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But I knew it was in vain.

She screamed, then there was a loud thump as her body struck the trunk.

The sly, delighted laughter of the dark Brides made me cry out.

“Stop them, please, stop them!” I fought the blond vampire, but she easily overwhelmed me.

“I cannot. Our husband has given her to us. It is his will. But I choose not to feed,” the blond vampire whispered to me. “And you will not bear witness to your sister’s death. ” She clamped her hands over my ears and covered me with her body. It was later, when I saw her dress stained with blood that I realized she had kept my sister’s blood from falling onto me throu

gh the cracks in the lid. In a soft voice, she began to hum to me a sweet, sad tune.

I lay beneath her and cried. Though I cannot explain it, I found comfort in her touch. Somehow, I felt this beautiful, ethereal creature was trying to protect me from the horror of my sister’s death. And, strangely, I accepted this.

The sight of my dead father was still strong in my mind. That May would be spared that horrible death was a great relief. I knew May had fainted away and was oblivious of her fate. She was so frail her death would come quickly.

“Fly to heaven, May. Fly with the angels,” I whispered, crying in the arms of my new vampire sister.

The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright - Continued

I have locked myself away and will refuse their invitations to join them. I shall write until I can write no more. Damn them all.

The night of my sister’s death, the wolves howled and the voices of the eternal night whispered in breathless anticipation as my sister’s life drained away. The only sound within the small chamber was the sweet humming of an ancient lullaby and the muffled slurping of rich, dark blood.

I lay in the arms of the blond vampire, listening to her hum, weeping, for I knew that I had lost my sister. I wanted to die and join her.

Abruptly, the door of the chamber slammed open. I felt Vlad Dracula's presence fill the room. I raised my head to peer through a crack in the trunk’s side. The torchlight from the hallway illuminated his face. It was clear that his eyes were not greeted with the gruesome sight he had anticipated. The frail body of my sister lay draped over one of the large trunks in the room. Her pale blue eyes were fluttering as death approached, her blanched face framed by the dark hair of the two dark Brides.

“What is this?” he shouted furiously.

One of the Brides, the one with the long curly hair, raised her head and hissed at him.

With a fierce expression, Vlad grabbed hold of the Bride and hurled her across the room. Frightened, the other Bride shrank away from him, her tongue licking her bloody lips.

“Mercy, Master, forgive our wrongs,” she said. “But we are so hungry. Did you not give us the girl?”

“Where is Cneajna? And where is my new wife?”

I felt the brush of the blond vampire’s hair as she too peered through the crack.

“He is angry. Let me take the brunt of his anger. ”

“We saw them not! Please, we are so hungry, Master,” the dark haired Bride said, falling to her knees.

The second Bride crawled back into view, hissing softly.

“Glynis was to feed from the girl. This was to be her first kill. ” His voice was harsh, his eyes cruel. I could see that his anger was barely restrained.

Cneajna, for I now knew that to be her name, reached out one long hand and touched the crack. Suddenly, she seemed to simply slip through it, her body dissolving into vapor, then rapidly solidifying on the other side. “I feared for her sanity,” she said. Her long pale hair fell about her like a golden cloak.

Vlad glared at her with harsh eyes. “Where is she? Where is Glynis?” His voice had taken on a dark menacing tone.

Cneajna raised her chin slightly. “She is not ready for her first kill. She is not yet as we are. I feared the madness would descend on her. ”

“Enough explanations! Where is she, Cneajna?”

Cneajna seemed about to defy him, but thought better of it. Her eyes slid to the trunk I was hiding within.

Clearly furious, Vlad viciously shoved her aside, striding swiftly toward the trunk. As he passed May’s body, he flung it aside as if it were nothing more than a nuisance. With a low growl, the curly haired vampire scuttled across the floor and hunched over my sister hungrily.