“Really? Are you not a vampire?” He smiled at me, flashing, to my surprise, sharp little fangs. “Your kind gave birth to my kind. I can smell you, feel you, like a pulse in my head.”

I drew myself up and tried to look as aristocratic and imposing as possible. “Be gone with you.”

He threw back his head and laughed, then cut the laughter off as he fastened his deadly gaze on me. “No.”

It was then that I saw the tiny silver daggers tucked into the sleeves of his long black coat. He raised one hand, his long fingers twitching over one.

“Come now, devil’s bride, the time of your salvation draws near,” Gregor said with a taunting smile.

I turned and ran.

“I do so enjoy it when your kind runs. It makes the hunt that much more exciting,” his voice taunted on the night wind.

I dashed down the road, my feet barely touching the ground. Frantic to escape, I tried to pull my power up, but found it waning. I had yet to feed and my power was diminished.

His feet were light on the road behind me and I could hear him easily pacing me. I reached the bridge that crossed the Danube to Buda and glanced back over my shoulder to see him drawing near.

Drawing his arm back, I saw the glint of silver. I ducked away as the dagger whistled through the air and impacted with the ground in front of me. He flung another dagger at me and I fell to the ground. Keeping my eyes on the assassin, I scrambled backwards like a spider. Drawing on my waning power, I drew the night around me like a cloak, rendering myself invisible to all that would gaze in my direction.

Gregor dropped onto the ground as I vanished from his sight. Crouching low, he began to slowly advance on where I had been. A dagger clutched in each hand, sweeping his arms about, his eyes sparkled with lethal intensity as he sought me out.

I backed away quickly, on my toes and fingertips. I could not seem to get enough distance between the dhamphir and myself. He seemed to instinctively follow in my wake. Suddenly, he jabbed out at me. I leaped back, flipped over, and landed in a flurry of skirts. He was right before me, crouched. I kicked him so hard, his head audibly snapped back.

Turning, I ran across the bridge, desperate, terrified, and calling forth every bit of power I had left. At last, I felt it filling me so I threw out my arms and soared upwards.

The wind embraced me, lifting me higher, my skirts fluttering about my feet. Feeling a great sense of relief, I drew my cloak around me and glided toward the estate where Vlad and I had made our new home.

“I know you are there,” came a mocking voice from behind me.

I twisted about to see the dhamphir hovering in the air, his long coat fluttering around him. Slowly he raked his gaze over the panoramic vista this high altitude afforded us.

He began to fly in wide swoops like some hellish demon, laughing malevolently. “I may not see you, but I can sense you, little vampire.”

I turned and flew as swiftly as I could.

“Come here, little vampire,” he sing-songed behind me as he flew in circles.

I panicked and twisted about, trying to find him. I slammed into the spire of a huge church and dug my long nails into the stone in desperation. Every attempt I made to elude the dangerous assassin had failed thus far. Gregor was cunning and he was merciless in his pursuit. His lean body sluiced through the night sky and swept around the church as his shrewd pale eyes sought me out.

I used my dwindling power to push up a barrier between the assassin and me. I could feel it rapidly fading and this frightened me. It would only be a matter of time before my attacker would see through my defenses and engage me in battle. I was a strong vampire, that I was sure of, but I was not well versed in physical combat. Also, I had not fed and was weakened. Gregor’s vicious determination terrified me.

Gregor flew about, orbiting around me. Laughing malevolently, he searched for me as I prayed silently to the God I was not sure could still hear my cries. I felt utterly alone and terrified, not sure what I should do.

Drawing back sharply as Gregor swung close by me, I gasped. Perhaps he heard the sharp intake of my breath, for he whirled about and threw a dagger straight at me.

With vampire swiftness, I plunged to one side, trying to avoid the knife that I saw streaking toward me. But my movements were not swift enough to avoid the knife. It embedded in my arm instead of my breast. I cried out as I fell forward, tumbling off the spire and into the cold night breeze.

Gregor heard me cry out and followed the sound, closing in on me as his body swooped toward me. Another knife streaked through the night and I caught it in my right thigh. My powers flickered, then I impacted with the ground.

With a shout of triumph, the assassin dropped down on the cobblestone road and began edging forward, leaning low, and clutching two wicked daggers in his pale white hands.

I pulled the knives out of my body and fought down a whimper of pain. Something in the metal was burning my flesh, scorching me from within. I sensed Gregor moving toward me and I pushed my powers up as fiercely as I could as I climbed to my feet.

“Little wicked bride of the devil, I can feel you,” he hissed, swaying back and forth as he approached me. His eyes flicked over the shadows as he searched for me.

I flung the knives at him as hard as I could.

Gregor simply reached up and plucked them out of the air. “Thank you for returning my children.”

I turned and ran, desperate to escape, overwhelmed by what was happening. How could such blissful happiness be followed by this hell?

Gregor pursued me, his hearing evidently keen enough to follow my footfalls. I had not the power to take flight again.

My body was burning with pain. I could not fight the agonizing fire welling up within me. The knives had to be some sort of evil magic to do this to me. Never had I felt such intense pain.

Behind me, Gregor’s laughter taunted me.

I ducked around a corner and tried to propel myself upwards. My powers did not respond. I felt my shields fading and knew that soon I would be exposed, visible to all. The pain, a fire, fierce and consuming, rippled through my body. I staggered and fell against the doorway of a mortal dwelling. Fear, stark, and malevolent overwhelmed me.

“Oh, there you are,” Gregor whispered.

I had not even realized I was visible to him until he grabbed me from behind. A knife against my throat, he pulled me into the street. His stale breath was cold against the back of my neck and I whimpered as I trembled.

“Who are you, pretty little one? What is your name and who is your Master?”

I clutched his arm with both my hands and tried to keep my feet under me. I am loathe to admit it, but I am rather petite. He was much taller than I and my toes barely touched the ground. My vampire powers had abandoned me and I felt as weak as a mortal.

Gregor lifted me off the ground and swung me around to slam me up against the side of the building. He shoved me hard against the wall, his free hand sliding down over my body. I was not sure if he was accosting me or searching for some sort of identifying possession, but I could feel the putrid press of his arousal against my back through our clothing. Frightened and bitterly angry, I tried to bite into his arm, but he sensed the movement and slammed my face into the wall.

“None of that, Bride of Satan,” he said gruffly.

The hand sliding over my body became more aggressive, beginning to fondle me.

“Leave me be,” I hissed through swollen lips.

“Not until you tell me who you are and who is your Master,” Gregor responded in my ear, then licked it.

I was repulsed by the touch of his lean body against mine as I struggled against him. The cold press of the blade against my throat ceased my defiant movements. Gregor let the blade nick my skin lightly and laughed nastily in my ear. I shuddered with pain and disgust, trying to remain calm. For one desperate moment, I wished Vlad would save me.

“Who is your Master? Where does he live,” Gregor demanded. He began to nuzzle the back of my head, licking my neck with his cold, oily tongue.

My flesh crawled as I pressed my lips tightly together. I could not betray Vlad. Besides, Gregor would kill me the moment I revealed that truth to him.

“You will not answer, will you, wench? Well, we shall see about that,” he growled in my ear.

With his knife he sliced open my frock and gruffly drew it back, exposing my breasts. Roughly fondling one, he pressed the knife against the other. “Tell me, whore, who is your Master.”

“No,” I whispered through my bruised lips.

Gregor shoved the knife slowly into the soft flesh of my breast. Again, the metal burned and I screamed. “I enjoy this. I really do. I could make this last for hours, little one.”

“I will not tell you,” I hissed at him. “I know if I tell you the truth, you will slay me instantly.” Fervently, I wished for Vlad to come to my rescue.

Gregor just laughed and shoved the knife in further. “I will slice off your pretty breast then start with the other one if you do not tell me who your Master is and where is his haven. Do you not want to keep your pretty breasts?”

“Go to hell,” I swore at him angrily.

Gregor chuckled, such an ugly sound, and shoved the knife in further, making me scream. “What is the name of your Master?”

I shrieked with agony as tears poured down my face. “I will never tell you.”

Was this how I was to meet my fate? In a dirty alley with a disgusting creature assaulting me? It seemed too awful considering how happy I had been just a few moments before, but my world was now full of excruciating pain and there seemed no salvation. I prayed once more, fervently, desperately, begging God to deliver me.

“Go to hell!” I struggled to be free of him, but the knife sank further and I screamed again.

The shadows about us rippled. A murky form suddenly slammed into us, knocking the knives out of Gregor’s hands. The assassin jerked back in surprise, loosening his grip on me long enough for me to break free in one desperate move.

Gregor grabbed after me, but he was tossed across the street by an unseen force. His lean body crashed into the wall of the imposing building towering over us and his face was torn open by the impact. Blood poured out of a huge gash in his forehead and ran down his pale face, blinding him. Grunting with rage, Gregor staggered into the street, slicing the air with his knife in a futile attempt to stave off any attack.

Stumbling, sobbing, desperate to escape and tormented by excruciating pain, I was nearly delirious. Looking back, I saw Gregor gripped by an unseen force and slammed back into the wall. This time it was hard enough to stun him, rendering him near unconsciousness as he slumped to the ground.

Terrified, I struggled on, trying to escape.

A swirl of shadows pressed up around me and I screamed with fright. The gloom overwhelmed me, engulfing me, and just when I thought I would die of fear, I felt arms encircling me.

“It is I, Lady Glynis,” the voice of the gentleman vampire whispered in my ear.

Then he clutched me to him, lifting me into the night sky. Below us, Gregor raised his head and howled in pain and frustration.

Chapter 23

The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright– Continued

Buda/Pesth, Hungary

I clung to my savior as he swept me away.

“Do not be afraid,” he whispered. “I have you now, and he is too wounded to follow. He will heal, but not soon enough to follow.”

“His knives burned like fire,” I whispered.

I was bundled up into his arms like a child. They were strong in their grip and I felt quite safe. The world was a blur of motion around me. I could tell by the stench that we were in Pesth. The strong smells of food, garbage, human waste, and mortal desperation mingled in my nostrils. I pressed my face firmly into his neck, my wounds throbbing with terrible ferocity.

Then we were on the ground and my body jostled in his grasp as he rushed over the rocky road. He pushed open a door with his shoulder and heaved me inside. Setting me down, he leaned me against a wall and set about securing the door. The pain was savage, making me weak and my eyesight poor. I could feel my body burning, my blood fighting whatever infection had been inflicted upon me. Turning to me, the vampire slid his hands around my waist and helped me across the room toward a great stone coffin that rose up from the ground like a great altar to an ancient god.