Cneajna growled at me. “That is of no importance. We must find the ring. Now!”
I stopped spinning and shrugged. “Very well.”
Cneajna grabbed hold of my hand. “Come along. We must find the girl who took it.”
I let myself be led along, feeling quite dazed. I had damned myself to this world with my ridiculous wishes. I had killed my family. Yet, in this moment, this red hazy moment, I could barely remember them.
We entered the cavernous kitchen and found the gypsies finishing the preparations for their evening meal. The servants glanced up at us with frightened expressions that made me laugh. Cneajna squeezed my hand tightly, moving slowly toward them.
Ilona quickly stepped forward to greet Cneajna, her wrinkled face sweaty and fearful. Her coal black hair glistened in the firelight as she ran a gnarled hand over it fretfully. “How may I serve you, my Mistress?”
“Which one, Glynis?”
I hummed to myself, clicking my long nails together. “Hmm, what?”
“Who took the ring?” I could see Cneajna was about to lose her patience, but I really did not care.
I narrowed my eyes, my gaze sweeping over the gypsies. I could feel something snap inside of me and my demeanor changed.
“Well?”
It was if some inner fire had exploded within me. I felt as if my eyes were blazing and my skin was flushed with the heat. My hair shimmered over my pale shoulders like curls of flame. “I hunger!”
Cneajna laid a gentle hand on my arm. “I know, dearest, but you must remember who took the ring.”
Her cool touch settled the fire slightly. “She is not here.”
“If one of my people have displeased you in anyway, I will-“
“Silence!” Cneajna snapped at Ilona, cutting her off. “One of your women took her ring. We want it back.”
A young gypsy woman sauntered into the kitchen in the company of two men. When they saw us, their footsteps halted.
“Arghira, do you know who took a ring from the young one?” Ilona asked.
The woman’s eyes widened until her dark pupils were drowning in a sea of white.
“You!” I snarled at her.
Before Cneajna could react, I vaulted across the room. With a shriek, the gypsy fled. The two young men attempted to intercept me, but I slammed them both into the wall, running into the night after the girl.
I could hear Cneajna chasing me, cursing herself for her stupidity under her breath. “Do not kill her! We are not allowed to kill them!”
Well, I was never much for paying attention to rules. Arghira ran into a hut and slammed the door shut. Hissing angrily, I struck the door, breaking off the sharp tips of my nails.
Realizing that one of their own was in danger, the men of the gypsy clan snatched up torches and whatever sharp instrument they could find, rushing toward me. I whirled about and hissed as Cneajna crouched low, growling at them warningly as she bared her long teeth.
The sharp, piercing cries of the frightened woman trapped within her dismal little hut echoed in the darkness. I was crazed with the hunger and her cries only made me even more famished. I battered the door with such fierce blows, the wood cracked and splintered.
“Glynis! Stop! This is forbidden. Get the ring and let it be!”
The gypsies shouted angrily, obviously frightened to move against us, but determined to save the girl. Ilona appeared in the courtyard, crying out for them to stand back least we kill them all.
“Glynis, please, stop!” Cneajna moved rapidly toward me.
The door broke open, wood splintering in every direction. With a shriek of glee, I rushed into the darkness within. Cneajna was just behind me as I grabbed the girl. I grunted as Cneajna grabbed hold of my long red hair and wrenched my head back.
“Stop it now! We cannot touch the gypsies!”
I was crazed. Desperate. Hungry. I struck Cneajna with the back of my hand, and she immediately slapped me back.
“Let go of the girl!”
The madness of the hunger burned in me. “No, she is mine! I hunger!”
The gypsy girl cowered on her knees before us, her arm caught in the vise-like grip of my hand. She whimpered, her hands clutching Cneajna’s dress.
“She is not yours to kill.”
“I must feed,” I shouted at her. I shoved past her, dragging the poor girl with me.
The courtyard was filled with angry, terrified gypsies. As I pulled my screaming prey toward the castle, they yelled at me, brandishing their torches. I hissed at them, furious with their impertinence.
The doorway to the kitchen suddenly filled by the presence of Prince Vlad Dracula. His dark green eyes burned as he stared out at the drama unfolding before him.
“What is happening here?”
“They came to us and the young one-“ Ilona babbled just before Cneajna slapped her.
Vlad looked sharply at his blond Bride. “Cneajna, explain!”
The beautiful vampire stood majestically among the agitated mob of gypsies. “My Master, Glynis-“
“I hunger,” I interrupted impatiently. I roughly pulled the girl along with me as I walked toward Vlad. “I want this girl.”
Vlad seemed mildly amused, his mouth spreading into a smile beneath his mustache. “I am delighted to hear of your desire to feed, but I forbid the killing of our servants. Once they are gone, who will serve us?”
“I want her,” I said in a low, fierce voice.
“Release her!”
“No!”
Vlad suddenly advanced on me, his most rebellious young Bride, raising his hand to strike me down. I hissed at him, backing away.
Cneajna rushed forward. “Please, my Master! The girl stole Glynis’ ring! We came to claim it from her when the hunger overwhelmed Glynis! Have mercy!”
Vlad moved so swiftly, he had me by my throat before I could even try to dodge away from him. “Tell me, is this true?”
Burning with the hunger, I could hardly comprehend his words.
Still grasping me by the throat, Vlad looked down at my prey. “Is this true?”
Shaking her head vigorously, Arghira cast down her eyes.
Cneajna grabbed hold of the girl’s hair and yanked back her head. “Where is it?”
“Please! I took it only because she gave it to me!”
“Where is it?” Cneajna twisted the girl’s hair.
Shakily, the girl drew out the chain the ring was threaded on from the folds of her blouse. “Please, have mercy! I took it because she did not want it!”
Vlad snatched the chain off the girl’s neck with a shout of fury. Cneajna shrank back from his anger as the gypsy girl screamed. I merely glared at the great Prince with pure hatred.
I was so hungry and he was not letting me feed!
“Did you give the girl the ring?” Vlad screamed into my face, his face fiery red.
“In another life,” I answered in a low voice.
“Another life,” Vlad muttered under his breath. His dark mood suddenly vanished as he smiled. “Another life. Yes, that is a good answer.” He released me and threw the girl into Cneajna’s arms. Ripping the ring from the chain, he motioned the gypsies back with one hand. “Here, Glynis, now wear it in this life.”
I reluctantly took the ring and shoved it onto my finger. “I hunger.”
Vlad seized the gypsy girl and turned toward the servants. “She broke our agreement. You swore to serve me loyally. Stealing from my wives is a crime I will not tolerate. Serve me faithfully, I will reward you. Betray me, then death will come!” Vlad flung the girl into my waiting arms.
Without hesitation, I yanked the girl’s head back and bit deeply into her throat. Blood flowed in dark red rivulets down the shrieking girl’s flesh to the dark place between her breasts where she had hidden the forbidden ring.
Satisfied, Vlad returned to the depths of the castle, leaving the gypsies to quietly disappear into their humble homes. Soon the courtyard was empty save for Cneajna, the slowly dying girl, and me.
Cneajna stood over me as I drained away every last drop of life from the mortal. I was aware of her, but all I wanted was that thick, rich blood filling me, chasing away the hunger, and making my body warm again. The cold night air swirled around us as the silent stars shone down upon us.
The dead gypsy fell to the cold stones of the courtyard. I remained on my knees staring at the lifeless body.
“Glynis?”
I could not answer her, not yet. I licked the blood from my fangs and my lips, tasting its richness.
“My child?”
Slowly, I looked up. The hunger and the madness was gone. My mind felt clear. Strong. Like my body.
Cneajna laid a hand against my smooth cheek. “Glynis?”
“I remember.”
“What?”
“What I am. Who I was.” It was all clear now. That other life. The door was fully thrown open.
I stared up at the magnificence of the night, the beauty of the vampire standing over me, and I remembered it all. My father, my mother, my sister, my brother, my home so far away in England, all our travels, the deaths of my family, my own death and rebirth. With startling clarity, no longer hidden and distant, all I had experienced and endured flooded into my mind. With equal clarity, I realized the chains I had once endured no longer bound me. I was free of all past restraints. I was free to live forever, free to kill, free to feed, free to do what I had to do to escape this place and obtain my ultimate freedom.
In that moment, I was completely reborn.
I slowly stood up and looked into the worried eyes of the blond vampire. “I have become.”
“Become what?”
“A vampire,” I answered calmly.
She smiled at me and said, “Then all is well.”
Chapter 11
The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright
The Castle
One night I found myself wandering alone through the castle. When I had risen I realized the other vampires had already awakened and were prowling the night. Honestly, I was quite glad to be alone. Melancholy thoughts of my family were drifting through my mind and I did not feel like dealing with the other vampires. They were annoying with their insistence that I be grateful for my new undead existence and their determination that I simply accept my fate.
Ha! Obviously, they have no concept of my true nature. I have never in my entire life simply accepted anything I was supposed to. I accept nothing at face value and I am rather stubborn. Frankly, I am quite contrary.
So, glad to be rid of the other vampires, I gathered a lace shawl that Cneajna had given me about my shoulders, and I drifted off into the dark corridors.
My mind was ravaged by memories as I walked: each and every one a brutal reminder of my former life. I almost wished for the bliss of forgetfulness for every memory was a painful stab into my dead little heart. But then, I would not want to be simpleton, lost in the hunger, doing as Vlad told me.
The memories were torturous in their vividness. I remembered my beloved brother, Andrew, holding me upside by my ankles when I was four as he swung me about as my mother came screaming down the stairs that he put me down at once. Of course, I was laughing with delight the whole time. Andrew and I constantly gave Mother fits.
And I remembered my beloved May. Oh, yes, she annoyed me with her wide-eyed innocence and calm nature. She was never up for any sort of adventure, but I did love her. I fondly recalled sitting on my bed reading to her as she curled up against me, warm and frail, delicate and sweet.
I remembered my parents. My dear sweet father with his even temperament and twinkling eyes and his mutterings of “there, there.” And of course, my Mother, that I have to confess, I am very much like in many ways. We always had a cantankerous relationship, but it was always a loving one. Even in the heat of all our arguments, I never doubted she loved me.
Tears slipped down my face as I tried not to think of her death at my hands. I felt the cold wetness of the trail they left behind on my cheeks.
Now dear Andrew and Angeline are all that remain of my family.