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“Leave. And do not come back,” she said at last.

I rose easily to my feet. Vlad’s power pulsed within me. I knew if I desired, I could enslave all three of the Brides to me, but I was done with this place.

“Very well,” I responded.

Ilona and her women answered my silent summons immediately. By the expression in their eyes, I could see they understood that I was now the Master. They watched with wide, terrified eyes as Cneajna carried what remained of Vlad from the room. After she departed, they turned to look at me anxiously.

“Prepare my trunks for travel. I leave within the hour,” I informed them.

Elina and Ariana gazed at me in awe and terror.

Unsure, Ariana stepped toward me. “I will love you as I did him. ”

I motioned them away from me. I could not endure to look upon them or hear their voices. I was done with the castle and done with them. They bowed their heads and slowly backed away, then vanished from my sight.

Moving through my castle, I returned to my bedchambers and changed into my traveling clothes. The gypsy women hurriedly prepared my things as one rushed down to tell the men to prepare the carriage. Soon, all the gypsies would know I was their new Master.

Soon dressed, I stood near my vanity staring at the ring on my finger. I began to draw it from my hand, then hesitated.

“You are free,” I heard my mother whisper.

Yes, I was free. I lifted my chin and steadied my nerves. The end had come for me at last.

Leaving the ring on my finger, I walked through the dark hallways of the decrepit castle to the crypt that lay beneath the inscription:

DRACULA.

I found Cneajna carefully arranging Vlad in his coffin. She had taken the time to find his royal robes and dress him. His hands were folded over his chest and she had wrapped his wine-red royal cloak about him. The royal crest of the family Dracul was set over his head. She looked up at me coldly as I entered. I noted the stake had been drawn out of his body.

“If you feed him, he will rise,” I said coolly.

“I will not,” she answered me. “I will be his faithful wife and care for him in death. ”

“This is not death,” I said. “This is limbo. ”

She shrugged. “Then so be it. ”

“May I have a moment?” I asked.

Cneajna regarded me, then nodded. She slipped out of the crypt leaving me alone.

Standing over his coffin, I tried to see the strong, cruel man with whom I had lived all of my vampiric existence. I could not truly find any trace of him in the shriveled form in the coffin. Slowly, I leaned over and touched his hand that wore the ring that matched my own.

“Farewell, Vlad,” I whispered. “I have my revenge now. My family is avenged and you are no longer my Master. I know now you love me. I cannot say I love you, but I can say that you have liberated me in ways I never imagined. You have made me strong and I thank you for that. I know you truly understood my soul and I will forever be bound to you because of that. ” I hesitated, searching for words. “Another has my heart, Vlad. But you have my soul. ”

Leaning down, I kissed his parched lips and drew back. A tear that had fallen from my face was sliding down his cheek. Or, perhaps it was his tear. I cannot say.

I turned and swept out of the crypt.

I did not look back to see the name DRACULA written over its entrance or to see the pale woman standing so faithfully by its entrance. I knew she would not dare come against me now. I was her Master now and she knew it.

I walked through the crumbling castle to the courtyard and to the waiting carriage.

Ilona stood near it, ordering a large trunk to be loaded up onto it. I looked at her curiously, and she hesitated before saying, “It is the bodies of your family. ”

Solemnly, I reached out and touched the trunk.

“Then we leave together,” I said.