The Vengeance of the Vampire Bride (29 page)

Closing his eyes, he leaned his
forehead upon mine. “I see.”

“I am yours.”

“And I am yours, my complicated
love.”

I drew him down into my arms and kissed
him feverishly. I craved his touch and love. His mouth passionately
consumed mine and I clung to him.

It was I who disrobed him and pressed
him down upon the bed so I could cover him with my kisses. It was I
who shrugged off my heavy dress and straddled him. It was I who
took him deep into my body between my thighs and made love to
him.

But it was Ignatius who took my face
between his hands and whispered the words that liberated me from my
fears.

“I will tell no one what you have
done.”

Chapter 19

The nightmare came as it
always does. I am asleep when Vlad Dracula manifests in my bed. I
always see his cruel green eyes, thick auburn hair, and strong
muscled shoulders. I feel his thick lips kissing my skin and his
strong body pressing down upon mine. I hear his deep voice purring
in my ear as his large hands rub over my body. I am always afraid,
aroused, and angry when the dream comes.

“Release me and we shall be
together again. Release me and I shall love you as before. Come to
me, free me, and we shall be together,” he says in my
dreams.

Sometimes I waken before he
thrusts into my body, but other times I am trapped within the dream
and writhe under him as he violates me.

This time his seduction was
the same, but then he became aware of the sleeping form beside me.
Anger bloomed in his eyes and his hands cruelly gripped my flesh. I
awakened with a scream as his rough hands shoved my thighs apart.
To feel Vlad enter me after my wonderful night with Ignatius was
too horrible to bear. I opened my eyes and cried out for Vlad’s
green eyes glowered down upon me.

“Ignatius!” My hand lashed
out to clutch Ignatius’s arm with trembling fingers.

He awoke and gasped. Gripping me close,
Ignatius ripped me away from the phantom.

Together, we bore witness to the power
of Dracula, for Vlad was a ghostly manifestation. His naked body
pushed up the covers where I had lain. The rage etched in his face
was terrifying as he lashed out with his hand to draw me
back.

“She is mine!” Vlad roared.

I whimpered, kicking at the image of my
Master as Ignatius pulled me free of the bed. He held me against
him protectively, glaring at the apparition.

“It is a projection of his spirit,”
Ignatius whispered in my ear. “He is not truly here. Do not be
afraid.”

“Oh, no! Be afraid!” Vlad shouted. His
image wavered slightly as he struggled to follow us. I felt weak at
the sight of him and clung to Ignatius. Vlad managed to free his
ghostly form from the bed and took a threatening step toward us. “I
shall kill you for touching her! I warned you,
Ignatius!”

“You may threaten me, but we know the
truth of it. You are weak and far from here,” Ignatius said in a
dangerous tone.

“You are trapped in your coffin!” I
snarled at Vlad, anger diminishing my fear. “Do not threaten us!
You cannot touch us!”

“I touch you every time you sleep,”
Vlad reminded me as his apparition struggled to draw closer to me.
His smirk was cruel. “I make you writhe, don’t I? Did she tell you
that, Ignatius?”

“You are powerless here, Vlad. Leave,”
Ignatius said in a voice I had never heard him use before. It was a
terrifyingly cold sound.

The specter faltered, growing dim. “I
shall return,” Vlad warned. “I may be weak now, but I will return.
You cannot keep me trapped forever, Glynis.”

“Yes, I can.” I lifted my chin
defiantly. “And I will.”

Vlad’s manifestation laughed as it
faded into the shadows. “This is not done between us,” he promised.
His presence receded like a tide, leaving the room feeling cold and
empty.

Crushing me against his chest, Ignatius
said, “He is gone.”

“I thought it was a dream. Every night
when I slept and he would come, I thought it was a dream.” My face
felt numb and my heart fluttered in my bosom. The terrible truth of
Vlad’s nightly visitations made me sick with disgust.

Loathe to return to the bed, we sank
down onto the floor together. Ignatius held me as I wept. I felt
sullied and grotesque, yet Ignatius held me as though I were
precious. His long fingers raked through my hair as he kissed my
brow and whispered sweet words of assurance.

“Do not torment yourself further over
his sins,” Ignatius urged me. “You are not accountable for what he
has done to you. We shall find a way to ward you against his
intrusions.”

“I wish you did not have to leave me.”
I saw that my tears were staining his chest and arms with blood. I
felt ashamed of my weakness.

“I will return as swiftly as I can.
That is my sacred promise to you.”

“How is he coming to me? Why is he
doing it?”

Ignatius tilted my head so he could
kiss my bloodied cheek. Then, his lips nuzzled against my skin, he
said, “Vlad is more than a mere vampire. There have long been
rumors that he studied the Black Arts. I suspect he is using some
sort of spell to cast his spirit to torment you. And, perhaps, he
is feeding from you somehow. I felt his power, Glynis. He is not as
weakened as you hoped. Perhaps you should tell me what you did to
him.”

Clasped in Ignatius’s arms, I told him
everything that had happened after we departed Buda. I even told of
the night I willingly gave into Vlad Dracula in my desperation to
find some solace. Though Ignatius flinched, he did not pull away.
Instead, he pressed kisses to my brow.

“The bond between a vampire and his
fledgling is powerful, Glynis. He will try to use it against you to
manipulate you.”

“In retrospect, I can see now how he
suspected that you were my lover and altered his interaction with
me in an attempt to seduce me from you. I admit I was a fool and
for a short time believed he truly may have loved me.”

“He does. In his own way, he does love
you.”

“It’s not true love. It wounds. It
hurts so deeply. It makes me feel as though I am dying and lost. It
is terrible and hateful.” My words flowed in a rush, tumbling over
each other as I once more reminded myself of their
truth.

“What happened next?”

In detail I described my confrontation
with Cneajna, Vlad’s angry arrival, and my decision to rise against
Vlad and vanquish him.

“I meant to kill him,” I confessed. “I
wanted him to die so he could no longer kill those I love. Instead,
he is in a torpor and trapped in his coffin. In his last moments,
he willed his blood and power to me.”

“He plans to return.” Ignatius’s voice
was weary and strained.

“That is what Magda also said. I feel
foolish. I thought it was some grand gesture of his demented love.”
I laughed bitterly, feeling like a fool. I would never truly love
Vlad Dracula. He had murdered me and my family and enslaved me in
my immortality. He had violated me, beaten me, and degraded me. But
some naïve aspect of my psyche had craved some sort of truce. I had
fooled myself briefly into believing there could be peace between
us. Of course, there never could be. My desire for freedom and my
love for Ignatius would always keep me from falling into the abyss
of Vlad’s evil.

Lifting my chin, Ignatius’s dark blue
eyes gazed solemnly into mine. “He believes he loves you and that
endangers you even more than you can imagine. He will do everything
he can to free himself from his entombment and reclaim you. I have
borne witness to the terror his love brings upon his women.” The
fear in Ignatius’s eyes was both a comfort and warning.

“Do not fear, Ignatius. I will not fall
prey to his seductions.”

“It is not his seductions that worry
me. It is the great lengths he will go to see that you are
his.”

I brushed my lips against his cheek,
feeling the slight black stubble of his beard against my mouth. His
eyes bore lines of worry about them. I curled my body against him,
my arms wrapped around his strong shoulders. He is leaner than
Vlad, but his body is masculine and muscled. It is a reminder of
our vastly different backgrounds. My softness comes from a life of
privilege and his body from a life of hardship. Yet now we are
equals in our love and our misery.

We are a fine pair.

“I am yours,” I whispered in his ear.
“Always and forever. Of this I have no doubt.”

His smile washed away the tension in
his face as he firmly kissed my lips. “Nor do I.”

At last we stumbled back to the bed and
reclaimed it as our own. Again, I fell asleep in his
arms.

Later-

I woke to the sound of
whispering voices. Stirring, I realized I was alone in my bed. I
rolled onto my side and gazed past the drapes of the canopy to see
Ignatius and Magda speaking. She had apparently brought him a
nightshirt and robe, which he now wore. His hair was mussed and his
beard more visible, but he was still quite handsome as he smiled
down at her.

“And he is doing
well?”

“Astir has given him small tasks to do
about the haven and has provided a tutor. I wish I could bring him
here, but with things such as they are, I dare not,” Magda
answered.

I could not help but smile. It is
Ignatius’s nature to think of others. It was that aspect of his
inner man that had brought us together. He had rescued me from the
vampire hunters and sealed our fate. Sitting up, I cast off the
coverlet and stretched my limbs.

“Night has come too soon,” I
grumbled.

Magda hurried over to help me into my
dressing gown, fussing with my tangled hair. “Oh, it shall be
unmanageable tonight,” she lamented.

“I like it unfettered.” Ignatius
reached past her to touch one curling lock.

My lips bowed upward as I gazed at him
lovingly.

“You’re not the one who has to deal
with it.” Magda gave him a sharp look and continued to try to bring
order to my curls.

“He’s the one who mussed it.” I beamed
as Magda threw up her hands in despair.

Chuckling, Ignatius lightly patted
Magda’s shoulder. “I’m certain you shall work your magic and it
shall be immaculate.”

“Her hair is just as difficult to deal
with at times as she is,” Magda grumbled, but her affection for me
tinged the harsh words.

“I am quite lovable.” I leaped from the
bed.

Ignatius sat at my vanity, looking
bemused. “Indeed you are, despite your many, terrible
flaws.”

I furrowed my brow at him. He reached
out to snag my wrist and draw me into his arms. I pretended to
resist, but went to him willingly.

Despite his impending departure, I was
happy. Sleeping in his arms and rising to see him fitting so
comfortably into my life was a salve to my torture psyche. Though I
enjoyed my friendships with Laura and Percy and my training times
with Adem, I realized how terribly lonely I had been without
Ignatius.

At my insistence, Magda
prepared a bath for my lover and I lingered at his side as he sank
into the warm water. Our conversation was superficial and
lighthearted for we had spoken of the darker things during the day
and set them behind us. Dwelling upon the difficulties and dangers
of our situation would only dampen our spirits and we both seem
inclined to enjoy our last moments together.

Dragging my fingers through
the steaming water, I smiled with contentment.

“I am surprised you haven’t killed the
baroness yet.” Ignatius’s wet hair clung to his neck and shoulders
as Magda washed it.

“I wish she would,” Magda
sniffed.

“Shush, you.” I pouted slightly. “It is
in my best interests to not slaughter her, but to bring her close
to me.”

“You’re plotting against her.” Ignatius
nodded his head with understanding.

I simply shrugged, watching Magda pour
warm water over Ignatius’s hair to rinse it. She was pleased with
his appearance in my life, but I could tell she was anxious about
his departure. It was Adem’s men who had brought in the water for
the bath - not Csilla’s servants - in an attempt to keep word of
Ignatius’s presence from reaching the ears of dangerous
creatures.

“If I were, would you condemn me?” I
tilted my head as I arched an eyebrow.

Shaking his damp head, he answered,
“No. Just be wise about it.”

“I am a person of some
intelligence.”

“Yes, and sometimes that is what
frightens me. What does go on in that head of yours?” Regarding me
thoughtfully, his face took on a grave expression.

“All sort of plots,” I admitted. “And
thoughts about you.”

My words returned his smile and he
reached out to touch my cheek affectionately. Above his head, I saw
Magda’s lips turn up slightly as she lifted a jug of warm water to
pour over Ignatius.