I could not believe I was clinging to the wall like some miserable insect. How I had accomplished such a feat was beyond me.
“His anger is spent. Come down, Glynis,” Cneajna said in a soft, tired voice.
I hung on the wall, staring about in wonder and fear. “I do not think I know how to come down.”
“Come down as you went up.” Cneajna wearily pushed her heavy hair back from her face. “Come down now, Glynis.”
Hesitantly, I began to push my body downward. When my foot touched the floor, I backed away from the wall with an awed expression.
“Is this what I am? A creature that climbs walls like a spider?”
“You are a vampire, my dearest.”
I whirled about and stared at the cowering servants standing behind Ilona. “And these creatures. What are they? Our food?”
“Our servants. We do not touch them.”
I raised my hands. My nails had broken off from their original length, but they still looked sharp and deadly. “If I am to feed, then who?”
“Our Master will pick your first kill.”
“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?”
“Consumed in your dark thoughts, were you? Then time passed you quickly.” She moved past me to the railing, her movements slow and sensuous. “How do you feel now? Hungry?”
“No. Dead.”
“Then all is as it should be.”
Cneajna was so beautiful she made me feel like an ugly little girl. Her lips were full and well-defined, her nose narrow and authoritative, and her sapphire eyes large and radiant. Staring into her face and truly taking in her features for the first time, I realized that this woman must have crossed over into the vampire world at a much older age than the other two Brides or me. Though she appeared very youthful, the maturity of an older woman was drawn into the delicate lines of her face.
“I was older than you,” she answered my unspoken question. “I was thirty-two years old. I did not have any children. My womb remained empty throughout my married life. That is why Vlad gives me the care of his Brides. To allow me children in this world where I did not have any in the mortal world.”
“I have a mother,” I stated.
Cneajna’s jaw set, but she did not respond. She raised her head to breathe in the scents of the night.
I stared down at the wolves for a long moment. “We are like them. We are a pack of predators seeking out the weak.”
Cneajna stood quite close to me. Her eyes did not rest on the wolves though, but on me. With a fine hand, she touched my shoulder. “Yes, we are.”
“Why am I not hungry?”
“He has dulled the power of the hunger.”
“So I will be ravenous when I do feed?”
“Yes.”
“When am I to feed?”
“Soon. Tomorrow night, I think.”
“If I refuse?”
“You will go slowly mad until the hunger consumes you. Then you will feed.”
“I see.” I pondered her words. “Then I will go mad.”
Cneajna grabbed hold of my arm. “Do not defy Vlad. He will destroy you if he desires.”
“I wish he would!”
“Perhaps that would be best.” Elina emerged from doorway, dark and threatening.
“Elina,” Cneajna said in a low, warning voice. “Our time is at an end. We should go down to the chapel soon.”
“Because of you we did not feed tonight,” Elina said to me. Her eyes flashed fiercely and her teeth snapped together.
“Silence, Elina!”
I felt Cneajna’s power rush past me and over Elina. The dark haired Bride shivered and bowed her head.
“I will not feed. I will not!” I stomped my foot.
“You are such a weakling. I cannot understand why he wanted you.” Elina sneered at me, her pretty face twisting into a mask of loathing.
“I wish he had not wanted me. I wish it with all my heart!”
Elina began to retort but Cneajna gave her such a fierce look she dared not continue. She shrank back a few steps.
“Come, Glynis.” Cneajna grasped hold of my hand. With a piercing look at Elina, she led me away from the balcony and the glory of the night.
Pondering all that had happened, I let Cneajna guide me through the gloomy castle. The heartbeats of the gypsy servants were faint. Evidently they did not enter the crumbling corridors of this wing of the decrepit castle. Perhaps it was the coming of the day, but I felt tired and dazed. The pulsing, growing need that I had tasted earlier that night frightened me more than any shadow filled room.
When we entered the chapel, Vlad was waiting for us. Ariana was clinging to him and rubbing her face against his long, dark tresses. At his feet lay the remains of the coffin he had given me. His dark brows knitted together over his stormy green eyes.
“Why did you do this?”
“I am not dead,” I answered.
“Where will you sleep?” He raised an eyebrow. “On the floor like a dog?”
“With me. There is room.” Cneajna pulled me toward her tomb.
“Cneajna,” Vlad purred, his long hand catching hold of her slender neck as she tried to pass by him.
Her eyes slid toward him. “Yes, my Master.”
“Beware.” A menacing smile graced his thick lips beneath his heavy mustache. “I do not like to be defied.”
As his hand released her, Cneajna pulled me along, escaping the scathing sneer of our Master.
We entered the blond Bride’s tomb, which was far more beautiful in design than those of the other Brides. A large coffin lay on the floor, its heavy lid drawn back. Cneajna released my hand as she sealed the door. The candles burning in their holders along the walls were beginning to waver, casting flickering shadows about the tomb.
“Come, lay down.” She lowered herself into the coffin, sliding to one side. “Come lay down. You must sleep.”
Feeling awkward, I hesitantly climbed into the coffin. Lying down next to Cneajna felt so odd. I felt so small and helpless even though I knew I was neither one of those things anymore.
Solemnly, Cneajna reached up one hand to pull the lid over us.
“Please, do not,” I pleaded.
She seemed about to ignore my request, but lowered her hand. “Very well.”
I lay on my back, my hands folded over my stomach, staring up at the flickering light undulating across the ceiling. Cneajna rested on her side, one hand tucked under her golden head. I could feel her staring at me and it unnerved me immensely. I could not even begin to imagine what thoughts were floating through the vampire’s mind.
Cneajna lifted herself up on one elbow and stared down at me. “You are my daughter now. I will care for you as your mother would have. I will do your hair and give you many beautiful dresses. I have many jewels and I will share them with you. I will teach you our ways. The way to dance, to fly, to hunt, and to serve our husband. I will care for you, my sweetest child, I promise.
I stared up at the lovely woman with the sparkling sapphire eyes, ruby lips and hair of spun gold. Cneajna was by far the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, but also one of the most deadly. I could see the absolute horrible longing in her eyes and the terrible desperation within her to have the family she had been denied in her mortal life. I could feel her pain pouring out of her and her need to be my vampire mother. But this vampire world had not claimed my soul yet.
“I have a mother,” I said shortly, deliberately shutting my eyes to avoid her wounded expression. “I do not need another.”