Needed more Dracula and more of your amazing writing. So glad I found this one-shot! It's brief, but amazing. So much angst! I love it!

That was so heartbreaking! Poor Dracula!

Really nice one. Inspired me to publish one that I have been keeping in my drawer.

This was such a heartbreaking story! I almost wish there was more, but it's perfect the way it is really. Good job!

Great one-shot story

My dear friend, I can’t even begin to articulate how proud I am of you. Proud that you were brave enough to put your perfectionism momentarily aside so you could just pour your heart onto the page; proud that you were able to write this out in so short a time; and so very proud of what you offer before us readers now. I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it – your writing is something I truly admire.

I wish I possessed the ability you have to take a small amount of space (in this case, a mere three pages of typed text) and with that space, you manage to pack in just so much depth and detail and raw emotion. It’s inspiring and I envy you most thoroughly.

Before I get to the actual one-shot, I wanted to thank you for the shout-out. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and value your friendship as well. I also am seriously looking forward to seeing what you do with Shadows, now that you’re getting back into the groove of writing again. You are extraordinarily talented and I don’t care what your stupid boss says – You. Are. A writer. And THIS proves it.

Your opening paragraph set the tone very nicely for the rest of the scene. I know I comment on this often with you in our discussions, but your word-choices are continually spot-on, evoking a number of profound emotions with a small handful of syllables.

We often see our beloved Count in settings where he is the dominant party. He is always so in control of himself and everything around him – the purest embodiment of darkness and unadulterated masculinity. And though you certainly pay homage to this side of his character, I absolutely adore how here you allow him to appear so vulnerable and human, while maintaining that delicate balance of keeping him in character – something that not many know how to do well.

I have always been convinced of the fact that Count Dracula is an introvert at heart, that he feels things far more deeply than one would suspect and that one of his weapons against that is to block all feelings out – for it is better to feel nothing than everything at once (of course I have no real proof of this – it’s just a fancy I have).

But it is this one night of every year on the eve of the anniversary of Eliana’s death that he indulges in the sorrow, even if it is unconsciously done.

I love how his whispering of her name as if to dispel her memory instead invokes her spirit to manifest itself to him. The way you effortlessly balance between his hesitant hope and his utter despair is masterful. It is evident that he wants her to be real, but he is a logical man and understands that such things can never be – which makes the situation all the more heart wrenching when he insists to her face that she is dead.

When the Count feels the slightest pricking of tears in his eyes, that’s when I started to feel them as well. Oh, how my heart aches after reading this.

Such a simple scene, and yet the emotions are so poignant, so raw, and that ending…

Oh, the things we put our beloved Count through! ;)

I am so pleased that you not only wrote this, but that you posted it as well. You have every reason in the world to be pleased with what you have produced, my dear. Every reason in the world.

Put simply – this was stunning, and I enjoyed every agonizing moment of it. Bravo!

Oh my god, this was so beautiful. Your prose is wonderful and it was so intriguing to me to see Dracula so despondent, and yet it was so believable as well. I wish I knew what else to say except well done!