Queen of Twilight chapter 3

Chapter Three • First Blood

The next week passed swiftly, occupied by Elsabett's exploration of the massive castle as well as her training and outfitting by her new family. Vlad was surprised to find how well she could handle a sword, and was even more impressed when she produced a handful of throwing knives and demonstrated her well-practised aim. Revelations seemed to come more often but were usually incomprehensible, slipping away from her consciousness like water between her fingers, and were sometimes accompanied by a sickness-like malaise.

'I can't be ill,' she thought, pressing her hands to her aching stomach, 'because I'm a vampire now. Vampires don't become ill. It must be homesickness. I do miss Mutti and my little brothers and sisters…but I can't visit them. Not yet, anyway.'

"When was it you last fed?" Marishka asked, quietly entering the room. "Vampires do not need to eat as often as humans do, but you should go hunting at least once a week."

Elsabett turned to face her. "I…I know I should. It's what I am now," she whispered, "but I don't…think I can. I still feel too much like a human, inside."

"Then find some Sarafan!" Marishka suggested, spreading her hands. "Or are they all too far away for you to easily reach?"

"Very likely."

"Poor little sister," the older vampress cooed. "It took me time to adjust as well. But you do not need to feed solely on humans. If you would prefer an animal at first, that can be just as—"

"An animal…?" Elsabett repeated, striding to the window and looking out. The sun was beginning to peep over the horizon. Marishka hissed involuntarily.

"But you cannot go out now. The sun is coming up. It will destroy you, sister!"

"Somehow I don't think so. It's only made of fire, isn't it?"

"What…??"

"I think you're right. An animal, perhaps. Maybe a deer. Yes… It has been months since I tasted venison."

"No, no, Elsa," Marishka maintained, slinking behind columns and approaching the window. "Not the venison. We do not eat, only drink."

Elsabett gave her sister a look. "Then why do I feel an urge to sink my teeth into the well-cooked flesh of a young stag?"

Marishka shook her head. "I—I don't know. You shouldn't have such urges."

"Yet I do." Elsabett tossed her head and brushed back her hair. "Perhaps I'll compromise and eat it raw. That way, there will be blood."

"But you cannot think of going out—" The golden-haired young woman climbed onto the windowsill, sprouted wings, and launched herself into the air. "—now—!!" Marishka nearly leaned out the window, barely stopping herself. "ELSABETT!"

An exhilarated laugh was her only reply. Elsabett swooped away across the chasms and valleys surrounding the castle, winging swiftly toward the thick forests covering other slopes.

"She—she's not harmed by sunlight—?!" Marishka whispered. "She must be a—…" Then she shook her head. "At any rate, my lord must be told of this development…"

*****

"She WHAT?!" Aleera shrieked.

Dracula winced and made as if to cover his ears. "Please, my darling, not so loud," he requested.

"But that's impossible!" Verona declared. "A vampire unharmed by sunlight?"

"I say again, I think she's a dhampir!" Marishka said.

"Marishka, my love…" Dracula stepped toward her and put a hand on her shoulder, "though Elsabett is young and…different, I can't quite believe what you're suggesting of her. A dhampir is a half-vampire. Such implies a child conceived of a union between a living human and a full vampire.

"I transformed her in the same manner I transformed all of you. The only thing—" He cut off, suddenly. "Dragon's blood…! Could it be? She partially resisted?" He turned and walked away a few steps, hands clasped behind his back. "I had a dream once, in which a human I attempted to transform was able to resist my power. At least, some of it. And they became…only partly a vampire. Still with some human…quirks. But…it was only a dream. And we all know that dreams never come true, yes?"

A thump on the floor behind him prompted him to whirl around in surprise. Elsabett, wings receding into her back, stood triumphantly over the motionless body of an impressively-antlered deer. A single knife protruded from its throat.

"You brought it back here?" Marishka cried.

"I thought I heard human scouts coming," Elsabett explained, smoothing her skirt. "I didn't want to be found by them. I'll clean it up afterwards."

"How?" the other blonde demanded. "Not with water?! Water is like acid to us!"

Elsabett blinked and said nothing for a moment. "Maybe water won't hurt me either."

"You look…darker," Aleera observed.

"Do I?" Elsabett examined her hands. "Indeed I do. I must have tanned. Odd…I wasn't out there very long. My skin must be very different now, to tan so quickly." She knelt by the dead buck, pulled her knife from its throat, and began butchering the carcass. Then she hesitated.

"Oh. Ah…I can do this elsewhere, if you…"

Dracula laughed. "You worry about disgusting us? We are vampires!" The other brides chuckled in agreement, and Elsabett let out a chortle.

"Yes, I suppose that's true. I'm still not used to this. …Anybody want anything?" She finished skinning a haunch, severed it, and offered it up. The others refused it. "Very well. I just thought I'd offer."

"How very sweet and generous," Aleera said with a smile.

"Perhaps I'll have a piece after all," Dracula said with a loving smile. He accepted a chunk of haunch and proceeded to drain it. Elsabett looked surprised, then burst out giggling. He began laughing as well, and the others could not help but be infected with the rampant happiness.

"I wonder…" Elsabett mused, gnawing on a blood-dripping portion of muscle, "if vampires only think they'll be harmed by sunlight and so they are. I've heard that if you believe something hard enough, it becomes the case."

"Boaz‹ ”nchipuit‹…?" Marishka wondered. The others looked at her. "I studied with an herbalist for a few years while I was alive," she explained. "He told me that some people can believe they are ill even though they really aren't. In most cases, it is not possible to convince them otherwise, and you must give them a treatment which will not have an actual effect for most people, but it will help them because you say it will."

"The human mind is a strange thing," Vlad said quietly, and stretched. "I don't feel like going to sleep, even though it's day now. Elsa, might you be interested in another swordplay lesson after your meal?"

Elsabett shook her head, crestfallen. "No, Liebling. I'm tired. I'm sorry."

"Tired after snagging one deer?" Aleera asked.

"Yes. I suppose I must be weak. I'm still only a fledgling, aren't I?" She got to her feet and took hold of one of the hind feet of the carcass. "Though I'm much stronger than I used to be. That's nice. Well, I'm headed to bed. Good night. Er, morning. Day? Evening? Ach, es 'st egal." Dragging the kill behind her, she staggered out of the room and headed down a flight of stairs, leaving wet thumping noises behind as she went.

*****

The Lord of the Sarafan whirled around with a snarl. "Show yourself, fiend! I know you're there!"

"Fiend?" came a confident laugh from the shadows. "Stupid human. You don't know what a real fiend is."

"Stand forth and fight, undead beast!" the knight roared, drawing his blade.

"I am not undead," said the mysterious speaker, emerging into the light. "I'm as alive as you are."

"What?! Then how—"

The stranger laughed again, a familiar laugh. He was stunningly handsome, almost beautiful; long hair like spun gold cascaded down his back, and his eyes were a dusky blue. "I'm a dhampir. Only half-vampire." He tossed his head, tucking locks of hair behind his ears. "Some call me Alucard."

The Sarafan Lord's eyes widened and his face paled. "Alu—!? No! It's impossible! How could you—?!" He dashed to the back of the room and grabbed at a bell-rope. "Guards—!!"

"Nobody will come to help you," Alucard said quietly. "They're all dead. And I intend to avenge my grandfather, whose death was ordered by none other than you."

"Th—That means nothing to me! I have ordered the deaths of hundreds of vampires!"

"He was a human!" Alucard roared, eyes blazing with silvery fire. "One of your own soldiers! And you killed him!"

The Sarafan Lord gaped, his mouth working silently, then stumbled away. "N-no. No! Get—get out of my presence, monster!"

"I will leave once you are dead!" Alucard declared, rushing toward the arrogant knight and drawing a sword wreathed in golden flames.

*****

"Ahh—?!" Elsabett awoke with a gasp, heart pounding. Her belly felt as if it had been tied in a knot. "How…strange… I've never had a dream like that before." She sat up slowly, wincing at the hurt. "And why am I in such pain?"

Rising from her bed, she crossed the room to look out the window, nearly tripping over a mostly-skinned deer carcass. Her yelp of surprise summoned the sound of running footsteps, and Aleera stuck her head into the room just in time to see Elsabett flail ignobly, slip in a patch of blood, and fall backwards. She did not hit the floor, however, as the red-haired vampress abruptly teleported behind her younger sister and caught her.

"Elsabett! Is something wrong?" she asked, eyes wide and cute with concern.

"Aside from the fact that I'm in excruciating pain? No, nothing," Elsa muttered, regaining her feet and smoothing her skirts. The nagging pain in her stomach was slowly receding, only to be replaced with nausea. "Uhhh. Tell me, Aleera, can vampires become ill?"

Aleera shook her head slowly. "Not that I know."

"Then I must be the first. Ohh—" Elsabett staggered to her bed and collapsed on it. "Perhaps the deer I killed had some sort of sickness. Could that—"

"I—I don't know what to do," Aleera said quickly, wringing her hands. "I—I'll go get the others. Please try to hold on. It won't take long." She disappeared so quickly there was almost an audible popping sound.

Dracula was the first to appear. "Elsabett!" he cried, rushing to the bedside. Elsa groaned and reached up to him, then managed a weak chuckle as he clapsed her hand in both of his.

"I wonder if Marishka knows any herbal medicines that would work on vampires," she said quietly.

"I don't," the pale-haired vampress said from the doorway, "but I might know of someone who does." Vlad cast a questioning glance over his shoulder at her. "The Moonwitch."

"Of course!" Vlad cried, not letting go of his youngest wife's hand. "Go! Fly to her. Bring her here." He sighed pensively. "I hope that whatever price she asks is within my ability to pay…" he murmured.

Marishka glanced out the window and drew back. "My lord, the sun has not yet set," she said hesitantly.

"Just tell yourself the light won't hurt you," Elsabett muttered, raising her head from the plush sheets for a moment. "Do you remember what I said?"

"I'll go if you're not willing," Aleera volunteered. Marishka shook her head.

"But what if the sunlight truly is harmful?" Verona protested. "What then?"

"Then you wait until nightfall, bring my body in, and go yourself," Marishka said curtly. Verona threw her hands in the air.

"At any other time, Marishka, I'd be at your throat for trying to tell me what to do," she huffed. "But I think I'll let it pass this time. Help our sister." Marishka nodded, dashed for the window, and leapt out. Elsabett pushed herself up and tried to look out the aperture, but saw nothing. The flapping of leathery wings, a bare instant later, was met with sighs of relief from all still inside the room.

"How far away does this witch live?" Elsabett asked quietly, rolling onto her back. Vlad tenderly lifted her up and placed her lengthwise onto the bed, pulling the sheets up to her chin. "Will it take long? Pardon my coarse language, but I feel like scheisse."

"Shh," Vlad urged, stroking her hand. Aleera and Verona glided over to the bed, taking up worried vigils. Elsabett laughed softly.

"If only the Sarafan could see this. Loving vampires. …Or, if not that, at least vampires who can fake it extremely well…!"

Dracula chuckled. "I believe it to be the former. Maybe it would not always have been so, but your coming seems to have…rekindled something in me. For the first time in many, many years, I can love again. I know because I love you. As I love all of you." He glanced up at the two older brides and smiled warmly.

"Oh, my lord," Verona cooed, smoothing his hair. "Were my heart still able to beat, I know it would quicken at the mere thought of you. Your love is not unreciprocated." Aleera smiled sweetly and knelt on the opposite side of the bed, carefully pressing her hand against Elsabett's forehead and cheek.

"Your face feels very warm," she remarked, "but I do not think you have a fever."

"Fever?" came a commanding female voice from the corner of the room. "Step aside, vampires. Let me do my work." Verona and Aleera moved back away from the bed, but Dracula continued to gently stroke Elsabett's hand. "You too, Count. It will take more than that to convince me that vampires are capable of affection." Her accent was wholly unfamiliar, even to Elsabett, who had encountered travellers from lands all over Nosgoth. Dracula inhaled deeply, let go the hand, and stepped back authoritatively, as if to say, I am still the master here.

"Now, this is interesting," the Moonwitch said softly, gesturing with one hand. "She appears quite flushed for a vampire. I can tell already that she is markedly different from the rest of you." She chanted an incomprehensible phrase, and her hands began to glow with a faint white light. She strode over to the bedside, knelt, and passed her hands slowly over Elsabett's quivering body.

"Ah. Now this…this is something I have never seen before." The Moonwitch looked up at Dracula, and for a split-second, Elsabett saw not a regal-looking human woman, but a pale-haired, luminous female creature of unearthly beauty with long pointed ears. "Your new bride, Count, is a dhampir. Only half-vampire, still partially alive."

"Ohh!" "So it's true!" "How can it be?" the older brides whispered, nearly on top of one another.

"And? What is the malady that afflicts her?" Vlad asked.

"No malady. She is merely with child," the Moonwitch explained serenely, standing and rolling her shimmering sleeves back down to her wrists.