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Astoundingly, his face seemed to expand outward, his eyes sinking beneath his brow as his nose and mouth elongated. He ripped his clothes from his body to reveal hair flowing down over his arms and legs, muscle and bone rippling beneath his skin. The vampire threw back his twisted face and howled as I shrank away at the horror of his transformation. His body bucked and he fell to his hands, his long nails growing dark and sharp. I scuttled back from him in terror as his face fully transformed into that of a wolf. Shaking off the remnants of his dark clothing, the wolf moved toward me, the gold dragon medallion swaying about his thick neck.

“What is this? What has happened?”

The wolf was enormous. It was a beast of nightmares with its glowing red eyes and feral presence. It was pure, ominous power incarnate.

It was Vlad’s voice that uttered forth in a guttural growl. “Climb onto my back. ”

Trembling, I cowered before the great beast. I wanted to refuse him, but I found myself reluctantly crawling on my hands and knees to him. He growled low in his throat, flashing his long sharp teeth, and I flinched in fear.

Reluctantly, I crawled onto the back of the huge creature and grabbed up fistfuls of dark fur. I held on tightly as the wolf whirled about and carried me out of the library.

Clinging to the beast, I was carried down the corridors of the castle and out the great entrance into the night. As I huddled close to the back of the wolf, he ran swiftly over the ground, the world blurring. The wind tore at my hair and face as I pressed my check into the thick ruff of his neck. The journey was swift and surreal. I could hear the calls of other beasts of the night mingled with the breathing of the Vlad-wolf beneath me as my own tortured heart beat fearfully within my breast.

I raised my head briefly to see the snow-covered cypress trees rushing past me. The ground flowed swiftly beneath the huge paws of the wolf. Only the night sky remained still, the moon’s face hidden beneath a cloak of a million stars, for at last, after the great snowfall, the clouds had scattered and the stars once more ruled the night.

The lupine beast leaped over a low wall and into a graveyard, jarring me and forcing me to grip at its fur desperately as my body almost tumbled to the ground.

A white marble sepulcher rose majestically over the pale tombstones and the wolf padded toward it. Just before the entrance to the tomb, the Vlad-wolf stopped.

“Get off,” he growled.

I slid off the wolf and stood among the true dead. My hair swirled around my waist as I took a step forward, the snow encompassing my feet and making me shiver. Hugging myself tightly, I started as a long howl rent the air. I whirled about just as Vlad Dracula rose up before me clad only in his long auburn hair and gold medallion.

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 wi

th 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?”