLA!" SHE HEARD the familiar voice of Dracula shouted through the halls. The door separating her room from the rest of the castle flung open, revealing Dracula. Arabella did not flinch, but instead, she only lifted her head slightly, her back facing away from the door. Dracula sighed, placing his glass on the table by the door and the buggy holding the baby by the foot of her bed.

Dracula absorbed her appearance. Her once regal hairdo was now messy and practically falling out. She had already discarded her red ruby gown and it was now replaced a loose-fitting cream coloured nightdress. Her face did not radiate the bubbly and uplifting atmosphere that it usually did, but now it was substituted with one drained from any emotion. She almost looked dead. Besides the solemn look on her face, she almost looked at simple and pretty as the day he first saw her. But he couldn't ignore the different atmosphere that emitted from her now compared to the fateful day in 1448.

"Arabella?" Dracula softly spoke. For the first time in his long life, he didn't know how to act. He had never dealt with Arabella like this, and it proving to be the world's most difficult task.

"How could you do such a thing?" Arabella's voice cracked softly as Dracula knelt in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

"Do what?" His dark eyes conveyed a genuine emotion. She couldn't tell which one. Was it fear? Or confusion? Or worry? Annoyance? Or all of them?

Arabella gulped before answering. "Drain an innocent man of his life."

Dracula's brows furrowed. "How are you upset over Johnathan? You knew I was going to use him and you could've easily stopped me if you wished, could you not?"

Arabella shook her head, finally tilting her head up so Dracula could see all of the discomfort in her face. "I didn't know it would be this...this..." Arabella trailed off, failing to find the right word to describe Johanthan's condiction.

"Inhuman?" Dracula guessed, his gaze slowly turning from worry to anger.

Arabella nodded. "Inhuman," she repeated in a whisper.

"I am merely doing what I can to survive the way I want!" Dracula barked, standing from his couching position to tower over the witch. "How can talk over inhuman things when you were the one who made me like this!? You are the one to blame for Johnathan's condition."

Arabella's gaze shot up, her eyes now conveying an emotion that Dracula recognised - rage. "Me?! I'm not the one sucking his blood dry from his body!"

"You made me a blood-sucking vampire. Johnathan was fresh blood. It was convenient!" Dracula argued back.

"I made you a monster because you already were one to start with!" Arabella screamed, not caring if Johnathan could hear their domestic. "I had never hurt any innocent people before I met you, and I still haven't hurt any innocent people. You weren't innocent - you attempted to kill me from our second meeting, and you killed thousands way before I turned you! You deserve to suffer! People like Johnathan do not!"

Arabella hadn't even noticed that she rose from her spot on the edge of her bed and made her way to stand chest-to-chest with the Count. With all her pent up rage finally pouring out of her mouth and mind, she reached up and clasped her hands around Dracula's neck and pulled his face down to hers, pressing her lips to his in a soaring, rageful kiss.

Dracula froze. Even though he knew that Arabella pursued him for many centuries, she had never been so bold to kiss him, especially without consent. After he realised that she was not in any rush to pull away, he finally settled his large hands on Arabella's waist, pulling her closer. He closed his eyes and moved his lips in sync with Arabella's.

After another moment, Arabella pulled away with a gasp, her lungs begging for air. Dracula breathed heavily through a smirk. He plunged his head back down to press a rougher kiss on Arabella's lips. He guided Arabella backwards towards the bed, her knees hitting the soft mattress. Dracula lowered the girl down on the bed, her hair fanning out around her head like a halo. He sat up, his knees straddling her waist. Arabella followed his action, propping herself on her elbows.

With a smirk, Dracula practically ripped her nightdress from her body, leaving her practically naked below him. "I never thought of you like this," Dracula muttered, his long fingers sliding up and down her curves. "This isn't one of your little tricks, is it, darling?"

Arabella's breath hitched as Dracula's teeth grazed across her pulse on the side of her neck, leading down between the valley of her breasts. "No. I don't know why I didn't of think of it before really?" She breathed out a laugh. Dracula chucked amongst her tummy, her fingers sliding under the waistband of her panties and pulling them down her long legs and pressed light kisses across her hips and inner thighs.

"You're so beautiful, Madam Arabella Victoria Andrei," Dracula drawled out against her burning skin. "I haven't the slightest clue why I denied it for so long."

Arabella moaned at the feeling of his fingers at her core, pressing teasingly on her clit and his hot breath fanned across her lower region. "Keep talking like that," she groaned out as she pulled him up to her face by his collar. "You're still dressed?"

Dracula chuckled, his hand sliding down the smooth leg of Arabella's that had wound its way around his waist, tugging him even closer to her body. Her hands slid down his clothed chest down to his belt. "We've got to do something about that then," he muttered, brushing his nose against the side of her neck. Arabella clicked her fingers and in an instant, the single layer of clothes separating their hot skin was gone.

Arabella felt his hardness against her hipbone and she moaned at the sight of him in all his glory. "Take me, darling."

Dracula grinned a toothy grin, guiding himself to her entrance before pushing into her tight warmth. Gasping at the foreign feeling, Arabella's brows scrunched together in discomfort. She had never had sex before. It wasn't because she didn't want to. She just never got round to it. The men in her old village when she was an orphanage always wanted her, but she was too young to realise what their looks meant. And then she met the Count. She was immediately attracted to him - it was part of the reason why she didn't stop smiling in their first meeting.

Dracula wrapped her legs fully around his waist as he slowly thrust into her. "Am I hurting you, love?" Arabella shook her head, her eyes still shut. Dracula furrowed his brows, halting his hip movements as he saw a single tear trail down from her eye. "Is this your first time, Arabella?" His smile growing at the thought of Arabella being a virgin. "You are, aren't you?"

Arabella's cheek flushed with embarrassment, her nails digging into his biceps. "Maybe," she muttered.

Dracula groaned in bliss, his head falling between the junction of her neck and collarbone. "Oh, my dear Arabella, I don't know if I can contain myself," Arabella moaned at the vibrations of his voice against her neck.

"Maybe, I don't want you to," Arabella whispered, finally feeling the pain of the situation fade away and being replaced with pleasure. She clenched around him, causing him to jerk forward, his hips hitting her viciously. His thrusts continued, at a fast pace as his strong grip secured around her waist.

"You'll be the death of me, dragă,"

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dragă - darling in Romanian