by Ana Calin
I squint at the castle spires, thinking. “But, if the legend is as real as Dracula himself, then he turns people into vampires by biting them. His victims survive, mostly. But in Radek’s case, the people who look into his face die. How does he create his minions?”
“Not all the people who looked the Prince of Midnight in the face died,” Magda answers from behind us. Both Lazarus and I turn to see she just came to the porch, cradling a mug of mulled wine of her own. The woman is usually so quiet we barely ever hear her move around the house.
“His victims have much less chance of survival than Vlad’s, it’s true,” she says, joining us with a quilt around her shoulders, and looking into the moonlit distance at the castle.
“Those who survived along the centuries have been taken to a monastery deep in the mountains. They are called Black Monks. They spew curses at people, curses in the form of black spit, shooting like arrows from their mouths. The victims are infected with a galloping plague, very similar to the Black Death. Black blisters pop to the surface all over their skin, and they die in pain in only a few minutes.”
“One of those women in the dungeon spat black slime at me,” I think aloud, eyes narrowed on the dark shape of the castle under the full moon. “Victoria kicked me out of the way, but if it had hit me.... She said the black slime was just foul body liquid.”
Magda stares at me. “Sounds like those women are the female versions of the Black Monks, and that snake Victoria lied to you.” Her golden eyes flash to Lazarus. “Tell me more about your theory, that Radek is building another army in his underground.”
“Well, we know he hasn’t looked a man in the face in a very long time,” Lazarus replies. “And the survival rate in the case of those men was very low. So he can’t create very many Black Monks and, even though they’re more dangerous than vampires because they can kill from a distance, they’re very hard to replace. If one gets killed, it can take years to create another. Whereas his brother, Dracula, can create vampires much quicker. So Radek might have decided to increase the numbers of his warriors by turning his former lovers into warrior monsters, too.”
My skin creases all over. “There’s got to be a way to rid the world of these two evil princes, make sure nobody else becomes their victim.”
“Creatures like them pretty much rule the world. Defeating them is nearly impossible,” Magda says.
“Nearly. But it looks like you and Lazarus always had a plan.”
“All we could do until now was lay low, make sure the princes didn’t discover our final purpose of bringing them down,” Magda says. “I even managed to keep my talents hidden from them for over a hundred years, hoping to discover someone or something in this world that would pose a real challenge to Radek and Vlad. There are others, of course, but they’re as nasty as the two princes. I looked for someone who would want to oppose them, someone resilient to the lure of power and money. But the Prince of Midnight and Dracula can offer anyone a golden life outside of the system, so to say, stress-free, all their dreams coming true, Vlad can even offer immortality. Right now, the only real thing standing in one brother’s way is the other brother.”
“They are enemies?” I inquire.
“Vlad and Radek always had a love-hate relationship with each other,” Magda replies. “They went through a lot together since the ritual that turned them both into monsters. That strengthened their bond but, both being avid for power, they eventually started fighting. Things escalated, and for hundreds of years there have been bloodbaths between Vlad’s vampires and Radek’s Black Monks and cross-over warriors.”
“Cross-what?”
Magda looks at Lazarus. “I think you can explain this one better than me.”
Lazarus takes a deep breath, looking down into his mug as he explains. “You remember, at the castle, there were doors that led to one place now, and later to another, yes?”
I remember the Time Tunnel then, later, while under Radek’s influence over my mind, never finding my way to the inner courtyard. “Yes.”
“Well, all that happened because Prince Radek masters dimensions. He can intertwine the time-space reality of the present with the time-space reality of the past, and of different places. He brings in warriors from different historical periods but, even though they’re ruthless and much more effective in close combat than modern armies, they’re helpless against technology. That’s why Radek also uses the Black Monks, who can fight all kinds of armies, and are more dangerous than any machine gun. Also, Radek masters the mirror-reality of the present—this reality has a reflected side, like a reflection in a pond. So, basically, the tourists at the castle couldn’t see you because Radek often kept you in this mirror-reality.”
I’m dizzy with the information, struggling to understand. “Like a reflection in a pond?”
“Or like those one-way mirrors from interrogation rooms at the police station. I’m sure you know them from movies. You can see the people in the interrogation room, but they can’t see you.”
I glance from Magda to Lazarus with an open mouth, trying to wrap my head around all this.
“Radek is an incredibly powerful monster,” Lazarus sums up. “Which is the reason why Dracula is wary of him, even though Dracula can basically build entire armies of vampires really fast if he wants to. But Radek can lock his brother’s armies in a different dimension, for example. Add the Black Monks and the cross-over warriors, and you have a formidable opponent for the world-famous Dracula.”
“However,” Magda takes over, “the two brothers struck a truce since WWII.”
“The Second World War?”
“They were both against the Nazis, so they worked together during it,” Magda continues. “After the war was won, they decided on a truce. But in order to keep this truce, they must never see each other. Whenever they do, sparks fly. They sometimes use the old priest in town to deliver messages from one to the other.”
This gets me thinking. “But Magda, aren’t there any more of—” I think of how to put it. “More of you? I mean witches, other supernatural creatures that can oppose these....” I search for the word.
“Villains?” She smiles sadly. “There are, but they are scattered around the world, and we’re not particularly big in numbers. You’ll find witches, warlocks, and many other supernatural creatures.” She looks at me. “You, for example, are a special kind of healer. You can heal not only humans but also other supernatural beings, which is a very rare gift. You know, people’s faces actually say a lot about them, and it’s probably why Radek felt so attracted to you from the start. He sensed that, deep within, you had the ability to save him.”
“Which is why we place our hopes in you,” Lazarus says. I turn to meet his eyes. There’s a sort of pain in them as he looks at me, some kind of loss. Like he’s giving up on something by accepting what he’s saying now.
“Radek fell in love with you in some twisted way. That’s why he didn’t kill us both when he visited that night—it probably helped that I wasn’t lying in bed with you. Magda and I hope that, by healing Radek of the midnight monster, you will also strip him of his power. Without the midnight monster, he may actually become a normal man, and I could restrain him, take him down.”
“Wouldn’t losing his powers expose him to his brother? Wouldn’t Vlad then take advantage and—” The idea goes like a blade through my chest. “Kill him?”
“So what?” Lazarus reacts, his brows knitting as he frowns at me. I think it’s the first time I see something similar to malevolence in his face. “Shall I remind you of those poor women he keeps locked in his dungeon? He wasn’t even gracious enough to let them have their peace in death, but keeps them in this world, tormenting their bodies and souls. The best thing that can happen to this town, to the world at large, is that dark prince Radek Basarab is finally dead and gone.”
That was another blade through my chest. For a moment my heart screams that it wants to die with Radek, but it must be only the leftover of his dark pow
er over my mind. I can’t possibly be in love with this terrible creature.
“But then we would still have Dracula to worry about,” I say.
“This town is in Radek’s hands. Plus, it’s Radek who’s trying to expand his influence over the entire Europe. Dracula has kept himself away from the world for centuries.” He looks in the distance, as if exploring some distant danger. “If he rises, we’ll deal with him, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.”
CHAPTER XIII
Miss Victoria
It didn’t take me long to persuade the Old Priest deep in the night at his church. His eyeballs roll in their sockets at the sight of gold as if he would do anything with it but stack it under his mattress. But his neurosis comes in handy now.
In great secrecy, the Old Priest takes me to Dracula’s lair deep in the mountain forest, far from the Bran castle that was once his. We come here by carriage, and my bones hurt from all the bouncing on bumpy ground. The once great Dracula now resides deep inside a cave that time carved within the rock, in the heart of a forest so thick and thorny that no man has stepped inside it for decades.
The cave opens like a big monster’s snout, the stalactites sharp and dripping like fangs that can fall shut and pierce us. I shudder hard, but square my shoulders and follow the old priest inside. Anything to see Radek suffer for rejecting me the way he did, and for falling in love with that sick joke of a woman, Juliet Jochs.
Vampires lurk in the shadows as I follow the priest’s lead and his torch, their hungry eyes on us. I can hear them snuffling in the darkness like hellhounds, their hands sticking to the walls as they creep.
Finally we reach the deep end, the sharpest stalactites hanging and dripping from the ceiling, the temperature icy. I do my best to ignore the cold and the way my skin pebbles, but then something that I believed was a huge dark stone turns, and I immediately become self-conscious.
My eyes slide down the frame of the notorious Dracula. He is one imposing beast. Unusually tall, with the broad shoulders of a warrior who’s worn heavy armor and spun shields in many battles. He has the face of a cruel man, with cleanly cut, angular features, but his eyes could mesmerize anyone. Big like almonds and yet shaped like an Asian’s, they exude cunning and impenetrable depth.
“Great Dracula,” I murmur, and bow before him. He doesn’t tell me to stand, so I have to remain in this position, looking only at his boots. I was hoping he’d spare me the posture, but it seems he’s as much of a bastard as his brother.
“You better have a good reason to disturb me.” His voice bounces off the cave walls like the voice of a god.
“As the old priest surely informed you,” I begin, but then my voice cracks. I clear my throat and keep my eyes on Dracula’s boots, trying to think I’m somewhere else to relieve some of the pressure. “As the old priest surely told you,” I start again, “Prince Radek is having a Christmas festival tomorrow night. It’s a masked ball, like every year, and the entire town will be there, but also special guests from the country.” I pause, thinking how to deliver the main information, the reason that brought me here, running all the risks that came along with it.
“Radek holds this festival every year, you said it yourself,” Dracula says. “I suppose you’re here because, this time, something special will happen?”
One corner of my mouth quirks up, and I’m glad I’m facing down so he can’t see it. Sure he’s interested, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to meet me, would he?
“Lord Dracula, as incredible as it sounds, I believe Prince Radek has fallen in love with a woman. And I believe this weakens him enough to give you opportunity to—” My lips go dry as leather. I lick them to keep talking. “To take back your castle. And your power.”
Pause. Creatures holding their breath everywhere, even the priest’s jagged old-man breathing has stopped. The vampires no longer crawl around me, their palms no longer making sticking sounds against the stone.
“Tell me more,” Dracula invites. It gives me courage. My eyes start moving upwards along his legs.
“Radek has the town sealed all around, with one sentinel post to let in guests arriving from around the country. So security will be tight. But you can breach it by using the tunnels in the mountain that link to the castle—half of them are yours anyway, and Radek has promised not to set foot in them when you struck the truce. Radek has sealed the town borders to prevent his love interest from escaping, so he won’t place any security inside the castle, because that’s not a route she would take. Still, I can make extra sure the tunnels remain open for you.”
“Radek is an ace in matters of defense strategies,” Dracula says. “He has centuries of experience, and he can anticipate every scenario. He’s not easily deceived.”
“Yes, but tomorrow night he’ll be focused on one thing—Juliet Jochs.”
Dracula narrows his compelling eyes at me, taking a seat on a throne of stone that I only now notice behind him. “I never thought I’d hear of Radek being in love. I must admit I’m stricken. I always thought him some kind of psycho, an emotional amputee. She must be really special, if she turned that around.”
“Not really,” I react from my gut. “You’d be surprised by how washed out and utterly dull she is.”
His eyes become slits, and it feels like he can cuttingly see right through me. “Tell me, Miss Victoria. You’ve been serving Radek for a long time. The true reason why you’re here is jealousy, am I right?”
Instinct tells me not to lie, he’ll know. If there’s one thing I hate in this world, it’s telling the truth because it makes me feel exposed. But, hell, this is Dracula! Better not to take any chances.
“I served him for many years,” I begin. “And yes, I felt entitled to his love. I remained by his side knowing what he was.” I surprise myself jutting out my chin. I knew it, once I start spitting poison, I can hardly stop. “During the day, he’s the most beautiful man that ever existed. Any woman would worship him, some openly, some secretly. Add his mesmerizing powers, and he’s irresistible. Anyone can fall in love with that. But the monster he becomes at night.... No one can love that. But I decided I could live with the monster, without Radek’s hypnotic influence, knowing full well what I was doing.”
“And Juliet Jochs?” Dracula demands. “She doesn’t know about the monster?”
My fists clench. “She does.”
“And she ran away from him when she found out?”
I swallow hard. Again, my instincts yell at me to tell the truth. “No. She ran away when I presented her with the opportunity.”
“And with a reason,” Dracula finishes in my place.
I nod. Hell, he’s against his brother, he wants his castle back, there’s no reason to punish me for having betrayed Radek, is there? Everything I’m doing is in Dracula’s interest.
“So, this Juliet Jochs,” Dracula continues, frowning and moving his hand as if helping himself understand. “She was taken with Radek’s beauty and mesmerizing powers at first, then she knew the monster and decided to remain by his side anyway—pretty much like you.”
I ponder. “Yes. I guess....”
“Then I don’t see why you consider yourself better for Radek. This woman was capable of loving him despite the monster as well.”
I don’t know what to say. I just stare at him, looking for a reason why Radek should have chosen me. A few arguments come to mind, but Dracula would easily find counterarguments to strike them down, no doubt.
“Or maybe,” Dracula says philosophically, “unlike you, Juliet Jochs can actually love the monster, instead of just being able to live with it. Maybe that’s why he fell in love with her—they bonded emotionally.”
“There’s more,” the Old Priest intervenes. Both Dracula and I turn our heads to him as he approaches, hunched, slow, leaning on his cane. I’m glad he stopped my humiliation by Dracula.
“I’ve been eavesdropping around the bookseller’s house. Mysterious things have been going on lately, they gave me re
ason for suspicion. Both she and that young student she hosts seemed secretive, glancing left and right whenever I spotted them entering the house, which made me think they were wary of spies. They pulled the curtains even during the day. The other night though, they came out on the porch, late enough that they were convinced no one would see. Indeed, they hide a guest. Turned out it was the fugitive from the castle.” His small eyes dart from under the hood between Dracula and me. My heart hammers in jealousy and spite. I hate Juliet Jochs!
“Turns out,” the Old Priest concludes. “She has a supernatural power. She’s a healer. And she can heal prince Radek of the midnight monster.”
The information courses through the cave like wildfire. I become aware that the maze of caves inside these mountains is fuller of these deadly creatures than it is of spiders.
But what the priest said... I could cry out in frustration, clawing out that bitch’s eyes.
“So not that washed-out and ordinary after all,” Dracula whispers with strange satisfaction, making himself broad as a king in his throne. He looks up at the ceiling with the grin of a deranged tyrant who finally got the chance to creep out of his hideout, his upper lip curling over perfect white teeth with deadly sharp canines. It’s clear he’s thinking of all the ways he can use Juliet Jochs against his brother, and he’s enjoying it.
“If this girl can heal him then, along with the monster, Radek will most probably lose his power. Right now, he’s powerful in many ways—he can create monsters like himself, even though few, because the survival rate is low; he can cross over warriors from the past, and he can play with dimensions, sending his enemies from one dimension to another, confusing them.”
He looks directly into my eyes. I fight the urge of making myself smaller.
“That power is probably going to vanish once the monster is no more. After all that’s left of the once powerful, deadly Prince of Midnight is a pretty boy, I should be able to take him down easily. Are you all right with that, Miss Victoria? With Radek—” He leans in closer, his upper lip curling over his teeth as he bites the next word. “Dying?”