The Tale of the Vampire Bride (29 page)

“You must feed,” Cneajna whispered in my ear.

I felt Cneajna pluck me from the air and cradle me in her arms as she would a child. Slowly, she knelt before Vlad in the pool of blood, drawing me down with her, soiling our dresses.

“You must feed,” she said firmly. “Or else the hunger will claim you and take you down into the madness. Then Vlad will kill you.”

I slowly opened my eyes. I was quivering violently from the hunger. “I cannot be this.”

Cneajna smiled at me, blood spilling from her lips. “But you are,” she said, and kissed me.

She released me from her grasp as I knelt in the blood, feeling it soaking into the folds of my dress. Vlad stood above me, blood staining his thick lips. He held a goblet in one hand. As I watched, he thrust it under the ragged wound of one of his victims and the blood filled it. Smiling, his fangs glistening, he held it out to me.

“You are my bride. Drink.”

At his words, I sobbed hysterically. The hunger was consuming my very soul or whatever was left of it. I threw myself back against Cneajna’s body and she held me tightly, rocking me back and forth.

“I cannot. Please help me,” I whispered.

Cneajna cupped on long hand and dipped it into the river of blood where we knelt. “You must feed, my dear sweet Glynis. Drink for me.” She held her hand to my lips.

The intoxicating fragrance filled my senses as I relented to the hunger and drank. Instantly, I felt the warmth spreading through me as the blood satiated the hunger. I drank all that was presented to me and licked it from my lips.

“More,” I sighed.

Cneajna laughed and dipped her hand down into the blood. Ariana knelt before us and she also dipped her hands into the blood. I drank from her hand then Cneajna’s until the desire became so strong, I stumbled forward on my knees, raising my hands out to Vlad.

He smugly regarded me. “You are one of us.”

“Yes, my Master,” I whispered, embracing my fate.

Vlad smiled and slid the goblet into my hands. I feverishly swallowed all that was within.

The vampires gathered around me, my sisters supporting me as Vlad dipped the goblet over and over again. Finally, glutted, I fell into Vlad’s arms. His kiss was slow and passionate, his mouth tasting of blood and life. I relented to his seduction and closed my eyes, only tasting blood and power. Slowly, he lowered me into the blood and it flowed around me in dark, red waves. My sisters began to dance as Vlad rose to his feet.

I lay on the floor, feeling the blood within me spreading life throughout my body. The power was so tangible; I felt it coursing through my veins as it renewed my vampire heritage. The wounds Vlad had inflicted upon me faded away as my vision and hearing sharpened. My heart began to beat within my chest.

As the hunger receded into a memory, my conscience returned. The ecstasy of the feeding faded and, like a curtain rising, I fully realized what I had done. I had feasted on the innocents in the arms of my captor and tormentor, going against all I had sworn I would not do. I had become what Vlad had promised I would become: a monster that would feast on the innocents.

Trembling, I slowly rose to my feet. I was drenched in blood. It covered my being, warm and slick against my cold vampire flesh. I found myself staring at a dead woman, her face slack, her eyes dead and empty of life. Her head was lolled to one side, the stake protruding from between her breasts. I turned away in disgust and gazed into the horror-filled eyes of a dying young man no older than twenty.

Repulsed, I backed away and nearly slipped. The dead and dying surrounded me as my new family danced to the strange music. It was then I realized the music was not music at all, but the fading heartbeats of the dying, their tortured moans, and the magnified symphony of the sounds of the night.

Vlad caught me and whirled me about. His long tongue licked the blood from my face and laughed at my wide-eyed expression. “This is who we are!”

I looked about to see Ariana holding hands with Elina, slipping about in the blood as they twirled, laughing and shouting joyfully. Cneajna came up behind Vlad and began to lick the blood from his hair, her eyes sly and seductive. Vlad released me to kiss his first wife.

The horror of it all overwhelmed me as I sank to my knees, my hands covering my face. I screamed until I thought I would go mad. The sounds of those wavering, tormented heartbeats tormented me, and I shivered at the sound.

To feed was one thing, but this…this was torture. This was madness. The moans of the dying made me weep and I could not stand it any longer. Rising swiftly to my feet, I drew Vlad’s dagger from its sheath he had secured to his belt, and dashed away before he could grab me.

I raced to the young man with the desperate, horrified eyes and raised the dagger over my head. He looked terrified, then seemed to understand deliverance was at hand. I slammed the dagger into his heart, burying it to the hilt, splattering his lifeblood over my face. I felt him shudder and he was gone.

“What are you doing?” Vlad demanded.

I whirled about and ran past Elina to a woman spasming on her stake. Her death seemed close and certain, but I could not take the rattling in her throat. I drew the blade harsh and quick against her neck, ending her.

“I may feed, I may be a vampire, but I am not torturer!”

I sidestepped Ariana as she tried to lay hold of me, my vampire reflexes quick and sharpened by the blood that filled me. I leapt easily past Elina’s grasping hands and buried the knife into the chest of an old man.

I could have sworn he uttered, “Thank you,” with his last breath.

Elina grabbed hold of me and tried to draw me back. I felt the knife slide free of the old man’s stilled heart, and I moved to plunge it into my assailant.

“Let her be!” Vlad ordered.

Elina shoved me away and turned her angry eyes toward him.

One heart remained, sluggish and faint. I walked over to a man, face down on the floor, his back nothing more than torn flesh and bone. By his clothes, I knew he was the driver, a lowly man in Vlad’s eyes not worthy of the stake. I knelt and turned him over. I was glad to see he was oblivious of this world for his pain had borne him away into the world of unconsciousness. With one single stroke, I stilled his heart and released him.

Rising, I turned my defiant countenance toward Vlad. Ariana and Cneajna stood on either side of him, their expressions a mixture of confusion and anger. Vlad merely looked at me with unreadable scrutiny.

Slowly, I raised the dagger and drew it across the tip of my tongue, cleaning the blade. Once it was no longer bloodied, I walked toward Vlad, my chin held high, the dagger clutched tightly in my hand.

Without a word, he reached out and I laid the blade in his hand. His long fingers closed over the hilt and he secured it back in its sheath. The gaze of his green eyes did not waver from my face.

“You have killed.”

“Yes, but I was merciful.” I was strangely unshaken by the murders I had just committed. My body was alive with the power of the blood I had consumed. I could feel my power radiating outward from me. I was not afraid, but resolved.

Vlad laughed softly. “Is there room for mercy here, dear Glynis?”

“Yes, I believe so. I have done as you wanted. I fed and I killed. What more would you want of me?”

Vlad regarded me thoughtfully, then reached out to rest his hand heavily against my neck. Drawing me close, he pressed his lips firmly to mine. He then whispered against them, “This time, I shall not punish you, for your words are true. You have only done what I desired.”

Licking my lips, I tasted blood. I looked up at him through my lashes. “I will no longer fight the hunger.”

“But you will be merciful?”

“When it suits me,” I answered truthfully.

Vlad smiled, his lips revealing his sharp teeth. “You amuse me, dear wife.”

“Then your life will not be boring with me in it,” I answered.

He flung back his head, laughed, and released me. “We shall talk soon, wife. We shall talk soon, but tonight, I shall indulge myself.” He buried his face in Ariana’s neck and drew her tight against him. She cooed and wrapped her limbs around him.

I turned from them, released from my torment, despite the carnage that lay about me. I would surrender to the hunger, but I would find my own way. And I would be stronger for it.

Slick with blood, but strong in spirit, I walked from the throne room, transformed, released and determined.

Now I sit alone, writing, and knowing fully that my resolve to escape, to fulfill my promise to my mother, will be fruitful. I saw in Vlad’s eyes tonight a glimmer of respect. I realize he is now enamored with my strength and cunning.

If I am wise, if I am clever, I may be able to use this to free myself.

Though I have given into the beast that is the hunger, I am not afraid. I am still Lady Glynis Wright.

Chapter 15

The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright-The Castle

12th of October, 1819

I have not written in my diary for so long. I have tried to set pen to paper on several occasions, but could not bear to record the drudgery that has become my existence. Since the night of our feast, I have played a dangerous game with Vlad. I acquiesce to his demands in order to bide my time. I know that I am growing stronger as time goes on, and if he believes me to be obedient, he is more likely to allow us to feed and not go hungry.

At first I felt very clever in my plans to lure him into believing that I am resigned to be his Bride, but of late I have begun to chaff at the restrictions on my life. I have grown increasingly defiant. I was beginning to doubt my plans, but now I see I must curb my natural desire to war against Vlad.

Tonight, a new moon hid its face from the night and darkness dwelt heavily over the land. As soon as I awakened I was in a pensive mood. A heaviness in my heart came with awareness. Dread permeated my every thought. When I slipped from my coffin, I stood in morose silence, seeking to find the will to venture out into the night. I had grown so weary of this new life with its constraints and I yearned for England and my family.

At last, I followed the sounds of my vampire sisters chasing each other through the castle. Their gaiety was repugnant to me, but I found myself at a loss as to what to do to get me through the barren night.

I followed the sound of the vampire women laughing and ended up wandering out into the night. Within the tangled web of the gardens of the castle, Dracula’s Brides played with no regard to the lack of moonlight.

Laughing with delight, Cneajna prowled through the darkness, peering under decaying benches and pressing the dead foliage aside with her hands. Her eyes glimmered with red fire as I watched her seek out my sisters.

I drew near a fountain and stared into the night sky. I was in no mood to indulge myself in their games. Ariana moved past me, crawling along the floor like a strange insect on her fingertips and toes. I looked away from her disturbing form into the dank, still waters of the fountain. A faint reflection gazed up at me from the murky water, and I sighed sadly.

There was wild laughter when Cneajna uncovered Elina hiding behind a tree and there was a mad dash through the dead garden. I watched them as their long hair and skirts flowed around them as they rushed deeper into the gloom and further away.

I was glad for it.

I returned my gaze to the night sky. I watched for any sign of the stars to give me comfort. All that greeted my gaze were thick, heavy clouds that loomed over me like a crushing hand. Then, out of that dismal sky, fell a small speck of silvery ice. I watched in silent reverie as the first snowflake fell to earth. Then another followed, dancing on the night breeze, twisting as it fell. I stepped into its path and felt its cold little kiss on my cheek.

Then the sky opened and the snow fell, sweetly, softly, to hide away the dead plants of the garden and fill the night with glowing brightness.

Vlad found me in the garden, enraptured by the beauty of the snowfall. My gaze was turned upwards as I watched the dance of the snowflakes.

“Glynis,” he said softly from the doorway.

I turned to him, my gaze narrowing. I knew I was visibly upset with his interruption of my small moment of peace.

“Yes?”

“A word with you,” he said, beckoning to me with one hand. His green eyes were thoughtful as he gazed upon me.

I sighed, stepping toward him. There was a soft crunch beneath my slipper and I looked down to see the ground was already covered in a fine layer of powder.

“Come along, Glynis. I have some business that must be attended to and I need your assistance.” He looked past me and motioned with his hand.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the three Brides emerging from the snow, their gowns seeming to dissolve into the swirling flakes.

“Ariana and Elina, I need both of you to leave the castle. There is a man staying at the inn in the village. He is waiting for you. I will soon have a parcel ready for you to take to him. Dress as Gypsy women, then wait for my summons.”