THE YEAR WAS 1448. Arabella was only 16 years of age. She was an orphan, her parents had abandoned her at the age of 2 because they said they were scared.

The nuns at the orphanage thought that they were scared of being parents. But Arabella knew that they were actually scared of her.

She lived the rest of her childhood as any normal child would. She played and laughed and socialised.

That was until the war. Corvinus vs Ottoman. The village is in chaos, however, Arabella flourished in the mayhem. Whenever a villager saw her, she always had the brightest smile on her face. All of them thought she was trying to find the light in the dark situation.

But a certain soldier didn't. It was a miserable day when Dracula made his way around the village. But one thing did catch his eye - Arabella's large grin.

With a squint, he made his way towards the young girl. "What are you smiling at?" He bellowed.

Dracula thought that his scare technique would've frightened the smile right off her face. But he was mistaken. It only grew.

"It is a beautiful day," Arabella responded, practically skipping away. Before she could leave, Dracula's strong grip secured its way around her forearm, pulling her back to his chest.

"Are blind or insane?" He seethed out, his eyes shooting daggers into her dark brown orbs. For the first time since the war was announced, Arabella's simper fell. Her eyes bored into Dracula's soul.

"You don't know me," Arabella growled, snatching her arm from his grasp. Once she was out of his grasp, her smile rose once more, as she skipped down the cobbled pavement - villagers moving from her path.

Dracula narrowed his gaze at her fleeting figure, determined to make her miserable.

------

The following day, Dracula insisted that he would make the rounds around the village again to his Commander - just to find the smiling girl.

Marching down the same street as the day before, he thought he would see Arabella again. And he was right. Just like the morning before, Arabella was skipping down the cobbled pavement with a grin plastered to her mouth.

But when her gaze landed on Dracula, her skipping stopped and she stood still, staring down the soldier with an insane smile. Dracula gulped silently and stormed over to her. He gripped her arm with force, but not enough to bruise, to ensure she wouldn't leave again.

"Ah, it's you again," Arabella laughed, her Hungarian accent thick. "Here to make me sad again?"

Dracula chuckled. "How on Earth did you guess that?"

"Well, Dracula, I know much more about you, than you of me," Arabella teased, pushing her face up to his, her nose lightly touching his, her smile still tormenting his brain.

Dracula roughly pulled her back, his scowl deeper than before. "How did you know my name?"

"I just did, Count Dracula," Arabella laughed. "I know everything," she finished with a whisper.

Arabella pulled away from his grip, gliding down the pavement like the day before, the same villagers moving from her path.

Dracula's gaze still followed her, but now with confusion. After a moment of thought, realisation struck him and he ran to the Village Council.

He burst through the door, interrupting a quiet meeting amongst the elders of the village. "You have a witch amongst you!" He shouted.

-------

That evening, all the villagers were led by Dracula and the Town Mayor to Arabella's orphanage. Dracula pounded on the door with his clenched fist, until a nun in a blue and white habit opened the door. "May I help..." The nun's question trailed off into nothing when she saw the mob behind the soldier.

"Where is Arabella?" The Town Mayor questioned. The prioress of the priory gently pulled the nun from the doorway.

"Why do you seek our young Arabella?" The older woman's eyes were deadly, yet her voice remained calm.

"She is a witch! She will hang!" Dracula boomed, the mod behind him cheering.

"How do you know she is a witch?" The prioress questioned over the cheers.

Dracula fell silent, not knowing what to say to prove she was a witch. After all, she hadn't made any drastic signs that she was a wife of Satan. She had only known his name without him telling her. Anyone who knew of him, which was many, could've told her that. But her smiling and teasing urged him to want her dead. Noticing that he was silent for a moment too long, he finally came up with an idea. "Does this Arabella take part in your prayers, sister?"

The prioress shook her head instantly. "No, she prefers talking to our Lord in private."

"How do you know if she is actually praying if no-one can see her doing it?" Dracula questioned, the mob behind him nodding at this point.

The prioress though for a second. "Hm. You do have a valid point there, sir. But that does not immediately make her a witch! She is a young orphan girl! There is no witchcraft behind that!"

"Why was she left here?" Dracula interrupted his finger pointing at the nun. "Why here? A place of God. Why not an other orphanage in the village. There are two other non-religious orphanages. What did her parents say when they abandoned her?!"

The prioress furrowed her brow in thought. "They said they were scared of her. They were foreign. We assumed they meant they were scared of parenthood,"

"They were scared of her," Dracula shouted, turning towards the mob. "They were scared of that girl - their own daughter! But my people, we will not back down from that witch!"

The cheer roared, pushing forwards, but the prioress did not budge, nor did the crowd of nuns behind her.

"You are protecting the Devil," Dracula accused the nuns.

Before the nuns could protest, Arabella pushed her way to the front of the doorway. Her fixed gaze scanned every single person in the mob before settling her piercing glare on Dracula himself.

"I assumed you'd be here soon enough, Dracula," Arabella smirked. "So, how are we going to do this then? Do you want to read from the Bible and make hundreds of mistakes to prove I'm a witch, and do you want to skip the tests and go straight to the hanging?" She stepped closer, her chest a mere centimetre away Dracula's as she smiled up at him.

Dracula scowled and dragged her to the village's hanging tree, the mob following him excitedly. He positioned her under a tall branch and looped a noose around her neck. The Mayor offered Arabella a bag to put over her head, she refused.

Dracula tightened the noose around her neck, before grabbing the other end of the rope in his hands. "Any last words, witch?"

"Yes, actually," Arabella grinned. "I may be a witch, but that does make me lesser than you all!" She shouted to the mob who booed her. "I am a god amongst men, and I will, personally, make sure you will all burn in Hell with me!" She laughed. "Oh, and Dracula! While we are at it, why don't we discuss your little secret!" The mob quietened at this.

Dracula glared at Arabella. "What secret?"

"You know what secret I am on about," Arabella leaned closer to him, as close as she could with a noose around her neck. "Bloodsucker,"

Dracula's eyes widened. She knew of his cannibalism trait. "Hang the witch!" Dracula walked away through the crowd, away from Arabella.

The town executioner began to pull on the rope, but before Arabella's feet began to dangle above the floor. "Oh and Dracula!" She shouted over the roar of the crowd, knowing that he would be able to hear her, as he turned around to look her in the eye. "When will you learn! I cursed you to be a vampire, my dear. And you can never hurt me, we are children of Satan after all!"

"It is a beautiful day, Dracula! Be warned, bloodsucker!" She laughed out over the crowd, before the executioner finally rugged down on the rope harshly.

Dracula watched as Arabella was lifted from the ground by her neck, her spine cracking immediately and her skin turning blue, blood pouring from her mouth, noses and eyes.

Dracula turned from the scene, knowing that this was not going to be the last time he was going to see that orphan witch from that small village in Hungary.

——

So this was a little memory for Arabella and Dracula. Hope you enjoyed the little insight of the start of their relationship.