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Vlad’s green eyes flashed red and his jaw set with anger. “She wishes for death to escape me as you once did. I brought her to show her the death I granted you. ”

Her amber eyes looked toward me, and her sigh whispered into the shadows.

“Yes, another strong, beautiful woman for you to torture and defile. You live up to your name, husband. ”

I reached out to her, my heart broken in the presence of her punishment. “Are you in great pain?”

The Countess of Dolingen began to laugh until she gasped in pain and her hands clung to the stake in agony.

“I am sorry! I am sorry! I did not mean to upset you,” I cried out, moving to comfort her.

Vlad flung me back from her and snarled, “Do not go near her! She is mad with the hunger. She will drain you dry!”

“Dracul! Dracul! I curse you! I curse you! May your plans never succeed. One day someone will slice off your head and impale it on a stake just as the Turks planned. A pity they raised the head of an imposter over Constantinople. I pray to see the night your head is raised up over any city. I live in agony only to see your death!”

“And yet I love you despite your curses,” Vlad hissed at her, then leaned down to kiss her red lips, hard and fiercely. Her drew back quickly, before her sharp teeth could clamp down on his lips.

Again, she cried out in pain, her hands holding tight to the iron stake. “I curse you, Vlad. ”

“You made me trap you here, Erzsébet! This is what you did. Not I! You defied me and now you feast on peasants who wander into this mausoleum for shelter. ” Vlad was clearly in a rage now and he kicked the rotting corpse into a corner. Snatching a torch off the wall, he set it ablaze and stood over it, watching it burn.

I stood back away from both of them, unsure of what to do. It was clear that a great love had been lost and now all that remained was hatred and yearning. Vlad whirled back around and glared at me.

“Look at her! Look at her! Dead and yet living. When will another peasant wander in here some stormy night so she can feast on him? Is this the fate you want?”

Erzsébet sobbed in her anguish, “You are a monster!”

“I am Dracula!”

I could stand no more. It was all far too horrible. I stepped toward the impaled vampire and cried out in despair, “Erzsébet, I swear to you I will free you. I swear it!”

Erzsébet turned her amber eyes toward me and tears fell onto the cold marble beneath her. “If you escape him, keep running. Do not let him destroy you as he has destroyed me. Do not let him destroy you!”

Vlad’s form blurred and suddenly he was over her, his hand covering hers on the stake. Staring down into her eyes, he whispered in a voice filled with dark passion, “One night you will beg me to be set free. ”

Erzsébet’s only response was her laughter.

Furious, Vlad grabbed my hand and thrust me forward, out of the tomb. The torches fell cold and darkness returned to the Countess of Dolingen’s world. Her laughter followed us, taunting Vlad as he slammed shut the bronze door.

“How could you do that to her,” I demanded.

Vlad grabbed me and pulled me roughly against him. His hands gripped my face tightly and he kissed me with dark, hungry desire. I trembled under the power of his kiss and hated him with a rage that felt like it would consume me. Yet, the passion of that moment enraptured me and despite myself, I swooned. Breaking his kiss, he leaned his forehead against mine.

“As I did this to her, I will do it to you. Do you understand?”

His fingers wound tightly into my hair and he pressed his face hard against mine.

“Do you understand?” he asked.

“Yes,” I finally answered, my voice catching with fear.

“Will you write your brother?”

My gaze slid upwards to the great iron stake looming over the top of the sepulcher. I shuddered at the thought of such a fate. Slowly, I nodded.

“Tell me, Glynis. Will you write your brother?”

“Yes,” I said, and wept as he kissed me.