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“I will not stay here. I will not live in this hell,” I declared.

Cneajna laughed softly as she languidly sprawled across a couch. “There is no escape.

“I am going to jump!”

“Go ahead. ” Cneajna looked bored.

I took a deep breath and flung myself out the window. My body was thrown up against an invisible wall and I was cast back into the room.

“You cannot escape. We are in the Master’s power. He does not wish us to leave the castle, therefore, we cannot. We are bound to him. He rules over our existence. He is our husband, our lover, our protector, our keeper. We cannot leave him. Ever. ” Cneajna leaned down to look into my eyes. “We are bound to him by blood. His blood. We can never leave him unless he releases us. ”

“We are prisoners!”

“His wives,” Cneajna corrected gently.

Ariana and Elina drew close to me, their eye

s studying my every move.

I felt as though I was about to explode into a thousand pieces. The world overwhelmed my senses. Every emotion seemed to boil within me while every sensation of the flesh was intensified. The rage, the desperation, and utter fear I felt seemed as massive and dangerous as the mountains surrounding the castle. I struggled to keep focused when all I wanted to do was demolish everything around me, or lie down and die.

“I will not be his wife,” I said firmly. “I will get away from here. ”

“You are his wife and there is no escape,” Elina answered.

Ariana knelt and took one of my hands. “Do you not wish to be here with us? Do you not wish to be our sister?”

“I would rather die!”

“Enough of this. ” Cneajna grabbed hold of my chin with her strong hand. Her eyes bored into mine as she said, “This is your life now. You have no other. I am your vampire mother. You will do as I say. You have no choice. ”

The power emanating from her overrode my senses and I swooned.

“Do you understand?”

I managed to nod.

Ariana clapped her hands, spinning about. “All is well. ”

“Our time is coming to an end. ” Elina motioned to the windows. “The night is dying. ”

“Come, Glynis. It is time to sleep. ”

Cneajna pulled me to my feet, holding me close to her. Ariana swayed toward the large door at the far end of the room and it opened at her silent beckoning. Elina followed her sister, casting one last hateful glance at me. Cneajna lead me out of the suite the sisters shared during the night and down the long corridors of the castle. I soon recognized the same portion of the castle May and I had explored together. When we reached the darkened stairway, I glanced toward Cneajna.

Her keen blue eyes sparkled brilliantly as she nodded. “Yes, it was I who rose when you came near to our resting place. ”

I could not answer her. I was overcome with the memory of May’s and my simple little adventure. How foolish we had been. We had awakened a powerful evil and had not known.

As we descended the narrow spiraling staircase into the blackness below, I clung to Cneajna as an old childhood fear of monsters returned. I then realized that the only monsters were the three lovely women and, to my horror, me.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To where we sleep during the hours of the sun,” Cneajna answered.

We entered a chapel and found Vlad waiting for us. A beautiful ornate coffin rested in the center of the chapel, its lid drawn back. Ariana wandered into a nearby tomb and I heard the sound of a coffin lid being slid into place. Elina seductively pressed her body up against Vlad, kissing him passionately. He smiled as he ran his hands over her body before gently pressing her away. Smiling coyly, Elina disappeared into another tomb.

The chapel dwelt in silence as the two remaining vampires turned to gaze at me. To me, who had been raised by an ardent Catholic, it seemed abhorrent that this once holy chapel now gave shelter to the vampires. It even seemed to pulsate with the evil that now slumbered there.