VROLOK (62 page)

“So you don’t know what happened to your sister?” Quincy asked. Nervousness came over Nicolae; a flaw in his plan had made itself apparent.

“My sister?”

“Yes, do you know what happened to her?”

“No.”

“We found her unconscious, too, outside Arthur Holmwood’s house, but there were no marks on her.”

“That’s…good. Where is she now?”

“She is sleeping upstairs.”

“I would like to see her.”

“Of course. Lucy you can show him upstairs.”

Nicolae climbed the stairs with a sense of foreboding. He had not betrayed Isabella. He never would…but would she betray him? Nicolae had pierced his own neck and had kept piercing it every time Lucy left him on his own, not giving the wounds a chance to heal. He had tasted loneliness before and could hardly bear it. He wanted a chance at living.

When Nicolae and Lucy entered the room Isabella still had her eyes closed.

“Lucy, can you give us a few moments?” Nicolae asked.

“Of course.” Lucy leaned forward and kissed Nicolae on the cheek; she then shut the door on her way out of the room. Nicolae crept over to Isabella’s bedside, but he knew she was awake and listening to whatever was being said.

“Open your eyes, Isabella,” Nicolae said firmly. Isabella opened her eyes and smiled at him. However, it was a smile tinged strongly with maliciousness. Nicolae had never known what it felt like to be the object of Isabella’s hate, and then he did.

“Well, I am surprised to see you here,” Isabella lied. “I heard you had a traumatic time, attacked by a Vampire.”

“Isabella, do not start playing your malicious games with me.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. I have never listened to anyone. I am five hundred years old. Do you think I am going to listen to you?”

“No, Isabella you will never change, you are just as bitter and twisted as you always were, both in death and life.” Isabella scowled at Nicolae now. He had never spoken to her in this manner. He really hated her.

“What were you doing near Arthur Holmwood’s? Surely you have done all you can to him?”

“It is none of your business what I do,” Isabella said. Nicolae got up to leave the room.

“I will not tell these people what you are. I couldn’t even describe what you are,” Nicolae said.

Nicolae’s disgust was penetrating. It hurt Isabella, but as always, she did not let her feelings show. She needed to be away from this place before she completed her revenge. She would go home just to see her own land once more. She wanted a reminder as to why she was doing this.

Isabella had promised Anna that she would never come to visit her again; indeed she was not sure if she would still be alive. If she wasn’t, her family would be living in the castle and would know nothing of Vampires, but Isabella had to see that place again—she had to remember him. Isabella walked through the forest she had left fifty years ago with the intention of never returning. So many times she had this intention and so many times it had called her back. The castle had actually been kept in good order; someone was occupying it that really cared. She knocked on the oak door and a young adolescent woman opened it.

“Can I help you?” The young woman asked. “Did you want something?”

“Nothing, really, I just wanted to see this place again.”

“You can come in if you want.”

“Thank you. I will not stay long.”

“Stay as long as you like. No one else is here at the moment.”

“I won’t bother you too much. I used to live in one of the villages down below.”

“You did? Most of them are gone now.”

“I know.”

“Most people have moved to Bistrita or somewhere else.”

“So where is your family?”

“They have gone down into town.”

“And why did you not go?” The girl looked embarrassed and coy.

“I am waiting for a friend.”

“A male friend, no doubt.”

“Yes.”

“Do your mother and father know that is why you stayed behind?”

“No, they would not be pleased if they did.”

“I wouldn’t lie to them if I were you. Lies and deception never lead to happiness.”

“It sounds like you know what you are speaking of.”

“I do, believe me, I do.”

“You do not look that much older than me.”

“I am older than I seem.” There was a lull in the conversation.

“Tell me about the man you love,” the girl said.

“Who says I love anyone?” Isabella was shocked at this young woman’s perspicacity.

“Your sadness tells me. Oh, please tell me, I love to hear stories that promise of happiness.”

“My story, if it promises of anything—it certainly isn’t happiness.”

“There must have been even glimpses of happiness, or else you would not be so sad to have lost it.”

Isabella smiled, she could not think of a single time when she was totally happy; darkness had always seemed to cast a shadow over her. “I can’t think of a single moment when both of us were completely happy.”

“Then why did you stay with him?”

“I loved him, God help me, I loved him.”

“Then there must have been a time when you knew he loved you. There must have been something that made you love him.”

“Something that told me he loved me?” Isabella reflected. “The truth is I did not know how much he loved me until it was too late.”

“That must have been terrible.” For the first time in the conversation this child’s inexperience shone through.

“Terrible does not quite seem enough of a word. When he was dying he told me how much he cared for me.”

“How did he tell you?”

“We had argued. We constantly argued and I had left him and was determined to stay away for good. I took myself off to another country where no one knew me and I did not know anyone. I lost myself in total anonymity. I did not realise there was someone following me, someone who wished me… harm. Vlad, that was the name of the man I loved.”

“That is my ancestor’s name…he was a Prince who lived in this castle.”

“Yes I know…he started to watch me without my knowledge; he had been my constant protector. This someone…she tried to hurt me many times and each time he did his best to stop her. If I was in any danger at all he saved me from it. He kept me alive and kept himself hidden, not ever letting me know how much he cared. He saved me many times and I didn’t even know he was there. He didn’t tell me this until he was moments from death.” Isabella looked up at the young girl; there were tears in her eyes. “Don’t waste your tears on me,” Isabella said.

“That story is heartbreaking, and you never knew he was watching over you?”

“Never,” Isabella looked at the young girl. “You love this boy whom you are waiting for?”

“I do.”

“What would you do if someone killed this boy? What would you do to those people?” A dark look came over the young girl’s face.

“I would be merciless,” the young girl replied.

“Even if it meant that you would die in the process?”

“I would do anything to avenge him. I would try and inflict the greatest harm that I possibly could to anyone who was involved.” Isabella got up to leave.

“Thank you, you will never now how much you have helped me.” The girl smiled at Isabella, and Isabella said. “You never told me your name.”

“Isabella,” the girl answered back, Isabella looked shocked. “I was named after an ancient ancestor. My great-grandmother Anna insisted on it. She said that this woman was a fighter, a strong person and although she did not always make the right decisions, she was a woman who when she made a vow to someone she loved, she never reneged on it. No matter how hard it was for her to keep.”

“Anna was a good person.”

“She was, or so they tell me.”

“The man you loved—do you know he was named after a national hero.”

“A hero?” Isabella replied.

“Yes.”

“He was a hero.” Isabella left and made her way swiftly back to England to finish what she started.

“I don’t understand it, why did she leave?” Quincy asked.

“What did she say when she left?” Lucy asked.

“She said she had some urgent business back in America to do with her father’s estate.”

“But Cole, you did not go,” Lucy said.

“Isabella was always far more clever than I was… at that sort of thing,” Nicolae quickly added on. “Don’t worry, she will be back,” he added.

“How are you so sure?”

“I know it for a fact.”

“I am not so sure,” Quincy said.

“Believe me. Don’t worry. I guarantee she will be back; she will not leave us alone for long.”

Isabella arrived back in Whitby in the middle of the night. She made her way straight to the Harkers. She walked by Nicolae’s bedroom window; he had taken up residence in a seaside hotel closer to the Harkers’ home. Nicolae was sleeping when a chill ran through his blood. He knew Isabella was close to him again. She woke him up by simply walking underneath his window. Nicolae ran to the window and looked outside. He saw Isabella turning around the farthest corner of the street. She looked up and back towards him. Her eyes were gleaming red, brighter than ever and then she disappeared from his sight.

Isabella pressed against the front door and the lock broke open; she went in and silently climbed the stairs. She entered Jonathon and Mina’s room with malicious intentions. Isabella crouched down and kissed the neck of Mina Harker, drawing her life‘s blood. She then slit her wrist and let blood drip into her mouth. Isabella‘s blood quickly awakened Vlad‘s dormant essence. Mina’s eyes jerked open; she was again a Vampire. A red scar reappeared on her head.

Isabella backed out of the room, jammed the door shut and left Mina with her husband. No one would escape this room until the utmost horror had taken place. Quincy heard a commotion coming from his parents’ bedroom; he wandered sleepily to their door. When the half-awake young man saw Isabella he was overjoyed. He cared not to ask why she was here in his parents’ house in the middle of the night. He ran over to her, but Isabella shrank back from his embrace.

“I am not worthy of you,” Isabella said.

“Of course you are worthy of me.”

Isabella pressed her finger to Quincy’s lips. Quincy heard his mother screaming from inside the room. His heart sank he pressed gently on the door, but it would not open. Then he pressed as hard as he could, the door opened easily and he was surprised at his own strength. He went into the room and Isabella followed him.

Mina was holding her husband in her arms and was drinking from his blood. What had once before seemed inevitable, now finally years later, had actually occurred. She bit down hard into Jonathon’s arm. This time Mina did not have the strength to fight her Vampiric instinct. Then Mina let her husband drink from her and now Mina and Jonathon were both Vampires. Their bloodlust momentarily satisfied, Isabella began to speak.

“Jonathon,” Isabella said, her voice was haunting and compelling. “Jonathon, you feel the pain don’t you, and you can’t stand it. The pain is too strong—it overpowers you. It surges through your body. You can stop it. All you have to do is feed.” Jonathon fell to the floor and shrieked out in agonising pain. “To save your father, Quincy you have to kill your mother,” Isabella continued.

“What, are you saying, how can this be true?”

“It is true, Quincy,” Mina said, who after her hunger was satisfied, remembered her human sensibilities. “You must kill me to save your father.” While the mother and son were talking Isabella was still whispering in Jonathon’s ear.

“The pain Jonathon—how can you stand the pain?” Isabella asked. “You see Quincy. He is strong; he can spare some blood to stop your pain. He would want you to take it. He would want to stop your pain. Look at the vein in his neck; he is a Dhampir—he will not die.”