VROLOK (49 page)

Jonathon Harker stayed in the Golden Krone hotel, and even before he arrived there was a letter waiting for him from Vlad. Isabella paid one of the hotel workers to let her see it but it had nothing of any importance in it. Isabella watched Jonathon for a few days from a distance. She decided that he probably posed no threat whatsoever. He obviously did not know anything of Vampires, but just in case she would try and scare him into not going. Isabella waited for the landlady of the hotel to come down from Jonathon’s room.

“Well?” Isabella enquired. “Did you frighten him?” Isabella asked.

“I did, but not enough. He still has every intention of going,” said the landlady.

“He is a fool.”

“He may be…he scribbles everything down in a diary.”

“A diary. This may prove useful to me, thank you.” Isabella gave the landlady some money and then left. She observed Jonathon the next day as he was waiting for a coach. Vlad had sent his own coach to collect him.

Isabella had decided to travel with him. She climbed the steps into the coach and as she did she caught sight of the landlady from the night before. She was obviously talking about her to the villagers who were there. They all made a sign of the cross as the coach pulled out. Isabella thought to herself how stupid these people still were that they believed that their foolish suspicions could ward her off. Isabella glanced over at Jonathon; he was looking at the villagers as well. He was getting increasingly frightened of what was ahead of him. Isabella thought that he should be scared. She had no idea what Vlad had planned for this man, but she suspected he would not be allowed to leave the castle as Renfield had, so she would let him carry on with his journey.

Isabella sat with the other passengers, who were anxious and agitated—they knew who she was. That was the wonderful thing about the Carpathians. It was the only place in the world that Vampires were known and recognised, despite Isabella’s efforts to the contrary.

The coach was traveling at a horrendous speed. Isabella knew what the coach driver was up to; he was trying to out run Vlad, he was afraid for himself and those who travelled with him. It would never work. As the light was fading the other passengers were terrified of Isabella, afraid she would strike out as soon as the darkness engulfed them. The coach came to abrupt stop and the coachman jumped off his seat and pushed his head through the open window to talk to Harker.

“I see no sign of another coach,” he said quickly. “He has not sent anyone to get you. I suggest we go on to Bukovina and you can see what has happened to him from there.” His words were interrupted by the sound of another carriage approaching from what seemed like nowhere. Isabella smiled; she knew Vlad would have predicted this.

“I don’t think you have to be moving on to Bukovina,” Isabella stayed inside the coach; she did not want Vlad to see her.

“Mr Harker, my master sends his compliments and will ensure that the rest of your journey is as comfortable as possible.”

“Thank you,” Jonathon answered. Jonathon climbed onto the other coach and went with Vlad towards the castle. Isabella was slightly reassured; Vlad had not changed that much; he would not be foolish.

Isabella stayed in Bukovina and waited for word. Six months went slowly by and there was nothing, until Anna sent a message to Bukovina asking for her to come home. Isabella hurried home. She feared the situation that awaited her there.

“I am so glad you are here,” Anna began.

“Why, what has happened?” Isabella asked, a certain amount of concern in her voice.

“Soon after you left the castle a baby was stolen from one of the villages near by.”

“A baby?”

“Yes. Just an infant, no more than a few months old.”

“Was it a Slovak?”

“No.”

“Then I have no grievance with whoever took it.”

“I know that, but you will have a grievance.”

“Why?”

“You should come up with me to see Olya; she has something to tell you.” Anna would not tell Isabella anything more than that. The pair walked up to the castle in silence. Isabella was astounded at the thoughts that were running through her head. She worried not for herself and her own safety. She was worried, desperately worried, for Vlad. She tried not to be; she tried to tell herself she did not care but she could not lie to herself anymore.

When they arrived at the castle, Isabella made straight for her old room. Olya was lying in her bed exhausted and dying. Isabella smelt death around the room Olya’s time was very close to being over.

“Olya,” Isabella began. “What has happened here?”

“Isabella,” answered Olya, her voice weak and fragile “sit down, please.”

Isabella looked over at Anna, who looked as if her world was starting to come apart. Isabella had tried to touch her arm on the way up to the castle but she would not let her. She knew Isabella could read her if she let her take her hand. Isabella sat down on the bed and waited for Olya to relate what she had to tell her.

“I helped the Englishman Harker to escape,” said Olya.

Isabella was relieved when she heard this. “Is that all?” Isabella said. “I don’t care. I have helped many a human in my lifetimes. I realise that we can sometimes feel pity for them. There was a time when I would not have killed a human without good reason.”

“Isabella,” Anna said loudly, silencing Isabella. “Listen. She has more to say.”

Isabella continued listening, her brief sense of relief completely dissipated.

“I let him go for a reason,” Olya continued.

“What was your reason?” Isabella asked.

“I saw his future,” Olya answered.

“What did you see in his future?”

“Start earlier than that Olya, she must hear everything to understand completely,” Anna interrupted again.

“A month ago the three other Vampires that occupy this castle brought a child up from the village below. Just a child, an innocent; they slaughtered it without any sign of conscience. I was disgusted. From that instant I knew this all had to stop. Those women, the abomination that they had become, it all had to end.” Isabella now realised what she was about to be told.

“Continue,” Isabella said firmly. Her concern had changed to anger.

“Dracula left the three Vampires behind him when he left; they fed on Harker every night. I could hear him crying when they left him and screaming when they returned the following night. They were slowly torturing him, prolonging his life for the sheer enjoyment of it. I couldn’t stand it, Isabella. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the baby they had killed. I had to stop it…I had to.”

“So what did you do?” Olya now sensed that Isabella would not be sympathetic.

“I went up to see him. He was exhausted, barely alive, as I was trying to make him more comfortable. I touched his arm… I saw a vision of the future.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw the blackness that I have been sensing for years but now I saw what it was and how it would come about. I saw the three Vampires being killed and I saw…”

“You saw?”

“I saw an end to it all.”

“An end?”

“Yes, I saw Vlad, I saw him dead, I knew if I helped Jonathon escape it would set off a chain of events that would mean the end to all Vampires.”

“So you let him go just because three Vampires killed a baby?”

“I did.” Isabella got up and walked towards the window. She was standing with her back to the two women and she said, “You let that man escape from here when you knew it would result in Vlad’s death?”

“Yes, Isabella, don’t you understand, I had to.” These were the last words that Olya would ever utter. While Isabella was standing with her back to the two women. She had unsheathed her grandfather’s sword and poured some of Abraham’s blood on the blade. Isabella spun around to face Olya and thrust the sword through the air at tremendous speed. The tip and then the full blade went through the middle of Olya’s throat. The sword was thrust with such strength that it penetrated the head board behind Olya‘s back. Only the stone wall behind the bed was able to stop the sword’s motion. Olya touched the blade with the tips of her fingers. She was trying to pull it out of her throat but she could not. A few seconds later her head slumped and she was dead.

Anna had sat frozen, unable to even close her eyes or pull them away from the gruesome scene. After a few seconds, when the numbness had passed, Anna ran to Olya, crying out her name. Isabella walked calmly over to Olya’s body and placed her foot on her stomach and pulled out the blade from Olya’s neck. This last action severed the head completely and Anna collapsed in grief.

“Why?” Anna shouted, begging Isabella for an answer. Isabella now coldly wiped off the blood from her sword.

“You know why.”

Anna, who was still sobbing on the floor, said, “She knew this would be your reaction—she told me.”

“She was right then, wasn’t she?” Anna was shocked at Isabella’s callousness.

“I said that it was not true you could never kill her,” Anna said, still not really believing what she had just seen.

“Anna, I have never lied to you; never forget I am a Vampire. She let a human who will kill Vlad escape. I would never have let her live under any circumstances.”

“You don’t understand, I am not crying for Olya,” Anna said. “She said if what she had seen started to come true, my son… would also die.”

“I am sorry Anna; I will try my best to stop it,” Isabella answered. “You must tell me everything she told you.”

“She did not tell me much more than that. She told me that Harker and an American would slay Vlad.”

Isabella saw a glimmer of hope in Anna’s words. “That is impossible, humans cannot kill Vlad. Did she say anything else or mention anyone else?”

Anna tried to think and remember, but she was still in shock. “She did she mention a Dutchman named Abraham.”

Isabella fell onto the bed in shock. “The Dhampir! Vlad really is in danger!” Isabella ran for the door and turned back towards Anna. “If I can save your son, I will, I promise you that.”

THE EARTH IS FREE FROM A MONSTER OF THE NETHER WORLD 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Isabella journeyed as quickly as she could. For the first time in her conscious permanence she had not a moment to spare. She got a coach to Bistrita and then a coach to Varna. She boarded the first ship she found and stirred up the winds to let the ship sail to its greatest capacity. She had to rescue him…she couldn’t let him die. She felt responsible for the danger that Vlad was in. She should have killed Van Helsing when she realised what he was. She left the Carpathians with the firm intention of correcting her original error. She arrived in England a week later and swiftly travelled up the coast to Whitby.

Whitby was the perfect setting Isabella reflected. If she did not know for certain that Vlad was somewhere here she would have known as soon as she saw it. The ruined Benedictine Abbey looked down on to the village below, as his own castle looked down on the forest and the many villages that had settled on the forest edge. But unlike his home, Whitby’s population had grown and flourished. It manufactured Jet, which was the only respectable jewellery worn by ladies in mourning. In a world where death was always abundant, anyone who could profit from it always had infinite custom.

On seeing Whitby Isabella knew that Vlad would have settled up the hill a certain distance so that he could look down on the busy port below him. As Isabella walked up the path, she noticed a clipping from a newspaper flapping in the breeze. She picked it up to read it.

The article was from the
Daily Telegraph
and spoke of an accident that had happened the previous month; a ship had run adrift on to the shore.

The people of Whitby had watched it as it came hurtling towards the bay at great speed. Crowds had gathered because a storm had started suddenly out of nowhere. Then the fog started to roll in, almost obscuring all of the boats that were still out at sea. The people of Whitby were frightened and feared for the crews of these vessels that were now completely obscured by the fog, which was made worse by the rushing winds of the storm.

All of the ships except one arrived back safely, but this ship was still in difficulty. No one recognised it. It was obviously a foreign ship just coming into port. As it approached, people in the crowd noticed that there was a dead man lashed to the wooden steering wheel of the ship. A few people ventured out and approached the ship when it ran onto dry land, and within seconds the black clouds above them had dispelled, the fog and the rains swiftly rolled back out to sea. The onlookers gasped as a wolf jumped from the ship onto the English shore and ran away from the crowd.

Isabella finished reading what was left of the article. She knew the wolf was Vlad. She smiled to herself, almost laughing, thinking about what Olya had said. “He wants to be respectable?” Isabella stated under her breath. She had sat down to read the article; she stood up again and walked up the path to look for Carfax Abbey, Vlad’s new home.

Isabella soon found the abbey, though she did not find Vlad there. She waited for his return. A few hours later she heard men shouting outside. She walked over to the window to see who was shouting and why. Five men were approaching the outside of the house. They were brandishing torches and various weapons. Isabella recognised Abraham as one of their number. Since she saw no sign of Vlad she began to worry: was she too late?

She continued to watch these men, hoping that Vlad was close behind them; the men entered the chapel at the front of the house and were partially obscured from her sight. She could see them opening the crates that lay inside the chapel. They were sprinkling some sort of liquid on the contents of the crates. Isabella knew it was Dhampir’s blood. She wondered what was in these crates that these men felt that they would have to poison them. An hour had passed; Van Helsing and the men left as abruptly as they had come. Isabella sat down again and waited anxiously, yearning for Vlad’s return, hoping that he would return to her unscathed.

Just before sunrise he did return, not quite unscathed. He had a cut on his forehead and the wound looked old; it had not healed and showed no sign of healing, His eyes were not their usual black but red and piercing; they almost looked as if they were on fire.

Isabella sat in the corner of the room in silence; she hesitated before she alerted him to her arrival. She had not talked to him in two centuries and she did not know how to start.

“Vlad,” she said gently, he turned towards her. The pair looked at each other, each one not knowing how to react to the other’s presence.

“Have you come to witness my ultimate demise?” Vlad said. Isabella had not expected a response like this.

“So you know you are danger?”

“I do.”

“You recognised Van Helsing as a Dhampir?”

“Oh, I recognised him.”

“What do you mean?” Isabella asked.

“I mean I recognised him because he is my son.”

Isabella looked at Vlad; she was completely confounded.

“Your son?”

Vlad sighed.

“That is what a Dhampir is Isabella…the child of a Vampire and a human.” Isabella could not believe what she was hearing. She quickly unsheathed her grandfather’s sword, which was hidden as always amongst her skirts. She hurled it at Vlad. It cut straight through the palm of his left hand and pinned him to the wall behind. The sword was now lodged in both Vlad’s hand and the back wall of the room; mortal strength could not have freed him. Vlad looked over at Isabella and sighed. “So in two centuries you have not learned how to control your temper,” Vlad said.

Isabella confronted Vlad; she raised her hand and struck him. Vlad freed himself and pushed her back, pinning her to the opposite wall. Repressed passion was bubbling up to the surface of both Vampires. Vlad pulled back on Isabella’s hair and kissed her. Isabella pushed him back; he fell to the ground. She stood over him, he clasped his hand around her ankle and she fell to the floor. Vlad rolled on top of her, restraining her with the weight of his body, Isabella tried to push back but she could not. She struck him again; a cut appeared on his lip, Vlad smiled. He lowered his mouth to touch hers. Isabella bit him. She was still putting up the pretence of resisting him. Vlad was undeterred as Isabella struck him again and this time Vlad struck back. Isabella was outraged. She kicked out trying with all her might to get him off her. Vlad fell back from her and Isabella rose to her feet, heading for the door. Vlad threw out his hand clasping Isabella’s ankle and pulling her to the floor again. As she fell Vlad ripped at her bodice to reveal her flesh. Isabella’s passion for him took over, but she was still defiant and she struck him again. Vlad took hold of each wrist and held them over her head. She struggled and succeeded in getting one hand free from his grip. This time instead of striking of him she ripped open his shirt. She wanted to feel his cold flesh touching hers once more. Isabella kissed him again. Vlad unfastened her skirts and Isabella could feel his cold flesh penetrating hers.

Hours later they lay in each others arms.

“I am sure your reaction to such news would be more controlled…” Isabella was first to speak continuing their previous conversation. “But you are telling me you have fathered a child, a child that can kill us both. Why?”

“Because….” Vlad rose to his feet. He did not want to tell her why, why should he? “It doesn’t matter why, it just happened.”

“You have killed us all,” Isabella retorted.

“I may have,” Vlad nodded. “Why did you come here?” he asked.

“Olya foretold that we would all die. Some of her predictions have come true. I thought if I could save you then it would prove her prediction to be wrong, and perhaps I would live through this,” Isabella lied. She was not telling this man that she had come to save him, with not a thought for her own safety. The pair had not talked to each other in decades and within moments of seeing each other they had slipped into their old destructive pattern of lies and deceit.

“I think I will stay here and face them.” Vlad said.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You will die here, and according to Olya if you die I will be next, and dying is not something I am planning to do for a very long time.”

“So where do you suggest I go?”

“I suggest we go home; if they follow us, there are plenty of Slovaks who will protect us from the English.”

“Are you asking me to go home with you?”

“I am,” Isabella responded. She felt this was a moment to be honest.

“All right, I will go with you.”

“We must go now,” Isabella said as she went over to the window to see if their way was clear. As she looked outside again she was reminded of the boxes that the men had poisoned. “What is in the crates outside?” Isabella asked.

“Earth from home.”

“Why did you bring it with you?” Isabella asked. Vlad looked into Isabella’s eyes and realised that she truly did not understand why he had to bring it here.

“Isabella, do you not know how powerful you have become? You told the land, my land, to never let me go and it appears, it listened.” A memory flashed into Isabella’s mind. She was talking to Olya and earth had heated in her hand.

Isabella looked up at Vlad in disbelief and thought, could she have caused this?

“I cannot go anywhere without it. I do not get a moment’s peace unless my land is close to me.”

Isabella could not believe his words.

“And that is not all, Isabella; it seems your influence over me is truly great. I cannot enter a building without being invited; that is one of your futile principles, isn’t it? I believe, for almost a year now, no Vampire has been able to enter any building with out an invitation.” Vlad’s eyes dropped to the floor. “I am losing my powers. They seem to be slipping from me. Those men you saw earlier tonight—I have made a Vampire out of one of their women, Mina Harker. I can feel her in my head; I cannot block her out. She visits my mind every sunrise and sees things I cannot control.”

Vlad approached Isabella and looked deep into her eyes.

The newfound red fire of his eyes seemed like a warning to Isabella and she asked him. “What has happened to your eyes?”

Vlad sighed. “That is another thing. I remember Mircea, my grandfather, vaguely. What I do remember of him are his red eyes. I asked my father when I was just a child…did he always have eyes like fire? My father told me no, that when a special man like your grandfather is dying, the last remnants of his life burn out and we can see these remnants burning in his eyes.”

Vlad was convinced he was about to die, but Isabella was still determined to save him. “We should go as soon as we possibly can,” Isabella stated.

“When we get home will you stay with me…until it is ended?” Vlad asked.

“I will stay until the fire in your eyes has been chased from you.”

“We will leave tonight,” Vlad stated.

Isabella sent a letter to Anna as they left England. After receiving this letter, Anna spoke to her son.

“They may need the Slovaks to help them to get away from the English. She wants the Slovaks to greet her and Vlad at the ship docks,” Anna told her son.

“I will leave tomorrow,” he answered.

Anna shook her head. “No you can’t. Look at her letter; she has said that you should not. She does not know if she can keep you safe.”

“I have to go… mother, she would not hesitate to save me even if she believed that saving me would kill her. You told me that…remember? I have to show her the same loyalty.”

Anna nodded. She let him go, but she was grieving, for she knew she would never see her son alive again.

Anna’s son, Trajan, had arranged for a coach to meet them. He had gathered together a small army to protect them. Some Slovaks had responded to Isabella‘s request and he also brought Szgany Gypsies with him—as they would do anything for the promise of money.

Isabella was feeling calmer, for she had not seen any sign of the Van Helsing and the English who accompanied him. She hoped they had not followed but she knew in her heart that they had, for Vlad‘s burning eyes were still bright and there was not a trace of black to be seen in them.

The two Vampires travelled the rest of the journey by coach and when they were a few miles from home there was still no sign of any danger. Isabella stopped the coach.

“I am going to go ahead,” Isabella began. “You stay here until I send for you, when I know it is safe.”