Dracula frowned; a rare show of the compassion which had become so foreign to him over the bitter centuries.

“To not know your origins…that is a pain that only sharpens with time.”

“There is music even to be found in the silence…”

— possibly imagine. And I am weary of always being on the outside, looking in.

Better to be the cat at play rather than the fly on the wall, no?”

Dracula chuckled.

“You say that as if there are more of us in the world than there truly are.

I am the king of my kind. There is much pain behind that distinction. I have observed much in my walk…I have seen empires rise and crumble. I have witnessed things you couldn’t —

“What reason would I have to warn you?” He spoke softly, stepping forward,

“My only crime is observing beauty aloud.”

— now coming from directly behind her.

A man, clad entirely in black, looked upon her with an intense gaze, smiling as their eyes met.