It did not suit her to be doing the same. This night, the prophecies of her kind beckoned to her. She lit a candle and began to read, reading of the woman who would be born on Halloween to save their kind from the eternity of night.

It did not appeal to her that her father would fall in love with the young woman. She did not feel jealousy or even anger, nothing but discontent. She sighed and continued to absorb the prophecy. To feel the sun’s warmth! Something she had never experienced in all her years. If this one woman could become a vampire!

She had an unusual childhood. Being the first child born into darkness. She had killed her mother, draining her before she had ever come out of her womb. It was a horrifying thought, she a half ling, born of a vampire father and a mortal mother. She grew as any child, only with the appearance of a doll. Indeed instead of mother’s milk she was fed the blood of whomever was her father’s victim. She still had her baby goblet, somewhere- as grotesque as it was sentimental.

Her father had not known that he had impregnated her mother, until he saved her from the Catholic church. To hear of such a babe being born, was either a miracle or a curse that only the devil himself would issue. Never had a child before come from a union so unholy. That night her father came and rescued her from being burnt on a pyre by the Priests. She was safe within her father’s arms the moment her mother‘s family put her in the ground.

She grew as mortal children do. But unlike her vampire kin she never took the life of a mortal. It simply did not interest her, sad as it was. Her brother or her father would be kind enough to bring her daily intake, whatever it took to keep her alive.

Her devotion was to music and books and that pleased her father very much. For he had a library that would make any mortal jealous. She lived inside her room, wholly dedicated to knowledge. Rarely did she come out for one of her father’s Masquerade Balls or his parties. They simply did not interest her, and truth be told most of his friends thought she was a hideous…well abomination. Neither of their world, or her mortal mother’s.

She began to read again about the prophecy, the one book that interested her the most. But most of all, she was intrigued by the ending. She was pleased at the idea of feeling the sun upon her skin, to run in a field of flowers that only opened by the sun’s heat. Just the thought sent shivers running through her.

She was so in love with the night dream. She refused to call them daydreams. She did not hear her father open the door.

“Reading again, my pet?” He held out a goblet to her, his pale fingers grasping around it. He looked majestic in his cloak of dark blue velvet, a black suit, and even leather boots, making the night envious. A divinely beautiful demon. He smiled showing his fangs briefly as he stood regally in her room, calling her attention immediately . There was always some sort of laughter around his eyes, some form of scheming, but tonight something was different.

“Would I be doing anything else, Papa?” Ilianna stood, stretched and put the book down. She bid him to sit upon her bed and he did so. He toyed with her hair in a comforting gesture. She could feel the heat from his body, no doubt he had killed some unsuspecting victim shortly before he had entered her chamber.

He looked at the cover of her book and grimaced. “Ilianna, I’ve been meaning to speak of this very book. I wish you wouldn’t become so obsessed with it , but I could not forbid you to read it‘s pages. You are my pet of course. I could never deny you your knowledge. ” He glanced at her with his blue green eyes and held her hand within his own, as if he couldn’t let go of her for one moment.

She sipped from the goblet, feeling the blood restore her. “But surely….there is a reason why I exist. Surely I would be in this book.”

He frowned and spoke gravelly. “Sometimes, it does not pay to wonder. You exist. You thrive. That is all that matters.”

The moonlight shone in from her window and she desired it’s beauty. She dropped her hand from his and began to confess what she hadn’t had the courage until now to speak aloud. “I can hear their thoughts, Papa. It matters to them what I am. Herbert loves me, as I am his sister, he never gave it a second thought. I can hear the vampires, they are disgusted, they laugh. They say that you are like the father bird, always bringing me breakfast. They do not deserve the rewards of prophecy, but yet I search for an answer. For me.”

Giovanni clenched his fists at his daughter’s heartbreak. He had the answer, had hidden the knowledge, ripped the pages from the book. Inside his child of darkness lay a prophecy of her own. If he did not find this maiden who was born on Halloween, his daughter would turn truly mortal. He saw what she did not, the subtle changes. Often when she woke up from the vampire sleep, her skin would be moist and warm. She would cry real tears in her nightmares, instead of the ones vampires cried, ones mixed with blood. Month by month she grew more mortal. It tore at him. He could not have a child of his die, and she did not realize how she was beginning to change. And if she did turn mortal, which world did she deserve?

Did she not deserve light instead of damnation? But he wanted to keep her beside him forever as his daughter should be, always at his side. There was no other way in his heart, as black and twisted it seemed.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his long dirty blonde hair. Why couldn’t she bring herself to taking her sustenance in the village? Perhaps some unsuspecting male mortal who would gladly submit to her charms? Why couldn’t it be the solution instead of her remaining an innocent as the prophecy stated?

“My Ilianna, she does not want pretty dresses and shoes, no? She craves books which she feeds upon nightly. She is an unusual vampire, my daughter. She drains the lives of books instead of draining humans!”

Ilianna laughed at him playfully and embraced him. “If only it were as simple as a pair of new slippers and a fine silk dress, or a new book.”

“Come with me to my Library and we shall find you a book more suited towards your liking. You must not trouble your mind with such thoughts of prophecy.” He stood and took her hand inside his own again, opening the door.

It was not often that she ventured beyond her chambers, she didn’t wish to incur looks from anyone. Herbert sometimes came to her room and read to her from his favorite books, which always made her laugh. Particularly that one called “Sucking for Dummies”. Just the insinuation that a vampire would need a guide to taking a life was amusement enough.

Her father walked ahead of her and she carefully took the steps that led down into his library. There were candlesticks and incense in the air, an inviting atmosphere. The mood for quiet and learning was set from the moment he threw open the doors. Shelves and shelves of books, every one ever wrote. Chaise Lounges to sit upon, and a very nice coffee bar, too. She put her shawl about her, noticing the cold in the air.

Strange, she thought, frowning. The cold never seemed to bother her before, eventually all their bodies cooled as the blood’s life force was waning. It was not usual to notice the temperature change, but she actually felt bumps upon her skin. She whimpered and spoke urgently. “Papa…It is cold…am I unwell? Do you get these bumps upon your skin too when it turns cold?”

He stopped browsing through the familiar books, almost like family they were. He took her arm in his hands and rubbed them gently over her shoulder. “They are called goose bumps my child, and everyone gets them from time to time. Find a book, and no more reading about prophecies. Plato, perhaps?” He picked one up from a shelf near her and placed it in her hands. It disturbed him, yet another change. He could walk through the coldest of weather and never take a chill, but his child shivered at just a draft.

He took off his cloak and put it around her fair and small shoulders. “There is that better?”

She smiled, her fangs resting on her bottom lip. “Yes, much improved. May I take the book up to my room to read it?” She held the book to her chest and hugged it lightly. It was one of her favorites.

He sighed and touched her face lightly. “Did you have to ask? Of course you can. Meet us all in the crypt by sunrise, my child. Do not engross yourself so much in your studies.”

She quietly nodded and kissed him on the cheek softly. “I will be there when it is time. Am I not always there?”

“Yes, I am only reminding you. I wouldn’t want anything to happen…” He scolded.

She thought of the picture before her, of her father who never aged, who would always seem such a dignified and graceful creature. Powerful, loving, and a prankster at heart. She loved his humor, even though he was prone to his dark moods.

But somehow she could never read his mind, and now it was important. She sensed he was hiding something from her, the truth.

Herbert entered the library from the moment Ilianna had left it. His cornflower blonde hair flowed to his shoulders, shaping his jaw and pouting red lips stretched in a hungry smile. His cloak was of midnight black. Indeed, the perfect little gentleman of this modern age of 1880...something. “Father, have you been entertaining mortals in your library again? Why on earth didn’t you invite me to participate in such a delicious escapade!”

If Herbert was anything, he was a flamboyant vampire.

“What ever gave away that I had a mortal in my library? You know how sacred books are to me!” Krolock roared. If indeed his own son could not tell that Ilianna had been here, just now, and instead detected a mortal woman, then time was running out for her faster than he had anticipated.

Herbert was taken aback and graciously left the room, knowing that to entice his father’s anger was to bring upon death.

Giovanni sat in one of the chairs, too distressed to do anything but lay his head in his hands and think. While his daughter above delighted in his books, the vampires in this castle may very well turn on her. What if they devoured her? The very thought of it enraged him!

She was never supposed to exist, in fact, he hadn’t believed Ilianna’s mother when she told him. He had a mind before that to make her mother into his queen, until she learned that she was carrying a child. Of course that meant that she had gave her heart to another. She swore that that his accusations were not true, but he was not ready to accept this and abandoned her.

It wasn’t until he heard the rumors that he started to believe her. A devil she-beast born with fangs. When they had hired a wet nurse, she had simply suckled the life out of the poor woman. The priests in the village saw this as a demon, one of Satan’s seed, and they sought to kill the child immediately.

Giovanni saved the poor babe and raised her in complete secrecy, until now. Now immortality had no hold on her, and how well could he keep her safe from his fellow vampires? Unless he followed through with the prophecy and found this young woman born on All Hallows Eve after all.

Ilianna did keep with her promise and entered the crypt early, noticing that the vampires who lived here in this castle cast, glances at her, almost like they were finding their prey. They nodded, acknowledging her with a keen smile upon their faces. Wanting…watching, but for what?

She walked to her coffin, a pretty black one with dark purple lining. Sensing her father was late, she quickly slipped in it and shut her bed from the light. Willing her eyes to close, she did not succumb to her sleep until she heard her father and brother retire as well and at last she felt safe.

But how long could her father protect her from the truth?

Ilianna’s eyes opened not even a few hours after she had found sleep. She could feel the heat upon the lid of the coffin…feel it boring into her, the stifling smell of morning. She commanded herself to remain still. Surely the sun would kill her! Had she not been taught that light killed them all? And what of the prophecy? She shuddered, pulling her cloak up over her body, trying her best to not move. This was a nightmare, just a figment of her imagination. Suddenly the vampire sleep swallowed her whole. It was somewhere between the sleeping and waking world that she realized she had not dreamed the sun light.

Krolock wearily opened the lid, already his hunger was fierce and persistent. It gnawed and began to make his body ache. Already his fangs became larger just at the thought of the pursuit of blood.

Herbert, homovampiricus, had been awake for some time and was filling his nails lazily. “Good evening Father, I trust you slept well.”

Giovanni nodded to the contrary, although his nightmares were filled with puzzling thoughts and images. Ilianna being consumed by the sun, her growing old and aged, or crying for help when he could not give it to her. “Where is your sister? Already reading her books? Did you see her?”

Herbert shook his head. His father’s careful observation of the girl had almost turned into a protective obsession. “She’s fast asleep.” He snored obnoxiously. “Sleeping beauty.”

Krolock growled. “You are not helping. I simply wondered. It’s not like her to sleep like that.”

Herbert laughed. “Yes, so sorry. Well, maybe you ought to awaken her then if you’re so concerned. I’m off to go entertain some guests, of course.”

Krolock picked his son off of his coffin with one hand and made him look him in the eye. “Herbert, keep your mouth shut about my daughter until after Halloween, do you hear? “

His son shrugged and chuckled. “Whatever could be wrong with her that you’re so afraid of?”

“I cannot say, my boy. Only watch over her and protect her. You know of the prophecy. Do your best to keep any mortal out of her way, or any vampire for that matter. Swear to me Herbert Von Krolock!”

He became impatient and tore his fathers’ hands off of him, dusting his cloak’s sleeves. “Of course I swear. She’s my sister. For hell’s sakes do you think I would abandon her or let her get in to some tangle with a mortal man? “

“No…It was just important that you promised. Now go have your party, I’ll join you later.” He patted his son’s shoulder and watched other vampires fallow Herbert as he left. Only until the dank, musty crypt was empty did he open the lid to Ilianna’s coffin.

She lay wrapped up in her dark green cloak as if she was struggling to get away from something. He gently peeled away the folds of velvet and relaxed her arms until she stirred, opening up her smoldering gray eyes.

“Ilianna my child..did you have a night mare? A good one?” He laughed until he saw the pink lines on her hands, almost like the sunburns he had received in childhood. He touched them gingerly.

She bit her lip and cried out in pain. “Papa don’t. “

“How did you receive those?”

She began to cry , her eyes hurt profusely from looking at the sun light as she did earlier. “Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

He held her and helped her rise from her coffin. “Never as I am alive.”

“I saw the sun….felt it. I tried to block out the light.”

He tried to look sensible as inside he crumbled. “Did you? No vampire has saw such a wonder before.”

“It was a nightmare I did not wish for. I hope I shall never have to repeat it again.” She muttered, smoothing her purple silk down and trying her best not to notice the throbbing pain in her hands and face.

“Go up to your room child and bar the door until I come. I want you to read your books or rest your eyes. Do not come out until I tell you to. I will find out what the solution is and you will not have your day terrors anymore. Trust me.” He winked, commanding himself to think it was not a big deal at all.

Halloween drew near, and it was time he found this woman. If not his Ilianna would vanish completely into the mortal world or perish of the sunlight.

Ilianna nodded, leaving the crypt and him. Resting her eyes sounded like the perfect solution. She changed into a dress of light blue and combed her hair, watching outside her window. Her eyes began to heal, as they bathed in the cool moonlight.

The night was so beautiful in it’s shades of dark blue, the stars a blanket over the sky. When she was able, she would escape for a while with a blanket and lay it in the fields, watching the shooting stars, entranced. Not tonight, however. She hung her head out of her window and closed her eyes, night dreaming as the breeze cooled her face.

She got so into her night dreaming that she began to hear a beautiful violin playing some Mozart piece, and she decided she would hum along. No harm done to do so, after all, it was only a night dream and surely no one would hear her.

“You are an enchanting goddess.” A seductive voice whispered softly in her ear. “Surely the count can spare his daughter this night.”

Ilianna jolted, her eyes saw no one when she opened them. But surely there was someone there? And who on earth would ever speak to her in this matter? She did not socialize, refused to. Maybe it was a cruel trick of Herbert’s. “What….who are you? How could you know that he was my father, and how dare you! Show yourself or I‘ll tell him!”

His laugh was frightening, so much so that she shivered and put her arms around herself, hugging her body fiercely. It seemed to shake the entire castle. “Oh do you think that will stop me from taking you, princess? I would have your heart in an instant if I wooed you.”

“You will do no such thing. Be gone! You annoy me.” She waved her hands dramatically about, the palms catching the light until her fingers looked like cool marble.

“As you wish, darling. Tell no one I spoke to you or I’ll take you somewhere where your father could never hear your pleas.” He spoke warningly.

“I wish you wouldn’t be so cruel, my Ilianna. If you would but melt your reserve we could love for ever, my child.”

And with that he was gone. Ilianna blinked, trying her best to act reserved. She sat on her bed, toying with the dark blue curtains, waiting for her father to arrive. He would know what to do. Damn the being, she’d tell if she wanted to, wouldn’t she?

Midnight, she thought. The grandfather clock inside her room began to chime, and outside the wolves began howling. Always, the wolves, and the bats with their incessant chirping. Somewhere near the castle women were speaking, about mushrooms and an enchanted castle.

Foolish women! It was enchanted indeed! She crept near the window watched softly. She wished she could turn herself into a bat or a wolf, something graceful perhaps. But it was not a talent she had, so instead she read their minds.

As of late that power had been harder to muster, but they were mortals and their thoughts were much simpler.

“Sarah! It’s getting late!” one called out, pulling the young woman away.

She could see that Sarah was beautiful, it almost made her envious. Beautiful red hair, piercing blue eyes, a tall and shapely young figure. Even her own lust for blood called out, but she paid it no mind. All vampires were attracted to beauty, it was no different, even for her. Sarah wore a simple peasant dress, and was of pure heart, if not a little dull witted.

The girls began to sing something about angels, and while it was pretty, Ilianna could not resist from chuckling. Angels! As if there were! She rolled her eyes and continued spying.

“Sarah…..” Her father’s voice called, soothingly as if he was caressing the air with his voice.

Ilianna was not at all unused to her father seducing his prey but something entirely different was taking place.

“It’s so strange! Every now and then, in the middle of the night I hear a voice calling my name.” Sarah muttered glancing up at Ilianna’s very window.

Her father kept calling for her and she became highly disturbed but couldn’t stop herself from listening.

“I dream in a castle, rather like this castle, wearing a blood red gown and dancing at a blood red ball, and dancing in red velvet boots!” Sarah added breathlessly, her companions turning their faces to hear the noise.

Krolock’s daughter came apart at that, running through her room and destroying her mirror by throwing it across the floor. This was the woman of the prophecy…an simpleminded woman easily swayed, to save them from the eternity of night forever? She grabbed her cloak and ran from her room, betraying her father’s promise and walking out of her castle and into the night.

She could not stay and listen, for it disturbed her. In all of her years, her father had never chosen a woman to make his queen. And she could not see the process now. She glanced at her father and noticed he didn’t even acknowledge her or that he was even alarmed. Sarah held him in his charm, and the time of prophecy had begun.

It was no longer in a book’s pages, but reality. She ran until she found a bit of jagged rock to sit upon and threw rocks as far as she could. Changes were happening to her she could not explain, and her father did not care to answer! The sky twinkled above her as if to laugh. It was not funny, that most certainly was true. Who was the person who could tell her the answers! She laid upon the black weathered rock and sighed, closing her eyes. No tears would come.

“For someone so old, it is curious that your father did not acquire a step mother sooner. Isn’t it time that you left the nursery? “

Ilianna gasped. The being had returned and taken the shape of a man, a beautiful one an statue would envy. He stood ruggedly next to her in his outfit of complete black. Only the silver on the heels of his boots glistened. His dark brown hair slicked back and wisps of it blew in the breeze. His eyes of emerald green bore through her very soul, and he had a handsome face.

“Are you the devil?” She whispered. “How else would you know such things about me? And I’m not jealous of my father. I’m worried of this prophecy that could cause madness. Is it wrong to wonder?”

He laughed, a rumbling laugh from deep inside him. She could only tremble. “If I were the devil, what would it matter, dear changeling? You will still be mine.”

She was frustrated and did not care for such banter. “Then you are not the devil. Identify yourself!”

He reached out and flicked her on the mouth gently. “Such a presumptuous little vampire, aren’t you?”

“What would my identity change? Surely, you’d know my name but what would that matter?”

She stood and walked around him, circling him. He blocked his mind from her as she tried finding out anything, all the while exhausting herself. “I did not invite you to my home, no. You came anyway. So you owe me a name.” She crossed her arms and waited patiently.

“Fine.” He groaned, sitting down and patting a place for her. She waved it away. “My name is Anatole.”

She arched her eyebrow. “And…”

He hissed, showing a pair of long fangs, lunging out at her. “Do not press me! You are safe as long as you do not question me! Do so and your father will find your corpse among his lands!”

Ilianna couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, though she didn’t understand quite why she couldn’t control herself. “Do you think I haven’t seen a vampire bare their fangs before? Simpleton! “ She showed back her own, and stuck her tongue out, playfully.

“Why do you not believe I wouldn’t kill you now? It would be so simple…” He muttered, looking away into the forest.

“Because I interest you, and vampires can never kill quickly what they’re interested in. Besides that, my father is much older than you and would make your existence end very quickly.”

He smiled mockingly. “Is that so? Then where is your father now?” He held his arms wide, looking back from one side of the woods to the other, teasing her. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

Her shoulders shrugged. “Indeed I do not know. I still know you would not kill me.”

“Very well. No, I cannot kill you. Were there times I wish I could, most certainly, princess. But the prophecy holds me to a promise.”

She rounded on him, placing her hands on his jacket and drawing him close to her. “Why won’t you tell me then, Anatole?”

He laughed, his wide eyes smiling. “An innocent vampire…I thought I’d never see it. But it’s true, you are. Truly the devil would laugh at such a ..well, we shan’t say it shall we?”

She slapped him with all of her might and he fell backwards, hitting his head. But he was up as soon as he recovered himself.

“Damn you, " She hissed, "If you wanted to woo me the first thing you’d learn is to keep your pompous mouth shut. And second of all, Anatole, you will never speak to me again in such a way. Thirdly, you had better speak of the prophecy now, or never mention it to me again. The answers are too precious. If you hadn’t noticed, you pathetic excuse for a vampire, changes are going on. To me, to my father, to the whole vampire world. Now is not the time for foolish games.“

He seized her arms and held them roughly, not letting go of his painful grip. “Ah, do you think I liked keeping your pretty secret from you, precious? But your father gave those pages to me, to keep from you, from your prying little gray eyes. Oh don’t deny it, you’re curious about me. More than curious, I’d say even attracted. The fact that your mind can’t find a thought of my own, frightens you. Everyday you lose more and more of your vampiric nature and it terrifies you, does it not? Tonight, it was the sun , but tomorrow, who knows? I can save you from that, if you’d but listen to me. I’d tell you everything, for a price.”

She gasped, her whole body shaking, her will beaten. She couldn’t move from her spot.

He grinned, opening his lips just a little to show his fangs. “When the total eclipse of the moon occurs, a sacrifice will be made so that others will delight in the sun. She who is the queen will be foolish and forget, while the remaining vampires forget their King entirely. “

She begin to cry, tears of blood, for the first time in what felt so long. “Tell me no more. Don’t tell me anymore.”

He frowned and dropped her arms, producing a handkerchief. “She who is the lady death, she will save her kind from their ignorance and bring them into the sun. Choosing her path forever, if but she heeds simple wisdom in a time of distress. Do not fear, the twilight is ending, wicked creatures, and a life in the sun’s warmth begins.”

She sniffled lightly. “Is that all? Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

He draped his arm around her neck, taking his fingers and running them through her dark curls. “No, of course not. If I told you all what was in those four pages you’d be horrified.”

She moaned softly, enjoying the caress for it carried some form of potent magic. “And, what of the price of this information?”

“You are not ready for what I ask of you, Ilianna.” He took her hand in his own and kissed it.

She could not accept that, but before she had a chance to ask what he wanted, the vampire simply disappeared. Gasping and trying to absorb it all, she walked home, ignoring the cries of wolves. All in all she simply was frustrated.

Until she realized the gnawing blood lust in the pit of her stomach, and had to fight to keep herself straight. She did not want to kill anything or harm anyone, just simply wanted to sleep in peace. It was not dawn yet, but surely it would be soon. What if she did not find a way to feed herself and she wasted away into nothing? What if her father was too absorbed by the pursuit of Sarah that he did not pay attention? And what of this sacrifice? Surely her father could not die. As for her that was certainly up for debate.

She did not know whether Anatole was a threat, or trying to appear as a lover. She could not decide, never being touched by anyone clouded her mind on it. He held her answers, he was vital. But what if what he asked was more than she could give? What if she didn’t have enough time left?

She reached her home and entered the crypt early, before anyone else. She would lie there and think this all out, she reasoned, but sleep came entirely too easy.