A Man in the Castle

The chirping birds vocalized their extraordinary tone and vexatious songs accompanied by all the other critters with their personalized verses. Oh, but the birds... The birds were the ones more prominent than the rest -probably due to them being closer to the glass that separated the outside world from the old smelling inside- which caused a young-looking jet-black-haired man in his silky bedspread to grunt and curse, not quite aspiring to be up just yet. He concealed his deathly pale face from the wretched sun by using his right arm to protect his eyes because the light was giving him a headache. The man associated that he must haul himself out of bed to close the drapes, so his pale white skin doesn't get greatly sunburnt -which meant that the tiredness would fade, making him frown even more- and he already perceived the fact that he didn't want to deal with that all day.

Swearing once more before he pivoted out of the bed -shirtless- with a humongous thud; he had laid there on the ground for a solid minute then hoisted himself onto his feet with an annoyed groan. As the sun pierced into his room which caused him to narrow his eyes a fraction in order to see thoroughly, he indolently sauntered over to the giant window that was closest to his bed.

The icy stone floor pacified his remarkably heated feet down as he shut the daylight out. He caressed the back of his head because of an inadequate throbbing sensation building from deliberately dropping out of his bed.

While there was a sequence of knocks sounding from the door behind him, the man bowed his head upon the now carpeted window. When he didn't call out to indicate that he wasn't resting, a modest voice, that sounded like a blooming young woman, had inquired, "Master Dracula, are you conscious? Because I have brought you clean attires for the day." She hesitated for a moment, anticipating for an acknowledgement from him, before proceeding, "While you get prepared, I will be retrieving your breakfast, sir. On the menu-"

"Just enter," he responded, exhaustingly; his voice filled with an obscure accent and a sparse lisp from his fings. Without additional notice, the astonishingly massive door grated open to exhibit a woman with red curled hair, rust-coloured eyes, and a lively white complexion as she had freckles spreading across her nose, unlike her master. She possessed a servant outfit and in her arms, there was a suit that contained the colour of deep blood red and the shade of black that harmonized with his hair with imperceptibly richer black stripes. The thing going for Drac was the abs, which weren't too defined, on him as with his amber eyes.

As she advanced her way deeper into his room, he had composed himself and rotated casually in the direction of the girl right when the maid scattered his clothes on his mattress. "I'll close the rest of these windows for you, sir." He only dismissed her comment with a wave of his hand and sighed. "Are you sure you don't want me to tend to the others?"

"How do you fair, Young Cypher?" he answered her question with his own because he took notice of her eyebags that were forming.

Hesitant at first as she had her hand clasped in front of her, she had remarked carefully, "I'm well, my Lord Dracula." Not content with the response he was given but didn't push further at the moment, he swiftly moved to the bed with narrow eyes because he still doesn't like being deceived. "Would you like me to dress you?" she asked, almost as if she was trying to change the subject and shift the awkwardness in the air to something else.

"No," he said all too quickly, picking up a deep red undershirt. "I'm not terribly useless on my own."

"Sir?"

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"May I ask as to what happened to your pyjama shirt?" inquired Young Cypher.

He thought for a minute before replying with, "I probably threw it in the fireplace. It had annoyed me while I attempted to sleep." The maid frowned upon hearing that then she was directed to leave, but before she could even take a foot out the door, Count Dracula questioned, "So, I haven't woken any of the staff members by my bloody murder screams from my nightmares?"

She paused, shook her head, and attempted to leave once more to retrieve the breakfast for him. "Take the day off, you and the others," he practically demanded as he placed the shirt back onto the bed and walked straight to his bookcase because that suddenly became interesting to him. Running one of his fingers along the spines of the books, he settled at one to pretend to read its title, and he could swear he heard her sigh irritably. Was she actually getting annoyed because she wasn't doing her job?

"I don't think you have a choice in that matter, sir." You could tell she was restraining herself from snapping, so to keep herself from doing just that, she made her way to his bed again to make it.

He slid one of the books out of its place and held it in his hand, peeling it open. Even with a book on his face, you could see a slight gleam of amusement flicker in his eyes. "Oh? Have our roles been switched?" asked Dracula with a brow raised as her hands glossed over the bedspread to unwrinkle it and then tucked the ends underneath the mattress.

Standing back up with her hands resting in front of her, Elizabeth cooly responded with, "I don't think so. However, we would love to take the day off, but we just simply can't."

"Elaborate." After he finished pretending to read what was written inside the cover, he shoved the book back in with its brethren.

It looked like she was considering if she should or should not respond back to him, but since she was looking straight into his eyes that were filled with possible threatening undertones, Young Cypher decided to explain. Mainly because her heart rate had spiked a bit. "There's an angry mob in front of the castle gate, sir. They're shouting about vanishing women who may or may not be dead as others are chanting that you're a villainous vampire who must die."

Dazed, he quietly whispered, "What?!"

"That is the truth, sir." She bowed her head because she doesn't know what he'll do next even though she's been working for him for about three to four years. Maybe even longer because she didn't keep track of it. Reasons for not knowing were due to never actually seeing their Lord Dracula have emotions aside from always being tired. Young Cypher just knew that she enjoyed working under Count Dracula and the reason for that dealt with him just simply being a vampire. She simply saw it as If I can survive the infamous vampire, then I can survive anything. However, as time went on, her reasons for staying changed. He paid well -like really well, and he treats his staff members with the highest respect as if they weren't some scum of the Earth. Dracula saw them as human beings, and if he wasn't useless when it came to preparing things for himself, the man wouldn't have servants.

He ran one of his slightly lanky fingers through his long hair which had rested at his mid-back. "I just wanted to sleep and not deal with the trivial of mortal kinds," Drac muttered under his breath, licking his rosy lips -the only thing that had colour on them, lively even. Just then, the young maid thought that he does exactly that... He treated them like humans because they were mere mortals unlike the immortal himself, but you could always see him respect some more than the others.

"How come that wasn't the first thing you told me when you knocked?"

She hummed as if she was thinking before saying, "I thought it was insignificant to know. It's utterly absurd for them to think that." During the time she served under him; she hadn't seen him bring back a female to this castle, and if he had, she wouldn't tell anyone or think of him as a monstrosity. Young Elizabeth knew that he had to drink blood in order to stay alive, and it didn't take much of it either to do that. He needn't slurp up every little single droplet of a human or an animal, though he usually does because, after a single bite into the animal's vein, they'd became severally ill and died. However, she doesn't know how a bite affects humans in the long run, and something in her longed to know the answer. Maybe she could ask to be bitten? Or just inquired how it affects the mortal's body, but she highly doubts he'd answer her question.

She gallivanted alongside the perimeter of the room, overlooking his glowers, and drawing all the drapes shut as she had gone past them. Of course, it was relevant to him because this was his castle, a place he made home. God forbid anyone who tried to make him believe otherwise. It hadn't helped the matter that he inhabited this village longer than anyone here, and Dracula practically built this place with his own hands. He always needed to make it known that this castle was where he resides, so no one else tried to steal it away from him.

He tipped his head up to the stone ceiling, hair flowing down like a waterfall, and laughed for a short moment as if he had a brief of insanity. This was unquestionably mad. Women were being held imprisoned by someone, and they have the audacity to accuse him of that? Had anyone discovered the body of the supposedly absent girls?

Elevating his left hand up, he flicked his pointer finger up which caused the undershirt and the black vest to dart straight towards him and seized it before it was capable of hitting him. The maid resumed her spot near the door once more, watching him clothe himself with his ability, with a curiosity nagging in her mind. Will she be able to do that if she became a vampire-like him? A follow-up question came up next. Did she really believe the rumours that if you got bitten by a vamp, you'll become one? What really happened if one gets bit?

As she jostled the thoughts back, for now, Elizabeth decided to watch the buttons glide into its corresponding slot, binding the shirt up first then the vest, and he did it while he was combing his hair out with his fingers. Her mind went to seeing Drac actually being capable of doing things to survive on his own. Then, he'll want to do nothing with them, with her. This was understandable since the mortals were giving him trouble outside the gates of his home, but even if he wanted to be alone in this huge castle, the maid doesn't see herself retiring without a fight. Young Cypher might have to falsify that she left but end up hiding in the walls to watch on her Lord Dracula. This became home to her as well, and if she was charged out, she'd have nowhere else to go.

"May I take my leave, sir? I really must retrieve your breakfast," she questioned because he was ready to strip his pants in front of her, and Elizabeth was not up to that due to her knowing that he doesn't wear undergarments underneath his sleeping ware.

Dracula looked up to her -his hand holding onto the lip of his pants- and told her, "How can I consume food with all this excitement going on?"

"So... No to breakfast, my Lord?" inquired Elizabeth, who's slowly, but surely, backing out the room.

"That's right. You may take your leave," he responded, wiggling out of his pants, as she squealed and ran out of the area to escape from seeing her master's goodies.