Return, Vlad part-I've-lost-count-now

He was gone so long I'd almost forgot he existed. I'd spent weeks peering under my bed right after I turned the light off, wondering where he was, and not finding him. And then, one night in the dead of winter, he slipped from under my bed as though he'd never been gone. I propelled myself off my bed into his arms, completely forgetting that while he would never deliberately hurt me, he was still a vampire and the smell of my blood, right by his face, would probably make him mad with hunger.

He quickly and gently dropped me back on my bed, head turned away so I wouldn't see his fangs in the moonlight.

"You have grown, Ella."

"I have to wear glasses now too." I grabbed them from my nightstand and put them on so I could see him properly and was comforted by the familiarity of his face.

"I must have been gone longer than I thought. You are so tall, such a little lady." Vlad look confused and disturbed.

"You were gone for six months. I thought you'd left forever. Why were you gone so long?"

"I took Closet Monster far away. I can only travel at night, so it took a long time."

"Did you take him to Russia?"

"No. But I stopped there on the way back. I wanted to visit my parents."

"Your parents are vampires too!?" I was surprised.

"No, my parents are dead. I visited their grave. Walked through my town at night."

"Oh. Was it nice to be home?" I was curious. He'd been a vampire so long, surely things must be different where he was from.

"It was different than last time I was home. I may need to travel there more over the next while."

"Oh. Well, it's good that we took care of Closet Monster then, eh?"

I heard a thump from the hallway, and footsteps. I quickly slipped back under my covers and laid down, in case my Mum or Dad were planning on peeking in on me. Vlad stroked my hair and kissed my forehead before he disappeared under my bed. The creak of my parents bedroom door told me they'd gone to bed without checking me. I guess I was getting too old to check on. I leaned over the edge of my bed and peered underneath. Nothing. No Vlad.

When I sat back up, confused, he was sitting with his back against the wall in his usual place.

"How did you do that?"

"Some vampires can move unseen."

"Can you turn into a bat?"

"No."

"A mouse?"

"No."

"Anything?"

"Mist."

"You can turn into mist? Like in Dracula?" I didn't really believe him

"You've been a busy girl."

"I missed you. I thought maybe if I learned more about vampires, I wouldn't miss you as much."

"What did you learn?" He chuckled softly.

"Why haven't you killed me?" I had been trying to figure that out for months after he'd disappeared. Everything I'd read suggested I was the perfect meal for a vampire. I was young, healthy, virginal.

"I told you before, angel, innocents don't interest me."

"But-" Before I could even tell him every reason I'd thought of why he should have killed me already, he was sitting beside me on my bed, staring down at me with his fangs bared. It took me a split-second to become terrified. He leaned down and sniffed my neck. I tried to pull away but he had managed to pin me against my headboard.

"Do you want me to drink your life from you, Ella?"

"N-n-n-no. I just-" Vlad sat up and put a hand against my mouth to silence me.

"Then don't push. Angel-moy, I struggle. I struggle every night I am here, against my nature. Please don't ask why not. I don't know why not. But you are a child, and even though I am a monster, I cannot kill a child." I could feel my heart pounding, and was desperately trying to keep my breathing even. He finally pulled away enough that I could wriggle away from him.

"You're not a monster, Vlad."

"Da, Ella. I am." He climbed off my bed and re-settled against the wall.