VROLOK (63 page)

“Kill me,” Mina said to her son. Mina fetched Quincy’s namesake’s sword and dagger that she and Jonathon had kept all these years. She placed the shaft of the sword in her son’s hand; she took his other hand and pressed it on the blade. His skin broke and blood gently flowed onto the blade. Then finally Mina pressed the tip of the blade to her heart.

“I can’t do it,” Quincy said.

“Yes you can,” Mina answered. “I want this to end and you are the only one who can end it.”

“Jonathon, you see his blood that can make your pain stop,” Isabella whispered continually into Jonathon’s ear. Not being able to resist temptation any more, he leaped forward just as Quincy plunged the sword into his mother’s heart. Jonathon tasted his son’s blood before the knife penetrated Mina’s heart. Mina’s death was too late. Jonathon had already tasted his first blood and as Mina fell to the ground the pain of death surged through her.

“Your daughter will follow your son to the grave,” Isabella whispered into Mina’s ear.

The last thing Mina saw was her husband drinking the life’s blood from his son. Mina died in absolute misery and absolute pain.

Jonathon was still clamped to his son’s wrist drinking his blood. He drank as long as he could but the poisonous Dhampir’s blood was killing him. He let go but it was too late for him and his son. Jonathon writhed around in agony. Isabella crept over to him.

“Which is worse, Jonathon—the pain or the knowledge that you have killed your own child?” Isabella knew which was worse, for she had witnessed this scene before. Jonathon covered his eyes. He wanted to block out Isabella’s face. He had always known he was not as strong as his wife and could have never endured what she had done, not for a moment. He too died in pain and misery.

Isabella went over to Quincy. He was starting to shiver and he was but moments from death. Isabella kneeled down beside him.

“Why?” he struggled to ask her.

“Because your parents, Arthur Holmwood and Jack Seaward, hunted Vlad Dracula down like an animal and killed him. They did to me the worst they could have possibly done, so I returned the favour. Jack Seaward was terrified of Vlad himself, so Vlad appeared again to him. Arthur Holmwood’s greatest fear was loss; he could not stand to lose anyone who was close to him. Your father was afraid that if he was ever touched by vampirism he would not be able to control his impulses, that he would kill someone he loved. Your mother’s worst fear was that her husband would not be safe. She said it herself: her latest and truest thought would always be for him.”

“So you made their worst nightmares come true.”

“I did.”

“What about me?”

“You had to die. You are a Dhampir, I let a Dhampir live before when I should not have and I was punished for it. I could not let you continue to occupy the same world that I did, not for one second longer.”

“So you have killed me and you never felt anything for me?”

“I wouldn’t say I felt nothing for you. If it is any consolation, it is with much regret that I have had to kill you.” Isabella went to touch Quincy’s face but he batted her hand away from him. Quincy took one last gasp and closed his eyes forever. Isabella took his sword and plunged it deep into his chest. She had to make sure that Jonathon and Mina would never awake from their eternal slumber. With the blood soaked sword she decapitated both them, and in that instant she envied them, for she felt their peace.

Isabella got up and left the bloody scene. She walked calmly down the stairs and out onto the street. Nicolae was running towards the Harkers, but he was much too late. On seeing Isabella, he immediately stopped in his tracks. Isabella walked by him. She did not even care to look at him.

As she passed him she said, “I have left the girl unharmed—my parting gift to you.”

“Thank you, Isabella,” he called after her. Isabella made no visual or verbal acknowledgement of his thanks. She kept on walking, her held high, but if Nicolae had seen her face he would have seen a blood red tear trickling down her silken ivory cheek.

A year passed in peace for all concerned but there was someone still tormenting Isabella’s mind and she decided to return to Whitby one last time. She stood in the grounds outside Arthur Holmwood’s house. After some consideration she approached the door and pushed it open. She could see from outside that there was only one light on in this house. It was a solitary, flickering candle on the second floor. Isabella climbed up the stairs and headed towards the light. She entered the room and found Arthur drinking and crying. He had only his misery to keep him company.

“Arthur…” Isabella began “do you remember me?” Arthur looked over at her.

“You are the Vampire who killed my wife and child.”

“I am.”

“I have not the will or the strength to fight you.”

“I have not come here to fight you.”

“Then what have you come here for?”

“I have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?”

“Yes.”

“What can you offer me?”

“Everlasting peace.” Arthur now stopped drinking and looked at Isabella. “That is what you want isn’t it?” Arthur looked bewildered and she said again. “Isn’t it?” Arthur nodded.

“It is.” Isabella approached him and bit into his neck, slowly draining him of his life’s blood. He closed his eyes, never to awaken. For him, the ordeal was over. Isabella was glad, because with his death she felt the ordeal was over for her as well. Could this act of compassion have freed her, could she put these grizzly events behind her?

She walked through the grounds and she could feel her melancholy lifting; the cold air began hitting her face. For the first time since Vlad had died she felt free from her task of revenge. Isabella walked down the path towards the street and a smile even dared to whisper across her face, but she was not to smile for long.

“Isabella.” A voice shot from out of the darkness, a voice that was shouting her name. It was a voice she did not recognise at first. Isabella turned around to see Nicolae and Lucy Harker staring back at her. “My husband was awakened tonight by a dream and a sense that you had come back. I see he was right,” Lucy began.

“Your husband… could always feel me,” Isabella said with relish. “We have a connection that you will never be able to break, even by killing me.”

“We’ll see,” Lucy cried out, and she drew out a sword stained with blood. Isabella drew out her grandfather’s sword. Lucy and Isabella’s swords clashed together again and again. Isabella was far faster than Lucy and stronger, but Lucy was determined. Nicolae stood there, not coming to the aid of either woman. Isabella moved in front of Nicolae and Lucy lashed out at her but Isabella was quick to move out of the way. Lucy’s blade was about to fall upon Nicolae. Isabella thrust out her sword arm to stop the falling blade and saved him.

“Are you trying to kill your husband?” Isabella quipped. Nicolae’s only thought at this moment was that Isabella had saved his life, after all that he had done…
she still saved my life
, Nicolae reflected. He stared at Isabella, his beautiful Bella, and realised what he had tried to forget—he loved her.

“Isabella,” he called out. “I…” Before he could finish what he was going to say he watched in horror as his wife forced her sword through Isabella’s heart. Isabella’s mortal wound drew her gaze. She gently pressed her finger on the blade. A pain shot through her, and she whispered with what she thought to be her last breath.

“Your brother’s blood.”

“Not my brother’s, my son’s,” Lucy answered. Isabella glanced over at Nicolae in amazement and fell back down onto the ground. Blackness filled her eyes and pain surged through her body. Lucy ran to her husband and embraced him. Nicolae, still in shock, saw Isabella lying dead before him. Isabella was without consciousness. She was still, unmoving.

Isabella had not been defeated.

An inner cognition awakened her. From the dark recesses of her mind a voice whispered to her: “
Isabella, you are stronger than this, you are a Queen of the immortals! You are going to build a nation of Vampires as great as there existed so many years before. Are you, Isabella, going to be killed by this human? You have more power than I ever had; it is time you discovered that.”
Vlad, Isabella thought.

Nicolae stood frozen. Was she really dead? Could she really be killed? He dismissed these thoughts, for he remembered the power Isabella had. Lucy could not finish her life, not completely, not yet. Nicolae watched as Isabella’s eyes opened again and she pulled the sword from her heart. He held his wife tightly so that she would not look around. Isabella pulled herself up onto her feet and smiled at Nicolae. Her life was far from over. In an instant her burning red eyes returned to green. Nicolae propelled all his thoughts into Isabella’s mind.

“Did you ever think I could abandon you completely?”
Isabella smiled at her Nicolae. “
Besides, I miss the killing,”
Nicolae looked down at the throbbing vein on Lucy’s neck.

Lucy pulled herself in close to her husband and said.

“It’s over…?”

EPILOGUE 

VROLOK

For centuries I have walked among you;

Feeding off you, living off you;

You haven’t known I was there;

You have never known the creature that I am;

And to this day you think I do not exist.

Be warned—I do exist.

I am a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer.

I could be there when a storm comes from nowhere out of the sky.

I could be there when you hear a whisper in the wind;

Or see a phantom in the mist.

I could be there when your blood turns to ice and your hands start to tremble.

There is no escape from me, for…

I am a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer.

I have had three great loves in my existence on this earth.

First was a human, then a Vampire, and then a Vrolok.

Each one was different from the last;

And each one I loved with what was left of my empty heart.

I would I have died to protect them but at times the only protection they needed was from me. For

I am a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer.

I cannot be harmed by you or your kind.

Only a unique creature can harm me;

This creature is now but a child.

Until that child comes of age,

I will continue to wander the earth, free to be…

a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer.

So how can you distinguish me from the other people of this world?

Look for a woman with raven hair, red lips, and white skin.

She will be cold to touch

and will have a small scar above her heart, where she once came close to harm,

But, be warned… do not seek me out for

I am a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer,

Will I build a nation of Vampires?

Will they be the greatest race ever to rule the earth?

Will they be like they were before thousands of years ago?

Who knows… only time will tell.

But for as long as I rule the immortals, rest easy in your beds.

For no Vampire can enter your home without an invitation.

So when a stranger insists on an invitation

before they cross the threshold of your home,

Always be cautious …For they may be

a Vampire, a Vrolok,

a Devil, and a Killer.

Vrolok, published by an anonymous author 1906.