Dracula missed Lisa more than anything.

One could say she haunted him— appearing out of the corner of his eye, always in the back of his mind —she was forever with him. And forever was a long time when you were an immortal vampire.

But when you came along, he felt something new.

He didn’t know what it was— didn’t want to put meaning to it —seeing as that would mean acknowledging it. He watched you at night, lingering near the outskirts of the forest surrounding your village. Somehow, you had never stumbled upon the castle despite foraging and hunting, nor had you been attacked by night creatures.

You had started to haunt him.

Always in the back of his head, always on his mind, always in his peripheral— it was maddening in a way —and he didn’t know what to do about it. “Hello.” He greets you with an almost dry voice, his eyes peering down at you as you stand at your stall. You worked at the market in the village, selling baked goods and other trinkets.