LISA'S WARDROBE HADN'T BEEN TOUCHED SINCE HER DEATH. Alucard was reluctant to rummage through his late mother's belongings, but the naked princess in his childhood bedroom had to wear something. He had thrown away her clothes after he had tended her wounds, as they were too damaged and soiled to be worn. Her shoes, tall leather boots, were in perfect condition, so Alucard had left them at the foot of what was now Anna's bed.
Alucard sifted through the numerous gowns in his mother's wardrobe, looking for one suitable for Anna's height and build. He settled for a green gown, one that his mother had worn right after Alucard's birth. It was a simple gown, with a bodice that laced in the back and white lace trim around the square neckline and at the ends of the sleeves. Simple as it was, if Dracula found it suitable enough for his mother, then it should be more than suitable for a princess, he thought.
He brought the gown to Anna's temporary room, only to find her struggling to stand up.
Alucard laid the gown on the foot of the bed and swiftly grabbed Anna under her arm to support her. "You have a fractured ankle, healing stitches on your abdomen, and you haven't had a bite to eat in four days," Alucard, said, exasperated, "You're not going anywhere."
Anna huffed defiantly. "Then why bring me something to wear?"
Alucard felt the heat rushing to his cheeks and cursed the part of him that was half human. "Because I have enough decency to not take advantage of a woman in this vulnerable state. Now hush and allow me to help you dress."
Anna let out a stubborn huff but obliged, clinging to her handsome stranger as he helped her into her gown. He helped sit her down on the stool as he laced up her bodice. Anna couldn't help but shiver as he brushed her hair out of the way with his fingers. "Is that too tight?" he asked.
"No, it's perfect. Thank you," Anna said, thankful that her back was facing him and he couldn't see her blush.
Anna picked up a brush from the bedside table and began to detangle her stubborn curls. "You never told me who you are."
"That's right," the stranger said, "I am Adrian Tepes, son of Dracula, better known as Alucard."
"Alucard?" Anna repeated. "Is that not Dracula spelt backwards?"
Alucard chuckled. "I suppose it is. My mother hated it because it means 'anti-Dracula,' but she's gone now and it seemed more...appropriate."
Anna wanted to know why he felt that way, but she knew it would be rude to press the matter further. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said instead, but meant it nonetheless.
Alucard's manner hardened, and his guard was back up. "It's no matter," he said, cooley, "you must be famished. I'll bring you some supper."
Anna felt his change in demeanor and couldn't help but wonder if she had said something inappropriate. She turned on her stool to face him and showed him her practiced princess smile. "Thank you, Alucard."
…
Alucard cursed himself as he prepared Anna's supper. This was a strange woman of a race he'd grown up believing as fiction, from a strange land not of this world. How could he let his guard down so easily? Was he really that lonely? Had he truly not learned from his past mistake?
But Anna's not human, he thought. Humans' are at least predictable; they steal, lie, kill, and destroy. Faeries were a totally different matter altogether. He couldn't predict how Anna would act, and that unsettled him.
Alucard had just dealt with his last run in with unwanted guests and now he had another whom he wasn't sure was friend or foe. The idea of killing another person made his stomach churn. Sure he had killed Taka and Sumi, but he had taken no pleasure in it, and watching them die still haunted his dreams. Humans were easy to kill, but a faerie whom he had never known of until now, he wasn't sure how or if he could kill her if he had to. And that unsettled him most of all.