I lay in my bed for a long time in confusion as the rest of me tried to catch up. The dream faded away quickly as the room manifested around me. The image of Zain shimmered and disappeared. I finally sat up.

The window was still opened, and I was still in my change of clothes. I didn’t remember ever going to bed, but the sun had broken the horizon and the twilight of dawn filled the sky and my room. The lamp was off as well. There was strange, almost sweet smell in my clothing. It was so subtle, but almost comforting. Like, if “warm” was a scent.

And then my head finally cleared, I was now awake, and the smell was gone.

What a strange dream...I could barely remember it, but it felt so real. I could still feel the ground under my feet, the cool grass and the crisp night air. That guy’s expression was still in my mind. It was so different.

I shook my head. There is no way that wasn't a dream. He would never look at me like that, not me. Not the one he blames for this happening. Even though this wasn’t my fault.

I tucked my knees to my chest again, feeling that subtle tugging sensation again and a bit of deja vu. Only this time I had no intentions of following it. That was such a weird dream. What did he ask? And what was up with my answer? ‘Followed my heart,’ what the heck?

I shook my head again and stretched. It’s too early to be analyzing weird dreams.

My stomach rumbled after I showered and changed, and with a start I realized I never did eat dinner last night. With a quick glance around the room in thought I headed out the door and down the stairs.

The girls were still asleep upstairs, I assumed with deja vu once again, as the sensor plug-in lights reacted to my presence. The steps creaked despite my efforts to keep the quiet of the room. Awkwardness filled the silence instead as I stood in the center, unsure if it was okay to actually raid the fridge and pantry. I decided instead to sit down in the living room area.

There was a combination of beanbags and couch seating arranged in a casual circle. Up on the wall hung a flat screen TV. To the left a bookshelf and magazine rack, and to the right a red brick fireplace. I sunk into a bean bag, still feeling awkward. I wish someone would wake up already. I don’t know what to do with myself.

As if to answer my prayers I heard the stairwell creak and I turned. The twins, Alice and Suzanne, were coming down stairs in fitted outerwear. They gave identical starts of surprise, seeing me.

“Oh hey Helen!” Suzanne called. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not very long,” I replied. “Just for a bit. What are you two doing up?”

“We’re apart of the morning yoga class,” Alice responded while her sister grabbed some granola bars from the cabinet. “You’re welcome to join us if you’d like. It’s good for your body, and it helps with waking up in the morning.”

“We can get some coffee afterwards and show you around the castle,” Suzanne added with a smile. “We actually don’t have other classes today, we like to have our days off spaced out.”

“That’s sounds great,” I accepted with relief.

I followed the girls to the courtyard, the familiarity of the dream still lingering in the back of my mind. Many other people were also gathering to the patch of open soft grass where we were heading towards. The morning air felt nice, the dew in the grass chilled, and a pleasant breeze would blow through and bring with it the crisp scent of the morning. I took a deep breath and let it out in a relaxed sigh as I felt my head clear with it, and tried not to think about how hot it would get later in the day.

An hour or so later we finished up the morning stretches, sweat lightly glistening on my skin. I wasn’t able to do most of the poses, and had fallen a lot on the balancing ones, but it wasn’t bad. The instructor was patient and able to help me find poses I could do, and no one seemed to care that I was super inexperienced.

“We can get cleaned up in the pool showers nearby,” Alice said, wiping the sweat off her face with a towel.

“There’s a pool?!”

“There’s a couple,” Suzanne laughed. “The other is on the other side of the castle in the vampire wing, but ours isn’t too far. There’s a change of clothes too so don’t worry about needing to head back to change or anything.”

I followed them to the wing towards the left and through a few halls until we came to a frosted glass door with “Pool” labelled on the front in plain black font. The smell of water and chlorine blasted out as they opened the door.

It was your basic in-ground indoor pool, with a sectioned off area for doing laps, and a couple of lifeguard towers. The ceiling vaulted high into a round, frosted shield that was currently mostly open and letting in sunlight; it looked like one of those convertible roof type things that would open completely to the air or close tight. I think our school’s football practice field/gym had one that was crank powered. Some people were currently swimming in the pool, relaxing. The lifeguard on duty gave us polite nods as we heading to the pool’s changing and shower rooms.

After cleaning up we went back to the Food Court for coffee and breakfast, the sun growing high and the humidity already building up. We spotted Rose and Claire already in line for the breakfast buffet and waved. I didn’t see Wendy anywhere though.

“Cool, you were with Alice and Suzanne,” Rose said with relief after waiting for us to get our food and drinks. I started scarfing down my food with gusto. “We were a little worried when you didn’t answer or show up.”

“You mean you were worried,” Claire snickered. “I had a feeling you were okay. She was scared maybe you tried to leave.”

“...I thought about it,” I admitted after swallowing my food. “Though I don’t really know what good it would do, my impression is that I wouldn’t get very far soon as it was discovered.”

“You’re impression is right,” Alice said severely. “Vampires are very fast and their senses are very sharp. Not to mention you’re connected to Lord Zain now.”

“And they wouldn’t really be too happy about that,” Claire sheepishly said. “They’d want to keep you under a tighter surveillance, and we’d probably not get to see you again for a while.”

“Which reminds me,” I began. “I’ve been meaning to ask, why am I able to be unsupervised? It’s only been like, three days now I think. Am I really just allowed to...wander around freely?”

“They’re not barbaric,” Alice retorted. “They know you’re from the outside, and they know you didn’t come here of your own free will. It would be cruel to just lock you away, with no explanations and for no reason.”

“They’re very much a ‘until proven guilty’ sort of society,” Suzanne said.

“So then...who’s ‘they’?”

“The Council of Vampires,” Rose replied. “Or the COV. Lord Zain might be lord of the castle and over-arching ruler, but since he’s so young -especially since he’s still young- there still exists an appointed council to offset the responsibilities that comes with running the castle.”

“They’re like a government body, if you will,” Suzanne summarized.

“So then, who appoints them?”

“The lord of the castle does, ultimately,” she answered. “But there’s a forum and polls taken from everyone presently living here, including kids, about their opinions of who they like and don’t like and why. The opinions are taken into consideration when a decision to reinstate or to appoint comes around.”

“So…” I processed that for a moment. “What’s stopping them from just ignoring how every feels then? Wouldn’t it just be easy to just appoint whoever they want?”

“This is true,” spoke a familiar, gentle voice behind us. “But causing direct discomfort to our residences affects the quality of blood in supply, and would directly affect the health of all vampires living here.”

I turned to see Dmitri, the dance instructor from yesterday, standing tall and relaxed with his hair combed nicely and a gentle smile on his face.

“Yo, wat up big D!” Claire greeted boisterously and held out her fist to him as everyone else greeted him normally. To my utter surprise he bumped it, mimicking the flair at the end masterfully.

“Good morning girls,” he greeted in response. “Good to see you all doing well!”

“You too,” Rose said, a hint of shyness in her voice. “You’re all dressed up today.”

It was then I noticed what he was wearing, and the similar military-esque type of dress all the vampires wore the first time I saw any of them triggered a memory and sudden realization.

“You!” I said with a start, pointing. “It’s you! You’re the guy!” The guy from the first night, the one who announced me as the bride thing or whatever!

The girls stared at me in confusion while Dmitri sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

“Ah, I was wondering if you had recognized me...You’ll have to forgive me for not saying anything, I couldn’t be sure and I didn’t want to upset you. I hope this doesn’t change how you think of me.”

My burst of indignation faded almost immediately and was replaced with guilt by the sincerity in his voice and expression. I sighed and muttered, “It’s alright…”

“Oh!” Rose said with a start. “Oh, right, you were supposed to be the one who…” She trailed off with realization, and quickly cleared her throat. “Um, anyway, how come you’re all dressed up?”

“And how come you’re over here?” Claire added.

“Ah, Lord Zain has called together a meeting to address how we’re to move forward with the new changes,” he explained. “For the moment it was agreed that the best course was to keep the facts of the matter a secret, but he wants to address that now as the castle deserves to know what’s going on. And,” he looked to me, “since the subject matter pertains to Miss Helen, I’ve been asked to come fetch you to attend the meeting in the Night Wing.”

I stiffened, realizing that meant I would be in a room full of vampires, who would already have a low opinion of me, and would have to listen to them directly decide my fate.

Dmitri seemed to pick up on my distress immediately. “By all means, don’t feel obligated to attend just yet,” he tried to assure. “I understand you’ve only been here a total of three days and only been aware of our existence for even less time. I also understand you would have made plans today to spend with everyone. It wouldn’t be any trouble to express the need for more time to adjust, and postpone the meeting.”

“I…” I thought about it, feeling my chest ache and that strange pulling kick in a bit at the same time. A jumble of thoughts filled my head, all saying and feeling different things. I couldn’t be sure if I could actually trust what he said, whether I actually have a choice, or whether if I choose not to if it would only make things worse. I took a breath, and drew upon the calming sensations of the yoga earlier this morning.

“I’ll go,” I said, to everyone’s surprise.

“You sure, Helen?” Claire offered in worry.

“It really is okay to decline,” Dmitri assured.

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I want to go. I’ll be okay.”

“If you’re so sure,” he replied, holding out his hand to assist me to my feet.

“I am,” I said confidently, taking it and standing up.

“We’ll have her back before the afternoon is over,” he assured to the girls as they looked on with a little worry, the expression beginning to feel contagious. “It won’t take much longer than that.”

“Good luck Helen!” they called as Dmitri and I walked away, heading to the other side of the castle.

We walked in silence for the next few minutes as my moment of confidence began to fade away and the tugging sensation intensified. The presence of people slowly dissipated as we made some turns and climbed some stairs, until there was just an eerie quiet.

“It really won’t take long,” he tried to assure me and break the awkward silence. “It’s nothing severe either. At least, it shouldn’t be,” he added honestly.

“Great,” I grimaced. He gave a patient but worried smile.

“The biggest issue they want to discuss is how to announce you, is all,” he explained further. “There was already an upset soon as it was found the the lord of the castle had taken not the Bride assured and appointed to him but a stranger from the outside. I’m not sure how much you’ve been able to be informed thus far, but the uncertainty brings worry for the safety of the castle. But, since it can’t be undone, moving forward is the only recourse to put everyone’s mind at ease.”

I remained silent but his explanation was somehow calming. It gave me something to think about, instead of the worry of being in a room full of vampires and the worry of what they might do to me. A new question popped into my head. Or rather, not really a new question, but one that I didn’t know how to address, or who to address it to. Dmitri seemed like someone who might be able to answer it. I swallowed and took a breath.