He reached out and took my arm roughly in his long fingers. Leaning toward me, I was repulsed to see that his teeth were still long and wolf-like. “Come with me and see the death I can grant you.”
Dismally, I allowed myself to be lead to the tomb. My eyes wandered up to the writing above the doorway.
“This is were my Erzsébet rests. The Countess Dolingen. She was my most favored Bride. She was from Gratz in Styria. That is what is written above the door.”
“Sought and found death in 1801,” I read softly.
“Though it was not the death she desired. She refused to obey me and finally drove me to punish her.” Vlad pointed at a great iron stake that was driven through the top of the tomb. “Come. You must see inside.”
Vlad pushed open the ornate bronze door into the tomb and entered. I timidly followed him for I sensed a power here; a fading power enfolded in a great sadness.
Vlad waved one hand and torches lining the walls sprang to life and the darkness fled to the corners of the marble tomb.
I could only gasp in horror.
Lying on a raised platform was a beautiful woman. The long iron stake came through the roof of the tomb and straight through the body of the woman and into stone beneath her. Her once fashionable red and gold dress was faded and worn. Pieces of the fine fabric skittered across the floor as I moved toward her. The smell of old dried blood permeated the air. I saw that a fresh body was curled up at the head of the platform.
She had an exquisitely sculptured face with high cheekbones and a vibrant red mouth. Her black hair was thick and glossy as it fell over the sides of her resting place to the floor. Thick, dark lashes threw shadows over her flushed cheeks and when I approached, that dark fringe sprang back to reveal eyes the color of amber.
“She’s alive!”
“Yes, my beloved Erzsébet,” Vlad answered. “She is alive.”
My hand reached out tentatively toward the stake, my fingers were quivering.
“My beloved wife, Erzsébet, I have come to see you,” Vlad said softly to the woman lying before us.
A harsh laughter filled the room as her lips parted to reveal long ivory fangs. “I wish not to see you, my damned husband.” The vampire moaned with pain and her hand reached out reflexively to grasp hold of the iron stake impaling her. I could see that any movement would cause her pain.
“I have brought my newest Bride. She is a lady from England. Lady Glynis Wright.”
Erzsébet’s gaze flicked toward me, then she laughed. “Another to drive mad?”
Vlad’s green eyes flashed red and his jaw set with anger. “She wishes for death to escape me as you once did. I brought her to show her the death I granted you.”
Her amber eyes looked toward me, and her sigh whispered into the shadows.
“Yes, another strong, beautiful woman for you to torture and defile. You live up to your name, husband.”
I reached out to her, my heart broken in the presence of her punishment. “Are you in great pain?”
The Countess of Dolingen began to laugh until she gasped in pain and her hands clung to the stake in agony.
“I am sorry! I am sorry! I did not mean to upset you,” I cried out, moving to comfort her.
Vlad flung me back from her and snarled, “Do not go near her! She is mad with the hunger. She will drain you dry!”
“Dracul! Dracul! I curse you! I curse you! May your plans never succeed. One day someone will slice off your head and impale it on a stake just as the Turks planned. A pity they raised the head of an imposter over Constantinople. I pray to see the night your head is raised up over any city. I live in agony only to see your death!”
“And yet I love you despite your curses,” Vlad hissed at her, then leaned down to kiss her red lips, hard and fiercely. Her drew back quickly, before her sharp teeth could clamp down on his lips.
Again, she cried out in pain, her hands holding tight to the iron stake. “I curse you, Vlad.”
“You made me trap you here, Erzsébet! This is what you did. Not I! You defied me and now you feast on peasants who wander into this mausoleum for shelter.” Vlad was clearly in a rage now and he kicked the rotting corpse into a corner. Snatching a torch off the wall, he set it ablaze and stood over it, watching it burn.
I stood back away from both of them, unsure of what to do. It was clear that a great love had been lost and now all that remained was hatred and yearning. Vlad whirled back around and glared at me.
“Look at her! Look at her! Dead and yet living. When will another peasant wander in here some stormy night so she can feast on him? Is this the fate you want?”
Erzsébet sobbed in her anguish, “You are a monster!”
“I am Dracula!”
I could stand no more. It was all far too horrible. I stepped toward the impaled vampire and cried out in despair, “Erzsébet, I swear to you I will free you. I swear it!”
Erzsébet turned her amber eyes toward me and tears fell onto the cold marble beneath her. “If you escape him, keep running. Do not let him destroy you as he has destroyed me. Do not let him destroy you!”
Vlad’s form blurred and suddenly he was over her, his hand covering hers on the stake. Staring down into her eyes, he whispered in a voice filled with dark passion, “One night you will beg me to be set free.”
Erzsébet’s only response was her laughter.
Furious, Vlad grabbed my hand and thrust me forward, out of the tomb. The torches fell cold and darkness returned to the Countess of Dolingen’s world. Her laughter followed us, taunting Vlad as he slammed shut the bronze door.
“How could you do that to her,” I demanded.
Vlad grabbed me and pulled me roughly against him. His hands gripped my face tightly and he kissed me with dark, hungry desire. I trembled under the power of his kiss and hated him with a rage that felt like it would consume me. Yet, the passion of that moment enraptured me and despite myself, I swooned. Breaking his kiss, he leaned his forehead against mine.
“As I did this to her, I will do it to you. Do you understand?”
His fingers wound tightly into my hair and he pressed his face hard against mine.
“Do you understand?” he asked.
“Yes,” I finally answered, my voice catching with fear.
“Will you write your brother?”
My gaze slid upwards to the great iron stake looming over the top of the sepulcher. I shuddered at the thought of such a fate. Slowly, I nodded.
“Tell me, Glynis. Will you write your brother?”
“Yes,” I said, and wept as he kissed me.
Chapter 16
The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright-Continued
The Castle
Vlad returned to the castle wearing the form of a wolf. The moment my bare feet touched the icy stones of the courtyard, he bounded off, his anger as tangible as the cold night wind.
Gathering my skirts, I hurried toward the entrance of the castle. The great bronze door opened and Cneajna stood there, her long blond hair falling around a face so forlorn it made my heart ache. I immediately seized her hands in mine and kissed her cool cheek.
“What is it, Cneajna? Why do you look so heartbroken?”
“He took you to her, did he not?”
I nodded, trying not to think of the agonized screams and wild laughter of Erzsébet. “Yes, he did.”
Cneajna sighed, then shook her head as she drew her hands quickly away. Turning on her heel, she strode back into the castle, one hand pressed against her lips.
“Cneajna,” I called out, pursuing her. I reached out and touched the gentle curve of her shoulder.
She hesitated, then turned to face me.
“Please, do not leave me. I am troubled and afraid. What I have seen and heard tonight has me shaken. Please, let us take solace together. Let us bind together our strength to carry us through this wretched night.”
She gently smoothed my hair back from my face, then drew me against her. I flung myself into her embrace and clung to her. She whispered that if she had given birth to a daughter she might have looked like me. That her mortal husband had the thickest, most fiery locks she had ever seen until she had seen my hair. Her long fingers stroked my cheek and she kissed me lightly.
“What he did to Erzsébet, he said he will do to me if I do not obey him, Cneajna.”
“Now you know why I plead with you to obey our husband. Now do you understand what he is capable of?”
I drew away from her and flung out my hands dramatically. “But it is monstrous what he has done! She is alive and in so much pain. I was so horrified and afraid of her fate, I betrayed my own brother to Prince Vlad!”
“I love Erzsébet. I love her more than I can say. She is the most beautiful of women and I adore her as I would my own sister. When she lived with us, she made life here more bearable…more civilized. Erzsébet wanted to be happy here, but Vlad did not allow her the freedoms she craved. Over the years, her love for him turned to hatred until at last, she tried to kill him. And he did what had to be done.”
“Why did he not just kill her? It would have been so much better than impaling her alive. To suffer that way for an eternity.”
“One night he will destroy her when his ambition grows greater than his love for her. To keep her alive is to endanger himself. But it is his way. Vlad has always impaled those who defied him, even when he was a mortal man. Erzsébet is a vampire and she cannot die from such a punishment unless the stake pierced her heart.” Cneajna’s expression became troubled as she turned away from me. “I weep for her. I weep for her because she went mad and destroyed herself. And yet, I still love her.”
“He did it to her! Can you not see that? He drove her to hate him!” I paced back and forth, wringing my hands. “I can understand far too well how she must have felt. How he drove her into madness and she had no choice but to seek his death. He is a monster! A monster! And I have betrayed Andrew to him!” I fell back against a pillar and buried my face in my hands.
“What do you mean? Who is Andrew? Is he your brother? Does he live in England? And if so, in what way have you betrayed him?”
In a trembling voice, I told her all that had happened. Cneajna listened in silence; one hand gently grasping mine. When I finished my story, Cneajna kissed my forehead tenderly, stroking my hand lightly with her long, slim fingers.
“Do not fear, sweet Glynis. If our husband wishes for your brother to help him move to England, then he will certainly not kill him.”
“But he wanted my family to help him and he killed them,” I pointed out to her.
“For you, dear Glynis. For you! He wanted you desperately. When you first arrived, we followed in the shadows admiring you. We were all taken with your haughtiness and your beautiful red hair. Later, after you were asleep, Vlad came to me and told me how much he desired you. I could see it in his eyes that nothing would stop him from claiming you as his own. And now you are one of us.” She smiled with contentment. “Your father never should have defied our husband. That is what doomed them all. So you must not defy Vlad if you wish for your brother to live. You must do as our husband commands and your brother’s life will be spared. Vlad can be generous if he is obeyed and given the respect that is his due.”
I sighed with exasperation, drawing away from her. “In this world, I cannot win. I am so utterly trapped by his power and his will.”
“It is his world and we must obey him without question.”
I could see Cneajna truly believed those words. But I cannot. Yes, it may be Vlad’s world, but there has to be a way to break free. But to save Andrew, I have to capitulate. I realize that truth though I hate it. There truly is no other way.
“Cneajna, how can you stand it? Living in his power, submitting to his every wish and whim.” The intensity in which I spoke those words demanded an answer.
Cneajna hesitated, then said softly, “It is better than my mortal life.” She drew away from me, moving across the stone floor to the staircase. “Memories are strong on this night, calling to me, compelling me to speak to you, but not here. Come with me to our chambers. Let us rest there as Elina and Ariana deliver our Master’s message to his servant in the village.”
I hurried after her and soon we stood huddled together before the cold hearth in our chambers. For some reason, the cold on this night seemed to pierce through us with exceptional viciousness. Cneajna waved her hand over the blackened wood beckoning forth a fire that immediately sprang to life. Sinking to her knees, Cneajna stared deeply into the fire. Drawing a fine brocade coverlet from a nearby couch, I sat beside her, wrapping us in the warm fabric.
“Staring into the fire, I can feel the memories unfurling in my mind. I can almost see my mortal past,” she whispered. “All tonight, the memories have been there, trying to speak, to make me remember. Remember why I came to be here and why I fear for you.”
Curling up into her side and snuggling into the warmth of the coverlet, I whispered, “Please, tell me. Let me know who you are.”
“I was happy in my mortal life until I married. My family was a fine aristocratic Hungarian family. My father was a great man and a loving father. My mother was beautiful and kind. I had two elder brothers who became great soldiers and strong leaders. Growing up, I loved them all and I was so very happy. Then I married István. He was a great warrior and had favor in the court of my mother’s cousin, King Matyas of Hungary. My husband had fought under my cousin and it was Matyas who wished for me to marry István. At first I refused, but when I finally met him, I loved him.