When I finally raised my head, the sisters stood over me, torches in their hands. Cneajna, her neck a terrible wound, stepped toward me. Her expression was anguished, but determined.
“We should take his head and finish it,” I finally said.
“No,” she answered. “I will take him to the chapel and put him in his coffin.”
I stroked Vlad’s white hair with my hand, and whispered, “He is dangerous, Cneajna. He will destroy all of us if he ever rises again.”
She laughed. “No, he will kill us. He will not kill you. The one he truly loved.”
Looking down into the face of my Master, now shriveled and old, I knew what she said was true. Perhaps I had known in my heart he loved me, but could not accept it because I hated him so very much. Lord, help me, but even holding him in that ballroom, I hated him. But, Lord help me even more, I felt a deep connection to him. I knew then that the one Astir had spoken of truly knowing me was Vlad, not Ignatius. And the one I loved, but destroyed, was Cneajna.
Smoothing Vlad’s hair back from his face, I felt the bittersweetness of my victory over him. Perhaps I do love Vlad in some odd, terrible way. I am not certain. But, in that moment, I wanted to sit with him one last time and talk to him. I wanted to truly understand him and why he had chosen me to be his Countess. But the time for that had now passed, and he was vanquished.
Cneajna slowly bent down and took him from me, avoiding the long, sharp end of the golden stake that stood out in ghastly fashion from his chest. Holding him as she would a child, she looked down at me coldly.
“Leave. And do not come back,” she said at last.
I rose easily to my feet. Vlad’s power pulsed within me. I knew if I desired, I could enslave all three of the Brides to me, but I was done with this place.
“Very well,” I responded.
Ilona and her women answered my silent summons immediately. By the expression in their eyes, I could see they understood that I was now the Master. They watched with wide, terrified eyes as Cneajna carried what remained of Vlad from the room. After she departed, they turned to look at me anxiously.
“Prepare my trunks for travel. I leave within the hour,” I informed them.
Elina and Ariana gazed at me in awe and terror.
Unsure, Ariana stepped toward me. “I will love you as I did him.”
I motioned them away from me. I could not endure to look upon them or hear their voices. I was done with the castle and done with them. They bowed their heads and slowly backed away, then vanished from my sight.
Moving through my castle, I returned to my bedchambers and changed into my traveling clothes. The gypsy women hurriedly prepared my things as one rushed down to tell the men to prepare the carriage. Soon, all the gypsies would know I was their new Master.
Soon dressed, I stood near my vanity staring at the ring on my finger. I began to draw it from my hand, then hesitated.
“You are free,” I heard my mother whisper.
Yes, I was free. I lifted my chin and steadied my nerves. The end had come for me at last.
Leaving the ring on my finger, I walked through the dark hallways of the decrepit castle to the crypt that lay beneath the inscription:
DRACULA.
I found Cneajna carefully arranging Vlad in his coffin. She had taken the time to find his royal robes and dress him. His hands were folded over his chest and she had wrapped his wine-red royal cloak about him. The royal crest of the family Dracul was set over his head. She looked up at me coldly as I entered. I noted the stake had been drawn out of his body.
“If you feed him, he will rise,” I said coolly.
“I will not,” she answered me. “I will be his faithful wife and care for him in death.”
“This is not death,” I said. “This is limbo.”
She shrugged. “Then so be it.”
“May I have a moment?” I asked.
Cneajna regarded me, then nodded. She slipped out of the crypt leaving me alone.
Standing over his coffin, I tried to see the strong, cruel man with whom I had lived all of my vampiric existence. I could not truly find any trace of him in the shriveled form in the coffin. Slowly, I leaned over and touched his hand that wore the ring that matched my own.
“Farewell, Vlad,” I whispered. “I have my revenge now. My family is avenged and you are no longer my Master. I know now you love me. I cannot say I love you, but I can say that you have liberated me in ways I never imagined. You have made me strong and I thank you for that. I know you truly understood my soul and I will forever be bound to you because of that.” I hesitated, searching for words. “Another has my heart, Vlad. But you have my soul.”
Leaning down, I kissed his parched lips and drew back. A tear that had fallen from my face was sliding down his cheek. Or, perhaps it was his tear. I cannot say.
I turned and swept out of the crypt.
I did not look back to see the name DRACULA written over its entrance or to see the pale woman standing so faithfully by its entrance. I knew she would not dare come against me now. I was her Master now and she knew it.
I walked through the crumbling castle to the courtyard and to the waiting carriage.
Ilona stood near it, ordering a large trunk to be loaded up onto it. I looked at her curiously, and she hesitated before saying, “It is the bodies of your family.”
Solemnly, I reached out and touched the trunk.
“Then we leave together,” I said.
She nodded, bowed to me, then scurried away.
As I was helped into the carriage, I hesitated and looked upwards. Above me, two pale faces darted back from a darkened window. With a rueful smile, I let myself be lifted into the carriage and settled back into the seat.
The door shut firmly and I found myself alone in the carriage. For a moment, a mere moment, I felt the ghosts of my family with me. I lowered my head and whispered a prayer for their souls.
As the carriage rolled out of the courtyard to begin its journey to Bistriţa , I could not help but look back one more time at the castle. Its countenance was a blur as once more tears seized me. I was leaving alone. I had lost all. My mortal family. My vampire family. And my Master.
As the castle vanished slowly from view, I finally released it from my gaze and settled back into my chair.
Slowly, very slowly, I began to smile as I realized that at last, I was truly, fully, free.
Epilogue
The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright
The Golden Krone Hotel, Bistriţa
5th of May, 1820
Soon I depart for Buda. All is arranged. I have sent letters to Sir Stephen and the Baroness from Count Vlad Dracula explaining he has reconsidered his actions and wishes to see them at once. They are gullible enough to believe the lies I wrote in those letters. Of that I am certain. When I signed the letters with Vlad’s florid “D” and sealed it with red wax and his signet, I smiled.
I know Vlad would be proud of me.
Now I sit writing in my journal. I have fed well and I feel strong. It is two days since I left the castle and I feel at peace at last. I have written letters to my brother in England and a few of my friends as well. It was a move that felt remarkably human and wonderful. I am not quite certain how I shall explain my widowhood, but I am certain I can conjure just as fascinating a story as Vlad did about my “accident.”
I did attempt to visit Erzsébet one last time, but to my dismay, I could not find the cemetery in which she rests. I suspect that Vlad’s last errand before his unmaking was to secure her resting-place with magic. I was quite forlorn by this turn of events, but perhaps eventually his ward will fade so I will be able to liberate my tragic sister.
What I must relish now is that I am free of Vlad. And, surprisingly, it was Vlad who gave me the strength to liberate myself.
Strangely, I almost miss him.
Perhaps I am more a monster than I wish to admit, but in our last nights together, I understand now we had reached a greater understanding than I had realized. Vlad knew I would never love him, but had been satisfied to have a strong partner at his side. I had realized that despite my fierce hatred of the man, he had taught me to be strong and to feel confident in my own abilities. Vlad was right. We were a powerful pair. Now we shall never know how great our true potential could have been.
Astir’s prediction has come true. It is a wonderful relief that it was not my beloved Ignatius who suffered. Vlad and Cneajna created me together. I suppose it was inevitable that I should have to destroy them to be free.
So what shall I do now?
I shall return to Buda and find Ignatius. I am at last free to love him fully and freely. We will be together, I swear it.
I shall also claim Vlad’s estate as my own since I am his wife by his own declaration. It is only my right.
And, of course, I shall get my revenge upon those who destroyed my family. I am not quite done yet with Sir Stephen or the Baroness. Vlad gave them to me and I will have them.
Again tonight, I considered taking Vlad’s ring from my finger. But as I gazed at it, I realized that I should keep it upon my hand as a reminder. Vlad Dracula was a powerful, remarkable man who did as he pleased. He taught me well. So I shall keep the ring upon my finger.
For after all, I know two things about myself.
I was born Lady Glynis Wright.
But I am now Countess Dracula.