Tada! It's here!

IMPORTANT! This chapter just seemed to have some problems to me. It just didn't seem to flow that good so please, any nice criticism you have or suggestions please tell me!

Unlike so many nights before, Amelia actually for once had a peaceful sleep.

Well, almost.

Her dreams revealed something rather…unexpected.

"Wh-Wha? Where am I?" I asked aloud.

I realized I wasn't in my room in Halloween Town, but I was still in the holiday realm, at least I thought. The room I stood in was large and had no furniture. I gazed up at the ceiling and saw a beautiful chandelier above me with actual candles. The room, which I realized was a ballroom, had mirrors along one of the walls. That's when I saw that I wasn't in my normal nighttime attire. Instead, I wore a breath-taking black dress. It didn't have sleeves only straps and it came down to my knees. It hugged my curves just right in a way that flattered my body. I blushed as I gazed at my reflected image because I wasn't used to wearing dresses of any kind, other than my sorceress gowns, let alone ones that showed off my figure. I looked at my shoes, which were black flats that I absolutely love to wear. I never understood how girls my age could stand to wear those high-heeled, painful things they even called shoes. My hair was wavy the way I had always wanted it to be and done up in an elegant ponytail so it flowed down my back.

I giggled at my image and spun around on my toes. To my pleasant surprise, the dress flowed out around me as though I was a real dancer. I gave a small squeal in delight and spun around even more until I got dizzy. Once I stopped, I laughed at myself because I had become one of my many childhood fantasies, an elegant ballroom dancer.

All of a sudden, floating candles began to appear and lit up the room as the glow from the chandelier slowly dimmed before it finally went out. I felt a chill run down my spine although the atmosphere was warm. The mood of the setting I was now in was something I could only describe with one word.

Romantic.

'There is absolutely no way there could be one person in a romantic place so who else could be here?' I felt my cheeks become hot as soon as the thought crossed my mind.

"Good evening Amelia."

A masculine voice had spoken those words…right behind me.

I gasped and whipped around to find myself face to face with none other than Jack Skellington.

"H-hello J-Jack." I stuttered like an idiot, 'Real smooth Amelia.' I mentally scolded myself.

He chuckled, "Forgive me if I startled you." He bowed and then looked me in the eyes. "Would a dance make it up to you?" he then stood back up to his full height and outstretched his hand toward me.

I blushed like mad again. 'Jack wants to dance…with me!' I thought before I realized I had better say something. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my voice when I gazed into his eyes and all I could do was nod my head. Nervously, I placed my hand in his.

He pulled me close to him and placed his free hand on my waist as my own instinctively rested on his shoulder. That was probably one of the few times I wouldn't have minded heels because of his impressive height.

"What about music?" I asked when I realized the only sound was our voices.

He smirked and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, it was as if an orchestra began to play for then beautiful music filled the entire room. The melody seemed to flow through my entire body and I immediately knew the steps to the dance.

Jack twirled me around in a circle and then we began the waltz.

It was nothing like I had ever experienced before. Although it was a couple's dance, we moved as one. I had never understood that saying until then. I felt totally comfortable with him and I knew I could trust him. As we danced, I felt something within me that I couldn't quite define. My heart was racing as butterflies fluttered in my stomach. My cheeks flushed even though I wasn't exhausted. The more I thought about it, the more I noticed that it wasn't the first time I had felt this way around him. It had happened several times before actually.

My thoughts about my strange emotions quickly vanished as my gaze met his once more. I noticed something odd about his expression, but couldn't quite place it. He was obviously happy and serene but there was something else. I just couldn't recognize what it was.

Before I knew it, the song came to a close and Jack was holding me close, even closer than when we began so, of course, I flushed bright red. He kept one hand around my waist and with the other, snapped his fingers. A gorgeous black rose materialized in his hand. As I gazed at the beautiful flower, I noticed that the thorns had been cut off. He gently held the rose and then placed it in my hair. My face became a deeper shade of red so I turned my head away so that he wouldn't see. I ended up looking at the wall of mirrors and saw that the black rose matched my attire perfectly. It almost seemed now that I would be missing something if I didn't have the gorgeous flower. I noticed that Jack also gazed at our reflection and there was that strange emotion in his eyes again.

He then turned his attention back to me and gently cupped my chin with his hand so that my gaze met his. His eyes half-closed as he leaned down toward me. My mind told me to run but my feet wouldn't listen. Instead, I began to close my eyes as my heart began to beat rapidly in anticipation for what was about to happen.

"Amelia?" a masculine voice broke through her unconsciousness.

"WAAHH!" the startled princess shrieked in surprise.

"You've been asleep for quite sometime now. It's almost noon." Jack stood next to her bed as he spoke to her obviously concerned for she had never slept in so late before.

"J-Jack!" she finally realized who it was that spoke to her and quickly turned her head away toward the window to hide the intense blush that spread across her face. "D-did I r-really s-sleep in th-that long?" she stuttered from embarrassment.

"You must've had quite the dream." He stated as he raised a would-be eyebrow.

He couldn't see it but her face flushed a darker shade of red.

"I came in several times to try and wake you but you were practically out-cold." He chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you to get ready," he said as he began to exit out the door, "I'll meet you outside." The door gave a soft click when he shut it behind him.

She turned her head to make sure that he was really gone. Once she was certain he was, she let out a deep sigh.

'What was up with that dream?' she thought to herself and placed her hand on her forehead, 'I've never dreamt of Jack in that way before!' she shook her head to banish such thoughts and finally got out of bed.

Once she had gotten dressed, she walked over to the window and pulled the cord that opened the crimson drapes so the late morning sunlight could pour into the room. She leaned against the frame and looked out toward the forest.

'That was too weird.' She thought, 'Why on earth would I have a dream like that?' she glanced at the door, 'Jack is my good friend and I don't think of him in that way…right?'

A week passed and during that time everything carried on like normal, everyone worked hard to make the year's Halloween the best one yet. During that time, Amelia tried to go on with life like normal, which worked for the most part. She was able to push the dream into the back of her mind and had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing. That is, until one night she had the dream again.

"Gah!" she grunted in frustration before she turned over in bed with her face in the pillow. She moved her head to look out the window. It was early evening and the sun was still out. She had returned to her room an hour earlier from exhaustion of the Halloween preparations so she thought a nap would do her some good. However, what she struggled to forget returned. "Why did I have that dream again!" She let out another groan of irritation.

"I clearly think of him as a friend! I can't really have feelings toward him…could I?" she asked herself.

In truth, she had noticed signs from the past week. Her heart raced whenever he was remotely near her. She wanted to strike up a conversation for no apparent reason constantly, and then start to stutter like a schoolgirl who had a crush on the popular guy. Even her face would heat up when he would just stand next to her. She thought it was the dream that made her act so strange.

He knew her when she was just a child and she considered him to be family. He was her dearest friend, always there for her and never gave up on her. Anything she felt for him that was more than just friendship would be dangerous to the close relationship they already have.

"I hate being a teenager…" she grumbled. "I've got to find someway to forget that dream before I start thinking things I know I'll regret."

An idea popped into her head and she whipped out her spell book. "There's got to be some sort of memory wipe spell here!" she said as she quickly turned the pages trying to find such an incantation. She did find one, but it wasn't one that would work for her. "This one only works on real memories and not dreams!" she let out a shout of frustration and put the spell book back in her sleeve.

She moved to sit at the edge of the bed and began to ponder other possibilities, to which she could think of none. Then suddenly, another idea struck her, "Maybe if I got myself a boyfriend…Nah." she quickly discarded the idea, "I don't know of anyone back home who would want to date the school freak."

She sighed and looked out the window and saw that the sun was barely touching the horizon. She decided that fresh air might do her some good, so she got up and headed out the door.

The town square was empty like a ghost town, much to her relief. She walked over to a bench along the stonewall that had caught her eye and sat down. She looked up at the sky, mesmerized by the colors that had begun to paint the sky.

"Good evening Amelia." A masculine voice spoke next to her.

She softly gasped and turned her head to be face to face with Alucard who had sat next to her. She realized how close they were and instantly flushed. "H-hello Alucard." She noticed that he was holding a black umbrella above his head to avoid the sunlight.

During the past week, Alucard and Amelia had become good friends. She found that the more she had gotten to know him, the more she liked him. Often she would become flustered every time they talked and her face would quickly turn red. She would also catch herself daydreaming about him frequently. In all honesty, he fit the profile of her ideal guy perfectly, well other than the fact he was a vampire. Handsome, tall, well-mannered, smooth talker, and just the sight of him made her heart skip a beat.

"Did I startle you?" he asked, moving his head away from hers a little.

"Oh! No, no you didn't." she laughed softly.

"Amelia," he narrowed his eyes a little, "Are you alright? You've been acting very strange lately."

"Yeah I'm ok. Don't worry it's nothing," she avoided his gaze and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear.

"Hmmm…alright if you say so." It was obvious he didn't buy it, but decided not to push the matter anymore. He leaned back on the bench and looked at her, "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"No, not at all!" she smiled as she turned her head to face him again.

"I've heard that you're a sorceress, but what kind?" his expression was slightly curious.

"What kind?" she questioned for she didn't know that there were different types.

"Yes. Let me put it this way, what is your specialty? Normally that would be the first power you discover about yourself." He explained.

"Oh! Well that's easy. I hypnotize people." She declared.

"Really?" he seemed very intrigued by the information, "How so?"

"Well, I sing." She felt a little embarrassed about it for singing is not really thought of as hypnotic.

"Really?" He was a little surprised at the fact, "Do you know what it means to be an Armonia sorceress like yourself?"

She was slightly taken aback by the question and shook her head no.

"An Armonia is a rarity among the magical world. They use their voices to hypnotize their victims and then command them to do their bidding. However, there hasn't been a sorceress like that for centuries!" He pointed out.

"Are you serious?" she really didn't think that she was that special, especially since she got her powers from being human in a mythical realm.

"Quite." He gave a curt nod.

"How come they're so rare?" she asked.

"You really don't know that much about sorcery do you?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Well…" she quickly thought of a cover story, "My parents and I are the only sorcerers in my home town and I guess I just never bothered to learn our history."

"Hmm…" he was a little suspicious of what she said but shrugged and decided to go with it, "Having the ability to hypnotize through song is a genetic trait. Very few are endowed with such a gift because there were so few of the Armonia sorcerers even thousands of years ago. Not to mention the special DNA of such a sorcerer skips several generations before another shows signs of being one. It is said that they are the most powerful beings of their kind."

"Wow…I had no idea!" she thought for a moment, "So I probably got the trait from an ancestor of mine who lived hundreds of years ago."

"That is most likely the story." He nodded. "I've also heard that Armonia sorceresses have incredible voices," he leaned in closer to her, "Would you mind singing for me?"

"Y-you want to listen to me sing?" a tint of pink splashed across her cheeks.

"Well of course," he smiled and leaned back a little, "just don't hypnotize me."

She giggled, "Ok."

She learned long ago how to control the hypnotic qualities of her voice so people wouldn't accidentally fall under the spell. She stood up from her seat but did not turn to face him since she was already nervous enough. She took a deep breath, and began to sing.

Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation.
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination.
Silently the senses abandon their defenses.

Softly, gently, night unfurls its splendor.
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender.
Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light,
And listen to the music of the night.

She didn't sing the rest for fear that her nerves had gotten the better of her and would take its toll on her voice. To her surprise, Alucard slowly clapped in approval.

"Well now," he smirked and crossed his arms as he stood up, "I'm impressed. It seems that the Armonia sorceresses live up to their reputation. Also, I'm surprised to find that you're a fan of The Phantom of the Opera." He joked light-heartedly.

"Yeah, I am." She said as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head, "I absolutely love it! Music of the Night is my favorite song."

"Oh really now?" he smoothly cupped her chin, "Then why did you stop singing? You sounded lovely." He smiled his signature devilishly handsome smile.

"Well, I uh…" she gulped, "I hate to admit it but I just haven't heard it in so long, I kind of forgot the lyrics." She laughed nervously, obviously embarrassed about the whole thing.

"If that's the case," Alucard then let go of her chin and swiftly held her hand, "meet me here when the sun goes down."

"Huh?" although she was confused, she agreed. "Ok?"

He gave a soft smile before he let go of her hand and left.

She blushed as she felt a strange, tingling sensation on the hand that he held in his grasp. 'I wonder what he meant by that? And why does he want to come back here?' She thought as she stared at the palm of her hand.

Still confused, she made her way back to her home-away-from-home as she continued to ponder over an answer, to which she couldn't figure out one.

Well, that's it for now! If you have any suggestions or criticism on how to make this chapter flow better, please tell me in a review! I could really use the help!