"Gosh, Lavinia! No one told us that Transylvania would be so cold!" I rolled my eyes at the whiny voice of my friend who huddled as close as possible to me as we walked down the cobbled streets. Sure, it was pretty cold and was indeed snowing quite heavily, but I made sure to only complain about it once out of shock when I stepped from the bus.
"It's winter, Rosie. Cold is a given" I heard her huff loudly in response before the loud chattering of her teeth continued. In fact, if it were any louder I was positive that the noise would have begun to echo through the quickly emptying streets. Rosie and I had arrived at Transylvania a lot later than we had expected, the plane from England had been delayed for a few hours due to the heavy snow storms that were clouding the skies. After a while, we were finally allowed to board the plan, but that meant that our plans of getting to the spas of Sovata and booking a room would have to wait for another day due to the fact that all transport stopped due to the time and weather.
That also meant we had to find a place to spend the night right now.
Rosie tugged on my sleeve, pointing in the direction of an old, creepy castle. It looked like those haunted castles that you see in those horror movies and I wouldn't have been surprised if that particular was used in a good movie. I saw her smile wickedly at me, a gleam in her eye that I recognised all too well and I rolled my eyes at her.
"No" I stated firmly, pulling her along with me.
"But there might be a sexy vampire waiting to sweep us off our feet!" Rosie whined, spinning on the spot at though she were dancing with someone else. Rosie was an odd girl and her looks really made people notice that quickly. She had natural brown hair but had dyed it a bright, blood red with a shine of purple that she always told me was like fire and I had to admit that it really did suit her. Her skin was pale and flawless, not a single scar or blemish was found on her face or neck and I was positive that the rest of her body would have been the same. One thing that people would always comment on though was the fact that, despite her age, she had the body of a child. I wasn't even joking. Rosie was 20, soon to be turning 21, and she had literally no curves. I could tell you stories about the men I would threaten to beat when they would tell her that real women had curves, or to tell her to eat a pizza and gain weight. I swear pizza is all she ate anyway.
Either way, Rosie stood out. I, on the other hand, felt completely dull and normal. I'll admit that my natural ginger hair did make me slightly less common than most people but the rest of me? Nothing special. I was slim, with average sized breasts and annoyingly large hips that men would always tell me were perfect...of course that was after I accidentally walked into them despite trying to dodge them. My skin was also pale, but not nearly as flawless as Rosie. I had a few scars dotted up my right arm from where I had stupidly used the fireplace to hoist myself up as a child...obviously the fire burnt my arm and the hospital managed to bandage up most of it and removed the scars from the worst part of my arm, just not all.
With a sigh, I stepped away from Rosie who was still twirling and babbling about how she will find true love in the arms of an immortal, well educated man. Of course it was just as that time when a hand grabbed my arm, causing me to jump and let out a startled yell before almost slipping on the icy pavement. When I righted myself, I looked down to see a smiling old lady who was still holding my arm tightly, almost as if she was the one who was stopping me from toppling over.
"Looking for a place to stay? I own a hotel right here. I wouldn't want to keep two beautiful women out in a storm like this! Come, come!" The grey old woman began to usher me toward the building and I managed to yell my friends name, who turned quickly and ran toward me, before I was pushed into the building with Rosie on my heels. The change in temperature caused my cheeks to redden and that in turn embarrassed me even more knowing that I probably looked ridiculous, I was glad when no one mentioned my face when we booked a room with the friendly old lady who eagerly took our money and allowed her assistant to guide us to our room in silence, none of us daring to break the awkward atmosphere of being around people we barely knew.
"Rosie, we will plan how to get to Sovata tomorrow. I am absolutely exhausted right now" I stretched slightly once the assistant closed the door behind us, Rosie mumbling in agreement before she dived into her bed without removing her clothes. Before I could remind her that she was still wearing clothes covered in snow, I heard her gentle snores filling the room causing me to roll my eyes at her before walking into the bathroom to the right.
The bathroom wasn't spectacular, but it had what I needed at the time. A shower with hot water. I stepped onto the blue tile of the bathroom but immediately stopped my advancement toward the inviting shower when I noticed the window to the left of me was wide open and I groaned slightly as the harsh winds greeted my battered skin once more. I'll admit that looking out of that window before I closed them took my breath away. It was dark, the moon was out which I also added was amazingly clichΓ© and I chuckled slightly imagining how some people might be running around pretending to be werewolves or vampires. What really caught my eye was that beautiful, medieval castle in the distance looming over the small houses before it.
"Wow..." Another gust of wind reminded me that I needed to shield myself from the cold winds and I leaned out of the window, my finger tips barely scraping against handle.
"What? Were people here known for their super long arms? Come on! This is ridiculous!" Groaning, I leaned forward once more and with a grin of triumph, wrapped my fingers around the handle before pulling them to with a satisfied click. With a sigh, I stepped to the side of the window and began to remove my clothing, enjoying the feel of my hands sliding across my skin as I was finally down to my underwear. Reaching behind me, I began to fumble with the clasp of my bra and I took a step back.