“I thought Byron claimed he hadn’t written that story? That chap Polidori wrote it, I believe. But more shocking than that is the fact that Glynis met Byron around four years ago right before the scandal of his adulterous affairs broke.”
This amazed my wife. “Really? However did she manage that?”
I explained: “She was friends with the sister of a young man I was acquainted with that had ties to Byron. Glynis found this out and managed to get an invitation to visit the family in their London home for two weeks. Would you not just know that Byron would show up with one of his mistresses one night? A horrible party got underway and Glynis came down the stairs dressed in the clothes of one of the older sisters of the family. I arrived at the house to visit my friend and found him in a drunken stupor on the front steps. I went into the house and found Glynis seated right next to Byron listening to the most randy poems. I grabbed her hand and marched her right out of there. I never told our parents and ever since that time Glynis has been simply mad for Byron. When he went abroad, she cried for days.” My voice grew hushed as the memory of my sister’s exploits brought bittersweet tears to the surface. I missed her terribly and when I thought of her, I felt this horrible sense of dread wash over me.
My wife placed her arms around me and said, “I do not think your mother will be able to marry her off. I just do not think it will happen. She will do something nefarious and end up back home.” She tucked her hand into the crook of my arm and kissed my cheek. Angelina smiled at me brightly, forcing dark thoughts from my mind. “Do not be so worried! They are fine, my love, and in good health. They are most likely on their way home as we speak.”
“I hope so, Angeline. I just have the most dreadful feeling inside of me. These last days I’ve had the most terrible dreams. When I wake up I cannot remember what I have dreamed. But I have such a strong sense of dread. I just cannot seem to shake it.” I looked at her seeking solace in her loving gaze. “My rational mind tells me that my fears cannot be reasonable, and yet, within me, I do believe they have come to harm.”
“Do not worry, Andrew. Soon the family will return and all will be well. I am sure of it,” she insisted. “Now, come on and smile, my dear husband, before we are drenched by the coming rain.”
Startled, I looked up into the once tranquil sky to see ominous storm clouds gathering above us. In the distance, thunder rumbled warningly. An intense cold engulfed us, and we both shivered.
Gazing into my wife’s eyes, I whispered, “I pray for them, but I fear that my prayer will go unanswered.”
She kissed the tear that slipped down my cheek and we hurried into the house as the storm erupted.
How, oh, how, do I console my frightened heart when my spirit refuses to be consoled?
Oh, please, please, let them all return safely.
The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright
The Castle
I awoke from my nightmares to find Cneajna anxiously searching the coffin we share.
“Hurry, Glynis. Sit up!”
I snapped upright, my eyes feeling bright and hard. I could feel the night strengthening my cold vampire body. I stretched out my limbs feeling the darkness caressing me.
“I am hungry,” I said to her.
She searched the velvet and silk throws we slept upon with a desperate look upon her face. “I know, I know. You must feed again. That is the way it always is in the beginning. But I must know something. Where is your ring?”
I furrowed my brow. “Ring?”
“Yes, darling, a ring. Like this!” Cneajna extended her hand.
I peered at the ring, trying to recall the events of another lifetime. The events before my rebirth were in a haze, my vampire sleep still clouding my mind as was the growing hunger. Then I remembered.
“Oh, yes, that ring. I threw it away and one of the gypsy women took it. I did not want the horrible thing.” I wrinkled my nose with disgust. “It was dreadfully ugly.”
Cneajna shook me with frustration. “These are our wedding rings! Our Master gave them to us!”
“Oh.” I swept my hair back from my face. I really did not care about a wedding ring. I was not married, at least not by my standards. I was quite sure that a priest would not marry vampires. Beyond that, there was the whole issue of entering a church. I wondered if I could enter consecrated ground. Besides, I was feeling much better tonight, almost like my old self. Yet, what was my old self? What did that mean?
I furrowed my brow.
Ah, yes, I remembered through a haze. There had been another life before this one. I must remember that.
“Glynis, the ring is important!”
“I suppose he will be furious with me that I threw it away,” I said. That thought actually made me smile.
“Hurry! We must get the ring back!”
I let her pull me from the coffin as I pondered the events of the last few days. There had been another life before this one. I had been a lady from England, highborn, wealthy, and very disagreeable. Puckering my brow, I concentrated. It was as if a door had closed on another world, and I was trying to see back through a keyhole.
“Glynis, now!” Cneajna snapped.
Slowly, I realized the language I now spoke was not my own. The language I could understand so well had been foreign and strange to my ears just a few days before. His blood and changed me and granted me some of his knowledge.
Cneajna grabbed my hand and forced me from the tomb. The tombs of the others remained silent as we hurried past them. Pulling me down the long corridor, Cneajna grew increasingly agitated.
“I feel odd,” I said.
“It is another sign of you becoming.”
“I cannot remember much from before…now.”
“Some vampires completely forget their human lives. They only remember when they are much older and bored with their immortal existence.”
“Do you remember yours?”
“Vaguely. But what I do remember fills me with longing and bitterness. It is best not to dwell on what was.”
I began to giggle. It all seemed so ludicrous.
Cneajna whirled around, her teeth flashing. “What is it?”
“I hate it here!”
“This is now your home!”
I continued to giggle. “You do not understand. All I ever wanted was to live a life that was not predestined by my parents and society.” I threw out my hands and twirled about. “I got my wish and it is a terrible joke on me!”
Cneajna growled at me. “That is of no importance. We must find the ring. Now!”
I stopped spinning and shrugged. “Very well.”
Cneajna grabbed hold of my hand. “Come along. We must find the girl who took it.”
I let myself be led along, feeling quite dazed. I had damned myself to this world with my ridiculous wishes. I had killed my family. Yet, in this moment, this red hazy moment, I could barely remember them.
We entered the cavernous kitchen and found the gypsies finishing the preparations for their evening meal. The servants glanced up at us with frightened expressions that made me laugh. Cneajna squeezed my hand tightly, moving slowly toward them.
Ilona quickly stepped forward to greet Cneajna, her wrinkled face sweaty and fearful. Her coal black hair glistened in the firelight as she ran a gnarled hand over it fretfully. “How may I serve you, my Mistress?”
“Which one, Glynis?”
I hummed to myself, clicking my long nails together. “Hmm, what?”
“Who took the ring?” I could see Cneajna was about to lose her patience, but I really did not care.
I narrowed my eyes, my gaze sweeping over the gypsies. I could feel something snap inside of me and my demeanor changed.
“Well?”
It was if some inner fire had exploded within me. I felt as if my eyes were blazing and my skin was flushed with the heat. My hair shimmered over my pale shoulders like curls of flame. “I hunger!”
Cneajna laid a gentle hand on my arm. “I know, dearest, but you must remember who took the ring.”
Her cool touch settled the fire slightly. “She is not here.”
“If one of my people have displeased you in anyway, I will-“
“Silence!” Cneajna snapped at Ilona, cutting her off. “One of your women took her ring. We want it back.”
A young gypsy woman sauntered into the kitchen in the company of two men. When they saw us, their footsteps halted.
“Arghira, do you know who took a ring from the young one?” Ilona asked.
The woman’s eyes widened until her dark pupils were drowning in a sea of white.
“You!” I snarled at her.
Before Cneajna could react, I vaulted across the room. With a shriek, the gypsy fled. The two young men attempted to intercept me, but I slammed them both into the wall, running into the night after the girl.
I could hear Cneajna chasing me, cursing herself for her stupidity under her breath. “Do not kill her! We are not allowed to kill them!”
Well, I was never much for paying attention to rules. Arghira ran into a hut and slammed the door shut. Hissing angrily, I struck the door, breaking off the sharp tips of my nails.
Realizing that one of their own was in danger, the men of the gypsy clan snatched up torches and whatever sharp instrument they could find, rushing toward me. I whirled about and hissed as Cneajna crouched low, growling at them warningly as she bared her long teeth.
The sharp, piercing cries of the frightened woman trapped within her dismal little hut echoed in the darkness. I was crazed with the hunger and her cries only made me even more famished. I battered the door with such fierce blows, the wood cracked and splintered.
“Glynis! Stop! This is forbidden. Get the ring and let it be!”
The gypsies shouted angrily, obviously frightened to move against us, but determined to save the girl. Ilona appeared in the courtyard, crying out for them to stand back least we kill them all.
“Glynis, please, stop!” Cneajna moved rapidly toward me.
The door broke open, wood splintering in every direction. With a shriek of glee, I rushed into the darkness within. Cneajna was just behind me as I grabbed the girl. I grunted as Cneajna grabbed hold of my long red hair and wrenched my head back.
“Stop it now! We cannot touch the gypsies!”
I was crazed. Desperate. Hungry. I struck Cneajna with the back of my hand, and she immediately slapped me back.
“Let go of the girl!”
The madness of the hunger burned in me. “No, she is mine! I hunger!”
The gypsy girl cowered on her knees before us, her arm caught in the vise-like grip of my hand. She whimpered, her hands clutching Cneajna’s dress.
“She is not yours to kill.”
“I must feed,” I shouted at her. I shoved past her, dragging the poor girl with me.
The courtyard was filled with angry, terrified gypsies. As I pulled my screaming prey toward the castle, they yelled at me, brandishing their torches. I hissed at them, furious with their impertinence.
The doorway to the kitchen suddenly filled by the presence of Prince Vlad Dracula. His dark green eyes burned as he stared out at the drama unfolding before him.
“What is happening here?”
“They came to us and the young one-“ Ilona babbled just before Cneajna slapped her.
Vlad looked sharply at his blond Bride. “Cneajna, explain!”
The beautiful vampire stood majestically among the agitated mob of gypsies. “My Master, Glynis-“
“I hunger,” I interrupted impatiently. I roughly pulled the girl along with me as I walked toward Vlad. “I want this girl.”
Vlad seemed mildly amused, his mouth spreading into a smile beneath his mustache. “I am delighted to hear of your desire to feed, but I forbid the killing of our servants. Once they are gone, who will serve us?”
“I want her,” I said in a low, fierce voice.
“Release her!”
“No!”
Vlad suddenly advanced on me, his most rebellious young Bride, raising his hand to strike me down. I hissed at him, backing away.
Cneajna rushed forward. “Please, my Master! The girl stole Glynis’ ring! We came to claim it from her when the hunger overwhelmed Glynis! Have mercy!”
Vlad moved so swiftly, he had me by my throat before I could even try to dodge away from him. “Tell me, is this true?”
Burning with the hunger, I could hardly comprehend his words.
Still grasping me by the throat, Vlad looked down at my prey. “Is this true?”
Shaking her head vigorously, Arghira cast down her eyes.
Cneajna grabbed hold of the girl’s hair and yanked back her head. “Where is it?”
“Please! I took it only because she gave it to me!”
“Where is it?” Cneajna twisted the girl’s hair.
Shakily, the girl drew out the chain the ring was threaded on from the folds of her blouse. “Please, have mercy! I took it because she did not want it!”
Vlad snatched the chain off the girl’s neck with a shout of fury. Cneajna shrank back from his anger as the gypsy girl screamed. I merely glared at the great Prince with pure hatred.