by Darren Cage
“You didn’t leave,” I growled.
“You weren’t here. That decision wasn’t on you.” Stela lifted her chin, staring at me defiantly.
I loved her fire, but now wasn’t the time to defy me.
“Stela—”
“I know you said you would find us, but we didn’t even get the chance to leave. This man attacked us.”
“A hunter?”
“Yes, but he wasn’t as skilled as Van Helsing,” Catina said. She crossed over and hugged Andreea. “You’re all right?”
“I am.”
“Does this mean Van Helsing’s dead?” Stela asked.
I scowled and glanced at Andreea.
My bride hung her head.
Catina stared at Stela. “Van Helsing didn’t snatch you away, Andreea?”
“No,” she whispered. “I… I can’t remember everything that happened. The last memory I have is finding myself outside and dying of thirst.”
“You drank from a horse,” I prompted.
“Yes. Disgusting. I wouldn’t recommend it. I rode another one, found more people out and about then I thought there should’ve been…”
“I bet that was Van Helsing’s doing,” I said angrily, slamming a fist into my open palm.
“Why do you say that?” Catina asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Because the people tried to kill me,” Andreea said. “But it might not have been Van Helsing. I was leaving bodies everywhere I went. Anyone could have seen me for what I was.”
“But the shackles,” I said through gritted teeth.
It wasn’t until I had fed on the compelled humans four times that my hands completely healed from the burns I received. Andreea had needed far more than I. Despite the burns, holding her, making love to her… that had been only pleasurable without a hint of pain.
Now, though, I felt the sting of a different sort of pain.
“Don’t you dare defend him,” I growled at Andreea.
“I’m not,” she protested. “I wouldn’t. I just… Everything is foggy yet. I don’t like to blame without facts.”
Her analytical mind wouldn’t allow that. For me to expect differently from her would mean not accepting her for who she truly was.
“Forgive me,” I murmured, only out my arms.
She returned my embrace. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
I gripped her hand and one of Stela’s. I nodded to Catina, who latched onto Andreea.
“Come,” I said. “We have somewhere to go.”
Off we zoomed as only vampires could. Transylvania wasn’t the largest of places, but closer to the Carpathian Mountains, I had had another castle built, an even larger one. Perhaps we should have retired there earlier, had the defenses made here. I hadn’t even told any of my brides about it.
Once we entered, Catina wagged a finger in my face. “You should have had me decorate the place!”
“I should have. Later. For now, I want you to bring as many humans as you can to the dungeons.”
“You have a dungeon in this castle?” Andreea asked.
“I’m not surprised,” Stela muttered.
I winced. “Considering we’re up against vampire hunters—”
“When was this place built?” Stela asked, feigning innocence.
My lips fell into a scowl. “Can you please do as I ask?”
“Of course,” Andreea said.
Stela frowned, eyeing Andreea.
“Thank you,” I told my dark-haired bride.
“Anything for you. You saved me.”
“I will always come for you, for any of you,” I assured her.
“And what will you be doing while we’re gathering living blood bags for us?” Stela asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.
“You really don’t trust me, do you?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for any one of us to go off alone right now,” she said, lifting her nose. “Look what happened to Andreea. She almost died.”
“I didn’t,” Andreea protested. “Dracula can take care of himself.”
“One of us should go with you,” Stela said stubbornly.
“And I bet you think it should be you,” Catina said.
“Ladies, please,” I said. “Now isn’t the time for us to be fighting and arguing among ourselves. As much as I hate to admit it, Van Helsing is a formidable foe even for a human. I don’t understand how he could have attacked us twice and still live.”
Stela hung her head. “He has a lot more practice killing than we do,” she muttered.
I lifted my eyebrows.
She flushed, and I loved how vulnerable she looked even if she seemed defensive. “The ones I killed… It wasn’t hard to get them alone. They all wanted to… ah…”
“You killed humans?” Catina asked. “The high and mighty Stela a killer?”
“Don’t judge,” Stela snapped.
“She killed rapists mostly,” I explained.
"I didn't always mean to kill them," Stela said. "I… I drank from the first ones. I just wanted them to experience pain like what they caused, and then I compelled them to be better men, to treat everyone with respect."
“You tried to make the world a better place,” Andreea said.
“Leave it to Stela to turn being a vampire into something noble.” Catina shook her head. “Noble never looked sexier.”
Stela rolled her eyes, but she grinned. “Like I said, luring a rapist into an alley when he thought he could fuck my brains out? Easy. None of them, not one fought back, not even that time when I took on five at once.”
“Those five she killed,” I added.
“Wow.” Catina eyed Stela with new admiration.
“Stop praising me for killing people,” Stela admonished.
“Never,” I teased before growing serious. “But you bring up a good point. Fighting someone who has experience not only fighting but killing vampires is another matter entirely. You all need to train, to master your shapeshifting forms, to be faster, stronger, to work as a team. We need a game plan for when we face Van Helsing again. We can’t just throw everything at him. We need a uniform, cohesive attack.”
“Are you going to come up with the plan?” Andreea asked.
“You can start to come up with some,” I told them.
“Because you are leaving,” Stela accused.
“Yes,” I admitted. “Van Helsing has magic. I have grown rusty with my own magical skills. The war… Mihaela dying… my dying and becoming a vampire… There hasn’t exactly been time for magical studies. Not only do I need to use magic to protect us, but I also need it to attack and counter whatever Van Helsing might throw our way. We will not be caught unawares again.”
“That’s not all you plan on doing, is it?” Catina guessed.
I grinned. “I need more than just magical artifacts and potion ingredients, yes.”
“You need to keep Van Helsing guessing,” Stela said.
“You’re going to keep him away from this castle,” Andreea added.
“Until we are ready for him. Until all of us are ready.” I nodded and then cracked my knuckles. “We can do this.”
“We will,” Andreea said.
I held out my arms, and the four of us embraced. Time was of the essence, so only I kissed them each on the forehead, and then, I was off.
Whenever the next battle happened, we would be ready, truly ready this time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was here, deep in the Carpathian Mountains, where I had studied magic. Even hermits liked to have chairs. Rocks weren’t exactly the most comfortable of surfaces, even if someone chose to meditate for long periods of time.
When a young man with old eyes came to my shop and asked for a chair that “won’t break, doesn’t have to look nice, will just be for function and nothing else,” I gave him exactly that. The chair wasn’t ugly, necessarily, but it wasn’t the most intricate I had ever designed. Despite its appearance, all the knowledge my father had imparted o
nto me went into the chair.
The man had thanked me for it and asked how much the chair cost.
“You can have it for free if you tell me why you keep requesting every carpenter within a stone’s throw of the Carpathian Mountains to make you this same chair.”
The man had smiled at me and wagged a finger. “So knowledge is what you want, is that it?”
“I don’t think a man can know too much.”
"Ah, that's where you're wrong." He had rubbed his chin, and for a moment, I would have sworn that he had grown a white beard, but, no, he was as clean-shaven as when he had entered my shop.
“I suppose it depends on the knowledge then,” I said since he didn’t seem ready to say anything else.
“Yes, exactly so,” he had murmured, eyeing me critically. “All right. You can ask me one question in exchange for payment, but I don’t think you want to know about the chair, now, do you?”
I shook my head. To this day, I couldn’t be certain why exactly I asked him this, but I blurted out, “Will you teach me magic?”
“Who says I know magic?”
I had grinned, then. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Answer mine first,” he demanded.
“No one told me you know magic. No one but you.”
He narrowed his eyes, saying nothing.
I pointed to his face. “Your eyes. They gave you away.”
The man then snapped his fingers, and instead of the young man, he was an older gentleman with white hair, stooped shoulders, and, yes, a white beard.
“Come to the mountains when you’re ready to learn,” he said, “but only when you’re truly ready. Your mind and heart and soul have to be willing.”
I went that night and so started my studies into the world of magic, witchcraft, potions, and the mystical. He taught me much and more, and when time eventually claimed him, I studied from the collection of tomes he had gathered over the course of his long life. One question he had never answered was how old he was, but I suspected he had lived at least a thousand years, if not longer.
It was not a happy accident that I had my second, smaller castle built near his cave. Returning here hit me like a tidal wave. The man also never told me his name, saying it was only a label and that any one person could wear multiple masks and never show two people the same person if he or she didn’t wish to. Aside from me, I never saw him speak to another, and it wasn’t until my heart was captured fully by Mihaela that I even thought about how lonely the man must have been.
Yet, he never acted lonely, and he never seemed to want for companionship. It was only moments before he died that he confessed that the stars had told him that he would take on an apprentice, one who worked with his hands. Astrology was one magic form I had never mastered as the man had told me time and again how unreliable it could be.
Considering how many professions required the use of hands, it had taken the man quite a while before he tested carpenters. I was the one who had passed his test, somehow. I always supposed it had just been meant to be.
I had already committed every tome and volume to memory and had destroyed them. Whether or not that would prove wise, I couldn’t say, but there remained a large cache of magical items the man had created and I had procured as well as a collection of potions and ingredients.
The first time to the cave, I took my time, allowing myself to feel and be sentimental. Then, I brought an armful of items back to the cave. In all, I had to make over one hundred trips, but it took me not even two minutes to relocate them all.
Still, I was not done, and I slipped back out of the castle. As much as I would have loved to check on my brides and see how they were faring with their training, we had to be swift. I had counted at least one hundred heartbeats, though. They were making progress, and so was I.
I passed by a large casa batraneasca or rural house without a second thought when the door opened. Immediately, I halted and glanced over my shoulder.
To my surprise, the police agent’s wife, Viorica, was waving me down. “How are you doing?” she asked, rushing over. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“I’ve been better,” I said dryly.
“Well, dear, if you’ve been fretting, please don’t.”
I eyed her, trying not to be suspicious. So far, she had been nothing but a fountain of information, but it now struck me as odd. As a police agent's wife, shouldn't she know better than to blather all of her secrets to a stranger? Yes, we had spoken on a few occasions, but I couldn't even recall if I had ever given her a name. Likewise, given my proclivity to come out mostly at night, my clothes, my living in a castle… shouldn't everyone suspect me of being a vampire? Van Helsing knew, and he had clearly alerted at least one other hunter to my door. Why, though? Didn't he want to take me out himself? Perhaps he had kept quiet as far as who I was to the authorities. As for the other hunter, perhaps he had been a rival of Van Helsing's, and my brides had done the bastard a favor by killing the hunter.
“I shouldn’t be worried?” I asked. “Why not? Has the vampire hunter killed the vampire here?”
“Not yet. There may be more than one vampire here, and would you believe it? The vampire is a female from what I hear!”
“Your husband has told you this?” I asked.
She flushed. “No,” she grumbled, glancing over her shoulder at her house. “He tells me very little, but I have ears, and everyone tells me what they know.”
Hilarious considering she always seemed to be the one doing all of the talking, yet she did acquire her knowledge somehow, and for the most part, her intel had been spot on.
“Anyhow…” Viorica leaned forward as if to conspire with me. “Anton Van Helsing hasn’t killed the vampire yet, but he will.”
“Only a matter of time.” I nodded and tried my best not to smirk.
“Oh, indeed because he has a new ally.”
“Another vampire hunter?” I asked, thinking of the bloody body rotting in my tower.
“Oh, no. A mad scientist is teaming up with the professor.”
“A scientist?” That made no sense to me. Van Helsing was a man of magic, not science.
“Yes. The scientist knows all about the body and how to enhance it.”
“Does he now,” I mused, rubbing my chin. Just who was this scientist? Maybe he would experiment on Van Helsing and accidentally kill him.
Doubtful and unlikely.
“Yes. Van Helsing will become the strongest man in the world. He might become strong enough to rip a man’s heart out of his chest.”
I tapped my fist against my chest. "The ribs might stop him," I said dryly.
“Not if he could punch through bone.”
“True,” I said.
I shook my head at the mental image of Van Helsing punching through a man’s chest and yanking out his heart. No human would ever possess that amount of strength. I had no doubt I could do exactly that, though, and I would enjoy testing that theory out on the vampire hunter.
I nodded to Viorica. “Thank you for sharing with me,” I said warmly, genuinely. “I do so appreciate your willingness to divulge information.”
"You go on and tell your wife she doesn't need to fear. She is so very beautiful. When are you two going to have a baby?"
“Ah, we haven’t discussed children yet.”
“You should. You would have handsome, strapping boys and lovely little girls. I can already picture them.” She beamed as if she could see them running around already. “If you need a name for a girl…”
I laughed. “Perhaps.”
Viorica smiled widely. It was impossible to see any sign of deceit in her eyes. She truly wanted Transylvania to be safe, and she earnestly believed Van Helsing would deliver the county to a time of peace and prosperity as if he were some kind of god or hero.
“It has been lovely talking to you,” I said when she did not appear ready to return to her house.
Her smile faltered a moment, and then she nodded. “You need to
go. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you. I only…”
“What is it?”
“I’m worried,” she blurted and then clapped her hands over her mouth.
“Worried? About what? You just said so yourself that Van—that the professor will be our savior. Do you think he won’t succeed?”
"Oh, no, it's not that. It's just… The people found the vampire or one of them earlier. There was a mob, and my husband was called in to try to settle them. Anton Van Helsing needs to hurry up and save us all so that my husband can get back to being called in for bar fights and other simple matters."
“I’m sure your husband is very safe.”
“He works such long hours,” she whispered. “I miss him when he’s gone.”
Immediately, I felt ashamed for trying to dismiss her so quickly. Viorica spoke to anyone and everyone who would give her an ear, but the one person she truly wished to speak to was her husband.
She wiped a tear away and glanced up at me. “Do you dye your hair?” she asked.
I laughed. “It’s the stress from the vampire or vampires that caused my hair to turn white,” I joked.
“It suits you. Your wife suits you. You seem so much happier and more relaxed since you brought her here.”
“I love her,” I said seriously.
“I can tell. Love is wonderful, isn’t it? Almost as beautiful as hope.”
“And the professor is hope incarnate,” I said.
“Indeed.” Her smile returned, and I grinned as well at her obliviousness. “Now, go on. I didn’t mean to keep you for so long. You hurry back to your wife, okay? All wives miss their husbands while they’re away.”
“I won’t leave her…” Them. “…for long.”
“The time apart always seems to last so much longer than it is,” she said. “Take care now.”
“You too.” I walked away a few steps before turning back. “You be careful. If a vampire were to come after you…”
Viorica reached into her purse and removed a pistol. "My husband makes me carry this with me at all times. I don't think I'll be quick enough on the draw considering how quickly vampires are said to move. Faster than you can see! Here to there in the blink of an eye! But it makes me feel better, feel protected when he's away, and I know he feels better too."
