Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen

Hillard and Christine were walking at a brisk, but more normal pace, in order to allow Adalaide to keep up. They were silent, each lost in their own thoughts, until Hillard spoke.

“Since Lord Radek has killed his own guards, we can try scaling the walls. I would guess that Lord Radek will be distracted by whatever he is doing with the villagers.” Hillard closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to picture the horrors that Lord Radek could be unleashing on the prisoners even now. “On the other hand, he is likely to be expecting us. He knows that the Vampire Council wants him dead and he knows that I’m the one coming after him.  So, I think that it’s best if only you two scale the walls. Adalaide, you take the northern wall and Christine, you take the southern wall. Adalaide will try to get to wherever the prisoners are being held and release them. Tell them to flee into the forest and to split up. If Lord Radek escapes us, then it will be harder for him to gather them all back up. The Vampire Council will come for him if we fail so he will be trying to obtain all of the human blood that he can to increase his strength.”

“Christine, I want you to stay in the background.” He held his hand up as she looked like she was about to protest. “I am going to tell him that I was ordered to kill you by the Vampire Council.  That way, he won’t expect you to be there to help me. I only want you to come to my aid if you think you can be of real help. If it looks hopeless, run back to the hideout and warn your sister and the others. They should have enough supplies to stay safe for the week or so until the Vampire Council arrives to take care of Lord Radek.”  Christine looked over at Adalaide, expecting a similar order for her. Adalaide smiled at her grimly.

“I have my own score to settle with Lord Radek. I am not leaving here unless he is dead.” Christine’s eyes widened as she realized the solemn implications of that statement.

The three split up – Hillard heading towards the front gate of the castle, and the girls flanking the castle on each side. Hillard hoped that his show of bravado at coming to the front gate would enrage Lord Radek and distract him from the girls coming up the walls.  He knew that there was very little chance of success today.  Lord Radek had been far more powerful than him in their battle yesterday, but he hoped against hope that he would be able to weaken him enough so that Christine or Adalaide could finish him.  In the back of his mind, he worried that Christine would not be able to hurt anyone, not even the evil monster who had stolen her humanity, but he hoped that he was wrong.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah was driving herself crazy, imagining what was going on at the castle without her. She feared not only for her sister, but for Hillard. In the brief moment of intimacy that they had shared before he left, he had shown her that he really did care for her.

Despite the overwhelming sense of weakness that enveloped her body, she knew that she had to go to the castle, if not to help, then at least to bear witness to the fate of the people she loved. She rushed from the hideaway, ignoring the protests of Giselle, Conrad and Gervis, and moved as quickly through the forest as her exhausted body would allow.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hillard braced his shoulders and raised his head high, as he shouted his challenge towards the castle in front of him, “Radek! Are you really so afraid of me that you need to kill innocent villagers to strengthen yourself?”

The castle was quiet for a moment, and then the face of Lord Radek looked over the wall directly above the front gate. “You know I have no fear of you, Hillard. You are weak and pathetic from drinking the blood of stupid animals. I am preparing to take over the Vampire Council. When they arrive I want to be ready to take my rightful place.”

Hillard had suspected as much, so he wasn’t surprised.  He knew also, that Lord Radek could drink the blood of every villager in Donner and in several other villages and still not be close to the combined power of the Vampire Council. Lord Radek had somehow lost his grip on reality and the Vampire Council had made the right decision when they decided to have Lord Radek removed from power.

The heavy oak doors leading into the castle courtyard swung inwards and Hillard didn’t hesitate before striding through. He looked to the left side of the courtyard and saw sixty or seventy villagers huddled in the corner. That was a good sign – the entire village, including the surrounding area, had almost six hundred inhabitants. There was no way that Radek could have killed that many and disposed of the bodies in such a short time, so it appeared that many of the villagers had already fled to safety.

The villagers who were there, however, looked at Hillard with a mix of hope and despair. He hoped that he would be able to save them.

Lord Radek took a giant leap down from the castle wall and stood in front of Hillard, a cocky expression on his face. “Why did you even come here? You know that you cannot beat me.”

“I was ordered to try by the Vampire Council,” Hillard replied, “I always do as I am ordered.” He hoped that Lord Radek would catch the insinuation implicit in his mocking tone.

Lord Radek took the bait. “What have you done with Christine!?” he demanded.

Hillard pretended to look sad and ashamed. “I didn’t want to kill her. I have feelings for her sister. But I had to do as I was ordered. I took her into the woods last night and set her aflame.”

Lord Radek’s eyes widened in horror. “You destroyed her?! How could you do that? Were you blind to her perfect beauty? She was to be my queen!”

Hillard tried to grind some salt into the wound. “She begged for my mercy. She even tried to convince me not to kill you. She said that you were just lonely. But I knew the truth – you are mad, and you would have only infected her with your sickness!”

Lord Radek’s emerald eyes flared in anger. He flew towards his opponent with such a speed that even Hillard had never encountered anything like it before. He struck Hillard full on, sending him flying into a tree on the other side of the courtyard.

Hillard’s spinning head cleared after only a few moments. He reached up, and tore a branch from the tree. “You may be stronger, Radek, but I’m smarter – and not half as crazy.” He winked at his opponent. Radek’s anger was his weakness, as Hillard had realized.  The fight was on.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Adalaide saw no way for her to free the villagers without going down into the courtyard. She entered the guard’s quarters and began making her way downstairs. She would come out into the courtyard behind the group of villagers and, if she were lucky, behind Radek. She stopped near the fireplace and picked up a longish piece of wood. She lit an oil lamp and carried that with her as well. She now had everything that she needed to finish off that demon once and for all!

She slipped through the outer door to the guard house, careful to avoid being seen by Lord Radek. It wasn’t difficult to avoid detection, as he appeared to be consumed with his battle with Hillard. The villagers looked surprised to see her, as she slipped between them, but were careful not to give her away. The tools that she carried were proof enough that she was here to save them.

Adalaide handed the oil lamp to Toby, the Baker’s apprentice, with the whispered instructions to be ready to hand it to her as soon as she needed it.

The fight between Hillard and Lord Radek was moving towards the front doors to the castle, and Adalaide moved towards the front gate, in order to get a clear view of Radek when she was ready.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah arrived at the castle and knew that the battle was still going on, by the crashing sounds she could hear coming from the courtyard. She didn’t want to distract anyone and she knew that she would be of no help in the fight. Her breath was coming in short gasps from running and her head was spinning. She hid around the corner of the front gate and watched in horror as she saw the beating that Lord Radek was giving Hillard.  She saw Adalaide come into view a few metres ahead of her and hoped that she had some idea of how to save Hillard and the others.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christine watched the fight from the northern wall. She was touched by Lord Radek’s dismay at her apparent demise, but was able to clearly see the madness that lurked within him.

Hillard appeared to be losing the battle. He could get nowhere near Lord Radek with the stake he had torn from the tree. Lord Radek’s speed was incredible. He zoomed back and forth around Hillard, taunting him and knocking him repeatedly off of his feet.

Finally, after an incredibly hard hit that had Hillard bouncing off of the wall of the castle, knocking many of the bricks out of place, Lord Radek tore the stick from Hillard’s grasp and stood above him, a triumphant smile on his face.

“You were no match for me,” he gloated, “I do not even know why you tried.”

Lord Radek thrust the stake through Hillard’s heart and Hillard gasped and froze. He was unable to move, unable to communicate.  With the stick preventing his heart from pumping his blood through his body, his power of regeneration was stilled.

Lord Radek looked down at him and sneered. “Now you are even more pathetic. I think I will go and find Christine’s sister and drain her dry right in front of you. I will keep you alive just to torment you. Then, I will burn you, like you burned my Christine.”

“I do not think so,” a strong female voice from behind him asserted.

Lord Radek spun around to find Adalaide standing there, a stake flying from her hand even as he turned, heading directly for his heart.  Instead of running, he grabbed a knife from a sheath on his hip and flung it at Adalaide. The blade pierced her lung and went clear through her body; the force of the throw magnified one hundred fold by the blood consumed by the Vampire Lord in the last twenty-four hours.

Despite the accuracy of his throw, Lord Radek had misjudged Adalaide’s aim. The stake dug deep into his chest, not exactly piercing the centre of his heart, but hitting enough of it that he hit the ground like a tonne of bricks. He lay there, stunned and unable to move.

Christine leapt down from the castle wall and stood over Lord Radek. His eyes widened as he saw her.

“My love, you still live.” Because the stake had not fully pierced his heart, Lord Radek was still capable of speech.

“If you can call this living.”  Christine spat at her maker. “You held me captive, drank my blood, and then you turned me into a monster like you. How can you call me your love? I wouldn’t even inflict such a thing on someone I hated.”

Lord Radek looked pleadingly at Christine. “All I wanted was a companion. You were to be my queen. We could still rule all of the Vampires together.”

Christine looked coldly down at Lord Radek. “You threatened to kill my sister.” She took a few steps back from him and flung the burning oil lamp she had taken from Toby down onto his prone, vulnerable body. Lord Radek’s body caught aflame like a piece of dry parchment held over a candle. Within seconds, there was nothing left of him but ash.

“CHRISTINE.”  A voice sounded like thunder in her head. Her eyes widened in shock.  “WE HAVE DECIDED THAT YOU MAY LIVE.  YOUR ACTIONS REGARDING RADEK WERE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT.  DONNER WILL NEED A STRONG LEADER AND WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO FULFILL THIS ROLE.”

Christine was shaken. She had hoped that she would be allowed to live, but she had never expected this. “But I don’t know how to lead,” she protested, speaking aloud as telepathic communication was something Hillard had not taught her.

“HILLARD WILL GUIDE YOU IN THE BEGINNING.”

“But Hillard is…”

“GO TO HIM, PULL OUT THE STAKE.” With that final command, the connection was broken.

Christine did as she was told and Hillard blinked, took a deep breath, and rose. He ran over to Adalaide, hoping to save her life with his blood, but she was already dead. Tears in his eyes, he looked beyond her and saw a figure slumped in the doorway of the castle gate.

Hillard rushed over to see who it was, and his breath caught in his throat. It was Sarah. Tears were in her eyes and Lord Radek’s knife was protruding from the side of her neck. She had been fighting the urge to pull it out, knowing that she would be dead within seconds if she did, but her blood was still in a huge pool around her.

“Oh Sarah,” Hillard whispered. He wanted to take her in his arms, but that might just make things worse. There were very few injuries or diseases that a few drops of vampire blood could not cure. Someone who had very nearly bled to death was one. Vampire blood could not gather the blood from the stone around Sarah and put it back into her body.  She had lost too much already to survive her injuries, even if the wound was sealed. Vampire blood could not cure death.

“I’m cold,” Sarah managed to whisper. Her eyes were so very tired.

Hillard didn’t want to let her go – he had just found her. How could she die without learning how to love herself, without learning how much he loved her?

Suddenly Christine was beside him. “Can’t you help her?” she pleaded.

“No. The blood. I can’t put it back.”

“Then give her yours.” Christine’s voice was flat and insistent.

Hillard looked at her. “You don’t know what you’re asking of me. She will be a rogue, like you were. There is nothing that will make the Vampire Council allow her to live. She will be as good as dead anyway.”

“Then we hide her,” Christine insisted.

“They’ll be able to feel her.” Hillard paused, and then looked down at Sarah, seeming caught between two decisions. “Can you hear me, Sarah?”

She gazed up into his eyes.  “I’m dying, aren’t I?” Her voice was barely audible.

Hillard took a deep breath. “You don’t . . . have to. I can make you … like me. I know you think I’m a monster, but you can be anything you want to be.”

She looked at him, love in her eyes. “You’re not . . . a monster. I know you would never hurt me. And I . . . don’t want to die. Is it true that you don’t have to . . . hurt people?” Her voice was getting weaker and Hillard was starting to fear that it would soon be too late to do anything.

“It’s true. Sarah, if we do this, we need to hide you from the Vampire Council. Christine, listen to what I say, you’ll have to shield your thoughts too. I need you both to visualize a solid brick wall around your mind. You need to make sure that you don’t broadcast your thoughts to the Council unintentionally. Later I’ll have more time to teach you. Do you think you can do that?”

Sarah just smiled at him weakly. Hillard didn’t know if she had even heard him, but he couldn’t let her go. He didn’t want to be alone again. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he opened a vein in his left wrist and placed it to Sarah’s mouth.

For a moment, he thought he was too late. Sarah’s eyes were now closed and she didn’t start drinking. Then, as a few drops of his blood slipped between her lips and down her throat, a minute amount of strength seemed to pull her back from the very brink of death. Her lips pressed lightly against his wrist at first, and then more urgently. After a moment, she finally stopped drinking and opened her eyes – her glowing emerald eyes.

 

You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen

 

Sarah sat in the dimly lit room and kept watch as Adalaide and Gervis slept. Gervis had awoken only briefly, eating a small amount of food and drinking some water, before falling back to sleep. He still seemed to be quite weak, but was slowly improving. What had surprised Sarah most, however, was that he had seemed very concerned about Christine. He didn’t even seem to consider her at fault for nearly killing him. He seemed only to be concerned with her well-being. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had spent the last fifteen years living with a vampire. Maybe he expected to have his blood taken like that. Sarah shook her head. She still didn’t understand the complexities of living in this world.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside. She shook Adalaide awake and they both kept their eyes glued to the door, Sarah holding her knife and Adalaide holding a sword at the ready. They both fervently hoped that it was nothing more than Hillard and Christine returning from their trip to warn Gervis’ parents.

The door opened. The face that peaked in was one unknown to Sarah, but Adalaide smiled widely. “Conrad! What are you doing here?”

Giselle followed Conrad into the small room. They looked grim.

“It is a terrible thing,” began Conrad. “After you left, Lord Radek flew into a terrible rage. He killed all of his guard staff.” He turned a stern look to Giselle. “I have told my wife more than a dozen times not to mess with the Lord when he is angry.”

Giselle turned an indignant look to her husband. “Well, I never thought he would do me any harm!” Her look softened in chagrin. “At least not until now.”

Adalaide looked in shock at the pair. “Tell me what happened.”

“Well,” explained Giselle, “I went down to the guard house this morning to see why none of the boys had come to breakfast.” Her face turned white at the memory. “They were all dead. Every one of them. Pale and cold in their beds, their throats torn and empty of blood. It was a horror! I ran straight out of the castle to Conrad.”

Sarah and Adalaide just stared at Giselle in horror. They could not believe that Lord Radek had begun killing his own men.

Conrad spoke. “It just gets worse. Just after Giselle told me what she had found, I looked out the window and saw Lord Radek, going door to door, leading the villagers towards the castle. I tell you, I knew he was up to no good, so I grabbed Giselle and we ran out of the village and straight here.”

“The villagers? Has anyone gone to warn my parents?” a weak voice asked from the bed.

“Oh, you dear boy!” Giselle ran to Gervis’ side. “Well, you’re looking much better! You had me worried you know. I don’t know what I would have done if she had …” Giselle left the final words unspoken, but the ‘killed you’ echoed off the walls of Sarah’s mind.

Sarah rested a reassuring hand upon Gervis’ head. “Hillard and Christine went. I’m sure they got there in time.”

Gervis’ eyes lit up at Christine’s name and he tried to get up. “Are they back yet? I want to talk to her – I have to tell her that I don’t blame her.”

Giselle looked like she was about to speak, but Sarah cut her off before she could say anything negative about Christine. “She isn’t back yet, but I promise I’ll tell her. You just get some rest, okay?  If you want her to feel better, show her how much better you’re feeling.”

Gervis nodded weakly and fell back against the pillow. In only a few seconds, he was asleep again.

Giselle looked angrily at Sarah. “I know she is your sister, but she almost killed that boy! There is no way she should be getting anywhere near him again!”

“I understand how you feel, Giselle. It’s obvious to me that he’s like a son to you. But you have to let him make the choice. I’m having a hard enough time accepting what happened to my sister. I want to wait and see what happens. From what Adalaide told me, there is no reason that Christine should suddenly become evil. Hillard is a wonderful person.” As the words left her mouth, Sarah realized that she believed them. She liked Hillard as a person, even when he wasn’t in the room. She smiled at Giselle, who remained angry.

“I know that Hillard is nice enough. But how do we know that he is not the exception. The only other vampire I have seen before him was Lord Radek, and look what he’s doing now!”

Sarah wished that Christine and Hillard would return quickly. As if in answer to her prayers, footsteps sounded outside and the door opened again. Hillard and Christine came into the overcrowded room. Christine looked much calmer than she had when they had left several hours earlier.  Sarah decided to take that as a good sign.

Hillard walked over to Conrad and shook his hand. They nodded at each other in greeting.

“Let me introduce everyone,” Adalaide offered, “I think everyone knows Hillard.” Everyone smiled. “This is Conrad, Giselle’s husband and the village blacksmith. He has made all of the fine weaponry you find on the wall behind me. Conrad was a good friend of my father and he and Giselle have been watching out for me since my parents died.” She smiled warmly at Conrad. “Conrad tried to talk me out of taking on Lord Radek when I first told him my plan, but when he discovered that he could not talk me out of it, he decided to properly outfit me instead.” The two hugged warmly.

“Conrad,” she continued, “this is Sarah and her sister Christine. I am sure you have heard an earful about Christine from Giselle,” she winked at Giselle’s sour expression upon hearing Christine’s name, “but I have heard a lot about her from her sister, and a little from Gervis too, so I do not think she is all bad.” Adalaide smiled warmly at Christine to show her that she was welcome.

Giselle sniffed and looked over at Christine. “We’ll see how you turn out,” she said suspiciously. Everyone chuckled a bit, and even Christine smiled faintly at the brusque words.

“I understand how you feel, Giselle. I’m the reason that Gervis is lying there.” A pleading look entered Christine’s now emerald eyes, “but I promise that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to him.” Giselle nodded tersely, satisfied for the moment.

Adalaide moved on to business. “Hillard, Lord Radek is rounding up the villagers. I think he means to kill them all.”

Hillard nodded. He had been afraid of something like this. If Radek drained all of the villagers, his strength would increase ten-fold. It would take the entire Vampire Council to take him down.  There had to be a way to stop him. He sent a silent mental inquiry to the Council, hoping that they would have an idea, but all they could suggest was having he and Christine go after Radek together, after making sure that they were at their full power.

He closed his eyes for a moment. He didn’t know how to broach this subject.

“The Vampire Council has said that Christine and I need to go after Radek alone. We are the only ones who even come close to his strength.”

“I am coming with you,” insisted Adelaide. “This is my fight too.”

Hillard smiled at her. “I doubt I could stop you.”

“I’m coming too,” said Sarah. Everyone turned to her.

Christine took her aside. “You can’t help me this time, Sarah. I’d spend all of my time watching out for you. It would put us both in much more danger.”

Sarah stepped back and looked at her little sister, as if only now seeing her for the first time. Usually it was Sarah who did the protecting, but Christine had a new maturity in her eyes. “Okay,” she admitted, “but I want to help.”

“How?” asked Christine.

“I want you to take my blood. You need to have more strength to fight Lord Radek.”

Christine looked horrified, but Hillard nodded. “It’s what the Vampire Council said we should do, but I didn’t know how to ask.”

Conrad and Giselle quickly offered to have them drink a Geschenk from each of them as well, but Christine flatly refused. “I can’t do it. I can’t risk that I might lose control and drain you.”

Hillard tried to explain that, because Christine had nearly drained Gervis earlier (she turned ashen and winced when she was reminded of that) and had drunk from so many forest animals, there was no chance of the thirst taking over. She would have full control. Even so, she refused to go near her sister, finally agreeing after much arguing to take a small amount from Conrad. It was an astonishing sight for Sarah to watch, Christine taking Conrad’s wrist in her hands and lowering her mouth to it. Sarah didn’t see any wound and Conrad didn’t even wince as Christine drank. It seemed like a painless procedure. She looked over at Hillard, who had just finished drinking from Giselle.

“If Christine won’t drink from me, I want you to,” Sarah insisted, feeling that it was the right thing to do and wanting to be of some help to the trio.

Hillard stared deeply into her eyes for a moment. There were so many emotions whirling around in his emerald orbs that, for a moment, Sarah felt herself get lost in his gaze.

Finally, Hillard nodded. Sarah held her wrist out to him and he took it gently in his hands. He lifted it to his mouth and first kissed the inside of her wrist and palm gently, looking into her eyes. It was the only way he knew to tell her how grateful he was for this gift, how much he cared about her, and how much he wished that things could be different between them. Then he lowered his mouth to the vein and drank.

Sarah had expected to feel a twinge of pain as he opened her vein, but she felt nothing. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of his lips on her skin. It was something she had been subconsciously thinking about for days, but she had never expected it to happen like this. With her eyes closed, she concentrated on her inner emotions, wondering if he was using his influence to change the way she was feeling.  She was shocked to find instead that she could feel what he was feeling. There was tenderness towards her, a deep gratitude, and … he had so many deep feelings for her, wonderful feelings, real feelings. For a moment she let herself go and allowed herself to feel truly loved for the first time in her life. She felt warm and safe and truly happy, and she knew that those were her own emotions, not those planted within her.

When she finally opened her eyes, Hillard, Christine and Adalaide were gone.

 

Read the final chapter next Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen

 

 

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve

Lord Radek and Hillard stood across the room from each other after Sarah left, watching each other like wary dogs before a fight.

“So, you are the renegade,” began Lord Radek. “I have sensed your presence here in my lands now for the past ten or fifteen years. I have wondered what exactly it was you were doing here. I know that it is my job to destroy anyone not sanctioned by the Vampire Council, but you have intrigued me. You do not feed on any of my subjects – not that I am aware of anyway. Are you so pathetic that you feed on the dumb blood of animals?”

“If I choose not to kill my own kind to quench my thirst, I would say that it’s no business of yours,” asserted Hillard calmly. He hadn’t been sure of what this confrontation with Lord Radek would bring, but this was definitely an interesting beginning.

“But they are not your own kind, Hillard. Surely you know that.  You are above them now. Like a god. Who was it that made you? Who left you so unaware of your place in life?” Lord Radek was curious as to what vampire would not only go against the Vampire Council in making another without permission, but also leave that newvampire alone and unaware of his rightful place in the world.

“Cedrik of Zwischenmeer. I know you know who he was.”

“Ah, my old whelp. He was my great mistake. Do you know why he made you?” Lord Radek was truly curious. He was unaware that Cedrik had had the courage to do anything except take his own life.

“Yes.” Hillard was curious as to where this was going. How could Lord Radek be aware of him all this time and not know of his true intention in coming to Donner?

“You seem so hostile. I know that there are things to be settled between us. Perhaps that is why Cedrik made you. But it has been so long since I have been in the company of one of my own kind. This has been a most interesting day. Come, sit my boy, allow me to share my Geschenk with you. Let us exchange stories before we get down to business. It is always good to know your enemy. Perhaps we could become friends, or even allies. This day has changed my plans for the future, and I am still waiting to see how things will turn out.” Lord Radek sat on one of the couches and indicated that Hillard should take a seat in the adjacent one.

Hillard was now even more curious as to where this was going than before. He had no intention of becoming Lord Radek’s friend, let alone his ally, but it was said that you should know your enemy, and he was curious to see how much more he could learn of his own kind before he had to deal with Lord Radek. Plus, the longer he kept Radek talking, the more time Sarah and Christine would have to escape.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah stared into Christine’s eyes with horror. What did it mean? Christine saw the look in Sarah’s eyes and knew that her sister saw the difference in her.

“What is it Sarah?” she asked softly, afraid to hear the answer.

“Your eyes.  They’re green – so very green. What did he do to you Chris?”

Christine felt the thirst throbbing within her. It had begun even before Sarah had entered the room. She was resisting the urge to drink from her sister with every single ounce of her being. It was bad enough that Sarah could see that she was changed – there was no way that she would ever drink from her. Inwardly, Christine was in despair.  How could she continue to live, knowing that she might accidentally take a life, like she had almost done with Gervis only a few hours before? How could she ever walk among humans again, feeling this irresistible urge to feed upon them? How could she go with her sister now, when Sarah’s unselfish act of rescuing her could end in her death?

When Christine didn’t answer, Sarah became deeply afraid for her sister. Was this even her sister? If they were in a parallel world, it was possible for this to be an impostor.

“It’s me Sarah.” Christine had sensed her sister’s suspicion and knew the thoughts that were coming with it, even if she couldn’t read them directly. “I’m okay. But I’m not the same. I don’t think I can go with you.” Seeing Sarah’s look of despair, she continued. “I want to go with you. I really do. But I can’t trust myself. This feeling, this urge, it’s just too strong. I never want to hurt you.”

Sarah looked at her sister in horror. “He made you like him,” she gasped in realization. She just stared at Christine for a moment.  “How? Why?”

Christine smiled a wistful half smile. “I tried to escape this morning. He caught us. He was so very angry. I think that he almost killed me. But at the last moment he stopped. He isn’t a total monster, Sarah. There’s something about him that is so very lonely.  We have become … friends … almost. But I betrayed that when I tried to escape and, in his anger, Lord Radek almost drained me. I think at the last moment he regretted it, because that’s when he did this to me. He saved me, Sarah, but I think he cursed me at the same time.”

“Not a total monster?” Sarah couldn’t believe that she had heard those words coming out of her sister’s mouth. “He drank your blood!  He’s a vampire! Of course he’s a monster!”

Christine looked at her sister.  “Am I a monster then too, Sarah?”

“You haven’t drunk anyone’s blood!” Sarah protested, realizing her mistake. Christine was just Christine. She was not a monster, she was her sister.

Christine looked down at the floor. Tears welled to her eyes. “I have though, Sarah – the man who was escaping with me, Gervis. I almost killed him.”

“You drank from someone? You actually drank his blood?” Sarah backed away from Christine in horror. She almost fled from the room, but then she saw Christine’s face.  There was a look of utter despair painted across it. There were tears in her eyes. It was obvious that this was still her sister. “Why did you do it?” Sarah asked, needing to hear a logical answer for it all.

“I couldn’t help myself. The thirst – you wouldn’t understand how powerful it is. Even now, I can almost smell your blood. But Sarah, I will never drink from you. I’ll die before I ever hurt you, or anyone, ever again. I’ll kill myself. I want to die. I think it would have been better if Lord Radek had just let me die. I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting other people and I wouldn’t have to see that look of disgust and horror that’s on your face when you look at me.”

Sarah tried to stifle the fear of her sister that she felt. This was still her sister. They had been through so much together that she couldn’t imagine her life without Christine. She needed to find some way to help her sister.

“Maybe Hillard knows a way to help you. Maybe not all vampires are evil. Maybe you can drink just enough to survive and not actually hurt anyone.”

Christine started at hearing Hillard’s name. “Is Hillard the vampire you were with? Is he as bad as Lord Radek said? He said that Hillard was a rogue – whatever that means.”

Sarah just stared at Christine, unable to believe what she had just heard. Hillard? A vampire? Suddenly, the significance of the emerald green eyes struck her. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach.

“You didn’t know.” It was more of a statement coming from Christine’s mouth than a question. It was obvious when she looked at Sarah that she was shocked and even more horrified than before. Christine hoped that Sarah would be able to handle all of these shocks coming at her.

“No.” Sarah wanted to say more, but didn’t know what to say.  She felt horribly betrayed by Hillard. He hadn’t tried to drink from her, but knowing that she had been alone with him so much, and even unconscious in his presence, made her wonder if he really had drunk from her without her realizing it. And the feelings she had been developing for him – were they real? Or were they simply projections from him? Were the things that he had told her about vampires true? She had no idea what to think anymore. She just knew that her sister was standing in front of her, afraid that she would be left alone.

There was a knock on the door and Sarah grabbed Christine’s hand. “We’ll figure out what to do together. That’s what we always do. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“But what if I hurt you? Maybe I’m better off staying here with Lord Radek.”

“NO!” Sarah voice was emphatic. “I am not leaving you here with him. You are my sister – you won’t hurt me. I trust in you. Now you need to trust in me.”

Sarah led Christine to the door and opened it. Adalaide stood in the hallway, with Giselle and a man. “Gervis” she heard Christine whisper softly behind her. She knew from the man’s pale countenance and the fact that he was being held up by both Adalaide and Giselle that this must be the man her sister had fed on.

“Giselle made me promise to take Gervis with us when we leave. She is afraid that Lord Radek will kill him,” Adalaide said by way of an explanation. Her eyes widened as she noticed the colour of Christine’s own shining orbs.

“You take him to his parents! Don’t let her be alone with him! I’m holding you two responsible for him. Don’t let her cause him any more trouble!”  Giselle snapped, her face white with anger.

Sarah didn’t know what to say, so she just took Gervis’ arm from Giselle and started helping him down the hall. Christine was quiet and subdued as she followed. Giselle led the way down through the servant’s area and out through the kitchen.

Before they left, Giselle threw out one more, “You keep him safe, Adalaide. Don’t let that vampire witch alone near him. I’m holding you responsible!”  Then she slammed the kitchen door after them and they were moving as fast as they could towards the woods and Adalaide’s hideaway.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“Let me first tell you my story, then I would like to hear yours.” Lord Radek picked up a small bell from the table beside him. He rang it and a petite young girl came into the room carrying a tray with two glasses of red liquid on it. Hillard stared at the glasses. He had rarely partaken of human blood in the past and always found it difficult to go back to drinking animal blood afterwards. He would have refused outright if he was not afraid of enraging Lord Radek and putting the plan to rescue Christine in danger. He sipped the blood sparingly, trying to ignore the instinctual need within him to gulp it down. He had fed on animal blood the night before, slipping away from the hideout after Sarah had fallen asleep, so his need for nourishment was not great, but the temptation of real human blood was almost irresistible and his thirst was raging.

Lord Radek seemed to notice Hillard’s discomfort. “Drink as much as you like. I have a copious supply and do not mind sharing with you today, if you will grant me the pleasure of your company for a short while.”

At that, something within Hillard snapped, and he downed the blood in one gulp, feeling deeply ashamed immediately afterwards for his lack of self-control. He tried to comfort himself with the fact that, by drinking, he was increasing his strength so that he would be at his strongest when he had to finally face Lord Radek in battle.

Lord Radek rang the bell twice, and the young girl re-entered the room, her tray holding three bottles of dark liquid. She placed the tray on the table and left again, never saying a word.

“She is very pretty, is she not?” mused Lord Radek, “Her father died before she was born, and her mother died when she was three. I took her into my own house when there was no one in the village willing to take her in. Despite what you may think of me, I try to take care of those under my responsibility.”

Hillard said nothing. He thought that it was more likely that the girl’s parents had been killed by Lord Radek, but knew better than to say so out loud.

Watching Hillard for a moment, Radek finally cleared his throat.  “Well, now. I was born in the year 1512, in a small village in Germany. I remember when Charles came into power. I was just a young man when I joined his army. I rose quickly through the ranks, distinguishing myself in battle. I was alone in the world, you see, and the army became my family.”

“I was turned by Charles himself in 1535.  We had no special bond, he and I, but I was one of his greatest human soldiers, and became one of his best vampire warriors. Those days were filled with blood. I remember drinking my fill and then some at every battle. It was a glorious time for the vampire!”

“When the Vampire Council came into power, those times ended.  It was obvious that if we kept killing humans at such a high rate we would soon deplete our food supply. Many of the members of the Council felt threatened by my battle prowess and I was banished to the New World, where I established the settlement of Donner.”

Hillard nodded. He doubted the part about the Vampire Council feeling threatened by Lord Radek, but the rest of the history was familiar to him. Cedrik had told him some of Lord Radek’s history, before succumbing to the fires, and the rest he had read in the libraries of Cedrik’s castle, before heading out towards Donner.

“As to your sire,” Lord Radek continued, “I was given permission to create a new vampire when the Lord Vampire of the neighbouring land, Zwischenmeer, was killed by the rioting of his own subjects. The Council was mortified that one of their own could be so weak, and they wanted me to make a point of filling the position quickly.  Cedrik was the captain of my guards at the time. I never thought to ask him if he wanted to serve as a Vampire Lord, I simply thought it was such a great honour that he would be eager for the chance to serve. I also saw the opportunity there to increase my own power in the area. Cedrik would look to me for guidance, or so I thought.”

“But I had never considered Cedrik’s past. I had been responsible for the deaths of both his parents.  He hated the vampiric gift and all that it represented. I put him in place in Zwischenmeer and it all fell apart. In a village where the subjects were already angry, Cedrik was far out of his league. He knew how to use his emotional influence, so the villagers could not get too close to him. But, the first time one did get close, his hunger overtook him and he killed, not one, but several villagers. I believe it was the foolish guilt he felt over their deaths that pushed him over the edge.”

Hillard nodded again. Cedrik had told him much of that. In fact, it had been Cedrik who had told him that it was possible to survive on animal blood alone. In the weeks where he had been too afraid to leave the castle, and not able to bring himself to request the Geschenk, he had been sneaking out of the castle at night, draining any animals he could find in the forest. It was not the same as human blood – much in the same way that wild game tasted different from a cow raised on grass and feed, animal blood tasted wild and was not as satisfying to the palate.

“Now, tell me of the end of Cedrik,” Lord Radek insisted. “And tell me of how you came to be here. I do believe we can be of some use to each other. There is no need for us to be enemies.”

Hillard paused for a moment before beginning. It was strange how Lord Radek kept referring to the potential of friendship between them. It wasn’t something he had been expecting.  He had hoped to be able to engage the Lord in some sort of dialogue before initiating battle with him, in the hopes of extending the amount of time that Sarah and Christine had to escape, but this was completely unexpected.

“Well,” he began, uncertainly, “I suppose I should start at the beginning. When I was a boy, my parents lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of Zwischenmeer. I remember being very happy there. In my ninth year, a terrible illness came through our village. The Vampire Lord, Lord Cathal, healed as many as he could. However, by the time the other villagers noticed that my parents were missing and came to investigate, they were both dead, and I was very near death myself. They brought me to the castle and Lord Cathal not only healed me, but allowed me to stay in the castle, under the care of his servant, Gretchen, who probably filled a role very similar to your Giselle.”

Lord Radek nodded and Hillard continued. “After the plague, the villagers became more and more unhappy with the rulership of Lord Cathal. He had charged his normal rate for healing during the time of the plague – one Geschenk – and afterwards, many of the villagers did not have enough Stück left to buy food. A time of great poverty hit Zwischenmeer then, although those of us who lived in the castle did not feel its effects. The villagers became so dissatisfied that a rebellion started – first quiet, and then it came out in the open. It began with villagers quietly beginning their own bartering system, disregarding the Geschenk system. It was the logical way for them to go when most of them had no Stück left with which to buy food. All they had was their services. The village really pulled together. But Lord Cathal noticed that his blood supply was getting low and began to punish the villagers for breaking the law. He took blood from the offenders against their will. The villagers had realized by this time, however, that they could survive without the system of Blood Economics. They needed someone to blame for the deaths of those who had succumbed to the plague and focused all of their energy and rage on Lord Cathal. The rebellion became more and more vocal then and, at the end, the villagers came together, destroyed the Blood Bank, and fled into the forest. Lord Cathal had been slowly becoming weaker as time progressed and his blood supply shrank. He went out into the forest one night to find the villagers and punish them, but was too weak by that time to focus his emotional powers on all of the villagers. He, unlike me, did not know that he could have kept up his strength by consuming the blood of animals. They overwhelmed him and set him ablaze. That was the end of Lord Cathal.”

Hillard paused. “I had liked Lord Cathal. I had never experienced any of the things that had so angered the villagers, so I felt nothing but grief at his death. In all the time that he was suffering from hunger, while the villagers were withholding the Geschenk from him, he didn’t take from any of his household staff.  He could have – it would have saved him – but he was of the old vampires and believed that it was his right to have the Geschenk and he was outraged that any of the villagers would withhold it from him after he had served them and their ancestors for over two hundred years. I think it was the thirst that caused him to so badly misjudge the situation. A merchant group came through a few days after his death, and the people of Zwischenmeer had no Stück left to trade with.  The merchants left, I assume coming here, and the villagers began to realize that their situation was not as good as they had first considered. Without the Geschenk, they could trade with no one outside of their own village. Of course, some merchants might be willing to trade for goods, but they would fear reprisals from the other Vampire Lords if they got caught trading with a group of rebels like the people of Zwischenmeer.”

“Then, a few weeks later, you arrived with Cedrik. I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I remember seeing you. I was the one who stabled your horses when you arrived. Cedrik seemed much more confident when he was in your presence than he did after you left.  I performed most of the household chores for him. I was the only one who had stayed in the castle after the death of Lord Cathal, everyone else having family in the village. One or two of the servants returned to the castle after Lord Cedrik took his place, but Cedrik and I became close simply because we were the two loners. For some reason, Cedrik found it easy to talk to me. We had long discussions that continued late into the night. We went through Lord Cathal’s library, reading the books about the history of the vampires. We had debates and discussions about the course of history and we agreed on most things, both of us taking the human view. Cedrik never really saw himself as a vampire, you see. He told me that the only time he had fed on human blood was when he was with you in your castle. He had learned a better way, he said, when the two of you were travelling to Zwischenmeer and you taught him to survive by drinking the blood of animals. He knew that you thought it was uncouth and an unworthy meal, only suitable for travelling when the human blood ran out, but he saw it as his salvation. If he never had to kill a human, he could deny his vampiric side. This system worked well for him for over a year. The villagers were provided with Geschenk credit for goods and services that they provided to the castle. In this way, they were able to barter between each other and pretend that they had no debt to the Vampire Lord of their village. This changed, however.”

“One day, a small girl from the village arrived home with an animal bite. The girl’s parents cleaned and bandaged the wound themselves, as the villagers had been all avoiding coming to Lord Cedrik for any healing since he had arrived. The girl soon began showing signs of illness, however. Her parents waited until she was very near death before bringing the girl to the castle. I am sure that Cedrik truly wanted to help the girl, but he took only a few steps toward her before he stopped. The girl’s parents were begging him to help, to save their daughter, but Cedrik just stood there. I now believe it was because, after a year or more of subsisting on only animal blood, the temptation to drink from the young girl was too great. He was afraid that if he got too close to her, he would give in to temptation and drain her. In reality, the result would have been the same either way. The girl died in the arms of her parents.”

“It was like the aftermath of the plague all over. The villagers blamed Cedrik for the girl’s death. Despite the fact that they had avoided him, had not served him like they were supposed to since his arrival, they blamed him for not saving her. This time, however, there was no Blood Bank to destroy. They began attacking the castle, and Cedrik fended off most of the attacks using the Emotional Influence. Finally, however, after months of random acts of violence, after being deserted by every house servant except for me, three men finally succeeded in breaking into the castle one night. I didn’t see what happened – I was in bed until I heard the screams. I rushed downstairs to find Cedrik leaning over the bodies of the men, draining the last of them. His thirst had finally beaten him.”

Lord Radek had been silent up to this point, seemingly enthralled by the story. “But that was a good thing. Animal blood can help you to survive, but it is the human blood that makes you strong.”

“Well,” continued Hillard, “I don’t know if Cedrik even knew that human blood would make him stronger. If he did, I doubt he would have cared. I think that, after that incident, Cedrik felt his last bit of humanity slipping away from him. He cried that night, raging against himself, calling himself a monster. He blamed you for everything. He wanted to kill you for making him into a monster. He wanted you to pay for, not only the deaths of his parents, but for making him into a killer as well. It was then that he was contacted by the Vampire Council.” Hillard looked up, his eyes meeting those of Lord Radek, wondering what he would make of this new information.

Lord Radek was so still that he seemed almost to be made of stone. Hillard could see him thinking and wondered if Radek could even imagine what the Council had told Cedrik.

“The Vampire Council contacted Cedrik,” the words came out of Radek like a sigh. “I never knew. In all of my communications with the Council since then, I have never had an inkling that they had communicated with Cedrik before he died.”

“That’s because they never wanted you to know,” said Hillard.

Radek’s eyes quickly shot up to meet those of Hillard.  “What do you know of it?” he demanded.

Hillard paused for a few moments, enjoying the sight of Lord Radek squirming.

“You called me a rogue when I first arrived. That title would only have been correct if my creation had not been approved of by the Vampire Council.”

“I know what I am,” Hillard continued. “I have outlived many of the people I once knew. I have fed on humans only when needed, and then only sparingly. Those were the conditions placed on me by the Council when I was created.”

“But, why do you not rule Zwischenmeer if the Council approved your creation?” Lord Radek seemed genuinely confused by now.

“They gave me another job. They did not trust you to place another vampire in Cedrik’s place – I am sure you expected that after his death. They sent one of their own to rule the village. And they sent me here to be their spy.”

Lord Radek sat back in his seat. Hillard just imagined the thoughts that were running through his head at this point. Lord Radek knew that he was breaking most of the Vampire Code in the way he was ruling Donner. In fact, he was paying the travelling merchants that passed through high prices to be quiet about the goings on in the village. Now he had just learned that it had all been for nought.

“Why should I believe you? You might just be trying to save your own skin. If you could make me believe that you were sent by the Council then I would never dare to kill you. The only problem is, if they knew what was going on in this village, they would never have let things stay this way for so long. You would have been ordered to kill me long ago.”

Hillard just smiled at Lord Radek. “You mean because of your harsh way of dealing with criminals? Your practice of taking the fog travellers as your own personal food supplement, instead of integrating them into the village to prop up the population? Those practices they could overlook. They know that these lands across the ocean are wild, and they can forgive harsh practices in a harsh land, as long as the human population does not drop too much. But, they could not forgive the creation of a true rogue.”

Hillard had known that Christine was a vampire at the same time the Council had become aware. New vampires were never very good at protecting their thoughts, projecting them all over the place, if they had not been properly trained in how to shield them before being turned. Hillard had spent most of the walk from Adalaide’s hide out to the castle, mentally pleading with the Council to spare Christine’s life. They still had not made a final decision. The lone female member of the Council was supporting Hillard’s plea on the grounds that the number of female vampires was extremely low. They were withholding their final judgment until they could determine how Christine was adjusting to the change.

Lord Radek was just sitting in his seat, stunned that Hillard knew about Christine. He had greatly underestimated the power of the Council.  All of his plans were coming down around his shoulders. He would not allow Hillard to kill Christine!

Lord Radek jumped up from his seat and faced Hillard. “I cannot allow you to harm her,” he said. He opened a small drawer in the table in front of him and withdrew a wooden stake and quickly hurled it at Hillard, aiming for the chest, expecting to surprise him and paralyze him with the wound.

Hillard was expecting something of the sort from Lord Radek, however, and jumped aside, pulling a stake of his own that had been tucked into the back waistband of his pants. As he did so, however, the thrust from Radek caught him on the shoulder and dug deep into the muscle. When Hillard pulled the wood from the wound, blood gushed out before the wound healed itself.

Hillard was grateful at this moment that you couldn’t kill a vampire by simply injuring him once. It would take a significant number of such injuries to weaken him.
This small injury did not even slow him however, and Hillard quickly struck out at Radek. His opponent was quicker, however.  The gift of age and a plentiful supply of human blood provided Radek with the upper hand over Hillard. Hillard repeatedly tried to get a strike through Radek’s defences, but the older vampire was just too fast. Radek, however, hit Hillard again and again, until he was starting to feel the effects of blood loss.

He had come here to kill Radek, for the Council and for Adalaide, but he was not succeeding. If he wanted to have the chance to try again, he had to flee now.  Knowing that the girls had had plenty of time to escape, he threw out the last shocking bit of information he had, trying to buy himself a break to escape.

“I was never going to harm Christine. She’s gone now. Not even you can reach her!”

That stopped Radek in his tracks. Hillard took the two second reprieve to flee from the room and out of the castle. Radek must have gone straight to Christine’s room, because Hillard heard him calling for her as he ran through the village and into the woods.

 

Read Chapter 14 next Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 . . .

 

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Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven

 

Christine awoke just as the sun was coming over the horizon. Remembering her late night conversation with Lord Radek the evening before, she felt conflicted and confused as to what to do now. She knew that Gervis would be arriving soon to help her to escape from the castle. But, if Lord Radek had been telling her the truth last night, that might be exactly the wrong thing to do. Hearing him talk like that made him seem to be a very sympathetic person.  It must have been horrible living centuries alone, without a single confidant to share experiences and thoughts with. If she and Sarah truly were trapped in this world, life could be worse than living in a castle. She heard a noise from behind her bedroom wall and the secret door swung open.

Despite her conflicting thoughts, a radiant smile spread across Christine’s face when she saw Gervis peeking into her room. She rushed over and hugged him. Then she held him out at arm’s length to inspect him. He looked slightly pale, but otherwise healthy. He seemed to have recovered from his punishment after his last visit to her.

“Gervis, I don’t know if I can go today.” Christine quickly explained about her late night visit from Lord Radek and the things that he had revealed to her.

Gervis looked thoughtful. “I’ve never heard him to speak so to anyone before. Lord Radek is the lord of this area.  He has never chosen to be so open with anyone before.  But, I have to tell you, Christine, that things here in Donner aren’t as he made them out to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“If a person gets sick, he charges their family or loved ones a full Geschenk to heal them. If there is no one to pay, he then drains the person – to put them out of their misery, he says. People don’t live as long in Donner as they do in the other settlements, because Lord Radek is so harsh with his pricing and his penalties. The slightest crime is punished by death – even a simple fist fight results in the death of both parties, no matter who is to blame. No, Christine, I think it’s amazing that he opened up to you as he did, but he wasn’t honest with you. He isn’t known for his truthful ways.”

Christine thought for a moment. She wanted to believe in the Lord Radek that she had seen last night. “Maybe he’s just like that because he’s been alone so long. Maybe I could help to change things around here.”

Gervis looked hurt at Christine’s insistence on defending Lord Radek. “Oh, he can be a charmer, all right. But are you willing to risk the life of your sister on the word of someone who has drunk of your blood, and who nearly killed me for merely speaking to you?”

That took Christine aback. She wanted to see the best in everyone, but Gervis was right. Her sister’s life depended on her making the right choices right now.

“Where’s Lord Radek right now? Has he left yet?” she asked, slowly building up the confidence she would need to make the escape attempt.

“He’s here in the castle, but he’s asleep. He spent the night looking for your sister instead of doing that today. This actually works better for us, because he’s less likely to wake from his deep daytime sleep.  I wouldn’t have wanted us to encounter him on the outside after escaping, which is what would have happened if he really had been out looking for your sister today.”

That made sense to Christine. She took Gervis’ hand in her own and looked into his warm chocolaty eyes. “Thank you for this, Gervis.” She gave him a brief kiss on the cheek and then smiled as she saw the blush creeping across his face. He was so sweet and childlike in some ways. She wondered how long he had been living in the castle.

Gervis shook his head, almost as if to clear it, then led Christine out the secret door and into a musty old tunnel. The tunnel was shorter than she had expected, and when they emerged, it was into a bedroom even more enormous and extravagant than her own.

“Whose room is this?” she asked in awe.

“Lord Radek’s” Gervis replied shortly, pulling her quickly through the door to the room and out into the hall.

“But I thought you said he was in bed. There was no one in there.”

“He doesn’t sleep there,” Gervis replied tightly. “You need to be quiet. I don’t want anyone to catch us.”

“Oh, but someone has,” came a throaty voice from behind them.

Christine and Gervis both turned quickly and gasped in unison. Lord Radek had been waiting for them in the hall!

“Are you going somewhere Christine? I have been waiting for you to come out of your room and come down for breakfast. You did not have to take that route out of your room – I left your door unlocked when I left last night.”

Christine’s eyes widened. She could have escaped at any time in the night. He had actually trusted her to stay after their talk and now he had caught her trying to escape. She saw his emerald eyes sparkle dangerously as he came closer to her.

“All I wanted was for you to stay. I might even have kept my promise to never feed on you again. I would even have spared Gervis. But now, I must punish you!” Lord Radek’s mouth burrowed into Christine’s neck and this time, instead of pleasure, she felt only terror and the pain of the tear in her skin. She could feel the blood pouring out of the open wound in her neck and into Lord Radek’s mouth. Weakness buckled her legs and, with surprising strength, Radek held her up as he drank. Christine felt her consciousness slipping away, but was forced back into wakefulness by a new wave of terror flowing through her entire body. The terror could not withstand the weakness that began to envelope her and she knew that she was very near death. Even the terror was not enough to keep her tied to this earth. As she felt herself slipping away, she felt something other than terror – a sense of regret and desperation and heard a faint cry from the lips of Lord Radek.

“Damn you Christine! What have you done to me? I did not want this for you. I do not want to let you go. I must have you here with me.”

Christine felt a few drops of moisture touch her lips. Weakly, her tongue touched the moisture and she felt an immediate surge of strength return to her body. Soon, fluid was rushing through her lips and down her throat, and she was drinking it greedily. She was so very thirsty. She felt as if Lord Radek had drained every ounce of moisture from her body and she now had such a deep aching thirst.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor and Lord Radek was kneeling beside her. What stood out to her most of all, however, was the sight of Gervis, staring at her in utter horror.

“I’m okay Gervis. I’m better now. I’m just really thirsty. Could you get me something to drink?” she gasped.

If possible, Gervis’ look of horror only increased and Christine heard Lord Radek chuckle. “That is exactly what I was thinking. Gervis, do be so kind as to give your lady a drink.”

A new look came over Gervis now. His eyes were full of admiration and worship for Christine. He approached her with a sense of reverence and as he kneeled before her, he turned to Lord Radek and murmured, “but I have no cup to fill for her.”

Lord Radek chuckled his ominous chuckle again. “There is no need for a chalice my boy. You want her, do you not?” Gervis nodded. “Then let her drink from you.”

Gervis pressed his wrist against Christine’s mouth and she was suddenly horrified as the true meaning of Lord Radek’s words became clear to her. Before she could protest, however, the thirst within her became too overwhelming and she found her mouth moving of its own accord and latching itself to Gervis’ wrist. The first burst of human blood between her lips was a shock. It was more delicious than the finest wine she had ever drunk. She couldn’t get enough of it. As she drank, she could feel not only Gervis’ skin touching her lips, but the feeling of deep satisfaction that he had. She could feel that he liked her and wanted to be with her. She could feel that with the slightest effort, she could make him love her.

Slowly, the emotions she was feeling from him were starting to fade. A sense of disappointment grew within her until she realized that he was weakening under her grasp.

“NO!” she shouted, as she realized that she was killing him. As she leapt back from Gervis, he slumped to the floor. She started to go to him, but the closer she got to him, the more her thirst seemed to grow for him.

“Is he still alive?” she asked, her voice trembling.

Lord Radek reached down for Gervis’ wrist, placed a drop of his own blood on the wound and replied, “Yes, but barely. I am surprised that you had the self-control to stop. I did not when I was first sired.”

Slowly, realization was beginning to dawn. Christine looked down at herself. She didn’t look any different than she usually did, but she felt so much stronger, so much more alive. How could this be possible? A few days ago, vampires were just a fairy tale.  Now could it be possible that she had become one? How could she ever face Sarah again?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah followed Hillard obediently into the castle. They had agreed that Sarah would play the part of a concerned sister and Hillard the part of the rescuer who wanted a reward for his troubles. Hillard had expected more resistance from the castle guards, but they just waved the two of them in, almost as if they had been expected. Hillard hoped that it was more that they were just not expecting trouble. He wasn’t counting on it though.

At the front doors, a kindly looking woman opened the door as they approached. “Well, you must be Lady Christine’s sister,” she said, looking a little disconcerted as she said Christine’s name. “Lord Radek is expecting you.”

This was not what they had been expecting. They had hoped that he would be caught at least a little bit off-guard by their appearance and now it seemed that they were walking into a trap after all. Stoically, they entered the house, were led down a grand hallway and into a large room. Unbeknownst to them, this was the same room in which Christine had first met Lord Radek.

Lord Radek was standing in much the same place as he had when he had first met Christine. This time, however, as the two entered the room, they were surrounded by guards, who quickly removed the pack from Hillard. They didn’t search Sarah, however, which she found a little insulting – almost as if she couldn’t possibly be dangerous – but she was relieved that she still had the small knife, even though she knew she couldn’t hurt Lord Radek with it. She looked up at him defiantly and was struck by the shocking emerald hue of his eyes, so similar to that of Hillard’s beautiful eyes. It was such a rare colouring that she wondered if the two of them were related somehow. Of course, that couldn’t be true – Lord Radek was hundreds of years old and Hillard couldn’t be more than thirty.

“You must be Sarah,” Lord Radek said, his voice echoing in the great room, “I have to say, I am surprised that you do not look more like your sister. She is quite beautiful.”

Sarah felt as if she had been slapped by his words. She knew that she wasn’t as pretty as her sister, but it was ridiculous that this monster felt that he had the right to judge her appearance. “Where is my sister? Is she okay? If you’ve hurt her …” Sarah finished her rant there, not knowing how to threaten someone who so obviously could overpower her with no effort at all.

Lord Radek chuckled. “It seems that you are as feisty as your sister. She is fine. Christine is upstairs in her room. Giselle will take you to her if you like.” The kindly woman stepped into the room and nodded her head. Lord Radek continued, “Hillard and I have some matters that require discussion. Some things, I am afraid, that are long overdue.”

Sarah did not like the sound of that last bit, especially since the guards had taken Hillard’s bag from him, containing the wooden stakes and flint for fire, but she had no choice but to follow Giselle. Her part of this plan was only beginning. Now it was Hillard’s job to keep Lord Radek busy while she and Adalaide got Christine out of the castle.

Sarah paid careful attention as she was lead through the halls of the castle. She wanted to make sure that she could find her way back out again after she was reunited with Christine. They went up one floor and finally stopped in front of a heavy wooden door.

“This is her room. You can go in. I think she’s expecting you,” Giselle said warily and then turned, leaving Sarah standing alone in front of the door. Sarah didn’t know what to do next so she knocked, feeling foolish knocking on a door in a rescue attempt. Something didn’t seem quite right here.

“Come in,” Christine’s voice came through the door. Sarah was so excited to hear her sister’s voice that she rushed into the room without thinking further about her suspicions. Christine was standing in front of the door and the first thing Sarah did was rush over and envelop her in a hug.

“Are you okay? Has he hurt you? We’re going to get you out of here.” Sarah knew she was babbling but she had been so afraid that she would never see Christine again that she couldn’t help it. She held Christine out at arms length and was shocked at what she saw.

Christine’s beautiful blue eyes were now the shocking emerald hue shared by both Radek and Hillard!

 

Read Chapter 13 next Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten

 

After she was sure that Gervis was safely away, Christine walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge. Waves of exhaustion rolled over her body and she decided that it would be best if she got as much rest as possible before her escape attempt tomorrow. With any luck, she and Gervis would escape, and Lord Radek would be unsuccessful in his hunt for her sister. Then she could reunite with Sarah and they could flee to somewhere far away and out of Lord Radek’s reach. She drifted off into sleep with the thought of finally reuniting with her sister comforting her.

 

When she awoke, it was dark, and she could sense that she wasn’t alone. She sat up in her bed and found Lord Radek, sitting at the dressing table, watching her. She sat in the bed, frozen. She didn’t know if she should say something or scream. The last time she had seen him he’d been drinking blood from her neck.

“Relax, Christine. I am not here to harm you.” Lord Radek sounded tired, almost resigned.

“So, you aren’t here to drink my blood?” Christine could feel hysteria rising within her. This man – vampire – struck waves of terror in her whenever she looked at him. At least until he somehow made her drop her defences and changed her feelings. At least that false sense of security he implanted in her never seemed to last. He couldn’t seem to retain his control of her when she wasn’t in his presence. She waited for that false sense of security to overwhelm her once again and was confused when it didn’t.

“No. And if you promise to just talk with me, I will promise to never drink from you again.”

Christine was shocked at this turn of events. What could have happened to change his behaviour in such a drastic way? “Why?” she asked bluntly.

“Because I cannot stop thinking about you. You have to know that you are different from any other fog traveller that has ever come through Donner. Normally, they are kept in the dungeons. I am sure you have sensed that Giselle does not approve of the unusual way I have been treating you.”

Christine was really confused now. “I don’t even know how I got here. I don’t know how you treat other people. But I’m sure that if you treat them even worse than you treat me, you probably don’t have a lot of friends.” Part of her was afraid that he would be offended at her words, and part of her was happy to be able to speak her mind without her emotions being tampered with.

Lord Radek looked down at the floor. “You are right. I do not have a lot of friends. None, actually.  I have not had a real friend for over five hundred years. But you remind me of someone from my childhood – someone who was very special to me. You remind me what it was like to have someone to talk to, to share things with.”

“Five hundred years?” She knew that vampires were supposed to be immortal, but he looked like he was only thirty years-old.

“You know what I am. I have seen the recognition in your eyes.  Do you have vampires in your world?”

“Only in stories. They aren’t real. At least not where I come from.”

“Well, in this world we are real. And we have ruled this world for over five hundred years. We take care of the human populations under us, and in return, they give us the gift of their blood.”

“I haven’t given you anything!” Christine blurted at him. “You’ve taken it from me. I don’t call that a gift – that’s stealing! It’s like rape!”

Lord Radek seemed to shrink within himself a bit as she shouted at him. Then a small smile crossed his face as he looked back up at her. “Normally, I would never let anyone speak to me like that. They would not dare. I would drain them on the spot and they would never speak again. When you speak to me like that, however, I feel ashamed. You look so very much like her. She would be horrified to see what I have become.”

“Who?” asked Christine, puzzled at this strange change in demeanour.

“My sister. Her name was Anja. Her hair was golden like yours and her eyes shone with the same fire. Your faces are not the same, but she had the same way of holding her chin straight out when she was angry and so very many of your mannerism remind me of her. I thought I had forgotten her, that she was one of the things from my past that had slipped into non-existence, like so many other things have, but you brought her back to me.”

“Was she a vampire too?” Christine was curious now, about this person who, just by a simple resemblance to her, had caused this change in Lord Radek.

“No, I never had the chance. She died when she was only sixteen and I was fourteen. I was not turned until I was twenty-three. Even then, it was forbidden to make another vampire without permission, but I think that if Anja had been alive, I would have done it anyway, I loved her so much.”

Christine was astonished by this turn of events. This monster was showing an all-too-human side of himself. She was very curious about his story, and the story of how this world came to be so different from her own.

“I’ve got many questions about this world,” she said, hesitantly, wondering if he would answer her, or if the sound of her voice would break this apparent reverie and bring back the monster she was accustomed to seeing in him.
“I know. I have never spoken to a fog traveller before like this.”  He chuckled wryly. “I have not spoken to anyone like this for so long. I think we have many things to talk about.”

“Were you serious when you said you wouldn’t drink from me again?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the truth.

“Yes. I cannot do it, especially after you told me that it felt like rape. I could not do it to her, and I find myself no longer wanting to drink from you.”

Christine was flabbergasted. This was the last thing she had expected to happen. Then, another thought crossed her mind.  “But what about my sister – I thought you were going to find her tomorrow? Are you planning to drink from her instead?”

Lord Radek looked confused and suspicious for a moment and Christine realized that she had put Gervis in danger by revealing what she knew about Lord Radek’s plans. He quickly recovered and said, “I am going to find her for you. I do not know much about this vampire she is with. He is a renegade, and I should have taken care of him a long time ago. I am going to find her to bring her here to keep you company and to keep her safe. I will promise to never drink from her if you want.”

Christine looked at him. Was he telling the truth? To protect Gervis, she said, “I heard two people talking in the hall about it. I was worried that you were going to be drinking from both of us.”

He looked into her eyes. “Christine, it is my right as the Vampire Lord of these parts to drink from any fog traveller that arrives. But I promise you, if you stay with me, I will keep you and your sister safe.”

“You keep saying that about the fog travellers. How did we get here?  What causes the fog?”

Lord Radek sighed. “When the vampires first came to be, we were a reckless race. We were drunk on our power and our thirst for blood. The humans could not resist us and their numbers shrunk very rapidly. Conflict started to grow between groups of vampires as the numbers of our food source shrank. There was a great battle and, in order to regain our strength, the humans were fed on even more. It was at this time that the fogs first arrived. No one knows exactly what caused it, but some say that it was a great vampire prophet, who saw us as a beautiful race and saw that we had potential for greatness, if we did not destroy ourselves first. Humans started coming through the fogs, which appeared around the world at specific locations once a month. With our food supply rejuvenated the conflict died down and a form of global government was formed. Close to each fog gate, a settlement was created. A vampire was put in charge of each settlement to rule as they see fit. They are bound by only one rule – no other vampires can be made without permission of the Vampire Council. So we each have our place where we are as gods to our human subjects, but solitary in our existence.”

Christine was having a hard time processing all of the new information. This world was so very different from her own. “So you only feed from the fog travellers?”

Lord Radek chuckled. “No. That is like suggesting that you could only eat from one chicken for a month. A vampire requires more sustenance. In return for my protection and rulership, my subjects each give me a gift of blood one or more times a year. It has become our way of life, our whole economic system is based on the Geschenk – the gift of life.”

Christine didn’t know how to feel about this information. It was all so different from the way of life she knew. “Don’t the humans hate it?”

Lord Radek looked surprised at the question. “No. It is the way things are. It may seem very different from the world you knew, but for them it is the way things have always been. They benefit from the situation too, however. Do people still die from disease in your world?”

Christine thought about the AIDS epidemic, the SARS scare from a few years ago, and the random outbreaks of Ebola in the African regions. There was Bird Flu outbreaks and Mad Cow Disease all over the world as well. “Yes. We have found cures for many of the old diseases through science, but more show up all the time.”

“Disease is no longer the threat it once was to the human populations. A few tiny drops of a vampire’s blood on their tongue, or mixed with their food, kills any disease that is attacking their body. Wounds that would once have been fatal are healed in much the same way.”

Christine was amazed. “People must live for a very long time then!”

“They live until their late fifties sometimes. Things are much better than they once were.”

Christine was surprised at the age he had provided. People in her world lived to an average age of seventy five, and some even made it past one hundred. If there was no more disease, what caused them to die so young? Then she remembered the Geschenk that Lord Radek had mentioned. Constant blood loss must weaken their bodies in some way that caused them to die younger in this world.  She was not going to tell Lord Radek that though, at least not at this time.

“So, if you aren’t going to feed on me anymore, what do you want me for?”

“I want to have someone to talk to – to share my thoughts with. I have been alone for such a very long time. I want to know what it feels like again to have someone to share my thoughts with.”

“But I want to go home to my own world. I have a life there. I’m a teacher. There are children there who will miss me.”

“Christine, there is no way for you to get back. I do not even know if the gate works in both directions. But what I do know is that it is a different world each time. The people who come through are very similar in many ways, but those I have interrogated have always described a world with some difference, small as it may be.”

“I don’t understand. There are more worlds?” Christine was still feeling sleepy and was having a difficult time wrapping her mind around all of the information she was receiving in such a short time.  “Are they different planets? Or are they all just different versions of Earth?”

“I do not completely understand it either. I do believe that it is the same planet. You did not come from some far away star. There are too many similarities to ignore that fact. You do recognise the land mass across the big water, do you not?”

Christine smiled unexpectedly.  “Yes, it’s the same view I have from my kitchen at home.”

“Well, I have never met a fog traveller who came through here who did not recognise it. Other things may change, but the land remains the same.”

“So I’ll never see my kitchen again? I’ll never see my class again? What will they think happened to me? I just disappeared. They might think I was kidnapped, or murdered.”

“I know it is difficult to accept, Christine. Your life has changed drastically in the last few days. I am afraid I have made things even more difficult for you, although I now regret my actions. I am going to leave you now so that you can get some rest. I just want you to know that you can stay here as long as you like, and when we find your sister, she is welcome here as well. I promise to take care of the both of you and to never drink from you as long as you promise to stay, in the name of friendship.”

Christine didn’t know how to answer him. She felt like he deserved some response, but she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. He seemed genuine enough, but he’d given her no reason in the past to believe him now.  She said nothing.

Lord Radek waited for a moment, and then seemed to accept that she would give him no response. He rose from his place at the dressing table and walked over to the bed.  He lifted her hand from the covers where it was resting and raised it to his lips. Christine winced, expecting to feel his teeth sink into her flesh and was shocked when he simply kissed her hand, looked deeply into her eyes for a moment, and walked quietly out of the room.

Christine lay back down in the bed and just let the thoughts whirl tumultuously in her brain.  She didn’t know how to make sense of everything right now.  After only a few minutes, it seemed that her brain gave up, and she fell asleep.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Sarah woke up to someone gently shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes and for a moment was startled by the dirt walls that surrounded her.

“What time is it?” she asked groggily. She couldn’t tell if it was day or night because they were still underground.

“It’s just before dawn,” answered Hillard, taking his hand off her shoulder. “We’re going to get an early start, and hopefully Lord Radek will not be expecting us until later in the day.”

It sounded like a reasonable idea to Sarah. Not that she truly understood why they were still going in during the day, when it seemed like Lord Radek wouldn’t be out of the castle after all. Maybe it was because that was when he would be at his weakest – inside the castle or out. As long as they got her sister out, she really didn’t care what time of day they left.

They quickly packed up, bringing only a very small amount of food and water for the short hike to the castle, and some weapons.  Hillard took only a small knife from the wall. Adalaide took a sword.  Sarah looked at them both questioningly. She didn’t know how to use a weapon. She’d never used a knife for anything more serious than cutting food.

“Don’t worry.  Here, just take this knife. Use it only if you have to. I know you probably have no combat experience.” Hillard smiled at her reassuringly as he handed her a small knife, similar to the one he tucked in his own belt.

“That’s an understatement. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. I don’t even know if I could use this if my life depended on it.”

Adalaide smiled grimly. “You would be surprised at what you can do when your life depends on it.”

They began their trek through the woods, towards the castle. They’d only been travelling for a short time when Hillard stopped to pick up a thick branch from the ground. As they continued walking, he carved the end into a sharp point with the knife he had taken from the wall. Once he was finished, he placed the stake in his bag and found another stick to sharpen. By the time they were within sight of the castle, just a couple of hours later, he had five such sticks in his pack. When he spotted the turrets of the castle he motioned for the small group to stop.

“Okay, Sarah. Here’s my plan. I need you to have courage. You want to get your sister back, right?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” she answered, annoyed that he had even asked.

“I’ll be taking you into the castle. I’m going to say that I found you and that I want a reward from Lord Radek for bringing you to him.”

“What?” Sarah was shocked. “This is your plan? You’ll be turning me in to Lord Radek?”

“Hear me out. You admit that you have no experience in combat. You aren’t going to be at your most useful if we go into the castle fighting our way in. However, if I bring you in, they will more than likely bring you to Christine. Adalaide, in the mean time, will be sneaking in through the kitchens, using her in-castle contacts to help her out. I’ll keep Lord Radek occupied while she goes up to the room where your sister, and most likely you, will be staying. She’ll pick the lock, get the two of you out and by the time Lord Radek has kicked me out, you will both already be free.” Hillard stared intently at Adalaide as he spoke. It seemed as if she wanted to ask him a question, but didn’t want to say anything in front of Sarah.  Finally, Hillard just nodded at her and Adalaide seemed satisfied.

Sarah tried to just ignore the silent communication between the two. She was sure that Adalaide was worried that her lover might get hurt or even killed by Lord Radek. Sarah was concerned about him too, but tried not to think about it. All she should be thinking about at this point was rescuing Christine.

Adalaide gave Sarah a brief, strong hug and whispered in her ear, “I will see you soon. Be ready.” And then she was off into the woods, presumably towards the castle kitchens.

Hillard took Sarah’s hand in his for a moment. His emerald eyes stared into hers and he looked unsure of what to say. Sarah was confused for a moment, because there seemed to be so many emotions crossing his face at once.

“I can do this,” she asserted, trying to be brave. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’ve been worrying about you almost from the moment we met, Sarah.” He squeezed her hand tightly. “I’m afraid of what may happen in there, just like you are. I believe in what we are doing.  You need to be with your sister.” He almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself of something. “You don’t need me.” He sighed.

Now Sarah was really confused. He sounded almost as if he cared more about her than as just a friend. She decided to take a chance.

“I do need you, Hillard. This world is so different from mine. But you’re different too. You’re different from any man I have ever met before. I’ve half convinced myself that all of this is just a dream, but if I knew for a fact that at least you were real, I think I could accept it.”

Hillard looked at her for a moment. He was thinking that even if he were successful today, he would likely be killed in his efforts to get this special woman back together with her sister. One kiss couldn’t hurt.

He grasped her to him tightly, hugging her against his body. A kiss could be a terrible thing. If he were killed, she would be devastated. If he were not, there could be no future between them.

“I am real, Sarah. And I promise to keep you safe.” It was the best he could offer her. He knew from the expression in her eyes that she was disappointed and confused, but he didn’t know how to fix things. There was no cure for his curse and he could never make another of his kind.

Hillard took Sarah’s hand and led her towards the castle.

 

Read Chapter 12 next Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine

 

Christine spent most of the next day sleeping. She hoped that she could regain her strength enough to try to escape in a few days. She ate and drank everything that Giselle brought her, smiling brightly at the woman every time she arrived, hoping that her friendly overtures would soften Giselle’s harsh demeanour towards her.

During the times when she was awake, Christine examined her room more thoroughly. She looked through the clothing in the closet for something more appropriate for an escape attempt than a ball gown or night gown. Surprisingly, at the back corner of the wardrobe, folded neatly, she found her own clothing. Instead of putting them on, however, she left them where they were, deciding that it was more important for her to continue her subterfuge of being overwhelmed and swayed by the opulence of the castle.

The dressing table held no further information for her, and Christine shuddered every time she happened to glance over at the macabre tapestry on the wall.

Looking out the window, however, did provide a bit more insight into the area. The castle was located at the top of a high hill, with smaller cottages scattered below, between the hill and the great body of water that she recognised as Lake Superior. She could see people walking between the buildings and she longed to be out there with them. She hoped that once she escaped she would be able to find someone who knew the whereabouts of her sister.

Thinking about her own experiences with Lord Radek, she hoped that Sarah was okay. While she was happy to hear that Sarah wasn’t alone, she was worried that if Lord Radek had been telling her the truth about this Hillard character, then Sarah could be in just as much trouble as she was.

Christine examined the door to her prison carefully. She saw no way for her to pick the lock (she had only ever seen such things on television) and the hinges were on the other side. She went back over to the wall containing the secret door and inspected it carefully. She could see where the door was, now that she knew it was there, but could find no hidden switch or lever to open it. Finally, in frustration, she slammed her fists against the wall letting out a cry of aggravation, no longer caring if Lord Radek could hear her. If she couldn’t get out of the room, there would be no escape.

“Christine? Are you okay?” a voice whispered through the door to her room. She recognised the voice as Gervis’ and, while elated that the one person sympathetic to her cause was so near, she was afraid of causing him any more trouble. She rushed over to the door and pressed her ear against the hard, impenetrable wood.

“Gervis? You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered.

“I only have a moment, but I have to tell you that Lord Radek will be leaving the castle tonight to search for your sister. I will come to you then and help you to escape.”

“But Gervis, you’ll get in trouble. Lord Radek might kill you this time.”

She heard Gervis’ heavy sigh through the door. “I’m coming with you Christine.  I can’t do this any more.  Lord Radek is keeping me here as a form of control over my parents.  We can go and get them and all escape to somewhere else.”

“But my sis…” Christine broke off as she heard footsteps approaching. She heard Gervis scramble quickly away from the door. It sounded like another man had approached from downstairs.  Christine was relieved that it wasn’t Giselle, not wanting to feel the brunt of the woman’s wrath again. Pleasantries were exchanged and the other man didn’t sound suspicious at all. After a moment, Christine was relieved to hear two sets of footsteps retreating down the hall.

Christine was relieved that she would finally have a way to escape her room. However, how could she possibly leave the castle now? Lord Radek was going after her sister! The last thing she wanted was to be free outside the castle and have her sister trapped in here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah and Hillard spent the rest of the day talking. She learned about the many differences between this blood-based society and her own.

She quickly reasoned out why the level of technology in this world was so far beneath her own. It seemed that the Geshenk kept people fairly weak and that the average life span was still only fifty years. It was difficult for people to be creative and innovative when daily life was a struggle. In addition, the Vampire Lords discouraged innovation, feeling threatened and worried that the humans might find a way to overcome their rule. The lack of communication prevented the exchange of ideas that was so important to technological advancement. Technology in this world had barely advanced from the level that had existed during the fifteenth century. It made Sarah see so clearly how much her own world depended on technology – the telephone, computers, even plumbing and running water – and how much she had always taken it for granted.

However, while the Vampire Lords stifled innovation, they obviously realized the value of at least a basic education. Children went to school from the age of six to sixteen, learning reading, writing and basic mathematics, as well as several languages. In addition, they also learned about the ruling system, called “Blood Governance” and basic information about the key trades that could be learned in the area.

Once a child turned sixteen, parents could pay for their child to serve as an apprentice and learn a trade, or teach them a trade themselves if they were so skilled. The other option, if a family couldn’t afford the apprenticeship fees, was for the child to join their Vampire Lord’s household as a guard or house servant. By joining the Lord’s household, they wouldn’t have to pay their one Geshenk a year, which they could do only after turning eighteen anyway, because they didn’t own any land. They would also be fully provided with food and clothing. In this way, someone who wanted to buy land and build a house on it, could do so after saving for a year or two. Another option was to learn a trade in an apprenticeship and then serve in the Vampire Lord’s castle for a year or two to save enough Geschenk to build their own shop or farm.

Geschenk could be earned by going to the bank and giving a Geschenk of blood up to four times a year – including any yearly Geschenk fee.  A full Geschenk could not be given more than once every three months, or the person giving would be weakened to a point where they could be vulnerable to illness. In that way, everyone between the ages of eighteen and fifty were guaranteed a yearly income of four Geschenk, or four hundred Stück. One person could theoretically live on such an amount, but Stück, being traded for goods as well, could also be earned through one’s trade.  A trade, or some other way to earn extra income, was necessary if you wanted a family, however, since children couldn’t earn Geschenk themselves.

It was all very interesting to Sarah, but she was hoping that they would not be staying in this world, with its dependence on blood, for very long.

“Hillard,” she suggested, shyly. “Why don’t you come with us? You said yourself that you’re a wanderer. Come wander with us for awhile.”

The truth was, she didn’t want to say goodbye to Hillard. She liked being around him. Besides being handsome – she was especially fond of his emerald eyes – he was smart and had a sweet sense of humour. She knew he probably wasn’t interested in her romantically, but she wanted his friendship, if nothing else. She wasn’t really interested in a relationship with anyone right now. It hadn’t even been a week since she’d caught her bastard of a husband cheating on her with their neighbour, and she wasn’t about to make the same mistake again. For some reason, she just wasn’t good enough for any man. Even before her jackass husband, her prior boyfriends had all had a habit of cheating on her. She’d thought things with Paul had been different, because he’d married her, but they obviously hadn’t been. Whether it was her flabby thighs, big behind, or something else, she obviously wasn’t good enough for a real relationship with anyone.

Sarah realized then that her mind had wandered off and Hillard hadn’t answered her question. He was just staring at her, with a wistful look on his face. He met her eyes and shook his head slowly.

“I can’t Sarah. I would love to – I really would – but I have other commitments here.”

Sarah’s mind automatically went to Adalaide and she felt a blush crawling up her face. Of course he wouldn’t come with them! He had Adalaide, with her long legs, firm stomach, and stunningly long red hair. There was no way that Sarah could ever compete with that. She should have guessed, but her hopeful mind had been working overtime again, seeing meaningful glances and gentle touches between herself and Hillard as something other than concerned friendship.

Hillard saw Sarah’s face turn red and knew that she had come to some faulty assumption. He wanted to correct her, to tell her that he would love to go with her, to spend more time with her, but he had important things that he had to finish here first. Plus, he could never risk introducing vampirism into another world, no matter how dedicated he was to never siring another of his kind himself.

Adalaide came rushing in at that moment, breaking up the tension. “Lord Radek is coming out to look for you tomorrow,” she gasped, breathing heavily. It was obvious that she’d been running. “We have to get you out of here! He knows you are with Hillard and he also knows that Hillard and I are friends, so he is sure to come here to look for you!”

Sarah looked over at Hillard, forgetting about the tense moment earlier, and saw from his expression that he was thinking the same thing that she was.

“If he’s out here looking for you,” Hillard said, a mischievous glint in his green eyes, “then we should go into his castle to find your sister.”

The three of them began discussing potential plans. Adalaide insisted that they get Sarah out of the cottage immediately, because Lord Radek wasn’t known for his patience or for giving accurate accounts of his plans to his house servants. Adalaide had also heard about the problems that had occurred with Gervis because of his involvement with Christine, but didn’t mention them as she didn’t want to provide Sarah with any more reasons to worry about her sister.

They quickly packed up some food and left the cottage, heading north-west. The castle was to the south-west of Adalaide’s cottage, but Adalaide said that she had a place where they could hide overnight and resupply.

Hillard just nodded when Adalaide mentioned the hideout, and Sarah realized that he already knew about it. She felt a flash of jealousy at their obviously close relationship but suppressed it, reminding herself that she was just friends with Hillard, after all.

It took them almost three hours of hiking through the bush to reach the hiding place. Sarah was exhausted when they finally reached it, but Hillard and Adalaide had done all of the carrying and had kept to a very slow pace, keeping in mind that Sarah had been very ill for the last few days and had not had much time to recover.

Sarah almost had to stop a few times, but the thought of the monstrous Lord Radek catching her before she could rescue her sister kept her going. When they finally stopped walking, Sarah was confused for a moment. She didn’t see anything that looked even remotely habitable, not even a rabbit hole.

Adalaide walked to a small space between a cluster of trees and reached down into some brush. Sarah was amazed when a door, big enough for a person to pass through, opened into the ground.  Stairs led down into darkness, and Adalaide lit a candle before venturing down the stairway, motioning for Hillard and Sarah to follow. Sarah was glad for the dim candle light when Hillard pulled the door closed behind them.

The stairs descended for a short distance and then opened up into a rather large dug-out room.  There was a bed against one wall, a shelf containing various foodstuffs and, Sarah was astonished to see, an entire wall covered with a vast assortment of swords, axes and other weapons.

“You seem prepared to go to war,” Sarah said, trepidation in her voice. She didn’t know what, exactly, she had expected Adalaide’s hideaway to look like, but she hadn’t expected this!

Adalaide just smiled grimly over at Sarah.  “Lord Radek and I are not the best of friends.  I expected that I would need a place to hide from him at some point or another.”

When it appeared that Adalaide wasn’t going to expand on that revelation, Sarah decided to just help a bit with the unpacking.  She sat down on the bed and helped to go through Hillard’s pack, taking out his tin dishes and blankets.  Hillard spread his thick canvas ground cover on the floor of the room and began making a bed for himself.  Adalaide pulled a chest out from under the bed, removed some thick woollen blankets, and began making a sleeping place for herself beside him.

“I can sleep on the ground. I don’t want to take your bed, Adalaide,” Sarah offered, then was mortified when she realized that they were probably used to sharing a sleeping place.

“Sarah, you’ve been ill for days. You shouldn’t be sleeping on the ground, you could get sick again. You need to gather your strength for tomorrow,” Hillard admonished.

It made sense to Sarah, but she still felt some slight jealousy that the two of them would be laying side by side all night. The image of it was so strong in her mind that she almost didn’t notice that Hillard had not stopped speaking.

“I’ve been thinking about that information that Adalaide got at the castle. It really makes no sense to me for Lord Radek to be leaving the castle to look for you in the daylight hours – when he is at his most vulnerable. It would make more sense for him to be out now, in the dark, when you are likely to be sleeping somewhere and he is at his top strength. I more than half think that he is either trying to send you a message that you are safe tonight, so that you are easier to catch unaware, or that he knows that we are planning to rescue Christine and is setting a trap for us tomorrow.”

Sarah couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of that. Of course, she didn’t have as much experience in this world as the other two, but she thought of herself as someone who was at least decently intelligent. It seemed so obvious.

“Then what do we do now?” she asked in frustration.

“Well, I think we’ve already done it. We’ve taken you somewhere for the night where he won’t find you. This place is sufficiently hidden so that he could walk down the path right above us and not see it. And vampires are not all-powerful. They do have an increased sense of smell, but they aren’t tracking dogs. We have the rich earth all around us, insulating against our smell. We should be safe here until tomorrow.”  Hillard explained.

“And tomorrow? If he’s expecting us then we can’t just go in to get Christine.” Sarah felt extreme frustration and helplessness. She just wanted to see her sister again.

“Oh, we are still going in tomorrow. We know he’s expecting us.  That will give us the upper hand. We just have to make sure we do things in a way that he isn’t expecting.” Hillard looked thoughtful.  “Get some rest, Sarah. I’ll think about this and come up with a plan for tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let him keep your sister. I think Lord Radek’s reign of terror over this area is almost finished.”

Sarah felt some measure of comfort at Hillard’s determined expression, but she couldn’t help but worry. There was still that knot in her stomach that had been there since they had first driven through the fog. She wondered if her life would ever be normal again. What was normal anyway? She’d just discovered that her husband was cheating on her. Sarah wondered what Paul was thinking about her disappearance. Was he missing her, or was he relieved that he hadn’t had to face her? A single tear rolled down Sarah’s cheek as feelings of helplessness and worthlessness washed over her. With her thoughts running in negative circles through her brain, she finally fell asleep.

 

Read Chapter 11 next Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 . . .

 

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Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight

 

After Hillard had left the room, Sarah just stared at the door he had closed behind himself. He had provided her with very few answers – instead asking her more questions of his own. She mulled over those questions, trying to make some sort of sense out of what had just happened. Vampires? Germany? How were the two related? Germany was relatively close to Romania, but both were far, far away from Canada. Maybe she was not in some alternate universe. Maybe she was in some part of Germany. Maybe she had been kidnapped and taken half way across the world. To what end?  Nothing made any sense.

Adalaide came back into the room, carrying another bowl of soup. “How is your stomach? Is it ready for a bit more nourishment? We need to try to get your strength up,” she said brightly as she entered.

Sarah recognised that the soup she had eaten earlier was no longer making her stomach feel full. She could definitely eat again; her growling stomach was testament to that. She pushed herself into a more upright position, and was pleased to discover that the dizziness had abated.

Adalaide sat quietly beside Sarah as she ate. She looked as if she wanted to say something. After a few uncomfortable minutes of Sarah sipping on her soup and Adalaide simply sitting there staring at her, Sarah put down her spoon and looked directly at her hostess.

“What?” Sarah asked irritably. She knew that she should be nicer to Adalaide, who had helped to nurse her while she was sick, but she found herself annoyed by her just the same.

“I have never met a fog traveller before. What was it like? Did it hurt?”

Sarah just stared at Adalaide. “I have no idea. We were just driving. We drove through some fog. Sure, it was thicker than most fog, but it wasn’t like we fell through some wormhole and ended up in outer space. The only difference I noticed was that the road wasn’t paved anymore.”

Adalaide nodded, but from her confused expression, Sarah got the idea that Adalaide hadn’t understood everything that she had said. Adalaide had a thicker German accent than Hillard did and Sarah had the idea that she didn’t speak a lot of English. She made a mental note to speak in more simple terms with her and to be careful to speak a bit more slowly.

“Is this your house?” Sarah asked. She figured that it was, but it seemed polite to make conversation with someone who was feeding her and who had been apparently taking care of her for three days.

“Yes. I was born here. I have lived here all my life.”

There was a knock at the door and Adalaide looked up, with what looked like an expression of regret on her face at being interrupted while getting to know her guest. Hillard peeked in.

“Can I come in?” He sounded almost like a little kid, asking permission to come sit with the adults.

“Of course,” said Sarah. “I want to finish our conversation as soon as possible. I have to admit that I’m more confused now than ever.”

Hillard chuckled a little. “I’m not surprised. You’re the first person I’ve had this discussion with. I’ve seen other fog travellers, of course, and spoken to a few, but this is the first time I’ve tried to explain all of this to anyone. I don’t want to make things any more confusing for you than they already are.”

This surprised Sarah a bit. She wondered where he had learned to speak English. She had assumed that he had learned by speaking with other people like herself. She asked, timidly, “If you and everyone else around here is German, why do you all speak English?”

“Well,” he answered, seeming relieved to be asked a slightly less complicated question, “when the fog travellers come through, they don’t all speak German, of course. As children, we’re taught several of the main languages in school so that we can communicate. I’m pretty fluent in English and French, as well as my native German.”

Sarah was amazed that he knew so many languages. She had been forced to learn a bit of French in school as a child, but would never consider herself to be fluent in anything except English. Although she was curious about the type of schooling the children here received, she decided to turn the conversation back to what was really on her mind.

“So, have you come back with more questions for me,” she asked, unable to keep the note of sarcasm out of her voice, “or are you finally going to start answering some of mine?”

He nodded. “I know it hasn’t been fair to you. It’s just difficult to explain if I don’t understand the differences between our two worlds. I want to give you an explanation that makes sense to you.”

“Well, you haven’t done a very good job of it so far,” she exclaimed in frustration.

“Okay, let me just clarify a few more things. I promise not to walk away again without explaining everything, okay?” Hillard’s bright green eyes looked pleadingly into her own. She found it hard to resist his earnest expression.

“Okay. Fine. Does that mean you have more questions for me?” Sarah tried to remain patient with Hillard, but it was difficult facing the prospect of answering more of his questions when she had so many of her own burning within her brain.

“Yes. First, what do you know of the history of the country you call Germany?”

“Well, I know that they have been in a lot of wars over the years. In fact, they tried to take over other countries several times in the past. I know that they were the main cause of World War II and a leading player in World War I. I don’t know a lot about what happened before then, though.” Sarah wondered where this was all going to lead.

“Well, that’s a start. Our … Germany … here has had a long history of war with other … countries. About five hundred years ago, there were many small wars between different groups in that country. One leader came to the forefront, his name was Charles the Fifth. Do you know that name?”  Hillard looked searchingly at Sarah.

“I’ve heard of leaders named Charles in the past, but I have to say that I don’t have a lot of knowledge of history,” Sarah admitted.

“Well, our Charles the Fifth stood out in many ways. He fought many battles, always coming out victorious. What really made him famous, however, was the fact that he received many supposedly mortal wounds, yet always managed to survive. In fact, he quickly gained a reputation of being almost immortal.”

“The how of the matter is unknown now, at least it is to me. But Charles somehow became infected with vampirism. He essentially was immortal. No one was his match on the battle field. And it soon became obvious that many of his soldiers were obtaining his same abilities.”

Hillard paused for a moment and Sarah let her mind run back over what he had been saying. She found it interesting the way Hillard had said that Charles became infected with vampirism, almost as if it were a disease.

He began again. “Sarah, what do you know about vampires?” He looked almost afraid to hear her answer.

She waited a moment before answering, then began to list the traits that were commonly discussed when the topic of vampires was brought up. She felt kind of ridiculous, listing off a bunch of what she had always thought was superstitious nonsense.

“Hmmm.  They don’t like garlic. Holy water burns them. The sign of the cross scares them away. Their reflection can’t be seen in mirrors. And they can be killed by shoving a wooden stake through their heart, or by lighting them on fire. Sunlight will kill them as fast as fire. And, of course, they drink human blood.”

Hillard looked amused through the recitation of most of her list, but the last item caused a pensive look to pass over his face. He paused a moment, thinking before he spoke again.

“Well, most of that isn’t true. They have a history of war with the church, but holy water and crosses have no effect on them. They also have no problems with garlic. A wooden stake doesn’t kill them, but can paralyze them if placed properly, and if they catch on fire they will burn until nothing is left. Finally, while they can’t stay in the sun for long periods without becoming very weak, sunlight doesn’t kill them.”

Sarah stared at him blankly. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that vampires are real?”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, Sarah. And your sister is being held by one.”

She shook her head. She felt like her heart was beating too fast. She was also having trouble breathing and it had nothing to do with her cold. “I don’t want to hear any more of this. I think I need to rest. I just need to sleep for a bit.” She pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled over, her back towards Hillard.  She heard him sigh.

“Okay, Sarah. I understand. I’ll be in the other room if you want to talk some more. I want to answer all of your questions, but I understand that you need some time to process all of this.” She heard the door shut quietly behind him as he left the room.

Sarah tried to block her conversation with Hillard out of her mind. This was all just too much to deal with. How much craziness was one person supposed to be able to handle? How was she supposed to just accept everything at face value when it all went against everything she knew logically?

She lay in the bed for over an hour, trying to both block everything out and find the escape of sleep, but was successful with neither. Even though most of her mind resisted any idea of this being real at all, a tiny voice inside her head told her that she had to accept this, that it was real, and that her sister was depending on her.

Sarah thought about her sister then. If all of this were true, then Christine was in grave danger, if she was even still alive. Sarah knew that she had to get out of bed, pull herself together, and do something to help Christine – but to do that she would have to take a leap of faith, perhaps a leap into madness. She felt so weak and tired – both mentally and physically. If she weren’t still so ill, maybe she could think more clearly. It seemed like everything just fell apart all at once – the destruction of her marriage, her illness, the fog, the craziness.

Suddenly, without any conscious effort on Sarah’s part, her mind found a way to accept the unacceptable.  Perhaps none of this was real after all. Maybe she was laying in a bed somewhere, delirious from a fever. In which case, it didn’t matter if it were real or not, she could get out of bed and play along. Part of her felt like, no matter if this were real or not, she had to help her sister. She and Christine had been through too much together – their father’s alcoholism, their mother’s slow death from cancer – for her to leave Christine alone, even if this was just delirium.

Sarah made a conscious decision to play along with Hillard, no matter how unbelievable this all was and she finally sat up in bed and swung her legs over the side. So, vampires were real, were they? Well, she would be going in opposition to one to save her sister. She needed all of the information she could get to prepare herself. It was time to find her key source of information – Hillard.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christine awoke the next morning back in the beautiful prison that was her room. She had a hard time remembering anything at all at first, but then the images of Lord Radek kissing [biting!] her neck came back to her all too clearly. He had drunk her blood! He’d been drinking her blood for days! That would explain her lethargy, her inexplicable weakness. She thought carefully over the events of the past few days. Last night had been the third time she remembered that [exquisite] kiss on her neck. A vampire! As if finding herself in another world were not enough! She had to find a way to escape from here. Gervis had seemed so eager to help her, but Christine hadn’t seen him since Lord Radek’s return to the Castle days ago. She hoped that he was okay, that Lord Radek hadn’t punished him too harshly. She decided to ask Giselle about him the next time she saw her.

Christine got up out of the bed and realized that she was no longer in her beautiful scarlet gown, but was now dressed back in the cotton nightgown she had been wearing since she arrived. She was happy to see that at least it was now clean and no longer smelled of old sweat. One thought struck her though – who had changed her clothing last night? Christine hoped it had been Giselle and not Lord Radek. The thought of him caressing her unconscious naked body nauseated her.

There was a brief knock on the door and then Giselle entered the room. This was the first time she had ever knocked before coming in and she seemed more subdued than her normally haughty self. Christine remembered the look of fear on Giselle’s face when Lord Radek had chastised her the night before. Perhaps Christine’s situation in the castle was improving. If Lord Radek was treating her differently than the other visitors he’d had before, it was possible that it could provide her with an opportunity. Perhaps, if she played her cards right, she could find a way to escape.

She looked thoughtfully at Giselle as she placed the breakfast tray on the dressing table and began busily making Christine’s bed.

“Giselle, I know you don’t like me, but I want to ask you a question.”

Giselle turned to her, a look of surprise on her face at having been spoken to. Just as quickly, the look turned to suspicion. “I won’t be helping you to leave this place,” she snapped at Christine.

Christine thought carefully before she spoke. “I don’t want to leave. I feel safe here. Lord Radek has explained that he just wants to take care of me. And I have everything I could ever want or need.”

“Then what’s the question you want me to be answering?” The suspicious look on Giselle’s face only increased.

“Well, I haven’t seen Gervis since my first night here. I know I mustn’t see or speak to him, but I want to make sure he’s okay. I don’t want to cause him any more trouble by asking Lord Radek.”

The suspicious look on Giselle’s face softened for a moment and then hardened again before she answered. “He’s getting better now. Lord Radek drained him near to death out of anger at his treachery. If it weren’t for the pact he has with Gervis’ parents, that fine young man would be dead right now, thanks to you!”

Giselle straightened the covers on Christine’s bed with a final, abrupt tug and then she stormed out of the room, first slamming, and then locking the door behind her.

Christine pondered this new bit of information. At least Gervis was still alive. But this meant she could not depend on him for rescue. In fact, she decided firmly, she would follow Giselle’s initial advice and avoid any contact with him at all. She really liked him and would deeply regret it if any lasting harm came to him because of her. It appeared that she was on her own.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Sarah opened the door to her room and peeked out into the rest of the cottage. Having been unconscious when she arrived, she was curious as to the appearance of the rest of the dwelling.

There appeared to be only one other room. It was bigger than her bedroom, with a makeshift wooden divider blocking a small part of the room off and the rest open. There was a wood-burning stove to her left, with a wooden shelf providing counter space beside it.  There was a comfortable-looking couch on the other side of the stove, made of wood and covered with pillows, and a wooden table, surrounded by four chairs, right beside a thick wooden door that appeared to lead outside. Sarah saw Adalaide and Hillard sitting at the table, deep in discussion. From what she could hear, they were speaking in German. The conversation broke off as Hillard noticed Sarah peeking at them.

“You okay?” he asked, concern on his face.

“Yeah. I have more questions,” she said, realizing that she had so many questions at the moment that she didn’t even know where to start.

“Want some more soup?” Adalaide offered.

Sarah nodded absently as she sat down at the table, still trying to wade through the myriad of questions swirling around in her brain. Adalaide walked over to the old-fashioned woodstove and spooned some soup out of a pot resting on top.

“Are you feeling any better?” Hillard asked, obviously aware that Sarah was not yet ready to begin with her questions.

“I feel tired and a bit weak, but better,” she admitted, trying still to maintain some of the illusion in her own mind that this was all some kind of fever delusion. She slowly sipped the soup that Adalaide had placed before her on the table.

Hillard spoke after a few moments. “Adalaide is going to go to the castle in a little while to ask around about your sister.”

Sarah looked gratefully at Adelaide. “Can I come?” she asked eagerly.

Hillard shook his head. “Not a good idea, Sarah. We don’t know how much Lord Radek knows about you. We wouldn’t want to have you trapped in there with your sister. Plus, in your weakened state, you’re in no shape for the walk there. Give it least a few more hours before you decide to run out to rescue your sister.” He smiled at her, reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I don’t think she’s in any danger at the moment. We’ll get to her before anything bad happens.”

Sarah felt some relief at his words and had to admit that he was right about her health, but her instinct was to jump up,  march over to the castle and demand that this Lord Radek release her sister immediately. She had to agree with Hillard, however, she’d probably pass out in the woods before she even got within sight of the castle.

“Who is this Lord Radek?” she asked.

“He is the self-proclaimed Lord of these parts,” Hillard explained. “He is the Vampire Lord. All of our cities and towns are ruled by vampires, but most are not as cruel, nor as crazy, as Lord Radek has proved himself to be over the years.”

“Your people are ruled by vampires?” Sarah was confused. This didn’t sound much like the stories she had heard about vampires in her world. Those vampires lived in castles, sure, but they avoided people for the most part.

“I explained earlier that Charles the Fifth was the first vampire and that he created a vampire army for himself, remember?”

“Yes.”

Hillard paused, and Sarah stood up as Adalaide appeared, ready to leave. Adalaide hugged her, slung a knapsack over one shoulder, and left the cottage. Sarah mentally wished her good luck as she watched Adalaide march into the forest through the window. She hoped that Adalaide would return with some good news about her sister. Then, finally tearing her eyes away from the window, she turned back to Hillard with a look of expectation in her eyes. After a moment, he continued.

“Well, over the next fifty years, Charles the Fifth managed to unite all of the German leaders under his rule. At the same time, other world leaders had become infected by vampirism. The king of France, Francis the First, and the King of England, Henry the Eighth, were the most notable. Those two had begun a war during the 1530’s that was beginning to rage throughout Europe, involving huge vampire armies.”

Sarah just sat quietly, listening to Hillard, enthralled by this alternate history.

“At that time, the numbers of vampires had swelled to enormous, nearly unsustainable proportions. One side, lead by Francis the first, felt that it was their right, ordained by God, to rule the Earth. They were starting to believe that they were gods themselves and that the humans were merely cattle for them to consume at will. The other side was lead by the more pragmatic Henry the eighth, who felt that religion held no part of the vampire existence, but felt that the Earth should fall under his leadership alone.”

“It was at this time that one of Francis the First’s high councillors, called DaVinci, decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands. He could see the devastation that was occurring as well as the inevitable outcome – the extinction of the human race.”

Sarah gasped in recognition. “Leonardo DaVinci?”

“Yes, you know of him?”

“Yeah, he was a wonderful artist and inventor in my world.  He was a vampire?” Sarah was stunned, but in a way she wasn’t that surprised. DaVinci was a very colourful historic figure, and he was known to be a dominant figure in many historical conspiracy theories. Being a vampire as well was not really that huge a leap.

“In this world DaVinci was converted to vampirism by Francis the First himself. Francis was intrigued by DaVinci’s ideas and inventiveness. But, somewhere along the way, that freedom of thought led DaVinci’s beliefs down a road that was different from that of Francis. DaVinci recognized that the vampires needed to develop a more symbiotic relationship with the humans, rather than one of pure dominance. He saw the only survival of the vampire race as coming from a culling of their numbers. He had a large number of followers himself, and joining forces with the army of Charles the Fifth, they determined to somehow cull the numbers and bring some sort of peace to the vampire race. The battle between the Symbiots and the Dictators lasted for nearly a century. DaVinci’s vision of culling the numbers of the vampire race was satisfied during the war, but at the expense of nearly all of his followers. Near the end, it is said that DaVinci fled into the mountains in the Far East.”

Sarah was so enthralled by the story that she hadn’t even realized that Hillard had stopped for a moment and was watching her face with a speculative look. She wondered how it must seem to him, telling this story to someone who had never heard it before. She wondered how he felt about her intense interest.

Hillard took a deep breath and continued. “You should know that the vampire race was not the only casualty of the Great Vampire War. The human race was also decimated in the process. Vampiric healing takes a great deal of energy, and humans were used as the main power source to continue the war. The rumour is that DaVinci, while working against the mentality of both Francis and Henry, saw the beauty of the vampire and did not want the race to be completely destroyed. On the other hand, he also knew the beauty of humankind as well. He feared that the human race would be extinguished and tried to find some way to increase their numbers. It was while DaVinci was in the eastern mountains that the fogs began. Humans came through the fog – not every time, but often enough to begin to replenish the numbers for a time – if the vampiric numbers remained low. These fogs occurred in places scattered all over the world, and on a fairly regular schedule. To this day, no one knows exactly what causes them – at least no one I’ve ever spoken to. All that is known is that the people who come through the fog are from worlds similar to our own, but they don’t always come from the same world.  That’s how you came to be here.”

Sarah just stared at Hillard for a moment. There had been a few disappearances on the road from Thunder Bay to the United States over the years. Of course, it was also a common route for drug runners, so not all of the disappearances would necessarily have been reported.

A thought struck her then. Had she and Christine been brought here as food?

“We’re supposed to be food?” she asked, unbelievingly.

Hillard smiled wistfully at her. “Not necessarily. You were brought here to replenish and strengthen the human numbers on this world. Some vampires see that as simply food replacement, but others see it as an opportunity to learn about other worlds and technologies.”

“How did DaVinci create the fog?” Sarah asked. She had never heard of any technology like that. She was a bit of a science fiction buff, so she guessed that the parallel worlds were something like those suggested in the old television series Quantum Leap – where infinite worlds existed in parallel to our own, the only difference being that at some point in time a different choice had been made. For example, in another world, she and Christine might have decided to drive to Winnipeg instead of to the spa in the United States. They would still be in that world, because they never would have encountered the fog. Or someone else might have come through the fog. If so, where were those other people? The infinite possibilities were giving her a headache.

“No one knows how he did it – or even if it was really him. He was just thought of as the most likely suspect because of his intense studies in science, magic, and technology, and his interest in replenishing the human race.”

Sarah stared into space for a few moments, trying to take it all in. Here was a world history very different from her own.

“And is DaVinci still alive?” she asked.

“No one knows that, either. The histories say that he never came down from the mountains. Charles the Fifth declared him dead after a year or two and declared himself to be the victor in the war. A few good things resulted from the Great Vampire War, despite the great destruction involved. First, the numbers of vampires were greatly depleted, leaving just over a thousand still in existence. Also, the human race was able to begin to grow again. Finally, both Francis and Henry came to realize that a more manageable power structure was required, because immediately after the Great Vampire War they began to explore the world. Other continents were discovered, with more humans to feed on. Charles the Fifth decided to form the Vampire Council – with him at the head – which would act as world rulers. Most vampires still saw themselves as gods, you see, and felt that it was their right to rule the world. The members of the Vampire Council are like the ultimate gods, to whom every other vampire must answer. The Council quickly decreed that the making of new vampires was forbidden without their permission. Any new vampires created without this permission would be immediately destroyed, along with their creators. In that way, Charles ended up fulfilling DaVinci’s vision.”

“So is there still a Council?” asked Sarah.

“Yes, and Charles the Fifth is still at its head. Other vampires have tried to challenge him over the years, but have failed, unable to match the power of the oldest known vampire.”

“Does that mean that they get stronger with age?”

“Apparently so. Although some also think that it’s related to the amount of blood consumed. For that reason, whenever someone challenges Charles, there is usually a human massacre somewhere in the world first. The Council watches for just such occurrences.”

“So human beings are just cattle for these monsters?” The story was starting to lose its appeal as Sarah started to focus again on the human role in this world.

“Not so. Over time, the Council developed methods to create blood sustainability. Blood is our main form of currency, measured in Geschenk – which originally meant ‘gift’ in German. Each vampire rules their own area – often a few towns or a city – and they collect yearly taxes from all of their citizens who have reached adulthood. Several people travel to a Blood Bank every day and provide blood there. The blood is then stored chilled in glass tubes, with a few herbs added to decrease the clotting effect, and the Lord consumes them within a day or so. Each citizen who owns land is required to make this sort of contribution once a year. They also have the ability to go to the Blood Bank to provide Geschenk up to three more times a year, which can then be used as currency to buy food, supplies, or whatever is available. Each Geschenk can be divided into one hundred Stück. Citizens use Stück to pay for food and clothing and other necessities. It’s the Vampire Lord’s job to keep his or her citizens happy and healthy so that the population is sufficient to provide for his or her needs.”

Sarah was amazed that an entire monetary system had been developed based on the vampiric need for blood. It didn’t sound nearly as evil as the vampire novels of her own world made it sound. In fact, it actually sounded as if there were no reason in this world for anyone to be homeless or to go hungry.

“It doesn’t sound as bad as I thought it would,” she admitted.

“It isn’t, if the Vampire Lord runs his land the way he’s supposed to, as set out in the Vampire Code. In fact, it can provide a comfortable existence for many. The problem here in Donner is that Lord Radek is not following the Code. He keeps a number of humans in his castle as a constant food supply. Instead of receiving his Geschenk as deposited in the Blood Bank, freely given, he often takes the blood forcibly from his victims.”

Sarah realized suddenly what Hillard was telling her. “So Christine is being held in the castle as his food?”

Hillard nodded grimly. “Yes, and we need to rescue her soon. Lord Radek’s victims rarely last more than a few weeks before they are too weak from blood loss to survive.”

Sarah abruptly got up from the table, walked over to the door, and stared outside for awhile, almost willing Adalaide to appear with news about her sister. She knew, however, that it would be hours before Adalaide returned.

“So,” she asked finally, sitting back down across from Hillard, “how do we rescue my sister from this monster?”

“I’ll think of something,” he said reassuringly. “Adalaide and I have many friends inside the castle.”

“Do you think Christine is being treated all right?” Sarah shook her head at the ridiculous question and then restated, “Well, aside from the fact that he’s drinking her blood?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen any of Lord Radek’s victims after they’ve been taken to the castle, and I’ve never asked anyone who works there. Sometimes it’s just easier not to know.”

Sarah looked over at Hillard in surprise. “Why are you helping me then? If you’ve never helped anyone before, why do it now?”

Hillard’s intense green eyes stared into her own for a moment and then he looked away quickly before saying quietly, “I like you Sarah.” He looked at her again and smiled. “I think it was the angry look on your face when you were beating on that car horn. You looked so determined and angry. I liked that fire you showed.”

Sarah blushed and looked down at the table. She was known for being as stubborn as a mule sometimes. She looked back up at Hillard and smiled back at him. “I like you too. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Hillard felt very drawn to Sarah. In some ways, she seemed very fragile, and in others she was as stubborn as an old horse. He did like her very much, especially when she smiled at him like she was doing right now. He just had to remember to keep his distance. Above all else, he needed to keep her safe, and part of that meant not letting her get too close.

Trying to change the subject, Sarah asked, “Why does the Vampire Council let Lord Radek get away with breaking the rules?”

“Well,” replied Hillard, “the lands of different Vampire Lords are far apart from each other. Communication between different lands is rare.  There is some trade, carried out by independent merchant groups.”

“I guess that explains why my cell phone didn’t work,” Sarah smiled ruefully.

“Yes. I’ve seen other fog travellers carrying that kind of technology, but we have nothing close to it here. We can send letters and messages with the travelling merchants, but Lord Radek has an agreement with them. They are paid well to ensure that no negative messages about Lord Radek get through.”

Something struck Sarah strange at that point. “If the vampires live so far away from each other, how can the Vampire Council meet and tell the rest of the vampires their decisions, especially those across the ocean?”

“That is some kind of vampire secret, but I think it must be some type of mental communication. They have many mysterious powers.” Hillard didn’t like keeping things from Sarah, but he didn’t want to appear too knowledgeable about the vampires, in case that aroused her suspicions.

The mention of mysterious powers caught Sarah’s interest.  It would be important to learn as much as she could about the strengths of Lord Radek before she went after him.  “What other powers do they have?” she asked eagerly.

“The most important, and the most dangerous,” said Hillard, “is their ability to affect human emotion. They can’t control your thoughts, but they can implant false feelings of security in their victims – or increase their terror a hundred times.”

Sarah thought about that for a moment. No wonder the vampires were able to maintain control. Any time a human came near, meaning them harm, the threatened vampire could theoretically transform any feelings of hostility into safety.  “Can they do it to more than one person at a time?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, normally. As long as the vampire is not in a weakened state, they can control anyone within their range of sight. If they are weakened, however, by a need to heal or a prolonged exposure to sunlight, they could have difficulty controlling even a single person.”

“So that’s a weakness we could exploit,” Sarah suggested eagerly.

“Yes. That’s what I’ve been thinking. And we have a secret weapon, as well. For some reason, there are a few individuals who are immune to the emotional influence of the Vampire Lords.  I happen to be one of them.” Hillard felt uncomfortable telling Sarah this lie, even though it was just a lie of omission.  Again he told himself that was safer if she didn’t know. He didn’t know how she would react if she found out he was one of those ‘monsters’ they had been discussing.

Sarah’s eyes lit up. “Seriously? So we actually have a chance of rescuing Christine! This could actually work!”

Hillard tried to temper Sarah’s enthusiasm. “Just remember, Lord Radek is a very old, very powerful vampire. He has been ruling this Land for more than two hundred years and drinks much more blood than the average vampire.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Does he drink more than just the Geschenk and the fog travellers?”

“Yes,” Hillard replied grimly. “He drains any criminal. No matter what the crime – stealing a piece of bread or killing another man – the punishment is always the same.”

Sarah was shocked. “He would kill someone even for stealing food for their family?”

“Oh, yes. He sees it as one more excuse to increase his blood consumption.”

“He really is a monster! He needs to be stopped!”

“Yes, but that’s not an easy thing to do. It’s been tried many times and no one has ever succeeded. For now, let’s just focus on rescuing your sister.”

“I know. But what happens after we rescue her? Can we go back and wait for the fog to come again so we can go home?”

Hillard shook his head ruefully. “It doesn’t work that way Sarah,” he said, his voice thick with regret. “You never know which world you would be going to.  The only constant is that the fog always comes here.  If you tried to go back through it, you would most likely only end up trapped in another world that isn’t your own.”

Sarah thought about that for a moment. “But we could escape Lord Radek that way.”

Hillard considered that. “True. In fact, that would probably be the safest option for you two after we rescue Christine. The only problem would be keeping you safe until the next fog.”

“How often do they come?”

“Once a month, with the full moon. So, we would have to hide you for about three weeks. I have some friends who could give us food, but we’ll have to hide in the woods.”

Sarah could see their plan slowly developing. Now they just needed Adalaide to return with some information about Christine.

 

Read Chapter 10 next Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

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In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Sarah regained consciousness long before she opened her eyes. She remembered just enough from before she fainted to want to hang on to the comforting blanket of sleep that she was wrapped in. She knew that waking up would force her to remember, and she didn’t want to face everything quite yet.

“Okay Sarah, I know you’re awake. No use faking.” Sarah recognised Hillard’s voice and groaned.

“I don’t want to wake up. I’m happier asleep.” She didn’t want to face all of the confusion she knew was waiting for her when she finally opened her eyes.

“And how are you supposed to help your sister if you’re asleep? I thought you wanted to help her. You’ve been sleeping for two days.” Hillard knew that the last bit would catch her attention.

Two days! Sarah’s eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, and then just as abruptly lay back down. Her head was spinning.

“Okay, settle down,” Hillard was still worried about her. He had considered giving her some of his blood, but waited to see if she would rally on her own. He had to admit though, he had been sorely tempted the night before. “I just wanted to get your attention.  You’ve been pretty sick for the last few days. Last night I even wondered if you were going to make it until your fever broke.”

Sarah had a vague memory of someone holding her hand, keeping her anchored to reality, as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She remembered dreams of being transported to another world, where Thunder Bay didn’t exist and a castle stood at the top of Hillcrest Park. Was that a dream? She wasn’t sure. That part was more vivid than the others. She remembered standing on the shore of Lake Superior, seeing the Sleeping Giant and turning back to see a castle. The castle where Christine was being held! It hadn’t been a dream!

“Hillard? What’s going on? How could any of this be possible?” she asked weakly, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“I’m not really sure how to answer that right now. I mean, I know the answer, but I have to think about this for a bit. I can’t have you fainting on me again. How about you let Adalaide give you some soup, and then you can show me that you’re feeling better before we start throwing any more craziness at you. Okay?”

Sarah nodded. Part of her wanted to know the truth right now, but the other part of her just wanted to crawl back under the covers and pretend that she was at home safe and sound. Hillard looked at her intently for a moment, almost as if he wanted to come back and say something more, but instead he spun abruptly on his heel and left the room.

Sarah looked around the room. She was in a spacious, comfortable bed. The mattress was soft, if a bit lumpy, and there was a homemade quilt covering her. The other furniture in the room was also simple. There was a dresser, made of wood, and a small mirror that hung from the wall above it. A wooden brush and comb set rested on the dresser but nothing else cluttered its surface. There was a shelf on the wall opposite her bed, holding some knickknacks, mostly made of wood and carved to resemble animals. A wooden chair was positioned at the head of the bed, presumably so that Hillard and his friend could take care of her while she had been unconscious. There was also a single window and it had thick, heavy dark blue curtains which were now closed.

A tall redheaded woman entered the room at that moment and saw Sarah staring at the window. “I think you could use some light,” she said, smiling. She laid the tray she had been carrying down on the dresser. Then she walked over to the window. She spread the curtains wide, allowing the bright sunshine outside to stream into the room, then turned and smiled at Sarah. “We were trying to keep things as dark and quiet for you as possible. You were very ill.” The woman, who Sarah guessed was Adalaide, walked back to the dresser and brought the tray with the soup on it over to Sarah. Sarah tried to sit up again, but the dizziness was too intense, and she lay back down, sighing resignedly.

“No problem. I will feed you. You have not eaten anything for two days. I am not surprised if you feel a little dizzy. We shall get some food into you and then see how you are.”

Sarah nodded gratefully. Her stomach was rumbling. Adalaide grabbed some extra pillows from the floor beside the dresser and helped to prop Sarah up into enough of a sitting position on the bed for her to eat. She stood back and looked at Sarah, as if ascertaining whether her patient was really well enough to eat or was going to collapse into unconsciousness again. Finally she nodded to herself, apparently satisfied. She picked up the soup and sat down on the chair beside the bed.

She fed a few spoonfuls of soup to her patient. Sarah ate absently, still trying to understand what was going on. After a moment, Adalaide put the spoon back into the bowl. She looked at Sarah for a moment, seeing that she seemed to be lost in thought.

“Do you need some time by yourself?” she asked, as if she really understood the mess of chaotic thoughts that were whirling through Sarah’s mind.

Sarah looked up at Adalaide gratefully. She really wasn’t in the mood to be talking to anyone. What she really needed was some time alone to think. Adalaide tucked the bed covers around Sarah, making sure that she was safely sitting up in the bed, then handed the soup to her and left the room.

Sarah slowly sipped the delicious soup. It was a delightful vegetable mix – not hot enough to burn her mouth, but warm enough to sooth her still-irritated throat. It wasn’t all that different from something she might have eaten back home when she was sick. Laying here, eating soup, she found it very hard to believe that there was anything out of the ordinary in her current situation.

Sarah finished her soup and lay back on the bed, pushing the extra pillows to the side. Her thoughts were tumultuous and wandering back and forth between worrying about her sister and trying to make sense of the differences between the surroundings in which she found herself and the Thunder Bay she knew. Her thoughts kept chasing themselves in circles and her tired brain eventually could not keep up anymore and she fell asleep.

When she awoke, she found Hillard once again sitting in the chair beside her bed. They just stared at each other intensely for several minutes before Hillard finally spoke.

“What do you know about vampires?”

Sarah was taken aback by the truly unexpected question. That was the last thing she had expected to hear when Hillard finally decided to explain to her what the hell was going on. There was a very long pause while Sarah contemplated how to answer before she finally spoke. Finally, she took a deep breath and decided to just list what she knew, rather than try to figure out where Hillard was going with this bizarre line of questioning.

“Well, I know the stories started in Romania. And there was a book about Dracula, who was apparently the first of his kind.”

Hillard smiled, seeming simultaneously relieved that she had recognized the word and amused at her use of the word story. “Well, I’ve never heard the story of Dracula. Are there any real vampires in your world?”

There it was – out in the open. This was not her world. Sarah focused on those last three words for a moment before actually processing the rest of the question.

“Real vampires? Well, I don’t think so. Of course, there are always those people who read novels by people like Anne Rice because they find the idea of being outcast and undead very appealing. They seem to want to believe. But real vampires? No. I don’t believe in them.”

Hillard stared at her intently for a moment. “Well, that tells me something. What is the ruling structure like in your world?”

The phrase ‘ruling structure’ seemed like a strange way to describe politics. Sarah again had to

“Well, I guess it depends on the country. Canada has a democratic system, as do a lot of countries in the world, to varying degrees. Some still have monarchies with kings and queens, and others have dictatorships with only one ruler. I think there are also a few ruled by various religious bodies.”

“And are there many different countries?” Hillard asked.

“Of course,” answered Sarah.

“And do you know of one called Deutschland?” Hillard spoke carefully.

Sarah paused for a moment. She didn’t know any countries by that name, but it sounded vaguely familiar. It reminded her of her college years, when she was taking courses to be a medical secretary. But it clearly had nothing to do with medical terminology. The only other classes she had taken were her electives in Human Sexuality and her German course. German, of course! Deutschland was the word for Germany in the German language!

“Germany is what we call it in English, but yes, it’s a country in Central Europe.”

Now Sarah recognized the strange accent that pervaded Hillard’s speech. German!

“Are you German?” asked Sarah.

Hillard smiled, “Almost everyone around here is.” He stopped again for a moment, and then stood. “I must think about what you’ve told me before continuing,” he said, “I’ll return soon.”

Sarah just stared after him as he walked out of the room.  She felt more confused than ever now!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christine just sat at the table and stared at Lord Radek. She didn’t know how to react to his revelation that her sister was in the company of a supposed vampire. She was more shocked and horrified, however, to recognize the resemblance between the ‘dinner’ scene depicted on the tapestry in her room and the scene in which she now found herself.  In fact, aside from the fact that the other guests were missing, she could almost imagine that she had stepped, in true Alice in Wonderland style, into the tapestry itself.

Lord Radek sipped the thick dark red substance from his glass and chuckled.

Christine didn’t know how to respond to him at all. This situation was becoming more and more bizarre.

“A vampire? Are you kidding me?” she asked, unable to wrap her mind around the concept, or around what she saw even now right in front of her.

Lord Radek smiled. “Do you not believe in vampires, my dear?” he asked, his smile becoming a smirk. “Or is it that you have something against us as a species?”

Christine’s eyes widened at his blatant assertion that he was also a vampire. She knew the myths of course, and the stories. She was even a bit of an Anne Rice fan, but to take it one step further and assert that the stories were true? Part of her felt that, after the events of the past few days, it was entirely within this new realm of possibility she was trapped in. A much stronger part of her, however, insisted that she must deny what he was saying, and what she was thinking, in order to keep herself sane.

“At this point,” she admitted, “I don’t know what to believe. And, honestly, I thought I was invited down here for dinner.  I don’t want to talk about these things right now.”

Lord Radek chuckled again. Christine felt like she was a never-ending source of amusement for him and she wanted nothing more than to leave and go back to her beautiful prison, even if it meant that she would be alone again.

Various servants began bringing food into the room. Christine took a small portion of each dish; Lord Radek took none. Whenever he finished his glass of ‘wine,’ a servant brought him another.

Christine ate silently, barely tasting the food. She didn’t want to think about Lord Radek’s vampire comments, but found herself unable to think of anything else. Again, she considered the bizarre events of the past few days. Was the existence of vampires any more ridiculous than the existence of a fog that acted as some sort of gate between worlds? Finally, as she finished the food on her plate, Christine finally looked back over at Lord Radek only to find him studying her carefully – as he had presumably been doing the entire time she had been eating.

“Suppose I did believe in vampires?” She began cautiously. “Shouldn’t I be horror-struck that my sister’s with one? Or,” she asserted, a reckless gleam in her eyes, “perhaps because I’m with one as well?”  She waited to see Lord Radek’s response, desperately hoping that she hadn’t pushed him too far.

Lord Radek’s green eyes, however, lit up with delight and he laughed quietly yet again.

“I knew you had intelligence, my Christine. I have felt how deeply your emotions run, but I fully admit that I have been more curious as to whether your brains match your beauty. Oh,” he sighed, “you are so very tempting to me.”

Christine didn’t like the hungry gleam in his eyes. Even as a wave of indignation began to rise within her, she began to feel a sleepy sense of comfort blanket her. Before she was overwhelmed, however, she blurted out, “So, what, you’re tempted to feed on me? Is that right?”

Lord Radek stood up from his chair and went to stand behind Christine. She felt his hands on the back of her neck, then the brush of his fingertips as he brushed her curly blond hair aside to whisper in her ear. “Feed on you? That I have done many times, and you are sweet indeed. You tempt me to do so much more – things that are forbidden to me.”

Christine wanted to move, to jump up from her chair and flee – flee this room, flee this castle, flee this world – but she was frozen. Part of her was screaming inside, but another part of her waited in eager anticipation for what would come next. It all felt familiar. Then she felt Lord Radek’s sweet kiss on her neck and knew the truth. He had fed on her before; this was not the first time. And … she liked it!

Read Chapter 9 next Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six

 

Hillard had been watching Sarah’s reaction at seeing the land mass stretching out across the lake. He watched her turn back and forth from the lake to the castle on the hill and back again with pity. He had been born in this world, so he’d never experienced what she was feeling first hand, but he’d seen a similar reaction several times in others and it never got any easier to watch.

As Sarah slumped to the ground, he rushed forward to catch her but, despite his more- than-human speed, he was too late. He knelt beside her and gazed down at her pale face. Her light brown shoulder-length hair was fanned around her face like a halo and she looked achingly beautiful. The feverish flush only added to her loveliness. He gently stroked her cheek and his finger trailed down the surface of her face, and along the side of her throat. There he paused.

He mustn’t even think about it. It had been days since he had fed, but they would be at Adalaide’s cottage soon enough. With a sigh, he reached his right hand behind her shoulders and took hold behind her knees with the left. Rising, he could feel the heat from her fever through her clothing, and he swore softly. She was very ill.

On a positive note, however, he could now move at his full speed, and they would be at Adalaide’s cottage in mere moments.  Carefully, he picked his way back through the forest to the point where the road met the path. Neither branch nor twig touched Sarah as he passed.

Once he reached the path, however, he sped up, moving at a speed that would be unnaturally fast for a human. He was not human, however, he was something more. He had been human once, but that was more than fifty years ago.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Christine awoke, it was dark. She felt slow and groggy. Trying to wake up fully, she felt like she was swimming up toward the surface of a warm deep pool. She wondered if she had been drugged. She tried to think back and determine whether every time she’d had something to eat she’d felt the same irresistible urge to sleep. It would have been an easy explanation, but Christine realized that she had felt constantly tired since she had first awoken in the castle. It could have something to do with the knock she had taken on the head.

    After a few minutes of deep breathing, she was finally awake enough to sit up. She felt weak and feverish and she wondered if she had caught Sarah’s cold. That could also explain the sleepiness. It didn’t have to be something as nefarious as drugging or as medically worrisome as a concussion.

    Getting out of bed, she sighed as her feet came to rest on the cold floor. She slowly walked over to the dressing table and sat down. There was a basin of cool water there and she was happy for the opportunity to finally wash herself, if even in such a limited fashion. What she wouldn’t give for a nice hot bath right now. The chilly water, however, felt cool and refreshing on her tired sweaty face. The water finally washed away the remnants of sleep and she got up again and walked over to her bedroom window.

    She hadn’t looked outside again since she had first arrived in her room. Now, she gazed out and saw, in the light of the half moon, the Sleeping Giant reclining across the bay.

    Christine wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but she knew that she hadn’t been transported to some European castle while she was unconscious. The view she saw now was very nearly the same as the one she saw every day from the kitchen in her apartment in Waverly Towers. Now that her head was clearing, she tried to understand how such a situation could be possible. She thought back to Saturday afternoon, which was the last time that she had known things were normal. She and Sarah had left her apartment at around two in the afternoon, driving south towards the border to the United States. It had started out sunny and they had been chatting and laughing about their hangovers and their over-indulgences from the night before. Then they had hit bad weather. That was where things had started to become strange – in the fog. Everything had been weird since then.

    Gerwin and Elke had been nice enough. Their house had been remarkably quaint, but it wasn’t as if Christine had never heard of people who pulled away from today’s overly technologically-obsessed society. In fact, she’d even had a friend who had grown up in a rural area located just outside of Thunder Bay, in a small house with no running water and an outhouse as the only bathroom. So Christine hadn’t been overly concerned about the simplicity of Gerwin and Elke’s living conditions.

    However, in retrospect, when combined with the sudden transformation of the highway from pavement to gravel, the complete lack of houses or any other signs of civilization along the road, and now finding herself in a castle located in the middle of what should have been Thunder Bay, Christine was starting to realise that something was seriously amiss.

    “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” she joked aloud to herself, and then became more solemn as she thought about her sister. She wondered if Sarah was still waiting for her in the car or if she had left it and was now walking down the empty road, not understanding what had happened to them or where they were. Perhaps she, too, had been captured and was now trapped in the castle wondering where Christine was.

    With that thought, she released the latch on the window and let the glass swing into the room. Her intent had been to lean out the window and see what she could of the castle, but she stopped when she saw the thick metal bars blocking the way.

    “Christine, you’re seriously trapped here,” she said aloud, using the calmness of her spoken voice to still her inner self and prevent the scream that was bubbling up inside her from coming to fruition.

    She had no way to escape. She was completely trapped in this room, in this castle, at the mercy of a crazy man. Her mind started working methodically, her eyes searching the dim room for some weakness, some hope of escape.

    Systematically, she began at the window and began to carefully inspect her room. Her walls, like the walls in the room downstairs, were covered in tapestries, the purpose of which seemed to be both as decoration and as insulation against the cold seeping in from outside through the stone walls. The room was sparsely furnished, with only the bed, the dressing table, and a wardrobe lining the walls, leaving an enormous empty space in the middle of the room, which was covered by a lavish oriental-style rug.

    She went over to the dressing table, inspecting it as if seeing it for the very first time. It was made of heavy redwood, expertly crafted, the surface gleaming in the dim light of the moon. There was an oval mirror at the back, with artistic carvings of nude women surrounding the glass. It seemed like an odd motif for a ladies’ dressing table.

    Christine went back to the tapestry lining the wall beside the window. She inspected it more cautiously, taking careful note of the design and decorative aspect of the piece. The picture was simple, but disturbing. It depicted a dinner scene in a large dining room. There were twelve people seated at the table, with one man at the head. Strangely, he had numerous wine glasses in front of him, all empty except for some residue of what looked like red wine. That’s what Christine assumed it was until her gaze travelled to a man on the far end of the table. He held a blade to his wrist, and blood was dropping down the blade and into a wine glass.

    Christine stared at the tapestry scene in fascinated horror. Was it some sort of religious blood sacrifice? It was a very strange choice of art to hang in a bedroom. Of course, nothing here had seemed normal since she and Sarah had come through the fog.

    There was a noise at the door and Giselle entered. She looked at Christine for a moment, then finally spoke, a distrustful look on her face.

    “The master would like you to join him for dinner,” she said. There was an almost angry tone to her voice.

    Christine saw this as an opportunity to get out of the beautiful but stifling room and see more of the castle. If she was going to escape, she had to at least have some idea of where she was. When she was first brought up to this room, she hadn’t thought to inspect her surroundings. All she remembered was a blur of grey stone walls and cold stone floors. She couldn’t remember in which direction they had travelled or even what exact floor she was on. In effect, she was lost in the castle with no idea of how to get out.

    Another thought crossed her mind. Perhaps she would see Gervis when she was out of her room, walking in the castle. Maybe he could still help her to escape. He had suggested something like that when he had come to her the first night. Thinking about it more, she stopped that thought before she could get her hopes up. She couldn’t risk getting herself or Gervis in trouble, and Lord Radek had made it all too clear that they were not to see each other. Christine finally decided to just pretend to ignore Gervis if she saw him, only giving him some sign of recognition and friendliness if she had a moment when no one else was looking.

    Giselle was still staring at her impatiently. Christine had the distinct impression that the woman didn’t like her or approve of her for some reason, aside from her responsibility in getting Gervis in trouble.

    “Oh, of course I’ll have dinner with him. But I don’t have any clothes except for this nightgown.” She had been wearing the nightgown when she had first awoken in the dungeon. By this time it was dirty and smelled of old sweat. Christine wondered who had undressed her when she had first arrived at the castle – Gervis, or one of the guards. She blushed, but hoped that it had been Gervis. The thought of one of those smelly, unkempt guards touching her naked body revolted her.

    Giselle snorted and walked over to the wardrobe. Throwing the doors open wide, she exposed a plethora of silks and satins in a wide variety of colours.  Christine gasped.  She had never seen such a huge assortment of beautiful clothing in her entire life.

      “But will they fit?” Christine asked, incredulous that such an extravagant wardrobe could be available to her.

    “Of course they will. Master picked them out especially for you,” muttered Giselle.

    Christine had no idea how Lord Radek could know her size, let alone when he could have had them brought to her room and deposited in the wardrobe.

    Fifteen minutes later she was dressed. Red satin flowed around her and she felt more elegant than she had ever felt before in her life. There had even been a selection of dainty slippers lining the bottom of the wardrobe. She put her hair back in a braid, fastening it in a loop on top of her head, wishing that her room had a shower or a bath. Her hair was stringy and greasy and in desperate need of a wash. It seemed like there was no indoor plumbing at all in this … wherever she was.  She had been using a chamber pot similar to the one at Gerwin and Elke’s for the last few days.

    Giselle marched in again, looked Christine over from head to toe, and nodded.

    “That will do,” she said, lips pursed in disapproval. “Follow me.”

    Christine followed Giselle obediently out of her room. They turned left and walked down a long hallway, dark except for some candles elaborately mounted on the wall in metal candelabras. Near the end of the hall, two staircases lined the walls, one ascending and one descending. They took the one on the left and it led down to a stylish entrance hall. Near the beginning of the hall was a door leading off to the right and there they entered the dining room.

    Lord Radek sat at the head of the table and something about the scene seemed oddly familiar. He motioned for her to take a seat to his right. There were numerous chairs running down either side of the grand table. Christine walked with trepidation down to the seat Lord Radek had indicated and sat down.

    “You look … lovely Christine,” Lord Radek murmured seductively. “Normally I do not ask my … guests … to join me for dinner, but I could not resist the opportunity to spend some more time with you.” He looked mockingly towards the door through which she had entered. “However, I do not think Giselle approves of my choice of dinner companion.”

    Christine glanced over and saw Giselle standing in the doorway. She had looked up just in time to see the stern look of disapproval on the woman’s face swiftly change to abject horror as she scurried out. Apparently, Giselle was fearful of her employer.

    “What exactly do you mean when you say that I’m your guest?” Christine asked, overcoming her own fear and daring to ask a direct question.

    “Well, I am sure you have noticed some peculiarities about your current situation, hmmm?” Lord Radek’s face seemed to hold a permanently mocking expression.

    “Well, yes,” Christine said. She paused and then decided that it was best to be direct. “I know that the fog had something to do with it. This isn’t the same Thunder Bay that we left on Saturday.” Christine mentally gasped as she realised that, by using the pronoun we, she had potentially given her sister away.

    Lord Radek smiled as he correctly interpreted the flicker of horror that she had unsuccessfully tried to keep from her face. “Do not worry my dear. I know all about your sister. You will be happy to know that she is safe, for the moment. I am not completely certain for how long however, because she is keeping some questionable company.”

    “You’ve seen Sarah? Can I see her?” Christine was too shocked to hide her joy at finding out that her sister was okay.

    “Well, as I said, I do not entirely approve of the company she is keeping. She was found by someone of whom I have been aware and watching for some time. He is a bit of a renegade in these parts and I actually should have taken care of him by now. I am really quite interested to see how the whole situation plays out, to tell you the truth.”

    “Who’s she with? Is he dangerous? Do you think he’ll hurt her?” Christine was frantic to obtain more information about her sister.

    “I do not really know. That is the fascinating thing about Hillard. He seems to be fighting against his very nature. He does not seem to want to accept what he is.”

    “What do you mean by that? What is he?” Christine was confused.

    Lord Radek sighed, lifted his glass, filled with a thick red liquid, and took a sip. “Well, my dear,” he said, chuckling softly, “I am afraid that Hillard is a vampire.” He looked up and his shining emerald eyes looked deeply into Christine’s.

    With those words, Christine realized why this room had seemed so familiar. She froze, her gaze locking with that of Lord Radek. The picture from the tapestry . . .  The blood in the glasses . . . The man at the head of the table. It had been this room!

Read Chapter 8 next Wednesday, November16th, 2011 . . .

 

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