dream.
Who is this creature, and why are even the undead afraid of his name?
Arminius! Arminius, my rescuer of times past, do not remain silent any longer. Help me!
Chapter 3
Zsuzsanna Draculs Diary
3 May 1893.
She has come!
I was lying in my casket, having awakened hours before but too overwhelmed with exhaustion to rouse myself; there seemed no purpose in doing so, at any rate. I felt like a dying woman who, at Gods insistence, was forced to live beyond my time. I desired nothing more than to be released from my suffering.
And as I lay, I detected voices within the castle. At first they were only barely audible murmurs, and in my self-pitying weakness, I paid no heed. (Once I would have heard them distinctly, but my ability had faded to the degree that I could distinguish only the voice and the cadence, but not the words.) They continued for some time, and then they neared, so that I could recognise one of them: Vlad spoke with the tone of a cordial host, which thus far I have only heard him use to welcome victims.
And then I heard another voiceone that, for a moment, I mistook for a mans, for it was deep and throaty and so utterly, confidently sensual that I thought, I am in love Thus I naturally assumed that the visitor he had been expecting had arrived, but the thought evoked only pale joy. I knew that Vlad would tend first to his own hunger, leaving only the dregs for me and Dunya. If, in hopes of getting more, I dared interrupt him as he fed, his rage might very well prompt him to deny me so much as a single drop.
Then came silence; or so I think, for I drowsed a time.
But I came to myself at once when suddenly this other laughed, an utterly joyous sound which for an instant rose so high that I realised I was hearing instead the voice of a woman.
Elisabeth
Why did the knowledge of her arrival fill me with excitement? I cannot say, for certainly I found in her far, far more than I could have anticipated; and I am damned, therefore I dare not trust in the kindly interventions of God or fate. I only know that I rose from my resting place at once and hurried down the corridor and up the stairs to Vlads private chambers, from whence the laughter had originated.
And when I arrived, I flung open the door without so much as a knock.
There before a burning fireplace stood Vlad, still ancient and white-haired, but clearly more vigorous than he had been of late. His lips had taken on a rosy hue, his shoulders were no longer stooped but straight and square, and for the first time in years, he was in an excellent humour. But his smile faded instantly at the sight of me, and his eyes flared red. I knew at once that I would bear the brunt of his wrath again for my interruption.
But I cared not, for my gaze had fallen upon Elisabeth.
To say that she was comely is to slight her. I am lovely beyond any mortalthis I know from looking at Dunya, and from the portrait that hangs upon my wall (though Dunya says oils cannot do justice to the shimmering phosphorescence of my skin, or the molten golden gleam in my eyes).
But Elisabeth! She was beyond beauty: regal as a queen in a modern plumed cap and fitted satin gown of pewter-blue, with sapphire eyes to match, and skin as fine and white as an infant childs, save where the tenderest pink bloomed upon her cheeks and lips. Her hair was tied at the nape of her necka delicate porcelain swans neck, with the most bewitching hollow at the collarboneand the curls brought forward onto one shoulder, where in the fires glow they shone pale golden as the sun.
She was as fair as I am dark, and at that instant, had she been a man, I would have fallen utterly in love. Even so, I believe I cried out weakly in awe; and when she turned her brilliant, omniscient gaze on me, I feared I would faint.
Vlad, Vlad, said she, in a voice deep as Lake Hermannstadt and soft as smoke. Will you not grant me the pleasure of introducing me to this lovely lady?
The question brought tears to my eyes, for I
Who is this creature, and why are even the undead afraid of his name?
Arminius! Arminius, my rescuer of times past, do not remain silent any longer. Help me!
Chapter 3
Zsuzsanna Draculs Diary
3 May 1893.
She has come!
I was lying in my casket, having awakened hours before but too overwhelmed with exhaustion to rouse myself; there seemed no purpose in doing so, at any rate. I felt like a dying woman who, at Gods insistence, was forced to live beyond my time. I desired nothing more than to be released from my suffering.
And as I lay, I detected voices within the castle. At first they were only barely audible murmurs, and in my self-pitying weakness, I paid no heed. (Once I would have heard them distinctly, but my ability had faded to the degree that I could distinguish only the voice and the cadence, but not the words.) They continued for some time, and then they neared, so that I could recognise one of them: Vlad spoke with the tone of a cordial host, which thus far I have only heard him use to welcome victims.
And then I heard another voiceone that, for a moment, I mistook for a mans, for it was deep and throaty and so utterly, confidently sensual that I thought, I am in love Thus I naturally assumed that the visitor he had been expecting had arrived, but the thought evoked only pale joy. I knew that Vlad would tend first to his own hunger, leaving only the dregs for me and Dunya. If, in hopes of getting more, I dared interrupt him as he fed, his rage might very well prompt him to deny me so much as a single drop.
Then came silence; or so I think, for I drowsed a time.
But I came to myself at once when suddenly this other laughed, an utterly joyous sound which for an instant rose so high that I realised I was hearing instead the voice of a woman.
Elisabeth
Why did the knowledge of her arrival fill me with excitement? I cannot say, for certainly I found in her far, far more than I could have anticipated; and I am damned, therefore I dare not trust in the kindly interventions of God or fate. I only know that I rose from my resting place at once and hurried down the corridor and up the stairs to Vlads private chambers, from whence the laughter had originated.
And when I arrived, I flung open the door without so much as a knock.
There before a burning fireplace stood Vlad, still ancient and white-haired, but clearly more vigorous than he had been of late. His lips had taken on a rosy hue, his shoulders were no longer stooped but straight and square, and for the first time in years, he was in an excellent humour. But his smile faded instantly at the sight of me, and his eyes flared red. I knew at once that I would bear the brunt of his wrath again for my interruption.
But I cared not, for my gaze had fallen upon Elisabeth.
To say that she was comely is to slight her. I am lovely beyond any mortalthis I know from looking at Dunya, and from the portrait that hangs upon my wall (though Dunya says oils cannot do justice to the shimmering phosphorescence of my skin, or the molten golden gleam in my eyes).
But Elisabeth! She was beyond beauty: regal as a queen in a modern plumed cap and fitted satin gown of pewter-blue, with sapphire eyes to match, and skin as fine and white as an infant childs, save where the tenderest pink bloomed upon her cheeks and lips. Her hair was tied at the nape of her necka delicate porcelain swans neck, with the most bewitching hollow at the collarboneand the curls brought forward onto one shoulder, where in the fires glow they shone pale golden as the sun.
She was as fair as I am dark, and at that instant, had she been a man, I would have fallen utterly in love. Even so, I believe I cried out weakly in awe; and when she turned her brilliant, omniscient gaze on me, I feared I would faint.
Vlad, Vlad, said she, in a voice deep as Lake Hermannstadt and soft as smoke. Will you not grant me the pleasure of introducing me to this lovely lady?
The question brought tears to my eyes, for I
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