Page 45

“But who?”

Cneajna averted her eyes.

I stared down at my hands, then felt my face. The cuts and bruises that should have been there from Vlad’s brutal blows were not. Awestruck by my transformation, my eyes grew large with wonder that slowly turned to horror.

“Who, Cneajna?”

“It is Vlad’s choice. You will feed soon. You cannot escape it. ”

“He wanted me to feed on May…” I could not take the thought further. I still did not know where my mother was. “Oh, God! What have I become!” I turned and ran.

“Glynis, where are you going?”

I did not answer but once more took flight across the cold stone floors. Racing from room to room, I explored the castle with great anxiety. Where was my mother? What had happened to her? Was she also now in Heaven? Or could she still be in this horrible castle? Alive? Waiting…waiting…Perhaps waiting for me. Was my own mother to be my first kill?

Abruptly, out of the shadows, Ariana appeared, dressed in a fine gown, her hair caught up with jewels of brilliant colors. With a merry laugh, both sweet and beguiling, she caught me in her arms and danced me about. I pulled free from her and stared at her with great suspicion.

“What do you want?”

“You are my sister,” Ariana said. Her eyes sparkled like jewels and I wondered if my eyes glittered as hers did. “Do you not want to dance and play with me?”

“You are not my sister,” I said tersely. “My sister’s name was May and she is dead. You killed her. ”

“Oh, yes, I did, did I not?” She laughed softly then said, “But I am dead and your sister. So it is very much the same, is it not?”

“No, it is not. You are not my sister. ”

“I am your sister by blood. Vlad’s blood. ” She laughed gaily and kissed my cheek with her very red lips. She twirled about, her long skirts flaring out about her legs, her fingers tracing delicate designs in the air. “We are sisters forever. ”

“Get away from me!”

Ariana just giggled girlishly and whirled around me. As quickly as she had appeared, she vanished.

Deeply disturbed and quite angry, I walked on, much more slowly now. I could see so very clearly every line and detail of the walls, floors and all the tattered furnishings.

My wanderings finally led me into a cavernous chamber. Dust coated the floor and to my wonderment, as I walked I left not a trace of my passing. Beyond tattered curtains, the night sky, dark as velvet, called to me.

Slipping onto the ancient balcony, I felt the wind caress my vampire flesh. The night felt different to me now. It was so peaceful, so silent. The stars shone so brightly that my gaze was drawn upwards. The moon was hidden behind the softness of dark gray clouds and I sorely missed its tranquil celestial beauty.

The night comforted my soul, soothing away my anxiety. I lowered myself down and sat by the railing, feeling the soft kisses of the wind on my flesh.

Tipping my head back, I watched the lazy flight of the night clouds across the panorama of burning stars. I felt who I had once been dying within me. Like a voice echoing in a vast dark cavern slowly fading into eternity, Lady Glynis Wright of England was also fading. I felt it so strongly it moved me to tears.

There was no real innocence left in this body anymore. Vlad had stolen my virginity with a violence I had never conceived of and had taken my blood with a foul, obscene lust.

I shuddered at the memory.

Vlad had ripped away my family and, in the end, my very humanity. The childish dreams I had held so dear of a romantic, illicit, adventurous life were now dead. Gone like Father and May. Dead to this strange, horrible, wondrous new world in which I now dwelt.

Soft whispers floated in the wind, soft and beguiling. I cocked my head to listen, tears glimmering on my cheeks. Sensing that something or someone was watching me I slowly stood. Peering over the edge of the crumbling railing, I beheld the dark forms of a pack of wolves sitting far below. Their bright, glowing eyes gazed up at me. A large gray beast suddenly howled long and strong and one by one, the other wolves joined in until their dark music filled the night.

“They welcome you. You are now a creature of the night. ”

I turned around to see Cneajna emerging from the blackness of the room behind us.

“I have been searching for you, Glynis. You have been gone for some time. The sun rises soon. ”

“I have not been here that long, have I?”