Aleron: Book One of Strigoi Series (Stringoi Series) (20 page)

“There was something about my wound that seemed irresistible to him. I coughed and a little blood escaped my mouth and found his cheek. He wiped it off and licked his fingers. I looked at his eyes, and they changed color right before me. What was once a deep blue became pearl, his pupils dilated. I knew then my prince was more than I thought. I knew that Vlad was not of this world. I knew that the legend was true of a beast that spread a blood plague throughout Eastern Europe, the demon that haunted Bucharest and Transylvania, a manner of a being that was more than human. My prince was supernatural.

“I grew weak and began to slump over. Vlad pulled me close to him, and we traveled fast as the wind. He led, but his back was to the direction we were traveling in. Seemingly within a few moments, we were back in Vlad’s castle. There were no servants. There were no maids. There was only my prince and I.

“I felt myself slipping away. The darkness was calling out to me. My breath became weak, and my vision began to blur. I began to feel nothing of the wound. I began to feel nothing of this world. I began to feel nothing at all. My time was nearing its end. Vlad removed his shirt while still holding me with one hand. Even though I was doomed, I wanted to see how badly he was cut, but there was no wound, only streaks of dried blood. It was at that moment that I chose to speak.

“‘Don’t let me die, beloved. Life or death without you is the same.’ I wanted to share whatever dark power my prince possessed. I couldn’t exist in heaven nor hell without him. His face spelled only sadness as I began to fade into darkness. Then suddenly I felt the chill of him closer to me. He pressed my lips to his hairless chest and softly said, ‘Drink.’

“I opened my mouth and tasted his blood! And that was my last night as a mortal.”

CHAPTER 16

awoke smelling of rose blossoms and clothed in the finest garments, in the arms of Vlad. I awoke, a vampire.

“Vlad taught me what it meant to be immortal and how to survive as a vampire just as Mynea taught you.

Though I was an immortal, I remained humanly naïve. There was one thing I was sure of, however—the one feeling that grew with veracity, the warmth that allowed this body to endure for centuries to come—and that was my love for Vlad. It was similar in magnitude of the love you felt and still feel for Mynea.

“For years Vlad lavished riches upon me. We traveled from city to city, country to country, even traversed vast oceans to different continents, from the Carpathians to the southern tip of Africa and all of greater Europa. Vlad had dwellings in every country we visited. Some homes were more extravagant than the castle you see in your dreams. Some were little more than a room deep within the ground. All were luxuriously furnished.”

Pandora paused, knelt, and placed her hands on my face, her eyes examining every inch of my countenance. She exhaled and continued.

“While in Vlad’s care, nothing seemed more important to him, save the need to feed his hunger. He rarely allowed me to hunt with him after he taught me the basic rules. I often wondered who made up these rules, who passed them to my prince, and if another existed then or even before my master. He dispelled this thought before I had a chance to ask.

“‘I’m the beginning, my love,’ he said kindly and lovingly. ‘There are no others of our kind. You and I alone reign, and I forbid you to condemn anyone to a life of death.’

“And reign we did. Vlad still commanded a boundless army through his many lieutenants. His army was composed of the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, along with hundreds of Turkish traders. They used to fight for all Christendom. Then they fought for their displaced king, their immortal sovereign. They were so willing to lay down their lives for a man who, unbeknownst to them, could not be killed—one who would remain long after their great grandchildren were dead. They dismissed the rumors and legends of Vlad being captured when he was the ruler of Wallachia and beheaded for vicious war crimes on humanity. Unfortunately for the magistrates of that time, Vlad was already dead before they took his head.

“For all others who witnessed his death as a mortal met with gruesome untimely deaths of their own by an unknown beast. It was conjectured and later believed to be the doing of some type of wolf. I know it to be my beast,” Pandora smirked.

“During the day, my prince continued growing his wealth by making strategic land deals.”

During the day
, I repeated to myself.

“Yes, Aleron, our lord slumbers by choice, not necessity as his children must; though he somewhat resembles the walking dead during the hours of daylight. None of us can escape the effects of the sun. It simply deters his hunger, and lack of fresh blood weakens him and leaves him less luminous. Even though he is weaker, his powers of persuasion are heightened by a force or will unknown to me. This is how he continued
to amass a fortune that rivaled the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. He could easily persuade aristocrats to sign over their deeds of land. There were some humans who weren’t affected by his mind control, but they soon became his meal. Then he would simply forge the necessary documents. The signatures, of course, were a perfect match.

“Vlad soon commanded the armies of Northern Europe and all of Eastern Europe. Bucharest became a sovereign destination where kings and royal families would gather to pledge their allegiance to his growing empire. Christ was no longer the motivation. Greed and wealth replaced God in the eyes of man. Vlad knew this and used man’s lack of faith and understanding against him. His influence corrupted the Islamic as well as the Christian movement.

“Decades would pass, and Vlad would withdraw more and more into his quest for power and dominion. There would be weeks and sometimes months before I would see him. I was forced to hunt alone. Confined to loneliness within the Carpathians, my longing for him became an unbearable cross to carry. When Vlad finally came to me, I could tell his focus was elsewhere. He was distracted. I enjoyed the company of his body, but his mind drifted. His eyes no longer looked upon mine with love and lust. They were withdrawn. This I couldn’t understand. Then, one night, an unfamiliar scent planted itself onto Vlad’s cloak. It was the unmistakable scent of a mortal. A female.

“Vlad hunted and killed men in the most grotesque and animalistic manner, but he refused to dine on women. I often wondered why this discrimination existed within him, but I decided it would be wise not to inquire. As a result, I felt powerless and infused with anger.”

Pandora’s voice grew sharp, her eyes looking keenly into the distance as her heart began to echo louder within the tiny frame holding her lungs. Her pace grew more rapid. I stood, thinking my movement would somehow calm her. It didn’t.

“My prince had taken a fancy to a mortal woman. I couldn’t bring myself to ask, for the answer was known. Even before I could inquire, he would quickly sink his ferocious teeth into my bosom, and he would drink. All feelings of anger subsided. Again, I was lost in his spell. I couldn’t feel my body once in his grasp. His hold on me far exceeded
my own. My body was his. My immortality his. My thoughts, visions, senses all belonged to him. I was simply helpless.

“When I would awake, Vlad would be gone, and the anger would return. Who was this mortal? Where was she now? Was she filling the bed of one of his many castles? Peles? Sighisoara Citadel? Rasnov? Or his beloved Bran Castle? Was he visiting her as he visited me before my rebirth? Why was he drawn to her?

“I began to search my memories from our last blood kiss for a trace of her. I needed to see her. I needed to see him with her. I didn’t want to. I needed to!

“There was nothing. From that moment, I knew my prince could mask his thoughts from me. He could choose what visions I would see when we shared blood. I myself have learned to use this ability to a lesser extent. Vlad would see all. And I would gain nothing from my journey through his thoughts—nothing more than the scent he left of her essence in the room we shared. I left the room at once, wanting no more of her within me.

“I dashed down the narrow corridor and knocked one of our mortal servants against the stone wall. The manservant gave a cry and slid to the ground below in agonizing pain. How fragile he was. He could be easily broken in two, his bones brittle like the branches of a dead and withering tree. I turned around to see him cowering in my presence. In his eyes resided fear, desperation, and death.

“As vampires, we’re invulnerable to disease. We’ll never fall victim to aging ailments, viruses, or any other sickness one could imagine. But we share a common frailness with our human prey. Our hearts are fragile—even more fragile than that of a mortal’s. With the intense love we have for one another, we can also have great sorrow.

“And when the essence of a mortal woman filled the air in my home, my heart fell. It cowered in agonizing pain. Our hearts are fragile. Though immortal in nearly every sense of the meaning, love can, too, drive us to an emotional death—a place that’s darker than even Vlad’s beastly eyes. In this place I felt a ferocious hunger, which matched my first. It wasn’t the hunger to feed, but the hunger to destroy. To kill!”

In the moonlight I could see her teeth, glowing in their splendor.
Pandora’s mouth was open with her tongue slightly exposed, almost as if she meant to taste the air or savor the recounting of her memories.

“I persuaded one of Vlad’s lieutenants to disclose his location. Of course, he knew nothing of the true nature of his commander, and as any man, he was within my power before he knew it. Constantinople would be my destination. I left swiftly on foot.

“I arrived in Byzantium, the capital, just after midnight. It didn’t take long for me to read the minds of men to find my beloved Vlad. Many here had come to know him through his business dealings and land ownership. The townspeople envied him. The women were drawn to him, but there was one woman he was drawn to.

“Her name was Mynea Ardelean. She was of noble birth, her parents Count and Countess Ardelean of Constantinople, aristocrats and descendants of bloodlines that reached long before the birth of Christ. I knew of her family when I was a mortal woman. Wealth beyond wealth.

“Count Ardelean lived in the Rumeli fortresses north of the city. Built by the Ottomans, Rumeli was erected to give the Ottoman Empire complete control of the ships passing through the Bosphorus River. After the conquest, it was turned into a prison for war criminals, housing mainly the officers. Count Ardelean purchased it for the countess once it was damaged in a failed siege and rebuilt it with the modern luxuries of our time, marble columns and statues with the likeness of the Ardelean lineage. Though the location was well known by all, penetrating it would be an altogether different task. With its menacing appearance and natural moat borders complete with cannons atop thirteen towers, it was truly a difficult feat for a mortal army. However, it was simply a minor delay for an enraged vampiress!

“As a young vampire female, I developed the ability to seemingly disappear and reappear. This, however, is quite impossible. I simply move with such speed that even an immortal’s eyes cannot follow. The dark gifts are different within all of us. I used my stealth and unnatural speed to enter the well-guarded fortress my prince obviously so freely frequented while my bed remained empty. My purpose wasn’t to draw unnecessary attention to myself, though I felt a slight urge to drink.

“Once inside, it took no time for me to pick up Mynea’s scent. She
was in the higher levels of the enormous home. I passed many servants who knew nothing of my passing, save the wind they felt after I was well out of their eye and ear range. Though there were no windows to produce such a wind, the sentiment was to add it to the growing mystical sensation that became the very basis for supernatural rumors within this town. No doubt most were rumors about the comings and goings of my prince.

“As the scent became stronger and stronger, I quickened my already devilishly fast pace. The anticipation numbed everything else. I was a cheetah on the trail of its prey. I was going to look upon the mortal woman who had stolen Vlad’s heart from me. I would anticipate our confrontation. What I would do with her, however, I didn’t know.