Whoever had come here had covered their tracks very well. It angered him, but impressed him too. Every living creature left a scent that he could track and follow. Even a vampire. But this one left no trace at all. It both intrigued and alarmed him.
Catherine stirred in her bed. She sensed she was not alone and half opened her eyes. Her first thought was that it might be Radu. “Who is there?”
“It is I,” Ilona answered her. “I heard you were unwell again.”
She offered a weak smile. It pleased her to see Ilona. “It has been a while.”
“Yes,” Ilona agreed. “Regretfully so.”
Catherine sighed. “Yes. I have missed you. I always miss you, my dearest friend.”
Ilona squeezed her outstretched hand. “I have missed you too.”
The moment they touched it sent a jolt right through Catherine. She winced at a stabbing pain in her neck. The wounds had clotted, but now leaked blood again.
Catherine saw Ilona looking there. She shied her head a little to the left to hide it. “It is so lonely here,” she said. “I am not allowed any visitors. Not even my daughter can come to see me.”
Ilona sighed. She felt sorry for the woman who called her a friend. “It is all the better that I am here then.”
“Yes. You have made me so happy.”
“You have had a visitor lately though?”
Ilona could see she did not want to discuss it. But for some reason she was unable to evade Ilona’s question. She thought of Radu. But when she did her memory grew a little hazy.
She looked distracted to Ilona. “What do you mean?” she asked, struggling to keep with the conversation.
“I mean the one who has bitten you.”
Catherine paused for a moment. Even from her thoughts Ilona could deduce very little. It was as though something had scrambled her memory. But Radu had made one mistake. He had not brought her out of the trance. It would not take Ilona long to dig out the information she sought.
“The one who has bitten me?”
“Yes, Catherine,” Ilona asserted. “The marks on your neck. They are there the same as before when first we met.”
“Oh?” Catherine said, raising her eyebrows a little. “I know who you mean. I have dreamt of him again.”
“Tell me more, Catherine. I must know.”
She gave Ilona a curious look. “Why do you need to know?”
“Because I care about you.”
The answer seemed to relax her a little again. “I dreamt of him today.”
“What happened in your dream?”
“The same as always. He came in from the window and sat by me on my bed.”
“That is quite a liberty for a man to take.”
“I may have said that to him once, but I welcome his company. He is very special to me.”
“He has called to you often?”
“Yes. But like you he has been away a long time.”
“How long ago?”
“He was in my dreams last week also.”
Catherine seemed vague. It was not helping Ilona find out what she wanted to know. “What did he do when he called?”
“The same thing that he always does. He sits with me and talks.”
“Is that all?”
Catherine blushed. “We always make love too.”
“Well you are a free woman after all. You certainly deserve such pleasures in your life.”
“I lose myself in those beautiful green eyes. That beautiful face.”
“He is beautiful to look at?”
“Oh yes, Ilona,” she smiled. “I would say I have never seen a man who looks as good. When he first came to me he wore a mask. But now I see his face.”
Ilona was stunned when she heard this. An image of Radu flashed through her mind. The date of Catherine’s illness coincided with the time they had brought him back. When he first came to her he had covered his face. It made perfect sense. “What is his name? Did he say his name?”
“I do not know,” she answered. “I have forgotten.”
Ilona could see she was not lying. “Do not worry,” she said, touching her cheek. “I will call again soon to check you are well.”
“You are leaving already?”
“Yes. I am sorry, but I must go. You get some rest. I am sure you need it.”
Dracula heard everything she had said. Her words equally stunned him. He did not doubt any of it. But it meant that Radu had somehow managed to heal his face. This upset him more than anything else. His plan had backfired.
He knew Radu would no longer be hiding away from the world. A man, indeed a vampire, with his looks and charm could accomplish much. Surely his only aim would be to strike back against him. He too would want revenge.
Dracula wondered how he had done it. He thought back to the Queen of France. On his last visit to her bed he had bitten her. Yet she had not died. Those with royal blood had to have immunity to a vampire bite. For sure they survived it. Royal blood had healing properties I was not aware of. What else could it be?
He did not know that Radu now served the other side. It had made Radu so much stronger than before. Uriel had given him that strength. Little did he know it, but his brother could match him now in every way. Radu had also learned one important thing. When he first met Catherine he had drunk from her. She was then a virgin as well as a true royal. That gave him the power to appear invisible to the others. It was why Dracula could not see him now or pick up his scent.
Dracula realised that Radu possessed this ability. After all, he could not see him. This worried him more than anything else. Could Radu also launch a strike against me unseen? He had to consider it possible.
Radu sat high in a tree about a half a mile away. He watched his brother on his perch high on the castle. Dracula was trying to locate him. He could see that much. Radu grinned to himself. “Keep looking, brother. We will meet again soon.”
Dracula looked his way. The faint whisper came to him on the breeze. Still he saw nothing. Ilona joined him once more and they took to the air again.
“What will we do?” she asked him.
“We will bide our time,” Dracula said, looking straight ahead into the darkness. “He has been coming to her for more than thirty years. He will come again.”
“What then?”
“We will be ready. Then I will kill him.”
England. Kimbolten Castle.
December 1, 1535.
Catherine made a quick recovery. This time she was on her feet within a few weeks. For a time she felt well again. But she did not see Radu for many months. He knew they were waiting for him. With six on his one he stood no chance. He felt with a little more time he could give them a real challenge. For that he needed to be ready.
The vampires hung around for a long time. They began to think they had scared Radu off. He knew when they were there. It greatly reduced their hopes of ever seeing him again. So Dracula decided they should go. They did not return again that year.
In the summer Anne went into labour a second time. The birth was premature. The baby, another girl, was stillborn. Henry felt close to despair. In an attempt to save face he kept it a secret.
Before the end of the year the Act of Supremacy went through. This declared England a sovereign state. It made the king both the head of the country and of the Church. Henry now had supreme power over the Catholic Church in England. He was able to appoint whomever he wanted to the key posts. It also allowed him to claim all the revenues that usually went to the Vatican.
The Treason Act followed it. This stated that any opponent to the king in either word or deed could suffer the death penalty. It gave Henry a free hand to begin closing the monasteries and seizing their wealth.
Charles could not take much more of this. As Holy Roman Emperor he had sat and watched Henry carve up the Church in England. He knew too that his aunt was forever ill. She would have short spells of good health but slump back down again. He had to act now to change it.
; He met with Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador to England. They devised a plot to help Catherine and Mary out of the country. He wanted them safely in Castile. Then he could entertain the idea of invading. But the plan proved too great a risk to their safety and they were forced to abandon it. Things got even worse for the women in March when Anne Boleyn fell pregnant for a third time.
Anne had a bad haemorrhage in the summer. Just as she had done the previous year she lost her baby. Catherine felt delight at the news. On one hand she was ashamed to enjoy the misery of another. Still, it meant Anne would not give Henry his male heir.
But later in the summer she suffered another hard blow. The two men who had given her the most support against the king lost their lives. John Fisher and Thomas More were both beheaded at the Tower of London.
By November, Henry openly courted Jane Seymour. The gossips felt Anne Boleyn’s days as queen could soon come to an end. However, she conceived again in that same month. It restored her to favour once more.
Radu returned to Kimbolten on the first day of December. He was over fifty miles away from Dracula. Yet his brother felt a cold shiver run through him. It made him think that Radu was back. He and Ilona took to the air. They hoped for the chance to lock horns at last.
From close by Radu listened to his beloved. He knew she was unwell again. Just from her breathing he could tell. But he heard the servants talking too. They sensed she was close to the end. This scared him a lot.
An even scarier thought entered his mind. He saw no other way that he could end her misery. As much as he loved her he had to do it. It was because of his love for her that he felt so compelled.
“Do not do it,” a strong voice said from nearby.
Radu turned sharply to see Uriel standing there. “I have to,” he said.
“It will only cause her to suffer more.”
“Why must she suffer at all? She is such a good soul. All her life she has loved God like few ever have.”
“It is not for me to answer.”
“Then someone has to. I will not watch her suffer another day.”
“You are not allowed to interfere with the natural process of things.”
“But I am going to. I will end her pain tonight.”
“Do you not think there is a reason why these rules exist?”
“All I see is her pain.”
“It is because it affects the soul after death. Her soul will suffer more if you take her life before the right time.”
“I do not accept that. She has a kind and just soul. If God is equally just He will not let her suffer any more.”
“Hear what I say, Radu. Let events take their true course.”
Catherine sat in front of the mirror brushing her hair. It was a ritual she performed every night before bed. As always she sat there dreaming of her lover. He had not called by in over a year. She sensed he was not coming back. It had been a bad day for her. The pains had returned to her chest and stomach with a vengeance. Now more than ever she needed him.
On this night Radu found her window bolted shut. Still, he had little trouble in gaining access to her room. He saw his image in the mirror next to hers. The restoration of his soul thirty years ago made this so. But Catherine was lost in thought. She did not notice him steal up behind her.
She was only weeks from her fiftieth birthday. Yet Radu was drawn to her as much as he was when they first met.
“Hello, Catherine,” he said softly in her ear.
She jumped with fright. Her head was a blur and she only caught a shadow in the mirror. But she knew the voice. She turned and smiled when she saw him there.
“You must stop doing that,” she said. “It scares me.”
He took the brush from her hand. “But then my entrances would not excite you.”
“You always excite me. The mere thought of you is enough.”
She loved the strength of his wrist as the bristles sifted through her hair. At the same time he stroked her neck with his other hand. She ached at his touch, wanting him completely. He sensed her need at once and dropped the brush to the floor.
As she rose to her feet he picked her up in his arms. He laid her down on the bed, kissing her passionately on the mouth. Her tongue searched out his. Their hands fumbled at each other’s clothes in a bid to remove them.
She responded hungrily to his kiss. Soon she used both her hands to pull his head down harder against hers. His erection pressed against her. It only made her ache more for him. She reached down and freed him of his restraints.
Radu eased her nightgown up over her head. She closed her eyes and breathed hard. The cool air made her tingle all over. Every inch of her soft skin felt the warmth of his lips. Her body was worn from her many pregnancies and bouts of illness. But still he only saw beauty in her. She was the most incredible woman he had ever known. He longed for her as much as she did for him.
She gasped as she felt him press against her sex. Her need for him became greater than at any time before. “I sense this could be our last time together.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “It will be.”
She trembled as he ran the tip of his tongue over the scars on her neck. Her whole body shuddered when he parted her thighs to initiate penetration. “Then make this dream one I can take to my grave.”
He slid inside her. In the same moment his fangs found their way into the old wounds on her neck. She gasped at the simultaneous sensations. Her whole body tensed. Then it fell limp, as she surrendered to him completely.
Radu drank slowly, as he made love to her. He took a little more than usual, but not enough to prove fatal. Her blood transfused into his veins. It swelled his erection further. The ripples it made through her body almost reduced her to tears.
They came together. For her it was long and powerful. She cried out his name over and over. It almost blew his mind. It was his best ever such experience but, more than that, he felt everything she did.
He also heard the pain in her heart. As hard as he had tried he could not take the bad away. He wanted to end her pain there and then just as he had planned to do. But Uriel’s words stuck in his mind. For a moment he stopped sucking. Only a little more and her suffering would end. But would it? Might I condemn her to a worse fate after death?
Just then he sensed Dracula and Ilona close by and pulled away from his lover. Her bad blood turned over inside him. He clutched at his stomach and dropped to his knees. His body had to expel it. If it did not happen soon he would be at the mercy of his brother.
His flesh heated all over and a terrible pain shot through his head. He groaned and fell onto both his elbows. Catherine remained naked on the bed, too weak to move. She heard the distress he was in. After taking a deep breath she called out to him. “Radu? What is wrong?”
The worst pain rose from the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes and groaned. Traces of her blood oozed from his pores, turning his skin red. His eyes bulged in their sockets. The air in his lungs, though he did not need it, turned to a hot vapour. It tugged on the arteries around his heart.
She heard him groan in agony. “Radu?” she said again, her voice so faint.
He fell onto his side, his whole body curling up into the shape of a foetus. Every sinew in it strained. He clenched his teeth together, as the muscles in his neck grew tight. The pain threatened to crush him. Because he no longer had any internal organs in his stomach, her blood moved to his lungs. Then his body let go. He coughed hard and choked, the blood spewing out all over the floor. Six times his chest heaved and expelled the bad he had consumed. It left him lying there, weak and helpless.
They were drawing closer. With an effort he rose to his feet. Although sapped of his strength he got dressed again. He would not have time to run now. This was the moment. He would have to face his brother at last. Time seemed to stand still. He glanced at his beloved on the bed, as he unsheathed his sword.
Then the shutters came crashing in and Dracula stood before him. Their eyes met for the first
time in over thirty years. The hate in them remained. They squared up to each other just as Ilona took her place behind her husband.
Dracula took a moment to gaze at him. It amazed him that Radu had healed his face. But he had. He could see though that Radu did not look well. A grin crossed his face. Already he sensed triumph. Now that Radu had his face back he saw no need to prolong his life any further. It was time for him to die. He felt a quick victory would be his.
Radu grimaced when he looked at him. “You seem as sure of yourself as ever,” he said. “But why am I surprised? You were never any different.”
“I am sure of sending you to Hell once and for all.”
“You should have left me there then. I shall not be returning. It is your turn.”
Dracula eyed Radu’s sword and drew his own from its scabbard. “I am the greatest swordsman that ever lived,” he taunted. “Why do you even bother to raise yours against me?”
Radu held him firmly in his gaze. “That might have been true once, brother. But in this age things are different.”
Dracula never said another word and launched an attack on Radu. To his surprise he found his brother equal to it. As the men clashed, Ilona looked to the bed. At first she thought Radu had forced himself on the former queen. She scanned her thoughts. Although barely conscious she found Catherine was quite content.
The duel grew more furious. Dracula threw everything at him. Yet Radu moved with the same blinding speed and skill. He grinned at his brother to show his confidence. Dracula found it unnerving. As they came together Radu caught him with an elbow that sent him reeling.
Ilona launched herself at Radu. He moved deftly to one side. She gasped with shock when he caught her in mid air. He glanced at her before throwing her across the room. She crashed into the stone wall with real force. He listened to her groan before she slumped down to the floor. Blood seeped from a wound on the top of her head.
This made Dracula crazy with rage. He was already on his feet and back into the attack. Radu’s amazing skill astounded him. He knew his brother had talent with a sword. But ability that was his equal? That was a different matter. Even the notion of it baffled him.
The Dracula Chronicles: Bound By Blood - Volume 2 Page 30