:~RomaniaxReader: Rumors~:

You stood, arms crossed and a dark scowl on your face, in front of a large 1800's mansion. One with gargoyle statues hanging off of platforms and a large iron gate keeping out nosey intruders. You couldn't believe that you let your idiotic friends; Mathias, Alfred, and Gilbert talk you into going into this forbidden looking place. Well, it was more like you were the only one going in.

"I can't believe you three are making me do this," you said, wrinkling your nose in disgust as a bat flew out of one of the many window shutters. The Danish man known as Mathias chuckled and leaned his elbow on your shoulder.

"Oh, come on. You were the one who said you could take any dare thrown at you," he said in between his cheesy chuckles. You side-glared him and shook him off of you. There were times when you questioned your friendship with, what they called themselves, "The Awesome Trio" The "Obnoxious Trio" is more like it, you thought in your head. Alfred laughed loudly.

"Besides, ______, it's not like anything lives in that shitty house anyway!" he said, jabbing a gloved thumb towards the mansion. Gilbert crossed an arm over his chest, and pressed a finger to his chin.

"Alfred, have you not heard of the legend of the Lupei family?" the Prussian said. Your ears perked up. You have heard of that name before from your parents, when you were younger. There were many folklore and legends upon that family. As soon as all eyes were on Gilbert, he continued, "In the early 1800's there lived a family who lived in this very mansion. It was the Lupei family. For some reason, they were shunned by their entire village and were practically forced to live inside their home. The father, Dimitry Lupei made the mistake of leaving one autumn night, and was spotted by the villagers. In fear, he was slaughtered by the men of the village. His wife, Miruna and their only child feared for their lives and did their best to survive, due to the villagers trying countless times to kill them. Rumor had it that the Lupei's weren't your ordinary, everyday type of family. They practiced witchcraft. And after killing Dimitry, they found out something else," Gilbert stopped abruptly and smirked devilishly. You gulped softly and put your thumb nail in your mouth, chewing on it nervously.

"Well? What did they find out?" Mathias urged, wanting to hear the rest of the story. Gilbert put his hands in his pockets.

"They found out that they were vampires," he finally said after what felt like a millennium of silence. All was quiet for a few moments before the Prussian, American, and Danish burst into a fit of laughter. You were the only one who had a serious, yet nervous expression on your face.

"Oh man, are you for real?!" Alfred said in between his fit, "That has to be the lamest thing I have ever heard!"

"Totally!" Mathias added, holding his stomach and falling to his knees from laughing so hard. Before Gilbert could sputter any words out, you bopped all three of them in the back of the head.

"Can't you guys be serious for one moment?!" you yelled at them. The laughing stopped almost instantaneously and they looked at you. Your arms were once again folded across your chest. "I think you guys are blowing this off a little too quickly. I mean, have any of you even been inside that house?" you said, pointing a finger towards it and resting your other hand on your waist. The Awesome Trio looked at one another before back at you.

"Come on, _____," Mathias started, "Those are just stories. Don't tell us that you actually believe that vampires live in there?" You wanted to nod, but you knew that that would just turn into them rolling on the ground laughing again. Putting on a semiserious expression all of them stood up and eyed you.

"Well, you're the one having to go in there," Alfred whirled you around, his hands on your shoulders, "So, you can, like, find out for yourself," For the first time in your life, you hesitated. You did want to prove them wrong by going in there and finding a vampire for yourself, but something was stopping you. Maybe it had something to do with what type of creatures vampires were. Blood thirsty, crazy, extremely fast, and unbelievably strong. One false move could meet your fate.

"Oh? What do we have here?" Gilbert stood in front of you with a smug expression on his face, "His Mein Frau getting scared?" he cooed. Fire lit up in your eyes and you shoved him away from you. You pushed Alfred off of you and took a few steps towards the gate.

"I'm going to prove all of you wrong!" you shouted at them, pushing the gate open.

"Whatever you say, ______! See you at 8 tomorrow morning!" Mathias shouted back at you. You peeked over your shoulder and saw all of them waving at you. With a roll of your eyes, you walked into the not-so-welcoming place.

---

Man, does this place need a serious makeover. The mansion was pretty large, but it might have looked a bit better if it wasn't so dusty. Spider webs littered every corner you spotted, and dust covered almost everything from paintings to the sofa. Since you were a neat freak, the sudden urge to clean the place was boiling in your blood. Of course I would thinking about blood. You took a few steps inside the mansion, your shoes hitting the linoleum floor and echoing throughout the home.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" you said, feeling your voice tremble. You crossed your fingers that there wasn't a response back. Feeling a bit more courageous, you ventured farther into what you thought was the living room. Candles lit up the place, so it made it easier for you to look around. Wait, candles were lit? Why would candles be lit in this abandoned place? You gulped fearfully. Even though you did want someone to be here, another part of you was screaming for this place to be deserted. You spotted a staircase and decided to venture up it, hoping to find out more about the Lupei home. Only two steps up and you felt a presence enter the room. Your blood ran cold and your skin turned pale white.

"Please let that be only my imagination," you whispered out loud to yourself, squeezing your eyes shut. After a few moments of silence and absolutely no movement, you sighed in relief. You opened your eyes and immediately regretted it. Staring at you were two blood red eyes stabbing into your own (e/c) ones. You screamed in fear and jumped back, which was a bad move since you fell backwards onto the hard floor. Groaning in pain, you heard a low growl.

"Who are you?!" the voice boomed, echoing loudly. You mustered a whimper and attempted to scoot back when you heard heavy footsteps come towards you. "Tell me who you are and why you have come to my home! Have you come to kill me?!" the voice said, getting even closer to you. Thanks to the candlelight, you were able to see just what the person looked like. The person was a male, obviously. He had shaggy strawberry blonde hair, almost every strand looked a different length and also piercing red eyes. You spotted something sharp hanging outside of his mouth, but couldn't quite tell what it was. A small red with black brimmed hat was atop his head. He wore a long black trench coat and black combat boots.

"I-I'm.....uhh....," you had no idea what to say. You didn't want to anger him any further, but you didn't think he could get any angrier. In a flash, you felt a gloved hand wrap tightly around your neck and your pack pressed against a nearby wall. Your eyes flew open in shock. He's so fast! His crimson eyes narrowed at you with disgust.

"You reek of human blood," he said, his voice more mellow and more normal. He wasn't chocking you, but he wasn't far from it. Your hands instinctively wrapped around his wrist, trying to free yourself. "Answer my questions or I'll kill you," now, his voice was dangerously low, nearly scaring you to the point of passing out.

"M-My name is _______ _______," you said in tiny voice. He even had to lean in to hear what you said. "I'm sorry for intruding, honestly. I didn't think anyone lived here," you told him, hoping that he would let you go. You got your wish when you were dropped loose of his grip. Coughing, you fell to your knees.

"Of course. It doesn't surprise me the least that you would think this place was empty," he said, walking away from you. You stood up and held a hand to your neck.

"Who are you?" you asked, keeping your voice quiet and extremely innocent. The man stopped in his tracks and turned towards you, a small grin on his face. In the light, you were able to see two sharp teeth, fangs.

"You mean to tell me you've never heard the story of my family?" he asked, bringing out his accent. The pieces of the puzzle locked into place in almost an instant.

"Are you....the child of Dimitry and Miruna Lupei?" you asked slowly. He nodded and headed up the stairs, making a signal for you to follow him. You caught up by his side just has he put his hands in his coat pockets.

"Yes, that's me. My name is Vladimir, but I usually go by Vlad," he introduced to you. You had so many questions to ask him, but you didn't know if one question would set him off.

"It's.....nice to meet you, Vlad," you said, trying to be as polite as possible. He peeked over at you and couldn't help but smile.

"This is the first time in over a hundred years I've ever encountered a human," he said, keeping his head low. Yup, definitely a vampire. "Then again, there are the humans that try to kill me, but I don't really count them," he added. Suddenly, he stopped walking and stood in front of you, forcing you to come to halt. "So....______...why have you come here?" You rubbed the back of your neck and sighed.

"A couple of my friends dared me to come into this mansion. They wanted to see if the rumors and folklore about the Lupei family were real," you said, barely whispering the second sentence. Vlad crossed his arms and rose an eyebrow towards you.

"What rumor would that be?" he asked.

"Just to see if the Lupei family was actually....," you didn't want to say the word, but you didn't have to.

"...vampires," Vlad finished for you. You nodded up at him. Instead of getting mad, he only grinned.

"It's true. My father, mother, and even me are vampires. Well, my parents were vampires. My father was killed by the villagers and my mother died by not eating," he said with a sad sigh. You felt bad for him. You reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at you and saw a sympathetic look on your face.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened to your family, Vlad. I truly am," you said. He gently patted your hand. Rumors told about how ice cold a vampire’s touch was, but they weren't true. Vlad's hands were incredibly warm and were so full of life.

"You don't know what it's like, being without your parents for more than 150 years. Being constantly hunted down, living in fear, and hoping that the pain would just one day disappear," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper with almost every word he spoke.

"No, I don't know what it's like, but I do know what it's like growing up without parents. My mother and father were killed by grizzly bears. Completely mauled. I had to live on my own. I was independent by the time I was a young girl," you told him, wiping away a stray tear that rolled down your face. He looked up at you with a smile.

"You're different, _______. Not like most humans. That's why I already like you," you grinned with happiness and he returned the grin. "Now, would you like to see the rest of my home?" he took a hold of your hand, and intertwined your fingers with his. You nodded.

"I would love to, Vladimir.