Silver in the Blood (22 page)

“The Smoke!” Mihai's eyes widened and then narrowed. “Very interesting. Perhaps you would be even more useful to—”

Lou tried to move away from Mihai, but without leaving Dacia unprotected. She went too thin, like a narrow wall of mist, then pulled herself together too hard. She almost became fully human—and therefore nude—just inches from Mihai's awful leering face. She dissipated again, whirling between Mihai and Dacia in an attempt to protect the one and fend off the other.

“Get out of our house!” Lou screamed it with all her might, but she had no voice. Instead she made a high, rushing noise, like the wind through the trees, and she moved toward him. When her misty hands came into contact with his chest, he shuddered and turned pale. “Get out!” she screamed again, another whoosh of sound.

Mihai took two quick steps, as though he would break into a run, but then he stopped himself. He grinned at Dacia and
Lou, and put his hat on with care. “I'll get what is mine,” he told them. “I always do!” He slammed the front door shut on his way out.

Lou turned back to Dacia, who was huddled on the sofa, sobbing. Lou returned to her human form and grabbed a silk-fringed shawl from one of the chairs to cover herself. She sat down by Dacia, holding her cousin tightly.

“I hate him so much,” Dacia choked out. “But what am I going to do? Who else will marry me now?”

Startled, Lou drew back. “What? You surely aren't considering marrying
Mihai
just for the sake of being married, are you? Dacia, don't be ridiculous! Someone much better will fall head over heels in love with you, and he won't care if you can turn into a . . . a frog! You cannot marry Mihai and let him order you to kill people!”

“
Can
I refuse? I don't know anymore,” Dacia said, tears streaming down her face.

“I'm sorry, is this a good time?”

Lou looked up, mouth agape, to see Lord Johnny and That—Mr. Arkady standing in the doorway. When they saw Lou's gown on the floor and the way she was holding the shawl over herself, both men blushed.

She drew herself up, pulling the shawl closed at her neck.

“We have had a most trying day,” she informed them with as much dignity as she could muster. “Prince Mihai has just left us and is no longer welcome anywhere near Dacia or me, and I am naked beneath this shawl.

“So to answer your question, my lord: this is a terrible time.”

The gentlemen looked politely shocked, and Lord Johnny started to say something, but Lou cut him off. She didn't want them to leave, despite her condition. And Dacia's. In fact, it was because of Dacia's condition that she wanted them very much to stay.

“But I can hardly think that a better one will present itself,” Lou said before Lord Johnny could get a word out. “We have many questions, which I believe you can answer. And you
will
answer them!”

“I see,” Lord Johnny said, coming into the room. He appeared to be recovering from the shock of her state of undress, as well as her asperity.

Mr. Arkady, on the other hand, couldn't seem to take his eyes off her legs. He caught her staring back at him, and blushed an even duskier color.

“Mr. Arkady,” Lou rapped out. “Kindly remove your jacket and put it over my legs. Without looking.”

Mr. Arkady did so, while Lou ignored him and helped Dacia pull a handkerchief out of her sash. Then she gave her attention to Lord Johnny.

“Now, my lord,” Lou said. “I want to know everything about the Dracula family, our family, and why you happen to know so much about the both of them to begin with.”

 

FROM THE DESK OF MISS DACIA VREEHOLT

15 June 1897

Dear Mother,

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.

Lou insists that we return to New York, but I am not going to get on any ship that is headed toward you. I don't care where I go, but it must be as far from you and your evil family as I can get. I would rather end my life than transform into a beast again, and I loathe you for giving me this life. For giving me this life, and then refusing to tell me that it was cursed.

The inner change that had come over Lou was almost as shocking as seeing her turn into Smoke. Dacia couldn't believe that it was Lou, her shy, easily embarrassed
Lou
who was sitting beside her—naked, no less—demanding that Lord Johnny answer their questions.

Which, to Dacia's further surprise, he did. He seemed only slightly discomfited by Lou's lack of clothing or Dacia's clear distress. In fact, he seemed to have expected to find them . . . well, not undressed, but in distress.

“You know the story of Vlad Tepes?” Lord Johnny looked at them both with his bright blue eyes.

“The Wallachian prince who impaled his enemies?” Lou wrinkled her nose. “Of course.”

Dacia and Lou's governess had taught them the history as well as the language of their mothers' country. Stories of Vlad, the hero of the Wallachian people, had been de rigueur.

“Despite his mad rages, and his penchant for impaling his enemies . . . and anyone he perceived as an enemy . . . Vlad Tepes was loved by the common people,” Lord Johnny said. “He was a just ruler, a strong protector, a builder of churches. The peasants felt safe at night, knowing that their prince and his soldiers were on guard.”

Lou nodded impatiently. “I told you we know all that,” she said. “Although I still don't understand revering a man who impales his enemies.” She grimaced. “But I didn't think he had any descendants,” Lou added. “I was startled when I heard that Mihai was a Dracula.” The name Dracul, or Dragon, had been awarded to Vlad Tepes's father for his battle prowess. It was not exactly a common Romanian surname.

“Vlad's son, Vlad III, survived,” Arkady said. “He did his best to regain his father's glory, but his line died out two generations later, thank heavens. It was rumored that Tepes was mad, and the family has been plagued by violence and signs of insanity. But Tepes had other wives.”

“Other
wives
?” Dacia spoke without thinking, startled by this piece of scandal on top of all the others.

Lord Johnny blushed. “It was common at the time.”

“Mihai's several-times-great-grandfather was born
after
Tepes's assassination,” Mr. Arkady continued. “His mother was Hungarian—the daughter of the emperor himself! She knew that her father would kill her if he found out, so she hid, had the child, and then returned to court to marry a man of her father's choosing. For many years, this branch of the Dracula family lived in obscurity in Transylvania, waiting for their chance.”

“Their chance?” Lou's eyebrows raised, and for a moment, Dacia could see a resemblance between her cousin and their grandmother, Lady Ioana.

Lord Johnny drew a deep breath. He was sitting on the sofa opposite Dacia and Lou, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees. He looked exhausted.

“Yes,” Lord Johnny said.

His face was grim, and he looked careworn. Dacia made a small move to reach out to him, and then caught herself and hid her hand beneath Lou's shawl.

“There was a prophecy that Vlad Tepes would return to rule again,” Lord Johnny said, as though telling them the direst news they would ever hear. Perhaps it was, but Dacia felt beyond fear at this moment. She had seen and heard too much in the past week, and was numb from her heart to her toes. “He is rather like King Arthur in my own country, in that respect. Mihai believes that he is his ancestor reborn. And this time, he wants more than just Wallachia; he wants all of Romania.”

A line appeared between Lou's brows. This was normally a sign that she was upset, and the old Dacia would have leaped to protect the old Lou from whatever it was that had bothered her. But the new Lou appeared more thoughtful than upset, and the new Dacia did not have the strength to defend anyone. She could still feel Mihai's wet lips on her own, and she suddenly rubbed her mouth on the sleeve of her dress, chafing her lips on the embroidery.

“I'm sick to death of prophecies,” Dacia muttered. Lou squeezed her hand.

“Then why didn't the Dracula family make their claim years
ago?” Lou shook her head. “King Carol isn't Romanian, but he was put on the throne because people went looking for a king!”

“First the Draculas were in hiding,” Mr. Arkady said, taking up the thread again. “Afraid that those who had killed Tepes would seek to destroy them as well. Then for several years, there were no likely heirs.” He grimaced. “There have been incidents . . . many of Mihai's ancestors have died from violent confrontations or ended their own lives. Mihai's father was dead before Mihai was born, and his uncle has no interest in being a king.”

“Do you mean Mattias?” Lou asked.

“Even so,” Mr. Arkady said, nodding. He looked a tad confused at the significant look Lou gave Dacia at the name. Or perhaps he was only confused because Dacia did not return the look, but merely stared at the fringe of the shawl draping Lou.

Dacia did not want to think about Aunt Kate.

“But now they have Mihai,” Mr. Arkady said, after clearing his throat.

“Yes. Now they have Mihai,” Lord Johnny echoed, his voice dark. “Handsome, intelligent,
charming
Mihai. The family is pinning all their hopes on him. They've groomed him from the time he was a small child to come to power.”

“By taking the throne from King Carol?” The line between Lou's brows deepened, then smoothed out. Dacia noticed that Arkady was watching this, too, with great fascination. “Because now King Carol has brought Romania together.”

“Exactly,” Lord Johnny told her, nodding. “The states are united, and there is talk of annexing Transylvania. It's a powerful nation now, prosperous.”

“How does our family come into this?” Lou pulled her shawl
tighter about herself, and then reached under it for Dacia's hand, squeezing tightly again. Dacia found she did not have the strength to squeeze back.

“When Princess Anna, Vlad Tepes's Hungarian wife, went into hiding in Sighisoara, it was the Florescu family that hid her. You come from an old, respected family, and they also have a certain . . . reputation.”

Now Dacia felt her own eyebrows rising. “Reputation?” Her voice rasped a little.

Lord Johnny looked at the floor, pulling at his cuffs as though discomfited.

“The Florescus are rumored to possess magical abilities,” Mr. Arkady said finally.

Dacia thought that she might be sick. They knew. Lord Johnny knew. Their lives were ruined, and all because they were born into this horrible family. No wonder he couldn't look at her. No wonder they weren't all that startled to see Lou naked, herself in traditional dress like a peasant. Their family was beyond the pale, and Lord Johnny knew it very well.

But Lou was shaking her head. “Oh, surely you don't believe such things!” She laughed, and Dacia thought that she was probably the only person in the room who knew Lou well enough to recognize that it wasn't her real laugh. “Magic? Honestly, Mr. Arkady!” If Lou had had a fan, she would have slapped Mr. Arkady's wrist with it. “It's like that awful novel that Will Carver was raving about!”

The look that Mr. Arkady gave Lou made Dacia wonder how closely this man had been watching Lou, and for how long. He certainly looked like he knew her laugh was fake.

“Miss Neulander, I am being perfectly honest,” the young man said in a stiff tone. “Lord Johnny and I have seen things that I think neither of you ladies would credit.” He did not look as if those things had been pleasant.

Now Lou's laugh was genuine, but it had a slight edge to it, and the hand that held Dacia's was damp. “You might be surprised about that,” she said.

“I have now read that novel,” Mr. Arkady continued, “and I—”

“I told you,” Lord Johnny interrupted him. “I told you that it was too late. We should have done something, protected them somehow.” He rose to his feet and crossed to the sofa where Dacia and Lou huddled. He knelt down and put one hand on the arm of the sofa near Dacia, but without touching her. “What did they do to you?”

Dacia looked at Lord Johnny's earnest face. His eyes were so blue, and he needed a haircut. Her heart shrank at the thought of seeing his expression turn to disgust when he found out what she was.

“You still haven't answered
our
questions,” Lou said. “Why are we still tied to the Dracula family? It was four hundred years ago that Princess Anna went to them.” She tossed her loosened hair out of her eyes. “And you say we have magic? What of it?”

Lord Johnny straightened, a little taken aback at Lou's businesslike words, but Arkady looked appreciative. It was Johnny who answered, however.

“Well,” he said, “Anna gave them her child to raise, and a great deal of gold to sweeten the prospect. The Florescus were respected, but Anna made them wealthy as well. In return they
raised her son, also named Vlad. He was trained in arms, educated, and unfortunately hotheaded. He died in a tavern brawl when he was only twenty-two, leaving behind his young widow and infant son.