Dracula POV

I don't believe it, I simply can't…my beloved Cassandra, I saw her – I'm sure of it! I would know that face anywhere.

But how is she here? And with him! After what he did to her?

But perhaps with Van Helsing's lack of memory, she may suffer the same, why else would she leave me? She must have been the one I heard when I heard that strange heartbeat, but how? She not only sounds like she has a dying heart, but wings like mine? Not even my brides have wings like mine.

So many questions in my mind, I must find her and have answers,

"I am sorry, master. We try and we try...but I fear we are not so smart as Dr. Frankenstein," says Igor, I refrain myself from rolling my eyes, considering the loss we had with the children, I nearly killed the women for distracting me from getting Van AND Cassandra. If only I had known she was there then I would never have let her leave.

"Truly. It would appear the good doctor took the key to life to his grave. Hunt them down. Kill them both. But leave the one with the wings, she is mine" I say, talking to the werewolf, now that he is under my full control it will be much easier to use him, or kill him if he dares to harm her.

"Master, let me kill that bitch, if it wasn't for those three our children may be alive" says Marishka, I snarl at her angrily, both the women cowering away from me,

"No-one harms her! It would not have mattered if they were here or not, the experiment failed" I say, looking out to the skies. Searching for those giant wings.

Suddenly something catches my eye in the woods,

"Follow Van Helsing and the princess, I will find the woman," I say, transforming into my other form, and diving off the top of the building, hearing the women going the other way.

I get to the edge of the woods and transform back, if she is here I do not want to frighten her too much, I must have walked a mile before I began to sense her, beginning to hear her heart beat again,

"Good to hear that you have calmed down since last I heard your lovely heart beat" I say, listening for her and looking and watching everything.

Startlingly I feel a sharp object in my back, I pause at this, how did she do that?

"Why did you follow me?"

I smile, closing my eyes, committing that one sentence to heart, the sound of her voice, I never thought I would hear that sound again,

"I have been looking for you for over four hundred years" I say, turning slowly, the weapon still on me, but I would take being killed every day for the rest of my existence to be able to look at this face.

She hasn't changed a bit, her hair as long and as untamed as the day I met her, her eyes as enchanting as when they first put me under their spell.

"Why?" she asks, looking at me questioningly, that's when I notice the necklace, I stare at it in shock, I had completely forgotten about it,

"Because my dear, I never forgot about you, and I never stopped loving you," I say, after taking my eyes off the locket and onto her again, she frowns at my words, I can tell she is getting frustrated by all this, she really doesn't remember.

"I can prove that I know you" I say she narrows her eyes at this,

"How?" I smile at her for this, and incline to her locket,

"I will open your locket, and inside you will see" I say, she looks down at it for a second, then looks back at me,

"If you try anything, I don't care how I will do it, I will stake you to a tree so hard you'll get blisters" she says, and with one hand begins to take her necklace off, though hesitantly she hands it over, clearly she has held it dear for as long as she has had it, this brings great joy to me.

I look to her and then bring out my own necklace, though this one unlike the locket, is a key, and underneath the locket is a small hole for it to go in, and watching her reaction when I do this of shock and further confusion, I use the key to unlock her locket, and then hand it to her, her staring at it in shock, taking it shakily, her eyes go to me and then carefully she looks inside the locket.

However, after a few seconds of her eyes resting on the image in the locket, I see her eyes roll back and she falls to the ground, but I catch her before she hits the ground, one arm around her waist and the other at the back of her head, looking at her, every inch of her.

I have been looking for this one woman for so long, and now finally…Finally! I have her! I pull her close to me, the feeling of having her in my arms…I feel like I have a heart again.

I put her necklace back on and pick her up, the way that I would have if we had been wed.

But we shall my love, if it is the last thing I do.

I bring out my wings and my form, and fly us to my summer palace, it is closer and I am hoping that the memories there will help her.

I bring us into my room, it is clean and warm, and after laying her down on the bed, I light the candles in it, to maintain the warmth for her. I watch her sleep, I still cannot grasp that she is truly here, that I am not dreaming, that I really do have her here with me.

After a little while I see her begin to stir, I ready myself for any and all reactions from her.

Her eyes finally open and she looks around the room, finally resting on me,

"Vladislaus?" I exhale at her for this, hearing her call me by my first name, the only person I allowed to call me by that name. I walk over to her, seeing her still watching me a little warily, but as I sit on the chair beside her, she seems to relax some, her eyes on me, not as much fear or suspicion as she had for me earlier,

"Cassandra, where have you been?" I ask, she looks at me and with the beginnings of tears in my eyes,

"Gabriel, he took me, said you told him to take me somewhere safe, only he knocked me out, I didn't see – I should have seen! But I don't…he took me somewhere I don't know where! I don't remember! He said such things! Things I know were not true! He took me away from my home! From you!" she cries, I cannot stand to see more tears from her, I hurriedly sit on the bed and pull her into my arms which she more than willingly accepts, her arms going around me, I pull her to sit her on my lap, her face in my neck, I feel her tears on my flesh but I do not care, I stroke her hair to help try to calm her down,

"I thought I was never going to see you again. I begged him to take me back to you but he wouldn't!" she cries, I hold her a little closer to me, I always suspected that it was Gabrielle that took her from me, but I also had that fear that perhaps she had left willingly. But hearing that that was not the case is a great relief to me.

"I searched the earth for you, I went everywhere I could to find you, but no-one claimed to have seen you, and I couldn't find you anywhere, I feared I would run out of time. So, I made sure that I would have more time to search for you" I say, at this she slowly leans away from my neck to look at me,

"You made a deal to become a vampire" she says, I nod at this in answer to her question,

"I do not regret that decision my love, it gave me the time to finally find you, for you to finally come back to Transylvania, to our home, to me" I say, she has a little faraway look after I mention this, but something is still puzzling me,

"Do you know how you are still alive my love, you have wings the same as my own, but I have seen what you appear as when you turn, you don't turn completely" I say, she nods at this,

"No-one knew, not even myself, I don't require blood to stay alive, I heal quicker than a human and I haven't aged in centuries" she says, I nod in understanding, I must admit a little envious of her not needing blood to sustain herself, but I am beyond grateful that it kept her alive.

"Those women…and those children, Vladislaus…did you decide to give up on me?" she asks, I look to her in shock, how could she ever think that? I see the fear in her eyes, but I can also understand where and how she would think this, she would have heard of my brides and saw the children. Many questions will race in her mind I can imagine,

"I needed more eyes, more immortals to watch over the world for you. I have been alone for centuries my love, I fear the despair and madness corrupted my mind. All I could think about was finding you at any cost. But my love for you has never dwindled, only grown. I love you with all my heart Cassandra, never doubt that" I say, she nods at this, I know she will still have many questions but we have eternity to ask and answer those questions.

"Don't let him take me away again, my love. I don't want to be apart from you again" she says, I hold her to me which she comes to, her arms wrap around me as mine do to her, keeping her close, as I would before to make her feel safe and protected,

"I won't ever let anyone take you away from me again my love, I swear on my life" I say, kissing her head, and I will never forgive Gabriel for what he did, he will die for what he did.

Hi guys I'm so sorry for the long wait to this chapter, have been really stuck for this chapter and couldn't decide where I wanted to go with this.

Hope you enjoyed this and I will work my hardest to update the next chapter, have been very busy getting more photography clients during this wedding season has been both very fun and as I said earlier super busy

Love you all and cant wait to hear what you think