I always sleep in on weekends. I stay up till 2am on Friday night, and so on Saturday, I wake up around midday. Unfortunately for me, Dracula woke well before I did.

I felt a pain in my neck when I woke, and a deep soreness through my entire body. I could barely move. Another hangover I sleepily thought to myself, until I saw him. He was sitting in my desk chair, in a fine brown suit, black hair slicked back, pale as morning snow.

He saw that I was awake and stood over me.

‘Unde sunt?’ he garbled. I couldn’t speak. I was terrified. Who was this man in my room and why couldn’t I move!? He shook my by the shoulders. ‘Unde sunt!?’

I couldn’t say anything but he looked into my eyes and understood I knew nothing. He lay me back down, almost gently, moved my hair from my neck, leaned down and I passed out again.

For weeks it continued. Me, laying in my bed, while Dracula fed on me. Slowly I started to become more attuned to his will. I could feel his thoughts. He was afraid, he didn’t know where he was. All he had was me. And then a day came where I woke and felt stronger than I ever had before. Blood ran through my body like sprinter and I moved so effortlessly it was like time was slower. And yet I felt no animosity for this man who had trapped me and fed on me for weeks. I felt as if we were kin.

I got out of bed and there was a hint of surprise in my eyes. ‘esti familia ta acum’ he said calmly. I still couldn’t understand what he was saying but I still had my understanding of the world. I opened the laptop on my desk. I went to google translate and encouraged him to speak into the mic. ‘ce faci?’ he asked. Google detected Romanian. After five hours of back and forth on google translate, Dracula and I were able to communicate, and I told him where he was and who I used to be. And we planned to feast. It was curry night at weatherspoons and I told him there was quite a buffet down there for us.